The Scarlet Banner
Page 29
CHAPTER IV
PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS:
We are still marching forward, and certainly as if we were in afriendly country. Our heroes, even the Huns, have understood, thanksless to my marching orders than to actual experience, that they cannotsteal as many provisions as the people will voluntarily bring if theyare to be paid instead of being robbed. Belisarius is winning all theprovincials by kindness. So the colonists flock from all directions toour camp and sell us everything we need, at low prices. When we areobliged to spend the night in the open fields we carefully fortify thecamp.
When it can be done we remain at night in cities, as, for instance, inLeptis and Hadrumetum. The Bishop, with the Catholic clergy, comesforth to meet us, as soon as our Huns appear. The Senators and the mostaristocratic citizens soon follow. The latter willingly allowthemselves to be "forced "; that is, they wait till we are in theforum, so, in case we should all be thrown by our undiscoverable foesinto the sea before we reach Carthage, they can attribute theirfriendliness to us to our cruel violence. With the exception of a fewCatholic priests I have not seen a Roman in Africa for whom I felt theslightest respect. I almost think that they, the liberated, are evenless worthy than we, the liberators.
We march on an average about ten miles daily. To-day we came fromHadrumetum past Horrea to Grasse, about forty-four Roman miles fromCarthage,--a magnificent place for a camp. Our astonishment increasesday by day, the more we learn of the riches of this African province.In truth, it may well be beyond human power to maintain one's nativevigor beneath this sky, in this region. And Grasse! Here is a countryvilla--to speak more accurately, a proud pillared palace of the VandalKing--gleaming with marble, surrounded by pleasure-gardens, whose likeI have never seen in Europe or Asia. About it bubble delicious springsbrought through pipes from a distance, or up through the sand by somemagical discoverer of water. And what a multitude of trees! and not oneamong them whose boughs are not fairly bending under the burden ofdelicious fruit. Our whole army is encamped in this fruit grove,beneath these trees; every soldier has eaten his fill and stuffed hisleather pouch, for we shall march on early to-morrow morning; yet onecan scarcely see a difference in the quantity. Everywhere, too, arevines loaded with bunches of grapes. Many, many centuries before aScipio entered this country, industrious Ph[oe]nicians cultivated vineshere, between the sea and the desert, training them on rows of stakes afew feet high. Here grows the best wine in all Africa; they say theVandals drink it unmixed, from their helmets. I only sipped the almostpurple liquor, to which Agnellus added half the quantity of water, yetI feel drowsy. I can write no more. Good-night, Cethegus, far away inRome! Good-night, fellow-soldier! Just half a cup more; it tastes sogood. Pleasant dreams! Wine makes us good-natured, so pleasant dreamsto you, too. Barbarians! It is so comfortable here. The room assignedto me (the slaves, all Romans and Catholics, have not fled, and theyserve us with the utmost zeal) is beautifully decorated with wallpaintings. The bed is so soft and easy! A cool breeze from the sea isblowing through the open window. I will venture to take a quarter of acup more; and to-night, dear Barbarians, if possible, no attack. Mayyou sleep well. Vandals, so that I, too, can sleep sweetly! I almostbelieve the African sickness--dread of every exertion--has alreadyseized upon me.
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Four days' march from the wonder-land of Grasse. We are spending thenight in the open country. To-morrow we shall reach Decimum, less thannine Roman miles from Carthage, and not one Vandal have we seen yet.
It is late in the evening. Our camp-fires are blazing for a longdistance, a beautiful scene! There is something ominous in the soft,dark air. Night is falling swiftly under the distant trees in the west.There is the blast of the shrill horns of our Huns. I see their whitesheepskin cloaks disappearing. They are mounting guard on all threesides. At the right, on the northeast, the sea and our ships protectus; that is, for to-day. To-morrow the galleys will not be able toaccompany our march as they have done hitherto, on account of thecliffs of the Promontory of Mercury, which here extend far out from theshore. So Belisarius ordered the Quaestor Archelaus, who commands thefleet, not to venture as for as Carthage itself, but, after roundingthe promontory, to cast anchor and wait further orders. So to-morrow weshall be obliged, for the first time, to advance without the protectionof our faithful companions, the ships; and as the road to Decimum issaid to lead through dangerous defiles, Belisarius has carefullyplanned the order of marching and sent it in writing this evening toall the leaders, to save time in the departure early in the morning.
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The warlike notes of the tuba are rousing the sleepers. We are about tostart. An eagle from the desert in the west is flying over our camp.
It is reported that the first meeting with the enemy--only a fewmounted men--took place during the night at our farthest westernoutpost. One of our Huns fell, and the commander of one of theirsquadrons, Bleda, is missing. Probably it is merely one of the camprumors which the impatience of expectation has already conjured upseveral times. To-night we shall reach Decimum; to-morrow night thegates of Carthage. But where are the Vandals?