416 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliii of taxes which were drawn away by a distant sovereign, and a general resumption of the patrimony or crown lands, soon dis- pelled the intoxication of the public joy ; but the emperor was insensible to the modest complaints of the people, till he was awakened and alarmed by the clamours of military discontent. Many of the Roman soldiers had married the widows and daughters of the Vandals. As their own, by the double right of conquest and inheritance, they claimed the estates which Genseric had assigned to his victorious troops. They heard with disdain the cold and selfish representation of their officers, that the liberality of Justinian had raised them from a savage or servile condition; that they were already enriched by the spoils of Africa, the treasure, the slaves, and the moveables, of the vanquished Barbarians; and that the ancient and lawful patrimony of the emperors would be applied only to the support of that government on which their own safety and reward must ultimately depend. The mutiny was secretly inflamed by a thousand soldiers, for the most part Heruli, who had imbibed the doctrines, and were instigated by the clergy, of the Arian sect ; and the cause of perjury and rebellion was sanctified by the dispensing powers of fanaticism. The Arians deplored the ruin of their church, triumphant above a century in Africa; and they were justly provoked by the laws of the conqueror, which interdicted the baptism of their children and the exercise of all religious worship. Of the Vandals chosen by Belisarius, the far greater part, in the honours of the Eastern service, forgot their country and religion. But a generous band of four hundred obliged the mariners, when they were in sight of the isle of Lesbos, to alter their course : they touched on Peloponnesus, ran ashore on a desert coast of Africa, and boldly erected on mount Aurasius the standard of independence and revolt. While the troops of the province disclaimed the com- mand of their superiors, a conspiracy was formed at Carthage against the life of Solomon, who filled with honour the place of Belisarius ; and the Arians had piously resolved to sacrifice [March 21, the tyrant at the foot of the altar, during the awful mysteries a.d. 536] o ^ ^ e f es t-ival of Easter. Fear or remorse restrained the daggers of the assassins, but the patience of Solomon em- boldened their discontent ; and at the end of ten days a furious sedition was kindled in the Circus, which desolated Africa
