Note 10 — Chapter III · JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA [525-548 A.D.] (continued 2)

[“When he beheld the splendour of the imperial court,” Buryl says of Gelimer, “he merely said ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,’ a remark which, as Rankem notices, had a sort of historical signification. For along with Gelimer, Belisarius brought to Constantinople those vessels of gold, of which Gaiseric (or Genseric) had robbed Rome, and of which Titus had despoiled Jerusalem. They were part of the riches of the king to whom the words ‘Vanity of vanities’ are traditionally attributed.” As Gibbon states, the vessels were later returned to the Christian church of Jerusalem.]