History of the Wars, Books III and IV

History of the Wars, Books III
and IV

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(of 8),
by Procopius, Translated by H. B. Dewing
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Title: History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8) The Vandalic War
Author: Procopius
Translator: H. B. Dewing
Release Date: September 27, 2005 [eBook #16765]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY
OF THE WARS, BOOKS III AND IV (OF 8)***
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PROCOPIUS
With an English Translation by H. B. Dewing
In Seven Volumes
II
HISTORY OF THE WARS, BOOKS III AND IV
London William Heinemann Ltd Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard
University Press
MCMLXXI
First Printed 1916

CONTENTS
HISTORY OF THE WARS--
PAGE BOOK III.--THE VANDALIC WAR 1 BOOK IV.--THE
VANDALIC WAR _(CONTINUED)_ 209
INDEX 461

PROCOPIUS OF CAESAREA
HISTORY OF THE WARS.
BOOK III
THE VANDALIC WAR
I

Such, then, was the final outcome of the Persian War for the Emperor
Justinian; and I shall now proceed to set forth all that he did against the
Vandals and the Moors. But first shall be told whence came the host of
the Vandals when they descended upon the land of the Romans. After
Theodosius, the Roman Emperor, had departed from the world, having
proved himself one of the most just of men and an able warrior, his
kingdom was taken over by his two sons, Arcadius, the elder, receiving
the Eastern portion, and Honorius, the younger, the Western. [Jan. 17,
395 A.D.] But the Roman power had been thus divided as far back as
the time of Constantine and his sons; for he transferred his government
to Byzantium, and making the city larger and much more renowned,
allowed it to be named after him.
Now the earth is surrounded by a circle of ocean, either entirely or for
the most part (for our knowledge is not as yet at all clear in this matter);
and it is split into two continents by a sort of outflow from the ocean, a
flow which enters at the western part and forms this Sea which we
know, beginning at Gadira[1] and extending all the way to the Maeotic
Lake.[2] Of these two continents the one to the right, as one sails into
the Sea, as far as the Lake, has received the name of Asia, beginning at
Gadira and at the southern[3] of the two Pillars of Heracles. Septem[4]
is the name given by the natives to the fort at that point, since seven
hills appear there; for "septem" has the force of "seven" in the Latin
tongue. And the whole continent opposite this was named Europe. And
the strait at that point separates the two continents[5] by about
eighty-four stades, but from there on they are kept apart by wide
expanses of sea as far as the Hellespont. For at this point they again
approach each other at Sestus and Abydus, and once more at
Byzantium and Chalcedon as far as the rocks called in ancient times the
"Dark Blue Rocks," where even now is the place called Hieron. For at
these places the continents are separated from one another by a distance
of only ten stades and even less than that.
Now the distance from one of the Pillars of Heracles to the other, if one
goes along the shore and does not pass around the Ionian Gulf and the
sea called the Euxine but crosses from Chalcedon[6] to Byzantium and
from Dryous[7] to the opposite mainland,[8] is a journey of two

hundred and eighty-five days for an unencumbered traveller. For as to
the land about the Euxine Sea, which extends from Byzantium to the
Lake, it would be impossible to tell everything with precision, since the
barbarians beyond the Ister River, which they also call the Danube,
make the shore of that sea quite impossible for the Romans to
traverse--except, indeed, that from Byzantium to the mouth of the Ister
is a journey of twenty-two days, which should be added to the measure
of Europe by one making the computation. And on the Asiatic side, that
is from Chalcedon to the Phasis River, which, flowing from the country
of the Colchians, descends into the Pontus, the journey is accomplished
in forty days. So that the whole Roman domain, according to the
distance along the sea at least, attains the measure of a three hundred
and forty-seven days' journey, if, as has been said, one ferries