Some years after the capture of Rome by Genseric, there was a Roman
emperor named Ma-jo'ri-an. He was a good ruler and a brave man.
The Vandals still continued to attack and plunder cities in Italy
and other countries belonging to Rome, and Majorian resolved to
punish them. So he got together a great army and built a fleet
of three hundred ships to carry his troops to Carthage.
But he first marched his men across the Alps, through Gaul, and
down to the seaport of Carthagena in Spain, where his fleet was
stationed. He took this route because he expected to add to his
forces as he went along. Before sailing with his army for Carthage
he wished very much to see with his own eyes what sort of people
the Vandals were and whether they were so powerful at home as was
generally believed.
So he dyed his hair and disguised himself in other ways and went
to Carthage, pretending that he was a messenger or ambassador from
the Roman emperor, coming to talk about peace. Genseric received
him with respect and entertained him hospitably, not knowing that
he was the Emperor Majorian. Of course peace was not made. The
emperor left Carthage after having got as much information as he
could.
But Genseric did not wait for the Roman fleet to come to attack
him in his capital. When he got word that it was in the Bay of
Carthagena, he sailed there with a fleet of his own and in a single
day burned or sank nearly all the Roman ships.
After this the Vandals became more than ever the terror of the
Mediterranean and all the countries bordering upon it. Every year
their ships went round the coasts from Asia Minor to Spain, attacking
and plundering cities on their way and carrying off prisoners.
All the efforts of the Romans failed to put a stop to these ravages.
The Emperor Leo, who ruled over the eastern division of the Empire,
fitted out a great fleet at Constantinople to make another attempt
to suppress the pirates. There were more than a thousand ships in
this fleet and they carried a hundred thousand men. The command
of the expedition was given to Bas-il'i-cus, the brother of Emperor
Leo's wife.
Basilicus sailed with his ships to Africa and landed the army not
far from Carthage. Genseric asked for a truce for five days to
consider terms of peace, and the truce was granted. But the cunning
Vandal was not thinking of peace. He only wanted time to carry
out a plan he had made to destroy the Roman fleet.
One dark night, during the truce, he filled the largest of his
ships with some of the bravest of his soldiers, and they sailed
silently and cautiously in among the Roman ships, towing behind
them large boats filled with material that would easily burn.
These boats were set on fire and floated against the Roman vessels,
which also were soon on fire. The flames quickly spread, and in
a very short time a great part of the Roman fleet was destroyed.
Basilicus fled with as many ships as he could save, and returned
to Constantinople.
This was the last attempt of the Romans to conquer the Vandals.
Genseric lived to a good old age, and when he died, in 477, all
the countries he had conquered during his life still remained parts
of the Vandal dominions.