Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/350

302 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xli [Battle of the monarch himself, who silently followed, should charge their mum] rear in a situation which excluded them, from the aid or even the view of their fleet. But the rashness of Ammatas was fatal [Sept. 13] to himself and his country. He anticipated the hour of attack, outstripped his tardy followers, and was pierced with a mortal wound, after he had slain, with his own hand, twelve of his boldest antagonists. His Vandals fled to Carthage ; the high- way, almost ten miles, was strewed with dead bodies ; and it seemed incredible that such multitudes could be slaughtered by the swords of three hundred Komans. The nephew of Gelimer was defeated after a slight combat by the six hundred Massagetse ; they did not equal the third part of his numbers ; but each Scythian was fired by the example of his chief, who gloriously exercised the privilege of his family by riding foremost and alone to shoot the first arrow against the enemy. In the meanwhile, Gelimer himself, ignorant of the event, and mis- guided by the windings of the hills, inadvertently passed the Eoman army, and reached the scene of action where Ammatas had fallen. He wept the fate of his brother and of Carthage, charged with irresistible fury the advancing squadrons, and might have pursued and perhaps decided the victory, if he had not wasted those inestimable moments in the discharge of a vain, though pious, duty to the dead. While his spirit was broken by this mournful office, he heard the trumpet of Belisarius, who, leaving Antonina and his infantry in the camp, pressed forwards with his guards and the remainder of the cavalry to rally his flying troops and to restore the fortune of the day. Much room could not be found in this disorderly battle for the talents of a general ; but the king fled before the hero ; and the Vandals, accustomed only to a Moorish enemy, were incapable of withstanding the arms and discipline of the Eomans. Gelimer retired with hasty steps towards the desert of Nurnidia ; but he had soon the consolation of learning that his private orders for the execution of Hilderic and his captive friends had been faithfully obeyed. The tyrant's revenge was useful only to his enemies. The death of a lawful prince excited the compassion of his people ; his life might have perplexed the victorious Romans ; and the lieutenant of Justinian, by a crime of which he was innocent, was relieved from the painful alter- native of forfeiting his honour or relinquishing his conquests.