Leo named Anthemius, the son-in-law of his predecessor Marcian, and whom he was glad to get rid of; sent him with a considerable body of troops; and made preparations for a grand expedition against the Vandals. By the death of Ægidius, the prefecture of Gaul was reunited with Italy; and Marcellinus also had placed Illyricum again under the supremacy of the emperor. On the side of Italy, Sardinia was wrested out of the grasp of the Vandals; Basiliscus, a general of the east and a brother-in-law of Leo, led a considerable army against Carthage; and another was sent against Tripolis. The plan was a brilliant one, and the beginning of the undertaking successful; but Genseric, who always got the advantage by discovering those who would sell themselves, now also warded off the decisive moment by craftiness. There is some suspicion that even Basiliscus sold himself; perhaps Ricimer also was guilty again. However this may have been, the expedition proved a total failure. Ricimer and Anthemius now fell out, although Anthemius had married his daughter to Ricimer; and thus the help which had been expected from the eastern emperor, only became the source of still greater calamity. Ricimer now kept his court at Milan; Anthemius lived at Rome: they were implacable enemies, nor did the attempt to reconcile them lead to any result. A new pretender to the crown, Olybrius, the husband of the younger daughter of Valentinian, who besides such claims had also those of the _gens Anicia_, now offered himself to Ricimer. The latter caused him to be proclaimed. Anthemius, however, would not give up Rome; on which Ricimer laid siege to it for three months, when he at last burst in over the bridge, and it was taken by storm, and had to suffer all the horrors of a conquered city. As the marriage of Ricimer with the daughter of Anthemius had been the last brilliant moment for Rome, thus the present calamity was the most awful one, being indeed far more terrible than when it was taken by the Goths and Vandals: Pope Gelasius speaks in very strong terms of the horrors which were perpetrated on this occasion. Anthemius himself lost his life: Ricimer and Olybrius survived him only a few months. There seem to have been epidemics, of which there is also mention.