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294 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xli embarked under the shadow of the night. The Persian com- mander retired with disorder and disgrace, to answer a strict account of the lives of so many soldiers which he had consumed in a barren victory. But the fame of Belisarius was not sullied by a defeat, in which he alone had saved his army from the consequences of their own rashness ; 12 the approach of peace relieved him from the guard of the eastern frontier, and his conduct in the sedition of Constantinople amply discharged his obligations to the emperor. When the African war became the topic of popular discourse and secret deliberation, each of the Roman generals was apprehensive, rather than ambitious, of the dangerous honour ; but, as soon as Justinian had declared his preference of superior merit, their envy was rekindled by the unanimous applause which was given to the choice of Belisarius. The temper of the Byzantine court may encourage a suspicion that the hero was darkly assisted by the intrigues of his wife, the fair and subtle Antonina, who alternately en- joyed the confidence, and incurred the hatred, of the empress Theodora. The birth of Antonina was ignoble, she descended from a family of charioteers ; and her chastity has been stained with the foulest reproach. Yet she reigned with long and ab- solute power over the mind of her illustrious husband ; and, if Antonina disdained the merit of conjugal fidelity, she expressed a manly friendship to Belisarius, whom she accompanied with undaunted resolution in all the hardships and dangers of a military life. 13 Prepara- The preparations for the African war were not unworthy of th°e n African the last contest between Rome and Carthage. The pride and war. a.d. g ower f f-^g arm y consisted of the guards of Belisarius, who, according to the pernicious indulgence of the times, devoted themselves by a particular oath of fidelity to the service of their patrons. Their strength and stature, for which they had been curiously selected, the goodness of their horses and armour, and the assiduous practice of all the exercises of war, enabled them to act whatever their courage might prompt ; and their courage was exalted by the social honour of their rank and the 12 [This is the account of Procopius ; but John Malalas, who is very full here, lays the blame on Belisarius.] 13 See the birth and character of Antonina, in the Anecdotes, c. 1, and the notes of Alemannus, p. 3.