BELISARIUS (c. 505-565), one of the most famous generals of the later Roman empire, was born about A.D. 505, in "Ger mania," a district on the borders of Thrace and Macedonia. As a youth he served in the bodyguard of Justinian, who appointed him commander of the Eastern army. He won a victory over the Persians in S3o, but was defeated in the following year. Recalled to Constantinople, he married Antonina, a favourite of the empress Theodora. During the Nika sedition (532) he did Justinian good service, crushing the rebels who had proclaimed Hypatius em peror. In 533 he was put in command of the expedition against the Vandal kingdom in Africa. With 15,000 mercenaries, he took Carthage, defeated Gelimer the Vandal king, and carried him cap tive to Constantinople (534). As a reward Belisarius received the consulship. At this time Justinian decided to attack Italy where the Ostrogothic kingdom was shaken by internal dissen sions. Accordingly, Belisarius invaded Sicily (535) and, after storming Naples and defending Rome for a year against almost the entire strength of the Goths in Italy, he captured Ravenna, and with it the Gothic king Vitiges. The Ostrogoths offered to acknowledge him emperor of the West, but he rejected the pro posal and returned to Constantinople in 54o. Next year he was sent to check the Persian king Chosroes (Anushirvan) ; but achieved no decisive result. In 544, the Goths having meanwhile reconquered Italy, Belisarius was sent with inadequate forces to oppose them. During five campaigns he held his enemies at bay, until he was removed from the command. Belisarius remained at Constantinople in retirement until 559, when at the head of a mixed multitude of peasants and soldiers he repelled the Bul garian savages who had invaded the city. But this, like his former victories, roused Justinian's envy. The saviour of his country was coldly received and left unrewarded by his suspicious sovereign. Shortly afterwards Belisarius was accused of complicity in a con spiracy against the emperor (562) ; his fortune was confiscated and he was imprisoned in his palace. He was set free and restored to favour in 563, and died in 565.
The fiction of Belisarius wandering as a blind beggar through Constantinople, which has been adopted by Marmontel in his Belisaire and by various painters and poets, is first heard of in the loth century. Gibbon justly calls Belisarius the Africanus of New Rome. He was merciful as a conqueror, stern as a dis ciplinarian, enterprising and wary as a general ; while his courage, loyalty and forbearance seem to have been almost unsullied. He was the idol of his soldiers, a good tactician, but not a great strategist.