Sensing the road to Carthage might be open, John ordered his men to follow and sped along it, encountering on his way the army of Ammatus strung out in small groups along the roadway, these either fleeing or, if they stood to fight, dying. John kept going until he sighted the walls of Carthage itself where, knowing he was isolated, he turned to retrace his steps, the men he led looting his dead and dying victims en route.
Solomon, coming upon the site of John’s recent victory, discovered one of the dead to be none other than Ammatus himself, but with no sight of John he was at a loss what to do. Reconnoitring to the west he and his men ascended a decent-sized hill and from there spotted a cloud of dust on the horizon; it had to be Gelimer and the main Vandal force, so word was sent back to Flavius Belisarius that an opportunity arose to smite the enemy, to catch them strung out on the march, as long as the main army moved swiftly.
If they had sighted Gelimer, his scouts had seen Solomon. Between the two forces stood a high hill that dominated the surrounding country. Possession of that would give a huge advantage to whoever held it and a race resulted to get control. The Vandals got there first and despite Solomon’s best efforts he was up against too many to prevail and was obliged to retreat, not without a hot and threatening pursuit.
Halfway back to the camp he came across a force of eight hundred bucellarii, all from the Belisarius comitatus, dismounted and holding a strong position. They, on hearing of Solomon’s reverse — it was not more than that — instead of standing where they were to provide aid, immediately fled. It was as well they encountered their general, himself out seeking news of his enemies and, though he would scarce admit it, getting himself away from the bickering of Antonina and Procopius.
Rallying them by sheer force of personality he was able to steady his troops and get them ready to fight, while the pursuit, seeing the formation of that stand, saw it as prudent to withdraw. Now Belisarius knew the whereabouts of his enemy and he also knew of the existence of the second road leading to the pass at Ad Decimum, which had him send a fast rider to order an immediate advance to secure a position that would cut Gelimer off from Carthage or, if the Vandal usurper got there first, force him to do battle before he could retire towards the safety of the city walls.
Luck, that indefinable quality, came to the aid of Flavius once more, for Gelimer delayed in his decision-making. He neither force-marched north nor seemed to be prepared for battle when the forces Belisarius led fell upon him. It was clear by the Vandal dispositions that Gelimer thought he had been beaten to the pass so that the arrival of the Romans at his rear threw his forces into complete confusion, a situation the better general was able to exploit.
There was resistance but it was fragmented and easily broken, which had the Vandals breaking off the battle and fleeing, not towards Carthage, but north-west towards the wide fertile Plains of Boulla, perhaps fearing that with the bodies of their comrades littering the road the route to the capital was already barred by substantial numbers of their enemies: they could never have guessed that the force of John the Armenian numbered a mere three hundred men.
The flat and grassy and fertile plain facilitated, for mounted men, a swift retreat and left the way open for Flavius to advance, but he halted, eager to gather in his disparate cavalry. John returned laden with Vandal booty, likewise Balas, and with the night drawing in sentinels were posted and the army settled down for a night in which the general who had won a victory sought to find out how he had achieved it, that after he had sent back to the infantry to join him at Ad Decimum, bringing with them his wife.
In assessing what he had been told Flavius knew just how fortunate he had been, not least in encountering that fleeing bucellarii and rallying them, for if the pursuit had made it through to the main encampment the whole army might have panicked. He had no illusions about such a scenario; the mood of his troops could swing from confidence to despair in the blink of an eye. It was not just true of his host, it was true of any and he understood why.
A fighting soldier could only see so much and for him, and often for the men that led them, what was happening over the extent of a whole field of battle was a mystery. In essence they were confined to the periphery of a very limited vision, thus they depended to a great extent on the mood of their comrades, which was why the wildfire sense of panic could so readily spread. One man fearing death can scare a thousand.
But Gelimer had played a good hand badly too, seeking to join his forces away from Carthage and splitting them even more than when they were already divided. Having got first to the pass at Ad Decimum he should have carried on and not allowed himself to be attacked, all of these matters discussed with Procopius so that he could write up an account which would be sent to Justinian, who would have no fingernails left with the amount of worry he must be suffering.
That also afflicted Flavius when news was passed to him that his ships, now out of sight of an army too far inland, had disobeyed his orders to match his pace and proceeded to round Cap Bon, nearly to reach the point at which lay the Vandal fleet. They might have been brought to battle and if defeated where that would have left him? As it was, nothing untoward had occurred so, reunited with Antonina, he could retire to his bed and celebrate the victory in connubial bliss.
The horns blew on a bright dawn and, with Antonina at his side, Flavius Belisarius led his army on the short march to Carthage, passing the locations of his predecessors who had fought there and humbled Hannibal and the rival Carthaginian Empire to make Rome the supreme ruler of the Mediterranean. There was an attempt at humility but it was hard; how could he not feel proud? How could he not recall his father Decimus, so much the Roman, at a time like this?
He came upon a city without a garrison to defend it and with walls in poor repair; migratory barbarians were not adept at building or maintaining fortifications, while inside the walls lived a population eager in the main to embrace them. Yet there was no rush to enter; the streets of the city were narrow, the Vandals if defeated, not destroyed. Despite the direction in which they fled how many might there be within the city waiting to ambush his men? Another day would make no difference.
Word had reached Calonymus of the victory so they were heading for the port, a move Flavius blocked; they were to stay away until he had secured the Vandal capital and all was safe. The sailors satisfied themselves by plundering every merchant ship they could find and many a shore warehouse too, in the ports close to the capital.
On the sixth day the citizens of Carthage awoke to find the Roman army drawing up in battle formation. If they were fearful they did not hear the conquering general admonish his troops to show the citizens respect, as well as their property. On demand the gates were opened and Flavius Belisarius entered the city, making for the palace of Gelimer to take up residence, eating the meal that had been prepared for the owner’s return.
Two things frustrated him: Hilderic and his supporters had been murdered by Ammatus on the news of the Roman landing; also the treasury was empty and that was a great disappointment for it was legendary in its value. It was reputed to contain the proceeds of the Vandal rampage across Gaul and Aquitaine, during two centuries in which they had despoiled palaces, churches and the villas of the rich citizenry, stripping the county of every gold solidus they could find, many of them worked into fabulous decorative ornaments. Hispania had suffered the same depredations, a land that had within it the spoils of Carthage, Rome and the Celtic tribes who had inhabited the land prior to any imperial subjection.