- ever, of the Vandal king and the defeat of his deputy by the
Moors, had rendered him unpopular among his subjects, a circumstance which was taken advantage of by his cousin Gelimer, a grand-nephew of Genseric, and heir presumptive of the crown. He began by assuming an arrogant state, as if he had already succeeded; and, having reduced the authority of Hilderic to a nullity, in the seventh year of his reign persuaded the Vandal nobles to elect him king in his stead. Soon the deposed monarch, with his immediate supporters, was consigned to a prison, whilst the Byzantine alliance was repudiated as being hostile to the succession of Gelimer. On hearing of this revolution, Justinian despatched a letter of remonstrance to the usurper, urging him to allow Hilderic the nominal occupation of the throne, and to content himself for the present with the realities of kingly power. Hilderic, he reminded him, was advanced in years, so that his legitimate succession could not be long delayed. The reply of Gelimer was curt and insolent: "he had not seized on the crown, but had been duly elected by the accredited chiefs of the Vandal nation: the wisest monarchs were those who attended assiduously to their own affairs and refrained from interference with those of other people." At the same time he imposed a stricter durance on Hilderic, and blinded his nephew Hoamer, who had been his principal minister. Justinian was now deeply offended and burned with the desire to coerce Gelimer by force of arms. How the question was debated at Constantinople, and the Emperor's wishes were shaped to a reality has already been related circumstantially.
On the midsummer's day of 533 the Byzantine fleet was assembled in the harbour of the Palace, in readiness to start on its voyage to the African coast. Belisarius, the com-
