The exarch led forth his troops from Carthage: but, at the distance of six days' journey, in the neighborhood of Tebeste, [4] he was astonished by the superior numbers and fierce aspect of the Barbarians.

He proposed a treaty; solicited a reconciliation; and offered to bind himself by the most solemn oaths.

"By what oaths can he bind himself ?" interrupted the indignant Moors.

"Will he swear by the Gospels, the divine books of the Christians?
It was on those books that the faith of his nephew Sergius was pledged to eighty of our innocent and unfortunate brethren.

Before we trust them a second time, let us try their efficacy in the chastisement of perjury and the vindication of their own honor." Their honor was vindicated in the field of Tebeste, by the death of Solomon, and the total loss of his army.