On the death of Hunneric (484) he was succeeded by his cousin Gunthamund, Gaiseric having established seniority among his own descendants as the law of succession to his throne. Guntha mund (484-96) and his brother Thrasamund (496-523), though Arians, abated some of the rigour of the persecution, and main tained the external credit of the monarchy. On the death of Thrasamund, Hilderic (523-31), the son of Hunneric and Eudo cia, at length succeeded to the throne. He adhered to the creed of his mother rather than to that of his father; and, in spite of a solemn oath sworn to his predecessor that he would not restore the Catholic churches to their owners, he at once proceeded to do so and to recall the bishops. Hilderic, elderly, Catholic and timid, was very unpopular with his subjects, and after a reign of eight years he was thrust into prison by his cousin Gelimer The wrongs of Hilderic, a Catholic, with the blood of the em peror Theodosius in his veins, afforded to Justinian a long-coveted pretext for overthrowing the Vandal dominion. A great expedition under the command of Belisarius reached Africa in the beginning of Sept. 533. A large force of Vandals was then occupied in Sardinia under Gelimer's brother Tzazo, and the landing of Beli sarius was entirely unopposed. He marched rapidly towards Carthage and on Sept. 13, defeated Gelimer at Ad Decimum, io m. from Carthage. Next day he entered Carthage and ate the feast prepared in Gelimer's palace for its lord. Belisarius, how ever, was too late to save the life of Hilderic, who had been slain by his rival's orders as soon as the news came of the landing of the imperial army. On the return of Tzazo from Sardinia a force was collected considerably larger than the imperial army, but the Vandals were defeated and Gelimer took to flight. He took refuge
in a mountain fortress called Pappua on the Numidian frontier, and there, after enduring great hardships in the squalid dwellings of the Moors, surrendered to his pursuers in March 534. The well-known stories of his laughter when he was introduced to Belisarius, and his chant, "Vanitas vanitatum," when he walked before the triumphal car of his conqueror through the streets of Constantinople, probably point to an intellect disordered by his reverses and hardships. The Vandals who were carried captive to Constantinople were enlisted in five squadrons of cavalry and sent to serve against the Parthians under the title "Justiniani Vandali." Four hundred escaped to Africa and took part in a mutiny of the imperial troops, which was with difficulty quelled by Belisarius (536). After this the Vandals disappeared from history. The overthrow of their kingdom undoubtedly rendered easier the spread of Saracen conquest along the northern shore of Africa in the following century. (F. G. M. B. ; T. H.) Natural History, iv. 99 ; Tacitus, Germania, CC. 2, 43 Ptolemy, ii. c. §§ 18 ff.; Julius Capitolinus, De Bello Marcomannico, 17 ; Vopiscus, Probus, 18; Dexippus, Excerpta, pp. 19 ff. (Bonn) ; and Jordanes, 4, 16, 22 ; Procopius, De Bello Vandalico, a first-rate authority for contemporary events, must be used with caution for the history of the two or three generations before his time. The chroniclers Idatius, Prosper and Victor Tunnunensis supply some facts, and for the persecution of the Catholics Victor Vitensis and the Vita Augustini of Posidius may be consulted. See also L. Schmidt, Geschichte der Wandalen (Leipzig, 1901).