For they thought the reason for his perjury was not uxoriousness, but his fear of the Empress. But after Theodora died, as I have told, he still took no thought of Photius or any of his friends; and it was clear he called Antonina his mistress, and Calligonus the pander, his master. And then all men saw his shame, made him a public laughing stock, and reviled him to his face as a nitwit. Now was the folly of Belisarius completely revealed.
As for Sergius, son of Bacchus, and his misdeeds in Libya, I have described that affair sufficiently in my chapter elsewhere on the subject: how he was most guilty for the disaster there to Roman power, and how he disregarded the gospel oath he had sworn to the Levathae, and criminally put to death their eighty ambassadors.
John son of Sisinnolus
So there remains for me to add now only this, that neither did these men come to Sergius with any intention of treachery, nor did Sergius have any suspicion that they did; but nevertheless, after inviting them to a banquet under pledge of safety, he put them shamefully to death. This resulted in the loss of Solomon, the Roman Army, and all the Libyans. For consequent to this affair, especially after Solomon’s death, as I have told, neither officer nor soldier was willing to venture the dangers of battle. Most notably John son of Sisinnolus, kept entirely from the filed of war because of his hatred of Sergius, until Areobinus came to Libya.
This Sergius was a luxurious person and no soldier; juvenile in nature and years; a jealous and swaggering bully; a wanton liver and a blowhard. But after became the accepted suitor of her niece and was this related to Antonina, Belasarius’s wife, the Empress would not allow him to be punished or removed from his command, even when she saw Libya sure to be lost. And with the Emperor’s consent she even let Solomon, Sergius brother, go scot-free after the murder of Pegasius. How this happened, I shall now relate.
After Pegasius had ransomed Solomon from the Levathae, and the barbarians had gone home, Solomon with Pegasius his ransomer and a few soldiers, set out for Carthage. And on the way Pegasius reminded Solomon of the wrong he had done, and said he should thank God for his rescue from the enemy. Solomon vexed at being reproached for having been taken captive, straightway slew Pegasius; and this was his requital to the man who saved him.
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