of the Christians, and sparing no insult, they acted with all the
unrestrained lawlessness natural to them, beating as many priests as
they caught and lashing them with many blows over the back and
commanding them to render such service to the Vandals as they were
accustomed to assign to the most dishonoured of their domestics. And as
soon as they had departed from there, the spies of Cabaon did as they
had been directed to do; for they straightway cleansed the sanctuaries
and took away with great care the filth and whatever other unholy thing
lay in them, and they lighted all the lamps and bowed down before the
priests with great reverence and saluted them with all friendliness; and
after giving pieces of silver to the poor who sat about these
sanctuaries, they then followed after the army of the Vandals. And from
then on along the whole route the Vandals continued to commit the same
offences and the spies to render the same service. And when they were
coming near the Moors, the spies anticipated them and reported to Cabaon
what had been done by the Vandals and by themselves to the temples of
the Christians, and that the enemy were somewhere near by. And Cabaon,
upon learning this, arranged for the encounter as follows. He marked off
a circle in the plain where he was about to make his palisade, and
placed his camels turned sideways in a circle as a protection for the
camp, making his line fronting the enemy about twelve camels deep. Then
he placed the children and the women and all those who were unfit for
fighting together with their possessions in the middle, while he
commanded the host of fighting men to stand between the feet of those
animals, covering themselves with their shields.[34] And since the
phalanx of the Moors was of such a sort, the Vandals were at a loss how
to handle the situation; for they were neither good with the javelin nor
with the bow, nor did they know how to go into battle on foot, but they
were all horsemen, and used spears and swords for the most part, so that
they were unable to do the enemy any harm at a distance; and their