90 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xxxvii Thrasi- mund. a.d. 496 Hilderic. a.d. 523 Gelimer. A.D. 530 A general view of the persecu- tion in Africa most accomplished of the Vandal kings, whom he excelled in beauty, prudence, and magnanimity of soul. But this mag- nanimous character was degraded by his intolerant zeal and deceitful clemency. Instead of threats and tortures, he employed the gentle but efficacious powers of seduction. Wealth, dignity, and the royal favour were the liberal rewards of apostacy ; the Catholics, who had violated the laws, might purchase their pardon by the renunciation of their faith; and, whenever Thrasimund meditated any rigorous measure, he patiently waited till the indiscretion of his adversaries furnished him with a specious opportunity. Bigotry was his last sentiment in the hour of death ; and he exacted from his successor a solemn oath that he would never tolerate the sectaries of Athanasius. But his successor, Hilderic, the gentle son of the savage Hunneric, preferred the duties of humanity and justice to the vain obligation of an impious oath; and his accession was gloriously marked by the restoration of peace and universal freedom. The throne of that virtuous, though feeble, monarch was usurped by his cousin Gelimer, a zealous Arian ; but the Vandal kingdom, before he could enjoy or abuse his power, was subverted by the arms of Belisarius ; and the orthodox party retaliated the injuries which they had endured. 92 The passionate declamations of the Catholics, the sole historians of this persecution, cannot afford any distinct series of causes and events, any impartial view of characters or counsels ; but the most remarkable circumstances, that deserve either credit or notice, may be referred to the following heads : I. In the original law, which is still extant, 93 Hunneric expressly declares, and the declaration appears to be correct, that he had faithfully transcribed the regulations and penalties of the 92 The original monuments of the Vandal persecution are preserved in the five books of the History of Victor Vitensis (de Persecutione Vandalica), a bishop who was exiled by Hunneric ; in the Life of St. Fulgentius, who was distinguished in the persecution of Thrasimund (in Biblioth. Max. Patrum, torn. ix. p. 4-16 [Migne, P. L., lxv. p. 117 sqq.)) ; and in the first book of the Vandalic War, by the impartial Procopius (c. 7, 8, p. 196, 197, 198, 199). Dom. Buinart, the last editor of Victor, has illustrated the whole subject with a copious and learned apparatus of notes and supplement (Paris, 1694). [Halm's ed. of Victor in Mon. Germ. Hist, has an excellent index. For Fulgentius of Ruspe, see Gorres, Zeitschrift fur wissen- schaftliche Theologie, 1894, p. 500 sqq.] 93 Victor, iv. 2, p. 65. Hunneric refuses the name of Catholics to the Homo- ousians. He describes, as the veri DivinsB Majestatis cultores, his own party, who professed the faith, confirmed by more than a thousand bishops, in the synods of Rimini and Seleucia.
