THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 166
The Peak of the Vandal Empire
11-5. The Peak of the Vandal Empire
These miserable conditions lasted until the end of 467. The energetic Emperor Leo had by this time succeeded in overcoming the influence of Aspar, who had always been a hindrance to hostile measures against the Vandals. He despatched a fleet under the command of Marcellinus to convey the newly-created Western Emperor Anthemius to Italy and afterwards proceed to Africa. But first he sent an embassy to Gaiseric to inform him of the accession of Anthemius and to threaten him with war unless he would relinquish his marauding expeditions.
The king instantly refused the demand and declared the agreements made with Byzantium at an end. His ships no longer sought Italy, but the coasts of the Eastern Empire: Illyria, the Peloponnesus, and all the rest of Greece felt his powerful arm, and even Alexandria felt itself menaced. But when the attempt of Marcellinus to advance against Africa miscarried on account of contrary winds, Leo determined to make great warlike preparations and to destroy his terrible opponent at one blow. Eleven hundred ships were got together and an army of 100,000 men raised. The plan of campaign was to attack the Vandal Empire on three sides. The main army was to march under Basiliscus direct to Carthage, another body under Heraclius and Marsus was to advance overland from Egypt to the West, while Marcellinus with his fleet was to strike at the Vandal centre in the Mediterranean.
But once more fortune favoured the Vandals. They succeeded under cover of night in surprising Basiliscus' fleet, which was already anchored at the Promontorium Mercurii (now Cape Bon), and destroyed a part of it by fire. The rest took to flight and scarcely one-half of the fine armada managed to escape to Sicily (468). The not unimportant successes which the other Byzantine generals had in the meantime achieved could not balance this catastrophe, and as a crowning misfortune the able Marcellinus when on the point of sailing for Carthage was murdered (August 468). Leo was therefore obliged to relinquish further undertakings and make peace once more with Gaiseric.
The peace, however, only lasted a few years. After Leo's death (Jan. 474) the Vandals again devastated the coast of Greece in frequent expeditions. The Emperor Zeno, who was not prepared to punish the marauders, was obliged to sue for peace, and sent the Senator Severus to Carthage to superintend negotiations. It was agreed that the two empires from that time should not be hostile to each other. The king promised to guarantee freedom of worship to the Catholics in Carthage and to permit the return of the clergy who had been banished for political intrigues, although he could not be prevailed upon to allow a new appointment to the Carthaginian bishopric, vacant since Deogratias' death (457). Besides this he restored without ransom the Roman prisoners who had been allotted to him and his family, and gave Severus permission to buy back the slaves allotted as booty among the Vandals with the goodwill of their owners. In return the Byzantine Emperor, as the overlord of both halves of the Empire, no doubt formally recognised the Vandal kingdom in its then extent — it comprised the entire Roman province of Africa, the Balearic Isles, Pithyusae, Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily (autumn 476). Gaiseric soon afterwards made over Sicily to Odovacar in return for the payment of a yearly tribute, only reserving for himself the town of Lilybaeum, which had a strategical importance as a starting-point for Africa.
On 25 January 477, Gaiseric died at a very great age after he had raised the Vandal Empire to the height of its power. What he accomplished, as general and politician, in his active life is beyond praise and is unreservedly acknowledged by contemporaries. On the other hand, a less favourable verdict must be pronounced on his statesmanship.
The Empire he established was a hybrid State and therefore bore from the beginning the seeds of decay in itself. The nations under his rule were kept strictly separate from each other, and the possibility of an amalgamation, which might have been the foundation of a new political organisation, was thus prevented. Herein is seen the truth found by experience, that the existence of all kingdoms erected by conquest is bound up with the life of their creator unless the latter can succeed in creating a united organism on a national, constitutional, or economic basis.
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