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BELISARIUS (c. 505–565)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 683 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BELISARIUS (c. 505–565) , one of the most famous generals of the later See also:Roman See also:empire, was See also:born about A.D. 505, in "Germania," a See also:district on the See also:borders of See also:Thrace and See also:Macedonia. His name is supposed to be See also:Slavonic. As a youth he served in the See also:body-guard of Justinian, who appointed him See also:commander of the Eastern See also:army. He won a See also:signal victory over the Persians in 530, and successfully conducted a See also:campaign against them, until forced, by the rashness of his soldiers, to join See also:battle and suffer defeat in the following See also:year. Recalled to See also:Constantinople, he married Antonina, a See also:clever, intriguing woman, and a favourite of the empress See also:Theodora. During the See also:sedition of the " See also:green " and "See also:blue" parties of the See also:circus (known as the Nika sedition, 532) he did Justinian See also:good service, effectually crushing the rebels who had proclaimed Hypatius See also:emperor. In 533 the command of the expedition against the Vandal See also:kingdom in See also:Africa, a perilous See also:office, which the See also:rest of the imperial generals shunned, was conferred on Belisarius. With 15,00o mercenaries, whom he had to See also:train into Roman discipline, he took See also:Carthage, defeated Gelimer the Vandal See also:king, and carried him See also:captive, in 534, to See also:grace the first See also:triumph witnessed in Constantinople. In See also:reward for these services Belisarius was invested with the consular dignity, and medals were struck in his See also:honour. At this See also:time the Ostrogothic kingdom, founded in See also:Italy by See also:Theodoric the See also:Great, was shaken by See also:internal dissensions, of which Justinian resolved to avail himself.

Accordingly, Belisarius invaded See also:

Sicily; and, after storming See also:Naples and defending See also:Rome for a year against almost the entire strength of the Goths in Italy, he concluded the See also:war by the See also:capture of See also:Ravenna, and with it of the See also:Gothic king Vitiges. So conspicuous were Belisarius's heroism and military skill that the See also:Ostrogoths offered to acknowledge him emperor of the See also:West. But his See also:loyalty did not waver; he rejected the proposal and returned to Constantinople in 540. Next year he was sent to check the See also:Persian king See also:Chosroes (Annshirvan); but, thwarted by the turbulence of his troops, he achieved no decisive result. On his return to Constantinople he lived under a See also:cloud for some time, but was pardoned through the See also:influence of Antonina with the empress. The Goths having meanwhile reconquered Italy, Belisarius was despatched with utterly inadequate forces to oppose them. Nevertheless, during five See also:campaigns he held his enemies at See also:bay, until he was removed from the command, and the conclusion of the war was entrusted to the See also:eunuch See also:Narses. Belisarius remained at Constantinople in tranquil retirement until 559, when an incursion of Bulgarian savages spread a panic through the See also:metropolis, and men's eyes were once more turned towards the neglected See also:veteran, who placed himself at the See also:head of a mixed multitude of peasants and soldiers, and repelled the barbarians with his wonted courage and adroitness. But this, like his former victories, stimulated Justinian's envy. The saviour of his See also:country was coldly received and See also:left unrewarded by his suspicious See also:sovereign. Shortly after-wards Belisarius was accused of complicity in a See also:conspiracy against the emperor (562); his See also:fortune was confiscated, and he was confined as a prisoner in his See also:palace. He was liberated and restored to favour in 563, and died in 565.

The fiction of Belisarius wandering as a See also:

blind See also:beggar through the streets of Constantinople, which has been adopted by See also:Marmontel in his Belisaire, and by various painters and poets, is first heard of in the loth See also:century. See also:Gibbon justly calls Belisarius the See also:Africanus of New Rome. He was merciful as a conqueror, stern as a disciplinarian, enterprising and wary as a See also: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. AuTHORITIES.—Procopius, De Bellis and Historia Arcana (best edition by J. See also:Maury, 1905, 1907) ; see Gibbon, Decline and Fall (ed. See also:Bury, vol. 4) ; T. See also:Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (vol. 4) ; J. B. Bury, Later Roman Empire, vol. i.; Diehl, Justinien (See also:Paris, 1901).

(J. B.

End of Article: BELISARIUS (c. 505–565)

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