"Never," he said, "shall I go back to Spain until I am master of
Africa."
"Then," cried Boniface, "I will drive you back."
Soon afterwards there was a battle between the Romans and Vandals,
and the Romans were defeated. They were also defeated in several
other battles. At last they had to flee for safety to two or three
towns which the Vandals had not yet taken. One of these towns was
Hippo.
Genseric captured this town after a siege of thirteen months. Then
he burned the churches and other buildings, and laid waste the
neighboring country. This was what the Vandals did whenever they
took a town, and so the word VANDAL came to mean a person who
needlessly or wantonly destroys valuable property.
A great many of the natives of Africa joined the army of Genseric.
They had for a long time been ill-treated by the Romans and were
glad to see them defeated. Genseric continued his work of conquest
until he took the city of Carthage, which he made the capital of
his new kingdom in Africa.
But he was not content with conquering merely on land. He built
great fleets and sailed over the Mediterranean, capturing trading
vessels.
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