308 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xli wandered, without a guide, on the high road to Carthage ; and, if the flying enemies had dared to return, very few of the con- querors would have escaped. Deeply sensible of the disgrace and danger, Belisarius passed an apprehensive night on the field of victory ; at the dawn of day he planted his standard on a hill, recalled his guards and veterans, and gradually restored the modesty and obedience of the camp. It was equally the concern of the Roman general to subdue the hostile, and to save the prostrate, Barbarian ; and the suppliant Vandals, who could be found only in churches, were protected by his authority, disarmed, and separately confined, that they might neither dis- turb the public peace nor become the victims of popular revenge. After dispatching a light detachment to tread the footsteps of Gelimer, he advanced with his whole army, about ten days' march, as far as Hippo Regius, which no longer possessed the relics of St. Augustin. 30 The season, and the certain intelligence that the Vandal had fled to the inaccessible country of the Moors, determined Belisarius to relinquish the vain pursuit and to fix his winter-quarters at Carthage. From thence he dis- patched his principal lieutenant, to inform the emperor that, in the space of three months, he had achieved the conquest of Africa, conquest Belisarius spoke the language of truth. The surviving by' Beiisar- Vandals yielded, without resistance, their arms and their free- 534' dom ; the neighbourhood of Carthage submitted to his presence ; and the more distant provinces were successively subdued by the report of his victory. Tripoli was confirmed in her volun- tary allegiance ; Sardinia and Corsica surrendered to an officer, who carried, instead of a sword, the head of the valiant Zano ; and the isles of Majorca, Minorca, and Yvica, con- sented to remain an humble appendage of the African king- dom. Caesarea, a royal city, which in looser geography may be confounded with the modern Algiers, was situate thirty days'
- i0 The relics of St. Augustin were carried by the African bishops to their Sar-
dinian exile (a.d. 500) ; and it was believed in the viiith century that Liutprand, king of the Lombards, transported them (a.d. 721) from Sardinia to Pavia. In the year 1695, the Augustin friars of that city found a brick arch, marble coffin, silver case, silk wrapper, bones, blood, &c. ; and, perhaps, an inscription of Agostino in Gothic letters. But this useful discovery has been disputed by reason and jealousy (Baronius, Annal. a.d. 725, No. 2-9. Tillemont, M^m. Eccl6s. torn. xiii. p. 944. Montfaucon, Diarium Ital. p. 26-30. Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Medii ^vi, torn. v. dis- sert, lviii. p. 9, who had composed a separate treatise before the decree of the bishop of Pavia, and Pope Benedict XIII.).
