all their other preparations, sailed on. But since the wind they had was
very gentle and languid, it was only on the sixteenth day that they came
to land at a deserted place in Sicily near which Mount Aetna rises. And
while they were being delayed in this passage, as has been said, it so
happened that the water of the whole fleet was spoiled, except that
which Belisarius himself and his table-companions were drinking. For
this alone was preserved by the wife of Belisarius in the following
manner. She filled with water jars made of glass and constructed a small
room with planks in the hold of the ship where it was impossible for the
sun to penetrate, and there she sank the jars in sand, and by this means
the water remained unaffected. So much, then, for this.


XIV

And as soon as Belisarius had disembarked upon the island, he began to
feel restless, knowing not how to proceed, and his mind was tormented by
the thought that he did not know what sort of men the Vandals were
against whom he was going, and how strong they were in war, or in what
manner the Romans would have to wage the war, or what place would be
their base of operations. But most of all he was disturbed by the
soldiers, who were in mortal dread of sea-fighting and had no shame in
saying beforehand that, if they should be disembarked on the land, they
would try to show themselves brave men in the battle, but if hostile
ships assailed them, they would turn to flight; for, they said, they
were not able to contend against two enemies at once, both men and
water. Being at a loss, therefore, because of all these things, he sent
Procopius, his adviser, to Syracuse, to find out whether the enemy had
any ships in ambush keeping watch over the passage across the sea,
either on the island or on the continent, and where it would be best for