BELISARIUS, supposed to have been born and educated in Thrace, was first one of the private guards, and afterwards the chief commander of the armies of Justinian. He was first entrusted with the command of a body of troops on the Persian fron tiers ; and about four years afterwards, was appoint ed general of the East, in the war against Cusrhoes king of Persia. Returning from this war in 530, in which he had acquired great renown, he came very seasonably to the relief of the emperor, who was hard pressed by a formidable insurrection at Constanti nople ; and, immediately falling with his victorious troops upon the insurgents, put to death an incre dible number of them, (according to some authors 30,000,) and completely restored the peace of the metropolis. In 532, he was sent to conduct the war against the Vandals in Africa, which, in little more than the space of one year, he brought to a success ful termination. Returning to Constantinople in 534, with the Vandal prince Gilimer among his captives, he received the honour of a splendid triumph in re ward of his .scrviccs, and was created sole consul for the year following. He was next employed against the Ostrogoths in Italy in 535; landed first in Sicily, which he speedily reduced ; passed over to the con tinent, and took the city of Naples by storm ; re. ceived the Submission of the Gothic prince Theoda tus in Rome ; drove back a powerful army of Goths, .who, under the command of their new king Vitiges, • attempted to recover their capital ; and completely reduced the remains of their over by taking the city of Ravenna in 539. During the whole of this war, his army never amounted to 20,000, and seldom to more than 10,000 or 12,000 men ; but by his de termined courage and consummate skill, he rendered this little band victorious over a brave and numerous people. The Goths themselves, admiring the vir tues and talents of their conqueror, entreated him to desert his master, and to become their king; but he made use of their proposal only to hasten their sub. jection, and remained faithful to his sovereign. Nei ther his eminent services, however, nor unshaken fide lity, could preserve him from the venomed shafts of envy, and the base suspicions of jealousy. Justinian, influenced by the representations of his enemies, but pretending, that he required his assistance against the Persians, recalled him from his command, received him with coldness, and refused him a triumph. But his actions were too conspicuous for their merit to be obscured; and the ingratitude of the.emperor ser ved only to increase the admiration of the people. The glory of Belisarius was now at its height ; and he was confessedly the first subject in the empire of the East. He had returned to Constantinople crown ed with victories, loaded with treasures, surrounded by captive princes ; and his fellow citizens were neither insensible to his merits, nor parsimonious of their applause. Whenever he appeared in public, his lofty stature and majestic countenance attracted the notice and respect of every spectator ; while his easy access and gracious demeanour engaged the esteem and affection of his countrymen. Seven thousand horsemen, of the most distinguished valour and manly forms, maintained at his own expense, and who had eminently contributed to his conquests by their prowess in the field, now supported the splendour of his name, by their faithful attachment and constant attendance upon his person. Thus honoured by the soldiery, and beloved by the people, Belisarius de parted from Constantinople in the year 5 tl, to take the command in Persia ; and, having soon restored the sinking state of affairs in that quarter, was be ginning to add fresh laurels to his fame, when his career of glory was arrested by the infuriated in trigues of a licentious female. The conqueror of the Goths and Vandals was the slave of his wife Auto nina, a woman originally of the lowest extraction and most worthless character; but whose fatal in fluence over her husband, and whose favour with the Empress Theodora, rendered her the arbitress of his fortune. Belisarius, at length made acquainted with her secret amours, of which he alone had never enter tained the smallest suspicion, had charged her with her infidelity, and left her behind him in the metro polis. In consequence of her powerful machinations,
he was recalled in disgrace, insulted upon his arrival even by the attendants of the court, deprived of his honours, condemned to a state of privacy, and placed even in momentary expectation of receiving the man date of his execution. In this reverse of fortune the renowned Belisarius conducted himself with the most unbecoming pusillanimity; and having been at length relieved from his abject state of terror, by a letter from the empress, announcing his restoration to fa your, representing Antonina as his generous inter cessor, and recommending her as worthy of his most respectful treatment, he threw himself at the feet of the infamous partner of his bed, acknowledged her as his honoured protectorcss, and vowed to conduct himself thenceforth as the most submissive of her ser vants. Thus reinstated in his rank and possessions, he was again chosen to oppose the Goths in Italy, who had now become more formidable than ever, un der the conduct of the celebrated Totila. Though he was now better acquainted with the scene of ac tion, and directed his movements with greater skill, than in his former expedition to that country ; yet he made little progress against the enemy, and gain ed no great additions to his military fame. His want of success may justly be attributed to the insuf ficiency of the reinforcements, with which he was supplied ; and to the effects of his recent disgrace, which had rendered him more timid in his measures, as well as more distrustful of his soldiers. At length in 548, by the influence of Antonina, he procured permission to return to Constantinople ; where, about ten years afterwards, his military talents were again called into notice by a sudden incursion of the Bul garians, who had rapidly advanced to the walls of the capital. Though weakened by age, and scarcely able to hold a shield, the veteran general readily obeyed the demand for his services, put himself at the head of a tumultuary band, arrested the progress of the enemy, and delivered the metropolis from its alarm. This was the last exploit of Belisarius ; and it was not more gratefully requited than any of the former. Through the increasing jealousy of the emperor, he was suspected of a conspiracy, hastily condemned, and put under a guard of soldiers in his own house. His innocence, indeed, was speedily acknowledged, his freedom, possessions, and honours restored ; but, within a few months after this acquit tal, his misfortunes were terminated by death in the year 563. That he was deprived of his sight, and reduced to beg his bread in the streets of Constanti nople, is a fiction of later times, which originated in a poem of John Tzetzes, a monk, who wrote in the 12th century. Making every allowance for the par tialities of Procopius, who was the witness and his torian of many of the actions of Belisarius, he must be admitted to have been one of the greatest com manders, who had appeared in the Roman empire for many years. He was prudent without fear, bold without rashness, and remarkably fertile in expe dients ; liberal to his soldiers, humanely attentive to their comfort when sick or wounded, and, at the same time, careful to preserve them under the most rigid discipline. During the march of his armies, the husbandmcn enjoyed the utmost peace and protec. tion ; so that not an apple was gathered from a tree, nor was a path to be traced in the fields of corn. He was equally careful to preserve the vanquished from the fury of his troops, in the moment of victory; and when they entered the city of Naples by assault, he was seen standing in the streets, repeatedly exclaim ing to his soldiers, " the gold and silver are the just rewards of your valour ; but spare the inhabitants : they are Christians ; they are supplicants ; they are now your fellow subjects." He was humble in pros perity ; and so exemplary for temperance in his per. • sonal conduct, amidst all his successes, and with all the licence of a military life, he was, never intoxi cated with wine, nor suspected of unchastity. See Gibbon's Hist. of the llom. Empire, val. iv. Ito, p. 127, 182. ; Ancient Un. Hist. vol. xvi. and xix. ; Mod. Un. Hist. vol. xiv .; and Dcnina, Delle Revolu zioni & Italia. (g)