The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

BELISARIUS

Belisarius or the White Prince, was a Roman soldier. He was born about 505 in Illyria and died in 565. He served in the bodyguard of the emperor, soon after obtained the chief command of an army on the Persian frontiers, and in 530 gained a victory over a superior Persian army. The next year, however, he lost a battle, and was recalled. In the year 532 he checked the disorders in Constantinople arising from the Green and Blue factions; and was then sent with 15,000 men to Africa to recover the territories occupied by the Vandals.

He took Carthage and led Gelimer, the Vandal king, in triumph through Constantinople. Dissensions having arisen in the Ostrogothic kingdom, he was sent to Italy, and though ill supplied with money and troops, stormed Naples, held Rome for a year, took Ravenna, and led captive Vitiges, the Gothic king. He rendered honourable service in later campaigns in Italy and against the Bulgarians, but was accused of conspiracy and flung into prison. He afterwards seems to have recovered his property and dignities, the story of Tzetzes (a twelfth-century monk), that Belisarius wandered about as a blind beggar, being probably an invention. The only weaknesses in the character of Belisarius appear in connection with his profligate wife Antonina, an associate of the Empress Theodora.
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