It was agreed that as matters stood the Belisarius view should prevaiclass="underline" stay behind the ditch and the walls and wait. As the meeting broke up Balas hung back and it was plain he wanted a private talk. Procopius was permitted to stay as the Hun leader raised the discomfort being felt by his men.
‘I hope, Flavius Belisarius, you see them as having acquitted themselves well.’
‘Without doubt, a couple of transgressors notwithstanding.’
Balas shrugged. ‘They got what they deserved but the rest of my soldiers are wondering when they can go home?’
‘We are in the middle of a campaign,’ Procopius protested.
‘And they will see it through. But there’s not one of them gives this Gelimer a chance and they are hoping you will say to them that as soon as he is defeated proper they will be boarded onto ships for Constantinople and the borderlands. They did not make a mark to serve abroad.’
There was no need to ask why this request was forthcoming; the Huns served as mercenaries close to their own homelands. They liked to do their service in a spot where they could easily visit family, often wives and children, or friends who lived just beyond the imperial border markers. If they campaigned away from that it was of short duration.
Flavius had always had an ambivalent attitude to Huns — it was men of that race who had massacred the cohort led by his father and if they had been bribed to do so that did not diminish the relish with which their murderous raid was carried out. Perhaps there were men now serving Justinian who had taken part in that incursion, maybe even in his army.
Not that he would enquire; the Huns who enrolled as mercenaries were wonderful fighters with a reputation that was respected throughout the known world. But their tribal comrades who did not serve the armies of Constantinople were more numerous and seen as homicidal, especially by imperial citizens. If any of that ilk were present it was best not to know.
‘We must defeat Gelimer before anyone goes anywhere.’
‘I have acknowledged that.’
‘And if it takes time?’
‘Then they will stay true.’
‘True?’ demanded Procopius, hinting at treason.
‘An inappropriate word, Balas,’ Flavius said in an emollient tone. ‘Please tell your men that no one will be kept here beyond the need, but I have also to add I have no idea when that might be.’
‘Strange to make the request now,’ Procopius opined when the Hun leader had left.
‘It’s a cautioning. Balas is letting us know well in advance of any difficulties that there might be one.’
Any concerns would have been eased if they could have seen into the mind of Gelimer. He too would have agreed with John the Armenian, for he knew that a protracted war was unsustainable and would only have been so with the aid of the indigenous population. But they were now firmly, thanks to the mildness of the Belisarian policies, firmly in his camp.
Thus he had a limited number of men and after they were gone there would be no more. To keep them in the field without fighting was not the way of their tribe, and even if he had wanted to play a waiting game their hot blood would not have permitted it. He needed to beat the Romans and quickly; that done, the spineless indigenes would soon bow at the knee again.
Flavius Belisarius was in Carthage, which is where Gelimer knew he must proceed and quickly. The walls were being repaired; it was getting stronger not weaker so it was time to march.
The first act was to damage the city aqueduct and deprive it of much of its fresh water. Yet Gelimer did not want a siege, he wanted the Romans to emerge from within and fight, so there was no attempt to cut off the city from supply, impossible anyway given the amount of shipping available and an open port. He moved his main camp back to a place called Tricamarum though he had many a patrol pass jeering before the walls.
In addition he had his agents seeking to weaken Belisarius; there was some hope that the Carthaginians, who had done better out of Vandal rule than their country cousins, might defect to his banner. Then there was religion; the Huns and Heruls were Arians and so easy to approach through the Vandal divines who still said Masses within the city.
The latter, being Germans, were quick to rebuff such an overture but it fell on more fertile ground with the Huns; the warning given by Balas had not been hot air, there was a genuine grievance and it affected the entire contingent. If Belisarius was beaten they could leave; if he won that was not certain.
One of the problems was that Flavius gave them time; he was not to be tempted to battle until the walls of the city were fully repaired. Then and only then, when he had an absolutely secure base to retire to in the face of possible defeat would he oblige Gelimer. Nor was he unconscious of the hopes of the Vandal leader. One citizen of Carthage was caught seeking to join the Vandals; Flavius had him impaled on the battlements and left to rot as a warning to others.
With the Huns he sought to seduce them with his attention, to perhaps tie them to him personally. There were gifts and banquets over the next two months which calmed the chance of any immediate defection. Yet asked if he had secured their allegiance he was only able to reply, while struggling to keep his personal distaste for the breed out of his voice, ‘What I have secured is their indifference. They will be with us if we are winning, but will side with Gelimer if not. They care only for their own needs.’
Patience was aided by domestic harmony; that existed as long as Procopius was not around. Antonina had taken to being a suzerain with delight. The Belisarian apartments, lately Gelimer’s, were full most nights of her husband’s officers as well as the leading citizens of Carthage, who saw it as politic to shower her with gifts — the soldiers settled for flattery — both of which she took with both hands.
The only fly in this happy scene was Procopius, hinting that such gatherings were not as innocent as his employer supposed. Flavius was not always present — he had duties to attend to which could not be delegated. The secretary was careful, of course, never once accusing Antonina of anything untoward. But there was enough in his concerns to have Flavius wondering; she had, after all, led a very chequered life before their nuptials and he knew her to be a lusty lover with an appetite he was not always able to satisfy.
That was a consideration that required to be left for another time; three months had gone by now and with a stout city fortress fully repaired Flavius could contemplate giving battle. His first act was to send out John the Armenian with most of the bucellarii, his orders to approach the fortified camp of Gelimer, to bait the enemy with archery and probing attacks if the opportunity arose but on no account to initiate a full-scale battle.
The next morning Flavius left Carthage at the head of the infantry and the remaining cavalry, to cover the six leagues to where Gelimer had set up camp. But the Vandals had moved out and were now on the far side of a stream some distance from their camp. The Vandal leader used that watercourse and the dip in the ground that it created to draw up his own forces but he waited till midday before fully deploying; clearly someone had advised him of the same tactics once employed by the Sassanids: fight the Romans when they are hungry.
Yet he was preparing to attack and that caught the men John led by surprise, meaning they had to rapidly deploy to face Gelimer before their entire force was on the field. Flavius was still marching with the infantry, following well behind him, only in sight of John’s predicament when matters had come to a critical stage. Knowing the Armenian would be forced to engage before he could be fully supported — the infantry were too far off and coming on too slowly — he sent forward the army standard and his own comitatus along with a message to say he had every confidence in his ability.