But on the following day, when some of the soldiers went out into the fields and laid hands on the fruit, the general inflicted corporal punishment of no casual sort upon them, and he called all the army together and spoke as follows:  “This using of violence and the eating of that which belongs to others seems at other times a wicked thing only on this account, that injustice is in the deed itself, as the saying is; but in the present instance so great an element of detriment is added to the wrongdoing that—­if it is not too harsh to say so—­we must consider the question of justice of less account and calculate the magnitude of the danger that may arise from your act.  For I have disembarked you upon this land basing my confidence on this alone, that the Libyans, being Romans from of old, are unfaithful and hostile to the Vandals, and for this reason I thought that no necessaries would fail us and, besides, that the enemy would not do us any injury by a sudden attack.  But now this your lack of self-control has changed it all and made the opposite true.  For you have doubtless reconciled the Libyans to the Vandals, bringing their hostility round upon your own selves.  For by nature those who are wronged feel enmity toward those who have done them violence, and it has come round to this that you have exchanged your own safety and a bountiful supply of good things for some few pieces of silver, when it was possible for you, by purchasing provisions from willing owners, not to appear unjust and at the same time to enjoy their friendship to the utmost.  Now, therefore, the war will be between you and both Vandals and Libyans, and I, at least, say further that it will be against God himself, whose aid no one who does wrong can invoke.  But do you cease trespassing wantonly upon the possessions of others, and reject a gain which is full of dangers.  For this is that time in which above all others moderation is able to save, but lawlessness leads to death.  For if you give heed to these things, you will find God propitious, the Libyan people well-disposed, and the race of the Vandals open to your attack.”

With these words Belisarius dismissed the assembly.  And at that time he heard that the city of Syllectus was distant one day’s journey from the camp, lying close to the sea on the road leading to Carthage, and that the wall of this city had been torn down for a long time, but the inhabitants of the place had made a barrier on all sides by means of the walls of their houses, on account of the attacks of the Moors, and guarded a kind of fortified enclosure; he, accordingly, sent one of his spearmen, Boriades, together with some of the guards, commanding them to make an attempt oh the city, and, if they captured it, to do no harm in it, but to promise a thousand good things and to say that they had come for the sake of the people’s freedom, that so the army might be able to enter into it.  And they came near the city about dusk and passed the night hidden in a ravine.  But at early dawn, meeting country folk going into the city with waggons, they entered quietly with them and with no trouble took possession of the city.  And when day came, no one having begun any disturbance, they called together the priest and all the other notables and announced the commands of the general, and receiving the keys of the entrances from willing hands, they sent them to the general.