178

HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

army of Marcellinus, are added to the forces of the empire, the armamentmight certainly be said to vie with those of Persia, in the most extravagantdays of her warlike profusion. The event, however, proved, that numbers, not-withstanding they might promise, could not insure success, and that a fleet orarmy, powerful as the apparent force might be, were of little avail, provideda leader was wanting who could direct it with judgment and dexterity, as wellas ward off the blows that might be aimed at it by its opponents *.

“ Expe-

* The accounts given by all authors very nearly tally with each other on this occasion ; and it may notbe impertinent, perhaps, to introduce the corroborative testimony of the leading facts as given by them.—Leo resolved, at all events, to revenge the affront offered to the Eastern empire; and accordingly, thefollowing year, 46S, when Anthemius alone was consul, he fitted out the greatest fleet, says Procopius,the Romans had ever had. Cedrenus writes, it consisted of one thousand one hundred and thirteen ships,each ship having one hundred men on board. Theophanes and Nicephorus will have no fewer than onehundred thousand ships to have been employed in this expedition ; a number altogether incredible. Tothe forces of Leo were joined all the best troops of the west, under the command of Marcellinus, whoreinforced them with a chosen body of men raised in his own dominions. Leo gave the chief com-mand of this formidable fleet to Basiliscus, brother to his wife Verina, who had frequently overcomethe barbarians in Thrace. Under him commanded John, a pet son of extraordinary courage, andgreat experience in war. The island of Sicily was appointed the place of general rendezvous. Fromthence Marcellinus was to sail for Sardinia, which the Vandals had lately seized ; Heraclius, of Edessa,a brave and experienced officer, for Libya ; and Basiliscus, with the greatest part of the fleet, and theflower of the troops, to steer a direct course to Carthage. Marcellinus, pursuant to this plan, landedin Sardinia, and made himself master of that island, while Heraclius, debarking unexpectedly in Libya,,defeated the Vandals, who attempted to oppose him, and reduced, with incredible expedition, Tripolis,and all the other cities of that province. Genseric, receiving at the same time news of the loss ofSardinia and Libya, and of the arrival of the Roman fleet at Cape Mercury, about thirty miles fromCarthage, began to look upon himself as irretrievably lost, and is even said to have had some thoughtsof yielding up Afiica to the Romans, and retiring elsewhere. Indeed, if Basiliscus had, during the panicwhich had seized the barbarians, marched directly to Carthage, he might have easily made himselfmaster of that city, and put an end to the war at once ; but his dilatory proceedings giving Genseric timeto recover from his consternation, he began to despise the Roman admiral, and had even the confidenceto send deputies to him, begging a truce of five days, that he might settle with him the conditions onwhich he was to submit to Leo. Basiliscus readily consented to the truce : during which Genseric, taking,one night, advantage of a favourable wind, sailed unexpectedly out of the harbour with a great numberof fireships, which, being by the wind driven full sail upon the Roman navy, set fire to many of theirships, and threw the whple fleet into the utmost confusion. The next morning Genseric’s fleet appeareddrawn up in the line of battle; and, falling upon the Romans before they could recover themselvesfrom their terror and consternation, took several of their ships, sunk others, and obliged the rest to savethemselves in the best manner they could. John, who commanded under Basiliscus, and was no wayprivy to this treachery, after having killed, with his own hand, an incredible number of barbarians^threw himself, when overpowered, on a plank into the sea. Genso, the son of Genseric, greatly

enamoured