The plague of the southern wind at the sounding of the third trumpet, was to cause _a great star, burning as it were a lamp, to fall from heaven upon the rivers and fountains of waters_, the _Western_ Empire now divided into many kingdoms, and to turn them to _wormwood_ and _blood_, and make them _bitter_. Accordingly _Genseric_, the King of the _Vandals_ and _Alans_ in _Spain_, A.C. 427, enter'd _Africa_ with an army of eighty thousand men; where he invaded the _Moors_, and made war upon the _Romans_, both there and on the sea-coasts of _Europe_, for fifty years together, almost without intermission, taking _Hippo_ A.C. 431, and _Carthage_ the capital of _Africa_ A.C. 439. In A.C. 455, with a numerous fleet and an army of three hundred thousand _Vandals_ and _Moors_, he invaded _Italy_, took and plundered _Rome_, _Naples_, _Capua_, and many other cities; carrying thence their wealth with the flower of the people into _Africa_: and the next year, A.C. 456, he rent all _Africa_ from the Empire, totally expelling the _Romans_. Then the _Vandals_ invaded and took the Islands of the _Mediterranean_, _Sicily_, _Sardinia_, _Corsica_, _Ebusus_, _Majorca_, _Minorca_, &c. and _Ricimer_ besieged the Emperer _Anthemius_ in _Rome_, took the city, and gave his soldiers the plunder, A.C. 472. The _Visigoths_ about the same time drove the _Romans_ out of _Spain_: and now the _Western_ Emperor, the _great star which fell from heaven, burning as it were a lamp_, having by all these wars gradually lost almost all his dominions, was invaded, and conquered in one year by _Odoacer_ King of the _Heruli_, A.C. 476. After this the _Moors_ revolted A.C. 477, and weakned the _Vandals_ by several wars, and took _Mauritania_ from them. These wars continued till the _Vandals_ were conquered by _Belisarius_, A.C. 534. and by all these wars _Africa_ was almost depopulated, according to _Procopius_, who reckons that above five millions of men perished in them. When the _Vandals_ first invaded _Africa_, that country was very populous, consisting of about 700 bishopricks, more than were in all _France_, _Spain_ and _Italy_ together: but by the wars between the _Vandals_, _Romans_ and _Moors_, it was depopulated to that degree, that _Procopius_ tells us, it was next to a miracle for a traveller to see a man. In pouring out the third vial it is [8] said: _Thou art righteous, O Lord,--because thou hast judged thus: for they have shed the blood of thy Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy_. How they shed the blood of Saints, may be understood by the following Edict of the Emperor _Honorius_, procured by four Bishops sent to him by a Council of _African_ Bishops, who met at _Carthage_ 14 _June_, A.C. 410. _Impp. Honor. &. Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric._