Faithful to
his instructions, they would have cast anchor about twenty
miles from Carthage, if the more skilful had not represented
the perils of the shore and the signs of an impending
tempest. Still ignorant of the revolution, they declined
however the rash attempt of forcing the chain of the port,
and the adjacent harbour and suburb of Mandracium were
insulted only by the rapine of a private officer, who
disobeyed and deserted his leaders. But the imperial fleet,
advancing with a fair wind, steered through the narrow
entrance of the Goletta and occupied the deep and capacious
lake of Tunis, a secure station about five miles from the
capital. No sooner was Belisarius informed of the arrival
than he despatched orders that the greatest part of the
mariners should be immediately landed to join the triumph
and to swell the apparent numbers of the Romans. Before he
allowed them to enter the gates of Carthage he exhorted
them, in a discourse worthy of himself and the occasion, not
to disgrace the glory of their arms, and to remember that
the Vandals had been the tyrants, but that _they_ were the
deliverers of the Africans, who must now be respected as the
voluntary and affectionate subjects of their common
sovereign.
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