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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32377-8.txt b/32377-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f824144 --- /dev/null +++ b/32377-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12940 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Struggle for Rome, v. 3, by Felix Dahn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Struggle for Rome, v. 3 + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Lily Wolffsohn + +Release Date: May 15, 2010 [EBook #32377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR ROME, V. 3 *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/astruggleforrom02dahngoog + 2. Diphthong oe and OE are represented by [oe] and [OE]. + + + + + + A STRUGGLE FOR ROME. + + BY + FELIX DAHN. + + + _T R A N S L A T E D F R O M T H E G E R M A N_ + BY + LILY WOLFFSOHN. + + + "If there be anything more powerful than Fate, + It is the courage which bears it undismayed." + GEIBEL. + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + VOL. III. + + + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON. + 1878. + [_All Rights Reserved._] + + + + + + + A STRUGGLE FOR ROME. + + + BOOK IV.--_Continued_. + + WITICHIS. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + +Thanks to the precautions taken by Procopius, the trick had succeeded +completely. + +At the moment in which the flag of the Goths fell and their King was +taken prisoner, they were everywhere surprised and overpowered. +In the courts of the palace, in the streets and canals of the city +and in the camp, they were surrounded by far superior numbers. A +palisade of lances met their sight on all sides. Almost without an +exception the paralysed Goths laid down their arms. The few who offered +resistance--the nearest associates of the King--were struck down. + +Witichis himself, Duke Guntharis, Earl Wisand, Earl Markja, and the +leaders of the army who were taken prisoners with them, were placed in +separate confinement; the King imprisoned in the "prison of Theodoric," +a strong and deep dungeon in the palace itself. + +The procession from the Gate of Stilicho to the Forum of Honorius had +not been interrupted. + +Arrived at the palace, Belisarius summoned the Senate and decurions of +the city, and took their oaths of allegiance for Emperor Justinian. + +Procopius was sent to Byzantium with the golden keys of Neapolis, Rome, +and Ravenna. He was to give a full report to the Emperor, and to demand +for Belisarius the prolongation of his office until Italy had been +completely tranquillised, as could not fail to be the case presently, +and afterwards, as had been the case after the Vandal wars, to accord +him the honour of a triumph, with the exposure of the King of the +Goths, as prisoner of war, in the Hippodrome. + +For Belisarius looked upon the war as ended. + +Cethegus almost shared this belief. But still he feared the outbursts +of indignation amongst the Goths in the provinces. Therefore he took +care that, for the present, no report of the manner in which the city +had fallen should pass the gates; and he pondered upon some means of +making use of the imprisoned King himself, to palliate the possible +renewal of national feeling in the Goths. + +He also persuaded Belisarius to send Acacius, with the Persian +horsemen, to follow Hildebad, who had escaped in the direction of +Tarvisium. + +In vain he tried to speak to the Queen. + +She had not yet fully recovered the effects of the night of the +earthquake, and admitted no one. She had even listened to the news of +the fall of the city with indifference. The Prefect gave her a guard of +honour, in order to make sure of her, for he had great plans in +connection with her. Then he sent her the sword of the King, +accompanying it with a note. + +"I have kept my word. King Witichis is ruined, you are revenged and +free. Now it is your turn to fulfil my wish." + +A few days later, Belisarius, deprived of his constant adviser +Procopius, called the Prefect to an interview in the right wing of the +palace, where he had taken up his quarters. + +"Unheard-of mutiny!" he cried, as Cethegus entered. + +"What has happened?" + +"You know that I placed Bessas, with the Lazian mercenaries, in the +trenches of the Gate of Honorius, one of the most important points of +the city. Hearing that the temper of these troops was insubordinate I +recalled them--and Bessas----" + +"Well?" + +"Refuses to obey." + +"Without reason? Impossible!" + +"A ridiculous reason! Yesterday the term of my office expired." + +"Well?" + +"And Bessas declares that since midnight I am no longer his commander!" + +"Shameful! But he is in the right." + + +"In the right! In a few days the Emperor's reply will arrive, according +to my wish. He will naturally, after the conquest of Ravenna, again +appoint me as commander-in-chief, until the war is ended. The news may +be here the day after to-morrow." + +"Perhaps still sooner, Belisarius. At sunset the watchman on the +lighthouse of Classis announced the approach of a ship coming from +Ariminum. It appears to be an imperial trireme. It may run into harbour +at any hour. Then the knot will be loosened." + +"I will cut it beforehand. My body-guard shall storm the trenches and +strike the head off the obstinate Bessas----" + +He was interrupted by the entrance of Johannes. + +"General," he cried, "the Emperor is here! The Emperor, Justinian +himself, has just anchored in the harbour of Classis." + +Cethegus involuntarily started. Was such a thunderbolt from a clear +sky, such a whim of the incalculable despot, after such toil, to +overthrow the almost perfect structure of his plans? + +But Belisarius, with sparkling eyes, asked: + +"The Emperor? How do you know?" + +"He comes himself to thank you for your victory--never was such +honour done to mortal man! The ship from Ariminum bears the imperial +flag--purple and silver. You know that that indicates the actual +presence of the Emperor." + +"Or of a member of his family," interposed Cethegus thoughtfully, and +once more breathing freely. + +"Let us hasten to the harbour, to receive our Imperial master," cried +Belisarius. + + +He was disappointed in his joy and pride when, on their way to Classis, +they were met by the first courtiers who had disembarked, and who +demanded quarters in the palace, not for the Emperor, but for his +nephew Germanus. + +"At least he sends the next in rank," said Belisarius--consoling +himself--to Cethegus as they went on. "Germanus is the noblest man at +court. Just, incorruptible, and pure. They call him 'The Lily of the +Swamp.' But you do not listen to me!" + +"Pardon! but I saw my young friend Lucius Licinius in the crowd of +people who are approaching us." + +"Salve, Cethegus!" cried Lucius as he made his way to the Prefect. + +"Welcome to free Italy! What news from the Empress?" asked Cethegus in +a whisper. + +"Her parting word, 'Nike!' (Victoria), and this letter," Lucius +whispered just as softly. "But," and he frowned, "never again send me +to that woman!" + +"No, no, young Hippolytus, I think it will never again be necessary." + +They had now reached the quay of the harbour, the steps of which the +Imperial Prince was just ascending. His noble form distinguished itself +from the crowd of splendid courtiers who surrounded him, and he was +received by the troops and the people with imperial honours and cries +of joy. + +Cethegus looked keenly at him. + +"His pale face has become still paler," he remarked to Licinius. + +"Yes. They say that the Empress, because she could not seduce him, has +poisoned him." + +The Prince, bowing his acknowledgments to all sides, had now reached +Belisarius, who greeted him reverently. + +"I return your greeting, Belisarius," said the Prince gravely; "follow +me at once to the palace. Where is Cethegus the Prefect? Where is +Bessas? Ah, Cethegus!" he said, grasping the latter's hand, "I am glad +to see again the greatest man in Italy. You will presently accompany me +to the granddaughter of Theodoric. To her belongs my first visit. I +bring her gifts from Justinian and my humble service. She was a +prisoner in her own kingdom; she shall be a queen at the Court of +Byzantium." + +"That she shall!" thought Cethegus. He bowed profoundly and said, "I +know that you are acquainted with the Princess already. Her hand was +once destined for you." + +A flush rapidly spread over the cheek of the Prince. + +"But unfortunately," he answered, "not her heart. I saw her here years +ago, at her mother's court, and since then, my mind's eye has beheld +nothing but her picture." + +"Yes, she is the loveliest woman on earth," said the Prefect quietly. + +"Accept this chrysolite as thanks for that word!" cried Germanus, and +put a ring upon the Prefect's finger. + +They entered the door of the palace. "Now, Mataswintha," said Cethegus +to himself, "now a new life begins for you. I know no Roman woman--one +girl perhaps excepted--who could resist such a temptation. And shall +this rude barbarian withstand?" + +As soon as the Prince had partially recovered from the fatigue of the +voyage, and had exchanged his travelling dress for a state-costume, he +appeared, with Cethegus at his side, in the throne-room of the great +Theodoric. + +The trophies of Gothic valour still hung on the walls of the lofty and +vaulted hall. On three sides ran a colonnade; in the middle of the +fourth stood the elevated throne of Theodoric. + +The Prince ascended the steps of the throne with dignity. Cethegus with +Belisarius, Bessas, Demetrius, Johannes, and numerous other leaders, +remained standing at a short distance. + +"In the name of my Imperial master and uncle, I take possession of this +city of Ravenna and of the Western Roman Empire," said Germanus. "To +you, magister militum, this writing from our master the Emperor. Break +the seal, and read it before the assembly. Such were the orders of +Justinian." + +Belisarius stepped forward, received the letter upon his knees, kissed +the seal, rose, opened it, and read: + +"'Justinian, Emperior of the Romans, Lord of the East and West, +conqueror of the Persians and Saracens, of the Vandals and Alans, of +the Lazians and Sabirians, of the Huns and Bulgarians, the Avarians and +Slavonians, and lastly of the Goths, to Belisarius the Consul, lately +magister militum. We have been acquainted by Cethegus the Prefect with +the events which led to the fall of Ravenna. His report will, at his +request, be communicated to you. We, however, cannot at all agree with +the good opinion, therein expressed, of you and your successes; and we +dispense you from your office as commander-in-chief. We order you by +this letter to return at once to Byzantium, to answer for yourself +before our throne. We can the less accord you a triumph, such as you +received after the Vandal wars, because neither Rome nor Ravenna fell +through your valour; Rome having freely capitulated, and Ravenna having +fallen by means of an earthquake, which was a sign of the anger of the +Almighty against the heretics, and against highly suspicious actions, +the harmlessness of which you, accused of high treason, must prove +before our throne. As, in consideration of former merit, we would not +condemn you unheard--for East and West shall celebrate us to all +time as the King of Justice--we refrain from arresting you as your +accusers wish. Without chains--only bound by the fetters of your own +self-accusing conscience--you will appear before our Imperial +countenance.'" + +Belisarius reeled; he could read no further; he covered his face with +his hands and let the letter fall. + +Bessas lifted it up, kissed it, and read on: + +"'We name the strategist Bessas as your successor in the army. We +charge the Archon Johannes with the care of Ravenna. The administration +of the taxes will remain--in spite of the highly unjust complaints made +against him by the Italians--in the hands of the logician Alexandros, +who is so zealous in our service. And as our Governor in Italy we name +the highly-deserving Prefect of Rome, Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius. Our +nephew Germanus, furnished with Imperial power, is answerable for your +transport to our fleet off Ariminum, whence Areobindos will take you to +Byzantium.'" + +Germanus rose, and ordered all present, except Belisarius and Cethegus, +to leave the hall. + +Then he descended from the throne, and went up to Belisarius, who was +now totally unconscious of what was going on around him. He stood +immovable, leaning his head and arm against a column, and staring at +the ground. + +The Prince took his right hand. + +"It pains me, Belisarius, to be the bearer of such a message. I +undertook it, because I thought that a friend would fulfil such an +errand more gently than any of the enemies who were eager to do it. But +I cannot deny that this last victory of yours cancels the fame of many +former ones. Never could I have expected such a game of lies from the +hero Belisarius! Cethegus begged that his report to the Emperor should +be laid before you. It is full of your praise. Here it is. I believe it +was the Empress who kindled the anger of Justinian against you. But you +do not hear----" + +And he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the unfortunate man. +Belisarius shook it off. + +"Let me alone, boy! You bring me--you bring me the true thanks of a +crowned head!" + +Germanus drew himself up with dignity. + +"Belisarius, you forget yourself, and who I am!" + +"Oh no! I am a prisoner, and you are my gaoler. I will go at once on +board your ship--only spare me chains and fetters." + + +It was very late before the Prefect could get away from the Prince, who +spoke to him with the greatest frankness on state affairs and his own +personal wishes. + +As soon as Cethegus was alone in his rooms, which had also been +appointed to him in the palace, he hastened to read the letter which +Lucius Licinius had brought from the Empress. It ran thus: + + +"You have conquered, Cethegus. As I read your epistle I thought of old +times, when your letters to Theodora, written in the same cipher, did +not talk of statesmanship and warfare, but of kisses and roses----" + + +"She must always remind me of that!" cried the Prefect, interrupting +his perusal of the letter. + + +"But even in this letter I recognise the irresistible intellect that, +more even than your youthful beauty, conquered the women of Byzantium. +And this time also I accede to the wishes of the old friend as I +once did to those of the young one. Ah, how I love to think of our +youth--our sweet youth! I fully understand that Antonina's spouse would +stand far too securely for the future if he did not fall now. So--as +you wrote me--I whispered to the Emperor that a subject who could play +such a game with crowns and rebellion was too dangerous; no general +ought to be exposed to such temptations. What he had this time feigned, +he could, at another time, carry into earnest practice. These words +weighed more heavily than all Belisarius's success, and my--that is, +your--demands were granted. For mistrust is the very soul of Justinian. +He trusts no one on earth, except--Theodora. Your messenger, Lucius, is +_handsome_, but unamiable; he has nothing in his head but weapons and +Rome. Ah, Cethegus, my friend, youth is now no more what it was! You +have conquered, Cethegus--do you remember that evening when I first +whispered those words?--but do not forget to whom you owe your victory. +And mind: Theodora permits herself to be used as a tool only so long as +she likes. Never forget that." + + +"Certainly not," said Cethegus, as he carefully destroyed the letter. +"You are too dangerous an ally, Theodora, my little demon! I will see +whether you cannot be replaced.--Patience! In a few weeks Mataswintha +will be in Byzantium." + + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + +The round tower, in the deepest dungeon of which Witichis was confined, +was situated at the angle of the right wing of the palace, the same in +which he had dwelt and ruled as King. + +The iron door of the tower formed the end of a long passage which led +from a court, and which was separated from this court by a heavy iron +gate. + +Exactly opposite this gate, on the ground-floor of the building at the +left side of the court, was the small dwelling of Dromon, the +_carcerarius_ or gaoler of the prison. + +This dwelling consisted of two small chambers; the first, which was +separated from the second by a curtain, was merely an ante-room. + +The inner chamber afforded an outlook across the court to the round +tower. + +Both rooms were very simply furnished. A straw couch in the inner room, +and two chairs, a table, and a row of keys upon the walls in the outer +room, was almost all that they contained. + +Upon the wooden bench in the window abovementioned, sat, day and +night--her eyes fixed upon the hole in the wall, through which alone +light and air could penetrate to the King's prison--a silent and +thoughtful woman. + +It was Rauthgundis. Her eyes never left the little chink in the wall, +"For," she said to herself, "thither turn all my thoughts--there, where +_his_ eyes too are ever fixed." + +Even when she spoke to her companion, Wachis, or to the gaoler, she +never turned her eyes away. It seemed as if she thought that her mere +look could guard the prisoner from every danger. + +On the day of which we speak she had sat thus for a long time. + +It was evening. Dark and threatening the massive tower rose into the +sky, casting a broad shadow over the court and the left wing of the +palace. + +"Thanks, O Heavenly Father," murmured Rauthgundis; "even the strokes of +fate have led to good. If, as I once intended, I had gone to my father +upon the High Arn, I should never have heard of all the misery here. Or +far too late. But I could not bear to forsake the last resting-place of +my child near our home. The last, indeed, I was obliged to leave, for +how could I know that _she_, his Queen, would not come there? I dwelt +in the woods near Fæsulæ, and when news came of failure, and one +misfortune followed another; when the Persians burnt our house, and I +saw the flames from my hiding-place; it was too late to escape to my +father. All the roads were blocked, and the Italians delivered all whom +they found with yellow hair into the hands of the Massagetæ. No way was +open but the road here--to the city where I had ever refused to go as +_his_ wife. I came like a fugitive beggar. Wachis, the slave, now the +freedman, and Wallada, our horse, alone remained faithful to me. +But--forced by God's hand to come, whether I would or not--I found that +it was only that I might save _him_--deliver him from the shameful +treachery of his wife, and out of the hands of his enemies! I thank +Thee, O God, for this Thy mercy!" + +Her attention was attracted by the rattling of the iron gate opposite. + +A man with a light came through it across the court, and now entered +the ante-room. It was the old gaoler. + +"Well? Speak! cried Rauthgundis, leaving her seat and hurrying to him. + +"Patience--patience! Let me first set down the lamp. There! Well, he +has drunk and it has done him good." + +Rauthgundis laid her hand upon her heart. + +"'What is he doing?" she asked. + +"He always sits in the same position, perfectly silent. He sits on a +stone block, his back turned to the door, his head supported on his +hands. He gives me no answer when I speak to him. Generally he does not +even move; I believe grief and pain have stupefied him. But to-day, +when I handed him the wine in the wooden cup and said, 'Drink, dear +sir; it comes from true friends,' he looked up. Ah, his look was so +sorrowful, as sad as death! He drank deeply, and bowed his head +thankfully, and gave such a sigh, that it cut me to the heart." + +Rauthgundis covered her eyes with her hand. + +"God knows what horrid thing that man means to do to him!" the old man +murmured to himself. + +"What sayest thou?" + +"I say that you must eat and drink well, or else you will lose your +strength; and you will need it before long, poor woman!" + +"I shall have strength enough!" + +"Then take at least a cup of wine." + +"Of this wine? No, it is all for him!" + +And she went back into the inner chamber, where she again took her old +place. + +"The flask will last some time," old Dromon said to himself; "but we +must save him soon, if he is to be saved at all. There comes Wachis. +May he bring good news, else----" + +Wachis entered. Since his visit to the Queen he had exchanged his steel +cap and mantle for clothes borrowed from Dromon. + +"I bring good news!" he cried, as he entered. "But where were you an +hour ago? I knocked in vain." + +"We had both gone out to buy wine." + +"To be sure; that is the reason why the whole room smells so sweet. +What do I see? Why, this is old and costly Falernian! How could you pay +for it?" + +"Pay for it?" repeated the old man. "With the purest gold in the world! +I told you that the Prefect had purposely let the King starve, in order +to undermine his health. For many days I have received no rations for +him. Against my conscience I have kept him alive by depriving the other +prisoners. This Rauthgundis would no longer suffer. She fell into deep +thought, and then asked me whether the rich Roman ladies still paid so +dearly for the yellow locks of the Gothic women. Suspecting nothing, I +said 'Yes.' She went away, and soon returned shorn of her beautiful +auburn hair, but with a handful of gold. With this the wine was +bought." + +Wachis went into the next room, and kissing the hand of Rauthgundis, +exclaimed: "Good and faithful wife!" + +"What art thou doing, Wachis? Rise, and tell me thy news." + +"Yes, tell us," said Dromon, joining them. "What says my Paukis? What +advice does he give?" + +"What matters his advice?" asked Rauthgundis. "I can manage alone." + +"We need him very much. The Prefect has formed nine cohorts, after the +model of the Roman legionaries, of all the youth of Ravenna, and my +Paulus is enrolled amongst them. Luckily, the Prefect has entrusted the +guard of the city gates to these legionaries. The Byzantines are placed +outside the city in the harbour; the Isaurians here in the palace." + +"Yes," continued Wachis; "and these gates are carefully closed at +night; but the breach near the Tower of Ætius is not yet repaired. Only +sentinels are placed there to guard it." + +"When has my son the watch?" + +"In two days. He will have the third night-watch." + +"Thanks be to the saints! It could not have lasted much longer. I +feared----" + +He hesitated. + +"What? Speak!" cried Rauthgundis. "I can bear to hear everything." + +"Perhaps it is well that you should know it; for you are cleverer than +we two, and will better find out what is to be done. I fear they have +something wicked in their heads. As long as Belisarius had the command +here, it went well with the King. But since Belisarius has gone and the +Prefect--that silent demon!--is master of the palace, things look +dangerous. He visits the King every day, and speaks to him for a long +time, earnestly and threateningly. I have often listened in the +passage. But it seems to have little effect, for the King, I believe, +never answers him; and when the Prefect comes out, he looks as black as +thunder. For six days I have received no wine for the King, and only a +little piece of bread; and the air down there is as mouldy and damp as +the grave." + +Rauthgundis sighed deeply. + +"Yesterday," continued Dromon, "when the Prefect came up, he looked +blacker than ever. He asked me----" + +"Well? Tell me, whatever it may be!" + +"He asked me whether the instruments of torture were in good order!" + +Rauthgundis turned pale, but remained silent. + +"The wretch!" cried Wachis. "What did you----" + +"Do not be afraid; all is safe for a time. 'Clarissimus,' I said--and +it is the pure truth--'the screws and pincers, the weights and spikes, +and the whole delightful apparatus lie all together as safe as +possible.' 'Where?' he asked. 'In the deep sea,' I answered; 'I myself, +at the order of King Theodoric, threw them in!' For you must know, +Mistress Rauthgundis, that when your master was a simple Earl, he once +saved me from being tortured. At his request, the horrible practice was +fully abolished. I owe him my life and my sound limbs, and I would +gladly risk my neck for him. And, if it cannot be otherwise, I will +leave this city with you. But we must not delay long, for the Prefect +has no need of my pincers and screws if he once takes it into his head +to torture a man's marrow out of his bones. I fear him as I fear the +devil!" + +"And I hate him as I hate a lie!" cried Rauthgundis sternly. + +"So we must be quick," Dromon went on, "before he can carry out his +cruel intentions; for he is certainly planning something terrible +against the King. I don't know what he can want of the poor prisoner. +Now listen, and mark my words. The third night from now, when Paulus +keeps the watch, and I take the King his evening drink, I will unlock +his chains, throw my mantle over him, and lead him out of the prison +and the passage into the court. Thence he will be able to go unnoticed +to the gate of the palace, where the sentinel will demand the +watch-word. This I shall acquaint him with. When he is once in the +street, he must go direct to the Tower of Ætius, where Paulus will let +him pass the breach. Outside, in the pine-grove of Diana, at a short +distance from the gate, Wachis will wait for him with Wallada. But no +one must accompany him; not even you, Rauthgundis. He will escape more +surely alone." + +"Of what consequence am I? He shall be free; not even bound to me! Thou +must not even name my name. I have brought him misfortune enough, I +will only look at him once again from the window as he goes away!" + + +The Prefect now sunned himself in the feeling of supremacy. He was +Governor of Italy. By his order the fortifications were repaired and +strengthened, the citizens practised in the use of arms all over the +country. The representatives of Byzantium could no longer +counterbalance him. Their captains had no luck; the siege of Tarvisium, +as well as of Verona and Ticinum, made no progress. And Cethegus heard +with pleasure that Hildebad, whose troops had been augmented by +deserters to the number of about six hundred, had badly beaten Acacius, +who had overtaken and attacked him with a thousand Persian horsemen. +But Hildebad's road was still blocked by a strong battalion of +Byzantines, who marched against him from Mantua--he had intended to +join Totila at Tarvisium--and he was obliged to throw himself into the +Castle of Castra Nova, which was still occupied by the Goths under +Thorismuth. + +Here the Byzantines kept him shut up. They could not, however, take the +strong fortress, and the Prefect already foresaw that Acacius would +soon call upon him to help to destroy the Goths, who could then no +longer escape him. It rejoiced him that, since the departure of +Belisarius, the forces of Byzantium were proved, in the face of all +Italy, to be incapable of putting an end to the resistance of the +Goths. And the harshness of the Byzantine financial administration, +which had accompanied Belisarius wherever he went--for he could not +prevent the practice of draining the resources of the country, which +was carried on at the Emperor's command--awakened or heightened the +dislike of both town and country to the East Roman rule. + +Cethegus took good care not--as Belisarius had often done--to oppose +the worst acts of Justinian's officials. It gave him great pleasure +when the populations of Neapolis and Rome repeatedly broke out into +open rebellion against their oppressors. + +When the Goths were completely annihilated, the power of the Byzantines +become contemptible, and their tyranny sufficiently hated, Italy might +be called upon to assert her independence, and her saviour, her ruler, +would be Cethegus. + +Notwithstanding, he was troubled by one circumstance--for he was far +from undervaluing his enemies. The Gothic war, the last sparks of which +were not yet trampled out, might at any time flame up anew, fanned by +the national indignation aroused by the treachery which had been +practised. It had great weight with the Prefect that the most hated +leaders of the Goths, Totila and Teja, had not been taken in the trap +laid at Ravenna. + +For the purpose, therefore, of preventing such a national uprising as +he feared, he attempted to drag from the Gothic King a declaration, +that he had surrendered himself and the city without hope and without +condition, and that he called upon his people to abstain from fruitless +resistance. He also wished his prisoner to tell him in what castle the +war-treasure of Theodoric was concealed. + +Even in those days such a treasure, as a means of gaining foreign +princes and mercenaries, was of the highest importance. If the Goths +lost it, they would lose their best chance of strengthening their +exhausted forces by the aid of foreign weapons. + +And it was the Prefect's greatest wish not to let this treasure--which +legend spoke of as immense--fall into the hands of the Byzantines--whose +need of money, and the tyranny caused by this need, were such active +allies in his plans--but to secure it for himself. His means were also +not inexhaustible. But opposed to the calm steadfastness of his prisoner, +the Prefect's efforts to extort the secret were vain. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + +All necessary measures had been taken for the escape of the King. + +Rauthgundis and Wachis had made themselves thoroughly acquainted with +the pine-grove where the faithful freedman was to wait with the charger +of Dietrich of Bern. + +And it was with the confidence which completed preparations always lend +to a stout heart, that Rauthgundis returned to the dwelling of the +gaoler. + +But she turned pale when the latter rushed to meet her with an air of +desperation, and dragged her across the threshold. + +Once in the room, he threw himself on his knees before her, beating his +breast with his fists and tearing his grey hair. + +For some time he could find no words. + +"Speak," cried Rauthgundis, pressing her hand to her wildly-beating +heart. "Is he dead?" + +"No; but flight is impossible! all is lost! all is lost! An hour ago +the Prefect came, and went down to the King. As usual, I opened both +doors for him, the passage and the prison door, and then----" + +"Well?" + +"Then he took both keys from me, saying he would keep them in future +himself." + +"And thou gavest them up!" said Rauthgundis, grinding her teeth. + +"How could I refuse? I did all I could. I kept them back and asked: +'Master, do you no longer trust me?' He looked at me with a look that +seemed to pierce soul and body. 'From this moment,' he said, 'no +longer,' and snatched the keys from my hand." + +"And thou didst not prevent him?" + +"Oh, mistress, you are unjust! What could you have done in my place? +Nothing!" + +"I should have strangled him. And now? What shall we do now?" + +"Do? Nothing! Nothing can be done!" + +"He _must_ be liberated. Dost thou hear? he _must_!" + +"But, mistress, I know not how." + +Rauthgundis caught up an axe which lay near the hearth. + +"We will open the doors by force." + +Dromon tried to take the axe from her hand. + +"It is impossible! They are thickly plated with iron." + +"Then send for the monster! Tell him that Witichis desires to speak +with him, and I will strike him down at the passage door." + +"And then? You rave! Let me go out. I will call Wachis away from his +useless watch." + +"No! I cannot think that we shall not succeed. Perhaps that devil will +return of his own accord. Perhaps--" she continued reflectively--"Ha!" +she cried suddenly, "it must be so. He wants to murder him! He intends +to steal alone to the defenceless prisoner. But woe to him if he come! +I will guard the threshold of that door as if it were a sanctuary, and +woe to him if he cross it!" + +She leaned heavily against the half-door of the room, and swung the +ponderous axe. + +But Rauthgundis was wrong. + +Not to kill his prisoner had the Prefect taken the keys into his own +keeping. + +He had gone with them in his hand to the south side of the palace, +where he gained admittance to Mataswintha's room. + +The stillness of death and the excitement of fever alternated so +rapidly in Mataswintha, that Aspa could never look at her mistress +without the tears rushing to her eyes. + +"Most beautiful daughter of the Germans," began the Prefect, "dissipate +the cloud which rests upon your white brow, and listen to me calmly." + +"How is the King? You leave me without news. You promised to let him go +free when all was decided. You promised that he should be taken over +the Alps. You have not kept your word." + +"I promised it on two conditions. You know them well, and you have not +yet done your part. Tomorrow the nephew of the Emperor will return from +Ariminum, ready to take you to Byzantium, and I desire you to give him +hopes that you will become his bride. Your marriage with Witichis was +forced and null." + +"No, never! I have told you so before." + +"I am sorry for it, for the sake of my prisoner, for he will not see +the light of day again until you are on the way to Byzantium with +Germanus." + +"Never!" + +"Do not irritate me, Mataswintha. The folly of the girl who bought the +Ares' head at such a high price, is, I think, outgrown. For that once +enamoured being has since sacrificed the Ares of the Goths to his +enemies. But if you still honour that dream of girlhood, then save the +man you once loved." + +Mataswintha shook her head. + +"Until now I have treated you as a free agent, as a Queen. Do +not remind me that you, as well as he, are in my power. You will +become the wife--soon the widow--of this noble Prince--and +Justinian--Byzantium--the whole world, will lie at your feet. Daughter +of the Amelungs, is it possible that you do not love power?" + +"I only love---- Never!" + +"Then I must force you." + +She laughed. + +"_You?_ Force _me_?" + +"Yes, I force you! (She still loves the man she has ruined!) The second +condition is this: that the prisoner fill up this empty space with a +name--the name of the castle in which the treasure of the Goths is +concealed--and sign the declaration. He refuses to do this with a +stubbornness which begins to anger me. Seven times I, the conqueror, +have been to him. He would never yet speak to me. And the first time I +went I received a look for which alone he deserves to lose his haughty +head." + +"He will never consent!" + +"That remains to be seen. The continual dropping of water wears away a +stone at last. But I can wait no longer. Early to-day I received word +that that mad Hildebad, in a furious sally, has beaten Bessas so +thoroughly, that the latter can scarcely continue the siege. Everywhere +the Goths rebel. I must go and make an end of it, and extinguish these +last sparks with the water of deception, which is better than blood. To +this end I must have the King's declaration, and the secret of the +castle. Therefore I tell you that if, before to-morrow, you do not +consent to accompany the Prince to Byzantium, and have not procured for +me the signature of the prisoner, witnessed as such by yourself, I +will--I swear by the Styx--kill----" + +Horrified at the awful expression of Cethegus's face, Mataswintha +started from her seat and grasped his arm. + +"You will not kill _him_!" + +"Yes; or rather, I will first torture him, then blind him, and +afterwards kill him!" + +"No! no!" screamed Mataswintha. + +"I am resolved. The executioners are ready. And you, you shall tell him +this. He will believe that I am in earnest when he sees your despair. +You will perhaps be able to soften him; the sight of me only hardens +him. Perhaps he thinks that he is still in the hands of Belisarius, +that tender-hearted hero. You will tell him in whose power he really +is. Here are the documents--here the keys which open his prison. You +shall choose the hour yourself." + +A ray of joyful hope shone from Mataswintha'a eyes. Cethegus failed not +to remark it, but, smiling calmly, he left the room. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + +Soon after the Prefect had left the Queen it became quite dark. + +The sky was thickly covered with ragged clouds, which were driven +across the moon by the fierce wind, so that brief and uncertain light +alternated with a gloom rendered greater by contrast. + +Dromon had completed his evening round of the cells, and returned to +his dwelling tired and sad. + +He found no light within. He could scarcely make out that Rauthgundis +was still leaning against the half«door, the axe in her hand, her eyes +fixed upon the door of the passage. + +"Let me strike a light, mistress, and kindle the chips upon the hearth. +Share the evening meal with me. Come, you wait here in vain." + +"No, no light, no fire! I can see better what happens in the court +without, for it is moonlight." + +"Well, at least come in here and rest yourself. Here is bread and +meat." + +"Shall I eat while he hungers?" + +"You will be exhausted! Of what are you thinking the whole evening?" + +"Of what am I thinking?" repeated Rauthgundis, still looking out. "I am +thinking how often we have sat in the colonnade before our beautiful +house, when the fountain splashed in the garden and the cicalas chirped +in the trees. The cool night-breeze fanned his beloved face, and I +nestled against his shoulder, and we did not speak one word, and above +us was the silent march of the stars. And we listened to the deep and +peaceful breathing of our child, who had fallen asleep upon my lap, his +little hands, like soft white fetters, clasping the arm of his father. +Alas! his arm now wears other fetters! Iron fetters--that pain----" + +And she pressed her forehead against the iron grating, until she, too, +felt pain. + +"Mistress, why do you torment yourself thus? We cannot help it!" + +"'But we will help it! I must save him and----Dromon! look there! What +is that?" she whispered, and pointed at something in the court. + +The old man hastened noiselessly to her side. + +In the court was a tall white figure, which seemed to glide stealthily +along the wall. + +At brief intervals, but sharp and clear, the moonlight fell upon it. + +"It is a Lemure! The ghost of some one who has been murdered here!" +said the old man, trembling. "God and all the saints protect us!" + +He crossed himself and covered his head with his mantle. + +"No," said Rauthgundis, "the dead do not return from the other world! +Now it has disappeared--all is dark. Ha! the moon breaks through +once--more there it is again! It moves towards the passage-door. What +is that shining red in the white light? Ha! it is the Queen--that is +her red hair? She stops at the door! She opens it! She is going to +murder him in his sleep!" + +"God knows, it is the Queen! But _she_ murder him! How could she?" + +"_She_ could! But, as I live, she shall not! Follow her! A miracle +opens the door to us. But softly, softly!" + +And she went out on tiptoe into the court, the axe still in her hand, +slowly and stealthily, seeking the shadow. Dromon followed her closely. + +Meanwhile Mataswintha, for she it was, had opened the door and gone +forward, down many steps and then through a small passage, feeling the +way with her hands. + +She now reached the door of the prison. She opened it very softly. + +Through an aperture high up on the wall, where a stone had been taken +out, a slanting strip of moonlight fell into the square and narrow +dungeon. + +The light revealed the prisoner. He sat motionless upon a block of +stone, his back turned to the door, his head supported on his hands. + +Mataswintha trembled and leaned against the doorpost. The air felt damp +and icy-cold. She shivered. She could not say a word for very horror. + +Witichis remarked the draught of air from the open door. He lifted his +head, but did not look round. + +"Witichis--King Witichis--" at last stammered Mataswintha; "it is I! +Dost thou hear me?" + +But the prisoner did not move. + +"I come to save thee--fly! Thou art free!" + +But the prisoner dropped his head again. + +"Oh, speak!--oh, only look at me!" + +She now went quite into the dungeon. Gladly would she have touched his +arm, and taken his hand, but she did not yet dare. + +"Cethegus will kill thee!" she said; "torture thee. He surely will if +thou dost not fly!" + +And now her desperation gave her courage. She drew nearer. + +"But thou wilt fly! Thou shalt not die! I must save thee! I beseech +thee, fly, fly! Oh, thou dost not hear me, and time presses! Sometime +thou shalt know everything! but now fly--to life and liberty! I have +the keys of the doors! fly, fly!" And now she grasped his arm and tried +to drag him from his seat. + +But she heard the rattling of chains--on his arms on his feet. He was +chained to the block of stone. + +"Oh! what is this?" she cried, and fell upon her knees. + +"Stone and iron," he said, in a toneless voice. "Leave me, I am doomed. +And even if these bonds did not hold me--I would not follow thee. Back +to the world? The world is one great lie. Everything is a lie." + +"Thou art right. It is better to die. Let me die with thee, but forgive +me! For I, too, have lied to thee." + +"It is very possible. It does not surprise me." + +"But thou wilt forgive me before we die? I have hated thee--I have +rejoiced in thy ruin--I have--oh, it is so hard to tell! I have not the +strength to confess it! And yet I must have thy forgiveness. Oh, +forgive me!--give me thy hand as a sign of thy pardon." + +But Witichis had sunk back into his former stupor. + +"Oh, I beseech thee--forgive me, whatever I may have done!" + +"Go--why should I not forgive thee? thou art like the rest--not better +and not worse." + +"No, I am more wicked than all--and yet better. At least more +miserable. It is true that I hated thee, but only because thou hast +ever thrust me from thee. Thou wouldst not permit me to share thy life. +Forgive me!--O God! I only wish to die with thee!--give me thy hand as +a sign of pardon!" + +Kneeling and beseeching, she stretched out both her hands. + +The King again lifted his head. The kindness of his nature awoke within +him, and overpowered his own dull pain. + +"Mataswintha," he said, lifting his chained hand, "go. I am sorry for +thee. Let me die alone. Whatever thou mayst have done--go--I forgive +thee." + +"O Witichis!" breathed Mataswintha, and would have clasped his hand, +but she felt herself suddenly and violently dragged away. + +"Incendiary! never shall he forgive thee! Come, Witichis!--_my_ +Witichis!--follow me; thou art free!" + +The King sprang up, roused to life by this voice. + +"Rauthgundis! My wife! Thou hast never lied! Thou art true! at last I +have thee again!" + +And, with a gasp of joy, he stretched out his arms. His wife flew to +his bosom, and tear's of delight rushed from their eyes. + +But Mataswintha, who had risen, tottered to the wall. She slowly +stroked her loose red hair out of her eyes and looked at the pair, who +were illuminated by the bright moonlight from the chink in the wall. + +"How he loves her! Yes, he will follow _her_! But he shall not! He +shall remain and die with me!" + +"Delay no longer!" said the voice of Dromon at the door. + +"Come, come quickly, my life!" cried Rauthgundis. + +She drew a little key from her bosom and felt at the chains, seeking +the small opening of the lock. + +"What? Shall I really breathe once more the air of freedom?" asked the +prisoner, half sinking back into his stupor. + +"Yes; the free and open air!" cried Rauthgundis, and threw the loosened +chains to the ground. "Here, Witichis, here is a weapon! an axe! Take +it!" + +Eagerly the Goth took the axe and weighed it in his hand. + +"Ha! how the weapon strengthens my arm and soul!" + +"I knew it, my brave Witichis," said Rauthgundis, kneeling down and +unlocking the chain which bound his left foot to the block of stone. +"Now step out, for thou art free!" + +Witichis, raising the axe in his right hand, made a step toward the +door. + +"And _she_ is permitted to loose his chains!" whispered Mataswintha. + +"Yes, free!" cried Witichis, drawing a deep breath. "Come, Rauthgundis, +let us go!" + +"He goes with _her_!" screamed Mataswintha, and cast herself before the +pair. "Witichis--farewell--but tell me once more--that thou hast +forgiven me!" + +"Forgiven thee!" cried Rauthgundis. "Never--never! She has destroyed +our kingdom--she has betrayed thee! It was no lightning--it was her +hand which kindled the granaries!" + +"Ha--then be thou accursed!" cried Witichis. "Away, away from this +serpent!" and, thrusting Mataswintha violently away, he crossed the +threshold, followed by Rauthgundis. + +"Witichis," screamed Mataswintha, dragging herself up--"stay--stay! +Hear one word--Witichis!" + +"Be silent," said Dromon, grasping her arm. "You will alarm the guard!" + +But Mataswintha, now no more mistress of herself, ran up the steps into +the passage. "Stay, Witichis--stay!" she screamed. "Thou canst not +leave me thus!" and fell fainting to the earth. + +Dromon hurried past her, and followed the fugitives. + +But the shrill cries of Mataswintha had already reached the ear of one +who ever slept lightly. Cethegus, his sword in his hand, and only half +dressed, came out of his chamber into the gallery which looked over the +square court of the palace. + +"Guards!" he cried. "To arms!" + +The soldiers were already astir. + +Scarcely had Witichis, Rauthgundis, and Dromon left the passage and +safely reached the dwelling of the latter, when six Isaurian +mercenaries rushed noisily into the passage. + +Quick as thought Rauthgundis ran out of the house to the heavy iron +door, shut it, turned the key, and took it out. + +"Now they can do no harm," she whispered. + +The husband and wife presently hastened from Dromon's house to the +great gate which led from the court into the street. The single +sentinel who had remained behind stopped them and demanded the +watchword. "Rome," he cried, "and----" + +"Revenge!" cried Witichis, and struck him down with the axe. + +The sentinel screamed and fell, hurling his spear at the fugitives. It +pierced the last of the three--Dromon. + +As Witichis and Rauthgundis rushed down the marble stairs of the palace +into the street, they heard the imprisoned soldiers thundering at the +strong iron door, and a loud voice calling: "Syphax, my horse!" Then +they disappeared into the darkness. + +A few minutes later the courtyard was bright with the lights of many +torches, and several horsemen galloped off to the different gates of +the city. + +"Six thousand solidi to whoever takes him alive; three thousand if he +be brought in dead!" cried Cethegus, swinging himself into the saddle. +"Up, Sons of the Wind, Ellak and Mondzach, Huns and Massagetæ! Ride as +you have never ridden before!" + +"But whither?" asked Syphax, as he galloped out of the gate at his +master's aide. + +"That is difficult to say. But all the gates are closed and guarded. +They can only escape by a breach." + +"There are two large breaches." + +"Look at Jupiter, which is just rising from behind the clouds in the +east. It seems to sign to me. In that direction----" + +"Lies the breach near the Tower of Ætius." + +"Good! Then thither--I follow my star!" + + +Meantime the fugitives had happily reached the breach, where Paulus, +the son of Dromon, let them pass. In the pine-grove of Diana they found +their faithful Wachis and two horses. + +The husband and wife mounted Wallada. The freedman took the other horse +and rode off at a gallop towards the river, which at this point was +very broad. + +Witichis held Rauthgundis before him. + +"My wife--losing thee I had lost all: life and courage. But now I will +once more try for the kingdom. Oh, how could I ever let thee go, thou +soul of my soul!" + +"Thine arm is wounded with the chaffing of the chain. Lay it across my +neck, my Witichis." + +"Forward, Wallada--quick! It is for life or death!" + +They now issued from the grove into the open country. They reached the +shore of the river. + +Wachis was trying to urge his rearing steed into the dark flood. The +animal shyed and resisted. + +The freedman sprang off. + +"It is very deep, very rapid," he said. "For three days the river has +been unusually full. The ford is useless. The horses will have to swim, +and the current will drag us far to the left. There are rocks in the +stream, and the moonlight is so inconstant and deceptive." + +He looked doubtfully and searchingly up and down the river. + +"Hark! what was that?" asked Rauthgundis. "It was not the wind in the +trees." + +"It is horses!" cried Witichis. "They approach rapidly. I hear the +clatter of arms. There--torches! Now into the river for life or +death--but softly!" + +He urged his horse into the water. + +"There is no footing. The horses must swim. Hold fast by the mane, +Rauthgundis. Forward, Wallada!" + +Snorting and trembling, the noble animal looked at the black water. His +mane was blown wildly about his head--he held his fore-feet stretched +out, his haunches drawn in. + +"Forward, Wallada!" said Witichis, and called softly into the faithful +animal's ear, "Theodoric!" + +At this the charger sprang willingly into the water. + +The pursuing horsemen had already galloped out of the wood, Cethegus +foremost; at his side rode Syphax with a torch. + +"Here the track disappears in the sand, master." + +"They are in the river. Forward, Huns!" + +But the horsemen drew rein and stood stock-still. + +"Well, Ellak, why do you linger? At once into the flood!" + +"Sir, we cannot. Before we ride into running water at night-time, we +must ask forgiveness of Phug, the water-spirit. We must first pray to +him." + +"Pray when you are across as long as you like; but now----" + +Just then a strong gust of wind blew from the river and extinguished +all the torches. + +The river rushed and roared. + +"You see, sir, that Phug is angry." + +"Be silent. Did you see nothing? There to the left." + +The moon just then glanced between the driving clouds. It shone upon +the light-coloured garments of Rauthgundis. She had lost her brown +mantle. + +"Aim quickly; there!" + +"We cannot; we must first finish our worship!" + +The clouds passed across the moon, and it was again quite dark. + +With a curse, Cethegus snatched bow and quiver from the shoulder of the +chief of the Huns. + +"Come on!" cried Wachis in a low voice, when he had almost reached the +opposite shore; "come quickly, before the moon issues from that narrow +strip of cloud!" + +"Halt, Wallada!" cried Witichis, as he dismounted in order to lighten +the burden, and held fast by the horse's mane. "Here is a rock. Take +care, Rauthgundis." + +Horse, man, and woman were checked for a moment while balancing upon +the top of the rock, past which the water rushed and gurgled in a deep +whirl. + +Suddenly the moon shone out clear and bright. It illuminated the +surface of the stream and the group on the rock. + +"It is they!" cried Cethegus, who held his bow and arrow ready. + +He took a rapid aim, and pulled the string. + +Whistling, the long black-feathered arrow flew from the string. + +"Rauthgundis!" cried Witichis in terror; for his wife started +convulsively and sank forward upon the horse's neck. But she did not +utter a groan. "Rauthgundis, thou art hit?" + +"I believe so. Leave me here and save thyself." + +"Never! Let me support thee." + +"For God's sake, sir, stoop! dive! They take aim again!" + +The Huns had finished praying. They rode a short way into the water, +fixing their arrows and taking aim. + +"Leave me, Witichis. Fly! I will die here." + +"No; I will never leave thee again!" + +He lifted her out of the saddle, and tried to hide her on the rock. The +group stood in the full light of the moon. + +"Yield, Witichis!" cried Cethegus, spurring his horse up to its +haunches in the water. + +"A curse upon thee, thou traitor!" was the reply of Witichis. + +Twelve arrows whizzed at once. The charger of Theodoric leaped wildly +forward, and sank for ever into the flood. + +But Witichis also was mortally wounded. + +"With thee!" sighed Rauthgundis. She held him closely with both arms. + +"With thee!" + +And, locked in a fast embrace, husband and wife sank into the river. + +In bitter grief, Wachis, on the farther shore, called their names. In +vain. Three times he called, and then galloped away into the night. + +"Get the bodies out," ordered Cethegus grimly, turning his horse to the +bank. + +And the Huns rode and swam to the rock, and sought for the bodies. But +they sought in vain. + +The rapid current had carried man and wife, united now for ever, into +the free and open sea. + + +The same day Prince Germanus had returned from Ariminum to the harbour +of Ravenna, ready to take Mataswintha to Byzantium. + +The latter was only roused from the faint into which she had fallen +when left by Witichis and Rauthgundis, by the noise of the hammers with +which the work-people broke open the passage to liberate the soldiers. + +The Princess was found crouching upon the steps of the prison. She was +carried up to her chamber in a high fever. She lay for hours upon her +purple cushions without moving or speaking, her eyes fixed in a wild +stare. + +Towards noon Cethegus asked for admission. + +His look was dark and threatening; his expression cold as ice. + +He went up to Mataswintha's couch. + +"He is dead!" she quietly said. + +"He would not have it otherwise. He--and you. It is useless to reproach +you. But you see what ensues when you oppose me. The report of his +death will inevitably rouse the barbarians to new fury. You have +created a difficult task for me; for you only are the cause of his +flight and death. The least that you can do to atone for this is to +fulfil my second wish. Prince Germanus has landed. He comes to fetch +you. You will follow him." + +"Where is the corpse?" + +"It has not been found. The current has carried it away; his body +and--the woman's." + +Mataswintha's lips twitched. + +"Even in death! She died with him?" + +"Think no more of the dead. In two hours I will return with the Prince. +Will you then be prepared to welcome him?" + +"I shall be ready." + +"'Tis well. We will be punctual." + +"I also. Aspa, call all my slaves; they shall adorn me richly to meet +this Prince. Diadem, purple, and silk." + +"She has lost her senses," Cethegus said to himself as he left the +room. "But women are tough; she will recover them. These women can +live, even when their hearts are broken." + +He went to console the impatient Prince. + +Before the expiration of the time appointed, a slave came to invite the +two men to come to the Queen. + +Germanus crossed the threshold of her room with a rapid step. But he +stood still astonished. He had never seen the Gothic Princess looking +so lovely, so queenly. + +She had placed a high golden diadem upon her shining hair, which fell +over her shoulders in two thick tresses. Her under-dress of heavy white +silk, embroidered with golden flowers, was only visible below the knee, +for the upper part of her body was covered by the royal purple. Her +face was white and cold as marble: her eyes blazed with a strange and +supernatural light. + +"Prince Germanus," she said, as he entered, "you once spoke to me of +love; but do you know of what you spoke? To love is to die." + +Germanus looked inquiringly at the Prefect, who now came forward. + +He was about to speak, but Mataswintha, in a clear loud voice, +recommenced: + +"Prince Germanus, you are famed as the most highly-cultivated man of a +learned court, where it is a favourite pastime to practise the solving +of finely-pointed riddles. I also will put to you a riddle; see to it +that you solve it. Let the clever Prefect, who so well understands +human nature, help you. What is this?--A wife, and yet a maid; a widow, +and yet no wife? You cannot guess? You are right; death alone resolves +all riddles!" + +With a sudden movement, she cast off her purple robe. + +There was a flash of steel! She had stabbed herself to the heart. + +With a shriek, Germanus and Aspa (who had stood behind) sprang forward. + +Cethegus silently caught the falling figure. + +She died as soon as he drew the sword from her breast. He knew the +sword. He himself had sent it to her. + +It was the sword of King Witichis. + + + + + + BOOK V. + TOTILA. + + +"Well for us that this sunny youth still lives!"--_Margrave Ruediger of +Bechelaren_, Act i., Scene i. + + + + + PART I. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +A few days after the death of Mataswintha and the departure of Prince +Germanus, who was deeply shocked by the sad event, a message came from +Castra Nova, which rendered necessary the march of Byzantine troops +from Ravenna. + +Hildebad had been informed, by fugitive Goths, who had made their way +in disguise through the lines of the besiegers, of the treacherous +imprisonment of the King. + +On hearing the news, he sent word to Cethegus and Belisarius, through +some prisoners whom he released, that he challenged them, either +together or singly, to mortal combat, "if they had a drop of courage in +their veins, or a trace of honour in their souls." + +"He thinks that Belisarius is still in the country, and does not seem +to fear him greatly," said Bessas. + +"This might be a means," said Cethegus cunningly, of ruining the +turbulent fellow. "But, certainly, it needs great courage--such courage +as Belisarius possesses." + +"You know that I do not yield to him a jot in that," answered Bessas. + +"Good," said Cethegus. "Then follow me to my house. I will show you how +to destroy this giant. You shall succeed where Belisarius failed." But +he said to himself, "Bessas is indeed a tolerably bad commander; but +Demetrius is still worse, and therefore easier to lead. And I owe +Bessas a grudge for that affair of the Tiburtinian Gate at Rome." + + +The Prefect had not without reason feared that the almost extinguished +resistance of the Goths would be renewed on hearing of the treason +practised on their King. + +No exact report had yet reached old Hildebrand at Verona, Totila at +Tarvisium, or Teja at Ticinum. + +They had only heard that Ravenna had fallen, and that the King was +imprisoned. + +Vague rumours of treachery accompanied this report, and the friends of +the King, in their pain and anger, were persuaded that the fall of the +strong fortress and of the brave King had not been effected by honest +means. + +Instead of discouraging them, this misfortune only increased the +strength of their resistance. + +They weakened their besiegers by repeated and successful sallies. + +And the enemy felt almost constrained to raise the siege, for already +signs of an important change of circumstance crowded upon them from all +sides. + +This change was, in fact, a rapidly progressing reversion of feeling in +the Italian population, at least of the middle classes: the merchants +and artisans of the towns; the peasants and farmers of the country. + +The Italians had everywhere greeted the Byzantines as liberators. + +But after a short period their exultation died away. + +Whole troops of officials followed Belisarius from Byzantium, sent by +Justinian to reap without delay the fruits of the war, and to fill the +ever-empty treasury of the East with the riches of Italy. + +In the midst of all the suffering caused by the war, these zealous +officials began their work. + +As soon as Belisarius had occupied a town, his treasurer summoned all +free citizens to the Curia or to the Forum; ordered them to divide +themselves into six classes according to their wealth, and then called +upon each class to value the property of the class above it. + +According to this valuation, the imperial officials then laid the +highest possible tax upon each class. + +And, as these officials were almost necessitated, because of the +retention and curtailment of their never punctually paid salaries, to +think of filling their own pockets as well as the Emperor's treasury, +the oppression they put in practice became intolerable. + +They were not content with the high rates which the Emperor required to +be paid in advance for three years; the special tax laid upon every +liberated town of Italy as a "gratitude tax"--besides the large +contributions and requisitions which Belisarius and his generals were +obliged to demand for the use of the army--for neither gold nor +provisions came from Byzantium--but every official sought to extort +special payments, by special means, out of the richer citizens. + +They everywhere ordered a revision of the tax-lists, discovered arrears +owing since the times of the Gothic Kings, even from the days of +Odoacer, and left the citizens the option of paying immense sums for +indemnity or of carrying on a ruinous lawsuit with Justinian's fiscus, +who scarcely ever lost one. + +But if the tax-lists were incomplete or destroyed--which happened often +enough in those times of war--the accountants arbitrarily reconstructed +them. + +In short, all the arts of finance which had ruined the provinces of the +Eastern Empire were practised in Italy, after the landing of +Belisarius, as far as imperial arms could reach. + +Without consideration for the misery of war-time, the tax executors +unyoked the oxen of the peasant from the plough, took his tools from +the workshop of the artisan, and his wares from the house of the +merchant. + +In many towns the people rebelled against their oppressors and drove +them away; but they only returned in larger numbers with severer +measures. + +The Mauretanian horsemen of Justinian, with African bloodhounds, hunted +the desperate peasants from their hiding-places in the woods, whither +they had fled to escape the tax-gatherer. And Cethegus, who alone was +in a position to check such deeds, looked on with calculating coolness. + +He desired that, before the end of the war, all Italy should have +become acquainted with the tyranny of Byzantium, for then it would be a +lighter task for him to persuade the people to rise and, when they had +got rid of the Goths, to throw off the burden of the Byzantines. He +listened to the complaints of the deputations from various towns, who +appealed to him for assistance, with a shrug and the laconic answer: + +"That is only Byzantine government--you must get used to it." + +"No," had answered the deputation from Rome, "one does not get +accustomed to what is unbearable. The Emperor may live to see that of +which he has never even dreamed!" + +To Cethegus this could only mean the independence of Italy; he knew of +nothing else. + +But he was mistaken. + +Although he thought meanly enough of his countrymen and the times in +which he lived, he yet believed that he could elevate them by example. + +But the thought so natural to his spirit; as necessary to him as the +air he breathed--the freedom and independence of Italy--was far too +grand for the comprehension of that generation. + +They could only vacillate between two masters. + +And when the yoke of Byzantium proved unbearable they began to recall +to their memory the milder rule of the Goths; a possibility which had +never entered the Prefect's head. + +And yet such was the case. + +Before Tarvisium, Ticinum, and Verona, there now happened on a small +scale, that which was preparing on a large one in such cities as +Neapolis and Rome. The Italian country-people revolted against +the Byzantine officials and soldiers, and the inhabitants of the +above-named three cities supported the Goths in every possible manner. + +So, when Totila, backed by the armed peasants of the plains, had +destroyed a great part of their works, the besiegers of Tarvisium were +obliged to cease their attacks, and limit themselves to the defence of +their camp, thus enabling Totila to draw supplies and soldiers from the +neighbouring country. + +With a more cheerful spirit than usual he one evening made his round of +the walls of Tarvisium. + +Rosy clouds floated across the sky, and the sun, as it sank behind the +Venetian hills, gilded all the plain before him. + +With emotion he watched the peasants from the neighbourhood streaming +through the open gates of the city, bringing bread, meat, and wine to +his half-starved Goths; who, on their part, hurried out into the open +country, and Germans and Italians, embracing, celebrated the victory +which they had together gained over their hated enemies. + +"Is it then impossible," said Totila to himself, "to preserve and +propagate this amity through the whole country? Is it a necessity that +these two nations should be eternally divided? How their friendship +embellishes each! Have we not also failed, in that we ever treated the +Italians as the vanquished? We meet them with suspicion, instead of +with generous confidence. We demand their obedience, and neglect to win +their affection. And it would have been well worth the winning! Had it +been won--never would Byzantium have gained a footing here! The release +from my vow--Valeria--would not have been so unattainable. Would that +it were permitted me to strive for this goal in _my_ way!" + +His reflections and dreams were interrupted by a messenger from the +outposts, announcing that the enemy had suddenly forsaken their camp, +and were in fall retreat to the south, towards Ravenna. On the road to +the west clouds of dust were seen: a large body of horsemen was +approaching--probably Goths. + +Totila received the news with joy, but also with doubt. He took all +necessary measures against a stratagem. + +But during the night his doubts were resolved. He was awakened by the +news of a Gothic victory, and the arrival of the victor. + +He hurried out and found Hildebrand, Teja, Thorismuth, and Wachis. + +With the cry of "Victory! victory!" his friends greeted him, and +Teja and Hildebrand announced that at Ticina, and Verona also, the +country-people had rebelled against the Byzantines, and had aided the +Goths in falling upon the besiegers, whom, after destroying their +defences, they had forced to retreat. + +But in spite of this joyful news, there lay in Teja's eyes and voice a +deeper melancholy than usual. + +"What of sorrow hast thou to communicate, beside this joy?" asked +Totila. + +"The shameful ruin of the best man in the world!" said Teja, and signed +to Wachis, who now related the sufferings and death of the King and his +wife. + +"I escaped the arrows of the Huns by hiding amongst the rushes. Thus I +still live. But only for one thing; that is, to revenge my master upon +his betrayer and murderer--Cethegus the Prefect." + +"No; the Prefect is mine!" said Teja. + +"Thou, Totila, hast the first right to his life," said Hildebrand, "for +thou hast a brother to revenge." + +"My brother Hildebad!" cried Totila. "What of him?" + +"He has been shamefully murdered by the Prefect," said Thorismuth, +"before my very eyes, and I could not prevent it." + +"My strong Hildebad dead!" exclaimed Totila. "Speak!" + +"The hero lay with us in the Castle of Castra Nova, near Mantua," +related Thorismuth. "The report of the King's treacherous death had +reached us. Hildebad challenged Belisarius and Cethegus to mortal +combat. Presently a herald arrived, who said that Belisarius had +accepted the challenge, and expected thy brother on the plain between +our walls and their camp. Thy brother set forth rejoicing; we horsemen +followed. And verily, there rode out of a tent, in his golden armour, +with closed helm and white plume, with his round shield--well known to +us all--the hero, Belisarius. Only twelve horsemen followed him; +foremost of all, Cethegus the Prefect. The other Byzantines halted just +outside the camp. Hildebad ordered me to follow him with an equal +number of horsemen. The two combatants greeted each other with their +spears; the trumpets sounded, and Hildebad rushed at his enemy. The +next moment the latter lay upon the ground, pierced through and +through. Thy brother, unhurt, dismounted, crying: 'That was no thrust +from Belisarius!' and opened the visor of the dying man. 'Bessas!' +cried Hildebad, and looked, furious at the deception, towards his +enemies. Then the Prefect gave a sign. The twelve Moorish horsemen +hurled their spears, and, severely hit, thy brother fell." + +Totila covered his face. Teja went sympathisingly up to him. + +"Listen to the end," said Thorismuth. "When we saw this murder, we were +filled with fury. We threw ourselves upon the enemy, who, trusting that +we should be discouraged, pressed forward from the camp. After a hot +fight, we compelled them to fly. Only the speed of his devilish horse +saved the Prefect, who was wounded in the shoulder by my spear. Thy +brother lived to see our victory. He caused the chest which he had +brought from Ravenna to be carried down to the Castle; opened it, and +said to me: 'Crown, shield, and sword of Theodoric. Take them to my +brother.' And with his last breath he cried: 'He must revenge me and +renew our kingdom. Tell him--that I loved him very dearly!' Then he +sank back upon his shield, and his faithful soul departed." + +"My brother! Oh, my beloved brother!" cried Totila, leaning against a +pillar. Tears flowed from his eyes. + +There was a moment of reverent silence. + +Then: "Remember thine oath!" cried Hildebrand. "He was doubly thy +brother! Thou wilt revenge him!" + +"Yes," said Totila, and involuntarily he drew the sword--which Teja +handed to him--from its sheath. "I will revenge him!" + +It was the sword of Theodoric. + +"And renew the kingdom," said old Hildebrand solemnly, and, taking the +crown, he set it upon Totila's head. "Hail to thee, King of the Goths!" + +Totila started. + +He raised his left hand to the golden coronet. + +"What do ye?" he exclaimed. + +"That which is right. The dying hero's words were prophecy! Thou wilt +surely renew the kingdom. Three victories call upon thee to take up the +struggle. Remember thine oath. We are not yet defenceless. Shall we lay +down our weapons? Shall we submit to treachery and tricks?" + +"No," cried Totila, "that we will not. And it is well done to choose a +king, as a sign of renewed hope. But here stands Earl Teja, worthier +than I, of proved experience. Choose Teja!" + +"No," said Teja, shaking his head, "it is thy turn first! Thy dying +brother has sent _thee_ this sword and crown. Wear them happily! If the +kingdom can be saved, it is thou who canst save it; if not, an avenger +must be left." + +"But now," interrupted Hildebrand, "now we must hasten to sow the seeds +of confidence in all hearts. This is thine office, Totila! See, the +young day breaks in glory. The first rays of the sun fall into the hall +and kiss, thy brow! It is a sign from the gods! Hail, King Totila--thou +that shalt renew the Gothic kingdom!" + +The youth pressed the glittering crown firmly upon his golden locks, +and raised Theodoric's sword towards the morning sun. + +"Yes!" he cried, "if human strength can do it, I will raise anew the +kingdom of the Goths." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +And King Totila kept his word. + +Once again he raised the Goths, whose sole hold on Italy was embodied +in a few thousand men and three cities, to a great power, greater even +than in the days of Theodoric. + +He drove the Byzantines out of all the towns of Italy, with one fatal +exception. + +He won back the islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicilia. + +And still more: he victoriously crossed the old limits of the kingdom, +and, as the Emperor obstinately refused recognition of the Gothic rule +and possession, sent his royal fleet to carry terror and devastation +into the provinces of the Eastern Empire. + +And Italy, in spite of the continuance of the war--which was never +quite extinguished--bloomed under his government as in the time of +Theodoric. + +It is remarkable that the legends both of the Goths and Italians +celebrate this fortunate King, now as the grandchild of Numa Pompilius, +Titus, or Theodoric, now as the spirit of the latter, returned to earth +in youthful form, to restore and bless his well-beloved kingdom. + +As the morning sun, issuing from the clouds of night, irresistibly +spreads light and blessing abroad, so Totila's arms brought happiness +to Italy. + +The dark shadows retreated step by step at his approach. Victory flew +before him, and the gates of the cities and the hearts of men opened to +him almost without a struggle. + +The manly qualities--the genius of a general and a ruler--which had +slumbered in this fair youth, which were only guessed at by Theodoric +and Teja, and known to their full extent to no one, were now gloriously +displayed. + +The youthful freshness of his nature, far from being destroyed by the +hard trials of the last years, by the sufferings which he had endured +in Neapolis and before Rome, by the long absence from his beloved +Valeria, from whom he was parted farther and farther by every fresh +victory of the Byzantines, had only deepened into more earnest +manliness. The bright sympathy of his manner remained, and cast the +charm of amiability and heartfelt kindness over all his actions. + +Sustained by his own ideality, he tamed trustingly to the ideal in his +fellow-men; and almost all, except those governed by some diabolical +power, found his confident appeal to what was noble and good +irresistible. + +As light illumines whatever it shines upon, so the noble-heartedness of +this glorious King seemed to communicate itself to his courts to his +associates, and even to his adversaries. + +"He is irresistible as Apollo!" said the Italians. + +More closely regarded, we find that the secret of his great and rapid +success lay in the genial art with which--following the inmost impulse +of his nature--he contrived to transmute the bitterness of the Italians +against Byzantine oppression into sympathy with the benevolence of the +Goths. + +We have seen how this feeling of bitterness had taken root amongst the +peasants, the farmers, the rich merchants, the artisans, and the middle +and lower ranks of the citizens; in fact, among the greater part of the +population. + +And later, when the Goths marched to the field of battle with the +jubilating cry of "Totila!" the personality of the young King +completely estranged the Italians from their Byzantine oppressors, who +seemed to be totally forsaken by the fortune of war. + +It is true that a minority remained uninfluenced: the Orthodox Church, +which knew of no peace with heretics; hard-headed Republicans; and the +kernel of the Catacomb conspiracy--the proud Roman aristocrats and the +friends of the Prefect. But this small minority compared to the mass of +the population, was of little moment. + +The King's first act was to publish a manifesto to the Goths and +Italians. + +It was proved to the first that the fall of King Witichis and Ravenna +had been the work of superior falsehood, and not of superior strength; +and the duty of revenge, begun already by three victories, was +impressed upon them. + +And the Italians, having now experienced what kind of exchange they had +made in revolting to Byzantium, were invited to return to their old +friends. + +In order to favour this return, the King promised not only a general +amnesty, but equal rights with the Goths; the abolition of all former +Gothic privileges; the right of forming a native army; and--what was +especially effective by contrast--the abolition of all taxes upon +Italian soil or property until the end of the war. + +Further, as the aristocracy favoured the Byzantines--the farmers, on +the contrary, the Goths--it was a measure of the highest prudence which +provided that every Roman noble who did not, within three months, +subject himself to the Goths, should lose his landed property in favour +of his former tenants. + +And, lastly, the King placed a high premium, to be paid out of the +royal purse, on all intermarriages between Goths and Italians, +promising the settlement of the pair upon the confiscated property of +Roman senators. + +"Italia," concluded the manifesto, "bleeding from the wounds inflicted +by the tyranny of Byzantium, shall recover and bloom again under my +protection. Help us, sons of Italia, to drive from this sacred ground +our common enemies, the Huns and Scythians of Justinianus. Then, in +the new-born kingdom of the Italians and Goths, a new people shall +arise--begotten of Italian beauty and cultivation, of Gothic strength +and truth--whose nobility and splendour shall be such as the world has. +never yet beheld!" + + +When Cethegus the Prefect, awaking at morn on the field-bed to which +his wound had confined him, heard the news of Totila's accession, he +sprang from his couch with a curse. + +"Sir," said the Grecian physician, "you must take care of yourself +and----" + +"Did you not hear? Totila wears the Gothic crown! It is no time now to +be prudent.--My helm, Syphax." + +And he snatched the manifesto from the hand of Lucius Licinius, who had +brought the news, and read eagerly. + +"Is it not ridiculous--madness?" asked Lucius. + +"Madness it is if the Romans be yet Romans! But are they so? If they +are not--then we--and not the barbarian prince--work madness. The thing +must never be put to a trial, but be at once nipped in the bud. The +blow directed against the aristocracy is a masterpiece. It must not +have time to take effect. Where is Demetrius?" + +"He marched against Totila last evening. You were asleep. The physician +forbade us to awaken you, and Demetrius also." + +"Totila king, and you let me sleep! Do you not know that this +flaxen-head is the very genius of the Goths? Demetrius wishes to win +his laurels alone. How strong is he?" + +"More than twice as strong as the Goths; twelve thousand to five +thousand." + +"Demetrius is lost. Up--to horse! Arm all who can carry a lance. +Leave only the wounded to guard the walls. This firebrand Totila must +be trampled out, or an ocean of blood cannot extinguish him. My +weapons--to horse!" + +"I have never seen the Prefect look so," said Lucius Licinius to the +physician. "It must be fever? He grew pale." + +"He is without fever." + +"Then I do not comprehend it, for it cannot be _fear_. Syphax, let us +follow him." + +Cethegus urged on his troop indefatigably. So indefatigably, that only +a small suite of horsemen could keep up with his impatience and the +swift hoofs of his war-horse. + +At long intervals followed Marcus Licinius, Massurius with Cethegus's +mercenaries, and Balbus with the hurriedly-armed citizens of Ravenna. +For Cethegus had indeed left in the fortress only old men, women and +children, and the wounded soldiers. + +At last the Prefect succeeded in communicating with the rear-guard of +the Byzantines. + +Totila was marching from Tarvisium southwards against Ravenna. + +He was joined by numerous bands of armed Italians from the provinces of +Liguria, Venetia, and Æmilia, who had been roused by his manifesto into +new hope and new resolve. + +They desired to fight with him his first battle against the Byzantines. + +"No," Totila had answered their general; "you shall decide upon what +you will do _after_ the battle. We Goths will fight alone. If we win, +then you may join us. If we lose, then the revenge of the Byzantines +will not affect you. Await the result." + +The report of such magnanimous sentiments attracted many more to the +Gothic flag. + +Besides this, Totila's army was reinforced from hour to hour, during +the march, by the arrival of Gothic warriors, who, singly, or in small +bands, had come out of prison or left their hiding-places when they +heard of the treachery practised on King Witichis, the accession of a +new King, and the renewal of the war. + +The haste with which Totila pressed forward, in order to avail himself +of the enthusiasm of his troops before it had time to cool, and the +zeal with which Demetrius flew to meet him, soon brought the two armies +in sight of each other. + +It was at the bridge across the Padus, named Pons Padi. + +The Byzantines stood in the plain; they had the river, which they had +crossed with half their foot, at their backs. + +The Goths appeared upon the gently-sloping hills towards the +north-west. + +The rays of the setting sun dazzled the eyes of the Byzantines. + +Totila, from the hill, observed the position of the enemy. + +"The victory is mine!" he cried to his troops, and, drawing his sword, +he swooped upon his enemies like a falcon on his prey. + + +Cethegus and his followers had reached the last deserted camp of the +Byzantines shortly after sunset. + +They were met by the first fugitives. + +"Turn, Prefect," cried the foremost horseman, who recognised him, "turn +and save yourself! Totila is upon us! He cleaved the helm and head of +Artabazes, the best captain of the Armenians, with his own hand!" And +the man continued his flight. + +"A god led the barbarians!" cried a second. "All is lost--the +commander-in-chief is taken!" + +"This King Totila is irresistible!" cried a third, trying to pass the +Prefect, who blocked his way. + +"Tell that in hell!" cried Cethegus, and struck him to the earth. +"Forward!" + +But he had scarcely given the command when he recalled it. + +For already whole battalions of vanquished Byzantines came flying +through the wood towards him. He saw that it would be impossible to +stem the flight of these masses with his small troop. + +For some time he watched the movement irresolutely. + +The Gothic pursuers were already visible in the distance, when +Vitalius, one of Demetrius's captains, came wounded up to Cethegus. + +"Oh, friend," he cried, "there is no stopping them! They will now go on +till they reach Ravenna." + +"I verily believe it," said Cethegus. "They will more likely carry my +men away with them than stand and fight." + +"And yet only the half of the victors, under Teja and Hildebrand, +follow us. The King turned back already on the field of battle. I saw +him withdraw his troops. He wheeled to the south-west." + +"_Whither?_" cried Cethegus, becoming attentive. "Tell me again. In +_what_ direction?" + +"He marched towards the south-west." + +"He is going to Rome!" exclaimed the Prefect, and pulled his horse +round so suddenly that it reared. "Follow me!--to the coast!" + +"And the routed army? without leaders!" cried Lucius Licinius. "See how +they fly!" + +"Let them fly! Ravenna is strong. It will hold out. Do you not hear? +The Goth is going to _Rome_! We must get there before him. Follow me to +the coast--the way by sea is open. To Rome!" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +Lovely--famed far and wide for its beauty--is the valley in which the +Passara flows from the north into the rapid Athesis, which hurries from +the west to the south-east. + +Like a bending figure, which leans longingly towards the beautiful +Southland, the lofty Mendola rises at a distance from the right bank of +the river. + +Here, above the junction of the two streams, once lay the Roman +settlement of Mansio Majæ. + +A little farther up the river, on a dominating rock, stood the Castle +of Teriolis. + +Now--from a mountain-"muhr" or "mar" (landslip)--the town is called +Meran. + +The Castle has given its name to the Tyrol. + +"Mansio Majæ" is heard even now in the name of the place "Mais," rich +in pleasant villas. + +But at the time of which we speak an East Gothic garrison lay in the +Castle of Teriolis, as was the case in all the old Rhætian rock-nests +on the Athesis, the Isarcus, and the [OE]nus, in order to keep down the +only half-subjected Suevi, Alamanni, and Markomanni, or, as they were +already named, the Bajuvars, who dwelt in Rhætia, on the Licus, and on +the lower course of the [OE]nus. + +But, besides the garrisons of the castles, East-Gothic families had +settled in larger numbers in the mild and fruitful valley and on the +willow-covered slopes of the mountains. + +Even now a singular, noble, and grave beauty distinguishes the peasants +of the valleys of Meran, Ultner, and Sarn. These reticent people are +much more refined, pensive, and aristocratic than the Bajuvar type on +the Inn, the Lech, and the Isar. + +Their dialect and legends support the supposition that here some few +remains of the Goths continued to flourish; for the legends of the +Amelungs, Dietrich of Bern, and the Rose-garden, still live in the +names of the places and the traditions of the people. + +Upon one of the highest mountains on the left shore of the Athesis, a +Goth named Iffa had before-times settled; his descendants continued the +settlement. + +The mountain is named the "Iffinger" to this day. Upon the southern +slope, half-way up, the simple settlement was fixed. The Gothic +emigrants had found it already cultivated. The Rhætian alpine-house, +which Druses had met with when he conquered the Rasenian +mountain-people, had suffered no change in its characteristic and +commodious form through the Roman conquerors, who built their villas in +the valley, and their watch-towers on dominating rocks. + +All the Romanised inhabitants of the Eltsch valley had, after the +East-Gothic invasion, remained in quiet possession of their property. + +For not here, but farther east, from the Save and over the Isonzo, had +the Goths pressed forward into the peninsula; and only when Ravenna and +Odoacer had fallen, did Theodoric spread his hosts in a peaceful and +regular manner over North Italy and the Etschland. + +Thus Iffa and his people had peacefully shared the soil with the Roman +settlers whom they found upon the mountain, which at that time still +possessed its Rasenian name. + +A third of the arable land, the meadows and woods; a third part of the +house, slaves, and animals, was, here as everywhere, claimed by the +Gothic settler from the Roman farmer. + +In the course of years, however, the Roman _hospes_ had found this +close and involuntary vicinity to the barbarians inconvenient. He +therefore left the rest of his property on the mountains to the Goths, +in exchange for thirty yoke of the splendid oxen which the Germans had +brought with them from Pannonia--and which they so well understood how +to breed--and went southwards, where the Romans dwelt in greater +numbers. + +And so the "Iffinger" had become completely Germanic, for the present +master had suddenly sold the few Roman slaves which he possessed, +and had replaced them by men and maids of Germanic race: Gepidians +taken in war. This master was again named "Iffa," like his ancestor. +He lived alone, a silver-haired man. A brother, and his wife and +daughter-in-law, had, many years ago, been buried under a landslip. + +A son, a younger brother, and a son of the latter, had obeyed the call +of King Witichis to arms, and had never returned from the siege of +Rome. + +So no one was left to the old man but his two grandchildren, the boy +and girl of the son who had fallen. + +The sun had set gloriously behind the mountains which bordered the +incomparable Etsch valley in the blue distance to the south and west. + +A warm golden lustre lay upon the tender porphyry colouring of the +"Iffinger," making it glow like red wine. + +Up the mountain slope, upon the top of which stood a dwelling-house +with a row of stalls a little apart, climbed slowly, step by step, +resting ever and again, and holding her hands over her eyes as she +looked at the sunset, a child--or was it already a maiden?--who was +driving a flock of lambs before her. + +She now and then gave her _protégées_ time to crop with dainty tooth +the aromatic Alpine herbs which grew in their path, and beat time with +the hazel stick which she carried to an ancient and simple melody, the +words of which she was softly singing: + + "Little lambkins, + Follow freely; + By your shepherd's + Hand led heedful; + Like the heaven's + Lovely lambkins, + Like the quiet + Steady stars, that + Shining, sparkling, + Obey ever + Their bright shepherd, + Mustered by the + Mild moon ever, + Without trouble, + Without pause." + +She ceased, and bent forward to look over into a deep ravine on her +left hand, which had been hollowed out in the steep slope by a rapid +mountain brook. Now, being summer, the water was very shallow. On the +opposite side the hill again rose steeply upward. + +"Where can he be?" the girl said; "usually his goats are already +descending the hill when the sun has turned to gold. My flowers will +fade soon!" + +She seated herself upon a stone near the path, let the lambs graze, +laid the hazel stick beside her, and allowed the apron of sheepskin, +which, till now, she had held up carefully, to fall. A shower of the +loveliest Alpine flowers fell to the ground. + +She began to wind a wreath. + +"The blue speik will suit his brown hair the best," she said as she +worked busily. "I get much more tired when I drive the flock alone than +when he is with me. And yet then we climb much higher. I wonder how it +is! How my naked feet burn! I might go down to the brook and cool them. +And then I should see him sooner when he comes along the height. The +sun does not scorch any more." + +She took off the large broad pumpkin leaf which she wore instead of a +hat; and now was seen the shining colour of her pale golden hair--so +fair it was!--which, stroked back from the temples, was tied together +at the back of the head with a red ribbon. Like a flood of sunbeams it +rippled over her neck, which was only covered by a white woollen +kirtle, that, confined at the waist with a leather girdle, reached a +little above the knees. + +She measured the size of her wreath on her own head. + +"Certainly," she said, "his head is larger. I will add these Alpine +roses." + +Then she tied the two ends of the wreath together with delicate +grasses, sprang up, shook the remaining flowers from her lap, took the +wreath in her left hand, and turned to descend the steep declivity, at +the foot of which the brook gurgled amid the stones. + +"No! stop up here and wait! Thou, too, darling White Elf! I will come +back directly." + +And she drove back the lambs, which had tried to follow, and which now, +bleating, looked wistfully after their mistress. + +With great agility the practised girl sprang down the ravine; now +holding fast to the tough shrubs, spurge-olives, and yellow willow; now +boldly leaping from rock to rock. + +The loose stones broke and the fragments came rattling after her. As +she merrily jumped after the rolling pebbles, she suddenly heard a +sharp and threatening hiss from below. + +Before she could turn, a great copper-brown snake, which had no doubt +been disturbed from sunning itself on a stone, coiled itself up, ready +to dart at her naked feet. + +The child was alarmed; her knees trembled, and screaming loudly, she +called: + +"Adalgoth, help! help!" + +A clear voice immediately replied to this cry of fear with the words, +"Alaric! Alaric!" which sounded like a battle-cry. + +The bushes on the right creaked and cracked; stones rolled down the +slope, and, swift as an arrow, a slender boy in a rough wolf-skin flew +between the hissing snake and the affrighted maiden. + +He hurled his strong Alpine stick like a spear, and with so true an aim +that the small head of the snake was transfixed to the ground. Its long +body twined convulsively round the deadly shaft. + +"Gotho, thou art not wounded?" + +"No, thanks to thee, thou hero!" + +"Then let me say the snake-charm before the viper ceases to struggle; +it will ban all its fellows for three leagues around." + + +And lifting the three first fingers of his right hand, the boy repeated +the ancient saying: + + "Woe! thou wolf-worm, + Wriggle wildly! + Bite the bushes, + Poisonous panting: + Men and maidens, + Hurt thou shalt not. + Down, black devil, + Venomous viper, + Down and die now! + High o'er the heads + Of scaly-bright serpents + Steppeth the race of the glorious Goths!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +As he finished speaking, and was bending to examine the snake, the girl +suddenly placed the wreath which she had made upon his curly auburn +hair. + +"Hail, hero and helper! Look! the victor's wreath was ready for thee. +Ah! how well the blue flowers become thee!" And she clapped her hands +joyfully. + +"Thy foot is bleeding!" said Adalgoth anxiously; "let me suck the +wound. If the poisonous snake has bitten thee!" + +"It was only a sharp stone. Thou wouldst better like to die thyself?" + +"For thee, Gotho, how gladly! But the poison is harmless in the mouth. +Now let me wash thy wound. I have still some vinegar and water left in +my gourd. And then I will put sage-leaves upon it, and healing endive." + +Thus saying, he gently made her sit down upon a stone, lifted her naked +foot and dropped the mixture out of the gourd upon it. This done, he +sprang up, looked about in the grass, and presently returned with some +soothing herbs, which he tied carefully over the wound with the leather +strap which he loosened from his own foot. + +"How kind thou art, dear boy!" said the girl, stroking his hair. + +"Now let me carry thee--only up the hill?" he begged; "I should so like +to hold thee in my arms!" + +"Indeed thou shalt not!" she laughed, as she sprang up; "I am no +wounded lamb! See how I can run. But where are thy goats?" + +"There they come out from the juniper-trees. I will call them." + +And putting his shepherd's-pipe to his mouth, he blew a shrill note, +swinging his stick round his head. + +The sturdy goats came leaping towards him--fearing punishment. + +And now, laying his arm tenderly about the girl's neck, and strewing a +stripe of salt from his pocket upon the earth, which the goats, +following, eagerly licked up, Adalgoth went up the slope. + +"But tell me, dearest," said Gotho, when they had arrived at the top of +the hill, and she was gathering her lambs together, "why thy cry was +again 'Alaric! Alaric!' just as when thou madest the eagle leave my +little White Elf, which it had already seized in its talons?" + +"That is my battle-cry." + +"Who taught it thee?" + +"Grandfather; the first time he took me with him to hunt wolves. The +time when I got this skin from Master Isegrim's ribs. As I sprang at +the wolf, which could not escape and turned to attack me, crying +'Iffa,' just as I had always heard grandfather cry, he said, 'Thou must +not cry "Iffa," Adalgoth. When thou attackest a hero or a monster, cry +"Alaric!" it will bring thee luck.'" + +"But none of our ancestors are so named, brother. We know all their +names." + +They had now reached the stalls, into which they drove the animals, and +then seated themselves before an open window upon a wooden bench, which +ran round the front of the house on each side of the door. + +"There are," counted Gotho, "first Iffamer, our father; and Uncle +Wargs, who was buried by the mountain; then Iffa, our grandfather; +Iffamuth, our other uncle; Iffaswinth, his son; and Iffarich, our +great-grandfather; and Iffa again--but no Alaric." + +"And yet I feel as if I had often heard that name at the time when I +used first to run about the mountain; when the great landslip killed +Uncle Wargs. And I like the name. Grandfather has told me about a +hero-king who was called so; who was first of all the heroes to conquer +the fortress of Roma--thou knowest, it is the city from which father +and Uncle Iffamuth and Cousin Iffaswinth never returned. And that hero +died young, like Siegfried, the dragon-killer, and Balthar, the heathen +god. And his grave is in a deep river. There he lies on his golden +shield, under his treasures, and tall reeds bend and wave above him. +And now another king has arisen, who is called Totila, as the warriors +who relieved the garrison over there in the Castle of Teriolis told me. +They say he is just like that Alaric, and like Siegfried and the +Sun-god. And grandfather says that I also shall become a warrior and go +down to King Totila and rush into the fray with the cry of 'Alaric! +Alaric!' Long ago I got tired of climbing about and keeping goats here +on the mountains, where there is nothing to fight but wolves, or at +most a bear which eats up the grapes and honey-combs. You all praise my +harp-playing and my songs, but I feel that they are not worth it, and +that I cannot learn much more from the old man. I should like to sing +better things. I am never tired of listening to the soldiers' stories +about the victories of glorious King Totila. Lately I gave the best +chamois I ever shot to old Hunibad--whom the King sent up here to nurse +his wounds--so that he might tell me, for the third time, all about the +battle at the bridge across the Padus, and how King Totila himself +overthrew that black devil, the dreadful Cethegus. And I have made a +song about it, which begins: + + "Tremble, thou traitor, + Cunning Cethegus; + Tricks will not serve thee; + Teja the terrible + Daunts thy defiance. + And brightly arises, + Like morning and May-time, + Like night from the darkness, + The favourite of Heaven, + The bright and the beautiful + King of the Goths. + +"But it goes no further; and I can make no more poetry alone. I need a +master for the words and the harp. I should like to finish a song that +I have began about the spear-hurler Teja, whom they call the 'Black +Earl,' and who is said to play the harp wonderfully. And long ago--but +this I tell to thee alone--I should have run away without asking +grandfather, who always says I am too young yet, if _one_ thing did not +keep me back." + +He sprang hastily up. + +"What is that, brother?" asked Gotho, who sat quite still and looked +full at him with her large blue eyes. + +"Nay, if thou dost not guess it," he answered almost angrily, "I cannot +tell thee. But now I must go and forge some new arrow-points in the +smithy. First give me one more kiss--there! And now let me kiss each of +thine eyes, and thy fair hair. Good-bye, dear sister, until +supper-time." + +He left her and ran to a side building, before the door of which stood +a grind-stone and various implements. + +Gotho rested her cheek upon her hand, and looked thoughtful. Then she +said aloud: + +"I cannot guess it; for of course he would take me with him. We could +not live apart." + + +She rose with a slight sigh, and went to a field near the house, to +look after the linen which was lying there bleaching. + +But now old Iffa rose from his seat behind the open window, where he +had heard all that had passed. + +"This will not do," he cried, rubbing his head hard. "I never yet had +the heart to separate the children--for they were but children! I +always waited and waited; and now I think I have put it off a little +too long. Away with thee, young Adalgoth!" + +He left the dwelling-house, and walked slowly to the smithy. He found +the boy working busily. With puffed-out cheeks, he blew into the fire +on the hearth, and held the already roughly-prepared arrow-points in +it, in order to make them red-hot and fit for the hammer. Then he took +them out with a pair of pincers, laid them on an anvil, and hammered +out neat points and hooks. Without pausing in his work, he nodded +silently to his grandfather, striking sturdily upon the anvil till the +sparks flew. + +"Well," thought the old man, "just now, at least, he thinks of nothing +but arrows and iron." + +But suddenly the young smith finished his work with a tremendous +stroke, threw away the hammer, passed his hand across his hot forehead, +and asked, turning sharply to the old man: + +"Grandfather, where do men come from?" + +"Jesus, Woden, and Maria!" exclaimed the old man, starting back. "Boy, +how comest thou to such thoughts?" + +"The thoughts come to me, not I to them. I mean the first men--the very +first. That tall Hermegisel over there in Teriolis, who ran away from +the Arian church at Verona, and can read and write, says that the +Christian God made a man in a garden out of clay, and, while he slept, +took one of his ribs and made a woman. That is ridiculous; for out of +the longest rib that ever was, one could not make ever so small a +girl." + +"Well, I don't believe it either," the old man thoughtfully confessed. +"It is difficult to imagine. And I remember that my father once said, +as he was sitting by the hearth, that the first men grew upon +trees. But old Hildebrand, who was his friend, although he was much +older--and who stopped here on his way back from an expedition against +the savage Bajuvars, and who was sitting near father, for it was early +in the year, and very rough and cold--_he_ said that it was all right +about the trees; only that men did not grow on them, but that two +heathen gods--Hermegisel called them demons--once found an ash and an +alder lying on the sea-shore, and from them they framed a man and a +woman. They still sing an old song about it. Hildebrand knew a few +words of it, but my father could not remember it." + +"I would rather believe that. But, at all events, there were very few +people at the beginning?" + +"To be sure." + +"And at first there was only _one_ family?" + +"Certainly." + +"And the old ones generally died before the young ones?" + +"Of course." + +"Then I tell thee what, grandfather. Either the race of men must have +died out, or, as it still exists--and thou seest that is what I am +coming to--brothers and sisters must often have married each other, +until more families were formed." + +"Adalgoth, the fairies are riding thee! Thou speakest nonsense!" + +"Not at all. And, in short, if it could happen before, it can happen +now; and I will have my sister Gotho for my wife." + +The old man ran to stop the boy's mouth by force; but the lad evaded +him and said: + +"I know all that thou wouldst say. The priests from Tridentum would +soon get to know of it here, and tell the King's Earl. But I can go +with her to some distant land, where no one knows us. And she will go +with me, I know." + +"Indeed! Thou knowest that already?" + +"Yes; I am sure." + +"But this thou dost not know, Adalgoth," the old man now said, gravely +and decidedly: "that to-night is the last which thou wilt spend upon +the 'Iffinger.' Up, Adalgoth! I command thee--I, thy grandfather and +guardian! Thou hast a sacred duty to perform--the duty of revenge! Thou +wilt fulfil it at the court, and with the army of Totila. A duty +bequeathed to thee by thine uncle Wargs--bequeathed to thee by +thine ancestor. Thou art now old and strong enough to undertake it. +To-morrow, at dawn of day, thou wilt start for the south--for Italia, +where King Totila punishes evil-doers, helps the good cause, and fights +against that wretch, Cethegus. Follow me to my chamber. I have to hand +over to thee a jewel, which was left for thee by thine uncle Wargs, and +to give thee many a word of counsel. But do not speak about it to +Gotho; do not make her heart heavy. If thou obeyest thine uncle's +orders and my counsel, thou wilt become a mighty and joyous hero in +King Totila's court. And then, but only then, thou shalt again see +Gotho!" + +Very grave and pale, the youth followed his grandfather into the house. +There, in the old man's chamber, they talked in low voices for a long +time. + +At supper, Adalgoth was missing. + +He sent word to Gotho by their grandfather that he had gone to bed, +being more tired than hungry. + +But at night, when Gotho slept, he went into her room on tiptoe. The +moon threw a soft light upon her angel face. + +Adalgoth stopped upon the threshold, and only stretched out his right +hand towards her. + +"I shall see thee again, my Gotho," he cried, and signed a farewell. + +Presently he crossed the threshold of the simple alpine cottage. + +The stars had scarcely begun to pale; fresh and exhilarating the +night-wind blew from the mountains around his temples. + +He looked up at the silent sky. + +All at once a falling star shot in a bright semicircle over his head. +It fell towards the south. + +The youth raised his shepherd's staff, and cried: + +"The stars beckon thither! Now beware, Cethegus the traitor!" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +On seeing the disastrous result of the battle at the bridge across the +Padus, the Prefect had sent messengers back to his troops and the armed +citizens of Ravenna, who were following him, to order them to return at +once to the latter city. He left the defeated troops of Demetrius to +their fate. + +Totila had taken all the flags and field-badges of the twelve thousand, +a thing which, as Procopius angrily writes, "never before happened to +the Romans." + +Cethegus himself, with his small band of trusty adherents, hastened +across the Æmilia to the west coast of Italy, which he reached at +Populonium. There he went on board a swift ship of war, and, favoured +by a strong breeze from the north-east (sent, as he said, by the +ancient gods of Latium), sailed to the harbour of Rome--Portus. + +He could never have succeeded in reaching Rome by land, for, after +Totila's victory, all Tuscany and Valeria fell to the Goths; the plains +unconditionally, and also such cities as were held by weak Byzantine +garrisons. + +Near Mucella, a day's march from Florence, the King once again +vanquished a powerful army of Byzantines, under the command of eleven +disunited leaders, who had gathered together the imperial garrisons of +the Tuscan fortresses to block his way. The commander-in-chief of this +army, Justinus, escaped to Florence with difficulty. + +The King treated his numerous prisoners with such lenity, that very +many Italians and imperial mercenaries deserted their flag and joined +the Gothic army. + +And now all the roads of Central Italy were covered by Goths and +natives who hastened to join Totila on his march to Rome. + +Arrived at the latter city, Cethegus had at once taken the necessary +measures for its defence. + +For Totila, after this new victory at Mucella, approached rapidly, +scarcely detained by anything but the ovations made to him by the +cities and castles on his way, which rivalled each other in opening +wide their gates to the conqueror. + +The few forts which still resisted were invested by small divisions of +Italians, kept in order by a few chosen Gothic troops. Totila was +enabled to do this without weakening his army, as, during his march to +Rome, his power was increased, like a river, by the inflowing of +greater or smaller parties of Goths and Italians. Not only did the +Italian peasants join him by thousands, but even the mercenaries of +Belisarius, who for months had received no pay, now offered their +weapons to the Goths, so that a few days after the arrival of the +Prefect, Totila led a very considerable army before the walls of Rome. + +With loud hurrahs the troops in the Gothic encampment greeted the +arrival of the brave Duke Guntharis, Wisand the bandalarius. Earl +Markja, and old Grippa, whose release Totila had procured by exchanging +them for the prisoners taken at the battle of the Padus. + +And now the almost impossible task was laid upon Cethegus of manning +effectually his grandly-designed fortifications. The whole army of +Belisarius was missing--besides the greater part of his own soldiers, +who were slowly sailing to the harbour of Portcus from Ravenna. + +In order, even insufficiently, to defend the entire circle of the +ramparts, Cethegus was obliged, not only to demand unusual and +unexpected exertions from the Roman legionaries, but also to increase +their numbers by despotic measures. + +From boys of sixteen years of age to old men of sixty, he called "all +the sons of Romulus, Camillus, and Cæsar to arms; to protect the +sanctuary of their forefathers against the barbarians." + +But his appeal was scarcely read or propagated, and was responded to by +very few volunteers; while he saw with mortification that the manifesto +of the Gothic King, which was thrown every night over the walls in many +places, was carried about and read by crowds; so that he angrily +proclaimed that anyone found picking up, pasting on the walls, or +reading this manifesto, or in any way facilitating its publication, +would be punished by the confiscation of his property or the loss of +his liberty. + +In spite of this, the manifesto still spread among the citizens, and +the list of volunteers remained empty. + +He then sent his Isaurians into all the houses to drag boys and old men +to the walls by force; and very soon he was more feared, and even +hated, than beloved. + +His stern will, and the gradual arrival of his troops from Ravenna, +alone checked the growing discontent of the Roman population. + +But in the Gothic camp messengers of good fortune overtook each other. + +Teja and Hildebrand had pursued the Byzantines to the gates of Ravenna. + +The defence of that city was conducted by Demetrius, one of the +exchanged prisoners, and by Bloody Johannes; that of the harbour town +of Classis by Constantianus against Hildebrand, who had won Ariminum in +passing, for the citizens had disarmed the Armenian mercenaries of +Artasires and opened the gates. + +Teja had beaten the troops of the Byzantine general Verus, who had +defended the crossing of the Santernus; had killed the general with his +own hand, and had then hastened through the whole of North Italy with +the manifesto in his left hand, his sword in his right, and in a few +weeks had won by force or by persuasion all towns and castles as far as +Mediolanum. + +But Totila, taught by the experience of the first siege of Rome, would +not expose his troops by attempting to storm the formidable defences of +the Prefect, and also desired to spare his future capital. + +"I will get into Rome with linen wings, and on wooden bridges," he one +day said to Duke Guntharis; left to him the investment of the city; and +taking all his horsemen with him, marched for Neapolis. + +There in the harbour lay, very inefficiently manned, an imperial fleet. + +Totila's march upon the Appian Way through South Italy resembled a +triumphal procession. + +Those districts which had suffered the longest under the yoke of the +Byzantines were now most willing to greet the Goths as liberators. + +The maidens of Terracina went to meet the King of the Goths with +wreaths of flowers. + +The people of Minturnæ brought out a golden chariot, made the King +descend from his white horse, and dragged him into the town in triumph. + +"Look! look!" was the cry in the streets of Casilinum--an ancient place +once dedicated to the worship of the Campanian Diana--"Ph[oe]bus Apollo +himself has descended from Olympus and comes as a saviour to the +sanctuary of his sister!" + +The citizens of Capua begged him to impress the first gold coins of his +reign with the inscription, "_Capua revindicata_." + +Thus it continued until he reached Neapolis; the very same road he had +once passed as a wounded fugitive. + +The commander of the Armenian mercenaries in Neapolis, who had a very +brave but small troop, did not dare to trust the fidelity of the +population in case of a siege. + +He therefore led his lance-bearers and the armed citizens to meet the +King outside the gates. + +But before the battle commenced, a man on a white horse rode out of the +lines of Goths, took his helmet from his head, and cried: + +"Have you forgotten me, men of the Parthenopæian city? I am Totila. You +loved me when I was commander of your harbour. You shall bless me as +your King. Do you not recollect how I saved in my ships your wives and +children from the Huns of Belisarius? Listen. These very wives and +children are again in my power; not as fugitives, but as prisoners. To +protect them from the Byzantines (perhaps from me also), you sent them +into the strong fortress of Cumæ. But know that Cumæ has surrendered, +and all the fugitives are in my power. I have been advised to keep them +as hostages in order to compel you to capitulate. But that is repugnant +to my feelings. I have set them at liberty; the wives of the Roman +senators I have sent to Rome. But your wives and children, men of +Neapolis, I have brought with me; not as my hostages, not as my +prisoners, but as my guests. Look how they stream out of my tents! Open +your arms to receive them--they are free! Will you now fight against +me? I cannot believe it! Who will be the first to aim at this breast?" +and he opened wide his arms. + +"Hail to King Totila the Good!" was the universal acclamation. + +And the warm-hearted men threw down their weapons, rushed forward, and +greeted with tears of joy their liberated wives and children, kissing +the hem of Totila's mantle. + +The commander of the mercenaries rode up to him. + +"My lancers are surrounded and too weak to fight alone. Here, O King, +is my sword. I am your prisoner." + +"Not so, brave Arsakide! Thou art unconquered--therefore no prisoner. +Go with thy troop whither thou wilt." + +"I _am_ a prisoner, conquered by your magnanimity and the splendour of +your eyes. Permit us henceforward to fight under your flag." + +In this manner a chosen troop, who stood by him faithfully, was won for +Totila. + +Amid a shower of flowers he made his entry into Neapolis through Porta +Nolana. + +Before Aratius, the admiral of the Byzantine fleets could raise the +anchors of his war-ships, their crews were overpowered by the sailors +of the many merchant vessels which lay near in the harbour, the masters +of which were old admirers and thankful _protégés_ of Totila. + +Without shedding a drop of blood, the King had gained a fleet and the +third city of importance in the kingdom. + +In the evenings during the banquet which the rejoicing inhabitants had +prepared for him, Totila stole softly away. + +With surprise the Gothic sentinels saw their King, all alone, disappear +into an old half-fallen tower, close to an ancient olive-tree by the +Porta Capuana. + +The next day there appeared a decree of Totila which dispensed the +women and girls of the Jews of Neapolis from a pole-tax which had, +until now, been laid upon them; and which--they being forbidden to +carry jewels in public--permitted them to wear a golden heart upon the +bosom of their dress as a mark of distinction. + +In the neglected garden, where a tall stone cross and a deep-sunk grave +were completely overgrown with wild ivy and moss, there presently arose +a monument of the most beautiful black marble, with the simple +inscription: "_Miriam from Valeria._" + +But there was no one living in Neapolis who understood its meaning. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +There now streamed into Neapolis ambassadors from Campania and Samnium, +Bruttia and Lucania, Apulia and Calabria, who came to invite the Gothic +King to enter their cities as a liberator. + +Even the important and strong fortress of Beneventum and the +neighbouring forts of Asculum, Canusia, and Acheruntia surrendered at +discretion. + +In these districts thousands of cases occurred in which the peasants +were settled upon the lands of their former masters, who had fallen in +battle, or had fled to Byzantium or to Rome. + +Besides Rome and Ravenna, there were now in the hands of the +Byzantines, only Florentia, held by Justinus; Spoletium, whose joint +governors were Bonus and Herodianus; and Perusia, under the Hun, +Uldugant. + +In a few days the King, reinforced by many Italians from the south of +the Peninsula, had new manned his conquered fleet, and left the harbour +in full sail, while his horsemen marched by land on the Via Appia to +the north. + +Rome was the goal of both ships and horse; while Teja, having +conquered all the country between Ravenna and the Tiber--Petra and +Cæsena fell without bloodshed--the Æmilia and both Tuscanies (the +Annonarian and the Sub-urbicarian), marched with a third army on the +Flaminian Way against the city of the Prefect. + +On hearing of these movements, Cethegus was obliged to acknowledge that +the struggle would now begin in good earnest, and, like a dragon in his +den, he determined to defend himself to the death. + +With a proud and contented look he viewed the ramparts and towers, and +said to his brothers-in-arms, who were uneasy at the approach of the +Goths: + +"Be comforted! Against these invincible walls they shall be broken to +pieces for the second time!" + +But at heart he was not so easy as his words and looks would seem to +indicate. + +Not that he ever repented his past deeds or thought his plans +unachievable. But that when, after repeated reverses, he appeared to +have arrived at the point of success, he should be as far off the goal +as ever because of Totila's victories--this feeling had a great effect +upon even _his_ iron nerves. + +"Water wears away a rock!" he said, when his friend Licinius once asked +him why he looked so gloomy. "And besides, I cannot sleep as I used to +do." + +"Since when?" + +"Since--Totila! That fair youth has stolen my slumbers!" + +Though the Prefect felt so secure and so superior to all his enemies +and adversaries, Totila's bright and open nature, and his easily-won +success, irritated him so much, that his coolness often melted in the +heat of his passion; while Totila went to meet the universally feared +foe with a sense of victory which nothing could disquiet. + +"He has luck, the downy-beard!" cried Cethegus, when he heard of the +easy conquest of Neapolis. "He is as fortunate as Achilles and +Alexander. But luckily such god-like youths never grow old! The soft +gold of such natures is quickly worn out. We lumps of native iron last +longer. I have seen the laurels and roses of the enthusiast, and it +seems to me that I shall soon see his cypresses. It cannot be that I +shall yield to this maiden soul! Fortune has borne him rapidly to a +dizzy height; she will hurl him down as rapidly and dizzily. Will she +first carry him over the ramparts of Rome?--Fly then, without effort, +young Icarus, in the brightest sunshine. I, through blood and strife, +step by step, climb up in the shade. But I shall stand on high when the +treacherous and burning kiss of Fortune has melted the wax on thy bold +wings. Thou wilt vanish beneath me like a falling star!" + +This, however, did not seem likely to happen soon. + +Cethegus awaited with impatience the arrival of a numerous fleet from +Ravenna, which was to bring him the remainder of his troops, and all +who could be spared of the legionaries and the troops of Demetrius, as +well as a quantity of provisions. + +When these reinforcements had arrived, he would be able to relieve the +grumbling Romans from their arduous duties. + +For weeks he had comforted the embittered inhabitants with the promise +of this fleet. + +At last it was announced by a swift-sailer that the fleet had reached +Ostia. + +Cethegus caused the news to be published in all the streets with a +flourish of trumpets, and announced that at the next Ides of October, +eight thousand citizens would be relieved from duty on the walls. He +also caused double rations of wine to be distributed among the soldiers +on the ramparts. + +When the Ides of October arrived, thick fog covered Ostia and the sea. + +The day after, a little sailing-boat flew from Ostia to Portus. The +trembling crew announced that King Totila had attacked the Ravennese +triremes with the fleet from Neapolis, under the protection of a thick +fog. Of the eighty ships, twenty were burnt or sunk; the remaining +sixty, with all their men and provisions, taken. + +Cethegus would not believe it. + +He hurried on board his own swift boat, the _Sagitta_, and flew down +the Tiber. + +But with difficulty he escaped the boats of the King, who had already +blockaded the harbour of Portus and sent small cruisers up the river. + +The Prefect now hastily caused a double river-bolt to be laid across +the Tiber; the first consisting of masts; the second of iron chains +placed an arrow's length farther up the river. The space between the +two bolts was filled with a great number of small boats. + +Cethegus felt deeply the blow which had fallen upon him. Not only had +his long-wished-for reinforcements fallen into the enemy's hand; not +only was he obliged to lay still heavier burdens upon the Romans, who +began to curse him, for now the river, too, had to be defended against +the constant attempts of the Gothic ships to break through; but with a +slight shudder of horror he saw approaching nearer and nearer the most +terrible of all enemies--famine. + +The water-road, by which he, as formerly Belisarius, had received +abundant provisions, was now blocked. + +Italy had no third fleet. That of Neapolis and that of Ravenna +blockaded Rome under the Gothic flag. + +And now the horsemen which Marcus Licinius had sent on the Flaminian +Way to reconnoitre and forage, came galloping back with the news that a +strong army of Goths, under the dreaded Teja, was approaching at a +quick step. The vanguard had already reached Reate. + +The day following Rome was also invested on the last side which had +remained open--the north--and had nothing left to depend upon but its +own citizens. + +And the latter were weak enough, however strong might be the Prefect's +will and the walls of the city. + +Yet for weeks and months Cethegus's stern resolution sustained the +despairing defenders against their will. + +At last the fall of the city, not by force, but by starvation, was +expected daily. + +At this juncture an unexpected event occurred, which revived the hopes +of the besieged, and put the genius and good fortune of the young King +to a hard proof: for there once more appeared upon the scene of +battle--Belisarius! + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +When news arrived in the golden palace of the Cæsars at Byzantium of +the lost battles on the Padus and at Mucella; of the renewed siege of +Rome, and the loss of Neapolis and almost all Italy, the Emperor +Justinian, who had already imagined the West again united to the East, +was awakened from his dream of triumph in a terrible manner. + +It was now easy for the friends of Belisarius to prove that the recall +of that hero had been the origin of all these disasters. + +It was clear that as long as Belisarius had been in Italy victory had +followed victory; and no sooner had he turned his back, than +misfortunes crowded one upon the other. + +The Byzantine generals in Italy openly acknowledged that they could not +replace Belisarius. + +"I am not able," wrote Demetrius from Ravenna, "to meet Totila +in the open field. Scarcely am I able to defend this fortress in the +marshes. Neapolis has fallen. Rome may surrender any day. Send us +again the lion-hearted man, whom, in our vanity, we dreamed we could +replace--the conqueror of the Vandals and the Goths." + +And Belisarius, although he had sworn never again to serve the +ungrateful Emperor, forgot all his wrongs as soon as Justinian smiled +upon him. And when, after the fall of Neapolis, he actually embraced +him and called him "his faithful sword"--in truth, the Emperor had +never believed in the general's rebellion, but was envious of his +sovereign position--Belisarius could no longer be restrained by +Antonina and Procopius. As, however, the Emperor feared the expense of +a second enterprise in Italy (besides that of the Persian wars, which +Narses conducted successfully but expensively in Asia), avarice and +ambition produced a struggle within him, which would, perhaps, have +lasted longer than the resistance of Rome and Ravenna, had not Prince +Germanus and Belisarius proposed an expedient. The noble Prince was +impelled by the wish to revisit Ravenna and the tomb of Mataswintha, +and to revenge her memory on the rude barbarians, for Cethegus had +declared that the cause of the tragic end of this incomparable woman +was that her mind had been disordered in consequence of her forced +marriage with Witichis. + +Belisarius, on his side, could not endure that all his fame should be +imperilled by Totila's success. "For," asked his enemies at court, +"could he really have conquered a people who, within the year, had +again almost made themselves masters of Italy?" + +He had given his word to annihilate the Goths, and he would keep it. + +So, influenced by these motives, Germanus and Belisarius proposed to +conquer Italy for the Emperor at their own expense. The Prince offered +his whole fortune for the equipment of a fleet; Belisarius all his +lately reinforced body-guard and lance-bearers. + +"That is a proposition after Justinian's own heart!" cried Procopius, +when informed of it by Belisarius. "Not a solidus out of his own +pocket! And perhaps the laurels of fame and a province for this world, +and the wholesale destruction of heretics to rejoice Heaven and +Theodora! You may be sure that he will accept, and give you his +fatherly benediction into the bargain. But nothing else. You, +Belisarius, I know, can be as little kept back as Balan, your piebald, +when he hears the call of the trumpet; but I will not see your +lamentable fall." + +"Fall? Wherefore, Raven of Misfortune?" + +"This time you have both Goths and Italians against you. And you could +not conquer the first when Italy was _for_ you." + +But Belisarius only reproached him with cowardice, and presently went +to sea with Germanus. + +The Emperor, in fact, gave them nothing but his blessings and the great +toe of the holy Mazaspes. + +The Byzantines in Italy breathed again when they heard that an imperial +fleet had anchored off Salona, in Dalmatia, and that the army had +landed. + +Even Cethegus, to whom the news was brought by spies, exclaimed with a +sigh: + +"Better Belisarius in Rome than Totila!" + +And the King of the Goths was filled with anxiety. He determined first +of all to discover the strength of the Byzantine army, in order to +decide upon what course he would take. Perhaps it would be necessary to +raise the siege of Rome, and advance to attack the army of relief. + +Belisarius sailed from Salona to Pola, where he mustered his ships and +men. While there, two men came to him, who announced themselves to be +Herulian mercenaries, therefore Goths, but speaking Latin well. They +said that they had been sent by Bonus, one of the commanders of +Spoletium. + +They had succeeded in passing the Gothic lines, and they pressed the +commander-in-chief to come to the relief of that place. They begged for +exact particulars as to the strength of his army and the number of his +ships, in order to be able to revive the sinking courage of the +besieged by trustworthy reports. + +"Well, my friends," said Belisarius, "you must perforce embellish your +report; for the truth is, that the Emperor has left me entirely to my +own resources." + +All the day long he showed these messengers his army and fleet. + +The night following the messengers had disappeared. + +They were Thorismuth and Aligern, who had been sent by King Totila, and +now furnished him with the much-desired particulars. + +So, from the very beginning, fate was against Belisarius, and the whole +course of this campaign was unworthy of the fame of that great general. + +It is true that he succeeded in running into the harbour of Ravenna, +and providing that city with provisions. + +But, the very day that he arrived. Prince Germanus was attacked by a +fatal malady while visiting the tomb of Mataswintha. + +She had been buried in the vault of the palace, near the graves of her +brother and the young King Athalaric. + +Germanus died, and, according to his last wish, was buried beside the +woman he had loved so truly. + +In a little niche in the same vault there reposed a heart which had +ever beat warmly for Queen "Beautiful-hair." + +Aspa, the Numidian slave, would not outlive her beloved mistress. + +"In my home," she had said, "the virgins of the Goddess of the Sun +often voluntarily leap into the flames which receive the Godhead. +Aspa's goddess, the lovely, bright, and kind, has left her. Aspa will +not live forlorn in the cold and darkness. She will follow her Sun." + +She had heaped up flowers in the death-chamber of her mistress--heaped +them still higher than on the day when she had prepared the same small +room for a bridal chamber--and had kindled unknown combustibles and +African resin, the stupefying odours of which drove away all the other +slaves. But Aspa had spent the night in the room. + +The next morning Syphax, attracted by the well-known but dangerous +odour, which reminded him of his country's sacrificial customs, went +softly into the room, which was as silent as the grave. At +Mataswintha's feet, her head buried in flowers, he had found his +Antelope--dead. + +"She died," he told Cethegus, "for love of her mistress. And now I have +none left on earth but you." + +After the burial of Germanus, Belisarius left Ravenna with the whole +fleet. + +But his very next undertaking, an attempt to surprise Pisaurum, was +repulsed with great loss. + +And King Totila, now acquainted with the small number of Belisarius's +troops, had sent skirmishers, under the command of Wisand, supported by +a few ships of war, to take Firmum, which was situated on the same +coast, almost under the generals very eyes. + +The Byzantines, Herodian and Bonus, surrendered Spoletium to Earl +Grippa, after the lapse of thirty days, during which they had hoped for +reinforcements from Belisarius in vain. + +In Assisium the commander of the garrison was a man of the name of +Sisifrid, a Goth who had deserted in the days of the fall of Witichis. + +This man well knew what was in store for him, should he fall into +Hildebrand's hands, who besieged the fort in person. Hatred of such +treason had enticed the old man from the siege of Ravenna to complete +this task of retribution. + +The Goth obstinately defended the town, but when, during a sally, the +axe of the old master-at-arms sent him to the other world, the citizens +obliged the Thracian garrison to yield. Many aristocratic Italians, +members of the old Catacomb conspiracy, three hundred Illyrian +horsemen, and some chosen body-guards of Belisarius, were taken +prisoners. + +Immediately afterwards, Placentia, the last town in the Æmilia which +was held by a Saracen garrison for the Emperor, was forced to +capitulate to Earl Markja, who commanded the small army of investment. + +In Bruttia, the fortress of Ruscia, the most important harbour for +Thurii, surrendered to the bold Aligern. + +Belisarius now despaired of reaching Rome by land. On hearing of the +terrible distress of that city, he determined at once to attempt to +relieve it by running the blockade of the Gothic fleet. + +But as he sailed round the south point of Calabria, off Hydrunt, a +fearful storm dispersed his ships; he himself, with a few triremes, was +driven southward as far as Sicily, and the greater part of his ships, +which had taken refuge in a bay near Croton, were there surprised and +taken by a Gothic squadron sent by the King from Rome, which had lain +in ambush near Squillacium. These prizes proved to be an important +addition to the Gothic fleet, for, as we shall see hereafter, the +Goths, were thereby enabled to attack the Byzantines in their islands +and coast-towns. + +After this blow, the forces of Belisarius, which had been weak from the +very first, became completely powerless. + +Generalship and valour could not replace missing ships, warriors, and +horses. + +The hope that the Italians, as in the first campaign, would revolt to +the Emperor's commander-in-chief, proved vain. + +Thus the whole enterprise was a complete failure, as we are told by +Procopius in unsparing words. + +The Emperor left all petitions for reinforcements unanswered. And when +Antonina repeatedly begged for permission to return, the Empress sent +the mocking reply, "that the Emperor dare not venture, for the second +time, to interrupt the hero in the course of his victories." + +So, lying off Sicily, Belisarius spent a miserable time of doubt and +helplessness. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +And meanwhile the suffering and exhaustion of the citizens in Rome +reached its highest point. + +Hunger thinned the ranks, never very full, of the defenders on the +walls. + +The Prefect in vain did his utmost. In vain he had recourse to all +possible measures of persuasion or despotism. In vain he lavishly +opened his coffers to provide the means of existence for the people. + +For the stores of grain which he had procured from Sicily and garnered +in the Capitol were exhausted. + +He promised incredible rewards to any boat which should succeed in +running the blockade of the King's ships and bring provisions to the +city; to every mercenary who ventured to creep through the gates and +the tents of the besiegers and bring back food. + +But Totila's watchfulness was not to be deceived. + +At first the promised reward had tempted a few avaricious and daring +men to venture out at night. But when Earl Teja, next morning, caused +their heads to be thrown over the walls at the Flaminian Gate, even the +most venturesome lost all desire to follow their example. + +The dung of animals was sold at a high price. + +Hungry women fought for the weeds and nettles which they found on the +heaps of rubbish. + +Long since had hunger taught the populace to eat greedily unheard-of +things. + +And countless deserters fled from the city to the Goths. + +Teja would have forced them to return, in order the sooner to oblige +the city to surrender; but Totila gave orders that they should be +received and fed, and that care should be taken that they did not +injure themselves by the too sudden gratification of their ravenous +appetites. + +Cethegus now spent his nights upon the walls. At various hours he +himself, spear and shield in hand, went the round of the patrols, and +sometimes took the place of a sentinel who was overcome with hunger or +the want of sleep. His example certainly had the greatest effect on the +brave. The two Licinii, Piso, and Salvius Julianus stood by the Prefect +and his blindly-devoted Isaurians with enthusiasm. + +But not so all Romans; not Balbus, the gormandiser. + +"No, Piso," said Balbus one day, "I cannot endure it any longer. It is +not in a man's power, at least not in mine. Holy Lucullus! who would +have thought that I should ever give my last and largest diamonds for +half a rock-marten!" + +"I remember the time," answered Piso, laughing, "when you would have +put your cook in irons if he had let a lobster boil a minute too long." + +"A lobster! Mercy on us! How can you recall such a picture to my mind! +I would give my immortal soul for one claw of a lobster, or even for +the tail. And never to sleep one's fill! To be awakened, if not by +hunger, by the trumpets of the patrol!" + +"Look at the Prefect! For the last fourteen days he has not slept +fourteen hours. He lies upon his hard shield, and drinks rain-water out +of his helmet." + +"The Prefect! He need not eat. He lives upon his pride, like the bear +on his fat, and sucks his own gall. He is made of nothing but sinews +and muscles, pride and hatred! But I--who had accumulated such soft +white flesh, that the mice nibbled at me when I slept, thinking that I +was a Spanish ham!--Do you know the latest news? A whole herd of fat +oxen was driven into the Gothic camp this morning--all from Apulia; +darlings of gods and men!" + +The next day early Piso, with Salvius Julianus, came to wake the +Prefect, who had lain down on the wall by the Porta Portuensis, close +to the most important point of defence, the bolt across the river. + +"Forgive me for disturbing your rare slumbers." + +"I was not asleep; I was awake. Tell me your news, tribune." + +"Last night Balbus deserted his post with twenty citizens. They let +themselves down from the Porta Latina by ropes. Outside there had been +heard all night long the lowing of Apulian herds. It seems that their +bellowing was irresistible." + +But the smile of the satirist faded away when he looked at the +Prefect's face. + +"Let a cross thirty feet high be erected before the house of Balbus in +the Via Sacra. Every deserter who falls into our hands shall be +crucified thereon." + +"General--Constantinus abolished the punishment of crucifixion in the +name of our Saviour," said Salvius Julianus reprovingly. + +"Then I re-introduce the practice in honour of Rome. That Emperor no +doubt held it to be impossible that a Roman noble and tribune could +desert his post for the sake of roast meat." + +"I have other news. I can no longer set the watch on the tower of the +Porta Pinciana. Of the sixteen mercenaries nine are either dead or +sick." + +"Almost the same thing is reported by Marcus Licinius, at the Porta +Tiburtina," said Julianus. "Who can ward off the danger which threatens +us on all sides?" + +"I! and the courage of the Romans. Go! Let the heralds summon all the +citizens, who may yet be in the houses, to the Forum Romanum." + +"Sir, there are only women, children, and sick people----" + +"Obey, tribune!" + +And with a dark expression on his face the Prefect descended from the +walls, mounted his noble Spanish charger, and, followed by a troop of +mounted Isaurians, made a long round through the city, everywhere +assuring himself that the sentinels were on the alert, and examining +the troops; thus giving the herald time to summon the people, and the +latter to obey. He advanced, very slowly, along the right bank of the +Tiber. A few ragged people crept out of their huts to stare in dull +despair at the passing horsemen. Only at the Bridge of Cestius did the +throng become thicker. + +Cethegus stopped his horse in order to muster the guard on the bridge. + +Suddenly, from the door of a low hut, there rushed a woman with +dishevelled hair, holding a child in her arms. Another pulled at her +ragged skirt. + +"Bread? bread?" she asked; "can stones be softened by tears until they +become bread? Oh no! They remain as hard--as hard as that man. Look, +children, that is the Prefect of Rome. He upon the black horse, with +the crimson crest and the terrible eyes! But I fear him no longer. +Look, children! that man forced your father to keep watch on the walls +day and night, until he fell dead. Curses on the Prefect of Rome!" + +And she shook her fist at the immovable horseman. + +"Bread, mother! Give us something to eat," howled the children. + +"I have nothing more for you to eat, but plenty to drink! Come!" +screamed the woman, and, clasping the elder child round the waist with +her right arm, and pressing the younger more firmly to her bosom, she +cast herself over the wall into the river. + +A cry of horror, followed by curses, ran through the crowd. + +"She was mad!" said the Prefect in a loud voice, and rode on. + +"No, she was the wisest of us all!" cried a voice from the crowd. + +"Silence! Legionaries, sound the trumpets! Forwards! To the Forum!" +commanded Cethegus, and the troop of horsemen galloped away. + +Across the Fabrician Bridge and through the Carmentalian Gate, the +Prefect arrived in the Forum Romanum at the foot of the Capitoline +Hill. + +The wide space appeared almost empty; the few thousand people who, clad +in miserable garments, crouched upon the steps of the temple and halls, +or supported themselves on their staffs or spears, made little +impression. + +"What does the Prefect want?"--"What can he want? we have nothing left +but our lives."--"And those he will--" "Do you know that the day before +yesterday the coast town Centumcellæ surrendered to the Goths?"--"Yes; +the citizens overpowered the Prefect's Isaurians and opened the +gates."--"Would that we could follow their example!"--"We must do it +soon, or it will be too late."--"Yesterday my brother fell down dead, +some boiled nettles still in his mouth. He was too weak to swallow the +mess."---"Yesterday in the Forum Boarium a mouse was sold for its +weight in gold!"--"For a week I got roasted meat from a butcher--he +would not sell the flesh raw."--"You were lucky! They storm all houses +where they smell roast meat!"--"But the day before yesterday he was +torn to pieces by the mob, for he had enticed beggar-children into his +house--and that was the flesh he had sold us!"--"But do you know what +the Gothic King does with his prisoners? He treats them as a father +treats his helpless children; and most of them enter his army at +once."--"Yes, and those who will not he provides with money for the +journey."--"Yes, and with clothes and shoes and provisions. The +sick and wounded are nursed."--"And he gives them guides to the +coast towns."--"And sometimes he even pays for their passage in +merchant-ships to the East."--"Look, the Prefect dismounts!" + +"He looks like Pluto!" + +"He is no longer Princeps Senatus, but Princeps Inferorum." + +"Look at his eyes! As cold as ice, and yet like red-hot arrows." + +"Yes, my godmother is right; she says that only those who have no heart +can look like that." + +"That is an old tale. Spectres and Lemures have eaten his heart in the +night." + +"Ah, bah! There are no Lemures. But there is a devil, for it says so in +the Bible. And the Prefect has sold himself to the devil. The Numidian +who is holding his black horse by the bridle is an imp from hell, who +always accompanies him. Nothing can hurt the Prefect. He feels neither +hunger nor thirst nor the want of sleep. But he can never smile, for he +has sold his soul!" + +"How do you know?" + +"The deacon of St. Paul's has explained it all. And it is a sin to +serve such a man any longer. Did he not betray our Bishop, Silverius, +to the Emperor, and send him over the sea in chains?" + +"And lately he accused sixty priests, Orthodox and Arian, of treason, +and banished them from the city." + +"That is true!" + +"And he must have promised the devil that he would torment the Romans." + +"But we will endure it no longer. We are free! He himself has often +told us so. I will ask him by what right----" + +But the bold speaker stopped short, for the Prefect glanced at the +murmuring group as he mounted the rostrum. + +"Quirites," he began, "I call upon you all to become legionaries. +Famine and treachery--a shameful thing to say of Romans!--have thinned +the ranks of our defenders. Do you hear the sound of hammers? A +crucifix is being erected to punish all deserters. Rome demands still +greater sacrifices from her citizens, for _they_ have no choice. The +citizens of other towns choose between surrender or destruction. We, +who have grown up in the shadow of the Capitol, have no choice; for +more than a thousand years of heroism sanctify this place. Here no +coward thought dare arise. You cannot again endure to see the +barbarians tie their horses to the columns of Trajan. We must make a +last effort. The marrow of heroism ripens early in the descendants of +Romulus and Cæsar; and late is spent the strength of the men who drink +of the waters of the Tiber. I call upon all boys from their twelfth, +all men until their eightieth year, to help to man the walls. Silence! +Do not murmur. I shall send my tribunes and the lance-bearers into +every house--only to prevent boys of too tender years and too aged men +from volunteering their services--then why do you murmur? Does any one +know of something better? Let him speak out boldly; from this place, +which I now vacate in his favour." + +At this, the group at which the Prefect looked became perfectly silent. + +But behind him, amid those whom his eye could not intimidate, there +arose a threatening cry: + +"Bread!" "Surrender!" "Bread!" + +Cethegus turned. + +"Are you not ashamed? You, worthy of your great name, have borne so +much, and now, when it is only necessary to hold out a little longer, +you would succumb? In a few days Belisarius will bring relief." + +"You told us so seven times already!" + +"And after the seventh time Belisarius lost almost all his ships. + +"Which now aid in blocking our harbour!" + +"You should name a term; a limit to this misery. My heart bleeds for +this people!" + +"Who are you?" the Prefect asked the invisible speaker of the last +sentence; "you can be no Roman!" + +"I am Pelagius the deacon, a Christian and a priest of the Lord. And I +fear not man but God. The King of the Goths, although a heretic, has +promised to restore to the orthodox the churches of which his +fellow-heretics, the Arians, have deprived them, in every town which +surrenders. Three times already has he sent a herald to the citizens of +Rome with the most lenient proposals--they have never been permitted to +speak to us." + +"Be silent, priest! You have no fatherland but heaven; no people but +the communion of saints; no army but that of the angels. Manage your +heavenly kingdom, but leave to men the kingdom of the Romans." + +"But the man of God is right!" + +"Set us a term." + +"A short one!" + +"Till then we will still hold out." + + +"But if it elapse without relief----" + +"Then we will surrender!" + +"We will open the gates." + +But Cethegus shunned this thought. Not having received news from the +outer world for weeks, he had no idea when Belisarius could possibly +arrive at the mouth of the Tiber. + +"What!" he cried. "Shall I fix a term during which you will remain +Romans, and after which you will become cowards and slaves! Honour +knows no term!" + +"You speak thus, because you do not believe in the reinforcements." + +"I speak thus, because I believe in _you_!" + +"But we will have a term. We are resolved. You speak of Roman freedom! +Are we free, or are we bound to obey you like your slaves? We demand a +term, and we will have it." + +"We will have it!" repeated a chorus of voices. + +Before Cethegus could reply, the sound of trumpets was heard from the +south-eastern corner of the Forum. + +From the Via Sacra advanced a crowd of people, citizens and soldiers; +in their midst were two horsemen in foreign armour. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Lucius Licinius galloped before them, sprang off his horse, and mounted +the tribune. + +"A herald from the Goths! I arrived too late to prevent his entrance as +usual. The famished legionaries at the Tiburtinian Gate opened it for +him." + + +"Down with him! He must not speak," cried the Prefect, rushing from the +tribune and drawing his sword. + +But the people guessed his intentions. They surrounded the herald with +cries of joy, protecting him from the Prefect. + +"Peace!" + +"Hail!" + +"Bread! Peace! Listen to the herald!" + +"No! do not listen to him!" thundered Cethegus. "Who is Prefect of +Rome, he or I? Who defends this city? I, Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius; +and I tell you, do not listen!" + +And he tried to make a way for himself. + +But, thick as a swarm of bees, women and old men threw themselves into +his path, and the armed citizens surrounded the herald. + +"Speak, herald!" they cried; "what bring you?" + +"Peace and deliverance!" cried Thorismuth, and waved his white wand. +"Totila, King of the Italians and the Goths, sends you greetings and +demands a safe-conduct into the city, in order to tell you important +news and to announce peace." + +"Hail to King Totila!" + +"We will hear him. He shall come!" + +Cethegus had hastily mounted his horse, and now ordered his trumpeters +to blow a flourish. + +At this well-known sound, all became quiet. + +"Hear me, herald! I, the governor of this city, refuse a safe-conduct. +I shall treat every Goth who enters this city as an enemy." + +But at these words a cry of rage burst from the multitude. + +"Cornelius Cethegus, are you our officer or our tyrant? We are free. +You have often vaunted the majesty of the Roman people. And the Roman +people command that the King shall be heard. Do we not, people of +Rome?" + +"We do!" + +"It is according to law," growled the Quirites. + +"You have heard! Will you obey or defy the people of Rome?" + +Cethegus sheathed his sword. + +Thorismuth and his companion galloped off to fetch the King. + +The Prefect signed to the young tribunes to draw near him. + +"Lucius Licinius," he said, "go to the Capitol. Salvius Julianus, you +will protect the lower river-bolt: the bolt of masts. Quintus Piso, you +will defend the chain-bolt. Marcus Licinius, you shall keep the bulwark +which protects the ascent to the Capitoline Hill and the way to my +house. The mercenaries will follow me." + +"What do you intend to do, general?" asked Lucius Licinius, as he was +preparing to obey the order. + +"Attack and destroy the barbarians." + +There were but fifty horsemen and about a hundred lance-bearers to +follow the Prefect, when he had sent away the tribunes. + +Meanwhile the people had waited anxiously for the sound of the Gothic +horns. + +At last they were heard, and presently there appeared Thorismuth and +six horn-blowers; Wisand the bandalarius, carrying the royal blue +banner of the Goths; the King, accompanied by Duke Guntharis and Earl +Teja; and about ten other leaders, almost all without weapons; only +Earl Teja displayed his broad and dreaded axe. + +As this procession was on the point of setting forth from the Gothic +encampment, to ride through the Metronian Gate into the city, Duke +Guntharis felt some one pull his mantle, and looking down, beheld a boy +or youth, with short and curly brown hair and blue eyes, standing near +his horse, with a shepherd's staff in his hand. + +"Art thou the King? No, thou art not he. And that, that is brave Teja, +the Black Earl, as the songs call him!" + +"What wouldst thou with the King, boy?" + +"I would fight for him." + +"Thou art still too tender. Go, and return two summers hence. And, +meanwhile, guard thy flocks." + +"I may be young, but I am no longer weak, and I have guarded the flock +long enough. Ha! I see that that is the King!" and he went up to +Totila, and bowed gracefully, saying: + +"By thy leave, O King!" + +And he caught the bridle of the horse to lead it, as if it were a +matter of course. + +The King looked amused, and smiled at the boy. + +And the boy led his horse. + +But Guntharis thought: "I have seen that face before! But no, it is +only a resemblance; yet such a resemblance I have never seen in my +life. And how noble is the young shepherd's carriage!" + +"Hail to King Totila! Peace and salvation!" cried the people, as the +Goths entered the city. + +But the young guide looked up into the King's shining countenance, and +sang in a soft sweet voice: + + "Cunning Cethegus: + Tricks will not serve thee! + Teja the terrible + Daunts thy defiance. + And brightly arises, + Like morning and May-time, + Like night from the darkness, + The favourite of heaven, + The bright, and the beautiful + King of the Goths! + To him are wide opened + All halls and all hearts; + To him, overpowered, + Yield Winter and Woe!" + +When the King entered the Forum, there fell a dead silence upon the +people. + +But Cethegus, who had expected this, immediately took advantage of it. +He urged his horse into the crowd and cried: + +"What would you, Goth, in this my city?" + +Totila cast one flaming look at him, and then turned away. + +"With _him_ I speak, for evermore, only with my sword! With him, the +threefold liar and murderer! To _you_ I speak, unhappy and befooled +inhabitants of Rome! Your sufferings wring my heart. I come to end your +misery. I come without arms, for I am safer, trusting to the honour of +Romans, than protected by sword and shield." + +He paused. + +Cethegus no more attempted to interrupt him. + +"Quirites," continued Totila, "you yourselves have truly acknowledged +that I might long since have stormed your walls with my hosts. For now +you have but stones, and no men to defend them. But if Rome were +carried by storm, then Rome would burn; and I confess that I would +rather never enter Rome, than enter to find it in ashes. I will not +reproach you with the manner in which you have requited the kindness of +Theodoric and the Goths. Have you forgotten the time when you coined +your gold with the grateful inscription, 'Roma felix'? Truly you are +punished enough; more heavily punished by hunger, pestilence, and the +yoke of the Byzantines and that demon Cethegus, than by the severest +penalty which we could have inflicted. More than eight thousand +people--women and children not included--have perished. Your deserted +houses fall into ruins; you greedily pluck the grass which grows in +your temples; despair walks your streets with hollow eyes; famished +mothers--Roman mothers--have devoured the flesh of their own children. +Until this day, your resistance was heroic, although lamentable. But +henceforward it is madness. Your last hope was placed in Belisarius. +Then hear: Belisarius has sailed from Sicily to Byzantium. He has +deserted you." + +Cethegus ordered the trumpets to be sounded, in order to drown the +groans of the multitude. + +For some time it was all in vain, but at last the brazen tones +conquered. + +When all was quiet the Prefect cried: + +"It is a lie! Do not believe such barefaced lies!" + +"Have the Goths, have I, ever lied to you, Romans? But you shall +believe your own eyes and ears. Come forward, man, and speak. Do you +know him?" + +A Byzantine in rich armour was led forward by the Gothic horsemen. + +"Konon!" + +"The navarchus of Belisarius!" + +"We know him!" cried the crowd. + +Cethegus turned pale. + +"Men of Rome," said the Byzantine, "Belisarius, the magister militum, +has sent me to King Totila. I arrived in the camp to-day. Belisarius +was obliged to return to Byzantium. On leaving Sicily, he recommended +Rome and Italy to the well-known benevolence of King Totila. This was +my message to him and to you." + +"If this be so," cried Cethegus, with a threatening voice, "then now is +the day to prove whether you be Romans or bastards! Mark me well! +Cethegus the Prefect will never, never surrender his Rome to the +barbarians! Oh I think once more of the time when I was your all! When +you exalted my name above those of the saints! Who has given you, for +years, work, bread, and, what is more, weapons? Who protected +you--Belisarius or Cethegus?--when these barbarians encamped by +millions before your walls? Who saved Rome, with his heart's blood, +from King Witichis? For the last time I call you to the combat! Do you +hear me, grandchildren of Camillus? As he once, solely by the might of +the Roman sword, swept the Gauls, who had already taken the city, away +from the Capitol, so will I sweep away these Goths! Follow me! We will +sally forth and let the world see what is possible to Roman valour when +led by Cethegus and despair. Choose!" + +"Aye, choose!" cried Totila, raising himself in his stirrups. "Choose +between certain destruction or certain freedom. If you once more follow +this madman, I can no longer protect you. Listen to Earl Teja, who +stands at my right hand. You know him, I think. I can no longer protect +you." + +"No," cried Teja, raising his mighty axe, "then, by the God of Hate, no +more mercy! If you refuse this last offer, not a life will be spared +within these walls. I, and a thousand others, have sworn it!" + +"I offer you complete immunity, and will prove a mild and just king to +you. Ask Neapolis what I am! Choose between me and the Prefect!" + +"Hail to King Totila! Death to the Prefect!" was the unanimous +acclamation. + +And, as if at a signal, the women and children, with uplifted hands, +threw themselves on their knees; while all the armed inhabitants raised +their weapons threateningly, and many a spear was hurled at the +Prefect. They were the very weapons which he himself had given to the +people. + +"They are dogs--no Romans!" exclaimed Cethegus, with disdainful fury, +and turned his horse. "To the Capitol!" + +And his horse, with a sudden leap, cleared the row of kneeling and +screaming women. Through a shower of darts which the Romans now sent +after him galloped the Prefect, riding down the few who had courage +enough to try to stop him. + +His crimson crest soon disappeared in the distance. + +His companions galloped swiftly after him. The lance-bearers on foot +retreated in good order, now and then turning and levelling their +spears. Thus they reached the lofty bulwark which, held by Marcus +Licinius, protected the ascent to the Capitol, and the way to the +Prefect's house. + +"What next? Shall we pursue?" the citizens asked the King. + +"No--stay. Let all the gates be opened. Wagons laden with meat, bread, +and wine stand ready in the camp. Let them be brought into all parts of +the city. Feed the people of Rome for three whole days. My Goths shall +keep watch to prevent excess." + +"And the Prefect?" asked Duke Guntharis. + +"Cornelius Cethegus, the ex-Prefect of Rome, will not escape the +vengeance of God," cried Totila, turning away. + +"And not mine!" cried the shepherd-boy. + +"And not mine!" said Teja, and galloped after the King. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +Most of the quarters of the city of Rome had now fallen into the hands +of the enemy. + +Cethegus was in possession of that part of the city which extended on +the right bank of the Tiber from the Mausoleum of Hadrian in the north +to the Porta Portuensis in the south, near which were situated the two +bolts across the river. + +On the left bank the Prefect held only the small but dominating quarter +west of the Forum Romanum, of which the Capitol formed the centre. This +quarter was enclosed by walls and high bulwarks which stretched from +the shore of the Tiber at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, and round +the hill eastwards, to the Forum of Trajan in the north; while at the +back and westwards from the Capitol, they passed between the Circus +Flaminius and the Theatre of Marcellus (abandoning the first and +enclosing the last), and ended at the Fabrician Bridge and the Island +of the Tiber. + +The King had left the Forum, and the rest of the day was spent by the +inhabitants of the city in feasting and rejoicing. + +The King caused eighty wagons, each drawn by four oxen, to be drawn up +in all the principal squares and places of those parts of the city +which had surrendered. And round about these wagons, upon the pavement +or upon speedily-erected wooden benches, lay the famishing population, +raising their voices in thanks to God, the saints, and the "good King." + +The Prefect had at once closed all the gates which led from those parts +of the city occupied by the Goths into _his_ Rome; particularly the +approaches from the Forum Romanum to the Capitol, and the Flumentanian, +Carmentalian and Ratumenian Gates. He caused them all to be barricaded, +and divided the few soldiers he had at his command among the most +important points of defence. + +He held much about the same part of Rome as he had before occupied +under and against Belisarius. + +"Salvius Julianus must have another hundred Isaurians to protect the +bolt of masts on the river," he commanded. "The Abasgian bowmen must +hasten to join Piso at the bolt of chains. Marcus Licinius will remain +on the bulwark of the Forum." + +But now Lucius Licinius announced that the rest of the legionaries, who +had not been present at the scene on the Forum, because they had been +on duty in the now barricaded portion of the city, were become very +unruly. + +"Ah," cried Cethegus, "the odour of the roast meat for which their +comrades sold their honour, tickles their nostrils! I come." + +And he rode up to the Capitol, where the legionaries, about five +hundred men, were standing in their ranks with a very gloomy and +threatening aspect. + +Looking at them with a searching eye, Cethegus slowly rode along their +front. + +At last he spoke. + +"For you I had reserved the fame of having defended the Lares and +Penates of the Capitol against the barbarians. I hear, indeed, that you +prefer the joints of beef below there. But I will not believe it. You +will not desert the man who, after centuries of helplessness, has again +taught the Romans how to fight and conquer. Whoever will stand by +Cethegus and the Capitol--let him raise his sword." + +But not a blade was seen. + +"Hunger is a more powerful god than the Capitoline Jupiter," said +Cethegus contemptuously. + +A centurion stepped forward. + +"It is not that, Prefect of Rome. But we will not fight against our +fathers and brothers who are on the side of the Goths." + +"I ought to keep you as hostages for your fathers and brothers, and +when they storm the bulwarks, throw to them your heads! But I fear it +would not stop them in their enthusiasm, which comes from their +stomachs! Go--you are not worthy to save Rome! Open the gate, Licinius. +Let them turn their backs upon the Capitol and honour!" + +And the legionaries marched away, all but about a hundred men, who +stood still irresolutely, leaning on their spears. + +"Well, what do you want?" cried Cethegus, riding up to them. + +"To die with you, Prefect of Rome!" cried one of them. + +And the others repeated: "To die with you!" + +"I thank you! Do you see, Licinius, a hundred Romans! Are they not +enough to found a new Roman Empire?--I will give you the post of +honour; you shall defend the bulwark to which I have given the name of +Julius Cæsar." + +He sprang from his horse, threw the bridle to Syphax, called his +tribunes together, and spoke: + +"Now listen to my plan." + +"You have a plan already?" + +"Yes. We will attack! If I know these barbarians, we are safe for +to-night from any assault. They have won three quarters of the city. +Before they think of the last quarter, their victory must be celebrated +in a hundred thousand tipsy bouts. At midnight the whole company of +yellow-haired heroes and drinkers will be immersed in feasting, wine, +and sleep; and the hungry Quirites will not be behindhand in excess. +Look! How they feast and sing below there--crowned with flowers! And +very few barbarians have yet entered the city. That is our hope of +victory. At midnight we will sally forth from all our gates--they will +not dream of an attack from such a minority--and slay them in their +revels." + +"Your plan is bold," said Lucius Licinius. "And if we fall, the Capitol +will be our tombstone!" + +"You learn from me words as well as sword-strokes," said Cethegus, +smiling. "My plan is desperate, but it is the only one now possible. Is +the watch set? I will go home and sleep for a couple of hours. No one +must rouse me before that time. In two hours come and wake me." + +"You can sleep at such a moment, general?" + +"Yes; I _must_. And I hope I shall sleep soundly. I must have time to +collect myself--I have just yielded the Forum Romanum to the barbarian +King! It was too much! I need time to recover myself. Syphax, I asked +yesterday if no more wine was to be had on the right bank of the +Tiber?" + +"I have been to seek some. There is yet a little in the temple of your +God; but the priests say that it is dedicated to the service of the +altar." + +"That will not have spoiled it! Go, Lucius, and take it from the +priests. Divide it amongst the hundred men on the bulwark of Cæsar. It +is the only thing that I can give them to show my gratitude." + +Followed by Syphax, Cethegus now rode slowly home. + +He stopped at the principal entrance to his house. + +In answer to the call of Syphax, Thrax, a groom, opened the gate. + +Cethegus dismounted and stroked the neck of his noble charger. + +"Our next ride will be a sharp one, my Pluto--to victory or in flight! +Thrax, give him the white bread which was reserved for me." + +The horse was led into the stables near at hand. The stalls were empty. +Pluto shared the spacious building only with the brown horse belonging +to Syphax. All the Prefect's other horses had been slaughtered and +devoured by the mercenaries. + +The master of the house passed through the splendid vestibule and +atrium into the library. + +The old ostiarius and secretary, the slave Fidus, who was past carrying +a spear, the only domestic in the house. All the slaves and freedmen +were upon the walls--either living or dead. + +"Reach me the roll of Plutarch's Cæsar, and the large goblet set with +amethysts--it scarcely needed their decoration--full of spring water." + +The Prefect stayed in the library for some time. The old servant had +lighted the lamp, filled with costly oil of spikenard, as he had been +accustomed to do in times of peace. + +Cethegus cast a long look at the numerous busts, Hermes, and statues, +which cast sharp shadows along the exquisite mosaic pavement. + +There, upon pedestals or brackets, on which were inscribed their names, +stood small marble busts of almost all the heroes of Rome, from the +mythic Kings to the long rows of Consuls and Cæsars, ended by Trajan, +Hadrian, and Constantine. + +The ancestors of the "Cethegi" formed a numerous group. + +An empty niche already contained the pedestal upon which his bust would +one day stand--the last on that side of the room, for he was the last +of his house. + +But on another side there was a whole row of arches and empty niches, +destined for future scions of the family, not by marriage, but by +adoption, should the name of Cethegus be continued into more fortunate +generations. + +As Cethegus walked slowly past the rows of busts, he chanced to look at +the niche destined to contain his own, and, to his astonishment, saw +that it was not empty. + +"What is that?" he asked. "Lift up the lamp, secretary. Whose is that +bust standing in my place?" + +"Forgive, master! The pedestal of that bust, one of the ancients, +needed reparation. I was obliged to remove it, and I placed it in the +empty niche to keep it from harm." + +"Show a light. Still higher. Who can it be?" + +And Cethegus read the short inscription upon the bust: "Tarquinius +Superbus, tyrant of Rome, died in exile; banished from the city by the +inhabitants on account of his monstrous despotism. A warning to future +generations." + +Cethegus, in his youth, had himself composed this inscription. + +He took the bust away, and placed it on one side. + +"Away with the omen!" he cried. + +Lost in thought, he entered his study. + +He leaned his helm, shield, and sword against the couch. The slave +kindled the lamp which stood on the tortoise-shell table, brought the +goblet and the roll of papyrus, and left the room. + +Cethegus took up the roll. + +But he soon laid it down again. His forced composure could not last; it +was too unnatural. In the Roman Forum the Quirites drank with the +barbarians to the health of the King of the Goths and the ruin of the +Prefect of Rome, the Princeps Senatus! In two hours he was about to +attempt to wrest the city from the Goths. He could not fill up the +short pause with the perusal of a biography which he almost knew by +heart. + +He drank thirstily of the water in the goblet. + +Then he threw himself upon his couch. + +"Was it an omen?" he asked himself. "But there are no omens for +those who do not believe in them. 'This is the only omen: to fight for +the fatherland,' says Homer. Truly, I fight not alone for my native +land; I fight still more for myself. But have not to-day's events +disgracefully proved that Rome is Cethegus, and Cethegus is Rome? These +name-forgetting Romans do not make Rome. The Rome of to-day is far more +Cethegus than the Rome of old was Cæsar. Was not he, too, a tyrant in +the eyes of fools?" + +He rose uneasily, and went up to the colossal statue of his great +ancestor. + +"God-like Julius! If I could pray, I would pray now to thee! Help me! +Complete the work of thy grandchild. How hard have I striven since the +day when the idea of the renewal of thy empire was born within my +brain--born full-armed, like Pallas Athene from the head of Jupiter! +How have I fought, mentally and physically, by day and by night! And +though thrown to the ground seven times by the superior force of two +peoples, seven times have I again struggled to my feet, unconquered and +unintimidated! A year ago my goal seemed near--so near; and now, this +very night, I must fight this fair youth for Rome and for my life! Can +it be that I must succumb after such deeds and such exertions? Succumb +to the good fortune of a youth! Is it, then, impossible for thy +descendant to stand alone for his nation, until he renew both it and +himself? Is it impossible to conquer the barbarians and the Greeks? Can +not I, Cethegus, stop the wheel of Fate and roll it backward? Must I +fail because I stand alone--a general without an army, a king without a +nation to support him? Must I yield thy and my Rome? I cannot, will not +think so! Did not thy star fade shortly before Pharsalus? and didst +thou not swim over the Nile to save thy life, bleeding from a hundred +wounds? And yet thou hast succeeded. Again thou hast entered Rome in +triumph. It will not go more hardly with thy descendant. No; I will not +lose my Rome! I will not lose my house, and this thy God-like image, +which has often, like the crucifix of the Christian, filled me with +hope and comfort. As a pledge of my success, to thee I will entrust a +treasure. Where can anything on earth be safe if not with thee? In an +hour of despondency, I was about to give this treasure to Syphax to +bury in the earth. But if I lose Rome and this house, this sanctuary, I +will lose all. Who can decipher these hieroglyphics? As thou hast kept +the letters and the diary, so shalt thou keep this treasure also." + +So saying, he drew from the bosom of his tunic, beneath his shirt of +mail, a rather large leather bag, filled with costly pearls and +precious stones, and touched a spring on the left side of the statue, +below the edge of its shield. + +A small opening was revealed, out of which he took an oblong casket of +beautifully-carved ivory, provided with a golden lock. The casket +contained all sorts of writings and rolls of papyrus. He now added the +bag. + +"Here, great ancestor, guard my secrets and my treasure. With whom +should they be safe, if not with thee?" + +He touched the spring again, and the statue looked as perfect as +before. + +"Beneath thy shield, upon thy heart! As a pledge that I trust in thee +and my good fortune as thy descendant! As a pledge that nothing shall +force me away from thee and Rome--at least for any length of time. If I +_must_ go--I will return again. And who will seek my secret in the +marble Cæsar?" + +If the water in the amethyst cup had been the strongest wine, it could +not have had a more intoxicating effect than this soliloquy or dialogue +with the colossal statue which Cethegus worshipped like a god. + +The unnatural strain upon all his mental and physical powers during the +last few weeks; the unsuccessful attempt to persuade the people on the +Forum; the conception of a new and desperate plan as soon as he had +been defeated in the first, and the consuming anxiety with which he +awaited its execution, had excited and exhausted the iron nerves of the +Prefect to the utmost. + +He thought, spoke, and acted as if in a high fever. + +Tired out, he threw himself upon his couch at the foot of the statue; +and suddenly sleep overcame him. + +But it was not the sound sleep which, until now, he had been able to +command at will, even after some criminal act or before a dangerous +enterprise: the result of a strong constitution which was superior to +all excitement. + +For the first time his slumber was uneasy, disturbed by changeful +dreams, which, like the fancies of a delirious man, chased each other +through his brain. + +At last the visions of the dreamer took a more concrete form. + +He saw the statue at the feet of which he lay, grow and grow. The +majestic head rose higher and higher, and passed through the roof of +the house. With its crown of laurel it at last penetrated the clouds, +and towered into the starry heavens. + +"Take me with thee!" sighed Cethegus. + +But the demigod replied: + +"I can scarcely see thee from this height. Thou art too small! Thou +canst not follow me." + +And it seemed to Cethegus that a thunderbolt fell and shattered the +roof of his house. With a crash the beams fell upon him, burying him +under the ruins. The statue of Cæsar also broke and fell. + +And crash after crash echoed through the place. + +Cethegus woke, sprang up, and looked around in bewilderment. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The sound continued. + +It was real--no dream! Blow after blow fell thundering against the door +of his house. + +Cethegus caught up his helm and sword. + +At that moment Syphax and Lucius rushed into the room. + +"Up, general!" + +"Up, Cethegus!" + +"Two hours cannot yet have passed. Why have you awakened me?" + +"The Goths! They have been beforehand with us! They storm the +bulwarks!" + +"Damn them! Where do they storm?" + +Cethegus had already reached the door of the room. + +"Where does the King attack?" + +"At the bolts on the river. He has sent fire-ships up the stream. +Floats with heavy towers on deck, full of resin, pitch, and sulphur. +The first bolt of masts and all the boats between are in flames! +Salvius Julianus is wounded and taken prisoner. There! you can see the +reflection of the flames in the south-east!" + +"The bolt of chains--does it hold?" + +"It holds still. But if it break--" + +"Then I, as once before, am the bolt of Rome! Forward!" + +Syphax led up the snorting horses. + +Cethegus swung himself into the saddle. + +"Away! Where is your brother Marcus?" + +"At the bulwark by the Forum." + +As Cethegus and Lucius were galloping off, they were met by a mass of +mercenaries, Isaurians and Abasgians, who fled from the river. + +"Fly!" they cried. "Save the Prefect!" + +"Where is Cethegus?" + +"Here--to save you! Turn back. To the river!" + +He galloped on. The reflection of the burning masts plainly showed the +way. Arrived at the river bank, Cethegus dismounted. Syphax placed his +horse out of harm's way in an empty storehouse. + +"Torches!" cried Cethegus. "Into the boats! There lie a dozen ready. +Bowmen, into the boats! Follow me! Lucius, go into the second boat. Row +up to the chain. Place yourselves close to it. Whatever comes up the +river--shoot! They cannot land below the bolt, the walls are too high +and descend straight into the water. They _must_ come up here to the +chain!" + +Already a few boats, filled with Goths, had ventured too near. Some +caught fire at the burning masts; others were upset in the crush and +confusion. One, which had approached within half an arrow's length of +the chain, drove helplessly down the stream again: all the crew had +been killed by the arrows of the Abasgians. + +"Do you see! There goes a boat of corpses! Resist to the last man. +Nothing is lost! Bring torches and firebrands! Kindle the wharf there! +Fire against fire!" + +"Look there, master!" cried Syphax, who never left the Prefect's side. + +"Aye, now comes the struggle!" + +It was a splendid sight. + +The Goths had seen that the bolt of chains could never be forced by +small boats, so they had hewn away so much of the burning bolt of masts +that a space was left in the middle just broad enough to permit the +passage of a ship of war. + +But to try to pass up the river, exposed to the arrows of the +Abasgians, between the flaming ends of the masts, and propelled only by +their oars, might be more dangerous for the large vessel than for the +"boat of corpses." + +The Goths hesitated and stopped just before the burning beams. + +But suddenly there arose a strong breeze from the south, rippling the +surface of the water. + +"Do you feel the wind? It is the breath of the God of Victory! Set the +sails! Now follow me, my Goths!" cried a joyful voice. + +The sails were set, and the wings of the royal galley, the "Wild Swan," +spread wide to the breeze. + +It was a magnificent spectacle as the great vessel, all its canvas +spread, and urged by a hundred oarsmen, came majestically up the river, +illuminated by the terrible light from the burning masts and boats. + +With irresistible force the noble galley sailed up the stream. + +On both sides of the upper deck, high above the heads of the oarsmen on +the lower deck, kneeled close rows of Gothic warriors, their shields +forming a brazen roof to protect them from the arrows of the foe. + +Upon the bows of the ship an immense figure of a swan lifted high its +snowy wings. + +Between these wings, upon the back of the swan, stood King Totila, his +sword in his right hand. + +"Forward!" he cried. "Pull, my men, with all your might! Be ready, +Goths!" + +Cethegus recognised the youth's tall figure. He even recognised the +voice. + +"Let the galley approach quite close. When within twenty feet, shoot! +Not yet!--Now! now shoot!" + +"Crouch close, Goths!" cried Totila. + +A hail of arrows fell over the galley. But they rebounded from a roof +of shields. + +"Damn them!" cried Piso, behind the Prefect. "They intend to break the +chain with the force of the shock. And they will surely do it, even if +every man on deck should fall! The oarsmen we cannot reach, and the +south wind cannot be wounded!" + +"Fire the sails! fire the ship! Bring firebrands!" cried Cethegus. + +Ever nearer rustled the threatening "Swan." + + +Ever nearer approached the ruinous shock against the tightly-stretched +chains. + +Firebrands were hurled at the galley. + +One flew into the sail of the main-mast, burnt quickly up, and then +died out. + +A second--Cethegus himself had hurled it--passed close to the golden +locks of the King. It fell near him. He had not remarked it; but a +shepherd-boy, who carried no weapon but a shepherd's staff, ran up and +trampled it out. + +The other brands rebounded from the shields and fell hissing into the +river. + +And now the prow of the galley was only eight feet from the chain. + +The Romans trembled in expectation of the shock. + +Cethegus stepped to the bow of his boat, balancing and aiming his heavy +spear. + +"Mark!" he said; "as soon as the King falls, be quick with more +firebrands." + +Never had the practised soldier aimed better. Drawing back his spear +once more, he launched it at the King with all the force lent to his +arm by hatred. + +His followers waited breathlessly. But the King did not fall. He had +caught sight of Cethegus while aiming; at the same moment he threw down +his long and narrow shield and awaited the flying shaft with his left +arm drawn back. + +Whistling came the spear straight at the spot where the King's bare +neck showed above his breastplate. + +When within a few inches of his throat, the King caught the shaft with +his left hand and immediately hurled it back at the Prefect, wounding +him on the left arm just above his shield. + +Cethegus fell on his knee. + +At the same instant the galley struck the chain. It burst. The Roman +boats which lay near, including that of Cethegus, were upset; and most +of them drove masterless down the river. + +"Victory!" shouted Totila. "Yield, mercenaries!" + +Cethegus, bleeding, swam to the left bank of the river. He saw how the +Gothic galley lowered two boats, into one of which sprang the King. + +He saw how a whole flotilla of large vessels, which had sailed up in +the wake of the King's galley, now broke through the boats of his +bowmen, and landed troops on both sides of the river. + +He saw how his Abasgians--neither armed nor in the mood for a +hand-to-hand fight--surrendered themselves by companies to the Goths. + +He saw how a rain of arrows from the royal galley fell upon the +defenders on the left bank. + +He saw how the little boat, in which stood the King, now approached the +place where he himself stood, dripping with water. + +He had lost his helmet in the river, his shield he had thrown away, in +order the more speedily to gain the land. + +He was on the point of attacking the King, who had just landed, with +his sword alone, when a Gothic arrow grazed his neck. + +"Well hit, Haduswinth?" cried a young voice; "better than at the +Mausoleum!" + +"Bravo, Gunthamund!" + +Cethegus tottered. + +Syphax caught his arm. + +At the same moment a hand was laid on his shoulder. He recognised +Marcus Licinius. + +"You here! Where are your men?" + +"Dead!" said Marcus. "The hundred Romans fell on the bulwark. Teja, the +terrible Teja, stormed it. The half of your Isaurians fell on the way +to the Capitol. The rest still keep the doors, and the half-bulwark in +front of your house. I can no more. Teja's axe penetrated through my +shield and entered my ribs. Farewell, O great Cethegus! Save the +Capitol. But--look there! Teja is quick!" + +And he fell to the ground. + +From the Capitoline Hill flames rose high into the night. + +"There is nothing more to be done here," the Prefect said with +difficulty, for he was losing blood fast and becoming rapidly weak. "I +will save the Capitol! To you, Piso, I leave the barbarian King. Once +before you have wounded a Gothic King upon the threshold of Rome. Now +wound a second, but this time mortally! You, Lucius, will revenge your +brother. Do not follow me!" + +As he spoke he cast one more furious glance at the King, at whose feet +kneeled his Abasgians, and sighed deeply. + +"You tremble, master!" said Syphax sadly. + +"_Rome_ trembles!" cried Cethegus. "To the Capitol!" + +Lucius Licinius pressed the hand of his dying brother. + +"I shall follow him notwithstanding," he said, "for he is wounded." + + +While Cethegus, Syphax, and Lucius Licinius disappeared in the +distance, Piso crouched behind the columns of a Basilica close to which +the street led upwards from the river. + +Meanwhile the King had placed the Abasgians under the guard of his +soldiers. He went a few steps up the bank of the river and pointed with +his sword to the flames which arose from the Capitol. + +Then he turned to the Goths who were landing. + +"Forward!" he cried. "Make haste! The flames up there must be +extinguished. The fight is over. Now, Goths, protect and preserve Rome, +for it is yours!" + +Piso took advantage of the moment. + +"Apollo!" he exclaimed; "if ever my satires hit their mark, help now my +sword!" + +And he sprang from behind the column towards the King, who stood with +his back turned to him. But before he could deal a blow, he let his +sword fell with a loud cry. A sturdy stroke from a stick had lamed his +hand. + +Immediately a young shepherd sprang upon him and pulled him to the +ground, kneeling on his breast. + +"Yield, thou Roman wolf!" cried a clear boyish voice. + +"Ah! Piso.... the poet He is thy prisoner, boy," said the King, who now +turned. "He shall ransom himself with a goodly sum. But who art thou, +young shepherd?" + +"He is the saviour of your life, sire," interposed old Haduswinth. "We +saw the Roman rush at you, but we were too far off to call or help you. +We owe your life to this boy." + +"What is thy name, young hero?" + +"Adalgoth." + +"And what wouldst thou here?" + +"Cethegus, the traitor, the Prefect of Rome! where is he, King? Pray +tell me. I was sent to the boats. I heard that he would oppose thy +attack here." + +"He was here. He has fled; most likely to his house." + +"Wouldst thou overcome that King of Hell with this stick?" asked +Haduswinth. + +"No," cried the boy; "I have now a sword." + +And he took up his prisoner's sword, which was lying on the ground; +brandished it over his head and rushed away. + +Totila gave Piso in charge to the Goths, who had now landed in great +numbers. + +"Hasten!" he cried again. "Save the Capitol, which the Romans are +destroying!" + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Meanwhile the Prefect had left the river and gone in the direction of +the Capitol. + +He passed the Porta Trigemina and arrived at the Forum Boarium. + +Before the Temple of Janus he met with a crowd of people by which he +was detained for a short time. + +In spite of his wound he had made such haste that Lucius and Syphax +could scarcely follow. They had repeatedly lost sight of him. Only now +did they overtake him. + +He now tried to go through the Porta Carmentalis, and thus gain the +back of the Capitol. + +But he found the gate already occupied by numerous Goths. Amongst them +was Wachis. He recognised the Prefect from a distance. + +"Revenge for Rauthgundis!" he cried. + +A heavy stone struck the Prefect's helmless head. He turned and fled. + +He now remembered that there was a sinking of the wall not far from the +gate. He determined to climb it at that place. + +As he neared it, the flames from the Capitol again shot high into the +air. + +Three men sprang over the wall just in front of him. They were +Isaurians. They recognised him. + +"Fly, general! The Capitol is lost! Teja, the black Gothic devil!" + +"Did he--did Teja kindle the fire?" + +"No; we ourselves set a wooden bulwark, which the barbarians had taken, +on fire. The Goths do all they can to extinguish the flames." + +"The barbarians save the Capitol!" said Cethegus bitterly, and +supported himself upon a spear which was handed to him by one of the +mercenaries. + +"I must get to my house." + +And he turned to the right, the shortest way to the principal entrance +to his house. + +"O master, that way is dangerous!" cried one of the Isaurians. "The +Goths will soon be there. I heard the Black Earl ask repeatedly after +you. He was seeking you everywhere upon the Capitol. He will now seek +you in your house." + +"I _must_ once more go to my house!" + +But he had scarcely gone a few steps, when a troop of Goths and Romans, +carrying torches and firebrands, came towards him from the city. + +The foremost, who were Romans, recognised him. + +"The Prefect!" + +"The destroyer of Rome!" + +"He has set the Capitol on fire! Down with him!" + +Arrows, stones, and spears were hurled at Cethegus. One of his +Isaurians fell; the others took to their heels. + +Cethegus was hit by an arrow; it penetrated slightly into his left +shoulder. He tore it out. + +"A Roman arrow, with my own stamp!" he cried with a terrible laugh. + +With difficulty he gained a dark side-street. + +Before his House there was a crowd of soldiers, trying in vain to break +open the principal door. + +Cethegus heard the uproar, and well understood the cries of rage with +which the soldiers accompanied their ineffectual exertions. + +"The door is strong," he said to himself. "Before they force an +entrance, I shall be again out of the house." + +He hurried to the back of the house. He pressed a secret spring which +opened the door of the court, entered, and, leaving the door open +behind him, hurried in. + +Hark! a stroke--very different from all which had gone +before--thundered against the front door of the house. + +"That is a battle-axe!" thought Cethegus. "That is Teja?" + +He hastened to a small gap in the wall, which afforded an outlook into +the main street. It was Teja. His long black locks waved about his bare +head; in his left hand he carried a firebrand; in his right the dreaded +battle-axe. He was covered with blood. + +"Cethegus!" he shouted at every stroke of his axe. "Cornelius Cethegus +Cæsarius, where art thou? I sought thee in the Capitol, Prefect of +Rome! Where art thou? Must I seek thee upon thy hearth?" + +Cethegus, listening, heard hasty steps behind him. + +Syphax had reached the court, and had followed his master through the +open door. He now caught sight of him. + +"O master, fly! I will protect thy threshold with my body." + +And he hastened past Cethegus, through a suite of apartments to the +front door. + +Cethegus turned to the right. He could hardly keep himself upright. He +managed to reach the "Hall of Jupiter." Here he sank to the ground. But +the next moment he again sprang to his feet, for a fearful noise was +heard from the front door. + +At last it was broken in. + +With a thundering crash it fell inwards, and Teja entered the dwelling +of his enemy. + +Upon the threshold, with a leap like that of a panther, the Moor sprang +upon him, grasping his throat and raising a dagger in his hand. + +But the Goth let fall his axe, seized him in his right hand, and, like +a stone from a sling, the Moor flew sideways through the door and +rolled down the steps into the street. + +"Where art thou, Cethegus?" again sounded the voice of Teja, coming +nearer and nearer, from the vestibule and the atrium. + +Some doors, which had been bolted by the secretary, Fidus, were forced +one after the other by Teja's axe. + +With difficulty Cethegus dragged himself to the middle of the Hall of +Jupiter. He still hoped to be able to reach the study and take the +writings and treasure out of the statue of Cæsar. + +He heard the crash of another falling door, and the voice of Teja now +sounded from the study. + +He heard how the soldiers, who had pressed forward after Teja into the +library, were demolishing the statues and busts of his ancestors. + +"Where is thy master, old man?" asked Teja's voice. + +The slave had taken refuge in the study. + +"I know not, by my soul!" + +"Not even here! Cethegus! coward! Where hidest thou?" + +It was now evident that the soldiers had also entered the study. + +Cethegus could no longer stand upright. + +He leaned against the marble statue of Jupiter, from which the hall +took its name. + +"What shall be done with this house?" he heard some one ask. + +"It shall be burned!" cried Teja. + +"The King has forbidden that," answered the voice of Thorismuth. + +"Yes; but I have begged this house from the King. It shall be razed to +the ground! Down with the temple of that devil! Down with the holiest +of holies--this idol!" + +A fearful blow resounded. + +With a crash the Cæsar statue fell in fragments to the ground. + +Gold, jewels, and rolls of papyrus covered the floor. + +"Ah! the barbarian!" cried Cethegus, forgetting himself, and he was +about to rush into the study with his drawn sword, when he fell +senseless at the foot of the statue of Jupiter. + +"Hark! What was that?" cried a boyish voice. + +"The voice of the Prefect!" exclaimed Teja, and opening the door which +led from the study into the hall, he sprang forward, swinging his +battle-axe. + +But the hall was empty. + +A pool of blood lay at the feet of the Jupiter, and a broad track of +the crimson fluid led to the window which opened into the inner court. + +The court was empty. + +But some Goths who entered it found the little door closed from +outside; the key was still in the lock on the side of the street. + +When they had forced this door--some of them had also gone round from +the front of the house--and had searched the side-street and the +dwellings in it, they only found the Prefect's sword, which was +recognised by Fidus, the secretary. + +With a gloomy look Teja took it up, and returned into the study. + +"Take up carefully all that was concealed in the Prefect's idol, +particularly the writings, and carry everything to the King. Where is +the King?" + +"When he left the Capitol, he, with all the Romans and Goths, went into +the sanctuary of St. Peter, to attend a service of thanksgiving." + +"'Tis well. Go to him in the church and give him everything. Also the +sword of the fugitive. Tell him that Teja sends it." + +"Thy order shall be obeyed," said Thorismuth. "But thou--wilt thou not +go with us to the church?" + +"No." + +"Where wilt thou spend this night of victory, when all the others are +giving thanks?" + +"I will spend it in the ruins of this house!" + +And he thrust the firebrand into the purple cushions of the Prefect's +couch. + + + + + + + BOOK V.--_Continued_. + + TOTILA. + +"Happy are we that this sunny youth still lives!"--_Margrave Ruediger +of Bechelaren_, Act i., Scene i. + + + + PART II. + + + CHAPTER I. + +Thenceforth King Totila held his court in Rome with much splendour and +rejoicing. + +The heaviest task of all the war seemed to be completed. + +After the fall of Rome, most of the small forts on the coast and in the +Apennines opened their gates; very few remained to be taken by siege. + +For this purpose the King sent forth his generals, Teja, Guntharis, +Grippa, Markja, and Aligern; while he himself undertook the difficult +political task of reducing to order the kingdom so long disturbed by +war or rebellion. He had, indeed, almost to refound it. + +He sent his dukes and earls into the towns and districts to carry out +his intentions in all departments of the state; particularly to protect +the Italians from the vengeance of the victorious Goths. He had +published from the Capitol a general amnesty; excluding only one +person: the ex-Prefect, Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius. + +Everywhere he caused the destroyed churches, both Catholic and Arian, +to be restored; everywhere the landed property was settled, the taxes +newly-laid and diminished. + +The beneficial results of all this care were not long in making +themselves felt. + +Even when Totila had first assumed the crown and issued his manifesto, +had the Italians resumed the long-neglected cultivation of the land. +The Gothic soldiers were directed to refrain from disturbing this +important work, and to do all in their power to prevent any such +disturbance on the part of the Byzantines. + +And a wonderful fertility of the soil, a harvest of grain, wine, and +oil, such as had not been seen for ages, seemed to prove that the +blessing of Heaven had fallen upon the young King. + +The news of the taking of Neapolis and Rome spread rapidly through the +Eastern Empire, where it was received with great astonishment, for all +there had long since considered the Gothic kingdom to be extinct. + +Merchants who had been tempted by the strong and just government, the +security of the high-roads and of the sea--which were severally +protected by patrols of soldiers and watchful squadrons of Gothic +ships--to revisit the deserted towns and harbours of the peninsula, +praised the justice and benevolence of the royal youth, and told of the +flourishing state of his kingdom, and of the brilliancy of his court at +Rome, where he gathered about him the senators who had repented of +their rebellion, and gave to the populace liberal alms and splendid +games in the Circus. + +The Kings of the Franks acknowledged this change of circumstances. They +sent presents--Totila rejected them; they sent ambassadors--Totila +would not receive them. + +The King of the Ostrogoths frankly offered an alliance against +Byzantium and the hand of his daughter. The Avarian and Slavonian +marauders on the eastern frontier were punished. With the exception of +the few fortresses which were still in a state of siege--Ravenna, +Perusium, and a few small castles--the whole country enjoyed as perfect +peace as in Theodoric's most glorious days. + +At the same time, the King was wise enough to be moderate. He +acknowledged, in spite of his victories, the danger-fraught superiority +of the East, and earnestly sought to make peace with the Emperor. + +He resolved to send an embassy to Byzantium, to offer peace on the +basis of a full acknowledgment of the Gothic rule in Italy. He would +renounce all claim to Sicily--where not a Goth was now dwelling (the +Gothic settlements on that island had never been very numerous); he +would also resign those parts of Dalmatia now occupied by the +Byzantines. On his side the Emperor should immediately evacuate +Ravenna, which no perseverance or stratagem on the part of the Gothic +besiegers had been able to reduce. + +As the person most qualified to undertake this mission of peace and +reconciliation, the King thought of a man who was distinguished by +worth and dignity, by his love for Italy and the Goths, and who was +renowned, even in the East, for his wisdom--the venerable Cassiodorus. + +Although the pious old man had withdrawn from all affairs of state for +many years, the young King succeeded in persuading him to leave the +peaceful quiet of his lonely cloister, and brave the troubles and +dangers of a journey to Byzantium in order to perform this noble and +pious work. + +But it was impossible to lay upon the old man the whole burden of such +an embassy, and the King now sought for a younger and stronger man to +accompany him. A man of similar benevolent and Christian feeling--a +second apostle of peace. + +A few weeks after the conquest of Rome, a royal messenger carried the +following letter over the Cottian Alps into Provence: + + +"To Julius Manilius Montanus, Totila, who is called the King of the +Goths. + +"Come, my beloved friend, return to my heart! Years have passed; much +blood has been shed, and many tears have fallen. More than once, +terribly or fortunately, has everything changed around me since I +pressed your hand for the last time. Everything around me has changed, +but I remain the same. All is as it was between you and me. I still +revere the idols at whose shrines we worshipped together in the first +dreams of our youth, but growing experience has ennobled these idols. +When sin, treachery, and all dark powers raged upon Italian soil, you +abandoned it. See, they have disappeared, like moisture in the sun and +wind. The conquered demons growl in the distance, and a rainbow +stretches its brilliant arch over this my beloved kingdom. When nobler +souls unhappily succumbed. Heaven preserved me to see the end of the +fearful storm and to sow the seeds of a new time. Come now, my Julius; +help me to carry out those dreams at which you so often smiled, +thinking them _mere_ dreams. Help me to create a new people of Goths +and Italians, which will unite the advantages and exclude the +weaknesses of both nations. Help me to found a realm of justice and of +peace, of freedom and of beauty, ennobled by Italian grace, and +strengthened by Gothic endurance. You, my Julius, have built a cloister +for the Church--help me to build a temple for humanity. I am lonely, +friend, at the summit of fortune. Lonely my bride awaits the full +completion of my vow. The war has robbed me of my devoted brother. Will +you not come, my Dioscuros? In two months I shall expect you at Taginæ +with Valeria." + + +Julius read; and with emotion said to himself: "My friend, I come!" + + +Before King Totila left Rome for Taginæ, he resolved to pay an old debt +of gratitude, and to give a worthy, that is a beautiful, form to an old +connection that, until now, had not satisfied the desire for harmony +which possessed his soul--his connection with the first hero of his +nation, with Teja. + +They had been friends from their earliest boyhood. Although Teja was +several years older, he had always perceived and honoured the depth of +the younger man's nature under the brilliant husk of his joyous +temperament. And a common inclination to enthusiasm and idealism, +besides a certain pride and magnanimity, had drawn them early together. +Later, however, their opposite fates had caused their originally very +different natures to deviate more and more. + +The sunny brightness of the one seemed to contrast with the austerity +of the other with painful brilliancy. And Totila, after repeated and +impetuous attempts to dispel the gloom of his silent friend--the cause +of which he did not know, and the nature of which he did not +understand--had at last, attributing it to a morbid mind, withdrawn to +a distance. + +The milder, though grave and softer influence of Julius, and his +passion for Valeria, gradually estranged Totila from the friend of his +boyhood. + +But the experience of late years, the sufferings and dangers he had +endured since the death of Valerius and Miriam, the burning of +Neapolis, the distress of Rome, the crimes committed at Ravenna and +Castra Nova, and lately the cares and duties of royalty, had so +completely matured the impatient and joyous youth, that he was now able +to do full justice to his gloomy friend. + +And what had not this friend accomplished since the night when they had +sworn brotherhood! + +When the others had become paralysed by suffering; when Hildebrand's +impatience, Totila's enthusiasm, and the quiet steadfastness of +Witichis, even old Hildebrand's icy fortitude, had wavered--Teja had +never sighed, but always acted; never hoped, but always dared! + +At Regeta, before Rome, after the fall of Ravenna, and again before +Rome--what had he not accomplished! What did not the kingdom owe to his +efforts! And he would receive no thanks. + +When Witichis had offered him the dignity of a duke, gold, and land, he +had rejected the offer as an offence. + +Lonely, silent, and melancholy, he walked through the streets of Rome, +the last shadow in the light of Totila's presence. He stood next to the +King's throne, with his black eyes ever lowered to the ground. He stole +away without a word from the royal table. He never laid aside his +armour or weapons. + +Only when in action did he sometimes laugh; when, with contempt of +death, or the temerity which courts it, he sprang amid the spears of +the Byzantines--then only did he seem to feel at ease, then all his +being was life, movement, and fire. + +It was known to all the nation--and Totila specially had known it from +his boyhood--that this melancholy hero possessed the gift of song. + +But since his return from captivity in Greece, no one had ever been +able to persuade him to sing one of his glowing and inspiring songs; +and yet every one knew that his little triangular harp was his constant +companion in war or peace, inseparable as his sword. At the moment of +attack he was sometimes heard to sing wild snatches of song to the +measure of the Gothic horns. And whoever followed him into the +wilderness of white marble and green bushes, among the old Roman ruins, +where he was fond of passing his nights, might sometimes hear him play +some long-forgotten melody, accompanying it with dreamy words. But if +any one--which was seldom the case--ventured to ask what he wanted, he +turned silently away. + +Once, after the taking of Rome, he replied to a similar question put by +Guntharis, by the words, "The head of the Prefect!" + +The only person whose company he affected was Adalgoth, to whom he had +lately attached himself. + +The young shepherd had been raised to the office of herald and +cup-bearer to the King, as a reward for his bold act at the storming of +the Tiber shore. + +He had brought with him, though little schooled, a decided gift for +song. Teja was pleased with his genius; and it was reported that he +secretly taught him his superior art, though they suited each other as +little as night and morning. + +"It is just on that account," said Teja, when his brave cousin Aligern +once remarked this to him, "something must be left when the night +sinks." + +The King felt that the only thing that could be offered to this man was +in _his_ power to offer--neither gold, nor land, nor dignities. + +One night King Totila came to where the two bards were sitting. He +followed the sounds which, arising at irregular intervals from a grove +of cypresses, and interrupted by half-sung, half-spoken words, were +borne to his ear by the night wind. Unnoticed and unbetrayed by the +soft moonlight, Totila reached the avenue of half-wild laurels and +cypresses which led into the centre of the garden. + +But now Teja heard the approaching footsteps, and laid aside his harp. + +"It is the King," he said; "I recognise his step. What seekest thou +here, my King?" + +"I seek thee, Teja," answered Totila. + +Teja sprang from his seat upon a fallen column. + +"Then we must fight!" he exclaimed. + +"No," said Totila; "but I deserve this reproach." + +He took Teja's hand, and affectionately drew him down to his former +seat, placing himself at his side. + +"I did not seek thy sword, Teja; I sought thyself. I need thee; not +thine arm, but thy heart. No, Adalgoth; do not go. Thou mayst see--and +I wish thee to see--how every one must love this proud man, the 'Black +Earl.'" + +"I knew it," said Adalgoth, "ever since I first saw him. He is like a +dark forest, through the branches of whose lofty trees blows a +mysterious breach, full of terror and charm." + +Teja fixed his large and melancholy eyes upon the King. + +"My friend," began Totila, "the gracious God of Heaven has endowed me +richly. I have won back a kingdom which was half-lost; shall I not be +able to win back the half-lost heart of a friend? And it was to this +friend's efforts that most of my success was owing; he must now help me +to regain my friend. What has estranged thee from me? Forgive me if I, +or my good fortune, has offended thee. I know to whom I owe my crown; +but I cannot wear it with gladness if only thy sword and not thy heart +be mine. We were once friends, Teja; oh! let us be so again, for I miss +thee sorely!" + +And he would have embraced Teja, but the latter caught both his hands +and pressed them to his heart. + +"This evening's walk honours thee more than thy victorious march +through Italy! The tear which I see glittering in thine eye is worth +more than the richest pearl upon thy crown. Forgive thou me; I have +been unjust. The gifts of fortune and thy careless joy have not +corrupted thy heart. I have never been angered against thee; I have +ever loved thee, and it was with sorrow that I saw our paths in life +diverge; for, in truth, thou art more congenial to me, nearer than thou +ever wert to the brave Witichis, or even to thine own brother." + +"Yes," said Adalgoth; "you two complete each other like light and +shade." + +"Our natures are, indeed, equally emotional and fiery," said the King. + +"If Witichis and Hildebad," continued Teja, "went the straight way with +a steady pace, we two were borne, by our impatient enthusiasm, as if on +wings. And being so congenial, though so different, it pains me that, +in thy sunny bliss, thou seemest to think that any one who cannot laugh +like thee is a sick fool! Oh, my King and friend! whoever has once +experienced certain trials and woes, and conceived certain thoughts, +has for ever lost the sweet art of laughter!" + +Totila, filled with a deep sense of Teja's worth, answered: + +"Whoever has fulfilled life's noblest duties with a heroism equal to +thine, my Teja, may be pitied, but not blamed, if he proudly scorns +life's light pleasures." + +"And thou couldst think that I was envious of thy good fortune or thy +cheerful humour? O Totila! it is not with envy, but with deep, deep +sadness that I observe thee and thy hopefulness. As a child may excite +our sadness who believes that sunshine, spring-time, and life endure +for ever; who knows neither night, winter, nor death! Thou trustest +that success and happiness will be the reward of the cheerful-hearted; +but I for ever hear the flapping of the wings of Fate, who, deaf and +merciless to curses, prayers, or thanks, sweeps high above the heads of +poor mortals and their futile works." + +He ceased, and looked out into the darkness, as if he saw the shadow of +the coming future. + +"Yes, yes," said the young cup-bearer, "that reminds me of an old adage +which Iffa sang in the mountain, and which means something like that; +he had learnt it from Uncle Wargs: + + "'Good fortune or bad + Is not the world's aim; + That is but vain folly, + Imagined by men. + On the earth is fulfilled + A Will everlasting. + Obedience, defiance-- + They serve it alike.' + +"But," he continued thoughtfully, "if, with all our exertions, we can +never alter the inevitable, why do we move our hands at all? Why do we +not wait for what shall come in dull inaction? In what lies the +difference between hero and coward?" + +"It does not lie in victory, my Adalgoth, but in the kind of strife or +endurance! Not justice, but necessity decides the fate of nations. +Often enough has the better man, the nobler race, succumbed to the +meaner. 'Tis true that generosity and nobility of mind are in +themselves a power. But they are not always able to defy other and +ignoble powers. Noble-mindedness, generosity, and heroism can always +consecrate and glorify a downfall, but not always prevent it. And the +only comfort we have is, that it is not _what_ we endure, but _how_ we +endure it, that honours us the most; it is often not the victor, but +the conquered hero, who deserves the crown of laurels." + +The King looked meditatively at the ground, leaning on his sword. + +"How much thou must have suffered, friend," he then said warmly, +"before thou couldst embrace such a dark error! Thou hast lost thy God +in heaven! For me, that would be worse than to lose the sun in the +sky--I should feel as if blinded. I could not breathe if I could not +believe in a just God, who looks down from His heavenly throne upon the +deeds of men, and makes the good cause to triumph!" + +"And King Witichis?" asked Teja; "what evil had he done? that man +without spot or blemish! And I myself, and----" + +He suddenly became silent. + +"Thy life has been a mystery to me since our early youth----" + +"Enough for the present," said Teja. "I have this evening revealed more +of my inmost heart than in many a long year. The time will surely come +when I may unfold to thee my life and my thoughts. I should not like," +he continued, turning to Adalgoth, and stroking his shining locks, "to +dim too soon the bright harp-strings of the youngest and best singer of +our nation." + +"As thou wilt," said the King, rising. "To me thy sorrow is sacred. +But, I pray thee, let us cherish our refound friendship. To-morrow I go +to Taginæ, to my bride. Accompany me--that is, if it does not pain thee +to see me happy with a Roman woman." + +"Oh no--it touches me--it reminds me of---- I will go with thee!" + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +Soon after this conversation, the King, Earl Teja, Adalgoth, and a +numerous suite, arrived at the small town of Taginæ, above which, on a +precipitous and thickly-wooded height, stood the cloister founded by +Valerius, in which Valeria still continued to reside. + +For her the place had lost all its terrors. She had become used to it, +not only physically but morally. Slowly but surely, her reluctant soul +was influenced by the grave authority of the sacred precincts. + +The King met her in the cloister garden, and it seemed to him that her +complexion was much paler, her step slower, than usual. + +"What ails you, Valeria?" he asked tenderly. "When our vow seemed past +fulfilment, you were still full of hope and courage. Now, when your +lover wears the crown of this realm, and the foot of the enemy treads +the sacred soil of Italia in scarcely more than one city, will you sink +and despair?" + +"Not despair, friend," said Valeria gravely, "but renounce. No, no! +be patient and hear me. Why do you hide from me what all Italia +knows--what your people wish? The King of the Ostrogoths at Toletum has +offered you his alliance against Byzantium, and the hand of his +daughter. Your people expect and wish you to accept both these offers. +I will not be more selfish than was that high-minded daughter of your +nation, Rauthgundis, of whom your minstrels already sing. And I know +that you are as capable of sacrifice as the simple-minded man who was +your unfortunate King." + +"I hope that I should be so, if necessary. But happily there is no need +of sacrifice. I do not want the help of the Ostrogoth. Look around, or +rather, look beyond these convent walls. Never has the kingdom +flourished as it does now. Once again I will offer to make peace with +the Emperor. If he still refuse, a war will break out such as he has +never seen. Ravenna will soon fell. Truly, my power and my courage are +not reduced to the point of renunciation! The air of this cloister has +at length enervated your steadfast mind. You must leave this place. +Choose the most lovely of all Italian cities for your residence. Let us +rebuild your father's house in Neapolis." + +"No. Leave me here. I have learned to love this quiet place." + +"It is the quiet of the grave! And you know well that to renounce you +would be to renounce the ideal of my life. You are the living symbol +of all my plans; you are to me Italia herself! You must become +mine--wholly, irrevocably mine. Goths and Italians shall take their +King and Queen for a pattern; they shall become as united and happy as +we. No--no objections--no more doubts! Thus I smother them!" and he +passionately embraced her. + + +A few days later Julius Montanus arrived, coming from Genoa and +Urbinum. + +The King and his retinue went to meet him outside the cloister gates. + +The two friends embraced each other tenderly; for some time they were +incapable of speaking. + +Teja stood near and gravely observed them. + +"Sir," whispered Adalgoth, "who is the man with the deep-set eyes? a +monk?" + +"In his heart he is; but not outwardly." + +"Such a young man with such an old look! Dost thou know whom he +resembles? That picture in the cloisters on the golden background." + +"It is true; he is like that gentle and sorrowful head of the Apostle +John." + +"Your letter," Julius said to Totila, "found me already resolved to +come here." + +"You were about to seek me--or Valeria?" + +"No, Totila. I came to be examined and accepted by Cassiodorus. +Benedict of Nursia, who fills our century with the fame of his +miracles, has founded an order which powerfully attracts me." + +"Julius, you must not do that! What spirit of flying from the world has +seized upon my companions? Valeria, you, and Teja!" + +"I fly from nothing," said Julius, "not even from the world." + +"How," continued the King, taking his friend by the arm, and leading +him towards the cloister, "how come you, in the bloom of your manhood, +to think of this moral suicide? Look, there comes Valeria. She must +help me to convince you. Ah, if you had ever loved, you would not turn +your back upon the world." + +Julius smiled, but made no reply. He quietly clasped Valeria's offered +hand, and followed her into the cloister, where Cassiodorus came to +meet them. + +Thanks to the King's eloquence, he was able to induce his friend to +promise that he would accompany the aged Cassiodorus to Byzantium in a +few days. Julius at first shunned the glitter, the noise, and the +wickedness of the Emperor's court, until at last Cassiodorus' example +and Totila's persuasions overcame his scruples. + +"I think," the King said, "that more pious works can be accomplished in +the world than in the cloister. _This_ embassy is such a pious work; a +work which is to save two nations from the horrors of renewed warfare." + +"Certainly," said Julius, "a king and a hero can serve God as well as a +monk. I do not blame your manner of service--leave mine to me. It seems +to me that in the time in which we live, when an ancient world is +sinking amid much terror, and a new one arises amid wild storms; when +all the vices of a degenerated heathenism are mixed with the wildness +of a barbarous race; when luxury, brute force, and the lusts of the +flesh fill East and West, I think it is well done to found a sanctuary +apart from the world, where poverty, purity, and humble-mindedness can +dwell in peace." + +"But to me," said Totila, "it seems that splendour, the happiness of +honest love, and cheerful pride, are no sin before the God of Heaven! +What thinkest thou of our dispute, friend Teja?" + +"It has no meaning for me," answered Teja quietly, "for your God is not +my God. But let us not speak of that, for here comes Valeria." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +One evening, the same on which Adalgoth had arrived with the King at +Taginal, Gotho, the shepherdess, stood in the sunset light upon the +southern declivity of the Iffinger, leaning upon her staff. + +Round her gambolled and grazed her flock of sheep and lambs, and +gradually gathered close round their mistress, eagerly expecting to be +led to the sheepfold. + +But they waited and bleated in vain, for the pretty maiden bent over +the mossy stones on the edge of the clear mountain brook. Heaped up in +her leather apron lay the lovely scented flowers of the mountain: +thyme, wild-rose, mint--which grew on the moist edges of the brook--and +the dark blue enzian. + +Gotho murmured and spoke to herself, to the flowers, and to the running +stream, throwing the flowers into the water, sometimes singly, +sometimes in little sprays or unfinished wreaths. + +"How many," said the girl, as she tossed her thick yellow braids over +her shoulder, "how many of you have I sent away to greet him! For he +has gone to the south, and the water runs there too. But I know not if +you give my greeting, for he has never yet come home. But you, as you +rise and sink in the dance of the ripples, you beckon me to follow you. +Ah! if I could! or follow the little fish which dart down the stream +like dark arrows! Or the swift mountain swallows that skim through the +air as free as thought! Or the rosy-winged evening clouds, when the +mountain wind drives them southwards! But most surely of all would the +heart of the seeker herself find him, could she but leave the mountain, +and follow him to the distant and sunny land. But what should I do down +there? A shepherdess amongst the warriors or the wise court-ladies! And +I shall certainly see him again, as surely as I shall again see the +sun, although it sinks behind yonder mountains. It is sure to come +again, and yet! all the time between its parting ray and its morning +greeting is filled with longing!" + +From the house there suddenly sounded a far-reaching tone, a blast upon +the twisted ram's horn. Gotho looked up; it had become darker; she +could see the red fire upon the hearth glimmer through the open door. +The sheep answered the well-known sound with louder bleatings, +stretching their necks in the direction of the house and the stalls. +The brown and shaggy sheep-dog sprang upon Gotho, as if to remind her +that it was time to go home. + +"I will go directly," she said, smiling, and stroking the dog's head. +"Ah! the sheep are sooner tired of their pasture than the shepherdess +of her thoughts! Now, forwards, White Elf, thou art already become a +great fat sheep!" + +She went down the hill towards the little hollow between two mountain +summits, where the house and stalls found protection from the wind and +the avalanches. There the last rays of the sun dazzled her no more. The +stars were already visible. Gotho looked up at the sky. + +"They are so beautiful, because _he_ has looked at them so often!" + +A shooting-star fell to the south. + +"He calls me! Thither!" cried Gotho, slightly trembling. + +She now drove the sheep more quickly forward, and presently shut +them into their cot, and entered the large and only chamber of the +ground-floor of the dwelling-house. + +There she found her grandfather stretched upon the raised stone placed +close to the hearth; his feet covered with two large sheep-skins. + +He looked paler and older than usual. + +"Seat thyself beside me, Gotho," he said, "and drink; here is milk +mixed with honey. Listen to me. The time is come of which I have often +spoken. We must part. I am going home. Thy dear face is indistinct; my +tired old eyes can no longer distinguish thy features. And yesterday +when I tried to go down to the spring, my knees failed me. Then I felt +that the end was near, and I sent the goat-herd over to Teriolis with a +message. But thou shalt not be present when his soul flies out of old +Iffa's mouth. The death of a man is not lovely to behold--especially +death upon the straw-bed. And thou hast never yet seen anything +sorrowful. This shadow shall not fall upon thy young life. To-morrow, +before cockcrow, brave Hunibad will come over from Teriolis to fetch +thee--he has promised me to do so. His wounds are not yet healed; he is +yet weak; but he says that he cannot remain idle when, as they say, the +war will be sure to break out again. He wishes to go to King Totila in +Rome. And there too thou must go with an important message. He shall be +thy guide and protector. Bind thick soles of beech-rind under thy feet, +for the way is long. Brun, the dog, may accompany thee. Take that bag +of goat's leather; in it are six gold pieces which belonged to--to +Adalgoth's--to your father; they are Adalgoth's--but thou mayst use +them--they will last till thou reachest Rome. And take a bundle of +scented mountain hay from the meadows of the Iffinger, and lay thy head +upon it at night; then thou wilt sleep more soundly. And when thou +reachest Rome and the golden palace of the King, and enterest the hall, +observe which of the men wears a golden circlet upon his brow, and from +whose countenance shines a light like that of the morning--that will be +King Totila. Then bow thy head before him--but not too much--and do not +bend thy knee; for thou art a free Goth's free child. Thou must give +the King this roll, which I have carefully kept for many summers. It +comes from Uncle Wargs, who was buried by the mountain." + +The old man lifted a brick from the masonry which separated the hearth +from the floor of stamped clay, and took from a hole a roll of papyrus, +which, tied and sealed, was folded in a piece of parchment covered with +writing and fastened with strange seals. + +"Here," he said, "take the greatest care of this writing. That upon the +parchment cover I myself dictated to Hermegisel over in Majæ. He swore +to keep it secret, and he has kept his oath. And now he can speak no +more from out of his grave in the church. And thou and Hunibad--you +cannot read. That is a good thing, for it might be dangerous for thee +and--and another--if any one knew what that roll contains before +Totila, the mild and just King, has read it. Above all, hide it +carefully from the Italians. And in every town to which thou comest, +ask if there dwells Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius, the Prefect of Rome. +And if the door-keepers say aye, then turn upon thy heel, however tired +thou mayst be, and however late the night, or hot the day, and wander +on until thou hast put three several waters between thee and the man +Cethegus. And no less carefully than the writing--thou seest that I +have put rosin, such as drops from the fir-trees, upon it instead of +wax, and I have scratched our house-mark upon the seal, the mark that +our cattle and wagons bear--not less carefully keep this old and costly +gold." + +And he took from the hole the half of a broad gold bracelet, such as +the Gothic heroes wore upon their naked arms. He kissed the bracelet +and the imperfect Runic inscription upon it reverently. + +"This came from Theodoric, the great King, and from him--my dear--son +Wargs. Mark--it belongs to Adalgoth. It is his most valuable +inheritance. The other half of the bracelet--and the half of the +inscription--I gave to the boy when I sent him away. When King Totila +has read the writing, and if Adalgoth is present--as he must be if he +obeys my orders--then call Adalgoth and put half-ring to half-ring, and +ask the King to pronounce a judgment. He is said to be mild and wise +and clear as the light of day. He will judge righteously. If not he, +then no one. Now kiss my darkening eyes, and go and sleep. May the Lord +of heaven and all his clear eyes, sun, moon, and stars, shine upon all +thy ways. When thou hast found Adalgoth, and when thou dwellest with +him in the little rooms of the close houses in the narrow streets of +the city, and when it feels too small and close and narrow down +there--then both of you think of your childish days up here upon the +high Iffinger, and once again the fresh mountain air will seem to blow +across your heated brows." + +Silently, without objection, without fear, without a question, the +shepherd-girl listened and obeyed. + +"Farewell, grandfather!" she said, kissing him upon his eyes; "I thank +thee for much love and faithfulness." + +But she did not weep. + +She knew not what death was. + +She went away from him to the threshold of the door, and looked out at +the mountain landscape, which now appeared dark and melancholy. The sky +was clear, the summits of the mountains shone in the moonlight. + +"Farewell!" said Gotho; "farewell, thou Iffinger! and thou, +Wolf's-head! and thou, old Giant! and thou, running below, +bright-shining Passara! Do you know it already? To-morrow I leave you +all. But I go willingly, for I go to _him_!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +After the lapse of many weeks, Cassiodorus and Julius returned from +Byzantium, bringing--no peace. + +On landing, Cassiodorus, weary of the world and its ways, retired at +once to Brundusium, to his Apulian cloister, leaving Julius to report +their ill-success to the King in Rome. + +Totila received his friend in the Capitol, in the presence of the +leaders of the army. + +"At first," related Julius, "our prospects were sufficiently +favourable. The Emperor, who had formerly refused to receive the +ambassadors of Witichis, could not shut his palace doors in the face of +the most learned man of the West, the pious and wise Cassiodorus. We +were received with kindness and respect. In the council held by the +Emperor, men of distinction, such as Tribonianus and Procopius, raised +their voices in favour of peace. The Emperor himself seemed inclined +thereto. His two great generals, Narses and Belisarius, were fighting, +at different points of the south-eastern frontier of the Empire, +against Persians and Saracens; and the campaign in Italy and Dalmatia +had demanded such great sacrifices, and had lasted so long, that war +with the Goths had become hateful to the Emperor. It was indeed not +likely that he would entirely renounce the hope of reconquering Italy, +but he saw the impossibility of doing so at present. He therefore +willingly entered into negotiations of peace, and accepted our +proposals for further consideration. His first thought was, as he told +us, to bring about a provisional division of the peninsula; the far +larger portion of the country, to the south of the Padus, to belong to +the Emperor, the northern half to the Goths. One day at noon, we had +left the Emperor's presence with great hopes; the audience had turned +out more favourably than all former ones. But in the evening of the +same day we were surprised by the arrival of the Curo-palata Marcellus, +accompanied by slaves carrying the gifts which it is customary to +present to parting guests--a not-to-be-mistaken sign that all +negotiations were broken off. Confounded at this sudden change, +Cassiodorus decided, for the sake of his work of peace, to dare the +utmost--namely, to seek an audience of the Emperor after the +presentation of the parting gifts. Tribonianus, who had always opposed +the war, and who highly esteemed Cassiodorus, allowed himself to be +prevailed upon to sue for this extraordinary grace. The answer came in +a very ungracious threat of banishment should he ever again venture to +petition for anything against the clearly-expressed will of the +Emperor, Never, never would the Emperor conclude peace with the +barbarians, until they had entirely evacuated the kingdom. Never would +he look upon the Goths in Italy as anything but enemies. In vain we +tried," Julius continued, "to discover the cause of this sudden change. +We only learned that, after our last audience, the Empress, who is said +to be often suffering, had invited her husband to dinner in her +apartments. But it is certain that the Empress, formerly known to be +the most zealous advocate of war, has lately given her voice in favour +of peace." + +"And what," asked the King, who had listened quietly, and with an +expression of countenance more threatening than anxious--"what +has procured me the honour of such a change of sentiment in the +circus-girl?" + +"It is whispered that, becoming more and more anxious for the salvation +of her soul, the Empress desires to use all pecuniary means--not for a +war, the end of which she scarcely expects to outlive--but upon the +erection of churches, and especially for the completion of the church +of St. Sophia. It is said that she wishes to be buried with the plan of +this church imprinted upon her bosom." + +"No doubt as a shield against the anger of the Almighty, at the +resurrection of the dead! The woman thinks to disarm her God with her +hundred churches, and to bribe Him with the sums expended. What madness +this belief engenders!" murmured Teja. + +"We could discover nothing," repeated Julius; "for I cannot think the +shadow of suspicion which crossed my mind, perhaps the shadow of a +mistake, of any moment." + +"What was that?" inquired Totila. + +"That evening, as I left the palace at a late hour, thinking over +Tribonianus's unfavourable report, the golden litter of the Empress was +carried past me by her Cappadocian slaves from the quadrangle of the +garden where stands the Empress's palace. The trellised shutter was +lifted a little by the inmate of the litter--I looked up--and it seemed +to me as if I recognised----" + +"Well?" asked the King. + +"My unhappy protector, the vanished Cethegus," concluded Julius sadly. + +"That can scarcely be," said the King. "He fell when Rome was taken. It +was surely a mistake when Teja thought he heard his voice in his +house." + +"_I_ mistake that voice!" cried Teja. "And what meant his sword, which +Adalgoth found at the corner of the street?" + +"He may have lost it earlier, when he hurried to the Tiber from his +house. I distinctly saw him conduct the defence of the chain from his +boat. He hurled his spear at me with all the force and steadiness lent +by intense hatred. And I struck him, I am sure, when I cast the spear +back again. And Gunthamund, that excellent shot, told me that he was +certain that he wounded the Prefect in the neck. His mantle with the +purple hem was found by the river, pierced by many arrows and covered +with blood." + +"No doubt he died there," Julius said, very gravely. + +"Are you such good Christians, and do not know that demons are +immortal?" asked Teja. + +"They may be," said the King, "but so are angels!" and, with a frown on +his brow, he continued: "Up, my brave Teja! now there is new work for +thy sword. Hear it, Duke Guntharis, Wisand, Grippa, Markja, Thorismuth, +and Aligern--I shall soon have enough to do for you all. You have heard +that Emperor Justinian refuses to make peace, and will not leave us in +quiet possession of Italy. It is evident that he considers us inclined +to peace at any cost. He thinks it can never hurt him to have us for +enemies; that in the worst case we shall quietly await his attack in +Italy; that Byzantium will always be able to choose the moment, +repeating it until successful. Well--we will show him that we can +become dangerous! That it might be wiser to leave us Italy, and not +irritate us! He will not let us enjoy our kingdom? Then, as in the +days of Alaric and Theodoric, he shall again see the Goths in his +own country! At present only this--for secrecy is the mother of +victory--we will reach the heart of the Eastern Empire as we once +reached Rome--on canvas wings and wooden bridges.--Now, Justinianus, +protect thine own hearth-stone!" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +Soon after the Emperor's refusal of the proposals of the Goths had +arrived in Rome, we find--in the dining-room of a simple but +tastefully-built and furnished house upon the Forum Strategii at +Byzantium, which, close to the incomparable shore of the Golden +Horn, affords a view of the Straits and of the splendid suburb +"Justiniana"--two men engaged in confidential talk. + +The master of the house was our old--and, we hope, not +unloved--acquaintance Procopius, who now lived much respected as a +senator in Byzantium. + +He zealously attended to the wants of his guest, but in doing so used +his left hand. His right arm ended in a covered stump. + +"Yes," he was saying, "at every moment I am reminded by my missing hand +of a folly. I do not, however, repent it. I should do the same thing +again even if it cost me my eyesight. It was a folly of the heart, and +to be capable of that is the greatest happiness. I have never been able +really to love a woman. My only love was and is--Belisarius! I know +very well--you need not draw down the corners of your mouth so +contemptuously, friend--I see very clearly the weaknesses and +imperfections of my hero. But that is exactly what is sweet in a +heart-folly--to love the foibles of your idol more than the merits of +other people. And so--to cut my story short--it was during the last +Persian war that, one day, I warned the lion-hearted general not to +ride through a dangerous wood with a scanty escort. Of course he did it +all the more, the dear fool; and of course Procopius, the wise fool, +rode with him. All happened just as I had expected. The whole wood was +suddenly filled with Persians. It seemed as if the wind had shaken the +withered leaves from the trees, and every leaf was an axe or a spear. +It was very like the ambush before the Tiburtinian Gate. Balan, the +faithful piebald, bore his master for the last time. Stuck full of +spears, he fell dead to the ground. I assisted the hero to mount my own +horse. But a Persian prince, who was almost as tall as his name was +long--the pleasant fellow was called Adrastaransalanes--aimed a blow at +the magister militum which, in my hurry, I received upon my right +arm--for my shield was occupied in protecting Belisarius against a +Saracen. The blow was well meant; if it had reached my hero's helmless +head, it would have cracked it like a nutshell. As it was, it only cut +off my fore-arm as if it had never been part of my body." + + +"Of course Belisarius escaped, and of course Procopius was taken +prisoner," said the guest, shaking his head. + +"Quite right, you commander of perspicacity, as my friend +Adrastaransalanes would call you. But the same man with his long body, +scimitar, and name--you will not insist upon my repeating it--was so +moved by my 'elephantine magnanimity,' as he expressed himself, that he +very soon set me free without ransom. He only begged for a ring which +had been on the finger of my former right hand: as a remembrance, he +said. Since then it is all over with my campaigns," added Procopius +more gravely. "But in this loss of my pen-hand I see a punishment. I +have written with it many a useless or not perfectly sincere word. +However, if a like punishment overtook all the writers of Byzantium, +there would soon be not a two-handed man left who could write. Writing +is now a much slower and more difficult process with me. But that is +good, for then, at every word one considers whether it is worth the +trouble of inscribing or whether one is justified in doing so." + +"I have read with true enjoyment," said the guest, "your 'Vandal Wars,' +your 'Persian Wars,' and, as far as it goes, the 'Gothic War.' When +recovering from my hurt, it was my favourite book. But I am surprised +that you were not sent to the Ult-ziagirian Huns and the mines of +Cherson to keep our friend Petros company. If Justinian so severely +punishes the forgery of documents--how harshly must he punish veracity +in history! And you have so mercilessly scourged his indecision, his +avarice, his mistakes in the choice of generals and officers--I wonder +that you go unpunished." + +"Oh, I have not escaped punishment," said the historian gravely. "He +left me my head: but he tried to rob me of my honour; and _she_ still +more, the beautiful demon. For I had hinted that Justinian was tied to +her apron-string. And she as passionately tries to hide her dominion +as to uphold it. When my book was published, she called me to her. +When I entered her apartment, and saw those pages upon her lap, I +thought--Adrastaransalanes took off the hand that wrote; this woman +will take off the head that thought. But she contented herself with +giving me her little golden shoe to kiss; smiled very sweetly, and +said, 'You write Greek better than any other author of our day, +Procopius. So beautifully and so truly! I have been advised to sink you +to the dumb fishes in the Bosphorus. But the man who so well told the +truth when it was bitter to us, will also tell the truth when it is +sweet to our ears. The greatest censurer of Justinian shall be his +greatest panegyrist. Your punishment for the book upon Justinian's +warlike deeds--shall be a book upon Justinian's peaceful deeds. You +will write by the imperial order a book upon the edifices erected by +the Emperor. You cannot deny that he has done great things in that +line. If you were a better jurist than your camp-life with the great +Belisarius has, unfortunately, allowed you to become--you should +describe the Emperor's great piece of mosaic--his pandects. But for +that your legal education is not complete enough' (and she was right!). +'Therefore you will describe the edifices of Justinian; and you +yourself will be a living monument of his generosity. For you must +confess that, for far less heinous offences, many an author under +former Emperors has lost eyes, nose, and other things that it is +disagreeable to miss. No Emperor has ever allowed such things to be +said of him, and, moreover, rewarded candour with new commissions. But +if the edifices of Justinian were to displease you, then indeed I fear +you would not long outlive your want of taste--the gods would punish +such ingratitude with a speedy death. See, I have procured this reward +for you--for Justinian would have made you senator--so that you may +be right in your assertion that Theodora possesses a pernicious and +all-commanding influence!' Another kiss of her foot; of which she took +advantage playfully to strike me on the mouth with her shoe. I had made +my will before going to this audience. You now see how this demon in a +woman's form revenges herself upon me! One really cannot censure the +edifices erected by Justinian: one can only be silent--or praise them. +If I remain silent, it will cost me my life. If I speak and do not +praise, it will cost my life and my veracity. Therefore I must either +praise or die. And I am weak enough," concluded Procopius with a sigh, +"to prefer to praise and live." + +"You have consumed so much Thucydides and Tacitus, dry or liquid," said +the guest, filling the glasses, "and yet have become neither a +Thucydides nor a Tacitus!" + +"I would rather let my long-named friend cut off my left hand also than +write about these buildings." + +"Keep your hand. But, after the public panegyric on the buildings, +write a secret history of the shameful deeds of Justinian and +Theodora." + +Procopius sprang from his seat. + +"That would be devilish, but grand! The advice is worthy of you, +friend. For that you shall have one of the nine muses of Herodotus from +my cellar--my oldest, dearest, most excellent wine. Oh! this secret +history shall excite astonishment! The only pity is that I cannot +relate the most filthy and most murderous deeds. I should die of +disgust. And that which I can write will be always looked upon as +immensely exaggerated. And what will posterity say of Procopius, who +left a panegyric, a criticism, and an accusation--one and all on +Justinian?" + +"Posterity will say that he was the greatest historian, but also the +son and the victim, of the Empire of Byzantium. Revenge yourself; she +has left you your clever head and your left hand. Well, your left hand +need not know what your right hand formerly wrote. Draw the picture of +this Empress and her husband for all future generations. Then _they_ +will not have conquered with their buildings, but _you_ with your +secret history. They would have punished limited candour; you will +punish them by an unlimited revelation of the truth. Every one revenges +himself with his own weapons--the bull with his horns, the warrior with +his sword, the author by his pen." + +"Particularly," said Procopius, "when he has only his left hand. I +thank you, and will follow your advice, Cethegus. I will write the +'Secret History' in revenge for the 'Edifices.' But now it is your turn +to tell your story. I know the progress of events, through letters and +the report of fugitives from Rome, or legionaries set free by Totila, +until the time when you were last seen in your house, or, as they say, +were last heard. Now relate what happened afterwards, you Prefect +without a city!" + +"Immediately," said Cethegus. "But tell me first, how did Belisarius +succeed in the last Persian war?" + +"As usual. You should not need to ask such a question! He had really +beaten the enemy, and was on the point of forcing the Persian King, +Chosroes, the son of Kabades, to conclude a lasting peace. Just then +Areobindos, the Prince of Purple Snails, appeared in the camp with the +announcement of an armistice of half a year's duration, granted, +unknown to Belisarius, by Byzantium. Justinian had long ago entered +into secret negotiations with Chosroes; he needed money; he again +pretended to mistrust Belisarius, and let the Persian King escape for a +hundred tons of gold, just as we were about to draw the net over him. +Narses was wiser. When the Prince of Purple Snails came to him, on the +Saracen side of the scene of war, he declared that the ambassador must +be either a forger or a madman, took him prisoner, and continued the +war until he had completely vanquished the Saracens. Then he sent the +imperial ambassador back with an excuse to Byzantium. But the best +excuse was the keys and treasures of seventy forts and towns which he +had wrested from the enemy during the armistice, which Belisarius had +respected." + +"This Narses is----" + +"The greatest man of our time," said Procopius, "the Prefect of Rome not +excepted; for he does not, like the latter, wish for impossibilities. +But we--that is, Belisarius and the cripple Procopius--always growling +and grumbling, yet always as faithful as a poodle-dog, and never taught +by experience, kept the armistice, gnashed our teeth, and returned to +Byzantium. And now we wait for new commissions, laurels, and kicks. +Fortunately, Antonina has renounced her inclination for the flowers and +verses of other men, and so the couple--the lion and the dove--live +very happily together here in Byzantium. Belisarius, day and night, +naturally thinks of nothing but how he can again prove his heroism and +devotion to his imperial master. Justinian is his folly, as Belisarius +is mine. But now for your story." + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + +Cethegus took a deep draught from the cup which stood before him, which +was made of chased gold and shaped like a tower. + +He was considerably changed since that last night in Rome. The wrinkles +on his temples were more sharply defined; his lip more firmly closed; +his under-lip protruded still farther than before; and the ironical +smile, which used to make him look younger and handsomer, very rarely +played round the corners of his mouth. His eyes were generally half +shut; only sometimes did he raise the lids to dart a glance, which, +always dreaded by those upon whom it fell, now appeared more cruel and +piercing than ever. + +He seemed to have become, not older, but harsher, more inexorable, and +more merciless. + +"You know," he began, "all that happened until the fall of Rome. In one +night I lost the city, the Capitol, my house, and my Cæsar! The crash +of the fall of that image pained me more than the arrows of the Goths, +or even of the Romans. As I was about to punish the destroyer of my +Cæsar, my senses forsook me. I fell at the foot of the statue of +Jupiter. I was restored to my senses by the cool breeze that blows over +the Tiber, and which once before, twenty years ago, had restored a +wounded man." + +He paused. + +"Of that another time, perhaps--perhaps never," he said, hastily +cutting short a question from his host. "This time Lucius Licinius--his +brother died for Rome and for me--and the faithful Moor, who had +escaped the Black Earl as if by miracle, saved my life. Cast out of the +front entrance by Teja--who, in his eagerness to murder the master, had +no time to murder the slave--Syphax hurried to the back-door. There he +met Lucius Licinius, who had only just then reached my house by a +side-street. Together they followed the trace of my blood to the hall +of the Jupiter. There they found me senseless, and had just time to +lower me from the window, like a piece of baggage, into the court. +Syphax jumped down and received me from the hands of the tribune, who +then quickly followed, and they hurried with me to the river. + +"There very few people were to be seen, for all the Goths and friendly +Romans had followed the King to the Capitol to help to extinguish the +flames. Totila had expressly ordered--I hope to his destruction!--that +all non-combatants should be spared and left unmolested. So my bearers +were allowed to pass everywhere. It was thought that they carried a +dead man. And they themselves, for some time, thought so too. In the +river they found an empty fishing-boat full of nets. They laid me in +it. Syphax threw my bloody mantle, with the purple hem of the 'princeps +senatus,' upon the shore, in order to mislead my enemies. They covered +me with sail-cloth and nets, and rowed down the river, through the +still burning boats. When we had passed them, I came to myself. Syphax +bathed my face with the water of the Tiber. My first glance fell on the +still burning Capitol. They told me that my first exclamation was, +'Turn back! the Capitol!' And they were obliged to keep me quiet by +force. My first clear thought was naturally: 'To return; to take +revenge; to re-conquer Rome.' In the harbour of Portus we met with an +Italian ship laden with grain. There were seven rowers in it. My +companions approached it to beg for wine and bread, for they also were +wounded and exhausted. The rowers recognised me. One of them wanted to +take me prisoner and deliver me up to the Goths, sure of a rich reward. +But the other six had served under me at the Mausoleum. I had nourished +them for years. They slew the man who wanted to betray me, and promised +Lucius that they would save me if it were possible. They hid me in +heaps of grain while we passed the Gothic guardships which watched at +the entrance of the harbour, Lucius and Syphax put on the dress of +sailors, and rowed with the others. Thus we escaped. But while on board +this vessel I was dangerously ill from my wounds. Only the ceaseless +care of Syphax and the sea-air saved me. For days, they say, I only +reiterated the words, 'Rome, Capitol, Cæsar!' When we landed at +Panormus, in Sicily, under the protection of the Byzantines, I rapidly +recovered. My old friend Cyprianus, who had admitted me into +Theodoric's palace when I was made Prefect, received me at Panormus as +captain of the harbour. Scarcely recovered, I went to Asia Minor--or, +as you say, Asiana--to my estates; you know that I had splendid +possessions at Sardes, Philadelphia, and Tralles----" + +"You have them no longer--the columned villas?" + +"I sold them all, for I was obliged at once to find the means of +engaging fresh mercenaries, in order to liberate Rome and Italy." + + +"Tenax propositi!" cried Procopius, amazed. "You have not, even now, +given up hope?" + +"Can I give up myself? I have sent Licinius to enlist a wild and savage +race, the Longobardians." + +"God protect your Italy if _they_ ever set foot in it." + +"I have also succeeded in winning the Empress to my cause, and by her +means the propositions of peace made by Cassiodorus were refused at the +last moment. For Rome must be freed from the barbarians! But when shall +I find means to move this lazy colossus, Justinian? When will fate call +me to my battle-field--Italia?" + +At this moment Syphax entered the room. He brought Cethegus a message +from the Empress. It ran: + +"To the Jupiter of the Capitol. Do not leave your house to-morrow until +I call you.--Theodora." + + +On the next day the Emperor Justinian was standing buried in deep +reflection before the tall golden crucifix in his room. The expression +of his face was very grave, but without a trace of alarm or doubt. +Quiet decision lay upon his features, which, else not handsome or +noble, at this moment betrayed mental power and superiority. He lifted +his eyes almost threateningly to the crucifix. + +"God of the Cross," he said, "Thou puttest Thy faithful servant to a +hard proof! It seems to me that I have deserved better. Thou knowest +all that I have done to the honour of Thy name! Why do not Thy strokes +fall upon Thine enemies, the heathens and barbarians? Why not?" + +He was interrupted in his soliloquy by the entrance of the chamberlains +and wardrobe-keepers. + +Justinian exchanged his morning garment for the robes of state. His +slaves served him upon their knees. + +He apparelled himself in a tunic of white silk, reaching to the knees, +embroidered with gold on both sides, and confined by a purple girdle. +The tightly-fitting hose were also of silk of the same colour. His +slaves threw over his shoulders a splendid mantle of a lighter shade of +purple, with a broad hem of gold thread, upon which red circles and +symbolic animal-forms, embroidered in green silk, alternated with each +other. But the pearls and precious stones which were lavishly strewed +over it, rendered the design almost invisible, and made the mantle so +heavy, that the assistance of the train-bearer must have been indeed a +welcome relief. + +On each of his arms the Emperor wore three broad golden bracelets. The +wide crown was made of massive gold, arched over with two rows of +pearls. His mantle was fastened on the shoulder with a costly brooch of +large precious stones. + +The sceptre-keeper put into the Emperor's hand a golden staff the +length of a man, at the top of which was a globe made out of a single +large emerald, and surmounted with a golden cross. + +The Emperor grasped it firmly and rose from his seat. + +A slave offered him the thick-soled buskins which he usually wore, in +order to increase his height. + +"No; to-day I need no buskins," said Justinian, and left the room. + +Down the Stairs of the Lions, so called from the twenty-four immense +marble lions which guarded the twelve steps, and which had been brought +from Carthage by Belisarius, the Emperor descended to a lower story, +and entered the Hall of Jerusalem. + +This hall derived its name from the porphyry columns, the onyx vases, +the golden tables and the numerous golden vessels which, arranged on +pedestals and along the walls, were said to have formerly decorated the +Temple of Jerusalem. These treasures had been taken to Rome by Titus, +after the destruction of Jerusalem. From Rome the Sea-king Geiseric had +taken them on his dragon-ships, together with the Empress Eudoxia, to +his capital, Carthage. And now Belisarius had brought them from +Carthage to the Emperor of the East. + +The cupola of the hall, representing the firmament, was wrought in +mosaic. Costly blue stones formed the ground-work, in which was inlaid, +besides the sun, the moon, the eye of God, the lamb, the fish, the +birds, the palm, the vine, the unicorn, and many other symbols of +Christianity, the whole zodiac and innumerable stars of massive gold. + +The cost of the cupola alone was estimated as high as the whole income +of the taxes on property in all the Empire for forty-five years. + +Opposite the three great arches of the entrance, which were closed by +curtains--it was the only entrance to the hall--and were guarded +outside by a threefold line of imperial body-guards--the "Golden +Shields"--stood, at the bottom of the semicircular hall, the elevated +throne of the Emperor, and below it on the left the seat of the +Empress. + +When Justinian entered the hall with a numerous retinue of palace +officials, all the assembly, consisting of the highest dignitaries of +the realm, threw themselves upon their faces in humble prostration. + +The Empress also rose, bowed deeply, and crossed her arms upon her +bosom. Her dress was exactly similar to that of her husband. Her white +stola was also covered by a purple mantle, but without hem. She carried +a very short sceptre of ivory. + +The Emperor cast a slight but contemptuous glance at the patriarchs, +archbishops, bishops, patricians and senators, who, above thirty in +number, occupied a row of gilded chairs set in a semicircle and +provided with cushions. He then passed through the middle of the hall +and ascended his throne with a quick firm step. Twelve of the chief +officers of the palace stood upon the steps of the two thrones, holding +white wands in their hands. A blast of trumpets gave the signal to the +kneeling assembly to rise. + +"Reverend bishops and worthy senators," began the Emperor, "we have +called you together, to ask your advice in an affair of great moment. +But why is our Magister Militum per Orientum, Narses, absent?" + +"He returned only yesterday from Persia--he is sick and confined to +bed," answered the usher. + +"Where is our treasurer of the Sacri Palatii, Trebonianus?" + +"He has not yet returned from his embassy to Berytus about the code." + +"Where is Belisarius, our Magister Militum per Orientum extra Ordinem?" + +"He does not reside in Byzantium, but in Asia, in the Red House at +Sycæ." + +"He keeps too far apart in the Red House. It displeases us. Why does he +avoid our presence?" + +"He could not be found." + + +"Not even in the house of his freedman, Photius?" + +"He has gone hunting to try the Persian hunting-leopards," said Leo, +the assistant-huntsman. + +"He is never to be found when wanted, and is always present when not +wanted. I am not content with Belisarius.--Hear now what has lately +been communicated to me by letter; afterwards you shall hear the report +of the envoys themselves. You know that we have allowed the war in +Italy to die away--for we had other occupation for our generals. You +know that the barbarian King sued for peace and the quiet possession of +Italy. We rejected it at that time; awaiting more convenient +circumstances. The Goth has answered, not in words, but by very +insolent deeds. No one in Byzantium knows of it--we kept the news to +ourselves, thinking it impossible, or at least exaggerated. But we find +that it is true; and now you shall hear it and advise upon it. The +barbarian King has sent a fleet and an army to Dalmatia with great +haste and secrecy. The fleet entered the harbour of Muicurum near +Salona; the army landed and carried the fortress by storm. In a similar +way the fleet surprised the coast-town of Laureata. Claudianus, our +governor at Salona, sent numerous and strongly-manned vessels to retake +the town from the Goths. But a naval combat took place, and the Goth, +Duke Guntharis, beat our Squadron so thoroughly that he made prizes of +all the vessels without exception, and carried them victoriously into +the harbour of Laureata. Further, the Gothic King equipped a second +fleet of four hundred large ships at Centumcellæ. It was formed for the +most part of Byzantine vessels, which, sent from the East to Sicily to +reinforce Belisarius, in ignorance that the Italian harbours were again +in possession of the Goths, had been taken by a Gothic earl, Grippa, +with all their crews and freights. The goal of this second fleet was +unknown. But suddenly the barbarian King himself appeared with the +fleet before Regium, the fortress in the extreme southern part of +Bruttia, which place we had won on our first landing in Italy, and had +not since lost. After a brave resistance, the garrison of Herulians and +Massagetæ were forced to capitulate. But the tyrant Totila sailed +immediately to Sicily, to wrest from us that earliest of Belisarius's +conquests. He beat the Roman governor Domnentiolus, who met him in the +open field, and in a short time took possession of the whole island, +with the exception of Messana, Panormus and Syracusæ, which were +enabled to hold out by reason of their formidable fortifications. A +fleet which I sent to attempt the reconquest of Sicily was dispersed by +a storm. A second was driven by the north-west wind to the +Peloponnesus. At the same time a third fleet of triremes, equipped by +this indefatigable King and commanded by Earl Haduswinth, sailed for +Corsica and Sardinia. The first of these islands presently fell to the +Goths, after the imperial garrison of the capital city of Alexia had +been beaten before the walls. The rich Corsican Furius Ahalla, to whom +the greater part of the island belongs, was absent in India. But his +stewards and tenants had been ordered, in case of a landing of the +Goths, in nowise to oppose them, but to aid them to the best of their +power. From Corsica the barbarians turned to Sardinia. Here, near +Karalis, they beat the troops which our magister militum had sent from +Africa to conquer the island, and took Karalis as well as Sulci, Castra +Trajani and Turres. The Goths then settled down in both islands and +treated them as permanently-acquired dependencies of the Gothic +kingdom, placing Gothic commanders in all the towns, and raising taxes +according to Gothic law. Strange to say, these taxes are far less heavy +than ours, and the inhabitants shamelessly declare that they would +rather pay the barbarians fifty than ninety to us. But all this was not +enough. Sailing to the north-east from Sicily, the tyrant Totila united +his squadron with a fourth fleet, under Earl Teja, off Hydrus. Part of +this united fleet, under Earl Thorismuth, sailed to Corcyra, took +possession of that island, and thence conquered all the surrounding +islands. But not yet enough. The tyrant Totila and Earl Teja already +attack the mainland of our Empire." + +A murmur of terror interrupted the august speaker. + +Justinian resumed in an angry voice: + +"They have landed in the harbour of Epirus vetus, carried the towns +Nicopolis and Anchisus, south-west of the ancient Dodona, and taken a +great many of our ships along the coast. All this may excite your +indignation against the insolence of these barbarians; but you have now +to hear what will move you in a different way. Briefly, according to +reports which reached me yesterday, it is certain that the Goths are in +full march upon Byzantium itself!" + +At this some of the senators sprang to their feet. + +"They intend a double attack. Their united fleet, commanded by Duke +Guntharis, Earls Markja, Grippa, and Thorismuth, has beaten, in a +combat of two days' duration, the fleet which protected our island +provinces, and has driven it into the straits of Sestos and Abydos. +Their army, under Totila and Teja, is marching across Thessaly by way +of Dodona against Macedonia. Thessalonica is already threatened. Earl +Teja has razed to the ground the 'New Wall' which we had there erected. +The road to Byzantium is open. And no army stands between us and the +barbarians. All our troops are on the Persian frontier. And now listen +to what the Goth proposes. Fortunately God has befooled and blinded him +to our weakness. He again offers us peace under the former conditions, +with the one exception that he now intends to keep possession of +Sicily. But he will evacuate all his other conquests if we will +acknowledge his rule in Italy. As I had no means, neither fleets nor +cohorts, to stop his victorious course, I have, for the present, +demanded an armistice. This he has agreed to, on condition that +afterwards peace is to be concluded on the former conditions. I have +agreed to this----" + +And, pausing, the Emperor cast a searching glance at the assembly, and +looked askance at the Empress. + +The assembly was evidently relieved. The Empress closed her eyes in +order to conceal their expression. Her small hand grasped convulsively +the arm of her throne. + +"But I agreed to it with the reservation that I should first hear the +opinion of my wife, who has lately been an advocate for peace, and that +also of my wise senate. I added that I myself was inclined to peace." + +All present looked more at ease. + +"And I believed that I could tell beforehand what would be the decision +of my counsellors. Upon this understanding, the horsemen of Earl Teja +unwillingly halted at Thessalonica; unfortunately they had already +taken prisoner the bishop of that city. But they have sent him here +with other prisoners, carrying messages and letters--you shall hear +them and then decide. Reflect that if we refuse to conclude a peace, +the barbarians will soon stand before our gates, and that we are only +asked to yield that which the Empire has given up long ago, and which +Belisarius in two campaigns failed to reconquer--Italia! Let the envoys +approach." + +Through the arches of the entrance the body-guard now led in several +men, in clerical, official, and military costume. Trembling and +sighing, they threw themselves at the feet of Justinian. Even tears +were not wanting. + +At a sign from the Emperor they rose again, and stood before the steps +of the throne. + +"Your petitions and lamentations," said the Emperor, "I received +yesterday. Protonotary, now read to us the letter from the Bishop of +Nicopolis and the wounded Governor of Illyricum--since then the latter +has succumbed to his wounds." + +The protonotary read: + +"To Justinianus, the unconquerable Emperor of the Romani, Dorotheos, +Bishop of Nicopolis, and Nazares, Governor of Illyricum. The place +whence we write these words will be the best proof of their gravity. We +write on board the royal barge of the Gothic King, the _Italia_. When +you read these words, you will have already learned the defeat of the +fleet, the loss of the islands, the storming of the 'New Wall,' and the +destruction of the army of Illyricum. Quicker than the messengers and +the fugitives from these battles, have the Gothic pursuers reached us. +The Gothic King has conquered and spared Nicopolis. Earl Teja has +conquered and burnt Anchisus. I, Nazares, have served in the army for +thirty years--and never have I seen such an attack as that in which +Earl Teja overthrew me at the gates of Anchisus. They are irresistible, +these Goths! Their horsemen sweep the country from Thessalonica to +Philippi. The Goths in the heart of Illyricum! That has not been heard +of for sixty years. And the King has sworn to return every year until +he has peace--or Byzantium! Since he won Corcyra and the Sybotes, he +stands upon the bridge of your Empire. Therefore, as God has touched +the heart of this King, as he offers peace at a moderate price--the +price of what he has actually gained--we beseech you, in the name of +your trembling subjects, and of your smoking towns, to conclude a +peace! Save us and save Byzantium! For your generals Belisarius and +Narses will rather be able to stop the course of the sun and the +blowing of the wind, than to stay King Totila and the terrible Teja." + +"They are prisoners," said the Emperor, interrupting the reader; "and +perhaps they speak in fear of death. Now it is your turn to speak, +venerable Bishop of Thessalonica; you, Anatolius, commander of Dodona; +and you, Parmenio, brave captain of the Macedonian lancers. You are +safe here under our imperial protection, but you have seen the +barbarian generals. What do you advise?" + +At this the aged Bishop of Thessalonica again threw himself upon his +knees, and cried: + +"O Emperor of the Romani, the barbarian King, Totila, is a heretic, and +accursed for ever, yet never have I seen a man more richly endowed with +all Christian virtues! Do not strive with him! In the other world he +will be damned for ever, but--I cannot comprehend it--on earth God +blesses all his ways. He is irresistible!" + +"I understand it well," interposed Anatolius. "It is his craft which +wins for him all hearts--the deepest hypocrisy, a power of +dissimulation which outdoes all our much-renowned and defamed Grecian +cunning. The barbarian plays the part of a philanthropist so +excellently, that he almost deceived me, until I reflected that there +was no such thing in the world as the love which this man pretends, +with all the art of a comedian. He acts as if he really felt compassion +for his conquered enemies! He feeds the hungry, he divides the +booty--your tax-money, O Emperor!--amongst the country people, whose +fields have been devastated by the war. Women who had fled into the +woods, and were found by his horsemen, he returns uninjured to their +husbands. He enters the villages to the sound of a harp, played by a +beautiful youth, who leads his horse. Do you know what is the +consequence? Your own subjects, O Emperor of the Romani, rebel to him, +and deliver your officers, who have obeyed your severe laws, into his +hands. The peasants and farmers of Dodona did so by me. This barbarian +is the greatest comedian of the century, and the clever hypocrite +understands many other things besides fighting. He has entered into an +alliance against you with the distant Persians, with your inveterate +enemy Chosroes. We ourselves saw the Persian ambassador ride out of his +camp towards the East." + +When Anatolius had ceased speaking, the Macedonian captain gave his +report, which ran: + +"Ruler of the Romani--since Earl Teja gained the high-road of +Thessalonica, nothing stands between your throne and his battle-axe but +the walls of this city. He who stormed the 'New Wall' eight times in +succession, and carried it at the ninth attempt, will carry the walls +of Byzantium at the tenth. You can only repel the Goths if you have +sevenfold their number. If you have it not, then conclude a peace." + +"Peace! peace! we beseech you, in the name of your trembling provinces +of Epirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia!" + +"Deliver us from the Goths!" + +"Let us not again see the days of Alaric and Theodoric!" + +"Peace with the Goths! Peace! peace!" + +And all the envoys, bishops, officials, and warriors sank upon their +knees with the cry of "Peace!" + +The effect upon the assembly was fearful. + +It had often happened that Persians and Saracens in the east. Moors in +the south, and Bulgarians and Slavonians in the north-west, had made +incursions into the country, slaying and plundering, and had sometimes +beaten the troops sent against them, and escaped unhindered with their +booty. But that Grecian islands should be permanently conquered by the +enemy, that Grecian harbours should be won and governed by barbarians, +and that the high-road to Byzantium should be dominated by Goths, was +unheard of. + +With dismay the senators thought of the days when Gothic ships and +Gothic armies should overrun all the Grecian islands, and repeatedly +storm the walls of Byzantium, only to be stopped by the fulfilment of +all their demands. They already seemed to hear the battle-axe of the +"Black Earl" knocking at their gates. + +Quietly and searchingly did Justinian look into the rows of anxious +faces on his right and on his left. + +"You have heard," he then began, "what Church, State, and Army desire. +I now ask your opinion. We have already accomplished an armistice. +Shall war or shall peace ensue? One word will buy peace--our assent to +the cession of Italy, which is already lost. Whoever among you is in +favour of war, let him hold up his hand." + +No one moved; for the senators were afraid for Byzantium, and they had +no doubt of the Emperor's inclination for peace. + +"My senate unanimously declares for peace. I knew it beforehand," said +Justinian, with a singular smile. "I am accustomed always to follow the +advice of my wise councillors--and of my Empress." + +At this word Theodora started from her seat, and threw her ivory +sceptre from her with such violence, that it flew far across the hall. + +The senators were startled. + +"Then farewell," cried the Empress, "farewell to what has ever been my +pride--my belief in Justinian and his imperial dignity! Farewell all +share in the cares and honours of the state! Alas, Justinian! alas for +you and me that I must hear such words from your lips!" + +And she hid her face in her purple mantle, in order to conceal the +agony which her excitement caused her. + +The Emperor turned towards her. + +"What! the Augusta, my wife, who, since Belisarius returned to +Byzantium for the second time, has always advocated peace--with a short +exception--does she now, in such a time of danger, advise----" + +"War!" cried Theodora, uncovering her face. And, in her intense +earnestness, she looked more beautiful than she ever did when smiling +in playful sport. "Must I, your wife, remind you of your honour? Will +you suffer these barbarians to fix themselves firmly in your Empire, +and force you to their will? You, who dreamt of the re-establishment of +the Empire of Constantine! You, Justinian, who have taken the names of +Persicus, Vandalicus, Alanicus, and Gothicus--you will allow this +Gothic stripling to lead you by the beard whithersoever he will? Are +you not the same Justinian who has been admired by the world, by +Byzantium, and by Theodora? Our admiration was an error!" + +On hearing these words, the Patriarch of Byzantium--he still believed +that the Emperor had irrevocably decided upon peace--took courage to +oppose the Empress, who did not always hit upon the strict definition +of orthodoxy of which he was the representative. + +"What!" he said, "the august lady advises bloody war? Verily, the Holy +Church has no need to plead for the heretic. Notwithstanding, the new +King is wonderfully mild towards the Catholics in Italy; and we can +wait for more favourable times, until----" + +"No, priest!" interrupted Theodora; "the outraged honour of this Empire +can wait no longer! O Justinian!"--he still remained obstinately +silent--"O Justinian, let us not be deceived in you! You dare not let +that be wrung from you by defiance which you refused to humble +petitions! Must I remind you that once before your wife's advice, and +will, and courage, saved your honour? Have you forgotten the terrible +rebellion of the Nika? Have you forgotten how the united parties of the +Circus, of the frantic mob of Byzantium, attacked this house? The +flames arose, and the cry of 'Down with the tyrants!' rang in our ears. +All your councillors advised flight or compliance; all these reverend +bishops and wise senators, and even your generals; for Narses was away +in distant Asia, and Belisarius was shut up by the rebels in the palace +on the shore. All were in despair. Your wife Theodora was the only hero +by your side. If you had yielded or fled, your throne, your life, and +most certainly your honour, would have been lost. You hesitated. You +were inclined to fly. 'Remain, and die if need be,' I then said; 'but +die in the purple!' And you remained, and your courage saved you. You +awaited death upon your throne, with me at your side--and God sent +Belisarius to our relief! I speak the same now. Do not yield. Emperor +of the Romani--do not yield to the barbarians! Stand firm. Let the +ruins of the Golden Gate overwhelm you if the axe of the terrible Goth +can force it; but die an Emperor! This purple is stained by the +immeasurable insolence of these Germans. I throw it from me, and I +swear by the wisdom of God, never will I again resume it until the +Empire is rid of the Goths!" + +And she tore off her mantle and threw it down upon the steps of the +throne. But then, greatly exhausted, she was on the point of sinking +back into her seat when Justinianus caught her in his arms and pressed +her to his bosom. + +"Theodora," he cried, "my glorious wife! You need no purple on your +shoulders--your spirit is clothed in purple! You alone understand +Justinian. War, and destruction to the Goths!" + +At this spectacle the trembling senators were overwhelmed with terror +and astonishment. + +"Yes, wise fathers," cried the Emperor, turning to the assembly, "this +time you were too clever to be men. It is indeed an honour to be called +Constantine's successor, but it is no honour to be _your_ master! Our +enemies, I fear, are right; Constantine only planted here the dead +mummy of Rome, but the soul of Rome had already fled. Alas for the +Empire! Were it free or a republic, it would now have sunk in shame for +ever. It must have a master, who, when, like a lazy horse, it threatens +to sink into the quagmire, pulls it up by the rein; a strong master +with bridle, whip, and spurs!" + +At this moment a little crooked man, leaning on a crutch, forced his +way into the hall, and limped up to the steps of the throne. + +"Emperor of the Romani," he began, when he rose from his obeisance, "a +report reached me on my bed of pain of all that the barbarians had +dared, and of what was going on here. I gathered all my strength and +dragged myself here with difficulty, for, by one word from you, I must +learn whether I have been a fool from the beginning in holding you to +be a great ruler in spite of many weaknesses; whether I shall throw +your marshal's staff into the deepest well, or still carry it with +pride! Speak only one word: war or peace?" + +"War! war!" cried Justinian, and his countenance beamed. + +"Victory! Justinian!" cried the general. "Oh, let me kiss your hand, +great Emperor!" and he limped up the steps of the throne. + +"But how is this, patrician, you have all at once become a man!" mocked +the Empress. "You were always against the war with the Goths. Have you +suddenly become endowed with a sense of honour?" + +"Honour!" cried Narses, "after that gay soap-bubble Belisarius, that +great child, may run! Not honour but the Empire is at stake. As long as +danger threatened from the east, I advised the Persian war. Nothing was +to be feared from the Goths. But now your piety, O Empress, and +Belisarius's hero-sword, have stirred up the hornets' nest so long, +that at last the whole swarm flies dangerously into our faces. Now the +danger threatens from that side, and I advise a Gothic war. The Goths +are nearer to Byzantium than Chosroes to the eastern frontier. He who, +like this Totila, can raise a kingdom from an abyss, can much more +easily hurl another kingdom into an abyss. This young King is a worker +of miracles, and must be stopped in time." + +"For this once," said Justinian, "I have the rare pleasure of finding +my Empress and Narses of one mind." + +He was on the point of dismissing the assembly, when the Empress caught +his arm. + +"Stay, my husband," she said. "To-day, for the second time, I have the +honour to be proved your best adviser! Is it not so? Then listen to me +and follow my further advice. Keep this wise assembly--all except +Narses--confined in this hall.--Do not tremble, Illustrissimi; this +time your lives are not in jeopardy. But you are unable to keep a +secret; at least unless your tongues are slit. For this time, we will +insure your silence by confinement.--There exists a conspiracy against +your life, Justinian, or at least against your free will. A certain +party had decided to force you to a war with the Goths. This object, +truly, is now attained. But either to-night or to-morrow early the +conspirators will again finally assemble. We must allow them to do so. +We must not hinder them in their purpose by letting them know that +their object is already planned. For dangerous persons--persons +suspected long ago, and--O Justinian--very very _rich_ persons are +concerned in it. It would be a pity if they escaped my snare." + +Justinian was not alarmed at the word conspiracy. + +"I also knew of it," he said. "But is it already so far advanced? +To-morrow! Theodora," he cried, "you are more to the Empire than +Belisarius or Narses!--Captain of the Golden Shields, you will keep all +present confined here until Narses comes to fetch them. Meanwhile, my +pious and wise fathers, reflect upon this hour and its teachings! +Narses, follow us and the Empress." + +So saying, Justinian descended the steps of the throne. When he, with +Theodora and Narses, had left the Hall of Jerusalem, the entrance was +immediately blocked with threatening spears. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The Emperor ordered the Empress and Narses to follow him to his room. + +When they reached it, he embraced his wife with great tenderness, +unembarrassed by the presence of a witness. + +"How your enthusiasm rejoices and exalts me!" he exclaimed. "I am proud +of such a wife. How beautiful you were, O Theodora, in your noble +indignation. How can I reward you! Choose any favour, any sign of my +gratitude, my best and truest councillor and co-ruler?" + +"If I, a weak woman, dare indeed believe that I may share your thoughts +and plans in this war, then confide in me, and tell me how you intend +to conduct it." + +"I am resolved to send Belisarius again to Italy. But not alone. His +trifling with a crown has made me wary." + +"Then I beg the favour of being allowed to propose a second +general.--Narses," she continued, before Justinian could speak, "will +you be the other?" + +She wished to make it impossible for him to go. + +"No, I thank you," Narses answered bitterly. "You know that I am a +stubborn and ill-tempered horse; I cannot endure to draw together with +another. A marshal's staff and a wife, Justinian, should be kept on the +same condition." + +"How?" + +"Alone, or not at all." + +"Then _you_ not at all," answered Justinian with vexation. "You must not +imagine that you are indispensable, magister militum." + +"No one on earth is so, Justinian. With all my heart! Send great +Belisarius again! He may try his luck for the third time in that +country, where laurels grow so thickly. My turn will come later. I am +no doubt unnecessary here as a witness of your domestic felicity, and +at home, opposite to my sickbed, stands a map of the Italian roads. +Allow me to continue my study of it. It is more interesting than the +map of our Persian frontier. One piece of advice. You will ultimately +be obliged to send Narses to Italy. The sooner you send him the more +you will spare yourself defeat, vexation, and money. And if gout or +that wretched epilepsy should carry Narses off before King Totila lies +upon his shield, who then will conquer Italy for you? You believe in +prophecy. In Italy there runs a saying: 'T beats B, N beats T.'" + +"Does that mean, perhaps, that Theodora beat Belisarius, and Narses +beats Theodora?" asked the Empress mockingly. + +"That is not _my_ interpretation of the riddle; it is yours. But I +accept it. Do you know which was the wisest of your many laws, O +Justinian?" + +"Well?" + +"That which made death the punishment of all accusations against the +Empress, for it was the only way in which you could keep her." And he +left the room. + +"The insolent fellow!" cried Theodora, sending a venomous look after +him. "He dares to threaten! When Belisarius has once been rendered +harmless, Narses must quickly follow." + +"But meanwhile we need them both," said Justinian. "Do you really +propose, as the second general to be sent to Italy, the man who +persuaded us to reject the proposals of Cassiodorus?" + +"The same." + +"But my distrust of that ambitious man has since then become stronger." + +"Have you then forgotten," retorted Theodora, "who revealed the +intentions of Silverius? Who was the first to warn you of Belisarius's +dangerous game?" + +"But he now frequents the company of the men who are conspiring against +me!" + +"Yes; but, O Justinian, it is by my order, as their destroyer." + +"Indeed! But if he is also deceiving you?" + +"Will you believe him and me, and send him to Italy, if he brings the +conspirators to your feet in chains to-morrow, and amongst them their +unknown chief?" + +"I already know who it is; it is Photius, the freedman of Belisarius." + +"No, Justinian; it is he whom you would again send to Italy if I did +not warn you: Belisarius himself!" + +The Emperor grew pale, and grasped the arm of his chair. "Will you now +believe in that wonderful Roman's devotion, and send him to Italy with +your army, instead of Belisarius?" + +"Everything, everything!" said Justinian. "Belisarius, then, is really +a traitor! Then we must make haste! Let us act at once." + +"I have already acted, Justinian. My net is cast, and no one can +escape. Give me full power to draw it close." + +The Emperor nodded acquiescence. + +And passing through the curtains, Theodora said to the door-keeper: + +"Fetch Cethegus, the Prefect of Rome, from his house, and take him to +my room." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Shortly after, Cethegus once more stood before the still seductive +woman, whom he had known in youth. She was lying stretched upon her +couch in the room in which we have before seen her. + +Galatea frequently handed to her a small onyx-cup, filled with the +drops prescribed by her Persian physician. Grecian doctors no longer +sufficed. + +"I thank you, Theodora," said Cethegus, after a friendly greeting, "and +if I must thank any other than myself--and a woman!--I would rather owe +something to my early friend than to another." + +"Listen, Prefect," said Theodora, looking gravely at him. "You would be +just the man--shall I say the barbarian or the Roman?--to first kiss a +Cleopatra whom a Cæsar and an Antony had adored, and then take her in +triumph to the Capitol in order to strangle her, as, perhaps, +Octavianus once intended, if that sly Queen had not been beforehand +with him. Cleopatra has always been my model. 'Tis true, I have never +found a Cæsar. But the asp, perhaps, will not be wanting. But you need +not thank me. I have spoken and acted out of conviction. The insolence +which we have suffered from these Goths must be smothered in blood. +Perhaps I have not always been such a faithful wife as Justinian +believed; but I was always his best and truest adviser. Belisarius and +Narses cannot be sent together, and still less singly, to Italy. You +shall go. You are a hero, a general, and a statesman, and yet you are +too weak to harm Justinian." + +"Thanks for your good opinion," said Cethegus. + +"Friend, you are a general without an army, an Emperor without an +empire, a pilot without a ship. But enough of this--you will not +believe me. I send you to Italy because I believe that you hate the +barbarians with all your heart. The second general, whom the imperial +distrust will undoubtedly send after you, shall be Areobindos. He will +not trouble you much! I am rejoiced that I can thus serve not only my +old companion but also the Empire. Ah, Cethegus, our youth! To you men +it is either golden hopes or golden memories: to a woman it is life +itself! Oh for a single day of the time when I sent you roses and you +sent me verses!" + +"Your roses were beautiful, Theodora, but my verses were poor." + +"They were fine to me, for they were addressed to me! My choice of you, +which is necessary for the Empire, is sweetened by old and new hate as +well as by old love. Belisarius must not rise to new honours. He must +fall, and this time fall low and for ever. As sure as I live!" + +"And Narses? I should understand and like it better if you were to ruin +that head without an arm, than this arm without a head." + +"Patience! One after the other." + +"What has the good-natured hero done to you?" + +"He? Nothing. But his wife! that clumsy Antonina, whose whole triumph +lies in her good health." + +And the delicate Empress clenched her little white fist, the fingers of +which had become more transparent than ever. + +"Ah," she exclaimed, "how I hate her! Yes, and I envy her too! Stupid +people are always healthy. But she shall not rejoice while I suffer!" + +"And the fate of the Capitol depends upon such a woman's hatred!" +exclaimed Cethegus to himself. "Down with Cleopatra!" + +"The foolish woman is in love with her husband's honour and glory. +There I can wound her fatally!" continued Theodora. + +As she spoke the twitching of her delicate features betrayed an attack +of acute pain; she threw herself back upon her cushions. + +"My little dove," said Galatea, "do not be angry. Thou knowest what the +Persian said. Every excitement, be it of love or of hate----" + +"Yes. To hate and to love is life! And as one grows older, hatred is +almost sweeter than love. Love is false; hate is true." + +"In both," said Cethegus, "I am a novice compared to you. I have always +called you the Siren of Cyprus. One can never be sure that you will not +suddenly tear your victim in the very act of embracing him--either from +love, or from hate. And what has suddenly changed your love of Antonina +into hatred?" + +"She has become virtuous, the hypocrite! Or can she be really so +weak-minded? It is possible. Her fishy blood can never be made to boil. +For a strong passion or a bold crime she was always too cowardly. She +is too vain to forego admiration and too paltry to reciprocate it. +Since she accompanied her husband on his campaign she has become quite +virtuous. Ha, ha, ha! because she was obliged! Even as the devil fasts +when he has nothing to eat. Because I kept her lover a prisoner." + +"Anicius, the son of Boëthius? I heard of it." + +"Yes, he. When in Italy Antonina again clung to her husband and shared +his fame and his misfortunes. And since that time she is a very +Penelope! When she returned here, what did the goose do? She reproached +me with having enticed her from the path of virtue! and swore that she +would save Anicius from my toils. And she succeeds, the snake! She +opens the gates of conscience and weans my unfaithful chamberlain more +and more from me--of course only to keep him for herself." + +"So you cannot imagine," said Cethegus, "that any woman can try to save +a soul?" + +"Without profit? No. But at the same time she deceives herself and him +by pious speeches. And oh! how gladly the youth allows himself to be +saved by this youthful blooming saint from the arms of the faded +woman--who is wasted before her time! Ha!" she added passionately, +starting from her seat, "how pitiable that the body must succumb from +fatigue before the soul has half satisfied its thirst for life! And to +live is to rule, to hate, and to love!" + +"You seem insatiable in these arts and enjoyments." + +"Yes," cried Theodora, "and I am proud of it. Must I indeed leave the +richly-spread table of existence, must I leave this imperial throne, +with all my ardent love of joy and power still unquenched? Shall I only +sip a few more drops? Oh, Nature is a miserable blunderer! Once in many +thousand ages she creates, amid a host of cripples, ugly in body and +weak in mind, a soul and body like mine, perfect and strong, and full +of the longing to live and to enjoy for an eternity. And, when only six +lustres have passed, when I have scarcely sipped of the full cup +offered to me. Nature dries up the spring of life! A curse upon the +envy of the gods! But men can envy too, and envy changes them into +demons. Others shall not enjoy when I can do so no longer! Others shall +no more laugh when I must writhe in agony all night long! Antonina +shall not rejoice in her youth with the false man who was once mine and +yet could think of another, or of virtue, or of heaven! Anicius has +told me this very day that he can bear this life without fame and +honour no more--that heaven and earth call him away. He shall repent +it--together with her. Come, Cethegus," she said furiously, grasping +his arm, "come; we will destroy them both!" + +"You forget," said Cethegus coldly, "that I have no reason to hate +either her or him. So what I do will be done for your sake." + +"Not so, you wise and icy Roman! Do you believe that I do not see +through you?" + +"I hope not," thought Cethegus. + +"You wish to keep Belisarius away from Italy. You wish to fight and +conquer alone. Or at most with a shadow beside you, such as Bessas was +and Areobindos will be. Do you think I did not understand why you so +cleverly managed the recall of Belisarius when before Ravenna? Anxiety +for Justinian! What is Justinian to you?" + +Cethegus felt his heart beat. + +"The freedom of Rome!" continued Theodora. "Nonsense! You know that +only strong and simple men can be trusted with freedom. And you know +your Quirites. No, your aim lies higher." + +"Is it possible that this woman guesses what all my enemies and friends +do not even suspect?" thought Cethegus. + +"You wish to free Italy alone, and alone rule her as Justinian's +vice-regent. To be next to his throne, high above Belisarius and +Narses, and second only to Theodora. And if there were any higher goal, +yours would be the spirit to fly at it." + +Cethegus breathed again. + +"That would hardly be worth the trouble," he thought. + +"Oh," continued Theodora, "it is a proud feeling to be the first of +Justinian's servants!" + +"Of course," thought Cethegus, "she is not capable of imagining +anything superior to her husband, although she deceives him daily." + +"And," Theodora went on, "to rule _him_, the Emperor, in company with +me." + +"The flattering atmosphere of this court dulls even the clearest +intellect," thought Cethegus. "It is the madness of the purple. She can +only think of herself as all-commanding." + +"Yes, Cethegus," continued Theodora; "I would allow no other man even +to _think_ of this. But I will help you to obtain it. With you I will +share the mastery of the world. Perhaps only because I remember many a +foolish youthful dream. Do you still remember how, years ago, we shared +two cushions in my little villa? We called them the Orient and the +Occident. It was an omen. So will we now share the Orient and the +Occident. Through my Justinian I will rule the Orient. Through my +Cethegus I will rule the Occident!" + +"Ambitious, insatiable woman!" thought Cethegus. "Oh that Mataswintha +had not died! She at this court--and you would sink for ever!" + +"But to gain this," said Theodora, "Belisarius must be got out +of the way. Justinian had resolved to send him once more as your +commander-in-chief to Italy." + +Cethegus frowned. + +"He trusts again and again to his dog-like fidelity. He must be +thoroughly convinced of his falsity." + +"That will be difficult to manage," said Cethegus. "Theodora will +sooner learn to be faithful than Belisarius to be false." + +A blow from Theodora's little hand was the punishment for this speech. + +"To you, foolishly, I have been ever faithful--that is, in affection. +Do you want Belisarius again in Italy?" + +"On no account!" + +"Then help me to ruin him, together with Anicius, the son of Boëthius." + +"So be it," said the Prefect. "I have no reason to spare the brother of +Severinus. But how can you possibly bring proofs against Belisarius? I +am really curious. If you accomplish _that_, I will declare myself no +less a novice in plots and machinations than in love and hatred." + +"And that you are, you dull son of Latium! Now listen. But it is such a +dangerous subject, that I must beg thee, Galatea, to keep watch that no +one comes and listens. No, my good mother, not inside! I beg thee; +_outside_ the door. Leave me alone with the Prefect: it is--more's the +pity--no secret of love?" + +When, after some time, the Prefect left the room, he said to himself: + +"If this woman were a man--I should kill her! She would be more +dangerous than the barbarians and Belisarius together! But then, +certainly, the iniquity would be neither so inscrutable nor so +devilish!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Soon after the Prefect had returned home, Syphax announced the son of +Boëthius, who came from the Empress. + +"'Let him enter, and admit no one else until he has gone," said +Cethegus. "Meanwhile send quickly for Piso, the tribune." + +And he rose to meet Anicius, who now entered the room. + +Anicius was no longer a youth, and his delicate features were much +improved by the expression of resolution which at this moment rested +upon them. He was dressed very simply, and his hair, which was usually +curled, now hung straight down. + +"You remind me of your beautiful sister, Anicius." + +With these words the Prefect received his visitor. + +"It is on her account, Cethegus, that I come," said Anicius gravely. +"You are the oldest friend of my father and of our house. You hid +Severinus and me from our enemies, and assisted us to escape at your +own risk. You are the only man in Byzantium to whom I can appeal in a +mysterious affair. A few days ago I received this incomprehensible +letter, 'To the son of my patron; Corbulo the freedman----" + +"Corbulo? I know that name!" + +"He was the freedman of my father, with whom my mother and sister took +refuge, and who----" + +"Fell before Rome with your brother!" + +"Yes. But he only died after being carried into the Gothic encampment, +for he was taken prisoner, together with my dying brother, in the +village _ad aras Bacchi_. So I am told by one of Belisarius's +mercenaries called Sutas, who was taken prisoner at the same time, And +who has now brought me the letter which Corbulo could not finish. Read +it for yourself." + +Cethegus took the small wax tablet with its scarcely legible writing +and read: + +"'The legacy of your dying brother, and his last words were: Anicius +must revenge our mother, our sister, and myself. It was the same enemy +of our house, the same demon who----'" + +"The letter ends here," said Cethegus. + +"Yes. Corbulo lost his senses and never again became conscious, the +mercenary said." + +"There is not much to be made of this," observed Cethegus, shrugging +his shoulders. + +"No; but the mercenary Sutas--they were all in the same tent--heard a +few words spoken by my dying brother to Corbulo, which may give us the +key to the letter." + +"Well?" asked Cethegus, with concealed anxiety. + +"Severinus said: 'I suspect it. He knew of the ambush--he sent us to +meet certain death.'" + +"Who?" asked Cethegus quietly. + +"That is just what I want to find out." + +"You have no suspicion?" + +"No; but it cannot be impossible to discover the man who is meant." + +"How will you manage it?" + +"'Sent us to meet certain death,' that can only mean some leader or +general who was the cause of my brother's sharing that fatal morning +ride out of the Tiburtinian Gate. For Severinus did not at that time +belong to the suite of Belisarius. He was a tribune of your legions. If +you, Belisarius, and Procopius will earnestly try to find out the man +who sent Severinus with Belisarius, you must succeed. For he did not go +with other legionaries--none of your legionaries or horsemen +accompanied Belisarius." + +"As far as I recollect," said Cethegus, "you are right." + +"Not one," repeated Anicius. "Procopius--unfortunately he has gone to +examine the buildings which Justinian has erected in Asia--was present, +and has often told me the names of all who were with him. When he +returns, I will make a careful inquiry of what my brother did just +before the sally. Into whose house or tent he went--I will not rest, I +will ask all the still living comrades of Severinus where they saw him +last before he rode out." + +"You are very acute for your years," said the Prefect with a strange +smile. "What will you be when you are arrived at maturity? But +certainly you are in a good school. Does the Empress know of this +letter?" + +"No. And she shall never hear of it. Do not name her to me! This duty +of revenge has been sent by God to tear me away from her!" + +"But she sent you to me?" + +"In another affair, which, however, shall end very differently to what +she intends. A few hours ago she sent for me, and asked me once again +if it was so very terrible to be kept in a golden cage. But the woman +disgusts me. And I heartily regret the months that I have wasted at her +side, while my brother fought and fell for the fatherland. I gave her +such a rude answer, that I expected a storm. But, to my astonishment, +she was perfectly quiet, and said, smiling, 'Be it so. No faithfulness +lasts long. Go to Antonina, or to Virtue, or to both goddesses. But, as +a last sign of my favour, I will save you from certain destruction. +There exists in Byzantium a conspiracy against the life or free will of +Justinian. Be quiet--I know it. I know also that you are already half +won; that you have not yet gone to any of their meetings, but that you +have the documents of the conspiracy in your keeping. I have allowed +them to do as they liked, because there are some of my old enemies +amongst them, whom I wish to ruin. In a few days they will be +surprised. But I will warn and save you. Go to the Prefect. He must +take you with him away from Byzantium. Tell him that you are in danger, +and that Theodora sends you. But say nothing to him of the conspiracy. +There are some of his tribunes concerned in it, whom he would gladly +save, but whom I will destroy.' All this she said to me, and I came, +but not to fly! I came to warn you and my Roman comrades. I shall also +go to the meeting--there is no danger for to-day, the Empress said--and +warn them all. I shall tell them that the conspiracy is discovered. You +must not be there, Prefect; you must not place yourself in any further +danger. Justinian already suspects you. The foolish youths wish to wait +until they have won Belisarius to their cause! And if they are not +warned they will most likely be all taken prisoners to-morrow. I shall +hasten to tell them of their danger. But, that done, I will not rest a +moment until I have discovered the murderer of my brother." + +"Both intentions are highly praiseworthy," said Cethegus. "But, by the +way, where do you hide the papers of the conspirators?" + +"Where I hide all secrets," said Anicius, blushing--"secrets and +letters that are sacred and dear to me; where I will also hide this +tablet. You shall know the spot, for you, the oldest friend of my +house, must help me to complete my task of vengeance. I have written +out Sutas's report of the scarcely-comprehensible conversation of the +two dying men. They spoke of 'poisoning'--of 'murderous order'--of an +'accusation before the senate'--therefore our enemy must be a Roman +senator--of a 'crimson crest'-of a 'black devil of a horse----'" + +"Et cetera, et cetera," said Cethegus, interrupting him. "Where is your +hiding-place? It may be that you will have to escape in a hurry--for I +strongly advise you not to trust the Empress--and perhaps you would not +even be able to reach your house." + +"And besides," added Anicius, "it is necessary that you take up my +work. I should in any case have told you of the hiding-place. It is in +the cistern in the court of my house--the third brick to the right of +the wheel is hollow. And you must know for another reason," he +concluded gloomily. "If it is not possible to save my friends, if my +own freedom is in danger--for you are right in your warning: I have +long since remarked that I am followed by the spies of the Emperor or +Empress--then I will quickly make a bloody end to it all. What matter +if I die, if I cannot fulfil the duty which Severinus has imposed upon +me? Then--it is my office to tell the Emperor every morning how the +Empress has passed the night--then--I will strike the tyrant in the +midst of his slaves!" + +"Madman!" cried Cethegus, in real terror--for he _now_ wished to keep +Justinian alive and in power--"to what has remorse and a planless and +dissolute life brought you? No! the son of Boëthius must not end as a +murderer. If you wish to atone in blood for your inglorious past--then +fight with my legions! Purify yourself in the blood of the barbarians, +shed, not by the dagger of the murderer, but by the sword of the hero!" + +"You speak nobly, Cethegus. And will you really place _me_, untried and +without fame, amongst your brave knights? How can I thank you!" + +"Spare your thanks until all is ended--until we meet again. Meanwhile +warn the conspirators. That alone will be a proof of courage. For, as +it seems you are followed, I think it a dangerous task. If you shun the +danger, say so frankly." + +"_I_ hesitate to give the first proof of my courage! I would go and +warn them, even if certain death were the consequence." + +He pressed the Prefect's hand, and hurried away. + +As soon as he was gone, Syphax brought in the tribune Piso through +another door. + +"Master of Iambics," cried Cethegus, "you must now be as quick-footed +as your verses! Enough of conspiracy and creeping here in Byzantium! +You must immediately seek all the young Romans who frequent the house +of Photius. The setting sun must find none of you within those walls. +Your lives depend upon it. No one must go to the 'evening feast' at +Photius's house. Go hunting, singly or in groups; make boat-races on +the Bosphorus; only hurry away. The conspiracy is superfluous. The +sound of the trumpet will soon summon you to battle against the +barbarians in Latium. Away with you all! Wait for me at Epidamnus. +Thence, with my Isaurians, I will fetch you to the third fight for +Rome. Away!--Syphax," he said, when left alone with his slave, "have +you inquired at the great general's house? When is he expected back?" + +"At sunset." + +"Is his faithful wife at home? Good. Bring a litter--not mine--bring +the first you find at the Hippodrome. The blinds must shut closely. +Take it to the harbour, into the back street of the slop-dealers." + +"Sir, the worst rabble of this city of vagabonds dwell in that street. +What will you do there?" + +"I will there enter the litter, and then go to the Red House." + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +In the Red House, the abode of Belisarius, which was situated in the +suburb "Justiniana" (Sycæ), sat Antonina in the women's chamber, +working busily. + +She was embroidering a border of golden laurels upon a mantle for her +hero, Belisarius. + +Near her, upon a citron-wood table, lay, in a costly binding set with +precious stones, a splendid edition of the "Vandal Wars," by Procopius, +the lately published book which described her husband's prowess. + +At her feet lay a magnificent animal, one of the four tame hunting +leopards which the Persian King had presented to Belisarius after the +last peace; a very costly present, for it was seldom that the attempt +to tame these leopards succeeded, and many hundreds of cubs which had +been caught or born in confinement, were obliged to be killed as +useless after being trained for years. The large, beautiful, and +powerful animal--it easily became wild when it tasted warm blood while +hunting, and had therefore been left at home stretched itself +luxuriously, like a cat, upon the folds of Antonina's dress, played +with her ball of gold thread, waved its tail, and sometimes rubbed its +round and clever-looking head against the feet of its mistress. + +A slave entered and announced a stranger--he had arrived in a modest +litter, and was dressed in a common mantle--the door-keeper would have +refused to admit him, as the master was away, and the mistress received +no visitors, but he would not be denied; he ordered them to announce to +Antonina "the conqueror of Pope Silverius." + +"Cethegus!" cried Antonina. + +She grew pale and trembled. + +"Let him in at once." + +The influence which the powerful intellect of Cethegus had gained upon +her the first time of their meeting; the recollection that, when her +husband, Procopius, and all the leaders of the army, had helplessly +succumbed to the priest, this man had conquered and humbled the +conqueror; of how, at the entrance into Rome, the fight on the bridge +of the Anio, the defence of Rome Against Witichis, in the camp of +Ravenna and at the taking of that city, he had always and everywhere +kept the upper hand, and yet had never used his superiority inimically +against her husband; how nothing but misfortune had followed any +neglect of his warnings; how all his counsels had been victorious in +themselves--these recollections now confusedly crossed her mind. + +She heard the footsteps of the Prefect, and hastily rose. + +The leopard--pushed roughly aside and disturbed in his comfortable +sport on account of the intruder--rose with a low growl, and looked +threateningly at the door, gnashing his yellow teeth. + +Cethegus, before entering, drew the curtain violently aside and thrust +forth his head, which was covered by a cowl. The abrupt movement must +have either frightened or irritated the leopard. When the Persian lion +and tiger tamers first began to break in a newly-caught animal, they +were accustomed to envelop themselves and cover their heads with long +woollen cloaks. Possibly the fierce and never wholly-tamed beast was +reminded of his old enemies. With a terrible howl he crouched in +preparation for a deadly spring, whipping the floor with his long tail +and foaming at the mouth a sure sign of fury. + +Antonina saw it with horror. + +"Fly! fly, Cethegus!" she screamed. + +Had he done so, had he but turned his back, he would have been lost; +the monster would at once have been upon his back with his teeth in his +neck. For no door closed the entrance, the only barrier was a curtain. + +Cethegus promptly stepped forward, threw back his cowl, looked straight +into the leopard's eyes, raising his left hand with an action of +command, and threatening him with the dagger held in his right. + +"Down! down! The irons are hot!" he cried in the Persian language, at +the same time moving a step in advance. + +The leopard suddenly broke into a whining howl of fear; his muscles, +which had been contracted for the spring, relaxed; he crept whining, +with his belly on the ground, to the feet of Cethegus, and howling with +fear, licked the sandal of his left foot, while Cethegus set his right +foot firmly upon the animal's neck. + +Antonina had sunk upon her couch in her fear; she now stared at the +terrible, but beautiful scene. + +"That animal--the prostration!" she stammered. "Dareios always refused +to do it; he was furious when Belisarius insisted upon it. Where have +you learned this, Cethegus?" + +"In Persia, of course," he answered. + +And he kicked the thoroughly cowed animal between the ribs with such +violence, that with a howl it flew into the farthest comer of the room, +where it remained trembling and crouching, with its eyes fixed upon its +subduer. + +"Belisarius only mastered the forts, but not the language of Persia," +said Cethegus. "And these beasts do not understand Greek. You are +grimly guarded, Antonina, when Belisarius is absent," he added, as he +hid his dagger in the folds of his dress. + +"What brings you to my house?" Antonina asked, still trembling. + +"My often misdoubted friendship. I would save your husband, who has the +courage of a lion, but not the dexterity of a mouse! Procopius is +unfortunately absent, or I should have sent that better-trusted +adviser, I know that a heavy blow threatens Belisarius from the +Emperor. We must ward it off. The favour of the Emperor----" + +"Is very fickle, I know. But the services of Belisarius----" + +"Are his ruin. Justinian would not fear an insignificant man. But he +fears Belisarius." + +"That we have often experienced," sighed Antonina. + +"Learn then--you before all others--what no one outside the palace +knows: the Emperor's indecision is at an end. He has decided upon war +with the Goths." + +"At last!" cried Antonina, with a beaming countenance. + +"Yes; but--think of the shame! Belisarius is not appointed +commander-in-chief." + +"Who else?" asked Antonina angrily. + +"I am one of the generals----" + +She looked at him suspiciously. + +"Yes; it was my aim long since, I confess. But the second in command is +to be Areobindos. I cannot conquer the Goths with him, hindered by his +ignorance. No one can conquer the Goths but Belisarius. Therefore I +must have him near me, or, for aught I care, over me. See, Antonina, I +hold myself to be the greater statesman----" + +"My Belisarius is a hero, no statesman!" cried the proud wife. + +"But it would be ridiculous to compare myself as a general with the +conqueror of the Vandals, Goths, and Persians. You see that I openly +confess that I am not influenced only by friendship to Belisarius, but +also by egotism. I _must_ have Belisarius for a comrade." + +"That is clear," said Antonina, much pleased. + +"But Justinian is not to be persuaded to appoint him. Still more, he +again suspects him, and indeed more than ever." + +"But, by all the saints! wherefore?" + +"Belisarius is innocent; but he is very imprudent. For months he +has received secret letters, notes, and warnings--stuck into his +bathing-robe, or thrown into his garden--which invite him to take part +in a conspiracy." + +"Heavens! You know of this?" stammered Antonina. + +"Unfortunately not I only, but also others--the Emperor himself!" + +"But the conspiracy is not against the Emperor's life or throne," said +Antonina apologetically. + +"No; only against his free will. 'War with the Goths.'--'Belisarius +commander-in-chief.'--'It is shameful to serve an ungrateful +master.'--'Force the Emperor to his own advantage.' Such and similar +things do these papers contain, do they not? Well, Belisarius has +certainly not accepted; but, imprudently, he did not at once speak of +these invitations to the Emperor, and this oversight may cost him his +head!" + +"Oh, holy saints!" cried Antonina, wringing her hands. "He omitted to +do so at my request, by my advice. Procopius advised him to tell all to +the Emperor. But I--I feared Justinian's mistrust, which might have +discovered the semblance of guilt in the mere fact that such papers had +been sent to Belisarius." + +"It was not that alone, I think," said Cethegus cautiously, when he had +looked round to see if any could hear, "which impelled you to give such +advice, taken, of course, by Belisarius." + +"What else? What can you mean?" asked Antonina in a low voice. + +But she blushed up to the roots of her hair. + +"You knew that good friends of yours were concerned in the conspiracy; +you wished first to warn them before the plot was betrayed." + +"Yes," she stammered. "Photius, the freedman----" + +"And yet another," whispered Cethegus, "who, scarcely freed from +Theodora's gilded prison, would only exchange it for the vaults of the +Bosphorus." + +Antonina covered her face with her hands. + +"I know all, Antonina--the slight fault of former days, the good +resolutions of a later time. But in this case your old inclination has +ensnared you. Instead of thinking only of Belisarius, you thought also +of his welfare. And if Belisarius now falls, whose is the guilt?" + +"Oh! be silent! have pity!" cried Antonina. + +"Do not despair," continued Cethegus. "You have still a strong prop, +one who will be your advocate with the Emperor. Even if banishment be +threatened, the prayers of your friend Theodora will prevent the +worst." + +"The Empress!" cried Antonina, in terror. "Oh, how she will +misrepresent! She has sworn our undoing!" + +"That is bad," said Cethegus--"very bad! For the Empress also knows of +the conspiracy, and of the invitations to Belisarius. And you know that +a much less crime than that of being invited to join a conspiracy is +sufficient----" + +"The Empress knows of it! Then we are lost! Oh! you who know how to +find a means of escape when no other eye can see it--help I save us!" + +And Antonina sank at the Prefect's feet. + +A lamentable howl issued from the corner of the room. The leopard +trembled with renewed fear. The Prefect cast a rapid glance at his +beaten adversary, and then gently raised the kneeling woman. + +"Do not despair, Antonina. Yes; there is a way to save Belisarius--but +only one." + +"Must he tell _now_ what has happened? As soon as he returns?" + +"For that it is too late; and it would be too little. He would not be +believed; mere words would not prove that he was in earnest. No; he +must prove his fidelity by deeds. He must seize all the conspirators +together, and deliver them into the Emperor's power." + +"How can he seize them all together?" + +"They themselves have invited him. To-night they assemble in the house +of Photius, his freedman. He must consent to put himself at their head. +He must go to the meeting, and take them all prisoners. Anicius," he +added, "has been warned already by the Empress. I have seen him." + +"Alas! But if he must die, it is to save Belisarius. My husband must do +as you say; I see that it is the only way. And it is a bold and +dangerous step; it will allure him." + +"Do you think he will sacrifice his freedman?" + +"We have warned the fool again and again. What matters Photius when +Belisarius is in danger! If ever I have had any power over my husband, +I shall prevail to-day. Procopius has often advised him to give such a +brutal--as he called it--proof of his fidelity. I will remind him of +it. You may be sure that he will follow our united counsel." + + +"'Tis well. He must be there before midnight. When the watchman on the +walls calls the hour, I shall break into the hall. And it is better, so +that Belisarius may be quite safe, that he only enter the meeting when +he sees my Moor Syphax in the niche before the house behind the statue +of Petrus. He may also place a few of his guards in front of the house. +In case of need, they can protect him, and bear witness in his favour. +He is not capable of much feigning; he must only join the meeting +shortly before midnight; thus he will have no need to speak. Our guards +will wait in the Grove of Constantinus, at the back of Photius's house. +At midnight--the trumpet sounds when the guard is relieved, and you +know that it can be distinctly heard--we shall break in. Belisarius, +therefore, need not undertake the dangerous task of giving a signal." + +"And you--you will be sure to be there?" + +"I shall not fail. Farewell, Antonina." + +And, suddenly stepping backwards, his face still turned towards the +leopard, his dagger pointed, he had gained the exit. + +The leopard had waited for this moment; he moved slightly in his +corner, rising slowly. + +But as he reached the curtain, Cethegus once again raised his dagger +and threatened him. + +"Down, Dareios! the irons are hot!" + +And he was gone. + +The leopard laid his head upon the mosaic floor and uttered a howl of +impotent fury. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The power and glory of Totila were now at their height. His happiness +was completed by his union with Valeria. + +The betrothal had just taken place in the church of St. Peter, and was +solemnised by Cassiodorus, assisted by Julius, now a Catholic priest, +and also by an Arian minister. When Cassiodorus had betrothed the +daughter of his old friend to the King, and they had exchanged rings, +the royal couple were led in solemn procession over the Janiculum +towards the right bank of the river, and across the Theodosian and +Valentinian Bridges, which were decorated with triumphal arches. +Following the course of the river, the procession entered a villa +situated on an eminence overlooking the river and the campagna, and the +betrothed couple took their places under a magnificent baldachin in the +great hall. + +There, before the assembled national army, under the golden shield of +the King, which was hung upon his spear, the Roman bride stepped into +the right shoe of her Gothic bridegroom, while he laid his mailed right +hand upon her head, which was covered with a transparent veil. + +Thus the betrothal was completed according to ecclesiastical, Roman, +and Germanic custom. + +This ceremony over, Totila and Valeria took their seats at the centre +table upon the terrace of the villa; Valeria surrounded by noble Roman +and Gothic women, Totila by the dukes and earls of his army. + +Grecian and Roman flute-players played and sang alternately; Roman +dances followed the sword-dance of the Gothic youths. Presently, +dressed in a long, white festive garment, the hem embroidered in gold, +and a wreath of laurel and oak-leaves upon his head, Adalgoth stood +forth in front of the royal pair, cast an inquiring look at his teacher +in war and song. Earl Teja, who sat on the King's right hand, and, to +the accompaniment of his harp, sang in a clear voice: + + "Hear, all ye people, far and near, + Hear, Byzant', to thy dole: + The Gothic King, good Totila, + Thrones on the Capitol/ + + "No more is Belisarius' name + In Rome with honour decked: + Of Orcus, and no more of Rome + Cethegus is Prefect. + + "Of what leaves shall we weave the crown + For good King Totila? + Like sweetest rose upon his breast + Blooms sweet Valeria. + + "Peace, freedom, right, and law protect + His shield, his star, his sword: + _Olive_, thy peaceful spray now give, + Give for the peaceful Lord! + + "Who carried terror and revenge? + Who bore the Grecians down? + Come, _laurel_, leaf of victory, + Make rich my hero's crown! + + "But his victorious strength grew not + From Roma's mouldering ground: + With leaves of young Germanic _oak_ + Let his young head be crowned. + + "Hear, all ye people, far and near, + Hear, Byzant', to thy dole: + The Gothic King, young Totila, + Thrones on the Capitol." + +A burst of applause rewarded his song, during which a Roman youth and a +Gothic maiden, kneeling before Totila and Valeria, offered each a crown +of roses, laurels, olive-leaves and oak-leaves. + +"_Our_ songs are also not quite without sweetness, Valeria," said +Totila with a smile, "and not without strength and truth. I owe my life +to this youthful minstrel." And he laid his hand upon Adalgoth's head. +"He struck thy countryman Piso, his colleague in the art of song, most +roughly upon his clever scanning fingers--as a punishment for having +written many a verse to my Valeria and raised the deadly steel against +me with one and the same hand!" + +"There is one thing that I would rather have heard, my Adalgoth," Teja +said to the boy in a low voice, "than your song of praise." + +"What is that, my Earl of harp and sword?" + +"The death-cry of the Prefect, whom thou hast only sent to hell in thy +verse." + +But Adalgoth was called away down the steps by a crowd of Gothic +warriors, who would not part with him for a long time; for his song +pleased the Gothic heroes who had fought with Totila much better than +it will perhaps please you, my reader. + +Duke Guntharis embraced and kissed Adalgoth and said, as he drew him +aside: + +"My young hero! What a resemblance! Whenever I see thee my first +thought is: Alaric!" + +"Why, that is my battle-cry!" said Adalgoth, and, engaged in +conversation, they disappeared amid the crowd. + +At the same time the King looked back at the vestibule of the villa, +for the performance of the flute-players stationed there was suddenly +interrupted. + +He quickly perceived the cause and started from his seat with a cry of +astonishment. + +For between the two centre and flower-wreathed columns of the entrance +stood a form which seemed scarcely human. A maiden of wondrous beauty, +clad in a pure white garment, holding a staff in her hand, and with a +wreath of star-like flowers upon her head. + +"Ah! what is that? Lives this charming figure?" the King asked. + +And all the guests followed the direction of the King's eyes and the +movement of his hand with equal wonder, for the small opening left +between the pillars by the masses of flowers was filled up by a more +lovely form than their eyes had ever beheld. + +The child, or girl, had fastened her shining white linen tunic upon her +left shoulder with a large sapphire clasp; her broad golden girdle was +set with a row of sapphires. The long and pointed sleeves of her dress +fell from her shoulders like two white wings. Wreaths of ivy were +twined about her whole figure; in her right hand, which rested on her +bosom, she held a shepherd's staff, wreathed with flowers; her left +hand carried a beautiful crown of wild-flowers and was laid upon the +head of a large shaggy dog, whose neck was likewise surrounded with a +wreath. + +The girl looked without fear, but thoughtfully and examiningly, at the +brilliant assembly. For a while the guests stared and waited, and the +maiden stood motionless. Then the King left his seat, went towards her, +and said with a smile: + +"Welcome to our feast, if thou art an earthly being. But if--which I +almost believe--thou art the lovely Queen of the Elves--why then, be +welcome too! We will place a throne for thee high above the King's +seat." And with a graceful action he opened both his arms, inviting her +to approach. + +With a light and gentle step the maiden crossed the threshold of the +vestibule and, blushing, replied: + +"What sweet folly speakest thou, O King! I am no queen. I am Gotho, the +shepherdess. But thou--I see it more by thy clear brow than by thy +diadem--thou art Totila, the King of the Goths, whom they call the +'King of joy.' I have brought flowers for thee and thy lovely bride. I +heard that this feast was to celebrate a betrothal. Gotho has nothing +else to give. I plucked and twined these flowers as I came through the +last meadow. And now, O King, protector of the orphan's right, hear and +help me!" + +The King again took his place near Valeria. The maiden stood between +them. Valeria took one of her hands; the King laid his hand upon her +head, and said: + +"I swear to protect thee and thy rights by thine own lovely head. Who +art thou, and what is thy desire?" + +"Sire, I am the grand-child and child of peasants. I have grown up in +solitude amid the flowers of the Iffinger mountain. I had nothing dear +to me on earth except my brother. He left me to seek thee. And when my +grandfather felt that he was dying, he sent me to thee to find my +brother and the solution of my fate. And he gave me old Hunibad from +Teriolis as a companion and protector. But Hunibad's wounds were not +fully healed and soon re-opened, and he was obliged to stay sick at +Verona. And I had to nurse him for a long time, until at last he died +too. And then I went alone, accompanied only by my faithful dog Brun, +across all this wide hot country, until at last I found the city of +Rome and thee. But thou keepest good order, O King, in thy land--thou +deservest all praise. Thy high-roads are watched day and night by +soldiers and horsemen. And they were friendly and good to the lonely +wandering child. They sent me to the houses of good Goths at nightfall, +where the housewife cherished me. And it is said that the law is so +well obeyed in thy realm, that a golden bracelet might be laid upon the +high-road, and would be found again after many many nights. In one +town, Mantua, I think it was called, just as I was crossing the +market-place, there was a great press, and the people ran together. And +thy soldiers led forth a Roman to die there, and cried: 'Marcus +Massurius must die the death, at the King's command. The King set him, +a prisoner of war, free, and the insolent Roman ravished a Jewish girl. +Sang Totila has renewed the law of the great Theodoric.' And they +struck off his head in the open market-place, and all the people were +terrified at King Totila's justice. Now, my faithful Brun, thou mayest +rest here; here no one will hurt thee. I have even ornamented _his_ +neck with flowers to-day, in honour of thee and thy bride." + +She slightly struck the powerful dog on the head; he immediately went +up to the King's throne, and laid his left fore-foot confidingly upon +the King's knee. And the King gave him water to drink out of a flat, +golden dish. + +"For golden fidelity a golden dish," he said. "But who is thy brother?" + +"Well," the girl answered thoughtfully, "from what Hunibad told me +during the journey and upon his sick-bed, I think that the name my +brother bears is not his real one. But he is easy to be known," she +added, blushing. "His locks are golden-brown; his eyes are blue as +these shining stones; his voice is as clear as the note of the lark; +and when he plays his harp, he looks up as if he saw the heavens open." + +"Adalgoth!" cried the King. + +"Adalgoth!" repeated all the guests. + +The boy--he had heard the loud shout of his name--flew up the steps. + +"My Gotho!" he exclaimed in a jubilant voice, and locked her in a +tender embrace. + +"Those two belong to each other," said Duke Guntharis, who had followed +the youth. + +"Like the dawn and the rising sun," added Teja. + +"But now," said the girl, as she quietly withdrew from Adalgoth's arms, +"let me fulfil my errand and the behest of my dying grandfather. Here, +O King, take this roll and read it. In it is contained the fate of +Adalgoth and Gotho; the past and the present, said our grandfather." + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +The King broke the seals and read: + +"'This is written by Hildegisel, the son of Hildemuth, whom they call +"the long;" once priest, now castellan at Teriolis. Written at the +dictation of old Iffa; and it is all written down faithfully. Lo!--now +it begins! The Latin is not always as good as that sung in the +churches. But thou, O King, wilt understand it. For where it is bad +Latin it is good Gothic. Lo!--now it really begins. Thus speaks the old +man Iffa: My Lord and King Totila; the roll which is wrapped in this +cover is the writing of the man Wargs, who, however, was neither my +son, nor was his name Wargs--but his name was Alaric, and he was a +Balthe, the banished Duke of----'" + +A ay of astonishment from all present interrupted the King. He paused. +But Duke Guntharis cried: + +"Then Adalgoth, who calls himself the son of Wargs, is the son of +Alaric! whom he himself, in his office of herald, has often, riding +through the town on a white horse, loudly summoned to appear. And never +saw I a greater resemblance than that between the father Alaric and the +son Adalgoth." + +"Hail to the Duke of Apulia!" cried Totila, with a smile, as he +embraced the boy. + +But, speechless with excitement, Gotho sank upon her knees, her eyes +filled with tears, and, looking up at Adalgoth, she sighed: + +"Then thou art not my brother! O God!--Hail, Duke of Apulia! Farewell! +farewell for ever!" and she rose to her feet and turned to go. + +"Not my sister!" cried Adalgoth. "That is the best thing which this +dukedom brings me! Stop there!" and he caught Gotho in his arms, +pressed her to his bosom, and kissed her heartily. Then he led her +up to the King, saying, "Now, King Totila, unite us! Here is my +bride--here is my duchess!" + +And Totila, who had meanwhile cast a rapid glance over the two +documents, answered smiling: + +"In this case I do not need the wisdom of Solomon. Young Duke of +Apulia, thus I betroth thee to thy bride." And he laid the laughing, +weeping girl in Adalgoth's arms. + +Then he turned to the assembled Goths, and said: + +"Permit me shortly to explain to you what this writing--the Latin of +which is rather rude, for Hildegisel was cleverer with the sword than +the pen--contains. Here is, besides, Duke Alaric's declaration of his +innocence." + +"That has already been proved by his son," cried Duke Guntharis. "And I +never believed in his guilt." + +"Duke Alaric," continued the King, "discovered his secret accuser too +late. Our Adalgoth, as you know, brought his innocence to light, when +he found the hidden documents in the broken statue of Cæsar. Cethegus +the Prefect had kept a sort of diary in a secret cypher. But +Cassiodorus, with grief and amazement, deciphered the writing, and +found an entry at the commencement of the book, written about twelve +years ago, which ran thus: 'Duke Alaric condemned. That he was +innocent, is now only believed by himself and his accuser. He who +injures Cethegus shall not live. At the time when I woke from a +death-like swoon on the banks of the Tiber, I swore to be revenged. I +made a vow and it is now fulfilled.' The cause of this hatred is still +a secret. But it is connected in some way with our friend Julius +Montanus. Where is he?" + +"He has already returned to St. Peter's with Cassiodorus," answered +Earl Teja; "excuse them. Every day at this hour they pray for peace +with Byzantium. And Julius," he added with a bitter smile, "prays also +for the Prefect's soul." + +"King Theodoric," said the King, "was hardly to be persuaded of the +guilt of the brave duke, with whom he was on terms of intimate +friendship." + +"Yes," observed Duke Guntharis, "he once gave him a broad gold bracelet +with a runic device." + +The King now resumed his reading of the papers: + +"'I took a bracelet given me by King Theodoric'--these are the words of +the duke--'when I fled with my child. Broken in two just in the centre +of the runic inscription. It will one day serve to prove the honourable +birth of my son.'" + +"He bears the proof on his face," cried Duke Guntharis. + +"But the golden proof is also not wanting!" exclaimed Adalgoth: "at +least old Iffa gave me a broken bracelet. Here it is," and he took out +the half of a broken bracelet, which he carried tied to a ribbon round +his neck; "I have never been able to explain the sense of these words: + + "'The Amelung-- + The eagle-- + In need-- + The friend--'" + +"Thou hast not the other half," said Gotho, and took the second half of +the bracelet from her bosom. "See, here is written: + + "'--to the Balthe, + --to the falcon, + --and death, + --to the friend.'" + +And now Teja, holding the two halves together, read: + + "'The Amelung to the Balthe, + The eagle to the falcon, + In need and death, + The friend to the friend.'" + +But the King continued to read from the roll: + +"'King Theodoric could no longer protect me when letters were laid +before him, in which my handwriting was so excellently imitated that I +myself, on being shown a harmless sentence which had been cut out, +acknowledged without hesitation that I had written it. Then the judges +fitted the piece into the parchment and read the whole to me. That +letter purported to be written to the court of Byzantium, with the +promise that the writer would murder the King and evacuate South Italy, +if the Emperor would acknowledge him as King of North Italy. And the +judges condemned me. As I was led away from the hall, I met my old +friend Cethegus Cæsarius in the passage. I had some time before +succeeded in persuading a girl with whom he was in love to leave him +and marry a good friend of mine in Gaul. Cethegus forced his way +through my guards, struck me lightly on the shoulder and said, "He from +whom his love has been torn, comforts himself with revenge;" and his +eyes told me that he, and no other, had been my secret accuser. As a +last favour, the King procured me the means of escape. But I and all my +house were outlawed. For a long time I wandered restlessly in the +northern mountains, until I recollected that some old and faithful +adherents of my house were settled upon the Iffinger mountain. Thither +I went with my boy, taking with me a few hereditary jewels, and my +faithful friends received me and my son, and hid me under the name of +Wargs--the banished--and gave out that I was the son of old Iffa, +sending away all untrustworthy servants who might have betrayed me. +Thus I lived in secret for some years. I educate my son to be my +avenger on Cethegus the traitor, and when I die, old Iffa will continue +this education. I hope the day will come when my innocence will be +proved. But if it delays too long, my son, when he can wield the sword, +shall leave the Iffinger and go to Italy, and revenge his father upon +Cethegus Cæsarius. That is my last word to my son.'--'But,'" the King +now read from a second paper, "'soon after the Duke had written this, a +great landslip buried him, together with some of my relations. And I, +Iffa, have brought up the boy as my grandchild and Gotho's brother, for +the ban had not been taken off the family of Duke Alaric, and I did not +wish to expose the boy to the revenge of that devil, Cethegus. And that +it might not be possible for the boy to betray anything about his +dangerous parentage, I never told him of it. But when he was grown up, +and I heard that there reigned in the Roman citadel a mild and just +King, who had conquered the devilish Prefect as the God of Morning +conquers the Giant of the Night, I sent young Adalgoth away, and told +him that, according to his father's command, he must revenge the noble +chief and patron of our family upon Cethegus the traitor. But I did not +even then tell him that he was Alaric's son, for I feared the ban. So +long as his father's innocence was unproved, his father's name could +only injure him. And I sent him away in great haste, for I discovered +that the belief in his brotherly relation to my grandchild, Gotho, had +not prevented him from loving her in a very unbrotherly manner. I might +have told him that Gotho was not his sister. But far be it from me that +I should dishonestly try to unite the noble scion of my old master and +patron with my blood, the simple shepherd's child. No, if justice still +exists upon earth, he will soon take his place as Duke of Apulia, like +his father before him. And as I fear that I may die before he sends me +word of the Prefect's ruin, I have begged the long Hildegisel to write +all this down.' (And I, Hildegisel, have received for the writing +twenty pounds of the best cheese, and twelve jars of honey, which I +thankfully acknowledge, and all of which was good.) 'And with, these +writings, and with the blue stones and fine garments and golden solidi +from the inheritance of the Balthes, I send my child Gotho to King +Totila the Just, to whom she must reveal everything. He will take the +ban away from the innocent son of the guiltless duke. And when Adalgoth +knows that he is the heir of the Balthes, and that Gotho is not his +sister--then he may freely choose or shun the shepherdess; but this he +must know, that the race of the Iffingers was never a race of vassals, +but free from the very beginning, although under the protection of the +House of Balthe. + +"'And now. King Totila, decide the fate of my grandchild and +Adalgoth.'" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +"Well," laughed the King, "thou hast spared me the trouble, Duke of +Apulia!" + +"And the little duchess," added Valeria, "has, as if she had foreseen +what was coming, already adorned herself like a bride." + +"In honour of _you_," said the shepherdess. "When I heard of this feast +as I entered the gates of Roma, I opened my bundle, as my grandfather +had bidden me, and put on my ornaments." + +"Our betrothal," said Adalgoth to his bride, "has fallen upon the day +of the King's betrothal; shall our wedding take place also on the +wedding-day of the royal pair?" + +"No, no!" interrupted Valeria hastily, almost anxiously. "Add no other +to a vow which is yet unfulfilled! You children of Fortune, be wise. +You have to-day found each other. Keep to-day fast, for to-morrow +belongs to the unknown!" + +"Thou speakest truth!" cried Adalgoth. "Even today shall be our +wedding!" and he lifted Gotho upon his left arm, and showed her to all +the people. "Look here, ye good Goths! This is my little wife and +duchess!" + +"With your favour!" said a modest voice. "When so much sunshine falls +upon the summits and heights of the nation, the lower vegetation would +also gladly share some of its warmth." + +A homely-looking man approached the King, leading a pretty girl by the +hand. + +"Is it thou, brave Wachis?" cried Earl Teja, going up to him. "And no +longer a bond-servant, but with the long hair of a freedman?" + +"Yes, sir. My poor master. King Witichis, gave me my liberty when he +sent me away with Mistress Rauthgundis and Wallada. Since then I have +let my hair grow. And my mistress--I know it for a fact--was about to +free Liuta, so that we might be married according to the law of the +nation; but, alas, my mistress never returned to her home at Fæsulæ. +But I returned just at the right moment to save Liuta, for the very +next day the Saracens burnt the house and murdered all whom they found. +After Mistress Rauthgundis's death--leaving no one to claim the +inheritance, for a storm had buried her father Athalwin under an +avalanche--Liuta became the King's property; and therefore I would beg +the King to take me again as a bond-servant, so that we may not be +punished if we marry, and----" + +"Wachis, thou art indeed faithful!" cried Totila, interrupting him. +"No! thou shalt contract a free marriage! Give me a gold-piece." + +"Here, King Totila," said Gotho, eagerly taking one from her shepherd's +bag; "it is the last of six." + +The King took the gold, laid it upon Liuta's open palm, and then struck +her hand from below, so that the gold-piece flew up into the air, and +fell ringing upon the mosaic pavement. + +Then the King said: + +"Liuta, thou art free! No bonds hold thee. Go in peace and rejoice with +thy bridegroom." + +Earl Teja now came forward and said: + +"Wachis, once before thou hast borne the shield of a luckless master. +Wilt thou now become my shield-bearer?" + +With tears in his eyes, Wachis clasped the hand of the Earl in both his +own. + +And now Teja lifted his golden goblet and solemnly said: + + "Fortune befall you! + Already shines on you + The shimmering sunshine: + Yet thankfully think + Of the Dear and the Dead + With reverent remembrance! + He who strove unsuccessful, + The world-renowned warrior: + Witichis, Waltharis' worthiest son! + Though you celebrate cheerily + The feast of the fairest, + The Deity's darlings, + Yet honour for ever + The memory mournful + Of the Great and the Good! + I remind you, O revellers, + To drink to the dear ones; + To the manliest man, + And the worthiest woman; + To Rauthgundis and Witichis, + Deploring, I drink!" + +And all solemnly and silently returned his pledge. + +Then King Totila once more raised his cup and said before all the +people: + +"_He_ deserved! _I_ received! To him be eternal honour!" + +As he resumed his place--the other two betrothed couples had been +seated at the King's table--Earl Thorismuth, of Thurii (he had been +rewarded for his valour by the title of Earl, but, at his own request, +had retained his office of herald and shield-hearer), ascended the +steps, and lowered his herald's staff before the King, saying: + +"I come to announce strangers, O King of the Goths! Guests who have +sailed here from afar. The large fleet, of about a hundred ships, which +was reported by thy coast-guards and from the harbour-towns, has now +run into the harbour of Portus. It has brought northern people, an old, +brave, and seafaring folk, from the land of farthest Thule. Their +dragon-ships have lofty decks, and their monstrous figure-heads terrify +the beholder. But they come to thee in peace. Yesterday the flag-ship +lowered its boats, and our noble guests have sailed up the river. I +challenged them, and received the answer: 'King Harald of Goetaland, +and Haralda (his wife, as it seems), wish to greet King Totila.'" + +"Lead them to us! Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth. Earl Teja, Earl +Wisand, and Earl Grippa, go to meet and accompany them here." + +Presently, to the sound of strange and twisted horns made of shells, +and surrounded by twenty of their sailors and heroes clad in close +coats of mail, there appeared on the terrace two figures which far +overtopped even the slender Totila and his table companions. + +King Harald bore upon his helmet the two wings--each several feet +long--of the black sea-eagle. The tail-feathers of the same bird +floated from his iron crest. Down his back fell the skin of a monstrous +black bear, the jaws and fore-paws of which hung from broad iron rings +upon his breast-plate. His coat, woven of iron wire, reached to the +knee, and was confined round the hips by a broad belt of seal-skin, set +with shells. His arms and legs were bare, but at once adorned and +protected by broad golden bracelets. A short knife hung from a steel +chain at his belt. In his right hand he carried a long forked spear +like a harpoon. His thick, bright yellow hair fell like a mane low down +upon his shoulders. + +At his left hand stood--scarcely shorter by a finger's length--the +Walkyre-like form of his female companion. + +Upon her head she wore a golden open helmet, decorated with the small +wings of the silver-gull. Her bright red hair, which had a metallic +lustre, fell from beneath it in a long straight mass over the small +strip of white bearskin which covered her back--more an ornament than a +mantle--almost to her ankles. + +A closely-fitting mail, made of little scales of gold, betrayed the +incomparable figure of the Amazon, yielding to every movement of her +heaving bosom. Her under garment, which reached half-way between the +knee and ankle, was tastefully made of the white skin of the snow-hare. +Her arms were covered by sleeves made of rows of amber beads, which +glittered strangely in the evening rays of the southern sunshine. + +Upon her left shoulder was gravely perched one of the delicate white +falcons of Iceland. + +A small hatchet was stuck into her girdle. She carried over her +shoulder a long sweeping harp, surmounted with a swan's head and neck +of silver. + +The Roman populace--their eyes opened wide in wonder--pressed after +these singular figures, and even the Goths could not but admire the +wondrously fair complexion and the singularly light and sparkling eyes +of these northerners. + +"As the black hero who received me," began the Viking, "assures me that +he is not the King, then no other can be he but thou," and he gave his +hand to Totila, first pulling off his fighting-glove of shark's skin. + +"Welcome to the Tiber, my cousins from Thuleland!" cried Totila, as he +raised his cup and pledged his guests. + +Seats were quickly prepared, and the royal visitors took their places +at the King's table; their followers at the table near them. Adalgoth +poured out wine from tall, two-handled jugs. + +King Harald drank, and looked wonderingly around. + +"By Asathor!" he cried; "but it is beautiful here!" + +"Such I imagine Walhalla to be!" said his companion. + +The Goths and the northerners could scarcely understand each other. + +"If it pleases thee so well, brother," Totila slowly said, "then rest +amongst us with thy wife for some time." + +"Ho-ho! Rome-King!" laughed the giantess, and tossed back her head so +suddenly, that the waves of her red hair shook. + +The falcon flew screaming up, and circled round her head three times. +It then quietly returned to her shoulder. + +"The man has not yet been born," continued the Amazon, "who could +conquer Haralda's heart and hand. Harald alone, my brother, can bend my +arm, and spring and hurl his spear farther than I." + +"Patience, my little sister! I trust that soon a man of marrow will +master thy coy maidenhood. This King here, although he looks as mild as +Baldur, yet resembles Sigurd, the vanquisher of Fafner. You shall vie +with each other in hurling the spear." + +Haralda cast a long look at the Gothic King, blushed, and pressed a +kiss upon her falcon's smooth head. + +But Totila said: + +"Evil befell, as the singers tell us, when Sigurd strove with the +Amazon. Rather let woman greet woman in peace. Give thy hand, Haralda, +to my bride." + +And he signed to Valeria, to whom Duke Guntharis had very imperfectly +translated what was said. + +Valeria rose with graceful dignity. She wore a long white Roman-Grecian +garment, which hung in soft folds, and was confined at the waist by a +golden girdle, and upon the shoulder with a cameo brooch. Bound her +nobly-shaped head was bound a branch of laurel, which Totila had taken +from Adalgoth's wreath to fasten into her black hair. Her beauty, and +the rhythm of her movements and the folds of her garments, seemed to +float around her like music. She silently held out her hand to her +northern sister. + +Haralda had cast a sharp and not very friendly look upon the Roman +girl; but admiration soon dispelled the angry surprise which had +overspread her countenance, and she said: + +"By Freia's necklace! thou art the most lovely woman I have ever +beheld. I doubt whether a Wish-girl of Walhalla could compare with +thee. Dost thou know, Harald, whom this Princess resembles? Ten nights +ago we laid waste an island in the blue Grecian sea, and plundered a +columned temple. There stood a tall, icy-cold woman, made of white +stone; upon her breast was the figure of a head surrounded with snakes; +at her feet the night-bird; she was clad in a garment of many folds. +Swen unfortunately broke her to pieces because of the jewels in her +eyes. The King's bride resembles that marble goddess." + +"I must translate what she has said to thee," said Totila, turning to +Valeria with a smile. "Thy poetical adorer, Pisa, could not have +flattered thee more delicately than this Bellona of the north. They +landed, so we were told, at Melos, and there broke the beautiful statue +of Athene, sculptured by Phidias. You have made great desolation, I +hear," he continued, turning to Harald, "in all the islands between +Cos, Chios, and Melos. What, then, has led you so peacefully to us?" + +"That I will tell thee, brother; but only after more drink." And he +held out his cup to Adalgoth. "No, do not spoil the splendid juice with +water! Water should be salt, so that no one could drink it unless he +were a shark or a walrus. Water is good to carry us upon its back, but +not to be carried in our stomachs. And this vine-beer of yours is a +wonderful drink. I am soon tired of our mead; it is like a tame sweet +dish. But this vine-mead! the more a man drinks, the thirstier he +becomes. And if one drank too much--which is scarcely possible--it is +not like the intoxication of ale or mead, which makes a man ready to +pray to Asathor to hammer an iron ring round his temples. No; the +intoxication of the vine is like the sweet madness of the Skalds--a man +feels like a god! So much for the vine! But now I will tell thee how it +was that we came here." + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +"Well," began King Harald, "our home is in Thuleland, as the Skalds +call it; in Goetaland, as we name it. For Thuleland is the land where +one does _not_ dwell; where only, still nearer to the ice-mountains, +_other_ people live. Our realm reaches, towards the rising of the sun, +to the sea and our island, Gothland; towards the setting of the sun, as +far as Hallin and the Skioldungahaff; towards midday, to Smaland, +Skone, and the kingdom of the Sea-Danes; towards midnight, to Svealand. +The King is my father, Frode, whom Odin loves. He is much wiser than I; +but he has now crowned me as Vi-king, upon the sacred-stone at +King-Sala, because he is already a hundred years old, and quite blind. +Now the minstrels in our halls still sing the legends which tell that +you Goths were originally our brothers, and that only by reason of the +wandering of the peoples have you gradually drawn nearer to the south; +for you followed the flight of the crane from the Caucasus, but we the +running of the wolf." + +"If that be so," said King Totila, smiling, "I prefer the crane for a +guide." + +"It may well seem so to thee, sitting here in this gay drinking-hall," +answered King Harald gravely. "But however that maybe--and I do not +quite believe it, for then we ought to understand each other's words +better--we truly and highly honour this our blood-relationship. For a +long time nothing but good news came from your warm realm to our cold +Gothaland--news of the highest fame. And once my father and your King +Thidrekr,[1] who is praised by the harp-songs of our Skalds, exchanged +envoys and gifts, through the agency of the Esthes, who live on the +Austrway. These men led our envoys to the Wends, on the Wyzla; these to +the Longobardians, on the Tisia; these to the Herulians, on the Dravus; +these through Savia to Salona and Ravenna." + +"Thou art a man learned in roads and countries," observed Totila. + +"That the Viking must be; for else he will never go forwards, and +likewise never get back. Well, for some time we only heard of your +glory and good fortune. But once and again there came bad news, brought +by merchants who bought our furs and eiderdown and amber, and took it +to the Frisians, and Saxons, and franks, giving us in exchange +artfully-formed vessels, and silver and gold. The news became sadder +and more sad; we heard that King Thidrekr had died, and that afterwards +great evils had broken out in your realm. We heard of defeat, +treachery, and of the murder of Kings; of Goths warring against Goths; +and of the might of the false Prince of Grêkaland. And it was said that +you had broken your heads by thousands against the high walls of your +own Roman citadel, which was held not by you, but by a man like +Asathor, and another man still worse than the fire-fiend Loki. And we +asked if none of the many Kings and Princes who had begged favours of +Thidrekr of Raven could have helped you. But at that the Frank +merchant, who offered us fine tissues from the Wahala, laughed and +said, 'Broken fortunes, broken faith! They have all forsaken the +luckless Gothic heroes, Visigoths and Burgundians, Herulians and +Thuringians, and most of all we Franks, for we are wiser than all.' +But, on hearing this. King Frode threw down his staff angrily, and +cried, 'Where is my strong son Harald?" 'Here, father,' I answered, and +took his hand. 'Hast thou heard,' my father continued, 'the news of the +faithlessness of the Southland Kings? Such things shall not be said or +sung of the men of Goetaland! If all others turn away from the Goths of +Gardarike and Raven, we will keep faith and help them in their need. +Up, my brave Harald, and thou, my bold Haralda! equip a hundred +dragon-ships, and fill them with men and weapons. Put your hands deeply +into my royal treasure at Kinsala, and do not spare the heaped-up +golden rings. And set forth with Odin's wind in your sails. Go first +from Konghalla, past the island Danes and the Jutlanders, towards the +setting of the sun; thence along the coasts of the Frisians and the +Franks, through the narrow path of the sea; then sail farther round the +realm of the Sueves to the mountain land that is called Asturia; and +round the land of the Visigoths bend towards the south. Then wind +through the narrow strait of the wide ocean, where Asathor and Odin +have set two pillars. + +"You will then have entered the sea of Midilgard, where lie innumerable +islands covered with evergreen bushes, out of which shine marble halls, +upheld by high, round stone-beams. Lay waste these islands, for they +belong to the false Prince of Grêkaland. And then sail to the Roman +citadel or to Raven, and help the people of King Thidrekr against their +enemies. And fight for them by land and water, and stand by them until +all their enemies are overcome. And then speak to them and say: Thus +advises King Frode, who will soon have seen a hundred winters, and who +has seen the rise and fall of many peoples, and who, as a young Viking, +has himself visited the Southland. This is his advice: 'Leave the +Southland, however beautiful it may be. You cannot endure therein. As +little as the iceberg can endure when it drifts into the southern sea. +The sun, air, and waves consume it continually, and be it ever so +mighty, it must melt away and leave not a trace behind. It is better to +live in the poor Northland than to die in the rich Southland. Go on +board our dragon-ships, and equip your own, and fill them with all your +people; men, women, and children; and with your oxen and horses, and +weapons and treasures; and leave the hot ground that will surely +swallow you up, and come away to us. We will press closely together and +make room, or take as much land from the Wends and Esthes as you need. +And you shall be preserved fresh and green. Down there the southern +sun withers and scorches you.' This is the advice of King Frode, whom +men have called the Wise for fifty years. Now as we passed into the sea +of Midilgard, we had already heard from seafarers that your troubles +had been put an end to by a new King, whom they described as looking +like the god Baldur; that you had re-won the Roman citadel and all the +land of Gardarike, and had even victoriously carried destruction into +part of Grêkaland itself. And now we see with our own eyes that you do +not need the aid of our weapons. You live in plenty and pleasure, and +everything is full of red gold and white stone. But still I must repeat +my father's words and advice; listen to him; he is wise! Until now, +every one who has despised King Frode's advice, has bitterly regretted +it." + +But Totila shook his head, smiled, and said: + +"We owe you and King Frode warm thanks for rare and noble faithfulness. +Such brotherly love from the Northern heroes shall never be forgotten +in the songs of the Goths. But, O King Harald, follow me and look about +you." + +And Totila rose and took his guest by the hand, and led him to the +entrance of the pavilion, casting back the hanging curtains. + +There lay river and land and city in the glowing light of the setting +sun. + +"Look at this land, wonderful in the beauty of its sky and soil and +art. Look at this Tiber-stream, covered by a happy, jubilant, and +handsome people. Look at these masses of laurel and myrtle. Cast thine +eyes upon the columned palaces, which shine across from Rome in the +evening rays; on the tall marble figures upon these terrace-steps--and +say thou, if all this were thine, wouldst thou ever leave it? Wouldst +thou exchange all this magnificence for the firs and pines of the +cold land of the north, where spring-time never blooms, for the +smoke-blackened wooden huts on the misty heaths?" + +"Aye, that I would, by Thorns hammer! This land is good to lay waste, +to luxuriate and win battles in; but that done, then up and away with +the booty! But you, Goths, are thrown here like drops of water upon hot +iron. And if ever we sons of Odin shall rule this land, it will be only +such of us as have a strong support in other sons of Odin. But you--you +have already become very different to us. Your grandfathers, your +fathers, and yourselves have wooed Roman women; in a few generations, +if this continue, you will be Romanised. Already you have become +smaller, and darker in skin, eyes, and hair. At least many of you. I +long to be away from this soft and sultry air, and to breathe the north +wind that rushes over our woods and waves. Yes, and I long for the +smoke-blackened halls of wood, where Gothic runes are burnt into the +roof-beams, and the harps of the Skalds hang on the wooden pillars, and +the sacred hearth-fire glows hospitably for ever! I long for our +Northland, for it is our home!" + +"Then permit us to love _our_ home: this land Italia!" + +"It will never be your home; but perhaps your grave. You are strangers +and will remain so. Or you will become Romanised. But there is no +abiding in the land possible for you as sons of Odin." + +"Let us at least try, my brother Harald," cried Totila, laughing. "Yes, +we have changed in the two centuries during which our people have lived +among the laurels. But are we the worse for it? Is it necessary to wear +a bearskin in order to be a hero? Is it necessary to rob gold and +marble statues in order to enjoy them? Can one be only either a +barbarian or a Roman? Can we not keep the virtues of the Germans and +lay aside their faults? Adopt the virtues of the Romans without their +vices?" + +But Harald shook his massive head. + +"I should rejoice at your success, but I do not believe in it. The +plant takes the nature of the soil and climate upon and under which it +lives. And, for my part, I should not at all like it, even if I and +mine could succeed. Our faults are dearer to me than the virtues of the +Italians--if they have any." + +Totila remembered the words with which he himself had answered Julius. + +"From the north comes all strength--the world belongs to the Northmen," +concluded Harald. + +"Tell it to them in the words of thy favourite song," said his sister. + +And she handed him her harp; and Harald played and sang an alliterative +measure, or _stabreim_, which Adalgoth, translating it into rhymed +verse, thus repeated to Valeria: + + "Thor stood at the midnight end of the world, + And the battle-axe flew from his hand. + 'As far as the battle-axe flies when hurled, + Is mine the sea and the land!' + And the hammer flew from his powerful hand + Like chaff by a hurricane blown: + And it fell in the farthest southern-land, + So that all became his own. + Since then 'tis German right and grace + With the hammer the lands to merit; + We come of the Hammer-God's noble race, + And his world-wide realm will inherit!" + +A burst of applause from his Gothic hearers rewarded the royal +minstrel, who looked as if he could well realise the proud boast of the +song. + +Harald once more emptied his deep golden cup. Then he rose and said: + +"Now, my little sister Haralda, and you, my sailor brothers, we must +break up. We must be on board the _Midgardschlange_ before the moon +shines upon her deck. What says the Wikinga-Balk?-- + + "'Ill sleeps the ship + When her pilot lies on shore.' + +"Long friendship--short parting; that is northern custom." + +Totila laid his hand upon his guest's arm. + +"Art thou in such haste? Fearest thou to become Romanised with us? Do +but remain; it does not come so quickly. And with thee would scarcely +happen." + +"There thou art right, Rome-King," laughed the giant; "and, by Thor's +hammer, I am proud of it! But we must go. We had three things to do +here. To help you in battle. You do not need us. Or do you? Shall we +wait until new wars break out?" + +"No," said Totila, with a smile; "we have peace and not new strife in +view. And if it should really once more come to a war--shall I prove +thee right, brother Harald, in thinking us Goths too weak to uphold our +rule alone? Have we not beaten our enemies without your help? Could we +not beat them again, we Goths alone?" + +"I thought as much," said the Viking. "Secondly, we came to fetch you +back to the Northland. You will not come. And, thirdly, to lay waste +the islands of the Emperor of Grêkaland. That is a merry sport, which +we have not sufficiently practised. Come with us, help us, and revenge +yourselves." + +"No; the word of a king is sacred. We have agreed to an armistice which +has still several months to run. And listen, friend Harald. Have a care +and do not mistake _our_ islands for those of the Emperor. It would +displease me if----" + +"No, no," laughed Harald, "fear nothing. We have already noticed that +thy harbours and coasts are excellently guarded. And here and there +thou hast erected high gallows, and affixed to them tablets inscribed +with Roman runes. Thy commodore at Panormus translated it to us: + + "'Sea-robbers drowned, + Land-robbers hanged; + That is the law + In Totila's land.' + +"And my sea-brothers have taken a great dislike to thy sticks and +tablets and runes. Farewell, then, Rome-King of the Goths! May thy +good-fortune endure! Farewell, lovely Queen of Night! Farewell, all you +heroes! we shall meet again in Walhalla, if not sooner." + +And after taking a short leave, the northerners walked away. + +Haralda threw her falcon into the air. + +"Fly before us, Snotr--on deck!" + +And the intelligent bird flew away, swift as an arrow, straight down +the river. + +The King and Valeria accompanied their guests halfway down the +staircase; there they exchanged the last greetings. The Amazon cast one +more rapid glance at Totila. + +Harald remarked it, and as they descended the last steps he whispered: + +"Little sister, it is on thy account that I left so quickly. Do not +grieve about this handsome King. Thou knowest that I have inherited +from our father the gift of recognising men who are fated to die. I +tell thee, death by the spear hovers over this King's sunny head. He +will not again see the changing of the moon." + +At this the strong and tender-hearted woman forced back the tears which +rose into her proud eyes. + +Duke Guntharis, Earl Teja, and Duke Adalgoth accompanied the Goths to +their boats on the Tiber, and waited until they had put off. + +Teja looked after them gravely. + +"Yes, King Frode is wise," he said. "But folly is often sweeter than +truth; and grander. Go back to the terrace without me, Duke Guntharis. +I see the King's despatch-boat coming up the river. I will wait and see +what news it brings." + +"I will wait with thee, my master," said Adalgoth, looking at Teja +anxiously. "Thy countenance is so terribly grave. What is the matter?" + +"I have a foreboding, my Adalgoth," answered Teja, putting his arm +round the youth's neck. "See how rapidly the sun sets. I shudder! Let +us go and meet the boat--it will land below there, where lie the +ancient marble columns." + +Totila and Valeria had returned to the pavilion. + +"Wert thou moved, my beloved," asked the Roman girl with emotion, "by +what that stranger said? It was--Guntharis and Teja explained it to +me--of very grave import." + +But Totila quickly raised his head. + +"No, Valeria, it did not move me! I have taken great Theodoric's great +work upon my shoulders. I will live and die for the dream of my youth, +for my kingdom! Come--where is Adalgoth, my cup-bearer? Come; let us +once more pledge a cup, Valeria--let us drink to the good fortune of +the Gothic kingdom!" + +And he lifted up his cup; but before he could put it to his lips, +Adalgoth, with a loud call, hurried up the steps followed by Teja. + +"King Totila," cried Adalgoth breathlessly, "prepare to hear terrible +news; collect thyself----" + +Totila set down his cup and asked, turning pale: + +"What has happened?" + +"Thy despatch-boat has brought news from Ancona. The Emperor has broken +the armistice--he has----" + +Teja had now drawn near. He was pale with fury. + +"Up, King Totila!" he cried. "Exchange the wreath for the helmet! Off +Senogallia, near Ancona, a Byzantine fleet suddenly attacked our +squadron which lay under the protection of the armistice. Our ships +no more exist. A powerful army of the enemy has landed. And the +commander-in-chief is--Cethegus the Prefect!" + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +In the camp of Cethegus the Prefect at Setinum, at the foot of the +Apennines, a few miles north of Taginæ, Lucius Licinius, who had just +arrived by sea from Epidamnus, was walking up and down, in eager +conversation with Syphax, before the tent of the commander-in-chief. + +"My master has been anxiously expecting you, tribune, for many days," +said the Moor; "he will be rejoiced to find you in the camp when he +returns. He has ridden out to reconnoitre." + +"Whither rode he?" + +"Towards Taginæ, with Piso and the other tribunes." + +"That is the next fortified town occupied by the Goths to the south, is +it not? But now, you wise Moor, tell me what happened last at +Byzantium? You know that your master sent me to levy forces among the +Longobardians, long before anything was decided. And as, after a +dangerous journey through the country of the Longobardians and Gepidæ, +I safely crossed the rapid Ister near Novæ into Justinian's kingdom, +and went to fetch the promised orders of the Prefect from my host at +Nicopolis, I only found a laconic command to meet him in Senogallia. I +was much astonished; for I scarcely dared to hope that he would ever +again, at the head of the imperial fleet and army, victoriously tread +the soil of Italy. From Senogallia I followed your march hither. The +few captains whom I have met in the camp told me briefly of the course +of events until shortly before the arrest of Belisarius. But they could +not tell me how that occurred, and what took place later. Now you----" + +"Yes, I know what happened almost as well as my master, for I was +present." + +"Is it possible? Can Belisarius really have conspired against the +Emperor? I could never have believed it!" + +Syphax smiled slyly. + +"I have no right to judge of that. I can only tell you exactly what +happened. Listen--but come into the tent and refresh yourself. My +master would scold me for letting you stand outside unattended to. And +we can talk more freely inside," he added, as he closed the curtains of +the tent behind him. Then begging his master's guest to be seated, he +served him with fruit and wine, and began his account. "As the night of +that fateful day fell, I went and hid myself in a niche of Photius's +house, behind the tall statue of some Christian saint, whose name I do +not know, but who had a famous broad back. I could easily look into the +hall of the house through an aperture just above my head, which had +been made to allow the passage of fresh air. The faint light within +enabled me to distinguish a number of the aristocrats whom I had often +seen in the imperial palace, and in the houses of Belisarius and +Procopius. The first thing that I understood--for my master has taken +care that I should learn the speech of the Greeks who call themselves +Romani--was what the master of the house was saying to a man who had +just then entered. 'Rejoice,' he said, 'for Belisarius comes. After +scarcely deigning to look at me yesterday when, full of expectation, I +stopped him in the gymnasium of Zenon, to-day he himself addressed me +as I was slowly and cautiously passing his house, for I knew that he +would return from the hunt towards evening. He pressed this waxen +tablet into my hand, first looking round to make sure that no one +observed him. And on the tablet is written: "I cannot longer withstand +your appeals. Certain reasons impel me to join you. I shall come this +evening." But,' continued the master of the house, 'where is Piso, +where is Salvius Julianus and the other young Romans?' 'They will not +be coming,' answered the man. 'I saw almost all of them in boats on the +Bosphorus. They have no doubt sailed to some feast at the Prefect's +villa, near the Gate of Constantine.' 'Let them go,' said Photius; 'we +do not need the brutal Latins, nor the proud and false Prefect. Verily, +Belisarius outweighs them all.' At that moment I saw Belisarius enter +the hall. He wore an ample mantle, which entirely hid his figure. The +master of the house hurried to meet him, and all present gathered +respectfully around him. 'Great Belisarius,' said his freedman, 'we +know how to value your compliance.' And he pressed upon Belisarius the +little ivory staff which is held by the head of the assembly, and led +him to the raised seat of the president, which he himself had just +vacated. 'Speak--command--act--we are ready,' said Photius. 'I shall +act at the right time,' answered Belisarius gloomily, and took his +seat. Just then young Anicius rushed into the room with tangled hair +and flying garments; a drawn sword in his hand. 'Fly!' he cried. 'We +are discovered and betrayed.' Belisarius rose. 'They have forced my +house,' continued Anicius. 'My slaves were taken prisoners. The weapons +which I had hidden were found, and your letters and documents, and, +alas, my own too, have disappeared from a hiding-place which was known +only to me! And still more--as I turned into the grove of Constantine, +I thought I heard the sound of whispering and the rattle of arms +amongst the bushes. I am followed--save yourselves!' The conspirators +rushed to the doors. Belisarius alone remained quietly standing before +his chair. 'Take heart!' cried Photius. 'Follow the example of your +hero-chief!' But the sound of a trumpet was heard from the great +house-door, the sign for me to leave my post and join my master, who +stormed into the house at the head of the imperial lance-bearers and +Golden Shields, with the Prefect of Byzantium, and the archon of the +palace-guard. My master looked splendid," continued Syphax +enthusiastically, "as, with a flaming torch in his left hand, a sword +in his right, and his crimson plume floating behind him, he rushed into +the hall; so looks the fire-demon when he issues from a blazing +mountain in Africa! I drew my sword and sprang to my master's left +side, for he carried no shield. He had ordered me to render young +Anicius harmless as soon as possible. 'Down with all who resist, in the +name of Justinian!' cried my master. His sword was dripping with blood, +for he had killed with his own hand the body-guards whom Belisarius had +placed at the entrance of the grove. 'Yield!' he cried to the +frightened crowd; 'and thou, archon of the palace, arrest _all_ the +conspirators. Do you understand--_all_!' 'Is it possible! Shameless +traitor!' cried Anicius, and rushed at my master with his sword. 'Yes,' +he cried, 'there is the crimson crest! Die, murderer of my brother!' +But the next moment he lay at our feet, severely wounded. I drew my +sword out of his breast, and then disarmed Photius, who was the only +one who still resisted. All the others allowed themselves to be taken +like sheep bewildered by a thunder-storm. 'Bravo, Syphax!' cried my +master. 'Examine his dress for any writings.' Then he turned to the +archon, asking him if he were ready, for he had stopped hesitatingly +opposite Belisarius, who remained perfectly quiet. 'What!' asked the +archon--'must I also arrest the magister militum?' '_All_, I said. 'Do +you no longer understand Greek? You see--all see--that Belisarius is at +the head of the conspiracy--he holds the president's staff, he occupies +the president's chair.' 'Ha!' now cried Belisarius; 'is it so! Guards! +Help, help, my body-guards! Marcellus, Barbatio, Ardaburius!" 'The dead +cannot hear, magister militum,' said my master. 'Yield, in the name of +the Emperor! Here is his great seal. For this night he has made me his +representative, and a thousand lances bristle round this house.' +'Fidelity is madness!' cried Belisarius, threw his sword away, and held +out his strong arms to the archon, who put on the chains. 'Into the +dungeons with all the prisoners,' said my master. 'Photius and +Belisarius must be put separately into the round tower of Anastasius, +in the palace. I will hasten to the Emperor and return his ring, and +take him this steel'--he lifted the sword of Belisarius from the +ground--'and tell him that he may sleep in peace. The conspiracy is +crushed--the Empire is saved!'--The very next morning the trial for +high treason was commenced. Many witnesses were heard--I amongst them. +I swore that I had seen Belisarius received and heard him greeted as +the head of the conspiracy. I myself had taken the tablet from the +dress of Photius. Belisarius would have appealed to the testimony of +his bodyguards, but they were all dead. Photius and other prisoners, +submitted to the rack, confessed that Belisarius had finally consented +to become the head of the conspiracy. Antonina was strictly guarded in +the Red House. The Empress refused to grant the interview for which she +passionately sued. It told strongly against both her and Belisarius +when spies of the Empress bore witness that they had seen young Anicius +steal by night into the house of Belisarius for weeks together. And it +shocked the judges that Anicius himself, Antonina and Belisarius, +continued obstinately to deny their guilt, although it was so fully +proved. Immediately after the arrest I was sent for by my master, to +tell Antonina that he had been most painfully surprised to find that +Belisarius was _really_ at the head of the conspiracy; and at the same +time to say that he had found not alone letters of hatred in the +cistern belonging to Anicius. As I said these words, which I did not +understand, the beautiful wife of Belisarius fell fainting to the +ground.--We left Byzantium before Belisarius was sentenced; but Photius +and most of the others were already condemned to death as we set sail +with the imperial fleet for Epidamnus, where my master's tribunes and +mercenaries, and the imperial forces originally intended for the +Persian wars, were awaiting us. For my master had been honoured with +the newly-created dignity of Magister Militum per Italium, and the +command of the 'first army.' The 'second army' was to be brought after +us by Prince Areobindos, when he had accomplished the easy task of +overpowering the small Gothic garrisons in the towns of Epirus and the +islands with a force five times their number." + +"What is said will be the punishment of Belisarius?" asked Lucius +Licinius. "I could never have believed that that man----" + +"The judge will certainly condemn him to death, for his guilt is clear. +But people speculate as to whether the Emperor's anger or his former +affection for the general will get the victory. Most of them think that +the Emperor will change the sentence of death into one of banishment +and loss of sight. My master says that Belisarius's senseless denial of +his guilt does him great harm. And he is also without the assistance of +his wise friend Procopius, who is absent in Asia. Cethegus managed the +embarkation of the troops to Epidamnus with such secrecy that the +stupid Goths, who, besides, reckoned upon the armistice, were +completely taken by surprise; and while the crews were sleeping on +shore, the scantily-guarded Gothic fleet was taken and destroyed. But +hark! here comes my master; he alone has such a proud step?" + +From Licinius Cethegus now learned that not only had he obtained a +promise from Alboin, the Longobardian chief, that he would come to the +help of Cethegus with twenty thousand men (a number which the latter, +always jealous, found almost too great), but that he had succeeded in +engaging other warlike troops of mercenaries. + +Cethegus, on his side, informed Lucius that, although he had been able +to relieve Ravenna, he had met with much hindrance on the part of his +own countrymen, who were slow to rise in revolt against the Goths; and +that only with the Byzantines under his command, it would be impossible +to beat Totila. He complained bitterly of the delay of Areobindos in +bringing up the "second army," and regretted that he had been unable to +reach Taginæ before Earl Teja, who had beaten the Saracens there posted +with great loss, and had taken up a strong position in the expectation +of being speedily joined by King Totila with the army. + +"And Taginæ is the key of the position," concluded Cethegus. "Earl Teja +must have flown from Rome on the wings of the wind! I have tried to-day +to ascertain the strength of his garrison, but I could not penetrate +beyond Capræ. The barbarian King is already on the march, and where, +oh! where tarries my 'second army?'" + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +The next day Totila reached Taginæ, accompanied by Valeria and Julius. +He had hastened forward to join Teja with a portion of his troops, +while Wisand and Guntharis reached him later with the main army. Only +after their arrival could any attack be made upon the very strong +position of the Prefect. + +Cethegus, too, attempted no assault, but while thus inactive, awaiting +his "second army," he once more, and in vain, endeavoured to regain the +lost affection of Julius. He went to Taginæ to meet him at a spot +between the outposts of the opposing forces. He tried all possible +means to induce him to return to his allegiance, even unveiling the +history of his past life. The mother of Julius had once been betrothed +to Cethegus, but her father had been persuaded by Duke Alaric to break +off the match, and to give her in marriage to a Gothic noble. On the +day of her wedding, Cethegus, mad with grief, had tried to carry her +off by force, but, overpowered by numbers, had been struck down, and +thrown, seemingly lifeless, on the banks of the Tiber. Many years +after, he had found Julius, a young boy, forsaken, with his dying +mother, in their villa on the banks of the Rhodus, which had been +sacked by bands of marauders. From that moment Cethegus had adopted the +son of his lost bride.--But in vain he now appealed to the gratitude of +his adopted son. Julius not only recoiled with horror from any further +connection with a man whose ruthless hands were stained with blood, but +his deepening religious feeling separated him entirely from the avowed +atheist. + +And, blow upon blow, Cethegus was disappointed in another matter. The +"second army" was at last reported as approaching. Syphax brought the +news; he had ridden night and day in order to reach the Prefect +before this army should arrive, for at its head was, not Areobindos, +but--_Narses_. + +Vexed and alarmed, Cethegus left his camp, and rode forward to meet +Narses, with whom he found Alboin, the Longobardian chief. Narses +received him with marked coolness, and at once explained to him that he +could suffer no rival in his camp; that Cethegus must either serve +under him as one of his generals, or remain inactive as his _guest_. +Clearly seeing that he must either submit or be a prisoner, Cethegus at +once affirmed that he considered it an honour to serve under Narses, +and together the generals reached a favourable position between +Helvillum and Taginæ. + +And a mighty army was that of Narses, with which he had advanced from +the north and east in terrible strides, driving before him the Goths +from position to position, making no prisoners, but inexorably +annihilating all who stood in his way. + +Totila had but a small force to oppose to these numbers, for his army +had been fearfully diminished; and now, when the Italians foresaw the +probable consequences of the renewed war, and that the Goths were being +slowly but surely overcome, they ceased to rally round Totila's flag, +and even, where they felt themselves safe, betrayed the hiding-places +of the Gothic people to the Byzantines. The persecuted Gothic families +fled, and sought protection in the camp of Totila, who, fearing the +famine sure to be caused by the accumulation of helpless masses, sent +them still farther south to those parts of the peninsula yet uninvaded +by Narses. + +Surrounded by his Earls, Totila now formed a plan by which he intended +to entice the centre of the army of Narses (which was held by the +Longobardians) into an ambush between Capræ and Taginæ. Reckoning upon +the headlong valour of the Longobardians, Totila determined to place +the full half of his troops in the town of Capræ, leaving the other +half in Taginæ. Totila himself, with his small troop of horsemen, would +advance beyond Capræ against the Longobardians; and at the moment of +attack, would turn, feigning a sudden panic; would gallop back through +the gates of Capræ (the troops there remaining concealed in the +houses), and thus draw on the Longobardians to pursue him into the +narrow road, between low hills, which lay between Capræ and Taginæ. At +this spot Totila would place in ambush a troop of Persian horsemen, +which had been unexpectedly brought to him by his old friend and rival, +Furius Ahalla, who had orders, when the Longobardians were fairly taken +in the trap, to issue from their ambush, and annihilate them. Totila +counted upon the fidelity of Ahalla, who was bound to him by strong +ties of gratitude in spite of the defeat he had suffered in his suit of +Valeria. This plan of Totila was highly approved of by Hildebrand, and +all the warriors who shared his counsels. + +The evening before the day of its execution all was in readiness. +Furius Ahalla and his horsemen were posted in the narrow road, the +"Flaminian Way." Earl Thorismuth himself went out to make sure that +they had punctually obeyed orders. When he returned to Totila's camp, +he brought word that Furius Ahalla begged Totila to delay his attack +and feigned flight on the morrow, until three hundred of his best men, +who had been delayed on the march, should have joined him; of which +event he would immediately apprise Totila outside the gates of Capræ. + +"Well," said Totila, smiling, "I will await the proper moment, and +meantime entertain the Longobardians by my feats of horsemanship. +To-morrow, Teja, God will decide the right. Thou sayest there is no God +but necessity. I say there is a living God--my victory to-morrow shall +prove it." + +"Stay," cried Julius, who was present, "ye shall not tempt the Lord!" + +"Seest thou," cried Teja, as he rose and took up his shield, "Julius +fears for his God!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +Brilliantly arose the sun on the next morning, casting its first beams +over the warlike movement in the Gothic camp. + +As the King issued from his dwelling in the marketplace of Taginæ, +Adalgoth, Thorismuth, and Phaza hurried to meet him with his milk-white +charger, sent, together with a magnificent suit of armour, by Valeria, +his bride. + +His arms rang as the King swung himself into the saddle. + +His grooms led up two other horses in reserve, one of which was Pluto, +the Prefect's restless and fiery charger. + +From Totila's shoulders flowed his long white mantle, held together at +the neck by a broad and heavy clasp set with precious stones. His +cuirass was of shining silver, richly inlaid with gold, the figure of a +flying swan upon the breast. The edges of the cuirass at the neck, +arms, and belt, were bound with red silk. Beneath it showed the coat of +white silk, reaching over the thighs. + +Broad gold bracelets and silvered gauntlets protected his arms and +hands; greaves his knees and the top of his feet. + +His narrow and gracefully-shaped shield was divided into three fields +of silver, gold, and crimson. On the golden field the figure of the +flying swan was wrought in white enamel. + +The caparison and reins of his horse were set with silver and +embroidered with red silk. + +In his right hand the King held a spear, to the point of which Valeria +had fastened four streamers of red and white riband; merrily they +fluttered in the morning breeze. + +Thus brilliantly arrayed, the King rode through the streets of Taginæ +at the head of his horsemen. Earl Thorismuth, Phaza, and Duke Adalgoth, +and also Julius, rode in his train. Julius carried no weapons, but he +bore a shield forged by Teja. + +Never had Totila shone in such beauty! The people greeted him upon his +way with shouts of joy. At the northern gate of Taginæ, Aligern came +riding towards him. + +"I thought that thy place was with the right wing," said the King. +"What brings thee here?" + +"My cousin Teja has ordered me to remain at thy side and guard thy +life." + +"My Teja is untiring in his care of me!" cried the King. + +Aligern joined the escort. + +Earl Thorismuth now undertook the command of the footmen who were +hidden in the houses of Taginæ. + +Outside the gate, the King rode to the front of his not very numerous +troop of horsemen, and disclosed his plan to the captains. + +"I entrust to you, comrades, the most difficult of all tasks--flight! +But the flight will be only seeming. What is true, is your courage and +the destruction of the foe." + +And now the small troop rode forward past the place of ambush on the +Flaminian Way, the King convincing himself that the Persian horsemen +were in readiness upon both the wooded heights. The ambush on the right +was commanded by Furius himself, that on the left by his chief, +Isdigerd. + +Totila now rode into Capræ through the southern gate, and admonished +the bowmen under Earl Wisand not to issue from the houses in which they +were concealed, until the Persian horsemen had fallen upon the +Longobardians from their ambush, but then immediately to sally out of +the southern gate, while at the same time the spear-bearers would +advance against the enemy from the northern gate of Taginæ. + +"Thus the Longobardians and such of Narses' foot who have pressed +forward between Capræ and Taginæ will be surrounded on all sides and +crushed. I and Thorismuth attack in front, Furius and Isdigerd on both +flanks, and Wisand in the rear. They will be lost!" + +"Does he not look like the sun-god?" Adalgoth delightedly asked Julius. + +"Peace! Make no idol of sun or man! Besides, to-day is the solstice!" +answered Julius. + +At length the King reached the northern gate of Capræ, left it open +behind him, and galloped out with his little troop upon the level land +between Capræ and Helvillum. + +Here Narses had placed his centre; foremost Alboin with his +Longobardians. Behind these, at a considerable distance, stood Narses +in his litter, surrounded by Cethegus, Liberius, Auzalas, and other +leaders. + +Narses had had a bad night, disturbed by slight fits. He was very weak, +and could not stand up for any length of time in his low and open +litter. + +He had strictly admonished Alboin not to advance to the attack without +special orders. + +King Totila gave a sign to his horsemen, and at a trot the thin line +advanced towards the far superior ranks of the Longobardians. + +"They surely will not shame us by attacking us with only a few lances?" +cried Alboin. + +But an attack did not seem to be the present object of the King. + +He had ridden far in advance of his men, who had suddenly halted, and +now attracted all eyes by his feats of horsemanship. + +The spectacle which he afforded was so wonderful in the eyes of the +Byzantines, that the witnesses related it in astonishment to Procopius, +who, himself amazed, has remitted it to us. + +"On this day," he writes, "King Totila evidently wished to show his +enemies what manner of man he was. His weapons and his horse shone with +gold. So many shining red streamers fluttered from the point of his +spear that this ornament alone announced the King from a distance. +Thus, mounted on a splendid charger, in the space between the two +armies, did he indulge in a skilful exercise of arms. Now he rode in a +circle; now he caracoled in semicircles to the right and left; now he +hurled his spear into the air, as he rode off at full gallop, and +caught it by the middle of the shaft as it fell quivering, first with +his right hand, and then with his left; and thus he showed to the +wondering troops his feats of horsemanship." + +After the battle, however, the Byzantines learned the true reason of +this merry sport. + +For a time Alboin looked on quietly. + +Then he said to a Longobardian chief who stood near him: + +"That fellow rides to the battle-field adorned like a bridegroom! What +costly armour! We do not see the like at home, Gisulf. And not to dare +to attack! Does Narses again sleep?" + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +At last a Persian horseman, making his way through the ranks of the +Goths, galloped up to the King, gave a message, and galloped back again +at full speed. + +"At last!" cried Totila. "Now enough of sport! Brave Alboin, son of +Audoin," he loudly cried across to the enemy's ranks, "wilt thou really +fight for the Greeks against us? Then come on, O King's son--it is a +King who calls thee?" + +Alboin could no longer restrain his impatience. + +"Mine must he be with armour and horse!" he shouted, and spurred +forward with his lance couched. + +Totila, with a gentle pressure of his thigh, brought his horse to a +sudden standstill. It seemed that he intended to stand the shock. + +Alboin came on at a furious gallop. + +Another slight pressure of Totila's thigh, a clever spring to one side, +and the Longobardian, who could not check his horse, rushed far past +his adversary. + +But the next moment Totila was at Alboin's back; he could easily have +bored him through with his spear. + +The Longobardians, seeing the danger of their chief, uttered loud cries +and hurried to his assistance. + +But Totila whirled his lance round, and contented himself with giving +his adversary such a thrust in the left side with the shaft end, that +Alboin fell headlong out of his saddle on the right side of his horse. +Totila quietly rode back to his troop, waving his spear over his head +in triumph. + +Alboin had remounted, and now led his troop against the thin ranks of +the Goths. + +But just before the shock of meeting, the King cried, "Fly! fly into +the town!" turned his horse's head, and galloped away towards Capræ. + +His horsemen followed him. + +For one moment Alboin halted in perplexity. But the next he cried: + +"It is nothing else; it is a pure flight! There they run into the gate! +Yes, feats of horsemanship are one thing, and fighting is another. +After them, my wolves! into the town!" + +And the Longobardians galloped forwards to Capræ, burst open the +northern gate--which had been closed, but not bolted, by the flying +Goths--and rushed through the long street towards the southern gate, +through which the last Goth was just disappearing. + +Narses had till now stood upright in his litter with difficulty, +observing all that passed. + +"Halt!" he angrily cried. "Halt! Blow the trumpets! Sound the retreat! +It is the most clumsy trap in the world! But this Alboin thinks that if +any one runs away from him, it must be in earnest!" + +But the trumpeters blew in vain. + +The cries of victory uttered by the pursuing Longobardians, drowned the +blast of the trumpets; or those that heard it disregarded it. + +Narses groaned as he saw the last ranks of the Longobardians disappear +into the Gate of Capræ. + +"Oh!" he sighed; "those blockheads oblige me to commit a folly with +open eyes. I cannot let them suffer for their stupidity as they +deserve. I still need them. Therefore, forward, in the name of +nonsense! Before we can overtake them, they may be already half +destroyed! Forward, Cethegus, Anzalas, and Liberius! Take the +Isaurians, Armenians, and Illyrians, and get into Capræ. But reflect +that the town _cannot_ be empty. It is a snare, into which we follow +those blind bulls with open eyes. I will come after in my litter; but I +can stand no more." + +And he sank back into his seat, terribly fatigued. A slight convulsion, +such as he often experienced when excited, shook his frame. + +The footmen of Cethegus and Liberius advanced towards the town at a +rapid march, the two leaders riding in front. + +Meanwhile pursued and pursuers had rushed through the little town, and +the last Longobardians had passed Capræ, while the first, with Alboin, +had reached that part of the Flaminian Way where the two hills bounded +and confined the road on the right and left. + +The King galloped forward another horse's length; then he halted, +turned, and gave a sign. + +Adalgoth, who rode at his side, blew his horn, and out of the northern +gate of Taginæ issued Thorismuth and his spear-bearers, while from the +double ambush on the hills the Persian horsemen of the Corsican burst +out with a yell and a blast of cornets. + +"Now wheel about, my Goths! Forward to the charge! Woe to the +befooled!" cried Totila. + +Alboin looked helplessly round. + +"We have never before trotted into anything so evil, my wolves!" he +said. + +He would have retreated, but now Gothic footmen issued likewise from +the southern gate of Capræ, blocking the way back. + +"There is nothing for it but to die merrily, Gisulf! Greet Rosimunda, +if thou escapest!" + +And he turned to meet one of the leaders of the Persian horsemen, who, +distinguished by a richly-gilded open helm, had now reached the road, +and was advancing straight upon him. + +As he came up to Alboin, he of the gilded helmet cried: + +"Turn, Longobardian! yonder stands our common foe! _Down with the +Goths!_" + +And he ran his sword through a Gothic horseman who was aiming a stroke +at Alboin. + +And now the Persian horsemen, galloping past the Longobardians, +attacked the horrified Goths. For a moment the latter halted, taken by +surprise. But when they saw that it was no mistake--that the ambush was +against _them_, and not against the Longobardians--they cried, +"Treachery, treachery! all is lost!" and, this time in unfeigned +flight, rushed back to Taginæ, carrying everything along with them, +even their own footmen, who were just issuing from the gate. + +Even the King changed countenance when he saw the Corsican strike at +the Goths at Alboin's side. + +"Yes, it is treachery!" he cried. "Ha! the tiger! Down with him!" + +And he rushed at the Corsican. But before he could reach him, Isdigerd +the Persian had stormed into the road from the left between the King +and Furius. + +"Aim at the King!" he cried to his men. "All spears at the King! There +he is, the white one! With the swan on his helmet! Down with him!" + +A hail of spears whistled through the air. In a moment the King's +shield bristled with darts. + +By this time the Corsican had recognised the tall and glittering figure +in the distance. + +"It is he! I will have his heart's blood!" + +And he forced his way through his own and Isdigerd's men. + +The two enraged adversaries were now separated only by a few feet. + +But Totila had turned against Isdigerd. Pierced in the neck by the +King's spear, the chief fell dead to the ground. + +And now Totila and Furius met. + +The Corsican aimed his spear full at the King's unprotected face. + +But suddenly the glittering helmet and the white mantle had +disappeared. + +Two spears had struck the white horse, and at the same time a third +pierced the King's shield and wounded his left arm severely. + +Horse and man fell. + +Isdigerd's Persians raised a wild cry of exultation and pressed +forward. + +Furius and Alboin spurred their horses. + +"Spare the King's life! take him prisoner! He spared me!" cried Alboin. + +For he had been greatly touched when Gisulf told him that he distinctly +saw the King change the point of his spear for the shaft. + +"No! Down with Totila!" cried Furius. + +And he hurled his spear at the wounded man, whom Aligern was trying to +lift upon the Prefect's horse and lead out of the fight. + +Julius caught the Corsican's first spear upon Teja's proven shield. + +Furius called for a second, and aimed at the press around the King; +Phaza, the Armenian, tried to parry the stroke and received the spear +in his heart. + +Then Furius, who had now spurred close up, raised his long and crooked +scimetar against the King. But before the stroke could fall the +Corsican fell backwards from his saddle. + +The young Duke of Apulia had thrust the staff of his banner with such +force against Ahalla's breast that the wood was shattered. + +And now Totila's banner--the costly work of Valeria and her women--was +in the greatest danger in Adalgoth's hands. For all the enemy's horse +pressed upon the bold young standard-bearer; a stroke of Gisulf's axe +struck the staff and broke it again--Adalgoth tore off the silken flag +and tucked it into his sword-belt. + +Alboin had now come up, and cried: + +"Yield, thou King of the Goths--to me, a King's son!" + +Aligern had just succeeded in lifting the King on to the Prefect's +horse; he turned to the Longobardian, who, wishing to stay the +King's flight but to save his life, aimed a stroke at the latter's +horse with his spear. But the next moment Aligern had cleft Alboin's +vulture-winged helmet, and, stunned, the latter wavered in his saddle. + +Thus, the leaders of their enemies being for the moment repulsed, +Adalgoth, Aligern, and Julius had time to lead the King out of the +tumult as far as the northern gate of Taginæ. From this place the King +would have conducted the battle, but he could scarcely hold himself +upright in his saddle. + +"Thorismuth," he said, "thou must defend Taginæ; for the present Capræ +is lost. Let a mounted messenger fetch the whole of Hildebrand's wing +here; the road to Rome must be kept open at all costs. Teja, as I +learned, has already joined in the battle with his left wing.--To +defend the retreat to the south--is our last hope!" + +And, saying this, he swooned away. + +But Earl Thorismuth said: + +"I and my spearmen will defend Taginæ to the last man. Not a foe shall +get in here; neither the Persians nor the Longobardians. I will protect +the King's life as long as I can raise a finger. Take him farther back; +into the mountain--into the cloister but make haste, for there, from +the Gate of Capræ, come the enemy's foot--and, look there!--Cethegus +the Prefect with his Isaurians! Capræ and our bowmen are lost!" + +And so it was. + +Wisand, obeying his orders, had not defended Capræ, but had allowed +Cethegus and Liberius to enter, and only when they were fairly inside +the town did he begin the fight in the streets, at the same time +sending a thousand of his men out of the southern gate to attack the +Longobardians. + +But, as the ambuscades had fallen upon the Goths instead of the +Longobardians; as Alboin and Furius united in dispersing or +annihilating the few Gothic horsemen, and the attack intended by the +spearmen from Taginæ did not take place; the Gothic bowmen, first in +Capræ itself, and then on the Flaminian Way, between Capræ and Taginæ, +were quickly crushed by superior force. + +Wisand escaped as if by a miracle, and, though wounded, reached Taginæ +and reported the annihilation of his troops. + +Narses was carried into Capræ, and the Illyrians began to storm Taginæ. +Earl Thorismuth resisted heroically. He fought his best in order to +cover the retreat of his comrades. + +He was presently reinforced by a few thousand men from Hildebrand's +left wing, who now hurried up, while the old master-at-arms led the +greater part of his troops southwards beyond Taginæ upon the high-road +to Rome. + +Just as the storming of Taginæ was about to commence, Cethegus met +Furius and Alboin, who had recovered from the blows they had received. + +Cethegus had heard of the course pursued by the Corsican, which had +decided the fate of the battle. He shook him by the hand. + +"Well done, friend Furius! At last on the right side, and against the +barbarian King!" + +"He must not escape alive!" growled the Corsican. + +"What? How? He still lives! I thought that--he had fallen," said +Cethegus hastily. + +"No; they managed to rescue him after he was wounded." + +"He must not live!" cried Cethegus. "Then you are right! It is of more +importance than to win Taginæ. Narses can manage that heroic work from +his litter. He has seventy to one. Up, Furius! Why do your horsemen +stand idle here?" + +"The animals cannot ride up the walls!" + +"No; but they can swim. Up! take three hundred yourself, and give me +three hundred. Two roads lead right and left from the little town +over--no! they have broken down the bridges--they lead _through_ the +Clasius and the Sibola--let us take these roads. The wounded King is +certainly--can he still fight?" + +"Hardly." + +"Then he has fled beyond Taginæ--to Rome or--" + +"No; to his bride!" cried Furius. "Most certainly to Valeria in the +cloister. Ha! I will stab him in her very arms! Up, Persians! follow +me. Thanks, Prefect! Take as many horsemen as you like. And ride to the +right--I will ride to the left round the town; for both roads lead to +the cloister." + +And, wheeling to the left, he disappeared. + +Cethegus ordered the rest of the horsemen to follow him, speaking in +the Persian language. + +Then he rode up to Liberius and said: + +"I will take the Gothic King prisoner." + +"What? He still lives? Then make haste!" + +"Meanwhile you can take this Taginæ," continued Cethegus; "I will leave +you my Isaurians." + +And he galloped away with Syphax and three hundred Persians. + +Meantime the wounded King had been taken by his friends out of Taginæ +into a little pine-wood near the road, where he drank from a spring and +gradually revived. + +"Julius," he said, "ride on to Valeria; tell her that the battle is +lost, but not the kingdom. That I am alive and still hope. As soon as I +feel a little stronger I shall ride up to the Spes Bonorum. I ordered +Teja and Hildebrand there when they had finished their tasks. It is a +high and safe position. Go, I beg thee; comfort Valeria and take her +also from the cloister to Spes Bonorum. Thou wilt not? Then I must +myself ride up the difficult road--surely thou wilt spare me that?" + +Julius was reluctant to leave the wounded man. + +"Oh, relieve me from my helmet and mantle! they are so heavy," said +Totila. + +Julius took them from him and gave him his own mantle. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +All at once a thought flashed across the mind of the monk; had they not +once before exchanged garments--the Dioscuri? + +Had he not once before drawn the murderous steel directed at Totila's +heart upon himself? + +He thought they were followed. It seemed to him that he heard horses +approaching, and Aligern--Adalgoth held the King's head upon his +knees--had hastened to the edge of the wood to look. + +"Yes, it is they," he cried as he returned; "Persian horsemen are +riding up from both sides of the wood!" + +"Then make haste, Julius," begged Totila; "save Valeria! Take her to +Teja at the sarcophagus." + +"I will make all speed, my friend! Farewell till we meet again!" And +Julius once more pressed Totila's hand. Then he mounted Pluto--he chose +the wounded horse, leaving his own, which was unhurt. + +Unseen by Totila, he set the helmet with its silver swan upon his head, +folded the white mantle around him, and galloped out of the wood +towards the cloister hill. + +"This road," he thought, "is open and undefended, while the road which +the King will take to the Spes Bonorum leads through wood and vineyard. +Perhaps I shall succeed in attracting the pursuers away from him." + +And, in fact, he had no sooner issued from beneath the trees, and begun +to ride up the hill, than he saw that the horsemen who had come from +beyond Taginæ were eagerly following him. + +In order to keep the pursuers away from the King, and from discovering +their error, he urged his horse to its full speed. + +But the animal was wounded, and the way was very steep. Nearer and +nearer came the pursuers. + +"Is it he?" + +"Yes, it is he." + +"No, it is not. He is too short," said the leader of the troop, who +rode foremost. + +"Would he fly alone?" + +"That would be the best way to escape," observed the leader. + +"It is he most surely; I see the silver swan on his helmet!" + +"And the white mantle!" + +"But he rode a white horse," said the leader. + +"Yes, at first," said one of the horsemen; "but when it fell, struck by +my spear, they lifted him--I was close by--upon that charger." + +"Enough," said the leader, "you are right. I recognise the horse." + +"A noble animal! How it keeps on, and up hill, too, although wounded." + +"Yes, he is a noble animal! And I will make him stop. Pay attention! +Halt, Pluto!" he shouted. "On your knees!" + +Snorting and trembling, the clever, obedient animal, in spite of spur +and blows, stood stockstill, and slowly bent its fore-legs in the sand. + +"It is ruin, barbarian, to ride the Prefect's horse! There, take that +for the Forum! and that for the Capitol! and that for Julius!" + +And the Prefect--for he it was--furiously hurled three spears one after +the other, his own and two carried by Syphax, at the back of his +victim, and with such force that they passed completely through the +fugitive's body. + +Then Cethegus sprang from his horse, drew his sword, and taking the +fallen man by the back of his helmet, dragged up his head from the +earth. + +"Julius!" he screamed in horror. + +"You, O Cethegus!" Julius could just murmur. + +"Julius! you must not, must not die!" + +And Cethegus passionately tried to stanch the blood that issued from +the three wounds. + +"If you love me," said the dying man, "save him--save Totila!" And his +gentle eyes closed for ever. + +Cethegus put his hand upon the heart of the dead man; he laid his ear +upon the bared breast. + +"All is over!" he then said, in a faint voice. "O Manilia! Julius, I +loved thee! And he died with _his_ name upon his lips! All is over!" he +cried again, but this time in a voice of anger; "the last bond which +united me to human love I have myself cut, deceived by mocking +accident! It was my last weakness! And now all tender feeling, be dead +to me! Lift him on to the horse.--This, my Pluto, shall be your last +service.--Take him--up there I see a chapel--take him there, and let +him be buried with all ceremony by the priests. Merely say that he died +as a monk--that he died for his friend. He deserves a Christian burial. +But I," he added, with a terrible expression on his face, "I will once +more seek his friend; I will unite them without delay--and for ever." + +And he mounted his horse. + +"Whither?" asked Syphax. "Back to Taginæ?" + +"No! down into that wood. He must be hidden there, for thence came +Julius." + + +During these occurrences the King had recovered, and now rode with +Adalgoth, Aligern, and a few riders, straight out of the wood, on the +outer edge of which the road ascended to the chapel hill. As they +issued from the trees they could distinctly perceive the walls of the +building. + +But they themselves had been seen, for they heard a yell to their +right, and over the open level a numerous troop of horsemen came +galloping towards them from the river. + +The King recognised the leader, and before his companions could prevent +him, he spurred his horse, couched his spear, and rushed to meet his +enemy. Like two thunderbolts from the lowering heavens, the two +horsemen crashed together. + +"Insolent barbarian!" + +"Miserable traitor!" + +And both fell from their horses. + +They had met with such fury, that neither of them had thought of +defending himself, but only of overthrowing his adversary. + +Furius Ahalla had fallen dead, for the King had pierced him to the +heart through gilded shield and breastplate with such force, that the +shaft of the spear had broken in the wound. But the King also sank +dying into Adalgoth's arms. Ahalla's lance had entered his breast just +below his throat. + +Adalgoth tore Valerians blue banner out of his belt and tried to stanch +the streaming blood--in vain; the bright blue was at once dyed deep +red. + +"Gothia!" breathed Totila, "Italia! Valeria!" + +At this moment, before the unequal fight could commence, Alboin arrived +upon the spot with his Longobardians. He had followed the Prefect, not +being inclined to remain idle while the fight was going on round the +walls of Taginæ. + +The Longobardian looked silently and with emotion at the corpse of the +King. + +"He gave me my life--I could not save his," he said gravely. + +One of his horsemen pointed to the rich armour worn by the dead man. + +"No," said Alboin, "this royal hero must be buried with all his royal +trappings." + +"There, Alboin, on the rocky height above us," said Adalgoth, "his +bride and his tomb, self-chosen, have waited for him long." + + +"Take him up! I will give safe-conduct to the noble corpse and the +noble bearers. Now, my men, follow me back to the fight!" + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + +But the fight was over: as Alboin and the Prefect discovered, to their +great disgust, when they again reached Taginæ. + +The Prefect, just as he had entered the pine-wood and was about to +follow the King's track, had been overtaken by a messenger from +Liberius, who sent word for him to return immediately. Narses was +insensible, and the peril of the situation necessitated immediate +counsel. + +Narses insensible--Liberius perplexed--the victory they had thought +certain, endangered--these circumstances weighed more with the Prefect +than the doubtful expectation of dealing the death-stroke to the +half-dead King. + +In haste Cethegus galloped back to Taginæ the way that he had come. +When he reached the town he found Liberius, who cried: + +"Too late! I have already settled and agreed to everything. A truce! +The rest of the Goths march off!" + +"What?" thundered Cethegus--he would gladly have poured all the blood +of the Goths upon the grave of his darling as a sacrifice. "They march? +A truce? Where is Narses?" + +"He lies insensible in his litter; he has been taken with severe +convulsions. The fright, the surprise--it prostrated him, and no +wonder." + +"What surprise? Speak, man!" + +And Liberius briefly related how they had forced their way into Taginæ +with fearful loss of blood, "for the Goths stood like a wall"--had been +obliged to storm house by house, even room by room--"we were obliged to +hack to pieces by inches one of their leaders, who ran Anzalas through +as he leaped into the first breach, before we could force our way into +the town over his body." + +"Who was he?" asked Cethegus earnestly. "I hope Earl Teja?" + +"No; Earl Thorismuth. When we had finished our bloody work, and Narses +was about to let himself be carried into the town, he met in the gate a +messenger from our left wing--which no more exists! It was Zeuxippos, +wounded, and accompanied by Gothic heralds." + +"Who has----?" + +"He whom you just named--Earl Teja! He guessed or learned that +Zeuxippos was threatening his centre, that the King was wounded--and, +well knowing that he would arrive too late to turn the course of events +at Taginæ, he came to a bold and desperate resolution. He suddenly gave +up his post of expectation on the hills, threw himself upon our left +wing, which was slowly advancing up the hill opposite to him, beat it +at the first onset, pursued the fugitives into their camp, and there +made prisoners of ten thousand of our men, and all the captains, +amongst them my Orestes and Zeuxippos. He sent Gothic heralds to +Narses, who took Zeuxippos with them to witness to the truth of what +they said, and demanded an immediate truce of twenty-four hours." + +"Impossible!" + +"Otherwise he swore to slay all his ten thousand prisoners---together +with the captains." + +"That is no matter," observed Cethegus. + +"It may be no matter to you, Roman--what matters to you a myriad of our +troops?--but not so to Narses. The terrible surprise, the still more +terrible necessity of making a choice, quite prostrated him. A severe +attack of his malady came on, and as he sank down, he gave me his +commander's staff, and I, of course, accepted the conditions----" + +"Of course, Pylades must save Orestes!" said Cethegus in a rage. + +"And, besides, ten thousand men of the imperial army!" + +"I am not bound by this agreement," cried Cethegus; "I shall again +attack." + +"You dare not! Teja has taken most of his prisoners and all the +captains with him as hostages--he will slay them if another arrow be +shot?" + +"Let him slay them! I shall attack." + +"See whether the Byzantines will follow you! I at once communicated the +order of Narses to your troops: for now _I_ am Narses." + +"You shall die, as soon as Narses has recovered his senses!" + +But Cethegus perceived that he could do nothing against the Goths with +his mercenaries alone. For when Teja had retreated to the cloister and +chapel hill and the Flaminian Way with his prisoners, and Hildebrand's +wing had also reached the road with little loss of life--for the two +rivers, and then the news of the truce, had checked the pursuit +attempted by Johannes--the Goths had gathered the rest of their troops +together and taken up a safe position. + +Cethegus waited with impatience for the recovery of Narses, who he +hoped would never acknowledge the agreement concluded by his +representative. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + +Meanwhile Teja and Hildebrand had arrived upon the chapel hill, +whither, as they had been apprised, the wounded King had been carried. + +News of later events had not yet reached them. + +Before they entered the walls which enclosed the grove before the +chapel, the two leaders had agreed upon the plan which they would +propose to the King. There was no other way but to retreat to the south +under the protection of the truce. But when they entered the grove, +what a sight met their view! + +Sobbing loudly, Adalgoth hurried up to Teja, and led him to an ancient +and ivy-grown sarcophagus. Within it, upon his shield, lay King Totila. +The majesty of death gave to his noble features a solemnity that made +them more beautiful than they had ever been when brightened by joy. + +On his left hand rested Julius, in the open hollow cover of the +sarcophagus, which had long since fallen from its proper place. Under +the common shadow of death, the resemblance between the "Dioscuri" was +more striking and touching than ever. + +And between the two friends lay a third form, which had been carefully +laid by Gotho and Liuta upon the King's blood-stained mantle. Upon a +gently-rising mound lay Valeria, the Roman virgin. + +Fetched from the neighbouring cloister to receive her lover, she had +thrown herself, without a scream, without even a sigh, upon the broad +shield with its solemn burthen, which Adalgoth and Aligern were +carrying through the gate with sad and slow steps. Before any one could +speak, she had cried: + +"I know all--he is dead!" + +She had assisted them to lay the corpse in the sarcophagus, and while +so occupied she had repeated to herself, in a low voice, these words: + + "'Him too thou seest, how stalwart, tall, and fair! + Yet must he yield to death and stubborn fate, + Whene'er, at morn or noon or eve, the spear + Or arrow from the bow may rend his life. + Then may I, too, visit th' eternal shades!" + +Then, without haste, quietly and slowly, she drew a dagger from her +girdle, and with the words, "Here, stern Christian God, take my soul! +thus I fulfil the vow!" the Roman maiden thrust the sharp steel into +her bosom. + +Cassiodorus, a little cross of cedar in his hand, went, deeply +moved--the tears trickled down his venerable white beard--from corpse +to corpse, repeating the prayers of the Church. + +And the pious women of the cloister, who had accompanied Valeria, began +the simple and noble chant: + + "Vis ac splendor seculorum, + Belli laus et flos amorum + Labefacta mox marcescunt; + Dei laus et gratia sine + Ævi termino vel fine + In eternum perflorescunt." + +Gradually the grove had become filled with warriors, who had followed +their leaders. Among them were Earls Wisand and Markja. + +Teja heard the report of the weeping Adalgoth in silence. Then he went +close to the King's corpse. Without a tear, he laid his mailed right +hand upon the King's wounded breast, bent over him, and whispered: + +"I will complete the work." + +Then he went back and took his place under a mighty tree, which rose +above a forgotten grave-mound, and spoke to the little group of +soldiers who stood silently and reverently round the dead. + +"Gothic men! the battle is lost, and the kingdom likewise. Whoever will +now go to Narses, whoever will subject himself to the Emperor, I will +not keep him back. But I am resolved to fight to the end; not for +victory, but to die the free death of a hero. Whoever wishes to share +this fate with me, may remain. You all wish it? 'Tis well." + +Hildebrand interposed. + +"The King has fallen. The Goths cannot--even to die--fight without a +King. Athalaric, Witichis, Totila--_one_ only can be the fourth; only +one is worthy to succeed these three; thou, Teja, our last, our +greatest hero!" + +"Yes," said Teja; "I will be your King. Under me you shall not live +joyfully; you shall only die greatly. Be still! No cry of joy, no clang +of arms must greet me. Whoever will have me for his King, let him do as +I do." + +And he broke a small branch from the tree under which he stood, and +twisted it round his helmet. All silently followed his example. + +Adalgoth, who stood next him, whispered: + +"O King Teja! it is a cypress bough! Thus is crowned a victim doomed to +sacrifice!" + +"Yes, my Adalgoth, thou speakest prophecy;" and Teja swung his sword in +a circle round his head. "Doomed to death!" + + + + + + BOOK VI. + TEJA + +"I have now to describe a most remarkable battle, and the high +heroism of the man who was inferior to none of the heroes--of +Teja."--_Procopius: Gothic War_, iv. 35. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +The destiny of the Goths was soon to be fulfilled. The rolling stone +approached the abyss. + +When Narses came to his senses and learned what had taken place, he +gave orders at once to arrest Liberius and send him to Byzantium to +answer for his conduct. + +"I will not say," he said to his confidant, Basiliskos, "that he has +come to a false decision. I myself could not have done otherwise. But I +should have done it for different reasons. _His_ only wish was to save +his friend and the ten thousand prisoners. That was wrong. Situated as +he was, he ought to have sacrificed them, for he could not overlook the +actual condition of the war. He did not know, as I know, that after +this battle the Gothic kingdom is lost--whether it be completely +destroyed at Rome or Neapolis is indifferent--and that alone would have +been, and is, the reason for which the ten thousand should be saved." + +"At Neapolis? But why not at Rome? Do you not remember the formidable +fortifications of the Prefect? Why should not the Goths throw +themselves into Rome and resist for months?" + +"Why? Because things are very different with regard to Rome. But the +Goths know this as little as Liberius. And Cethegus--above all--must +know nothing of it yet; therefore be silent. Where is the Prefect of +Rome?" + +"He has hastened forward, in order to be the first to conduct the +pursuit as soon as the time of truce has expired." + +"Surely you have taken care----" + +"Do not doubt it! He would have marched with his Isaurians alone, but +I--that is, Liberius at my order--gave him Alboin and the Longobardians +as companions, and you know----" + +"Yes," said Narses, with a smile, "my wolves will not lose sight of +him." + +"But how long shall he----" + +"As long as he is necessary to me; not an hour longer. So the young and +royal wonder-worker lies upon his shield! Now may Justinian rightly +call himself 'Gothicus,' and again sleep peacefully. But truly--he will +never more sleep peacefully--that disappointed widower----" + +So the two generals, Narses and Teja, were of one opinion with regard +to the Gothic kingdom. It was lost. The flower of the Goths had fallen +at Capræ and Taginæ. Totila had placed there five-and-twenty thousand +men; not even a thousand had escaped. The two wings of the army had +also suffered great loss; and so King Teja commenced his retreat to the +south with scarcely twenty thousand men. + +He was urged to the greatest speed by the calls for help sent by the +little army under Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa, who were hard pressed +by the greater force of the Byzantines under the command of Armatus and +Dorotheos, who had landed between Rome and Neapolis. + +And besides this, Teja's retreat was also precipitated because of the +terrible manner in which, when the truce was ended, he was pursued by +Narses. + +While the Longobardians and Cethegus pursued the fugitives without +pause, Narses slowly followed with the main army, spreading to the +right and left his two formidable wings, which extended in the +south-west far beyond the Sub-urbicarian Tuscany to the Tyrrhenian sea, +and in the north-east through Picenum to the Ionian Gulf, extinguishing +as they passed from north to south and from west to east, every trace +of the Goths behind them. + +This proceeding was considerably facilitated by the now general +desertion of the Gothic cause on the part of the Italians. The +benevolent King, who had once won their sympathies, had been succeeded +by a gloomy hero of terrible reputation. And all who hesitated were +speedily drawn over to the other side, not by inclination to the rule +of Byzantium, but from fear of Narses and of the Emperor's severity, +who threatened all who took the part of the barbarians with death. + +The Italians who still served in Teja's army now deserted and hastened +to Narses. It also happened much more frequently than before the battle +of Taginæ, that Gothic settlers were betrayed to the Romani by their +Italian neighbours, generally by the _hospes_, who had been obliged to +relinquish a third of his property to the Goths; or, where the Italians +were in the majority, the Goths were either killed, or taken prisoners +and delivered up to the two Byzantine fleets, the "Tyrrhenian" and the +"Ionian," which, sailing along the coasts of those seas, accompanied +the march of the land forces and received all the captured Goths on +board--men, women, and children. + +The forts and towns, weakly garrisoned--for Teja had been obliged to +strengthen his small army by lessening their numbers--generally fell by +means of the Italian population, who now overpowered the Gothic +garrison, as, after Totila's election, they had done the imperial. Thus +fell, during the progress of the war, Namia, Spoletium and Perusia; the +few towns which resisted were invested. + +So Narses resembled a strong man who walks with outstretched arms +through a narrow passage, pursuing all who try to hide themselves +before him. Or a fisher, who wades up a stream with a sack-net; behind +him all is empty. The few Goths who could yet save themselves fled +before the "iron roller" to the army of the King, which soon consisted +of a greater number of the defenceless than of warriors. + +The Visigoths were again engaged in migration, just as they had been a +hundred years before, but this time the iron net of Narses was behind +them; and before them, as they advanced farther and farther into the +constantly narrowing peninsula, the sea. And not a ship did they +possess in which to fly. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +Added to this, an inevitable necessity reduced the number of Goths in +the King's army capable of bearing arms in the most frightful manner. + +From the very commencement of the pursuit, Cethegus, with his +mercenaries, and Alboin with his Longobardians, had stuck to the +heels of the fugitives, and consequently, if the retreat of the Gothic +army--already delayed by the number of women, children, and aged people +who had joined it--was not to be brought to a complete standstill, it +was necessary to sacrifice each night a small number of heroes, who +halted at some spot suitable for their design, and held the pursuers at +bay by an obstinate, fearless, and hopeless resistance, until the main +army had again gained a considerable advance. + +This cruel, but only possible expedient, always entailed the loss of at +least fifty men, and often, where the place to be defended had a wider +front, a much greater number. + +Before King Teja marched from Spes Bonorum, he had explained this plan +to the assembled army; his faithful troops silently assented to it. And +every morning the "death-doomed" volunteered so eagerly to join this +forlorn hope, that King Teja--with humid eyes--made them draw lots, not +wishing to offend any one by the preference of others. For the Goths, +who saw nothing before them but the certain destruction of the nation, +and many of whom knew that their wives and children had fallen into the +enemy's hands, vied with each other in seeking death. + +So their retreat became a triumphal procession of Gothic heroes, and +every halting-place a monument of courageous self-sacrifice. Thus, +among the leaders of the "doomed rear-guard," old Haduswinth fell near +Nuceria Camellaria; the young and skilful archer, Gunthamund, at Ad +Fontes; and the swift rider, Gudila, at Ad Martis. But these +sacrifices, and the King's generalship, were not without influence on +the fate of the nation. + +Near Fossatum, between Tudera and Narnia, a night attack took place +between the rear-guard under Earl Markja, and the horsemen of Cethegus, +which lasted from afternoon till sunrise. + +When at last the returning light illumined the hastily-constructed +earthworks thrown up by the Goths, they were as still and silent as the +grave. + +The pursuers advanced with the utmost caution. At last Cethegus sprang +from his horse and on to the parapet of the earthworks, followed by +Syphax. + +Cethegus turned and signed to his men: "Follow me; there is no danger! +You have only to step over the bodies of our enemies, for here they all +lie--a full thousand. Yonder is Earl Markja; I know him." + +But when the earthworks were demolished, and Cethegus and his horsemen +continued their pursuit of the main army--which had gained a great +advance they soon learned from the peasants of the neighbourhood that +the Gothic army had not passed on the Flaminian Way at all. + +By the noble sacrifice of this night, King Teja had been enabled to +conceal the further direction of his retreat, and the pursuers had lost +the scent. + +Cethegus advised Johannes and Alboin, the one to send a portion of his +men to the south-east, the other to the left on the Flaminian Way, to +try to find the lost track. He himself longed to get to Rome. He wished +to reach that city before Narses. Once there, he hoped to be able to +checkmate him, as he had done Belisarius, from the Capitol. + +After discovering that King Teja had evaded all pursuit, Cethegus +summoned his trusty tribunes, and told them that he was resolved--if +necessary, by force--to rid himself of the constant supervision of +Alboin and Johannes--who were at present weakened by the division of +their troops at his advice--and to hasten with his Isaurians alone +straight to Rome by the Flaminian Way, which was now no longer blocked +by the Goths. + +But even while he was speaking, he was interrupted by the entrance of +Syphax, who led into the tent a Roman citizen, whom he had with +difficulty rescued from the hands of the Longobardians. The man had +asked for the Prefect, and the Longobardians had answered, laughing, +that they would treat him (the messenger) "as usual." + +"But," added Syphax, "a great crowd of people is approaching in the +rear; I will see what it is and bring you word." + +"I know you, Tullus Faber," said the Prefect, turning to the messenger, +when Syphax had left him; "you were ever faithful to Rome and to me. +What news do you bring?" + +"O Prefect!" cried the man, "we all thought you were dead, for you sent +us no answer to eight several messages." + +"I have not received even one!" + +"Then you do not know what has happened in Rome? Pope Silverius has +died in exile in Sicily. His successor is Pelagius, your enemy!" + +"I know nothing. Speak!" + +"Alas, you will neither be able to advise nor to help. Rome has----" + +Just then Syphax returned, but before he could speak, he was followed +into the tent by Narses, supported by Basiliskos. + +"You have allowed yourself to be detained here so long by a thousand +Gothic spears," said the commander-in-chief angrily, "that the healthy +have escaped, and the sick have overtaken you. This King Teja can do +more than break shields; he can weave veils with which to blind the +Prefect's sharp sight. But I see through many veils, and also through +this. Johannes, call your people back. Teja cannot have gone south, he +must have gone northwards, for he, no doubt, has known long since that +which concerns the Prefect most: Rome is wrested from the Goths." + +Cethegus looked at him with sparkling eyes. + +"I had smuggled a few clever men into the city. They excited the +inhabitants to a midnight revolt. All the Goths in the city were slain; +only five hundred men escaped into the Mausoleum of Hadrian, and +continue to defend it." + +Faber took courage to put in a word. + +"We sent eight messengers to you. Prefect, one after the other." + +"Away with this man!" cried Narses, signing to his officers. "Yes," he +continued quietly, "the citizens of Rome think lovingly of the Prefect, +to whom they owe so much: two sieges, hunger, pestilence, and the +burning of the Capitol! But the messengers sent to you always lost +their way, and fell into the hands of the Longobardians, who, no doubt, +slew them. But the embassy sent to me by the Holy Father, Pelagius, +reached me safely, and I have concluded an agreement, of which you, +Prefect of Rome, will surely approve." + +"In any case, I shall not be able to annul it." + +"The good citizens of Rome fear nothing so much as a third siege. They +have stipulated that we shall undertake nothing that can lead to +another fight for their city. They write that the Goths in the +Mausoleum will soon succumb to hunger; that they themselves can defend +their walls; and they have sworn only to deliver up their city, after +the destruction of those Goths, to their natural protector and chief, +the Prefect of Rome. Are you content with that, Cethegus? Read the +agreement. Give it to him, Basiliskos." + +Cethegus read the paper with deep and joyful emotion. So they had not +forgotten him, his Romans! So now, when everything was coming to a +crisis, they called, not the hated Byzantines, but himself, their +patron, back to the Capitol! He again felt at the height of power. + +"I am content," he said, returning the roll. + +"I have promised," continued Narses, "to make no attempt to get the +city into my power by force. First King Teja must follow King Totila. +Then Rome--and many other things. Accompany me, Prefect, to the council +of war." + +When Cethegus left the council in the tent of Narses, and asked after +Tullus Faber, not a trace of the latter was to be found. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +Narses, that great general, had acutely guessed in what direction King +Teja had turned aside from the Flaminian Way. He had first gone north +towards the coast of the Ionian Gulf, and thence, with singular +knowledge of the roads, had led his fugitive people and army by a +circuitous route past Hadria, Aternum, and Ortona, to Samnium. That +Rome was lost, he had learned beyond Nuceria Camellaria from some Goths +who had fled from that city. + +The King, whose impatient and unsparing disposition ever looked forward +to the end, not unwillingly found himself obliged to get rid of his +prisoners. + +In number about as strong as their conquerors, the captives had made +the office of guarding them so difficult, that Teja threatened to +punish with death any attempt at escape. + +Notwithstanding, when the army marched northwards, a number of these +prisoners made an attempt to free themselves by force. Very many were +killed in the struggle that ensued, and the King ordered that all the +rest, together with Orestes and the whole of the officers, should be +thrown into the Aternus with their hands bound; where they died +miserably by drowning. + +When Adalgoth begged Teja to revoke his cruel sentence, the latter +replied: + +"Did they not fall upon our defenceless women and children in their +peaceful homes, and slay them? This is no longer a war between +warriors; it is nation murdering nation. Let us do our part." + +From Samnium the King, leaving his unarmed people to follow slowly +under scanty escort--for they were threatened by no pursuit--hurried +forward with his best troops to Campania. His arrival in those parts +was so unexpected, that he not only surprised Duke Guntharis and Earl +Grippa, whose small army had melted still more in consequence of +frequent battles with superior forces, but, shortly after, the enemy +also, who now had thought themselves sure of victory. + +He had found Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa occupying a secure position +between Neapolis and Beneventum. He learned that the Romani were +threatening Cumæ from Capua. + +"They shall not reach that city before me," he cried; "I have to +complete there an important work." + +And, his army being now reinforced by the garrison of his own county +town of Tarentum, under the command of brave Ragnaris, he surprised the +superior force of the Byzantines, which was about to march upon Cumæ, +and defeated them with great loss. He himself slew the Archon Armatus +with his battle-axe, and at his side young Adalgoth ran Dorotheos +through with his spear. The Byzantines were routed, and fled northwards +to Terracina. + +It was the last ray of sunshine cast by the God of Victory upon the +blue banner of the Goths. + +The next day King Teja entered Cumæ. Totila, upon his last fatal march +from Rome, had decided, at the instance of Teja, and contrary to his +custom, to take with him hostages from that city. No one knew what had +become of them. + +On the evening of his entry into Cumæ, King Teja ordered the walled-up +garden of the Castle of Cumæ to be broken open. There were hidden the +hostages from Rome: patricians and senators--among them Maximus, +Cyprianus, Opilio, Rusticus, and Fidelius, the most distinguished men +of the Senate--in all they numbered three hundred. All were members of +the old league against the Goths. + +Teja ordered the Goths who had lately escaped from Rome to tell these +hostages how the Romans, persuaded by envoys sent by Narses, had one +night risen in revolt, had murdered all the Goths upon whom they could +lay hands, even the women and children, and had driven the rest into +the _Moles Hadriani_. + +The King fastened such a terrible look upon the trembling hostages, as +they listened to this news, that two of them could not endure to wait +till the end, but then and there killed themselves by dashing their +heads against the stony walls which surrounded them. + +When the Goths from Rome had sworn to the truth of their story, the +King silently turned away and left the garden. An hour after, the heads +of the three hundred hostages stared ghastly down from the summit of +the walls. + +"It was not alone to fulfil this terrible judgment that I came here," +Teja said to Adalgoth: "I have also to reveal a sacred secret." + +And he invited him and the other leaders of the troops to a solemn and +joyless midnight banquet. When the sad feast was over, the King made a +sign to old Hildebrand, who nodded, and took a dimly burning torch from +the iron ring into which it was stuck on the centre column of the +vaulted hall, saying: + +"Follow me, children of these latter days, and take your shields with +you." + +It was the third hour of the July night; the stars glittered in the +sky. Out of the hall, silently following the King and the aged +master-at-arms, there stepped Guntharis and Adalgoth, Aligern, Grippa, +Ragnaris, and Wisand the standard-bearer. Wachis, the King's +shield-bearer, closed the procession, carrying a second torch. + +Opposite the castle garden rose an ancient round tower, named the Tower +of Theodoric, because that great King had restored it. Old Hildebrand +was the first to enter this tower with his torch, but instead of +leaving the ground-floor, which contained only the empty tower-room, +the old man halted, knelt down, and carefully measured fifteen spans of +his large hand from the door, which he had closed behind them, to the +centre of the room. The whole floor seemed to be composed of three +colossal slabs of granite. When Hildebrand had measured the fifteen +spans, he held his thumb upon the spot at which he had arrived, and +struck his battle-axe against the floor; it sounded hollow. Boring the +point of his axe into a scarcely-visible crack in the stone, he signed +to his companions to stand aside on his left; when they had done so, he +pushed a portion of the slab to the right. A chasm, as deep as the +tower was high above them, revealed itself to the astonished eyes of +those present. + +The opening was only large enough to admit one man at a time. It led to +a narrow flight of more than two hundred steps, hewn in the living +rock. + +Silently, at a sign from Hildebrand, the men descended. When they +arrived at the bottom, they found that the circular space was divided +in the middle by a stone wall. The semicircle into which they had +entered was empty. + +And now King Teja measured ten spans on the wall to the centre, and +pressing his hand upon a stone, a small door opened inwards. Hildebrand +entered with his torch, and kindled two others which were fixed upon +the wall. + +The observers started back dazzled, and covered their eyes with their +hands. When they again looked up, they recognised--at once guessing the +secret--the whole rich treasure of Dietrich of Berne. + +There lay, partly heaped up symmetrically, partly thrown in disorder +one upon another, weapons, vessels, and ornaments of all kinds. Strong +Etruscan steel-caps of ancient times, brought by the commerce of the +Goths as far as the Baltic, or to the Pruth and Dniester, and now +brought back to the south by the migration of the nations, probably +near to the very spot where they had been fashioned. Near these lay +flat wooden head-pieces, over which was stretched the skin of the seal, +or the jaws of the ice-bear; pointed Celtic helmets; high-crested helms +from Rome or Byzantium; neck-rings of bronze and iron, of silver and +gold. Shields--from the clumsy wooden shield, as tall as a man, which +was set up like a wall to hide the archer, to the small round and +ornamented horseman's shield of the Parthians, studded with pearls and +precious stones. Ancient ring-mail of crushing weight, and light-padded +clothing of purple-coloured linen, besides scimitars, swords and +daggers, of stone, bronze, and steel. Axes and clubs of all kinds--from +those rudely made from the bones of the mammoth and tied to the antler +of a stag with bast, to the Frankish _franciska_, and the small +perforated and gilded axe with which the Roman circus-riders used to +split an apple while at full gallop. Spears, lances, and darts of all +sorts--from the roughly carved tusk of the narwal, to the ebony shaft, +inlaid with gold, of the Asdingian Vandal Kings in Carthage, and the +massive golden arrows of these princes, with steel points a foot long, +and the shafts decorated with the purple feathers of the flamingo. +War-mantles--made of the fur of the black fox, the skin of the +Numidian lion, and the costliest purple of Sidon. Shoes--from +the long shovel-shaped snowshoes of the Skrito Fins, to the golden +sandals of Byzantium. Doublets of Frisian wool, and tunics of Chinese +silk. Innumerable vessels and table utensils--tall vases, flat salvers, +cups, and round-bellied urns, of amber, of gold, of silver, of +tortoise-shell. Arm-rings and shoulder-clasps, necklaces of pearls and +of crystal beads, and innumerable other utensils for meat and drink, +for clothing and decoration, for sport and war. + +"This secret cave," said Teja, "known only to us, the blood +brethren--the master-at-arms caused it to be hewn in the rock when he +was Earl of Cumæ, forty years ago--was the vault in which was hidden +the treasure of the Goths. This is the reason why Belisarius found so +little, when he ransacked the treasure-house at Ravenna. The most +costly pieces of booty, the gifts, the collection of Amelung trophies +in war and peace, which existed long before Theodoric, in the time of +Winithar, Ermanarich, Athal, Ostrogotho, Isarna, Amala, and Gaut--all +these have we concealed here. We left nothing in Ravenna but the minted +gold, and such things as seemed richer in intrinsic value than in +honour. For months our enemies have walked above these treasures; but +the faithful abyss kept the secret. But now we will carry all away with +us. Take the treasures on your shields, and hand them from one to +another up the steps. We will take it to the last battle-field upon +which an Ostrogothic army will ever fight. No, do not be anxious, young +Adalgoth; even when I have fallen, and all is lost, the enemy shall not +bear away the sacred treasure to Byzantium. For wonderful is the last +battle-field which I have chosen; it shall conceal and swallow up the +last of the Goths, their treasure and their fame!" + +"Yes, and their greatest treasure and noblest renown," said old +Hildebrand; "not merely gold and silver and precious stones. Look here, +my Goths!" + +And he held his torch towards a curtain which shut off a portion of the +treasure-cave, and pushed the curtain to one side. As he did so, all +present fell upon their knees. For they recognised the great dead, who +sat, erect and clothed in purple, upon a golden throne, the spear still +grasped in his right hand. + +It was the great Theodoric. + +The art which had been introduced to the Romans by the Egyptians--the +art of embalming the dead--had preserved the body of the hero-King with +terrible perfection. + +All present were struck dumb with emotion. + +"Many years ago," at last Hildebrand began, "Teja and I mistrusted the +good fortune of the Goths. And I, who, before the breaking out of the +war, had the command of the guard-of-honour at the Mausoleum of +Ravenna, in which Amalaswintha had interred her dead father--I liked +the building but little, and still less the incense-scented priests who +so often prayed there for the soul of my good and great King--I thought +that if ever all trace of my nation were rooted out of this southern +land, no Italian or Greekling should mock at the remains of our beloved +hero. No! even as the first great conqueror of the Roman fortress, +Alaric the Visigoth, found his unknown and never to be dishonoured tomb +in the sacred bed of the stream, so also should my great King be +delivered from the curiosity of posterity. And, with Teja's help, I +took the noble corpse away by night, from its marble house, and from +the vicinity of the whining priests, and we brought it hither, as part +of the royal treasure. Here it was safe. And if, after the lapse of +centuries, some accident should betray its resting-place, who could +then recognise the King with the eagle-eye? And so the sarcophagus at +Ravenna is empty, and the monks sing and pray in vain. Here, near his +treasures and his trophies, in hero splendour, erect upon his throne, +he rests; it is more pleasing to his soul, which looks down from +Walhalla, than to see his mortal remains stretched out, weighed down by +heavy stones, and surrounded with clouds of incense." + +"But now," concluded Teja, "the hour has come for him once more to rise +from the abyss. When you have raised the treasure, we will carefully +lift up this beloved form. Early to-morrow we will march out of this +city. The approach of Narses and the Prefect has already been +announced. We will go, with royal corpse and royal treasure, to the +last battle-field of the Goths, whither I have already sent the women +and children. The battle-field--long ago I saw it in the visions of my +sleepless nights--the battle-field whereon we and our nation will +gloriously perish; the battlefield which, even when the last spear is +broken, can save and hide all who do not fear to die in its glowing +bosom; the battle-field which Teja has chosen for you and for himself!" + +"I guess thy meaning," whispered Adalgoth; "this last battle-field +is----" + +"Mons Vesuvius!" said Teja. "To work!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +As rapidly as his fearful, all-encompassing system would allow, Narses, +after the council which we have mentioned as taking place at Fossatum, +had marched southward with his whole force and with the broadest front, +in order to make an end of all the remaining Goths. Only to Tuscany did +he send two small detachments, under his generals, Vitalianus and +Wilmuth, to take such forts as still resisted, and, after them, Lucca, +in Annonarian Tuscany. Valerianus, who had meanwhile conquered Petra +Pertusa, which place blocked the Flaminian Way beyond Helvillum, was +sent still farther north against Verona, the obstinate defence of which +had enabled many Goths to escape up the valley of the Athesis to the +Passara. + +With these exceptions, Narses hurried south with the whole of his army. +He himself passed Rome on the Flaminian Way; while Johannes, on the +coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Herulian Vulkaris on that of the +Ionian Gulf, were to drive the Goths before them. + +But Johannes and Vulkaris found but little work to do; for in the north +the Gothic families had already been received, in passing, into the +mass of the army of the King, which it was now impossible to overtake; +and from the south the Goths had likewise long since streamed past Rome +to Neapolis, whither expresses from the King had bidden them to repair. +"Mons Vesuvius!" was the rallying word for all these Gothic fugitives. + +Narses had named Anagnia to his two wings as the point of reunion with +the main body. + +Cethegus gladly accepted the commander's invitation to remain with him +in the centre, for he could expect no great events with the two wings; +and the road taken by Narses led past Rome. In case that the commander, +in spite of his promise, should attempt to procure entrance into Rome, +Cethegus would be on the spot. + +But, almost to the Prefect's astonishment, Narses kept his word. He +quietly marched his army past Rome. And he called upon Cethegus to be +witness to his interview with Pope Pelagius and the other governing +bodies of Rome, which interview took place below the walls at the Porta +Belisaria (Pinceana), between the Flaminian and Salarian Gates. + +Once more the Pope and the Romans assured Narses--swearing by the holy +remains of Cosma and Damian (according to legend, Arabian physicians +who were martyred under Diocletian), which were brought in silver and +ivory caskets to the walls--that they would unhesitatingly, after the +annihilation of the Goths in the Moles Hadriani, open their gates to +the Prefect of Rome, but firmly resist any attempt on the part of the +Byzantines to enter the city by force; for they would not expose +themselves to any possible struggle which might yet take place. + +The offer of Narses to leave them at once a few thousand armed men, in +order to enable them the more speedily to reduce the Moles Hadriani, +was civilly but decidedly refused, to the great joy of the Prefect. + +"They have learned two things during the last few years," he said +to Lucius Licinius, as they rode away at the termination of the +interview--"to keep the Romani at a distance, and to connect Cethegus +with the well-being of Rome. That is already a great deal." + +"I regret, my general," said Lucius Licinius, "that I cannot share your +joy and confidence." + +"I neither," cried Salvius Julianus. "I fear Narses; I mistrust him." + +"Oho! what wise men!" laughed Piso. "One should exaggerate nothing; not +even prudence. Has not everything turned out better than we dared to +hope since the night when a shepherd-boy struck the greatest Roman poet +upon his immortal verse-writing hand, and the great Prefect of Rome +swam down the Tiber in a granary?--since Massurius Sabinus was +recognised by Earl Markja, dressed in the garments of his Hetares, in +which disguise he was about to make his escape?--and since the great +jurist, Salvius Julianus, was rudely fished up, bleeding, from the +slime of the river by Duke Guntharis? Who would have thought then that +we should ever be able to count upon our fingers the day when not a +single Goth would be left to tread Italian soil?" + +"You are right, poet," said Cethegus with a smile; "these two friends +of ours suffer from '_Narses_-fever,' as their hero suffers from +epilepsy. To over-rate one's enemy is also a failing. The holy remains +upon which those priests have sworn, are really sacred to them; they +will not break such an oath." + +"If I had only seen, besides the priests and artisans," replied +Licinius, "any of our friends upon the walls! But there were none but +fullers, butchers, and carpenters! Where is the aristocracy of Rome? +Where are the men of the Catacombs?" + +"Taken away as hostages," said Cethegus. "And they were rightly served? +Did they not return to Rome, and do homage to the fair-haired Goth? If +now the 'Black Earl' cuts off their heads, it cannot be helped. Be +comforted; you see things in too dark a light, all of you. The crushing +superiority of Narses has made you timid. He is a great general; but +the fact that he has made this treaty with Rome--this agreement that I, +and no other, should be admitted--and that he has _kept_ it, shows that +he is harmless as a statesman. Let us but once again breathe the air of +the Capitol! It does not agree with epileptic subjects." + +And when, the next morning, the young tribunes went to fetch the +Prefect from his tent to join the united march against Teja, their +leader received them with sparkling eyes. + +"Well," he cried, "who knows the Romans best, you or the Prefect of +Rome? Listen--but be silent. Last night a centurion, one of the +newly-formed city cohorts, named Publius Macer, stole out of Rome +and into my tent. The Pope has entrusted to his care the Porta Latina, +to that of his brother Marcus, the Capitol. He showed me both +commissions--I know the handwriting of Pelagius--they are authentic. +The Romans are long since tired of the rule of the priesthood. They +would rejoice once more to see me, and you, and my Isaurians patrolling +the walls. Publius left me his nephew Aulus, at once as a hostage and a +pledge, who will let us know the night--which will be announced to him +in the harmless words of a letter agreed upon beforehand--on which the +Romans will open to us their gates and the Capitol. Narses cannot +complain if the Romans voluntarily admit us--I shall use no force. Now, +Licinius! Tell me, Julianus, who best knows Rome and the Romans?" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +Narses now marched to Anagnia. Two days after his arrival, his two +wings reached that place according to order. After some days occupied +in resting, mustering, and newly ordering his immense forces, the +commander-in-chief marched to Terracina, where the remainder of the +troops of Armatus and Dorotheos joined him. And now the united army +rolled forward against the Goths, who had taken up a most excellent and +secure position on Vesuvius, on the opposite mountain. Mons Lactarius, +and on both shores of the little river Draco, which flowed into the sea +north of Stabiæ. + +Since he had left Cumæ, marched past Neapolis (the citizens of which +place shut their strong gates, which had been restored by Totila, +overpowered the garrison and declared that, following the example of +Rome, they would at present hold their fortress against both parties), +and reached his chosen battle-field, King Teja had done all that was +possible to make his naturally strong position still stronger. + +He had caused provisions to be carried from the fertile country around +up to the mountains, in sufficient quantities to nourish his people +until the light of the last day should dawn upon his nation. + +It has ever been a vain task for learned investigation to attempt to +find on Mons Lactarius or Vesuvius the exact spots which correspond to +the description of Procopius. It is impossible to fix upon any one of +the innumerable ravines and valleys. And yet the description of the +Byzantine historian, grounded as it was upon the verbal reports of the +leaders and generals of the army of Narses, cannot be doubted. + +Rather may the contradictions be simply explained by the sudden, +forcible and gigantic changes, and by the still more numerous, gradual +and slighter alterations made in the face of the country by streams of +lava, landslips, the crumbling of the rocks, and floods which have +taken place upon that never quiet mountain, during the course of more +than thirteen centuries. Even credible accounts of much later Italian +authors, concerning places and positions on Mount Vesuvius, cannot +always be reconciled with the reality. + +The ground which sucked up Teja's life-blood has no doubt been covered, +ages ago, by deep layers of silent and impenetrable lava. + +Even Narses was compelled to admire the circumspection with which his +barbarian adversary had chosen his last place of defence. + +"He intends to die like the bear in his den," he exclaimed as he +observed the whole of the Gothic defences from his litter at Nuceria. +"And many of you, my dear wolves," he added, turning with a smile to +Alboin, "will fall under the blows of this bear's paws when you try to +trot through those narrow entrances." + +"Oho! It is only necessary to let so many run in at once that the bear +gets both paws full and is not able to strike again." + +"Softly, softly! I know of a pass on Vesuvius--long ago, when I still +nursed my miserable body hoping to restore its strength, I spent weeks +together upon Mons Lactarius, in order to enjoy the pure air, and at +that time I firmly impressed upon my memory the pass I speak of; from +that pass--if the Goths get into it--only famine can drive them out." + +"That will be tiresome!" + +"There is nothing else for it. I have no desire once more to sacrifice +a myriad of imperial troops in order to stamp out these last sparks." + +And so it happened. Very gradually, gaining each forward step only at a +great and bloody loss, did Narses draw his net tighter and more tightly +together. He surrounded in a semicircle every point of the Gothic +position, on west, north, and east; only on the south, the sea-side, +where he himself had encamped on the strand, was he able to leave a +space undefended, for the enemy had no ships whereon to fly or +wherewith to procure provisions. + +The "Tyrrhenian" fleet of Narses was already occupied in carrying the +captive Goths to Byzantium; the "Ionian" was shortly expected; a few +vessels had been sent to cruise in the Bay of Bajæ and opposite +Surrentum. Thus Narses, notwithstanding his great superiority, only +gradually occupied, with obstinate patience and forgetting nothing, +Piscinula, Cimiterium, Nola, Summa, Melane, Nuceria, Stabiæ, Cumæ, +Bajæ, Misenum, Puteoli, and Nesis. And presently Neapolis also became +alarmed at the power of Narses, and voluntarily opened to him its +gates. + +From all sides the Byzantines advanced concentrically towards the +Gothic position. After many furious battles the Byzantines succeeded in +driving the Goths away from Mons Lactarius and over the river Draco; +where the rest of the nation encamped upon a level plain above the pass +so highly praised by Narses, in the immediate vicinity of one of the +numerous craters which, at that time, surrounded the foot of the +principal cone; only rarely, when the wind blew from the south-east, +suffering from the smoke and sulphurous exhalations of the volcano. + +Here, in the innumerable hollows and ravines of the mountain, the +unarmed people encamped under the open sky, or under the tents and +wagons which they had brought with them, in the warm August air. + +"The only access to this encampment," writes Procopius, "could be +obtained by a narrow pass, the southern opening of which was so small +that a man holding a shield could completely block it up." + +This opening was guarded day and night, each man occupying it for an +hour, by King Teja himself, Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth, Earl Grippa, +Earl Wisand, Aligern, Ragnaris, and Wachis. Behind them the pass was +filled by a hundred warriors, who relieved each other at intervals. + +And so, in accordance with the system pursued by Narses, the whole +terrible war, the struggle for Rome and Italy, had been dramatically +reduced to a point; to a battle for a ravine of a foot or two wide on +the southern point of the so dearly-loved, so obstinately-defended +peninsula. Even in the historical representation of Procopius, the fate +of the Goths resembles the last act of a grand and awful tragedy. + +On the shore, opposite to the hill from which the pass was approached, +Narses had pitched his tents with the Longobardians; on his right +Johannes; on his left Cethegus. + +The Prefect drew the attention of his tribunes to the fact that Narses, +by the cession of this position--Cethegus himself had chosen it--had +given either a proof of great imprudence or of complete inoffensiveness +of intention, "for," said Cethegus, "with this position he has left +open the way to Rome, which he could easily have prevented, by giving +me the command of the right wing or of the centre. Hold yourselves in +readiness to start secretly and at night with all the Isaurians, as +soon as a sign is made by Rome." + +"And you?" asked Licinius anxiously. + +"I remain here with the dreaded commander. If he had wished to murder +me--he could have done so long ago. But it is evident that he has no +such intention. He will not act against me without just cause. And if I +obey the call of the Romans, I do not break, I fulfil, our agreement." + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +Above the narrow pass on Vesuvius, which we will call the Ravine of the +Goths, a small but deep chasm had been formed by the black blocks of +lava. Within it King Teja had concealed the most sacred possession of +the nation--the corpse of King Theodoric and the royal treasure. +Theodoric's banner was fixed before the mouth of this chasm. + +A purple mantle, stretched upon four spears, formed the dark curtain to +the rocky chamber which the last King of the Goths had chosen for his +royal hall. A block of lava, covered with the skin of the black tiger, +formed his last throne. + +Here King Teja rested, when not called away by his jealously-held post +at the southern entrance of the Ravine of the Goths; upon which, now +from a distance with arrows, slings, and hurling--spears, now close at +hand in a bold and sudden attack, the outposts of Narses commenced +their assaults. None of the brave guardians returned home without +bringing tokens of such attacks upon shield and armour, or leaving +signs at the entrance of the ravine, in the form of slain enemies. + +This happened so frequently, that the stench arising from the decay of +the bodies threatened to render any further sojourn in the ravine +impossible. Narses seemed to have counted upon this circumstance, for, +when Basiliskos lamented the useless sacrifice, he said, "Perhaps our +slain soldiers will be more useful after death than during their life." +But King Teja ordered that the bodies should be thrown by night over +the lava cliffs; so that, horribly mutilated, they seemed a warning to +all who should attempt to follow their example. Seeing this, Narses +begged to be allowed to send unarmed men to fetch away the bodies, a +favour which King Teja immediately granted. + +Since retiring into this ravine, the Goths had not lost a single man in +fight; for only the foremost man in the pass was exposed to the enemy, +and, supported by the comrades who stood behind him, this guardian had +never yet been killed. + +One night, after sunset--it was now the month of September, and all +traces of the battle at Taginæ were already obliterated; the flowers +planted by Cassiodorus and the nuns of the cloister round the +sarcophagi of King Totila, his bride, and his friend, had put forth new +shoots--King Teja, who had just been relieved from his post by Wisand, +approached his lava hall, his spear upon his shoulder. Before the +curtain which closed the entrance to his rocky chamber, Adalgoth +received Teja with a sad smile, and, kneeling, offered to him a golden +goblet. + +"Let me still fulfil my office of cup-bearer," he said; "who knows how +long it may last?" + +"Not much longer!" said Teja gravely, as he seated himself. "We will +remain here, outside the curtain. Look! how magnificently the bay and +the coast of Surrentum shine in the glowing light left by the setting +sun--the blue sea is changed to crimson blood! Truly, the Southland +could afford no more beauteous frame with which to enclose the +last battle of the Goths. Well, may the picture be worthy of its +setting! The end is coming. How wonderfully everything that I +foreboded--dreamed, and sang--has been fulfilled!" + +And the King supported his head upon both his hands. Only when the +silver tones of a harp was heard, did he again look up. Adalgoth had, +unseen, fetched the King's small harp from behind the curtain. + +"Thou shalt hear," he said, "how I have completed thy song of the +Ravine; or I might have said, how it has completed itself. Dost thou +remember that night in the wilderness of ivy, marble, and laurel in +Rome? It was not a battle already fought, a battle of ancient days, of +which thou didst sing. No! in a spirit of prophecy, thou hast sung our +last heroic battle here." And he played and sang: + + "Where arise the cliffs of lava, + On Vesuvius' glowing side, + Tones of deepest woe and wailing, + Evening's peace and calm deride. + For the brave dead's direst curses + Rest upon the rocky tomb, + Where the Gothic hero-nation + Will fulfil their glorious doom." + +"Yes," said Teja, "glorious, my Adalgoth! Of that glory no fate and no +Narses shall deprive us. The awful judgment, which our beloved Totila +challenged, has fallen heavily upon himself, his people, and his God. +No Heavenly Father has, as that noble man imagined, weighed our +destinies in a just balance. We fall by the thousand treacheries of the +Italians and the Byzantines, and by the brute superiority of numbers. +But _how_ we fall, unshaken, proud even in our decay, can be decided by +no fate, but only by our own worth. And after us? Who after us will +rule in this land? Not for long these wily Greeks--and not the native +strength of the Italians. Numerous tribes of Germans still exist on the +other side of the mountains--and I nominate them our heirs and our +avengers." + +And he softly took up the harp which Adalgoth had laid down, and sang +in a low voice as he looked down upon the rapidly darkening sea. The +stars glittered over his head; and at rare intervals he struck a chord. + + "Extinguished is the brightest star + Of our Germanic race! + O Dietrich, thou beloved of Bern, + Thy shield is bruised, defaced. + Unblemished truth and courage fail-- + The coward wins--the noble fly; + Rascals are lords of all the world-- + Up, Goths, and let us die! + + "O wicked Rome, O southern gleam, + O lovely, heavenly blue! + O rolling blood-stained Tiber-stream-- + O Southerns, all untrue! + Still cherishes the North its sons + Of courage true and high; + Vengeance will roll its thunders soon-- + Then, up! and let us die!" + +"The melody pleases me," said Adalgoth; "but is it already finished? +What is the end?" + +"'The end can only be sung in time to the stroke of the sword," said +Teja. "Soon, methinks, thou wilt also hear this end." And he rose +from his seat. "Go, my Adalgoth," he said; "leave me alone. I have +already kept thee far too long from"--and he smiled through all his +sadness--"from the loveliest of all duchesses. You have but few of +such evening hours to spend together, my poor children! If I could but +save your young and budding lives----" He passed his hand across his +brow. "Folly!" he then cried; "you are but a part of the doomed +nation--perhaps the loveliest." + +Adalgoth's eyes had filled with tears as the King mentioned his young +wife. He now went up to Teja and laid his hand inquiringly upon his +shoulder. + +"Is there no hope? She is so young!" + +"None," answered Teja; "for no saving angel will come down from heaven. +We have still a few days before famine commences its inroads. Then I +will make a speedy end. The warriors shall sally forth and fall in +battle." + + +"And the women, the children--the defenceless thousands?" + +"I cannot help them. I am no god. But not a Gothic woman or maiden need +fall into slavery under the Byzantines, unless they choose shame +instead of a free death. Look there, my Adalgoth--in the dark night the +glow of the mountain is fully seen. Seest thou, there, a hundred paces +to the right.--Ha! how splendidly the fiery smoke rushes from the +gloomy mouth!--When the last guardian of the pass has fallen--one leap +into that abyss--and no insolent Roman hand shall touch our pure women. +Thinking of _them_--more than of us, for we can fall anywhere thinking +of the Gothic women, I chose for our last battle-field--Vesuvius!" + +And Adalgoth, no longer weeping, but with enthusiasm, threw himself +into Teja's arms. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +A few days after Cethegus had taken up his chosen position on the left +of Narses with his mercenaries, the report came to the camp of the +Byzantines that the Goths in the Mausoleum of Hadrian had been +overpowered. + +So now all Rome was in the hands of the Romans; not a single Goth, and, +as Cethegus exultingly thought, not a single Byzantine, ruled in his +Rome. + +If he could now succeed in throwing his Isaurians, under the command of +the tribunes, into Rome, the Prefect would be in a much more favourable +position, opposed to Narses, than he had ever been opposed to +Belisarius, with whom he had been obliged to share the possession of +the city. + +One of the messengers who had brought the news from Rome, at the same +time gave to Aulus, the hostage, a letter from the two centurions, the +brothers Macer, which ran thus: "The bride has recovered from her long +sickness; if the bridegroom will come, there is nothing more to hinder +the wedding. Come, Aulus." + +These were the words fixed upon. Cethegus communicated them to his +Roman knights. + +"Excellent!" cried Lucius. "Now I shall be able to place a monument +upon the spot where my brave brother fell for Rome and for Cethegus." + +"Yes," said Salvius Julianus, "imprescriptible is the Romans' right to +Rome." + +"But if we are to go secretly, see to it well, Prefect," said Piso, +"that our departure is concealed so long from the greatest cripple of +all times, that it will be impossible for him to overtake us." + +"No," said Cethegus, "you shall not depart in secret. I have convinced +myself that this most prudent of all heroes has placed outposts far +beyond our position on the left wing. What we considered our outposts +are hemmed round by _his_--occupied by his Longobardian wolves, whom he +has placed in all directions. Without his consent, you cannot manage +your departure either by force or deception. It will be far wiser to +act openly. If he chooses, he can frustrate our plan, for, in any case, +he is sure to hear of it. But he will have nothing to say against +it--you will see! I shall tell him of my resolution, and, depend upon +it, he will approve of it." + +"General, that is very bold; it is great!" + +"It is the only possible way." + +"Yes, you are right," said Salvius Julianus, after a few moments' +reflection. "Force and deception are equally impossible; and should +Narses consent, I will willingly confess that my fears----" + +"Were founded upon an over-estimation of the _statesman_ Narses. +Large numbers have intimidated you, and the certainly not to be +over-estimated _general-ship_ of the sick man. I confess that before +the battle of Taginæ the whole horizon threatened thunderstorms; but, +as I am still alive, those appearances must have been illusive. I will +at once send you with my inquiry to Narses. You are suspicious, you +will therefore observe sharply. Go, tell him that the Romans have +resolved to admit me, their Prefect, within their walls _now_, before +the annihilation of Teja's army. And I wish to know if he will permit +you to march to Rome with my Isaurians, or if he would consider such an +act as a breach of our agreement. Against his will neither I nor the +Isaurians will set forth." + +The two tribunes took leave, and, as he stepped out of the Prefect's +tent, Piso said with a laugh to the others: + +"The crutch of Narses rendered your wits useless, longer than the stick +of the shepherd did my fingers!" + +When they were well outside, Syphax hurried up to his master. + +"O master," he said, "do not trust this sick man with his quiet and +impenetrable looks! Last night I again questioned my snake oracle. I +divided the skin of my idol into two pieces, and laid them upon live +coals. The piece which I called 'Narses' outlasted by far the piece +which I called 'Cethegus.' Shall I not make the attempt? You know that +a scratch with this dagger, and he is lost! What would it matter if +they impaled Syphax, the son of Hiempsal? I cannot do it by stealth, +for the Longobardian prince sleeps in the tent of Narses, in a bed +stretched across the entrance, and seven of his 'little wolves' lie +upon the threshold. The Herulians stand outside the curtain. According +to your hint, I have watched Narses' tent at night ever since we left +Helvillum. Even a gnat can scarcely escape the vigilance of the +Herulians and Longobardians when it flies into the tent. But openly, by +day, one spring into his litter--a scratch of the skin--and he is a +dead man in a quarter of an hour!" + +"And before that time has elapsed, not only is Syphax, the son of +Hiempsal, a corpse, but also Cethegus. No. But listen; I have +discovered where the commander is accustomed to hold his secret +conversations with Basiliskos and Alboin. Not in his tent--a camp has a +thousand ears--but in the bath. The physicians have ordered Narses a +morning bath in the bay at Stabiæ, and he has had a bath-house built +out into the sea, which can only be reached in a boat. When Alboin and +Basiliskos accompany him thither, they are only as wise as--well, as +Basiliskos and Alboin. But when they return, they are full of the +wisdom of Narses; they know what letters have come from Byzantium, and +many other things. Round about the bath-house there is much seaweed. +Syphax, for how long a time can you dive?" + +"As long," answered the slave, not without pride, "as the clumsy and +suspicious crocodile in our streams takes to observe the gazelle which +has been thrown into the reeds as a bait, and to make up his mind to +swim to it--then a knife from below in his belly! This small-eyed +Narses has something of the crocodile--we will see if I cannot outdo +him by patient diving." + +"Excellent! my panther on shore, my diving duck in the water!" + +"I would leap into fire for your sake, then you would call me your +'salamander.'" + +"Well, you must manage to listen to the conversation of this sick man +when he goes to bathe." + +"The office will very well suit another game which I have on hand. For +many days a fisherman, who throws his net every morning and evening, +and never catches anything, has been signing and winking to me in a +very innocent-sly manner. I believe he is watching for me, and not for +sea mullets. But the long-bearded wolves of this Alboin are always at +my heels. Perhaps, when I dive into the water, I shall be able to catch +up what this fisherman wishes to confide to me." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Very gravely, but no more in a melting mood, Adalgoth told his young +wife of the resolve of the King, and of the last alternative between +death and a shameful slavery. + +He expected an outbreak of wild grief, such as it had been so difficult +even for him to repress. But, to his astonishment, Gotho remained +unshaken. + +"I have foreseen this long ago, my Adalgoth! It is no misfortune; to +lose what we love, and still live, that alone is a misfortune. I have +attained to the highest earthly bliss, I am thy wife. Whether I shall +have been so for ten years or for twenty, or for scarcely half a year, +alters nothing. At least we shall die together on the same day, +possibly at the same hour. For King Teja will not forbid thee--when +thou hast done thy part in the last battle, and, perhaps wounded, canst +fight no longer--he will not forbid thee to come and take me in thine +arms--how often hast thou carried me on the Iffinger!--and leap with me +into the abyss. Oh, Adalgoth!" she cried, passionately embracing him, +"how happy we have been! We will show that we were worthy of such +bliss, by dying bravely, without cowardly lament. The scion of the +Balthe," and she smiled, "shall not say that the shepherd's daughter +could not keep pace with his nobility. There arises in my soul a vision +of the grandeur of our mountains! My grandfather, Iffa, admonished me, +when I left him, to call to mind the fresh and free air of our +mountains, and the strict and noble severity of the proud heights, +should ever life in the narrow, small, gilded chambers here below +seem too paltry for our souls. We have not been menaced with that, but +now, when it is necessary to raise our minds from timid, tender +sorrow--which almost crept over me--and to gain strength for a noble +resolve, the remembrance of my native mountains has made me strong. +'Shame on thee,' I said to myself, 'shame on thee, daughter of the +mountains! What would the Iffinger, and the Wolfshead, and all the +stony giants say, if they saw the shepherdess despair? Be worthy of thy +mountains and of thy hero husband.'" + +Adalgoth pressed his young wife to his bosom, with mingled pride and +joy. + +Behind the tent of the Duke lay the low hut, made of dried branches, +where dwelt Wachis and Liuta. Liuta, who had heard from Gotho what fate +menaced them, had been obliged to use all her powers of persuasion upon +her husband (who sat shaking his head and hammering and patching his +shield, which had been sadly defaced, by Longobardian arrows in the +last watch he had held at the mouth of the pass, and who now began to +whistle to hide his suppressed sobs) before she could raise him to a +like enthusiasm of renunciation. + +"I do not think," said the honest man, "that the Lord of heaven can see +it done. I am one of those who never like to say, 'All is over!' The +proud ones, those who hold their heads high, like King Teja and Duke +Adalgoth, certainly run constantly against the beams of fate. But we +small people, who can stoop and bend, easily find a mouse-hole or a +chink in the wall by which to escape. It is too vile! miserable! cruel! +rascally!"--and each word was accompanied by a sounding stroke with his +hammer. "I will not believe it! I cannot believe that hundreds of good +women, pretty girls, lisping children, and stammering old men, must +jump into the hellish fire of this accursed mountain! As if it were but +a merry bonfire! As if they would come out at the other side safe and +sound! I might just as well have let thee burn in the house at Fæsulæ. +And not only thou must burn, but also our expected child, whom I have +already named Witichis." + +"Or Rauthgundis," said Liuta, blushing, as she bent over her husband's +shoulder and stopped his hammering. "Let this name admonish thee, +Wachis! Think of our beloved mistress. Was she not a thousand times +better than Liuta, the poor maid-servant? And would she have hesitated +or refused to die on the same day with all her people?" + +"Thou art right, wife!" exclaimed Wachis, with a last furious stroke of +his hammer. "Thou knowest I am a peasant, and peasants do not at all +like to die. But if the heavens fall, they strike down peasants as well +as others; and before it happens--ha-ha!--I will deal many a famous +stroke! That would please Sir Witichis and Mistress Rauthgundis right +well also. In honour of them--yes, thou art right, Liuta--we will live +bravely--and, if it cannot be otherwise, bravely die!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +It was with most joyful surprise that the two tribunes, Licinius and +Julianus, entered the tent of the Prefect after their interview with +Narses. + +"Once again you have conquered, O Cethegus!" cried Licinius. + +"You have got the upper hand, Prefect of Rome," said Salvius Julianus. +"I do not understand it, but Narses really abandons Rome to you." + +"Ha!" cried Piso, who had entered with the others, "that is your old +Cæsarian luck, Cethegus! Your star, which has seemed to wane since this +famous cripple's arrival, shines anew. It seems to me that sometimes +his _mind_ suffers from attacks of epilepsy. For, with a sound mind, +how could he quietly let you enter Rome? No! Quem deus vult perdere +dementat! Now will Quintus Piso again wander through the Forum, and +look into the book-stalls to see if the Goths have assiduously bought +his 'Epistolas ad amabilissimum, carissimum pastorem Adalgothum et ejus +pedum'--(Letters to the very amiable and greatly beloved shepherd-boy, +Adalgoth, and his bludgeon)." + +"So you have composed in exile, like Ovidius?" asked Cethegus, smiling. + +"Yes," answered Piso. "The six-footed verses come more readily, since +they no longer need to fear the Goths, who are a foot longer. And amid +the noise of Gothic banquetings it would not be easy to compose, even +in time of peace." + +"He has composed some merry verses, intermixed with Gothic words, on +that subject too," said Salvius Julianus. "How does it begin, 'Inter +hails Gothicum skapja'----" + +"Do not wrong my words! It is not permitted to quote falsely what is +immortal." + +"Well, how go the verses?" asked Cethegus. + +"Thus," said Piso: + + "De conviviis barbarorum. + Inter: 'Hails Gothicum! skapja matjan jah drinkan!' + Non audet quisquam dignos educere versus: + Calliope madido trepidat se jungere Baccho, + Ne pedibus non stet ebria Musa suis." + +"Horrible poetry!" exclaimed Salvius Julianus. + +"Who knows," said Piso, laughing, "whether the thirst of the Goths will +not become immortal through these verses?" + +"But now tell me exactly what Narses answered?" said Cethegus. + +"First he listened to us with great incredulity," replied Licinius, "He +asked suspiciously, 'Is it possible that the prudent Romans can again +beg for an Isaurian garrison and the Prefect, whom they have to thank +for so much famine and unwilling valour?' But I answered that he +under-rated the patriotism of the Romans, and that it was your affair +if you had deceived yourself. If the Romans did not voluntarily admit +us, your seven thousand men were too weak to storm the city. This +seemed to convince him. He only required our promise that, if we were +not admitted voluntarily, we would at once return here." + +"And we thought we might well venture to promise this in your name," +concluded Julianus. + +"You were right," said Cethegus, with a smile. + +"Narses then said that he would not hinder us if the Romans liked to +have us. And he is so completely harmless," Licinius went on, "that he +does not seem to wish to detain you, even as a hostage; for he inquired +when the Prefect would start. Therefore he must have taken it for +granted that you would lead the Isaurians to Rome yourself. And he has +nothing to say against that either. He was evidently surprised when I +answered that you preferred to witness here the destruction of the +Goths." + +"Well," said Cethegus, "where, then, is this terrible Narses, the great +statesman! Even my friend Procopius sadly over-rated him, when he once +named him to me as the greatest man of the time." + +"The greatest man of the time is--some one else," cried Licinius. + +"It was natural that Procopius should give the palm to the superior +enemy of his Belisarius. But one almost ought to take advantage of the +clumsy blunder made by the 'greatest man,'" continued Cethegus +reflectively. "The gods might be angry if we did not make use of the +miracle of infatuation which they have accomplished for us. I alter my +resolution; I long to get to the Capitol; I will go with you to Rome. +Syphax, we will start--at once! Saddle my horse!" + +But Syphax gave his master a warning look. + +"Leave me, tribunes!" said Cethegus, "I will recall you directly." + +"O sir!" cried Syphax eagerly, as soon as they were alone, "do not go +to-day! Send the others on in advance. To-morrow early I shall fish two +great secrets out of the sea. Diving under his boat, I have already +spoken to the fisherman I mentioned. He is no fisher, he is a slave, a +post-slave belonging to Procopius." + +"What do you say?" asked Cethegus hastily and in a low tone. + +"We could only exchange a few words in a whisper. The Longobardians +stood on the shore watching us. Seven letters from Procopius, sent +either openly or secretly, have never reached you. He therefore chose +this clever messenger, who will fish to-night by moonlight and give me +the letter. He had not brought it with him to-day. And to-morrow +early--to-day he was too ill--Narses will again bathe in the sea. I +have found a hiding-place among the weeds; quite close. And should they +chance to see bubbles rising from the water, I can whistle like an +otter. I saw the imperial post arrive with well-filled mail-bags. +Basiliskos took them. Do but wait until to-morrow early; Narses will be +sure to talk over the latest secrets from Byzantium with Basiliskos and +Alboin. Or at least leave me here alone----" + +"No, that would be at once to betray you as a spy. You are worth more +than ten times your weight in gold, Syphax!--I shall remain here till +to-morrow," he continued, as the tribunes again entered. + +"Oh, come with us!" begged Licinius. + +"Away from the oppressive influence of this Narses!" added Julianus. + +But Cethegus frowned. + +"Does he still over-top me in your eyes, this fool, who allows Cethegus +to escape from his well-guarded camp to Rome; who throws the fish out +of his net into the water? Verily, he has too much intimidated you! +To-morrow evening I will follow you. I have still some business to +transact here, which no one but myself can complete. Meanwhile, if Rome +does not resist, you can occupy it without me. But I shall surely +overtake you at Terracina. If not, march into Rome. You, Licinius, will +keep the Capitol for me." + +With sparkling eyes Licinius exclaimed: "You honour me highly, my +general! I will answer for the Capitol with my life! May I venture a +petition?" + +"Well?" + +"Do not expose yourself foolhardily to the spear of the Gothic King! +The day before yesterday he hurled two spears at once at you; one in +each hand. If I had not caught the one from his left hand upon my +shield----" + +"Then, Licinius, the Jupiter of the Capitol would have blown it aside +before it struck me. For the god still needs me. But you mean well." + + +"Do not widow Roma!" persisted Lucius. + +Cethegus looked at him with the irresistible look of admiring love +which was so winning on _his_ face; and continued, turning to Salvius +Julianus: + +"You, Salvius, will occupy the Mausoleum. And you, Piso, the rest of +the city on the left bank of the Tiber. Particularly the Porta Latina; +through that gate I shall follow you. You will not open to Narses +_alone_, any more than you formerly did to Belisarius alone. Farewell; +salute my Roma for me. Tell her, that the last contest for her +possession, that between Narses and Cethegus, has ended with victory +for Cethegus. We shall meet again in Rome! Roma eterna!" + +"Roma eterna!" repeated the tribunes with enthusiasm, and hurried out. + +"Oh, why was not this Licinius the son of Manilia!" cried Cethegus, +looking after the young men as they departed. "Folly of my heart, why +art thou so obstinate? Licinius, you shall take the place of Julius as +my heir! Oh, would that you were indeed Julius!" + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +The departure of the Prefect for Rome was delayed for many days. +Narses, who invited him to his table, did not indeed seek to keep him +back. He even expressed his astonishment that the "Ruler of the +Capitol" was not more powerfully drawn to the Tiber stream. + +"Certainly," he said with a smile, "I can understand that, as you have +seen these barbarians rule and conquer so long in your Italy, you +desire strongly to see them fall there. But I cannot say how long that +event may yet be put off. The pass cannot be taken by storm as long as +it is defended by men like this King Teja. Already more than a thousand +of my Longobardians, Alamannians, Burgundians, Herulians, Franks, and +Gepidæ have fallen before it." + +"Send for once," interposed Alboin in a vexed tone of voice--"send for +once your brave Romani Against the Goths. The Herulians, Vulkaris and +Wilmuth, fell under King Teja's axe almost as soon as they arrived +here; the Gepidian Asbad, under the spear of that boy Adalgoth; my +cousin Gisulf lies wounded by Duke Guntharis's sword; Wisand, the +standard-bearer, has stabbed the Frank count, Butilin, with the point +of his flagstaff; the old master-at-arms has dashed out the brains of +the Burgundian Gernot with his stone axe; the Alamannian Liuthari was +slain by Earl Grippa, and my shield-bearer, Klaffo, by a common Gothic +soldier. And for every one of these heroes, a dozen of their followers +lie dead also. If, at midnight last night, a block of lava, upon which +I was standing, had not most opportunely slipped down just as King +Teja, who can see in the dark, was hurling his lance at me, Rosamunda +would not be the loveliest woman, but the loveliest widow in the realm +of the Longobardians! As it was I got off with some ugly bruises, which +will not be extolled in future heroic songs, but which I fancy much +more than King Teja's best spear in my stomach. But I think that it is +now the turn of other heroes. Let your Macedonians and Illyrians come +forward. We have shown them often enough how a man can die in front of +that needle's eye." + +"No, my little wolf! Diamond cut diamond!" laughed Narses. "Always +Germans against Germans; there are too many of you in the world!" + +"You seem to have the same fatherly opinion about the Isaurians--at +least about _mine_!--magister militum," said Cethegus. "Shortly before +their departure for Rome, you ordered my Isaurians to storm the pass in +mass--the first storming-party in mass that you had ever ordered! Seven +hundred of my seven thousand remained dead upon those rocks, and +Sandil, my tried and faithful chief, at last found this Black Earl's +axe too sharp for his helmet. He was very valuable to me." + +"Well, the rest are safe in Rome. But nothing except fire can drive +these Goths out of their last hole; unless indeed the earth would do me +the favour to quake, as it did at Ravenna when Belisarius----" + +"Is there still no news of the result of the process against +Belisarius?" asked Cethegus. "Letters came lately from Byzantium, did +they not?" + +"I have not yet read them all.--Or, if not fire--then hunger. And if +they then sally forth for a last battle, many a brave man would rather +hear the murmur of the Ganges than the murmur of the Draco. Not you, +Prefect! I know that you can look boldly into the eye of death." + + +"I will still wait here a little and see how things turn out. It is bad +travelling weather. It storms and rains unceasingly. On the first or +second warm sunshiny day, I will start for Rome." + +It was true. On the night of the departure of the Isaurians, the +weather had suddenly changed. The fisherman, who dwelt in a village +near Stabiæ, could not venture out upon the sea; less on account of the +storm than because of the Longobardians, who had long been watching him +with suspicion, and who had once arrested him. Only when his old father +came forward and proved that Agnellus was really his, the old +fisherman's son, did they hesitatingly let him go free. But he did not +dare to pretend to fish, when no other fisher threw out his nets; and +only far out upon the water could Syphax, who was also closely watched, +venture to communicate with him. + +The exits of all the camps, even of the half-deserted camp of +Cethegus--Narses had placed only three thousand Thracians and Persians +in the tents deserted by the Isaurians--were guarded night and day by +the Longobardians. And Narses was also obliged to postpone his baths +for some days. But for the secrets, namely, the letter from Procopius +and the conversation held by Narses in his bath-house, Cethegus fully +intended to wait. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The usual good luck of the Prefect did not desert him. The weather +changed again. On the morning of the day after his last conversation +with Narses, the sun rose splendidly over the blue and sparkling bay, +and hundreds of small fishing-boats set out to take advantage of the +favourable weather. + +Syphax, yielding his place at the threshold of his master's tent to the +four Isaurians, who alone had remained behind their comrades, had +disappeared at the first approach of dawn. + +When Cethegus had taken his morning bath in an adjoining tent, and was +returning to his breakfast, he heard Syphax making a great noise as he +approached through the lines of tents. + +"No!" he was shouting; "this fish is for the Prefect. I have paid for +it in hard cash. The great Narses will not wish to eat other people's +fish!" + +And with these words he tore himself loose from Alboin, and from +several Longobardians, as well as from a slave belonging to Narses, who +were trying to detain him. + +Cethegus stopped. He recognised the slave. It was the cook of the +generally sick and always temperate general, whose art was scarcely +practised except for his master's guests. + +"Sir," the well-educated Greek said to the Prefect, in his native +language, "do not blame me for this unseemly turmoil. What does a +sea-mullet matter to me! But these long-bearded barbarians forced me to +take possession, at any cost, of this fish-basket, which your slave was +bringing from the boats." + +A glance which Cethegus exchanged with Syphax sufficed. The +Longobardian had not understood what had been said. Cethegus gave +Syphax a blow on the cheek, and cried in Latin: + +"Good-for-nothing, insolent slave! will you never learn manners? Shall +not the sick general have the best there is?" + +And he roughly snatched the basket from the Moor and gave it to the +slave. + +"Here is the basket. I hope Narses will enjoy the fish." + +The slave, who thought he had refused the gift distinctly enough, took +the basket with a shake of his head. + +"What can it all mean?" he asked in Latin as he went away. + +"It means," answered Alboin, who followed him, "that the best fish is +_not_ hidden in the basket, but somewhere else." + +As soon as Syphax entered the tent, he eagerly felt in his waterproof +belt of crocodile-skin for a roll of papyrus, which he handed to the +Prefect. + +"You bleed, Syphax!" + +"Only slightly. The Longobardians pretended, when they saw me swimming +in the water, to take me for a dolphin, and shot their arrows at me." + +"Nurse yourself--a solidus for every drop of your blood!--the letter is +worth blood and gold, as it seems. Nurse yourself! and bid the +Isaurians let no one enter." + +And now, alone in his tent, the Prefect began to read. + +His features grew darker and darker. Ever deeper became the wrinkle in +the centre of his mighty forehead; ever more harshly and firmly +compressed his lips. + +"To Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius, the Ex-prefect and ex-friend, +Procopius of Cæsarea, for the last time. This is the most sorrowful +business for which I have ever used either my former or my present +pen-hand. And I would gladly give this my left hand, as I gave my right +for Belisarius, if I need not write this letter. The revocation and +renunciation of our friendship of thirty years! In this unheroic time I +believed in two heroes; the hero of the sword, Belisarius; and the hero +of the intellect, Cethegus. In future I must hate, and almost despise, +the latter." + +The reader threw the letter on the couch upon which he lay. Then he +took it up again with a frown and read on: + +"Nothing more was wanting but that Belisarius should prove to be the +traitor that you would have represented him to be. But his innocence is +as clearly proved as your black falsehood. I had often felt uneasy at +the crookedness of your ways, into which you had partly led me also; +but I believed in the grandeur and unselfishness of your design: the +liberation of Italy! Now, however, I see that the mainspring of your +actions was measureless, unlimited, merciless ambition! A design which +necessitates such means as you have used is desecrated in my eyes for +ever. You tried to ruin Belisarius, that brave and simple-minded man, +by means of his own repentant wife, and to sacrifice him to Theodora +and to your own ambition. That was devilish; and I turn away from you +for ever." + +Cethegus closed his eyes. + +"I ought not to wonder at it," he said to himself. "He too has his +idol: Belisarius! Whoever touches that idol is as hateful to the wise +Procopius as he who sees in the Cross merely a piece of wood is to the +Christian. Therefore I ought not to wonder at it--but it pains me! Such +is the power of a thirty years' habit. During all those years a warmer +feeling came over my heart at the sound of the name, Procopius! How +weak does custom make us! The Goth deprived me of Julius--Belisarius +deprives me of Procopius! Who will deprive me of Cethegus, my oldest +and last friend? No one. Neither Narses nor Fate. Away with you, +Procopius, out of the circle of my life! Almost too lachrymose, +certainly too long, is the funeral speech which I have held over you. +What else does the dead man say?" + +And he continued to read: + +"But I write this letter, because I wish to close our long +friendship--to which you have put an end by your treacherous attack +upon my hero, Belisarius--with a last sign of affection. I wish to warn +and to save you, if it yet be possible. Seven letters which I sent you +have evidently never reached you, otherwise you would not still be +dwelling in the camp of Narses, as his army-reports affirm. So I will +entrust this eighth letter to my slave, Agnellus, a fisherman's son +from Stabiæ, where you are now encamped. I will give him his freedom, +and recommend this letter to him as my last commission. For, although I +ought to hate you, I still love you, Cethegus! It is hard to abandon +you, and I would gladly save you. When, shortly after your departure, I +returned to Byzantium--already on the way the news of the arrest +of Belisarius (on account of treachery!) came upon me like a +thunderbolt--I believed at first that you, like the Emperor, had been +deceived. In vain I tried to gain a hearing from Justinian; he raged +against all who had ever been united in ties of friendship to +Belisarius. In vain I strove to see Antonina by every means in my +power. She was strictly guarded (thanks to your hints) in the Red +House. In vain I proved to Tribonianus the impossibility of treachery +on the part of Belisarius. He shrugged his shoulders and said: 'I +cannot comprehend it! But the proof is striking; this senseless denial +of the visits of Anicius. He is lost!' And he was lost. The sentence +was pronounced; Belisarius was condemned to death; Antonina to +banishment. The Emperor mercifully _mitigated_ the sentence of +Belisarius into banishment--far from Antonina's exile--the loss of +sight, and confiscation of his property. This terrible judgment lay +heavy upon all Byzantium. No one believed in the guilt of Belisarius +except the Emperor and the judges. But no one was able to prove his +innocence, or change his fate. I was resolved to go with him into +banishment; the one-armed with the blind. Then--and may he be blessed +for it for ever!--his great enemy, Narses, saved him! He whom I once +named to you as the greatest man of the age." + +"To be sure," said Cethegus to himself, "and now he will also be the +most magnanimous." + +"As soon as the news reached him in the Baths of Nikomedia--whither the +sick man had repaired--he hurried back to Byzantium. He sent for me and +said: 'You know well that it would have been my greatest pleasure to +beat Belisarius thoroughly in the open field; but he who has been my +great and noble rival shall not perish miserably because of these lies. +Come with me. We two--his greatest friend and his greatest enemy--will +together save that impetuous man.' And he demanded an audience of the +Emperor, which was at once granted to the enemy of Belisarius. Then he +said to Justinian: 'It is impossible that Belisarius is a traitor. His +only failing is his blind fidelity to your ingratitude.' But Justinian +was deaf. Then Narses laid his marshal's staff at the Emperor's feet +and said: 'Well, either you will annul the sentence of the judges, and +permit a new inquiry, or you will lose both your generals on one day. +For, on the same day that Belisarius goes into exile, I go too. Then +see to it, who will guard your doors from the Goths, Persians, and +Saracens.' And the Emperor hesitated, and demanded three days' time for +consideration, and meanwhile Narses was to be allowed to look through +the papers in company with me, and to speak to Anicius and all +concerned. I soon perceived from the papers that the worst proof +against Belisarius--for I hoped to be able to explain away the consent +which he had written upon the tablet found in the house of Photius--was +the secret and midnight visits of Anicius, which Belisarius, Antonina, +and Anicius himself, obstinately and unreasonably denied. I then spoke +to Antonina in private. I told her that these visits and their denial +would be the ruin of Belisarius. Then she cried with sparkling eyes: +'Then I alone will be ruined, and Belisarius shall be saved! He really +knew nothing of these visits, for Anicius did not come to him--he came +to me. All the world shall know it--even Belisarius! He may kill me, +but he shall be saved!' And she gave me a little bundle of letters from +Anicius, which, certainly, when laid before the Emperor, would explain +everything, but would also accuse the _Empress_ in a terrible manner. +And how firmly stood Theodora at that time in the esteem of Justinian! +I hastened with these letters to Narses. He read them through and said, +'In this case, either Belisarius and all of us are ruined--or the +beautiful she-devil will fall! It is for life or death! First come with +me to Antonina once more.' And, accompanied by guards, and taking +Antonina with us, we hastened to Anicius, who was slowly recovering +from his wound in prison." + +Cethegus stamped his foot; but he read on: + +"And then we all four went to Justinian. The magnanimous sinner, +Antonina, confessed upon her knees the nightly meetings with Anicius, +which, however, she had only encouraged in order to deliver the youth +from the toils of the Empress. She gave the Emperor the letters of +Anicius, which spoke of the seductress, of her manifold arts, of the +secret passage to her chamber, and of the turning statue. The poor +Emperor broke out into a fearful rage; he would have arrested us all +upon the spot for leze majesty, for unlimited calumny. But Belisarius +said, 'Do that--to-morrow! But this evening, when the Empress sleeps, +let Anicius and me lead you through the turning statue into the chamber +of your wife, seize her letters, confront her with Antonina and +Anicius, subject the old witch Galatea to the torture, and then see if +you do not learn much more than you will like to hear. And if we have +deceived ourselves, punish us to-morrow as you like!' The turning, +statue! that was so palpable! The assurance of Anicius, that he had +often passed this secret door, was so provoking! Such things could +scarcely be invented. Justinian accepted our proposition. That very +night Anicius led the Emperor and us three into the garden adjoining +the Empress's apartments. A hollow plantain-tree concealed the mouth of +the subterranean passage which ended under the mosaic of Theodora's +ante-room. Until then, Justinian had still preserved his belief in the +Empress. But when Anicius pushed a marble slab to one side, and opened +a secret lock with a secret key that he had fetched from his house, and +the statue became visible, the Emperor, half fainting, sank back into +my arms. At last he roused himself, and pressed forward alone past the +statue into the chamber. Twilight filled the room. The dimly burning +lamp shone over the couch of Theodora. The poor befooled man went up to +her with a stealthy and unsteady step. There lay Theodora, fully +dressed in imperial garments. A shrill cry from the Emperor called us +to his side, and also Galatea from an adjoining chamber, whom I +immediately seized. Justinian, stiff with horror, pointed to the +couch--we stepped forward--the Empress was dead! Galatea, not less +startled than we, fell into convulsions. Meanwhile, we searched the +room, and found, upon a golden tripod, the ashes of numerous rolls of +parchment. Anicius called for slaves and lights. By this time Galatea +had recovered, and, wringing her hands, told how the Empress had left +her rooms towards evening--about the time of our audience--without +attendants, in order to visit the Emperor, as she frequently did at +that hour. She had returned almost immediately, very quiet, but +strikingly pale. She had ordered the tripod to be filled with glowing +coals, and had then locked herself up in her room. When Galatea knocked +some time later, she had answered that she had gone to rest, and +required nothing more. On hearing this, the Emperor threw himself again +upon the beloved corpse; and now, by the light of the lamps which had +been brought, he saw that the little ruby capsule, containing poison, +in the ring which had once belonged to Cleopatra, and which Theodora +wore upon her little finger, had been opened--the Empress had killed +herself! Upon the lemonwood table lay a strip of parchment, upon which +was written her favourite motto: 'To live is to rule by means of +beauty.' We were still in doubt whether it was the tortures of her +malady or the discovery of her threatened fall which had driven her to +this desperate deed. But our doubts were soon solved. When the news of +Theodora's death spread through the palace, Theophilos, the Emperor's +door-keeper, hurried, half desperate, into the chamber of death, threw +himself at the Emperor's feet, and confessed that he guessed the +connection. He had been for years in the secret service of the Empress, +and every time that the Emperor held an audience to which he had given +orders that the Empress was not to be admitted, he (the doorkeeper) had +apprised the latter of it. She had then almost always heard the most +secret councils of the Emperor from a hiding-place in the doorway of an +adjacent chamber. Thus yesterday he had, as usual, informed the Empress +that we were to have an audience, to which he had been particularly +ordered not to admit her. Presently she had entered her hiding-place, +but she had scarcely heard a few words spoken by Antonina and Anicius, +when, with a smothered cry, she had sank half fainting behind the +curtains; but, quickly rising, she had made a sign to him to keep +silence, and then disappeared.--Narses pressed the Emperor to question +Galatea upon the rack, but Justinian said, 'I will inquire no further.' + +"Day and night he remained alone near the corpse of the still beloved +woman, after which he caused her to be interred, with the highest +imperial honours, in the church of St. Sophia. It was officially +published that the Empress had been suffocated by charcoal fumes while +sleeping. The tripod, with the ashes, was publicly exposed. But that +night had made Justinian an old man. The complete agreement of the +evidence of Antonina, Anicius, Belisarius, Photius, the slaves of +Antonina, the litter-bearers who had taken you to Belisarius's house +before his arrest--all fully proved that you, in conjunction with the +Empress, had persuaded Belisarius, through Antonina, to place himself +seemingly at the head of the conspirators; and I swore to the fact that +a few weeks ago he had expressed to me his just anger at the project of +Photius. + +"Justinian hastened to the cell where Belisarius was confined, embraced +him with tears, begged his forgiveness for himself and for Antonina, +who remorsefully confessed all her innocent love-makings, and obtained +full pardon. The Emperor, in atonement, begged Belisarius to accept the +chief command in Italy. But Belisarius said, 'No, Justinian; my work on +earth is finished. I shall retire with Antonina to my most distant +villa in Mesopotamia, and there bury myself and my past. I am cured of +the wish to serve you. If you will grant me a last favour, then give +the command of the army in Italy to my friend and preserver, Narses. He +shall revenge me upon the Goths, and upon that Satan called Cethegus!' +And the two great enemies embraced before our sympathetic eyes. All +this was buried in the deepest secrecy, in order to spare the memory of +the Empress; for Justinian still loves her. It was announced that the +innocence of Belisarius had been fully proved by Narses, Tribonianus, +and me, by means of lately-discovered letters of the conspirators. +Justinian pardoned all who had been sentenced; also Scævola and +Albinus, who were formerly undone by you. But I tell you the whole +truth, in order to warn and save you. For, although I do not know in +what way, I am quite convinced that Justinian has sworn your ruin, and +entrusted your destruction to the hands of Narses. Your design to found +a free and recognised Rome, ruled only by yourself, was madness. To it +you have sacrificed everything--even our fair friendship. I shall +accompany Belisarius and Antonina, and I will try, in the contemplation +of their complete reconciliation and happiness, to forget the disgust, +doubt, and vexation with which all human affairs have filled me." + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Cethegus sprang from his seat, tossed the letter down, and hastily +paced his tent. + +"Feeble creature! and weak-minded Cethegus! to vex yourself that +another soul is lost to you! Had you not lost Julius long before you +killed him? And yet you still live and strive! And this Narses, whom +all fear as if he were God and devil in one--is he, then, really so +dangerous? Impossible! He has blindly entrusted Rome to me and mine. It +is not his fault that I do not defy him at this moment from the +Capitol. Bah! I cannot learn to be afraid in my old days. I trust in my +star! Is it foolhardiness? Is it the calmest wisdom? I do not know; but +it seems to me that confidence like this led Cæsar from victory to +victory! However, I can scarcely learn more from the secret council of +Narses in his bath-house than I have learned from this letter." And he +tore the papyrus roll into small pieces. "I will start this very day, +even if Syphax has overheard nothing at this moment, for I think it is +the hour of the bath." + +Just then Johannes was announced, and, at a sign from Cethegus, was +admitted. + +"Prefect of Rome," said Johannes, "I am come to beg pardon for an old +injury. The pain I felt at the loss of my brother Perseus made me +suspicious." + + +"Let that rest," said Cethegus; "it is forgotten." + +"But I have not forgotten," continued Johannes, "your heroic valour. In +order at once to honour it and profit by it, I come to you with a +proposal. I and my comrades, used to Belisarius's straightforward +attacks, find the caution of the great Narses very tiresome. We have +now been lying for nearly two months before this cursed pass; we lose +men and win no renown. The commander-in-chief will starve the +barbarians out. Who knows how long that may last? And there will be a +fine butchery if, at last driven by despair, the barbarians break out +and sell dearly every drop of their blood! It is clear that if we only +had the mouth of that confounded pass----" + +"Yes, _if_!" said Cethegus, smiling. "It is not ill-defended by this +Teja." + +"Just on that account he must fall! He, the King, is evidently the only +one who holds together the whole loose bundle of spears. Therefore I +and more than a dozen of the best blades in the camp have formed a +league. Whenever it is the King's turn to guard the pass--the approach +is so narrow and steep, that only one at a time can attempt a +hand-to-hand fight--we, one after the other, taking our turns by lot, +will attack him; the others will keep as close as possible to the +foremost combatant, will save him if wounded, step into his place when +he falls, or, if he is victor and slays the Goth, press forward into +the ravine. Besides me, there are the Longobardians Alboin, Gisulf, and +Autharis, the Herulians Rodulf and Suartua, Ardarich the Gepide, +Gunebad the Burgundian, Chlotachar and Bertchramn the Franks, Vadomar +and Epurulf the Alamannians, Garizo the tall Bajuvar, Kabades the +Persian, Althias the Armenian, and Taulantius the Illyrian. We should +much like to have your terrible sword among us. Will you, Cethegus, be +one in our league? I know you hate this black-haired hero." + +"Gladly," said Cethegus, "as long as I am here. But I shall soon +exchange this camp for the Capitol." + +A strange and mocking smile passed across the face of Johannes, which +did not escape Cethegus. But he attributed it to a wrong feeling. + +"You cannot well doubt my courage," he said, "according to your own +words. But there are more important things for me to do than to stamp +out the last glimmering sparks of the Gothic war. The orphaned city +longs for her Prefect. The Capitol beckons me." + + +"The Capitol!" repeated Johannes. "I think, Cethegus, that a heroic +death is also worth something." + +"Yes, when the aim of one's life is reached." + +"But no one knows, O Cethegus, how near he has approached his aim. But, +another thing: it seems to me as if something is in preparation among +the barbarians on their cursed mountain. From the hill near my quarters +we can peep a little, through a gap, over the peaks of the lava. I +should like you to turn your practised eye in that direction. At least, +they shall not surprise us by a sally. Follow me thither. But do not +speak of our league to Narses; he does not approve of such things. I +purposely chose the hour of his bath for my visit to you." + +"I will come," said Cethegus. + +He finished putting on his armour, and, after vainly inquiring for +Syphax of the Isaurian sentry, went with Johannes through his own and +the central camp of Narses, and finally turned into that on the right +wing--the camp of Johannes. + +Upon the crown of the little hill mentioned by Johannes stood a great +many officers, who were eagerly looking through a small gap in the lava +into the portion of the Gothic encampment visible to them. + +When Cethegus had looked for some time, he cried: + +"There is no doubt about it! They are evacuating this easternmost part +of their position; they are pushing the wagons, which were drawn +together, apart, and dragging them farther to the right, to the west. +That must mean concentration; perhaps a sally." + +"What do you think, Johannes?" quietly asked a young captain, who had +evidently only lately arrived from Byzantium, and who was a stranger to +Cethegus, "what do you think? Could not the new catapults reach the +barbarians from the point of that rock? I mean the last inventions of +Martinus--such as my brother took to Rome." + +"_To Rome?_" repeated Cethegus, and cast a sharp look at the questioner +and at Johannes. + +He felt himself suddenly turn hot and cold--a fright came over him, +more terrible still than he had experienced when he had heard of the +landing of Belisarius, of Totila's election, of Totila's march to Rome +at _Pons Padi_, of Totila's entrance into the Tiber; or of the arrival +of Narses in Italy. It seemed to him as if an iron hand were clutching +his heart and brain. He saw that Johannes imposed silence on the young +questioner with a furious frown. + +"_To Rome?_" again repeated Cethegus in a low voice, and fixing his +eyes, now upon the stranger, now upon Johannes. + +"Well, yes, of course, to Rome!" at last answered Johannes. "Zenon, +this man is Cethegus, the Prefect of Rome." + +The young Byzantine bowed with the expression of one who sees for the +first time some far-famed monster. + +"Cethegus, Zenon here, a captain who till now has been fighting on the +Euphrates, arrived only yesterday evening with some Persian bowmen from +Byzantium." + +"And his brother," asked Cethegus, "has gone to _Rome_?" + +"My brother Megas," quietly answered the Byzantine--who had now +collected himself--"had the order to offer to the Prefect of Rome"--and +here he again bowed--"the newly-invented double-catapults for the walls +of Rome. He embarked long before me; so I thought that he had already +arrived, and was gone to you in Rome. But his freight is very heavy. I +am rejoiced to become personally acquainted with the most powerful man +of the West, the glorious defender of the Tomb of Hadrian." + +But Cethegus cast another sharp look at Johannes, and, abruptly bowing +to all present, turned to go. + +When he had gone a few paces he suddenly looked back, and caught sight +of Johannes, with both his fists raised in anger, scolding at the +talkative young archon. A cold shudder ran through the Prefect. He +intended to reach his tent by the shortest cut, and, without waiting +for Syphax and his discoveries, to mount his horse and hasten to Rome +without taking leave. + +The shortest way to get to his tent was to leave the camp of Johannes, +and walk along the straight line of the semicircle formed by the whole +encampment. In front of him a few Persian bowmen were riding out of the +camp commanded by Johannes. And some peasants who had sold wine to the +soldiers were also permitted to pass unhindered by the sentinels. These +sentries were all Longobardians, to whom, as everywhere, the exits of +this camp were entrusted by Narses. + +As Cethegus was about to follow his countrymen, these sentries stopped +him with their spears. He caught at the shafts and angrily pushed them +aside. At this one of the Longobardians blew his horn; the others +pressed more closely round Cethegus. + +"By order of Narses!" said Autharis, the captain. + +"And those?" asked Cethegus, pointing to the peasants and the Persians. + +"Those are not you," said the Longobardian. + +At the sound of the horn a troop of guards had hurried up. They bent +their bows. Cethegus silently turned his back on them and returned to +his tent by the way that he had come. + +Perhaps it was only his suddenly-aroused mistrust which made him +imagine that all the Byzantines and Longobardians whom he passed +regarded him with half-jeering, half-compassionate looks. When he +reached his tent he asked the Isaurian sentry: + +"Is Syphax back?" + +"Yes, sir, long since. He is impatiently waiting for you in the tent. +He is wounded." + +Cethegus quickly pushed aside the curtains and entered. Syphax, deadly +pale beneath his bronzed skin, rushed to meet him, embraced his knees, +and whispered in passionate and desperate excitement: + +"O my master! my lion! You are ensnared--lost--nothing can save you!" + +"Compose yourself, slave!" said Cethegus. "You bleed?" +"It is nothing! They would not permit me to return to your camp--they +began to struggle with me as if in joke, but their dagger-stabs were +bitter earnest." + +"Who? Whose dagger-stabs?" + +"The Longobardians, master, who have placed double guards at all the +entrances of your camp." + +"Narses shall give me a reason for this," said Cethegus angrily. + +"The reason--that is, the pretext--he sent Kabades to inform you of +it--is a menaced sally by the Goths. But oh! my lion, my eagle, my +palm-tree, my wellspring--you are lost!" + +And again the Numidian threw himself at his master's feet, covering +them with tears and kisses. + +"Tell me coherently," said Cethegus, "what you have heard." + +And he leaned against the central support of his tent, crossing his +arms behind his back, and raising his head. He did not seem to regard +the troubled face of Syphax, but to gaze at vacancy. + +"O sir--I shall not be able to tell it very clearly--but I succeeded in +reaching my hiding-place among the sea-weed. It was scarcely necessary +to dive--the weeds hid me sufficiently. The bathing-house is made of +thin wood and has been newly covered with linen since the last storm. +Narses came in his little boat with Alboin, Basiliskos, and three other +men, disguised as Longobardians--but I recognised Scævola, Albinus----" + +"They are not dangerous," interrupted Cethegus. + +"And--Anicius!" + +"Are you not mistaken?" asked Cethegus sharply. + +"Sir, I knew his eyes and his voice! From their conversation--I did not +understand every word--but the sense was clear----" + +"Would that you could repeat their very words!" + +"They spoke Greek, sir, and I do not understand it as well as your +language--and the waves made a noise, and the wind was unfavourable." + +"Well, what did they say?" + +"The three men only came from Byzantium yesterday evening--they at once +demanded your head. But Narses said, 'No murder! A just sentence after +a process in all form.' 'When is it to be?' asked Anicius. 'So soon as +it is time.' 'And Rome?' asked Basiliskos. 'He will never see Rome +again!' answered Narses." + +"Stop!" cried Cethegus. "Wait a moment. I must be quite clear." + +He wrote a few lines upon a wax tablet. + +"Has Narses returned from his bath?" + +"Long ago." + +"'Tis well." He gave the tablet to the sentinel at the door. "Bring +back the answer immediately.--Continue, Syphax." + +But Cethegus could no longer stand still. He began hastily to pace the +tent. + +"O sir, something monstrous must have happened at Rome--I could not +exactly understand what. Anicius put a question; in it he named your +Isaurians. Narses said, 'I am rid of the chief Sandil,' and he added, +laughing, 'and the rest are well cared for in Rome by Aulus and the +brothers Macer, my decoy-birds.'" + +"Did he name those names?" asked Cethegus grimly. "Did he use that +word?" + +"Yes, sir. Then Alboin said, 'It is well that the young tribunes are +gone; it would have cost a hard fight.' And Narses replied, 'All the +Prefect's Isaurians must go. Shall we fight a bloody battle in our own +camp, and let King Teja burst in upon us?' O sir, I fear that they have +enticed your most faithful followers away from you with evil intent." + +"I believe so too," said Cethegus gravely. "But what did they say about +Rome?" + +"Alboin asked after a leader whose name I had never heard before." + +"Megas?" asked Cethegus. + +"Yes, Megas! That was it. How did you know?" + +"No matter. Continue! What about this Megas?" + +"Alboin asked how long Megas had been in Rome. Narses said, 'In any +case long enough for the Roman tribunes and the Isaurians.'" + +Cethegus groaned aloud. + +"But," continued Syphax, "Scævola remarked that the citizens of Rome +idolised their tyrant and his young knights. 'Yes.' answered Narses, +'formerly; but now they hate and fear nothing so much as the man who +tried by force once more to make them brave men and Romans.' Then +Albinus asked, 'But if they were to take his part again? His name has +an all-conquering influence.' Narses answered, 'Twenty-five thousand +Armenians in the Capitol and the Mausoleum will bind the Romans----'" + +Cethegus struck his fist fiercely on his forehead. + +"'Will bind them more strictly than Pope Pelagius, their treaty, or +their oath.' 'Their treaty and their oath?' asked Scævola. 'Yes,' +answered Narses, 'their oath and treaty! They have sworn only to open +their gates to the Prefect of Rome.' 'Well, and then?' asked Anicius. +'Well', they know, and they knew then, that now the Prefect of Rome is +called--Narses. _To me, not to him_ have, they sworn!'" + +Cethegus threw himself upon his couch and hid his face in his +purple-hemmed mantle. No loud complaint issued from his heaving chest. + +"Oh, my dear master!" cried Syphax, "it will kill you! But I have not +yet finished. You must know all. Despair will give you strength, as it +does to the snared lion." + +Cethegus raised his head. + +"Finish," he said. "What I have still to hear is indifferent; it can +only concern me, not Rome." + +"But it concerns you in a fearful manner! Narses went on to say, after +a few speeches which escaped me in the noise of the waves--that +yesterday, at the same time as the long-expected news from Rome----" + +"What news?" asked Cethegus. + +"He did not mention what. He said, 'At the same time, Zenon brought me +word to open the sealed orders which I carry from the Emperor; for the +latter rightly judges that any day may bring about the destruction of +the Goths. I opened and'--O master, it is dreadful----" + +"Speak!" + +"Narses said, 'All the great Justinian's littleness is exposed in these +orders. I believe he would more easily pardon Cethegus for having +enticed him to blind Belisarius, than for having been in collusion with +Theodora, for having been the seducer of the Empress! A frightful +anachron'--I did not understand the word." + +"Anachronism!" said Cethegus, quietly righting Syphax. + +"'For having deceived and outwitted him. The fate which Cethegus almost +brought upon Belisarius, will now fall upon his own head--the loss of +his sight.'" + +"Really!" said Cethegus with a smile. But he involuntarily felt for his +dagger. + +"Narses said further," continued Syphax, "that you were to suffer the +punishment which, in blasphemous desecration of Christ's death, and +contrary to the law of the Emperor Constantine, you had lately +introduced into Rome. What can he mean by that?" added Syphax +anxiously. + +"Crucifixion!" said Cethegus as he put up his dagger. + +"O master!" + +"Softly! I do not yet hang in the air. I still firmly tread the +hero-nourishing earth. Conclude!" + +"Narses said that he was a general and no executioner, and that the +Emperor would have to be contented if he only sent him your head to +Byzantium. But oh, not that! Only not that--if we _must_ die!" + +"We?" said Cethegus, who had fully gained his usual calmness. "_You_ +have not deceived the great Emperor. The danger does not threaten you." + +But Syphax continued: + +"Do you not know then? Oh, do not doubt it. All Africa knows that if +the head of a corpse is wanting, the soul must creep for ages through +dust and mire, in the shape of a vile and filthy headless worm. Oh, +they shall not separate your head from your trunk!" + +"It still stands firm upon these shoulders of mine, like the globe on +the shoulders of Atlas. Peace--some one comes." + +The Isaurian who had been sent to Narses, entered with a sealed letter. + +"To Cethegus Cæsarius: Narses, the magister militum. There is nothing +to prevent your carrying out your wish to go to Rome." + +"Now I understand," said Cethegus, and read on: + +"The sentinels have orders to let you ride forth. But, if you insist +upon going, I will give you a thousand Longobardians under Alboin as an +escort, for the roads are very unsafe. As, in all probability, an +attempt will be made by the Goths, to-day or tomorrow, to break through +our lines, and repeated foolhardy sallies on the part of my soldiers +have led to the loss of leaders and troops, I have ordered that no one +be permitted to leave the camp without my express permission, and have +entrusted the watch, even that of the tents, to my Longobardians." + +Cethegus sprang to the entrance of his tent, and tore the curtains +open. His four Isaurians were just being led away. Twenty +Longobardians, under Autharis, drew up before the tent. + +"I had thought of escaping to-night," he said to Syphax, turning back. +"It is now impossible. But it is better so, more dignified. Rather a +Gothic spear in my breast, than a Grecian arrow in my back. But I have +not yet read all that Narses writes." + +He read on: + +"If you will come to my tent, you will learn what measures I have taken +against the probably great bloodshed which will ensue if the barbarians +venture to sally, as they threaten. But I have still a painful +communication to make to you. News, which reached me yesterday evening +by sea from Rome, informs me that your tribunes and the greater part of +the Isaurians have been killed." + +"Ah! Licinius, Piso, Julianus!" cried the Prefect, startled out of his +icy and defiant calmness by deep pain. + +After a pause he controlled his emotion sufficiently to take up the +letter and read on: + +"When they had been quietly admitted into the city (shamefully +decoyed!) they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor. +They tried, contrary to their promise, to use force. Lucius Licinius +attempted to take the Capitol by storm; Piso, the Porta Latina; Salvus +Julianus, the Mausoleum. They fell, each before the place which he +attacked. What remained of the Isaurians were taken prisoners." + +"My second Julius follows the first!" cried Cethegus. "Well, I do not +need an heir, for Rome will never now be mine! It is over! The great +struggle for Rome is over! And brute force, small cunning, has +conquered the mind of Cethegus as it did the sword of the Goth. O +Romans, Romans! _You, too, my sons?_ You are my Brutus. Come, Syphax, +you are free. I go to meet death. Go back to your deserts." + +"O master!" cried Syphax, sobbing passionately, as he crouched at the +feet of Cethegus. "Do not send me from you! I am not less faithful than +Aspa! Let me die with you!" + +"Be it so," said Cethegus quietly, and laying his hand upon the Moor's +head. "I have loved you, my panther! Then die with me. Give me my helm, +shield, sword, and spear." + +"Whither go you?" + +"First to Narses." + +"And then?" + +"To Vesuvius!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + +King Teja's intention was to throw himself at night with all his armed +men--except a few guards who would be left in the ravine--into the camp +of Narses, and there, favoured by the darkness and surprise, to commit +great carnage. + +Then, when the last of his warriors had fallen, and--probably at +daybreak--the enemy prepared to assault the pass, the unarmed +people--at least those who did not prefer slavery to death--were to +seek an honourable grave in the neighbouring crater of Vesuvius, after +which the few remaining defendants of the pass would sally forth and +die fighting. + +When the King called his people together, and left the alternative to +their choice, he was filled with pride and joy to find that not one +voice among the thousands of women and children--for all the boys from +ten years of age and all the old men were armed--was raised in favour +of dishonour rather than death. His hero soul rejoiced in the thought +that his whole race, by a deed unheard of in the history of nations, +would die a glorious and heroic death, and worthily seal the renown of +their great past. + +However, the despairing idea of the grim hero was not to be carried +out. His dying eyes were to behold a brighter and more consoling +picture. Narses, ever watchful and wary, had noticed the mysterious +preparations of his enemies even sooner than Johannes and Cethegus, and +had called a meeting of generals, which was to be held in his tent at +the fifth hour, in order to explain to them his counter-measures. + +It was a lovely September morning, full of shining light and shining +mist over land and sea; a golden glow, such as, even in Italy, is only +poured forth in like wondrous beauty over the Bay of Neapolis. + +Into the clear sky curled the white cloud of smoke from the summit of +Vesuvius. Upon the curved line of the shore the smooth and gentle waves +rolled in a rhythmic measure. Close to the edge of the water--so close +that the ripples of the waves often wetted his steel-shod feet--a +lonely man walked slowly along, carrying his spear over his shoulder, +and apparently coming from the left wing of the Byzantine army. The sun +glistened upon his round shield, upon his splendid armour. The +sea-breeze played with his crimson crest. + +It was Cethegus; and the way he was going led to the gates of death. He +was followed at a short distance by the Moor. He soon reached a little +promontory which stretched out into the bay, and going to its outer +point, he turned and looked towards the northwest. There lay Rome--his +Rome. + +"Farewell!" he cried with deep emotion; "farewell, ye seven immortal +hills! Farewell, old Tiber stream! thou that hast laved the venerable +ruins through many centuries. Twice hast thou tasted my blood; twice +hast thou saved my life. Now, kindly River-god, thou canst save me no +more! I have striven and fought for thee, my Rome, as none of thy +children, not even Cæsar, has ever done before.--The struggle is over; +the general without an army is vanquished. I now acknowledge that a +mighty intellect may possibly supply the place of a single man, but not +the want of a whole nation's patriotism. Intellect can preserve its own +youth, but it cannot renew that of others, I have tried to do what is +impossible; for to do only what is possible is common; and it is better +to fall striving for the superhuman than to be lost in dull resignation +among the common herd. But"--and he kneeled down and wet his hot +forehead with the salt water--"be thou blessed, Ansonia's sacred flood; +be thou blessed, Italians sacred soil!"--and he put his hand deep into +the sea sand--"thy most faithful son parts from thee with a thankful +heart--moved, not by the terrors of approaching death, but only by thy +beauty. I forebode for thee, Italia, an oppressive foreign rule; I have +not been able to turn it aside, but I have offered up my heart's blood; +and if the laurels of thy Empire are for ever withered--may the olive +of thy people's love of freedom still bloom amid the ruins of thy +cities, and may the day quickly come when no foreign master rules in +all the length and breadth of the land, and when thou art mistress of +thyself from the sacred Alps to the sacred sea!" + +He rose quietly, and now walked more rapidly through the centre camp to +the tent of the commander-in-chief. When he entered it, he found all +the generals and officers assembled. Narses called to him in a friendly +voice, saying: + +"You come at the right moment, Cethegus. Twelve of my officers, whom I +have discovered in a foolish league, such as barbarians, but not the +scholars o£ Narses, might make, have appealed to you in excuse. They +say that what is shared in by the wise Cethegus cannot be foolish. +Speak! have you really joined this league against Teja?" + +"I have; and when I leave you--let me be the first, Johannes, without +casting lots--I go straight to Vesuvius. The hour of the King's watch +approaches." + +"This pleases me, Cethegus." + +"Thanks. It will, no doubt, save you much trouble, _Prefect of Rome_," +answered Cethegus. + +A movement of extreme surprise escaped all present; for even those who +were initiated into the secret were amazed that Cethegus knew the +position of affairs. + +Narses alone remained unmoved. He merely said in a low voice to +Basiliskos: + +"He knows all, and it is well that he does so." Then he turned to +Cethegus and said: "It is not my fault, Cethegus, that I did not tell +you sooner of your dismissal; the Emperor had strictly forbidden me to +do so. I approve of your resolve, for it agrees with my best +intentions.--The barbarians shall not have the pleasure of slaying +another myriad of my people tonight. We will march forward at once with +all our troops, including both our wings, to within a spear's throw +from the pass. We will not leave the Goths room to sally far out. The +first step they take beyond the mouth of the ravine shall be amongst +our spears. I have also nothing to object, Cethegus, if volunteers +offer to fight that King of terrors. With his death, I hope, the +resistance of the Goths will cease. Only one thing makes me anxious. I +have long ago ordered up the Ionian fleet--for I expected that all +would be over a few days earlier--and yet it has not arrived. The ships +are to take the captured barbarians on board at once, and carry them to +Byzantium.--Has the swift-sailer which I sent to gather news beyond the +Straits, of Regium not yet returned. Captain Konon?" + +"No, general. Neither has a second swift ship, which I sent after the +first." + +"Can the late storm have damaged the fleet?" + +"Impossible, general! It was not violent enough. And the fleets +according to the last reports, lay safe at anchor in the harbour of +Brundusium." + +"Well, we cannot wait for the ships! Forward, my leaders! We will march +at once to the pass. Farewell, Cethegus! Do not let your dismissal +disquiet you. I fear that you will be menaced with many a troublesome +process when the war is ended. You have many enemies, rightly and +wrongly. There are bad omens against you. But I know that from the very +beginning you have believed in only one omen--'The only omen'----" + +"'Is to die for the fatherland!' Grant me one more favour, Narses. +Allow me--for my Isaurians and tribunes are in Rome--to gather round me +all the Italians and Romans whom you have divided among your troops, +and lead them against the barbarians." + +For one moment Narses hesitated. Then he said: + +"Well, go; gather them together and lead them--to death," he added in a +low voice to Basiliskos. "There are at most fifteen hundred men. I do +not grudge him the pleasure of falling at the head of his countrymen. +Nor them the pleasure of falling behind him!--Farewell, Cethegus." + +Silently greeting Narses with his uplifted spear, Cethegus left the +tent. + +"H'm!" said Narses to Alboin, "you may well look after him, +Longobardian. There goes a remarkable piece of universal history. Do +you know who that is marching away?" + +"A great enemy to his enemies," said Alboin gravely. + +"Yes, wolf, look at him again; there goes to his death--the last +Roman!" + +When all the leaders, except Basiliskos and Alboin, had left Narses, +there hurried into the tent from behind a curtain, Anicius, Scævola, +and Albinus, still in the disguise of Longobardians, and with faces +full of alarm. + +"What!" cried Scævola, "will you save that man from his judges?" + +"And his body from the executioner; and his fortune from his accusers?" +added Albinus. + +Anicius was silent; he only clenched his hand upon the hilt of his +sword. + +"General," said Alboin, "let these two brawlers put off the dress of my +people. I am disgusted with them." + +"You are not wrong there, wolf!" said Narses; and turning to the others +he said, "you need no further disguise. You are useless to me as +accusers. Cethegus is judged; and the sentence will be carried out--by +King Teja. But you, you ravens, shall not hack at the hero after he is +dead." + +"And the order of the Emperor?" asked Scævola stubbornly. + +"Even Justinian cannot blind and crucify a dead man. When Cethegus +Cæsarius has fallen, I cannot wake him up again to please the Emperor's +cruelty. And of his money, you, Albinus, shall not receive a single +solidus, nor you, Scævola, one drop of his blood. His gold is for the +Emperor, his blood for the Goths, and his name for immortality." + +"Do you wish the death of a hero for that wretch?" now asked Anicius +angrily. + +"Yes, son of Boëthius; for he has deserved it! But you have a veritable +right to revenge yourself on him--you shall behead the fallen man, and +take his head to the Emperor at Byzantium. Do you not hear the tuba? +The fight has commenced!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +When King Teja saw the whole of Narses' forces advancing towards the +mouth of the pass, he said to his heroes: + +"It seems that instead of the stars, the mid-day sun is to shine upon +the last battle of the Goths! That is the only change in our plan." + + +He then placed a number of warriors in front of the hollow in the lava, +showed them the royal treasure and the corpse of Theodoric, raised upon +a purple throne, and ordered them to pay attention while the fight for +the pass was raging, and, on receiving a sign from Adalgoth--to whom +and Wachis he had confided the last defence of the pass--at once to +throw the throne and the coffers into the crater. The unarmed people +pressed together round the lava cave--not a tear was seen, not a sigh +was heard. + +Teja arranged his men into hundreds, and these hundreds into families, +so that father and sons, brothers and cousins, fought at each other's +side; an order of battle the terrible obstinacy of which the Romans had +often experienced since the days of the Cimbrians and Teutons, of +Ariovist and Armin. The natural construction of the last battlefield of +the Goths necessitated of itself the old order of battle inherited from +Odin--the wedge. + +The deep and close columns of the Byzantines now stood in orderly ranks +from the shore of the sea to within a spear's throw from the mouth of +the pass: a magnificent but fearful spectacle. The sun shone brightly +upon their weapons, while the Goths still stood in the deep shadow of +the rocks. Far away over the spears and standards of the enemy, the +Goths beheld the lovely blue sea, the surface of which flashed with a +silvery light. + +King Teja stood near Adalgoth, who carried the banner of Theodoric, at +the mouth of the pass. All the poet was roused in the Hero-King. + +"Look!" he said to his favourite, "what more lovely place could a man +have to die in? It cannot be more beautiful in the heaven of the +Christian, nor in Master Hildebrand's Asgard or Breidablick. Up, +Adalgoth! Let us die here, worthy of our nation and of this beauteous +death-place." + +He threw back the purple mantle which he wore over his black steel +armour, took the little harp upon his left arm, and sang in a low, +restrained voice: + + "From farthest North till Rome--Byzant-- + The Goths to battle call! + In glory rose the Goths' bright star-- + In glory shall it fall! + Our swords raised high, we fight for fame; + Heroes with heroes vie; + Farewell, thou noble hero-race-- + Up, Goths, and let us die!" + +And he shattered the still vibrating harp upon the rocks at his feet. + +"And now, Adalgoth, farewell! Would that I could have saved the rest of +my people! Not here; but by an unobstructed retreat to the north. It +was not to be. Narses would never grant it, and the last of the Goths +cannot _beg_. Now let us go--to death!" + +And raising his dreaded weapon, the mighty battleaxe with its +lance-like shaft, he stepped to the head of the "wedge," Behind +him Aligern, his cousin, and old Hildebrand. Behind them Duke Guntharis +of Tuscany, the Wölfung, Earl Grippa of Ravenna, and Earl Wisand +of Volsinii, the standard-bearer. Behind them again, Wisand's +brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, and four earls, his kinsmen. Then, in +ever-broadening front, first six, then ten Goths. The rear was formed +of close ranks, arranged by tens. + +Wachis, halting in the pass near Adalgoth, blew, at a sign from the +King, a signal on the Gothic war-horn, and the assaulting force marched +out of the ravine. + +The heroes in league with Johannes stood upon the first level place +close before the pass; only Alboin, Gisulf, and Cethegus were still +missing. Next behind the ten leaders stood Longobardians and Herulians, +who at once greeted the advancing Goths with a hail of spears. + +The first to rush upon the King, who was easily recognisable by the +crown upon his helmet, was Althias the Armenian. He fell dead at once, +his skull split to the ears. + +The second was the Herulian, Rodulf. Holding his spear at his left side +with both hands, he rushed at Teja. Teja stood firm, and, receiving the +stroke upon his narrow shield, pierced his adversary through the body +with the lance-like point of his battle-axe. Rodulf staggered back at +the shock, then fell dead. + +Before Teja could disengage his weapon from the scales of his enemy's +mail-coat, Suartua, the nephew of the fallen Herulian, the Persian +Kabades, and the Bajuvar Garizo, all attacked him at once. + +Teja thrust back the last--the nearest and boldest--with such vigour, +that he fell in the narrow and slippery lava path, and over a declivity +on the right. + +"Now help, O holy virgin of Neapolis!" cried the tall man as he flew +downwards. "Help me, as you have done during all these years of war!" +And, but little damaged, Miriam's admirer came to a stop, slightly +stunned by his fall. + +The Herulian Suartua was brandishing his sword over Teja's head, when +Aligern, springing forward, struck his arm clean off his shoulder. +Suartua screamed and fell. + +Kabades, who tried to rip up the King's body with his long and crooked +scimetar, had his brains dashed out by old Hildebrand's stone axe. + +Teja, again become master of his battle-axe, and rid of his nearest +foes, now sprang forward to attack in his turn. He hurled his axe at a +man in a boar-helmet--that is, a helmet decorated with the head and +tusks of a wild boar. It was Epurulf, the Alamannian, who fell +backwards to the ground. + +Above Teja bent Vadomar, Epurulf's kinsman, and tried to possess +himself of the Gothic King's terrible weapon; but Teja was upon him in +a moment, his short sword in his right hand. It flashed, and Vadomar +fell dead upon the corpse of his friend. + +The two Franks, Chlotachar and Bertchramn, hurried up at the same +moment, swinging the franciska, a weapon similar to Teja's battle-axe. +Both axes whizzed through the air at once. Teja caught one upon his +shield; the second, which came hurtling at his head, he parried with +his own axe, and in another moment he stood between his two +adversaries, whirled his axe round him in a circle, and at one blow the +two Franks fell right and left, both their helmets beaten in. + +At that moment a spear struck the King's shield; it pierced the steel +rim, and slightly grazed his arm. As he turned to meet this enemy--it +was the Burgundian Gundobad--Ardarich, the Gepide, ran at him from +behind with his drawn sword, and struck him a heavy blow on the top of +his helmet. But the next moment Ardarich fell, pierced through by the +spear of Duke Guntharis; and the King pressed Gundobad, who defended +himself valiantly, down upon his knees. Gundobad lost his helmet in the +struggle, and Teja thrust the spike of his shield into his throat. + +But already Taulantius the Illyrian and Autharis the Longobardian stood +before Teja. The Illyrian struck at the King's shield with a heavy club +made of the root of the ilex, and broke off a piece of the lower rim. +At the same time, just above the crack thus made, a lance, hurled by +the Longobardian, struck the shield and tore off the fastening of the +spike, sticking with its hook into the hole, and dragging the shield +down by its weight. + +Already Taulantius raised his club over the King's head. But Teja did +not loiter; sacrificing his half-shattered shield, he dashed it into +the Illyrian's visorless face, letting it go; and almost at the same +moment he thrust the point of his battle-axe through the breast-plate +of Autharis, who was rushing upon him. But now the King stood without a +shield, and his distant enemies redoubled their hail of spears and +arrows. With axe and sword, Teja parried the thickly falling darts. + +An alarum from the pass caused him to look round. He saw that the +greater part of the warriors whom he had led out of the ravine had +fallen. The innumerable projectiles hurled from a distance had done +their deadly work, and already, advancing from the left, a powerful +division of Longobardians, Persians, and Armenians, had attacked them +in the flank, and now mingled in a hand-to-hand fight. + +On the right the King saw a column of Thracians, Macedonians, and +Franks press forward against the guardians of the pass with spears +couched; while a third division--Gepidians, Alamannians, Isaurians, and +Illyrians, tried to cut off himself and the small troop which still +stood at his back from the retreat into the pass. + +Teja looked sharply towards the pass. For a moment the banner of +Theodoric disappeared--it seemed to have fallen. This circumstance +decided the King. + +"Back into the pass! Save Theodoric's banner!" he cried to those behind +him, and tried to break through the troop of enemies which surrounded +him. + +But they were in terrible earnest, for they were led by Johannes. + +"Upon the King," lie cried. "Do not let him through. Do not let him go +back! Spears! Throw!" + +Aligern had come up. + +"Take my shield!" he cried. + +Teja caught the proffered shield just in time to receive the lance +hurled by Johannes, which would otherwise have pierced his visor. + +"Back to the pass!" again Teja cried, and rushed with such impetuosity +upon Johannes, that the latter fell to the ground. The two nearest +Isaurians succumbed to Teja's sword. + +And now Teja, Aligern, Guntharis, Hildebrand, Grippa, Wisand and +Ragnaris hurried back to the pass. But here the battle was already +raging. Alboin and Gisulf had stormed the pass, and a heavy, pointed +block of lava, hurled by Alboin, had struck Adalgoth on the thigh, and +caused him to sink upon his knees. But Wachis had caught the falling +banner, and Adalgoth, quickly rising, had pushed the Longobardian, who +was pressing forward, out of the pass with the spike of his shield. + +The sudden return of the King with his little troop of heroes relieved +the almost overpowered guardians of the pass. The Longobardians fell in +heaps before the unexpected assault in their rear. With loud cries the +two guardians of the pass rushed forth, and the Longobardians, carrying +their leaders along irresistibly, ran and leaped over the jagged lava +in their downward retreat. But they did not run far. They were absorbed +by the ranks of Isaurians, and Illyrians, Gepidians and Alamannians, +who advanced in force, led by Johannes. Gnashing his teeth, he had +risen from his fall, had set his helmet straight, and at once led his +men against the pass, into which Teja had now entered. + +"Forward!" cried Johannes; "up and at him, Alboin, Gisulf, Vitalianus, +Zenon! Let us see if this King be really spear-proof!" + +Teja had now taken up his old position at the mouth of the pass, and +leaning upon the shaft of his battle-axe, he rested awhile to cool +himself. + +"Now, barbarian King! the end is at hand! Have you crept again into +your snail-shell? Come out, or I will make a hole in your house. Come +out, if you be a man!" + +Thus cried Johannes, twirling his spear over his head in defiance. + +"Give me three spears!" cried Teja, and gave his shield and battle-axe +to Adalgoth, who stood near him still, though wounded. "There! Now, as +soon as he falls, follow me out." + + +And he took one step forward out of the pass, without his shield, and +holding his three spears in his hands. + +"Welcome to the open! and to death!" cried Johannes, as he hurled his +spear. + +The spear was accurately aimed at the King's visor. But Teja bent to +one side, and the strong ashen lance was shattered against the opposite +rock. + +As soon as Teja hurled his first spear in return, Johannes cast himself +upon his face; the spear flew over him and killed Zenon, who stood +close behind. + +Johannes quickly recovered his feet, and rushed at the King like +lightning, catching the King's second spear, which immediately followed +the first, upon his shield. But Teja, immediately after hurling this +second lance with his right hand, had followed it up by a third with +his left, and this spear, unnoticed by Johannes, passed completely +through the latter's body, the point coming out at his back. The brave +man fell. + +At this his Isaurians and Illyrians were seized with terror; for, after +Belisarius, Johannes was looked upon as the first hero of Byzantium. +They cried aloud, turned, and fled in wild disorder down the mountain, +followed by Teja and his heroes. For one moment the Longobardians, who +had again collected together, still held firm. + +"Come, Gisulf--clench your teeth--let us stand against this +death-dealing King," cried Alboin. + +But Teja was already upon them. His fearful battle-axe glittered above, +between them. Pierced through his armour deep into the left shoulder, +Alboin fell, and immediately afterwards Gisulf lay on the ground with +his helmet shattered. Then there was no more stopping the rest: +Longobardians, Gepidians, Alamannians, Herulians, Isaurians and +Illyrians, scattered in headlong flight, rushed down the mountain. + +With shouts of exultation, Teja's companions followed. Teja himself +kept to the pass. He called to Wachis for spear after spear, and aiming +high over the Gothic pursuers, hurled them at the flying enemy, killing +whomsoever he touched. + +They were the Emperor's best troops. In their flight they carried away +with them the Macedonians, Thracians, Persians, Armenians, and Franks, +who were slowly climbing the ascent, and fled until they reached +Narses, who had anxiously raised himself upright in his litter. + +"Johannes has fallen!" + +"Alboin is severely wounded!" they cried as they ran past. "Fly! Back +into the camp!" + +"A new column of attack must be--Ha! look!" said Narses, "there comes +Cethegus, at the very nick of time!" + +And Cethegus it was. He had completed his long ride through all the +troops to which Narses had sent Romans and Italians; he had formed +these into five companies of three hundred men each, and when they were +drawn up in battle array, he took his place quietly at their head. + +Anicius followed at a distance. Syphax, carrying two spears, kept close +behind his master. Letting the defeated fugitives pass through the +vacant spaces between their ranks, the Italians marched on. Most of +them were old legionaries of Rome and Ravenna, and faithfully attached +to Cethegus. + +The Gothic pursuers hesitated as they met with these fresh, +well-ordered troops, and slowly receded to the pass. But Cethegus +followed. Past the bloody place, covered with corpses, where Teja had +first destroyed the league of the twelve; past the spot farther up, +where Johannes had fallen, he marched on with a quiet and steady step, +his shield and spear in his left hand, his sword in his right. Behind +him, with lances couched, came the legionaries. + +They marched up the mountain in silence, without the word of command, +or the flourish of trumpets. The Gothic heroes would not retreat into +the pass behind their King. They halted before the entrance. + +Guntharis was the first with whom Cethegus came into contact. The +Duke's spear was shattered on the shield of Cethegus, and at once +Cethegus thrust his spear into his adversary's body; the deadly shaft +broke in the wound. + +Earl Grippa of Ravenna set to work to avenge the Wölfung; he swung his +long sword over his head; but Cethegus ran under the thrust, and struck +the old follower of Theodoric below the right shoulder with his broad +Roman sword. Grippa fell and died. + +Wisand, the standard-bearer, advanced furiously against Cethegus; their +blades crossed; sparks flew from shield and helmet; but Cethegus +cleverly parried a too hasty stroke, and before the Goth could recover +himself, the broad blade of the Roman had entered his thigh. Wisand +tottered. Two of his cousins bore him out of the fight. + +His brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, now attacked Cethegus, but Syphax, +running up, caught the well-thrust spear in his hand, and before +Ragnaris could let fall the shaft, and draw his axe from his belt, +Cethegus stabbed him in the forehead. + +Struck with horror, the Goths retreated before the terrible Roman, and +pressed past their King into the ravine. Aligern alone, Teja's cousin, +would not yield. He hurled his spear with such force at the shield of +Cethegus, that it pierced it; but Cethegus lowered it quickly, and +received Aligern, as he rushed forward, on the point of his sword. +Severely wounded, Aligern fell into old Hildebrand's arms, who, letting +fall his heavy stone axe, tried to carry the fainting man into the +ravine. + +But Aligern's spear had also been well-aimed. The shield-arm of +Cethegus bled profusely. But he did not heed it; he pressed on to make +an end of both the Goths, Hildebrand and Aligern, and at that moment +Adalgoth caught sight of his father's hated enemy. + +"Alaric! Alaric!" he shouted, and, springing forward, he caught up the +heavy stone axe from the ground. "Alaric!" he cried. + +Cethegus caught the name and looked up. The axe, accurately aimed, came +whizzing through the air upon his tall helmet. Stunned, Cethegus fell. +Syphax sprang to him, took him in both his arms, and carried him aside. +But the legionaries would not retreat; they could not. Behind them, +sent by Narses, two thousand Persians and Thracians pressed up the +ascent. + +"Bring hurling spears!" commanded their leader, Aniabedes. "No +hand-to-hand fight! Cast spears at the King until he fall. By order of +Narses!" + +The soldiers willingly obeyed this order, which promised to spare their +blood. Presently such a fearful hail of darts rattled against the +narrow opening of the pass, that not a Goth was able to issue forth and +stand before the King. + +And now Teja, filling the entrance with his body and his shield, +defended his people for some time--for a very considerable time--quite +alone. Procopius, following the report of eye-witnesses, has described +with admiration this, the last fight of King Teja: + +"I have now to describe a very remarkable fight, and the heroism of a +man who is inferior to none of those we call heroes--of Teja. He stood, +visible to all, covered by his shield, and brandishing his spear, in +front of his own ranks. All the bravest Romans, whose number was great, +attacked him alone; for with his death, they thought, the battle would +be at an end. All hurled and thrust their lances at him alone; but he +received the darts upon his shield, and, repeatedly sallying forth, +killed numbers of his adversaries, one after the other. And when his +shield was stuck so full of darts that it was too heavy for him to +hold, he signed to his shield-bearer to bring him a fresh one. Thus he +stood; not turning, nor throwing his shield on his back and retreating, +but firm as a rock, dealing death to his foes with his right hand, +warding it off with his left, and ever calling to his weapon-bearers +for new shields and new spears." + +It was Wachis and Adalgoth--heaps of shields and spears had been +brought to the spot from the royal treasure--who continually handed to +Teja fresh weapons. + +At last the courage of the Romans, Persians, and Thracians sank as they +saw all their efforts wrecked against this living shield of the Goths, +and all their bravest men slain by the spears of the King. They +wavered--the Italians called anxiously upon Cethegus--they turned and +fled. Then Cethegus started up from his long stupor. + +"Syphax, a fresh spear! Halt! Stand, Romans! Roma, Roma eterna!" And +raising himself with an effort, he advanced against Teja. + +The Romans recognised his voice. "Roma, Roma eterna!" they shouted, as +they ceased their flight and halted. But Teja had also recognised the +voice. His shield bristled with twelve lances--he could hold it no +longer; but when he recognised the adversary who was advancing, he +thought no more of changing it. + +"No shield! My battle-axe! Quick!" he cried. + +And Wachis handed to him his favourite weapon. + +Then King Teja dropped his shield, and, swinging his axe, rushed out of +the pass at Cethegus. + +"Die, Roman!" he cried. + +Once again the two great enemies looked each other in the face. Then +spear and axe whizzed through the air. Neither thought of parrying the +stroke, and both fell. Teja's axe had pierced Cethegus's left breast +through shield and armour. + +"Roma, Roma eterna!" once more cried Cethegus, and fell back dead. + +His spear had struck the King's right breast. Not dead, but mortally +wounded, he was carried into the pass by Hildebrand and Adalgoth. And +they had need to make haste. For when, at last, they saw the King of +the Goths fall--he had fought without a pause for eight hours, and +evening was coming on--all the Italians, Persians, and Thracians, and +fresh columns of attack which had now come up, rushed towards the pass, +which was now again defended by Adalgoth with his shield; Hildebrand +and Wachis supporting him. + +Syphax took the body of Cethegus in his arms and carried it to one +side. Weeping aloud he held the noble head of his master upon his +knees, the features of which appeared almost superhuman in the majesty +of death. Before him raged the battle. Just then the Moor remarked that +Anicius, followed by a troop of Byzantines--Scævola and Albinus among +them--was approaching him, and pointing to the body of Cethegus with an +air of command. + +"Halt!" cried Syphax, springing up as they drew near; "what do you +want?" + +"The head of the Prefect, to take to the Emperor," answered Anicius; +"obey, slave!" + +But Syphax uttered a yell--his spear rushed through the air, and +Anicius fell. And before the others, who at once busied themselves with +the dying man, could come near him, Syphax had taken his beloved burden +upon his back, and began to climb up a steep precipice of lava near the +pass, which Goths and Byzantines had, till then, held to be impassable. +More and more rapidly the slave advanced. His goal was a little column +of smoke which rose just at the other side of the cliff. For there +yawned one of the small crater chasms of Vesuvius. For one moment +Syphax stopped upon the edge of the black rocks; once again he raised +the corpse of Cethegus erect in his strong arms, as if to show the +noble form to the setting sun. And suddenly master and slave had +disappeared. + +The fiery mountain had received the faithful Syphax and the dead +Cethegus, his greatness and his guilt, onto its glowing bosom. The hero +was snatched away from the small spite of his enemies. + +Scævola and Albinus, who had witnessed the occurrence, hastened to +Narses, and demanded that the corpse should be sought for on the sides +of the crater. But Narses said: + +"I do not grudge the mighty hero his mighty grave. He has deserved it. +I fight with the living, and not with the dead." + +But almost at the same moment, the tumultuous battle round the pass, +which Adalgoth, not unworthy of his royal master, heroically defended +against the attacks of the enemy, ceased. For while, standing behind +Adalgoth, Hildebrand and Wachis suddenly cried, "Look! look at the sea! +The dragon ships! The northern heroes! Harald! Harald!"--the solemn +tones of the tuba were heard from below, sounding the signal for a +cessation of hostilities--for a truce. Very gladly the fatigued and +harassed warriors lowered their weapons. + +But King Teja, who lay upon his shield--Hildebrand had forbidden every +one to draw out the spear of Cethegus from the wound--"for his life +would flow out with his blood"--asked in a faint voice: + +"What do I hear them cry? The northern heroes? The ships? Is Harald +there?" + +"Yes, Harald! He comes to our rescue! He brings safety for the rest of +the nation! For us, and for the women and children!" cried Adalgoth +joyously, as he knelt at Teja's side. "So thy incomparable heroism, my +ever-beloved hero; thy superhuman and untiring efforts, were not in +vain! Basiliskos has just come, sent by Narses. Harald has destroyed +the Ionian fleet in the harbour of Brundusium; he threatens to land and +attack the already exhausted Byzantines; he demands to be allowed to +carry away all the remaining Goths, with weapons and goods, to +Thuleland and liberty! Narses has agreed; he will honour, he says, King +Teja's noble heroism, in the remnant of his people. May we accept? Oh, +may we accept, my King?" + +"Yes," said Teja, as his eyes grew dim. "You may and shall. The rest of +my people free! The women, the children, delivered from a terrible +death! Oh, happy that I am! Yes, take all who live to Thuleland; and +take with you--two of the dead: King Theodoric--and----" + +"And King Teja!" said Adalgoth: and kissed the dead man's mouth. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +And so it happened, and this was the manner of it. + +Immediately after Narses had left his tent, a fisherman was led before +him, who had just sailed round the promontory of Surrentum in a small +and swift vessel, and who announced that an immense fleet of the Goths +was in full sail for the coast. Narses laughed; for he knew that not a +Gothic sail was to be found on all the seas. + +More narrowly questioned, the man was obliged to confess that he had +not seen the fleet himself; but merchants had told him of it, and had +related that a great naval combat had taken place, in which the Goths +had destroyed the Emperor's fleet, at Brundusium. + +That was impossible, as Narses well knew. And when the fisherman +described the appearance of the pretended Gothic ships, according to +what his informers had told him, the commander-in-chief cried out: + +"At last they are coming! Triremes and galleys! They are our ships +which are approaching, not Gothic vessels." + +No one thought of the Viking's fleet, which had not been heard of for +four moons, and which, it was believed, had sailed to the north. + +A few hours later, as the battle was raging round the pass, engrossing +the attention of all, the coastguards announced to Narses the fact of +the approach of a very large imperial fleet. The ship of the admiral, +the Sophia, had been distinctly recognised. But the number of sails was +far greater than had been expected. The ships which Narses had sent to +urge the coming of the fleet were also among them, sailing first. The +strong south-eastern breeze would shortly bring them within sight of +the camp. + +And presently Narses himself could enjoy from the hill the magnificent +spectacle of the approach of the fleet, propelled not only by their +spreading sails, but also by their long oars. + +Much relieved, he again turned his attention to the combat upon +Vesuvius--when, suddenly, messengers reached him from the camp, +affirming the first reports in an alarming manner, or rather, they +brought much worse news. They had hurried on in advance of an embassy +which reached the litter of Narses just as Cethegus was advancing for +the last time against Teja. + +This embassy consisted of the admiral and captains of the Ionian fleet, +who came forward with their hands in chains, and guarded by four +Northmen, whose message they had been brought to interpret. They +briefly related that they had been attacked by the fleet of the Viking +one stormy night, and had lost almost all their ships; that not one +could escape to warn Narses, for the enemy had blockaded the harbour. + +When Jarl Harald had heard of the threatened destruction of the Goths +upon Vesuvius, he had sworn to prevent or to share their evil fate. And +sending the captured Grecian ships in advance, prudently hiding behind +them his dragon-ships, he had hurried to the coast of Neapolis on the +wings of the east wind. "And thus," concluded the interpreters, "thus +says Harald the Viking: 'Either you will allow all yet living Goths, +with all their weapons and goods, to leave the Southland upon our ships +and return with us to their fatherland; in return for which we will +give up all our thousands of prisoners, and all our prize-ships, except +those we need for the transport of the Goths; or we will immediately +kill our prisoners, land, and attack you, your camp and army, in the +rear. Then see to it, how many of you, when attacked in front by the +Goths, in the rear by us, will remain alive! For we Northmen fight to +the last man! I have sworn it by Odin.'" + +Without a moment's hesitation Narses agreed to the departure of the +Goths. + +"I have only sworn to drive them out of the Empire," he said, "not out +of the world. It would bring me small renown if I overpowered and +slaughtered the poor remains of such a noble nation. I reverence the +heroism of this Teja; in forty years of warfare I have never seen his +like. And I have no desire to try how my harassed army, which has had a +day of the hardest fighting, and has lost almost all its leaders and +numbers of its bravest soldiers, would resist these northern giants, +who come with untired strength and unconquered courage." + +And so Narses had immediately sent heralds to Harald and to the pass. +The battle ceased; the retreat of the Goths began. + +In double ranks, reaching from the summit of the mountain down to the +sea, the army of heroes formed a lane. The Viking had landed four +hundred men, who received the Goths on the sea-shore. But before the +march began, Karses signed to Basiliskos and said: + +"The Gothic war is over--the stag is killed--now away with the wolves +which hunted him to the death. How are the wounded leaders of the +Longobardians?" + +"Before I answer," said Basiliskos respectfully, "accept this +laurel-wreath, which your army sends to you. It is laurel from +Vesuvius; from the pass above; there is heroes' blood upon the leaves." + + +The first impulse of Narses was to push the wreath aside; but after a +pause, he said: + +"'Tis well; give it to me." But he laid it beside him in the litter. + +"Autharis, Warnfrid, Grimoald, Aripert, Agilulf and Rotharis are dead," +Basiliskos now reported. "Altogether the Longobardians have lost seven +thousand men; Alboin and Gisulf, severely wounded, lie motionless in +their tents." + +"Good, very good! As soon as the Goths have embarked, let the +Longobardians be led away. They are dismissed my service. And say to +Alboin, as my parting words: 'After the death of Narses--_perhaps_; but +certainly not before.' I will remain here in my litter; support me with +the cushions--I cannot stand--but I must witness this wonderful +spectacle." + +And in truth it was a grand and moving sight to behold the last of the +Goths, as they turned their backs upon Vesuvius and Italy, and embarked +in the high-prowed ships which were to bear them away to the safe and +sheltering north. + +From the ravine, into which not a single enemy had succeeded in +penetrating, was heard at intervals the solemn tones of the Gothic +war-horns, accompanied by monotonous, grave, and touching strains from +the men, women, and children--the ancient death-song of the Gothic +nation. + +Hildebrand and Adalgoth--the last chiefs, the hoary Past and the golden +Future--had arranged the order of march. + +Foremost went, full-armed, five hundred men, led by Wisand, the +standard-bearer, who, in spite of his wounds, bravely opened the +procession, leaning on his spear. Then followed, stretched upon his +last shield, the spear of Cethegus still sticking in his breast, +without helmet, his noble and pallid face framed by his long black +locks--King Teja, covered with a purple mantle, and carried by four +warriors. Behind him came Adalgoth and Gotho, and Adalgoth, softly +striking his harp, sang in a low voice: + + "Give place, ye peoples, to our march: + The doom of the Goths is sped! + No crown, no sceptre carry we, + We bear the noble dead. + + "With shield to shield, and spear to spear, + We march to the Northland cool; + Until in grey and distant seas + We find the Island Thule. + + "That is the Isle of the brave and true, + Where none dishonour fears; + There we will lay our bravest King + In his bed of oaken spears. + + "From off our feet--give place! give place!-- + We shake Rome's traitor dust; + We only bear our King away-- + For the Gothic crown is lost!" + +When the bier was carried past the litter, Narses called a halt, and +said in a low voice in the Latin language: + +"Mine was the victory, but his the fame! There, take the laurel wreath! +Other generations may see greater things, but now. King Teja, I greet +you as the greatest hero of all ages!" + +And he laid the laurel wreath upon the dead man's pallid brow. The +bearers again took up the bier, and slowly and solemnly, to the sad +sound of Adalgoth's silver harp, the death-song of the people, and the +long-drawn tones of the war-horns, the procession marched on towards +the sea, which now glowed magnificently in the evening red. + +Close behind Teja's body was carried a lofty crimson throne. Upon it +rested the silent august form of Dietrich of Bern; upon the head the +crowned helm; on the left arm the tall shield; a spear leaning against +the right shoulder. On the left of the throne marched old Hildebrand, +his eyes fixed upon the face of his beloved master, which shone in the +magic light of the setting sun. He held aloft the banner with the +device of the lion, high above the head of the great Dead. The evening +breeze from the Ausonian Sea rustled in the folds of the immense flag, +which, in ghost-like speech, seemed to be taking leave of Italian soil. + +As the corpse was carried past, Narses said: + +"I know by the shudder which passes across me that this is the wise +King of Ravenna! First came a stronger, now a greater man. Let us do +this dead man homage." + +And, with great exertion, he rose upright in his litter, and bent his +head reverently before the corpse. + +Then followed the wounded, supported by or carried in the arms of their +followers. This part of the procession was opened by Aligern, who was +carried on a broad shield by Wachis and Liuta, assisted by two +warriors. Then came the chests and coffers, the baskets and vessels, +containing the royal treasure and the goods of the different families, +which, until then, had been hidden in the wagons. + +Afterwards came the great mass of the unarmed people--women, girls, +children, and old people--for the boys, from ten years of age upwards, +would not part with the weapons which had been entrusted to them, and +marched in a separate corps. + +Narses smiled as the little fair-haired heroes passed, looking up at +him with anger and defiance. + +"Well," he said, "the Goths have taken care that the Emperor's +successors and their generals shall not want work!" + +The procession was closed by the rest of the Gothic army. + +Innumerable boats lent their assistance in the embarkation of the +people and their scanty possessions. Presently all were on board the +high-decked vessels of the Northmen. + +The corpses of Teja and Theodoric, the royal banner, and the royal +treasure, were taken into Harald's ship. The great Dietrich of Bern +was placed upon his throne at the foot of the mainmast, and his +lion-standard hoisted to the mast-head. Old Hildebrand installed +himself at the foot of the throne. + +In the stern of the ship, Adalgoth and Wisand had laid down the body of +Teja. The mighty Harald and his beautiful sister approached it +sorrowfully. The Viking laid his mailed hand gently upon the dead man's +breast, and said: + +"I could not save thee, bold and daring King! I could not save thee and +thy people. Nothing remains but to take thee and the rest of thy folk +to the land of the strong and the true, from which you should never +have departed. Thus, after all, I bring back to King Frode the Gothic +nation." + +But Haralda said: + +"I will preserve the body of the noble dead by secret arts, so that it +shall endure until we land in our home. There we will vault for him and +King Thidrekr a hill-grave near the sea, so that they may together hear +the roar of the breakers and hold converse with each other; for they +were worthy of each other. Look, my brother! the enemy's army stands in +ranks upon the strand; they lower their flags and weapons in reverence, +and the sun sinks glowing behind Misenum and yonder islands; a crimson +glow covers the sea as with a royal mantle; our white sails are +coloured red, and red gold shines upon our weapons! Look how the south +wind spreads out the banner of King Thidrekr! The wind, which obeys the +will of the gods, points to the north! Up, brother Harald! weigh +anchor! direct the rudder! turn the dragon's prow! Up, Freya's wise +bird! Fly, my falcon!"--and she tossed her falcon into the air--"point +out the way! to the north! to Thuleland! Home! home we take the last of +the Goths!" + + +FOOTNOTE: +[Footnote 1: Theodoric.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + + BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. + _H. L. & Co._ + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Struggle for Rome, v. 3, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR ROME, V. 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 32377-8.txt or 32377-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/7/32377/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Vol. III.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="Felix Dahn"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="Richard Bentley and Son"> +<meta name="Date" content="1878"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +p.center {text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + + +p.section {letter-spacing:1em; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt;} +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:10%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; text-indent:-10px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; text-indent:-10px; font-size:90%;} + +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.quote {font-size:90%} + + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps;} +.space {letter-spacing: 1em; text-align:center; margin-bottom:24pt; margin-top:24pt;} + + +hr.W10 {width:10%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black;} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black;} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; margin-top:12pt; color:black;} + + +p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em; margin-bottom:24pt; font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt} + +.poem { + margin-top: 24pt; + margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt + } + .poem .stanza { + margin : 1em 0; + margin-top:24pt; + } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Struggle for Rome, v. 3, by Felix Dahn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Struggle for Rome, v. 3 + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Lily Wolffsohn + +Release Date: May 15, 2010 [EBook #32377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR ROME, V. 3 *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> +1. Page scan source:<br> +http://www.archive.org/details/astruggleforrom02dahngoog</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>A STRUGGLE FOR ROME.</h1> +<br> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>FELIX DAHN.</h2> +<br> +<h3><i><span style="letter-spacing:.5em">TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN</span></i></h3> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>LILY WOLFFSOHN.</h2> +<br> +<div style="margin-left:20%; margin-right:20%"> +<p class="continue">"If there be anything more powerful than Fate,<br> +It is the courage which bears it undismayed."</p> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Geibel</span>.</p> +</div> +<br> +<h3>IN THREE VOLUMES.<br> +VOL. III.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + +<h2>LONDON:<br> +RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON.</h2> +<h3>1878.</h3> +<h3>[<i>All Rights Reserved.</i>]</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<br> + +<br> + +<h1>A STRUGGLE FOR ROME.</h1> + +<h2>BOOK IV.--<i>Continued</i>.</h2> + +<h3>WITICHIS.</h3> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Thanks to the precautions taken by Procopius, the trick had +succeeded +completely.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the moment in which the flag of the Goths fell and their +King was +taken prisoner, they were everywhere surprised and overpowered. +In the courts of the palace, in the streets and canals of the city +and in the camp, they were surrounded by far superior numbers. A +palisade of lances met their sight on all sides. Almost without an +exception the paralysed Goths laid down their arms. The few who offered +resistance--the nearest associates of the King--were struck down.</p> + +<p class="normal">Witichis himself, Duke Guntharis, Earl Wisand, Earl Markja, +and the +leaders of the army who were taken prisoners with them, were placed in +separate confinement; the King imprisoned in the "prison of Theodoric," +a strong and deep dungeon in the palace itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">The procession from the Gate of Stilicho to the Forum of +Honorius had +not been interrupted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Arrived at the palace, Belisarius summoned the Senate and +decurions of +the city, and took their oaths of allegiance for Emperor Justinian.</p> + +<p class="normal">Procopius was sent to Byzantium with the golden keys of +Neapolis, Rome, +and Ravenna. He was to give a full report to the Emperor, and to demand +for Belisarius the prolongation of his office until Italy had been +completely tranquillised, as could not fail to be the case presently, +and afterwards, as had been the case after the Vandal wars, to accord +him the honour of a triumph, with the exposure of the King of the +Goths, as prisoner of war, in the Hippodrome.</p> + +<p class="normal">For Belisarius looked upon the war as ended.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus almost shared this belief. But still he feared the +outbursts +of indignation amongst the Goths in the provinces. Therefore he took +care that, for the present, no report of the manner in which the city +had fallen should pass the gates; and he pondered upon some means of +making use of the imprisoned King himself, to palliate the possible +renewal of national feeling in the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">He also persuaded Belisarius to send Acacius, with the Persian +horsemen, to follow Hildebad, who had escaped in the direction of +Tarvisium.</p> + +<p class="normal">In vain he tried to speak to the Queen.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had not yet fully recovered the effects of the night of +the +earthquake, and admitted no one. She had even listened to the news of +the fall of the city with indifference. The Prefect gave her a guard of +honour, in order to make sure of her, for he had great plans in +connection with her. Then he sent her the sword of the King, +accompanying it with a note.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have kept my word. King Witichis is ruined, you are +revenged and +free. Now it is your turn to fulfil my wish."</p> + +<p class="normal">A few days later, Belisarius, deprived of his constant adviser +Procopius, called the Prefect to an interview in the right wing of the +palace, where he had taken up his quarters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unheard-of mutiny!" he cried, as Cethegus entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know that I placed Bessas, with the Lazian mercenaries, +in the +trenches of the Gate of Honorius, one of the most important points of +the city. Hearing that the temper of these troops was insubordinate I +recalled them--and Bessas----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Refuses to obey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without reason? Impossible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A ridiculous reason! Yesterday the term of my office +expired."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Bessas declares that since midnight I am no longer his +commander!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shameful! But he is in the right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the right! In a few days the Emperor's reply will arrive, +according +to my wish. He will naturally, after the conquest of Ravenna, again +appoint me as commander-in-chief, until the war is ended. The news may +be here the day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps still sooner, Belisarius. At sunset the watchman on +the +lighthouse of Classis announced the approach of a ship coming from +Ariminum. It appears to be an imperial trireme. It may run into harbour +at any hour. Then the knot will be loosened."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will cut it beforehand. My body-guard shall storm the +trenches and +strike the head off the obstinate Bessas----"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was interrupted by the entrance of Johannes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"General," he cried, "the Emperor is here! The Emperor, +Justinian +himself, has just anchored in the harbour of Classis."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus involuntarily started. Was such a thunderbolt from a +clear +sky, such a whim of the incalculable despot, after such toil, to +overthrow the almost perfect structure of his plans?</p> + +<p class="normal">But Belisarius, with sparkling eyes, asked:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Emperor? How do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He comes himself to thank you for your victory--never was +such +honour done to mortal man! The ship from Ariminum bears the imperial +flag--purple and silver. You know that that indicates the actual +presence of the Emperor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or of a member of his family," interposed Cethegus +thoughtfully, and +once more breathing freely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us hasten to the harbour, to receive our Imperial +master," cried +Belisarius.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was disappointed in his joy and pride when, on their way to +Classis, +they were met by the first courtiers who had disembarked, and who +demanded quarters in the palace, not for the Emperor, but for his +nephew Germanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At least he sends the next in rank," said +Belisarius--consoling +himself--to Cethegus as they went on. "Germanus is the noblest man at +court. Just, incorruptible, and pure. They call him 'The Lily of the +Swamp.' But you do not listen to me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon! but I saw my young friend Lucius Licinius in the +crowd of +people who are approaching us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Salve, Cethegus!" cried Lucius as he made his way to the +Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Welcome to free Italy! What news from the Empress?" asked +Cethegus in +a whisper.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her parting word, 'Nike!' (Victoria), and this letter," +Lucius +whispered just as softly. "But," and he frowned, "never again send me +to that woman!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, young Hippolytus, I think it will never again be +necessary."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had now reached the quay of the harbour, the steps of +which the +Imperial Prince was just ascending. His noble form distinguished itself +from the crowd of splendid courtiers who surrounded him, and he was +received by the troops and the people with imperial honours and cries +of joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus looked keenly at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"His pale face has become still paler," he remarked to +Licinius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. They say that the Empress, because she could not seduce +him, has +poisoned him."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prince, bowing his acknowledgments to all sides, had now +reached +Belisarius, who greeted him reverently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I return your greeting, Belisarius," said the Prince gravely; +"follow +me at once to the palace. Where is Cethegus the Prefect? Where is +Bessas? Ah, Cethegus!" he said, grasping the latter's hand, "I am glad +to see again the greatest man in Italy. You will presently accompany me +to the granddaughter of Theodoric. To her belongs my first visit. I +bring her gifts from Justinian and my humble service. She was a +prisoner in her own kingdom; she shall be a queen at the Court of +Byzantium."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That she shall!" thought Cethegus. He bowed profoundly and +said, "I +know that you are acquainted with the Princess already. Her hand was +once destined for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">A flush rapidly spread over the cheek of the Prince.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But unfortunately," he answered, "not her heart. I saw her +here years +ago, at her mother's court, and since then, my mind's eye has beheld +nothing but her picture."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, she is the loveliest woman on earth," said the Prefect +quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Accept this chrysolite as thanks for that word!" cried +Germanus, and +put a ring upon the Prefect's finger.</p> + +<p class="normal">They entered the door of the palace. "Now, Mataswintha," said +Cethegus +to himself, "now a new life begins for you. I know no Roman woman--one +girl perhaps excepted--who could resist such a temptation. And shall +this rude barbarian withstand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as the Prince had partially recovered from the fatigue +of the +voyage, and had exchanged his travelling dress for a state-costume, he +appeared, with Cethegus at his side, in the throne-room of the great +Theodoric.</p> + +<p class="normal">The trophies of Gothic valour still hung on the walls of the +lofty and +vaulted hall. On three sides ran a colonnade; in the middle of the +fourth stood the elevated throne of Theodoric.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prince ascended the steps of the throne with dignity. +Cethegus with +Belisarius, Bessas, Demetrius, Johannes, and numerous other leaders, +remained standing at a short distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the name of my Imperial master and uncle, I take +possession of this +city of Ravenna and of the Western Roman Empire," said Germanus. "To +you, magister militum, this writing from our master the Emperor. Break +the seal, and read it before the assembly. Such were the orders of +Justinian."</p> + +<p class="normal">Belisarius stepped forward, received the letter upon his +knees, kissed +the seal, rose, opened it, and read:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Justinian, Emperior of the Romans, Lord of the East and +West, +conqueror of the Persians and Saracens, of the Vandals and Alans, of +the Lazians and Sabirians, of the Huns and Bulgarians, the Avarians and +Slavonians, and lastly of the Goths, to Belisarius the Consul, lately +magister militum. We have been acquainted by Cethegus the Prefect with +the events which led to the fall of Ravenna. His report will, at his +request, be communicated to you. We, however, cannot at all agree with +the good opinion, therein expressed, of you and your successes; and we +dispense you from your office as commander-in-chief. We order you by +this letter to return at once to Byzantium, to answer for yourself +before our throne. We can the less accord you a triumph, such as you +received after the Vandal wars, because neither Rome nor Ravenna fell +through your valour; Rome having freely capitulated, and Ravenna having +fallen by means of an earthquake, which was a sign of the anger of the +Almighty against the heretics, and against highly suspicious actions, +the harmlessness of which you, accused of high treason, must prove +before our throne. As, in consideration of former merit, we would not +condemn you unheard--for East and West shall celebrate us to all +time as the King of Justice--we refrain from arresting you as your +accusers wish. Without chains--only bound by the fetters of your own +self-accusing conscience--you will appear before our Imperial +countenance.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Belisarius reeled; he could read no further; he covered his +face with +his hands and let the letter fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bessas lifted it up, kissed it, and read on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'We name the strategist Bessas as your successor in the army. +We +charge the Archon Johannes with the care of Ravenna. The administration +of the taxes will remain--in spite of the highly unjust complaints made +against him by the Italians--in the hands of the logician Alexandros, +who is so zealous in our service. And as our Governor in Italy we name +the highly-deserving Prefect of Rome, Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius. Our +nephew Germanus, furnished with Imperial power, is answerable for your +transport to our fleet off Ariminum, whence Areobindos will take you to +Byzantium.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Germanus rose, and ordered all present, except Belisarius and +Cethegus, +to leave the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he descended from the throne, and went up to Belisarius, +who was +now totally unconscious of what was going on around him. He stood +immovable, leaning his head and arm against a column, and staring at +the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prince took his right hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It pains me, Belisarius, to be the bearer of such a message. +I +undertook it, because I thought that a friend would fulfil such an +errand more gently than any of the enemies who were eager to do it. But +I cannot deny that this last victory of yours cancels the fame of many +former ones. Never could I have expected such a game of lies from the +hero Belisarius! Cethegus begged that his report to the Emperor should +be laid before you. It is full of your praise. Here it is. I believe it +was the Empress who kindled the anger of Justinian against you. But you +do not hear----"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the unfortunate man. +Belisarius shook it off.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me alone, boy! You bring me--you bring me the true thanks +of a +crowned head!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Germanus drew himself up with dignity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Belisarius, you forget yourself, and who I am!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh no! I am a prisoner, and you are my gaoler. I will go at +once on +board your ship--only spare me chains and fetters."</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">It was very late before the Prefect could get away from the +Prince, who +spoke to him with the greatest frankness on state affairs and his own +personal wishes.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Cethegus was alone in his rooms, which had also +been +appointed to him in the palace, he hastened to read the letter which +Lucius Licinius had brought from the Empress. It ran thus:</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"You have conquered, Cethegus. As I read your epistle I +thought of old +times, when your letters to Theodora, written in the same cipher, did +not talk of statesmanship and warfare, but of kisses and roses----"</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"She must always remind me of that!" cried the Prefect, +interrupting +his perusal of the letter.</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"But even in this letter I recognise the irresistible +intellect that, +more even than your youthful beauty, conquered the women of Byzantium. +And this time also I accede to the wishes of the old friend as I +once did to those of the young one. Ah, how I love to think of our +youth--our sweet youth! I fully understand that Antonina's spouse would +stand far too securely for the future if he did not fall now. So--as +you wrote me--I whispered to the Emperor that a subject who could play +such a game with crowns and rebellion was too dangerous; no general +ought to be exposed to such temptations. What he had this time feigned, +he could, at another time, carry into earnest practice. These words +weighed more heavily than all Belisarius's success, and my--that is, +your--demands were granted. For mistrust is the very soul of Justinian. +He trusts no one on earth, except--Theodora. Your messenger, Lucius, is +<i>handsome</i>, but unamiable; he has nothing in his head but weapons and +Rome. Ah, Cethegus, my friend, youth is now no more what it was! You +have conquered, Cethegus--do you remember that evening when I first +whispered those words?--but do not forget to whom you owe your victory. +And mind: Theodora permits herself to be used as a tool only so long as +she likes. Never forget that."</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"Certainly not," said Cethegus, as he carefully destroyed the +letter. +"You are too dangerous an ally, Theodora, my little demon! I will see +whether you cannot be replaced.--Patience! In a few weeks Mataswintha +will be in Byzantium."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The round tower, in the deepest dungeon of which Witichis was +confined, +was situated at the angle of the right wing of the palace, the same in +which he had dwelt and ruled as King.</p> + +<p class="normal">The iron door of the tower formed the end of a long passage +which led +from a court, and which was separated from this court by a heavy iron +gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Exactly opposite this gate, on the ground-floor of the +building at the +left side of the court, was the small dwelling of Dromon, the +<i>carcerarius</i> or gaoler of the prison.</p> + +<p class="normal">This dwelling consisted of two small chambers; the first, +which was +separated from the second by a curtain, was merely an ante-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The inner chamber afforded an outlook across the court to the +round +tower.</p> + +<p class="normal">Both rooms were very simply furnished. A straw couch in the +inner room, +and two chairs, a table, and a row of keys upon the walls in the outer +room, was almost all that they contained.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon the wooden bench in the window abovementioned, sat, day +and +night--her eyes fixed upon the hole in the wall, through which alone +light and air could penetrate to the King's prison--a silent and +thoughtful woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Rauthgundis. Her eyes never left the little chink in +the wall, +"For," she said to herself, "thither turn all my thoughts--there, where +<i>his</i> eyes too are ever fixed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Even when she spoke to her companion, Wachis, or to the +gaoler, she +never turned her eyes away. It seemed as if she thought that her mere +look could guard the prisoner from every danger.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the day of which we speak she had sat thus for a long time.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was evening. Dark and threatening the massive tower rose +into the +sky, casting a broad shadow over the court and the left wing of the +palace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks, O Heavenly Father," murmured Rauthgundis; "even the +strokes of +fate have led to good. If, as I once intended, I had gone to my father +upon the High Arn, I should never have heard of all the misery here. Or +far too late. But I could not bear to forsake the last resting-place of +my child near our home. The last, indeed, I was obliged to leave, for +how could I know that <i>she</i>, his Queen, would not come there? I dwelt +in the woods near Fæsulæ, and when news came of failure, and one +misfortune followed another; when the Persians burnt our house, and I +saw the flames from my hiding-place; it was too late to escape to my +father. All the roads were blocked, and the Italians delivered all whom +they found with yellow hair into the hands of the Massagetæ. No way was +open but the road here--to the city where I had ever refused to go as +<i>his</i> wife. I came like a fugitive beggar. Wachis, the slave, now the +freedman, and Wallada, our horse, alone remained faithful to me. +But--forced by God's hand to come, whether I would or not--I found that +it was only that I might save <i>him</i>--deliver him from the shameful +treachery of his wife, and out of the hands of his enemies! I thank +Thee, O God, for this Thy mercy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her attention was attracted by the rattling of the iron gate +opposite.</p> + +<p class="normal">A man with a light came through it across the court, and now +entered +the ante-room. It was the old gaoler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well? Speak! cried Rauthgundis, leaving her seat and hurrying +to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Patience--patience! Let me first set down the lamp. There! +Well, he +has drunk and it has done him good."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rauthgundis laid her hand upon her heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'What is he doing?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He always sits in the same position, perfectly silent. He +sits on a +stone block, his back turned to the door, his head supported on his +hands. He gives me no answer when I speak to him. Generally he does not +even move; I believe grief and pain have stupefied him. But to-day, +when I handed him the wine in the wooden cup and said, 'Drink, dear +sir; it comes from true friends,' he looked up. Ah, his look was so +sorrowful, as sad as death! He drank deeply, and bowed his head +thankfully, and gave such a sigh, that it cut me to the heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rauthgundis covered her eyes with her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God knows what horrid thing that man means to do to him!" the +old man +murmured to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What sayest thou?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say that you must eat and drink well, or else you will lose +your +strength; and you will need it before long, poor woman!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall have strength enough!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then take at least a cup of wine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of this wine? No, it is all for him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And she went back into the inner chamber, where she again took +her old +place.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The flask will last some time," old Dromon said to himself; +"but we +must save him soon, if he is to be saved at all. There comes Wachis. +May he bring good news, else----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wachis entered. Since his visit to the Queen he had exchanged +his steel +cap and mantle for clothes borrowed from Dromon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I bring good news!" he cried, as he entered. "But where were +you an +hour ago? I knocked in vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We had both gone out to buy wine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure; that is the reason why the whole room smells so +sweet. +What do I see? Why, this is old and costly Falernian! How could you pay +for it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pay for it?" repeated the old man. "With the purest gold in +the world! +I told you that the Prefect had purposely let the King starve, in order +to undermine his health. For many days I have received no rations for +him. Against my conscience I have kept him alive by depriving the other +prisoners. This Rauthgundis would no longer suffer. She fell into deep +thought, and then asked me whether the rich Roman ladies still paid so +dearly for the yellow locks of the Gothic women. Suspecting nothing, I +said 'Yes.' She went away, and soon returned shorn of her beautiful +auburn hair, but with a handful of gold. With this the wine was +bought."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wachis went into the next room, and kissing the hand of +Rauthgundis, +exclaimed: "Good and faithful wife!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What art thou doing, Wachis? Rise, and tell me thy news."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, tell us," said Dromon, joining them. "What says my +Paukis? What +advice does he give?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What matters his advice?" asked Rauthgundis. "I can manage +alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We need him very much. The Prefect has formed nine cohorts, +after the +model of the Roman legionaries, of all the youth of Ravenna, and my +Paulus is enrolled amongst them. Luckily, the Prefect has entrusted the +guard of the city gates to these legionaries. The Byzantines are placed +outside the city in the harbour; the Isaurians here in the palace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," continued Wachis; "and these gates are carefully closed +at +night; but the breach near the Tower of Ætius is not yet repaired. Only +sentinels are placed there to guard it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"When has my son the watch?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In two days. He will have the third night-watch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks be to the saints! It could not have lasted much +longer. I +feared----"</p> + +<p class="normal">He hesitated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Speak!" cried Rauthgundis. "I can bear to hear +everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps it is well that you should know it; for you are +cleverer than +we two, and will better find out what is to be done. I fear they have +something wicked in their heads. As long as Belisarius had the command +here, it went well with the King. But since Belisarius has gone and the +Prefect--that silent demon!--is master of the palace, things look +dangerous. He visits the King every day, and speaks to him for a long +time, earnestly and threateningly. I have often listened in the +passage. But it seems to have little effect, for the King, I believe, +never answers him; and when the Prefect comes out, he looks as black as +thunder. For six days I have received no wine for the King, and only a +little piece of bread; and the air down there is as mouldy and damp as +the grave."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rauthgundis sighed deeply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yesterday," continued Dromon, "when the Prefect came up, he +looked +blacker than ever. He asked me----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well? Tell me, whatever it may be!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He asked me whether the instruments of torture were in good +order!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Rauthgundis turned pale, but remained silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The wretch!" cried Wachis. "What did you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not be afraid; all is safe for a time. 'Clarissimus,' I +said--and +it is the pure truth--'the screws and pincers, the weights and spikes, +and the whole delightful apparatus lie all together as safe as +possible.' 'Where?' he asked. 'In the deep sea,' I answered; 'I myself, +at the order of King Theodoric, threw them in!' For you must know, +Mistress Rauthgundis, that when your master was a simple Earl, he once +saved me from being tortured. At his request, the horrible practice was +fully abolished. I owe him my life and my sound limbs, and I would +gladly risk my neck for him. And, if it cannot be otherwise, I will +leave this city with you. But we must not delay long, for the Prefect +has no need of my pincers and screws if he once takes it into his head +to torture a man's marrow out of his bones. I fear him as I fear the +devil!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I hate him as I hate a lie!" cried Rauthgundis sternly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So we must be quick," Dromon went on, "before he can carry +out his +cruel intentions; for he is certainly planning something terrible +against the King. I don't know what he can want of the poor prisoner. +Now listen, and mark my words. The third night from now, when Paulus +keeps the watch, and I take the King his evening drink, I will unlock +his chains, throw my mantle over him, and lead him out of the prison +and the passage into the court. Thence he will be able to go unnoticed +to the gate of the palace, where the sentinel will demand the +watch-word. This I shall acquaint him with. When he is once in the +street, he must go direct to the Tower of Ætius, where Paulus will let +him pass the breach. Outside, in the pine-grove of Diana, at a short +distance from the gate, Wachis will wait for him with Wallada. But no +one must accompany him; not even you, Rauthgundis. He will escape more +surely alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of what consequence am I? He shall be free; not even bound to +me! Thou +must not even name my name. I have brought him misfortune enough, I +will only look at him once again from the window as he goes away!"</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">The Prefect now sunned himself in the feeling of supremacy. He +was +Governor of Italy. By his order the fortifications were repaired and +strengthened, the citizens practised in the use of arms all over the +country. The representatives of Byzantium could no longer +counterbalance him. Their captains had no luck; the siege of Tarvisium, +as well as of Verona and Ticinum, made no progress. And Cethegus heard +with pleasure that Hildebad, whose troops had been augmented by +deserters to the number of about six hundred, had badly beaten Acacius, +who had overtaken and attacked him with a thousand Persian horsemen. +But Hildebad's road was still blocked by a strong battalion of +Byzantines, who marched against him from Mantua--he had intended to +join Totila at Tarvisium--and he was obliged to throw himself into the +Castle of Castra Nova, which was still occupied by the Goths under +Thorismuth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here the Byzantines kept him shut up. They could not, however, +take the +strong fortress, and the Prefect already foresaw that Acacius would +soon call upon him to help to destroy the Goths, who could then no +longer escape him. It rejoiced him that, since the departure of +Belisarius, the forces of Byzantium were proved, in the face of all +Italy, to be incapable of putting an end to the resistance of the +Goths. And the harshness of the Byzantine financial administration, +which had accompanied Belisarius wherever he went--for he could not +prevent the practice of draining the resources of the country, which +was carried on at the Emperor's command--awakened or heightened the +dislike of both town and country to the East Roman rule.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus took good care not--as Belisarius had often done--to +oppose +the worst acts of Justinian's officials. It gave him great pleasure +when the populations of Neapolis and Rome repeatedly broke out into +open rebellion against their oppressors.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Goths were completely annihilated, the power of the +Byzantines +become contemptible, and their tyranny sufficiently hated, Italy might +be called upon to assert her independence, and her saviour, her ruler, +would be Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">Notwithstanding, he was troubled by one circumstance--for he +was far +from undervaluing his enemies. The Gothic war, the last sparks of which +were not yet trampled out, might at any time flame up anew, fanned by +the national indignation aroused by the treachery which had been +practised. It had great weight with the Prefect that the most hated +leaders of the Goths, Totila and Teja, had not been taken in the trap +laid at Ravenna.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the purpose, therefore, of preventing such a national +uprising as +he feared, he attempted to drag from the Gothic King a declaration, +that he had surrendered himself and the city without hope and without +condition, and that he called upon his people to abstain from fruitless +resistance. He also wished his prisoner to tell him in what castle the +war-treasure of Theodoric was concealed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even in those days such a treasure, as a means of gaining +foreign +princes and mercenaries, was of the highest importance. If the Goths +lost it, they would lose their best chance of strengthening their +exhausted forces by the aid of foreign weapons.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was the Prefect's greatest wish not to let this +treasure--which +legend spoke of as immense--fall into the hands of the Byzantines--whose +need of money, and the tyranny caused by this need, were such active +allies in his plans--but to secure it for himself. His means were also +not inexhaustible. But opposed to the calm steadfastness of his prisoner, +the Prefect's efforts to extort the secret were vain.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">All necessary measures had been taken for the escape of the +King.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rauthgundis and Wachis had made themselves thoroughly +acquainted with +the pine-grove where the faithful freedman was to wait with the charger +of Dietrich of Bern.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was with the confidence which completed preparations +always lend +to a stout heart, that Rauthgundis returned to the dwelling of the +gaoler.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she turned pale when the latter rushed to meet her with an +air of +desperation, and dragged her across the threshold.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once in the room, he threw himself on his knees before her, +beating his +breast with his fists and tearing his grey hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">For some time he could find no words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak," cried Rauthgundis, pressing her hand to her +wildly-beating +heart. "Is he dead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but flight is impossible! all is lost! all is lost! An +hour ago +the Prefect came, and went down to the King. As usual, I opened both +doors for him, the passage and the prison door, and then----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then he took both keys from me, saying he would keep them in +future +himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And thou gavest them up!" said Rauthgundis, grinding her +teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How could I refuse? I did all I could. I kept them back and +asked: +'Master, do you no longer trust me?' He looked at me with a look that +seemed to pierce soul and body. 'From this moment,' he said, 'no +longer,' and snatched the keys from my hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And thou didst not prevent him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, mistress, you are unjust! What could you have done in my +place? +Nothing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should have strangled him. And now? What shall we do now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do? Nothing! Nothing can be done!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He <i>must</i> be liberated. Dost thou hear? he <i>must</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, mistress, I know not how."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rauthgundis caught up an axe which lay near the hearth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will open the doors by force."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dromon tried to take the axe from her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is impossible! They are thickly plated with iron."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then send for the monster! Tell him that Witichis desires to +speak +with him, and I will strike him down at the passage door."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then? You rave! Let me go out. I will call Wachis away +from his +useless watch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! I cannot think that we shall not succeed. Perhaps that +devil will +return of his own accord. Perhaps--" she continued reflectively--"Ha!" +she cried suddenly, "it must be so. He wants to murder him! He intends +to steal alone to the defenceless prisoner. But woe to him if he come! +I will guard the threshold of that door as if it were a sanctuary, and +woe to him if he cross it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She leaned heavily against the half-door of the room, and +swung the +ponderous axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Rauthgundis was wrong.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not to kill his prisoner had the Prefect taken the keys into +his own +keeping.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had gone with them in his hand to the south side of the +palace, +where he gained admittance to Mataswintha's room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stillness of death and the excitement of fever alternated +so +rapidly in Mataswintha, that Aspa could never look at her mistress +without the tears rushing to her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most beautiful daughter of the Germans," began the Prefect, +"dissipate +the cloud which rests upon your white brow, and listen to me calmly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is the King? You leave me without news. You promised to +let him go +free when all was decided. You promised that he should be taken over +the Alps. You have not kept your word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I promised it on two conditions. You know them well, and you +have not +yet done your part. Tomorrow the nephew of the Emperor will return from +Ariminum, ready to take you to Byzantium, and I desire you to give him +hopes that you will become his bride. Your marriage with Witichis was +forced and null."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, never! I have told you so before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry for it, for the sake of my prisoner, for he will +not see +the light of day again until you are on the way to Byzantium with +Germanus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not irritate me, Mataswintha. The folly of the girl who +bought the +Ares' head at such a high price, is, I think, outgrown. For that once +enamoured being has since sacrificed the Ares of the Goths to his +enemies. But if you still honour that dream of girlhood, then save the +man you once loved."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mataswintha shook her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Until now I have treated you as a free agent, as a Queen. Do +not remind me that you, as well as he, are in my power. You will +become the wife--soon the widow--of this noble Prince--and +Justinian--Byzantium--the whole world, will lie at your feet. Daughter +of the Amelungs, is it possible that you do not love power?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I only love---- Never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I must force you."</p> + +<p class="normal">She laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You?</i> Force <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I force you! (She still loves the man she has ruined!) +The second +condition is this: that the prisoner fill up this empty space with a +name--the name of the castle in which the treasure of the Goths is +concealed--and sign the declaration. He refuses to do this with a +stubbornness which begins to anger me. Seven times I, the conqueror, +have been to him. He would never yet speak to me. And the first time I +went I received a look for which alone he deserves to lose his haughty +head."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will never consent!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That remains to be seen. The continual dropping of water +wears away a +stone at last. But I can wait no longer. Early to-day I received word +that that mad Hildebad, in a furious sally, has beaten Bessas so +thoroughly, that the latter can scarcely continue the siege. Everywhere +the Goths rebel. I must go and make an end of it, and extinguish these +last sparks with the water of deception, which is better than blood. To +this end I must have the King's declaration, and the secret of the +castle. Therefore I tell you that if, before to-morrow, you do not +consent to accompany the Prince to Byzantium, and have not procured for +me the signature of the prisoner, witnessed as such by yourself, I +will--I swear by the Styx--kill----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Horrified at the awful expression of Cethegus's face, +Mataswintha +started from her seat and grasped his arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will not kill <i>him</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; or rather, I will first torture him, then blind him, and +afterwards kill him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! no!" screamed Mataswintha.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am resolved. The executioners are ready. And you, you shall +tell him +this. He will believe that I am in earnest when he sees your despair. +You will perhaps be able to soften him; the sight of me only hardens +him. Perhaps he thinks that he is still in the hands of Belisarius, +that tender-hearted hero. You will tell him in whose power he really +is. Here are the documents--here the keys which open his prison. You +shall choose the hour yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">A ray of joyful hope shone from Mataswintha'a eyes. Cethegus +failed not +to remark it, but, smiling calmly, he left the room.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Soon after the Prefect had left the Queen it became quite +dark.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sky was thickly covered with ragged clouds, which were +driven +across the moon by the fierce wind, so that brief and uncertain light +alternated with a gloom rendered greater by contrast.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dromon had completed his evening round of the cells, and +returned to +his dwelling tired and sad.</p> + +<p class="normal">He found no light within. He could scarcely make out that +Rauthgundis +was still leaning against the half«door, the axe in her hand, her eyes +fixed upon the door of the passage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me strike a light, mistress, and kindle the chips upon +the hearth. +Share the evening meal with me. Come, you wait here in vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no light, no fire! I can see better what happens in the +court +without, for it is moonlight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, at least come in here and rest yourself. Here is bread +and +meat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I eat while he hungers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will be exhausted! Of what are you thinking the whole +evening?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of what am I thinking?" repeated Rauthgundis, still looking +out. "I am +thinking how often we have sat in the colonnade before our beautiful +house, when the fountain splashed in the garden and the cicalas chirped +in the trees. The cool night-breeze fanned his beloved face, and I +nestled against his shoulder, and we did not speak one word, and above +us was the silent march of the stars. And we listened to the deep and +peaceful breathing of our child, who had fallen asleep upon my lap, his +little hands, like soft white fetters, clasping the arm of his father. +Alas! his arm now wears other fetters! Iron fetters--that pain----"</p> + +<p class="normal">And she pressed her forehead against the iron grating, until +she, too, +felt pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mistress, why do you torment yourself thus? We cannot help +it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'But we will help it! I must save him and----Dromon! look +there! What +is that?" she whispered, and pointed at something in the court.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man hastened noiselessly to her side.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the court was a tall white figure, which seemed to glide +stealthily +along the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">At brief intervals, but sharp and clear, the moonlight fell +upon it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a Lemure! The ghost of some one who has been murdered +here!" +said the old man, trembling. "God and all the saints protect us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He crossed himself and covered his head with his mantle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Rauthgundis, "the dead do not return from the other +world! +Now it has disappeared--all is dark. Ha! the moon breaks through +once--more there it is again! It moves towards the passage-door. What +is that shining red in the white light? Ha! it is the Queen--that is +her red hair? She stops at the door! She opens it! She is going to +murder him in his sleep!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God knows, it is the Queen! But <i>she</i> murder him! How could +she?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>She</i> could! But, as I live, she shall not! Follow her! A +miracle +opens the door to us. But softly, softly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And she went out on tiptoe into the court, the axe still in +her hand, +slowly and stealthily, seeking the shadow. Dromon followed her closely.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Mataswintha, for she it was, had opened the door and +gone +forward, down many steps and then through a small passage, feeling the +way with her hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">She now reached the door of the prison. She opened it very +softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Through an aperture high up on the wall, where a stone had +been taken +out, a slanting strip of moonlight fell into the square and narrow +dungeon.</p> + +<p class="normal">The light revealed the prisoner. He sat motionless upon a +block of +stone, his back turned to the door, his head supported on his hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mataswintha trembled and leaned against the doorpost. The air +felt damp +and icy-cold. She shivered. She could not say a word for very horror.</p> + +<p class="normal">Witichis remarked the draught of air from the open door. He +lifted his +head, but did not look round.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Witichis--King Witichis--" at last stammered Mataswintha; "it +is I! +Dost thou hear me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the prisoner did not move.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I come to save thee--fly! Thou art free!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the prisoner dropped his head again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, speak!--oh, only look at me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She now went quite into the dungeon. Gladly would she have +touched his +arm, and taken his hand, but she did not yet dare.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cethegus will kill thee!" she said; "torture thee. He surely +will if +thou dost not fly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And now her desperation gave her courage. She drew nearer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But thou wilt fly! Thou shalt not die! I must save thee! I +beseech +thee, fly, fly! Oh, thou dost not hear me, and time presses! Sometime +thou shalt know everything! but now fly--to life and liberty! I have +the keys of the doors! fly, fly!" And now she grasped his arm and tried +to drag him from his seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she heard the rattling of chains--on his arms on his feet. +He was +chained to the block of stone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! what is this?" she cried, and fell upon her knees.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stone and iron," he said, in a toneless voice. "Leave me, I +am doomed. +And even if these bonds did not hold me--I would not follow thee. Back +to the world? The world is one great lie. Everything is a lie."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou art right. It is better to die. Let me die with thee, +but forgive +me! For I, too, have lied to thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is very possible. It does not surprise me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But thou wilt forgive me before we die? I have hated thee--I +have +rejoiced in thy ruin--I have--oh, it is so hard to tell! I have not the +strength to confess it! And yet I must have thy forgiveness. Oh, +forgive me!--give me thy hand as a sign of thy pardon."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Witichis had sunk back into his former stupor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I beseech thee--forgive me, whatever I may have done!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go--why should I not forgive thee? thou art like the +rest--not better +and not worse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I am more wicked than all--and yet better. At least more +miserable. It is true that I hated thee, but only because thou hast +ever thrust me from thee. Thou wouldst not permit me to share thy life. +Forgive me!--O God! I only wish to die with thee!--give me thy hand as +a sign of pardon!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Kneeling and beseeching, she stretched out both her hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King again lifted his head. The kindness of his nature +awoke within +him, and overpowered his own dull pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mataswintha," he said, lifting his chained hand, "go. I am +sorry for +thee. Let me die alone. Whatever thou mayst have done--go--I forgive +thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O Witichis!" breathed Mataswintha, and would have clasped his +hand, +but she felt herself suddenly and violently dragged away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Incendiary! never shall he forgive thee! Come, +Witichis!--<i>my</i> +Witichis!--follow me; thou art free!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The King sprang up, roused to life by this voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rauthgundis! My wife! Thou hast never lied! Thou art true! at +last I +have thee again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And, with a gasp of joy, he stretched out his arms. His wife +flew to +his bosom, and tear's of delight rushed from their eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Mataswintha, who had risen, tottered to the wall. She +slowly +stroked her loose red hair out of her eyes and looked at the pair, who +were illuminated by the bright moonlight from the chink in the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How he loves her! Yes, he will follow <i>her</i>! But he shall +not! He +shall remain and die with me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Delay no longer!" said the voice of Dromon at the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come quickly, my life!" cried Rauthgundis.</p> + +<p class="normal">She drew a little key from her bosom and felt at the chains, +seeking +the small opening of the lock.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Shall I really breathe once more the air of freedom?" +asked the +prisoner, half sinking back into his stupor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; the free and open air!" cried Rauthgundis, and threw the +loosened +chains to the ground. "Here, Witichis, here is a weapon! an axe! Take +it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Eagerly the Goth took the axe and weighed it in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha! how the weapon strengthens my arm and soul!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it, my brave Witichis," said Rauthgundis, kneeling +down and +unlocking the chain which bound his left foot to the block of stone. +"Now step out, for thou art free!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Witichis, raising the axe in his right hand, made a step +toward the +door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And <i>she</i> is permitted to loose his chains!" whispered +Mataswintha.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, free!" cried Witichis, drawing a deep breath. "Come, +Rauthgundis, +let us go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He goes with <i>her</i>!" screamed Mataswintha, and cast herself +before the +pair. "Witichis--farewell--but tell me once more--that thou hast +forgiven me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgiven thee!" cried Rauthgundis. "Never--never! She has +destroyed +our kingdom--she has betrayed thee! It was no lightning--it was her +hand which kindled the granaries!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha--then be thou accursed!" cried Witichis. "Away, away from +this +serpent!" and, thrusting Mataswintha violently away, he crossed the +threshold, followed by Rauthgundis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Witichis," screamed Mataswintha, dragging herself +up--"stay--stay! +Hear one word--Witichis!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be silent," said Dromon, grasping her arm. "You will alarm +the guard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Mataswintha, now no more mistress of herself, ran up the +steps into +the passage. "Stay, Witichis--stay!" she screamed. "Thou canst not +leave me thus!" and fell fainting to the earth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dromon hurried past her, and followed the fugitives.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the shrill cries of Mataswintha had already reached the +ear of one +who ever slept lightly. Cethegus, his sword in his hand, and only half +dressed, came out of his chamber into the gallery which looked over the +square court of the palace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Guards!" he cried. "To arms!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The soldiers were already astir.</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely had Witichis, Rauthgundis, and Dromon left the +passage and +safely reached the dwelling of the latter, when six Isaurian +mercenaries rushed noisily into the passage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Quick as thought Rauthgundis ran out of the house to the heavy +iron +door, shut it, turned the key, and took it out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now they can do no harm," she whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">The husband and wife presently hastened from Dromon's house to +the +great gate which led from the court into the street. The single +sentinel who had remained behind stopped them and demanded the +watchword. "Rome," he cried, "and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Revenge!" cried Witichis, and struck him down with the axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sentinel screamed and fell, hurling his spear at the +fugitives. It +pierced the last of the three--Dromon.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Witichis and Rauthgundis rushed down the marble stairs of +the palace +into the street, they heard the imprisoned soldiers thundering at the +strong iron door, and a loud voice calling: "Syphax, my horse!" Then +they disappeared into the darkness.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few minutes later the courtyard was bright with the lights +of many +torches, and several horsemen galloped off to the different gates of +the city.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Six thousand solidi to whoever takes him alive; three +thousand if he +be brought in dead!" cried Cethegus, swinging himself into the saddle. +"Up, Sons of the Wind, Ellak and Mondzach, Huns and Massagetæ! Ride as +you have never ridden before!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But whither?" asked Syphax, as he galloped out of the gate at +his +master's aide.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is difficult to say. But all the gates are closed and +guarded. +They can only escape by a breach."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There are two large breaches."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at Jupiter, which is just rising from behind the clouds +in the +east. It seems to sign to me. In that direction----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lies the breach near the Tower of Ætius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good! Then thither--I follow my star!"</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">Meantime the fugitives had happily reached the breach, where +Paulus, +the son of Dromon, let them pass. In the pine-grove of Diana they found +their faithful Wachis and two horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">The husband and wife mounted Wallada. The freedman took the +other horse +and rode off at a gallop towards the river, which at this point was +very broad.</p> + +<p class="normal">Witichis held Rauthgundis before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My wife--losing thee I had lost all: life and courage. But +now I will +once more try for the kingdom. Oh, how could I ever let thee go, thou +soul of my soul!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thine arm is wounded with the chaffing of the chain. Lay it +across my +neck, my Witichis."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward, Wallada--quick! It is for life or death!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They now issued from the grove into the open country. They +reached the +shore of the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wachis was trying to urge his rearing steed into the dark +flood. The +animal shyed and resisted.</p> + +<p class="normal">The freedman sprang off.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is very deep, very rapid," he said. "For three days the +river has +been unusually full. The ford is useless. The horses will have to swim, +and the current will drag us far to the left. There are rocks in the +stream, and the moonlight is so inconstant and deceptive."</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked doubtfully and searchingly up and down the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hark! what was that?" asked Rauthgundis. "It was not the wind +in the +trees."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is horses!" cried Witichis. "They approach rapidly. I hear +the +clatter of arms. There--torches! Now into the river for life or +death--but softly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He urged his horse into the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no footing. The horses must swim. Hold fast by the +mane, +Rauthgundis. Forward, Wallada!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Snorting and trembling, the noble animal looked at the black +water. His +mane was blown wildly about his head--he held his fore-feet stretched +out, his haunches drawn in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward, Wallada!" said Witichis, and called softly into the +faithful +animal's ear, "Theodoric!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this the charger sprang willingly into the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">The pursuing horsemen had already galloped out of the wood, +Cethegus +foremost; at his side rode Syphax with a torch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here the track disappears in the sand, master."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are in the river. Forward, Huns!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the horsemen drew rein and stood stock-still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Ellak, why do you linger? At once into the flood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir, we cannot. Before we ride into running water at +night-time, we +must ask forgiveness of Phug, the water-spirit. We must first pray to +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray when you are across as long as you like; but now----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then a strong gust of wind blew from the river and +extinguished +all the torches.</p> + +<p class="normal">The river rushed and roared.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, sir, that Phug is angry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be silent. Did you see nothing? There to the left."</p> + +<p class="normal">The moon just then glanced between the driving clouds. It +shone upon +the light-coloured garments of Rauthgundis. She had lost her brown +mantle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aim quickly; there!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We cannot; we must first finish our worship!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The clouds passed across the moon, and it was again quite +dark.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a curse, Cethegus snatched bow and quiver from the +shoulder of the +chief of the Huns.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come on!" cried Wachis in a low voice, when he had almost +reached the +opposite shore; "come quickly, before the moon issues from that narrow +strip of cloud!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Halt, Wallada!" cried Witichis, as he dismounted in order to +lighten +the burden, and held fast by the horse's mane. "Here is a rock. Take +care, Rauthgundis."</p> + +<p class="normal">Horse, man, and woman were checked for a moment while +balancing upon +the top of the rock, past which the water rushed and gurgled in a deep +whirl.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the moon shone out clear and bright. It illuminated +the +surface of the stream and the group on the rock.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is they!" cried Cethegus, who held his bow and arrow +ready.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took a rapid aim, and pulled the string.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whistling, the long black-feathered arrow flew from the +string.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rauthgundis!" cried Witichis in terror; for his wife started +convulsively and sank forward upon the horse's neck. But she did not +utter a groan. "Rauthgundis, thou art hit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe so. Leave me here and save thyself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never! Let me support thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For God's sake, sir, stoop! dive! They take aim again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Huns had finished praying. They rode a short way into the +water, +fixing their arrows and taking aim.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave me, Witichis. Fly! I will die here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; I will never leave thee again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He lifted her out of the saddle, and tried to hide her on the +rock. The +group stood in the full light of the moon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yield, Witichis!" cried Cethegus, spurring his horse up to +its +haunches in the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A curse upon thee, thou traitor!" was the reply of Witichis.</p> + +<p class="normal">Twelve arrows whizzed at once. The charger of Theodoric leaped +wildly +forward, and sank for ever into the flood.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Witichis also was mortally wounded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With thee!" sighed Rauthgundis. She held him closely with +both arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With thee!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And, locked in a fast embrace, husband and wife sank into the +river.</p> + +<p class="normal">In bitter grief, Wachis, on the farther shore, called their +names. In +vain. Three times he called, and then galloped away into the night.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get the bodies out," ordered Cethegus grimly, turning his +horse to the +bank.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Huns rode and swam to the rock, and sought for the +bodies. But +they sought in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rapid current had carried man and wife, united now for +ever, into +the free and open sea.</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">The same day Prince Germanus had returned from Ariminum to the +harbour +of Ravenna, ready to take Mataswintha to Byzantium.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter was only roused from the faint into which she had +fallen +when left by Witichis and Rauthgundis, by the noise of the hammers with +which the work-people broke open the passage to liberate the soldiers.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Princess was found crouching upon the steps of the prison. +She was +carried up to her chamber in a high fever. She lay for hours upon her +purple cushions without moving or speaking, her eyes fixed in a wild +stare.</p> + +<p class="normal">Towards noon Cethegus asked for admission.</p> + +<p class="normal">His look was dark and threatening; his expression cold as ice.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went up to Mataswintha's couch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is dead!" she quietly said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He would not have it otherwise. He--and you. It is useless to +reproach +you. But you see what ensues when you oppose me. The report of his +death will inevitably rouse the barbarians to new fury. You have +created a difficult task for me; for you only are the cause of his +flight and death. The least that you can do to atone for this is to +fulfil my second wish. Prince Germanus has landed. He comes to fetch +you. You will follow him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is the corpse?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has not been found. The current has carried it away; his +body +and--the woman's."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mataswintha's lips twitched.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Even in death! She died with him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Think no more of the dead. In two hours I will return with +the Prince. +Will you then be prepared to welcome him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall be ready."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well. We will be punctual."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I also. Aspa, call all my slaves; they shall adorn me richly +to meet +this Prince. Diadem, purple, and silk."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She has lost her senses," Cethegus said to himself as he left +the +room. "But women are tough; she will recover them. These women can +live, even when their hearts are broken."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to console the impatient Prince.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before the expiration of the time appointed, a slave came to +invite the +two men to come to the Queen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Germanus crossed the threshold of her room with a rapid step. +But he +stood still astonished. He had never seen the Gothic Princess looking +so lovely, so queenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had placed a high golden diadem upon her shining hair, +which fell +over her shoulders in two thick tresses. Her under-dress of heavy white +silk, embroidered with golden flowers, was only visible below the knee, +for the upper part of her body was covered by the royal purple. Her +face was white and cold as marble: her eyes blazed with a strange and +supernatural light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Prince Germanus," she said, as he entered, "you once spoke to +me of +love; but do you know of what you spoke? To love is to die."</p> + +<p class="normal">Germanus looked inquiringly at the Prefect, who now came +forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was about to speak, but Mataswintha, in a clear loud voice, +recommenced:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Prince Germanus, you are famed as the most highly-cultivated +man of a +learned court, where it is a favourite pastime to practise the solving +of finely-pointed riddles. I also will put to you a riddle; see to it +that you solve it. Let the clever Prefect, who so well understands +human nature, help you. What is this?--A wife, and yet a maid; a widow, +and yet no wife? You cannot guess? You are right; death alone resolves +all riddles!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With a sudden movement, she cast off her purple robe.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a flash of steel! She had stabbed herself to the +heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a shriek, Germanus and Aspa (who had stood behind) sprang +forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus silently caught the falling figure.</p> + +<p class="normal">She died as soon as he drew the sword from her breast. He knew +the +sword. He himself had sent it to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the sword of King Witichis.</p> + +<br> + +<br> + +<h2>BOOK V.</h2> +<h3>TOTILA.</h3> + +<p class="normal">"Well for us that this sunny youth still lives!"--<i>Margrave +Ruediger of +Bechelaren</i>, Act i., Scene i.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>PART I.</h2> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="continue">A few days after the death of Mataswintha and the departure of +Prince +Germanus, who was deeply shocked by the sad event, a message came from +Castra Nova, which rendered necessary the march of Byzantine troops +from Ravenna.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hildebad had been informed, by fugitive Goths, who had made +their way +in disguise through the lines of the besiegers, of the treacherous +imprisonment of the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">On hearing the news, he sent word to Cethegus and Belisarius, +through +some prisoners whom he released, that he challenged them, either +together or singly, to mortal combat, "if they had a drop of courage in +their veins, or a trace of honour in their souls."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He thinks that Belisarius is still in the country, and does +not seem +to fear him greatly," said Bessas.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This might be a means," said Cethegus cunningly, of ruining +the +turbulent fellow. "But, certainly, it needs great courage--such courage +as Belisarius possesses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know that I do not yield to him a jot in that," answered +Bessas.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good," said Cethegus. "Then follow me to my house. I will +show you how +to destroy this giant. You shall succeed where Belisarius failed." But +he said to himself, "Bessas is indeed a tolerably bad commander; but +Demetrius is still worse, and therefore easier to lead. And I owe +Bessas a grudge for that affair of the Tiburtinian Gate at Rome."</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">The Prefect had not without reason feared that the almost +extinguished +resistance of the Goths would be renewed on hearing of the treason +practised on their King.</p> + +<p class="normal">No exact report had yet reached old Hildebrand at Verona, +Totila at +Tarvisium, or Teja at Ticinum.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had only heard that Ravenna had fallen, and that the King +was +imprisoned.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vague rumours of treachery accompanied this report, and the +friends of +the King, in their pain and anger, were persuaded that the fall of the +strong fortress and of the brave King had not been effected by honest +means.</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of discouraging them, this misfortune only increased +the +strength of their resistance.</p> + +<p class="normal">They weakened their besiegers by repeated and successful +sallies.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the enemy felt almost constrained to raise the siege, for +already +signs of an important change of circumstance crowded upon them from all +sides.</p> + +<p class="normal">This change was, in fact, a rapidly progressing reversion of +feeling in +the Italian population, at least of the middle classes: the merchants +and artisans of the towns; the peasants and farmers of the country.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Italians had everywhere greeted the Byzantines as +liberators.</p> + +<p class="normal">But after a short period their exultation died away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whole troops of officials followed Belisarius from Byzantium, +sent by +Justinian to reap without delay the fruits of the war, and to fill the +ever-empty treasury of the East with the riches of Italy.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the midst of all the suffering caused by the war, these +zealous +officials began their work.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Belisarius had occupied a town, his treasurer +summoned all +free citizens to the Curia or to the Forum; ordered them to divide +themselves into six classes according to their wealth, and then called +upon each class to value the property of the class above it.</p> + +<p class="normal">According to this valuation, the imperial officials then laid +the +highest possible tax upon each class.</p> + +<p class="normal">And, as these officials were almost necessitated, because of +the +retention and curtailment of their never punctually paid salaries, to +think of filling their own pockets as well as the Emperor's treasury, +the oppression they put in practice became intolerable.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were not content with the high rates which the Emperor +required to +be paid in advance for three years; the special tax laid upon every +liberated town of Italy as a "gratitude tax"--besides the large +contributions and requisitions which Belisarius and his generals were +obliged to demand for the use of the army--for neither gold nor +provisions came from Byzantium--but every official sought to extort +special payments, by special means, out of the richer citizens.</p> + +<p class="normal">They everywhere ordered a revision of the tax-lists, +discovered arrears +owing since the times of the Gothic Kings, even from the days of +Odoacer, and left the citizens the option of paying immense sums for +indemnity or of carrying on a ruinous lawsuit with Justinian's fiscus, +who scarcely ever lost one.</p> + +<p class="normal">But if the tax-lists were incomplete or destroyed--which +happened often +enough in those times of war--the accountants arbitrarily reconstructed +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">In short, all the arts of finance which had ruined the +provinces of the +Eastern Empire were practised in Italy, after the landing of +Belisarius, as far as imperial arms could reach.</p> + +<p class="normal">Without consideration for the misery of war-time, the tax +executors +unyoked the oxen of the peasant from the plough, took his tools from +the workshop of the artisan, and his wares from the house of the +merchant.</p> + +<p class="normal">In many towns the people rebelled against their oppressors and +drove +them away; but they only returned in larger numbers with severer +measures.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Mauretanian horsemen of Justinian, with African +bloodhounds, hunted +the desperate peasants from their hiding-places in the woods, whither +they had fled to escape the tax-gatherer. And Cethegus, who alone was +in a position to check such deeds, looked on with calculating coolness.</p> + +<p class="normal">He desired that, before the end of the war, all Italy should +have +become acquainted with the tyranny of Byzantium, for then it would be a +lighter task for him to persuade the people to rise and, when they had +got rid of the Goths, to throw off the burden of the Byzantines. He +listened to the complaints of the deputations from various towns, who +appealed to him for assistance, with a shrug and the laconic answer:</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is only Byzantine government--you must get used to it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," had answered the deputation from Rome, "one does not get +accustomed to what is unbearable. The Emperor may live to see that of +which he has never even dreamed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">To Cethegus this could only mean the independence of Italy; he +knew of +nothing else.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he was mistaken.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although he thought meanly enough of his countrymen and the +times in +which he lived, he yet believed that he could elevate them by example.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the thought so natural to his spirit; as necessary to him +as the +air he breathed--the freedom and independence of Italy--was far too +grand for the comprehension of that generation.</p> + +<p class="normal">They could only vacillate between two masters.</p> + +<p class="normal">And when the yoke of Byzantium proved unbearable they began to +recall +to their memory the milder rule of the Goths; a possibility which had +never entered the Prefect's head.</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet such was the case.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Tarvisium, Ticinum, and Verona, there now happened on a +small +scale, that which was preparing on a large one in such cities as +Neapolis and Rome. The Italian country-people revolted against +the Byzantine officials and soldiers, and the inhabitants of the +above-named three cities supported the Goths in every possible manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, when Totila, backed by the armed peasants of the plains, +had +destroyed a great part of their works, the besiegers of Tarvisium were +obliged to cease their attacks, and limit themselves to the defence of +their camp, thus enabling Totila to draw supplies and soldiers from the +neighbouring country.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a more cheerful spirit than usual he one evening made his +round of +the walls of Tarvisium.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rosy clouds floated across the sky, and the sun, as it sank +behind the +Venetian hills, gilded all the plain before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">With emotion he watched the peasants from the neighbourhood +streaming +through the open gates of the city, bringing bread, meat, and wine to +his half-starved Goths; who, on their part, hurried out into the open +country, and Germans and Italians, embracing, celebrated the victory +which they had together gained over their hated enemies.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it then impossible," said Totila to himself, "to preserve +and +propagate this amity through the whole country? Is it a necessity that +these two nations should be eternally divided? How their friendship +embellishes each! Have we not also failed, in that we ever treated the +Italians as the vanquished? We meet them with suspicion, instead of +with generous confidence. We demand their obedience, and neglect to win +their affection. And it would have been well worth the winning! Had it +been won--never would Byzantium have gained a footing here! The release +from my vow--Valeria--would not have been so unattainable. Would that +it were permitted me to strive for this goal in <i>my</i> way!"</p> + +<p class="normal">His reflections and dreams were interrupted by a messenger +from the +outposts, announcing that the enemy had suddenly forsaken their camp, +and were in fall retreat to the south, towards Ravenna. On the road to +the west clouds of dust were seen: a large body of horsemen was +approaching--probably Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila received the news with joy, but also with doubt. He +took all +necessary measures against a stratagem.</p> + +<p class="normal">But during the night his doubts were resolved. He was awakened +by the +news of a Gothic victory, and the arrival of the victor.</p> + +<p class="normal">He hurried out and found Hildebrand, Teja, Thorismuth, and +Wachis.</p> + +<p class="normal">With the cry of "Victory! victory!" his friends greeted him, +and +Teja and Hildebrand announced that at Ticina, and Verona also, the +country-people had rebelled against the Byzantines, and had aided the +Goths in falling upon the besiegers, whom, after destroying their +defences, they had forced to retreat.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in spite of this joyful news, there lay in Teja's eyes and +voice a +deeper melancholy than usual.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What of sorrow hast thou to communicate, beside this joy?" +asked +Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The shameful ruin of the best man in the world!" said Teja, +and signed +to Wachis, who now related the sufferings and death of the King and his +wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I escaped the arrows of the Huns by hiding amongst the +rushes. Thus I +still live. But only for one thing; that is, to revenge my master upon +his betrayer and murderer--Cethegus the Prefect."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; the Prefect is mine!" said Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou, Totila, hast the first right to his life," said +Hildebrand, "for +thou hast a brother to revenge."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My brother Hildebad!" cried Totila. "What of him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has been shamefully murdered by the Prefect," said +Thorismuth, +"before my very eyes, and I could not prevent it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My strong Hildebad dead!" exclaimed Totila. "Speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The hero lay with us in the Castle of Castra Nova, near +Mantua," +related Thorismuth. "The report of the King's treacherous death had +reached us. Hildebad challenged Belisarius and Cethegus to mortal +combat. Presently a herald arrived, who said that Belisarius had +accepted the challenge, and expected thy brother on the plain between +our walls and their camp. Thy brother set forth rejoicing; we horsemen +followed. And verily, there rode out of a tent, in his golden armour, +with closed helm and white plume, with his round shield--well known to +us all--the hero, Belisarius. Only twelve horsemen followed him; +foremost of all, Cethegus the Prefect. The other Byzantines halted just +outside the camp. Hildebad ordered me to follow him with an equal +number of horsemen. The two combatants greeted each other with their +spears; the trumpets sounded, and Hildebad rushed at his enemy. The +next moment the latter lay upon the ground, pierced through and +through. Thy brother, unhurt, dismounted, crying: 'That was no thrust +from Belisarius!' and opened the visor of the dying man. 'Bessas!' +cried Hildebad, and looked, furious at the deception, towards his +enemies. Then the Prefect gave a sign. The twelve Moorish horsemen +hurled their spears, and, severely hit, thy brother fell."</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila covered his face. Teja went sympathisingly up to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to the end," said Thorismuth. "When we saw this +murder, we were +filled with fury. We threw ourselves upon the enemy, who, trusting that +we should be discouraged, pressed forward from the camp. After a hot +fight, we compelled them to fly. Only the speed of his devilish horse +saved the Prefect, who was wounded in the shoulder by my spear. Thy +brother lived to see our victory. He caused the chest which he had +brought from Ravenna to be carried down to the Castle; opened it, and +said to me: 'Crown, shield, and sword of Theodoric. Take them to my +brother.' And with his last breath he cried: 'He must revenge me and +renew our kingdom. Tell him--that I loved him very dearly!' Then he +sank back upon his shield, and his faithful soul departed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My brother! Oh, my beloved brother!" cried Totila, leaning +against a +pillar. Tears flowed from his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a moment of reverent silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then: "Remember thine oath!" cried Hildebrand. "He was doubly +thy +brother! Thou wilt revenge him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Totila, and involuntarily he drew the sword--which +Teja +handed to him--from its sheath. "I will revenge him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the sword of Theodoric.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And renew the kingdom," said old Hildebrand solemnly, and, +taking the +crown, he set it upon Totila's head. "Hail to thee, King of the Goths!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila started.</p> + +<p class="normal">He raised his left hand to the golden coronet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do ye?" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That which is right. The dying hero's words were prophecy! +Thou wilt +surely renew the kingdom. Three victories call upon thee to take up the +struggle. Remember thine oath. We are not yet defenceless. Shall we lay +down our weapons? Shall we submit to treachery and tricks?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," cried Totila, "that we will not. And it is well done to +choose a +king, as a sign of renewed hope. But here stands Earl Teja, worthier +than I, of proved experience. Choose Teja!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Teja, shaking his head, "it is thy turn first! Thy +dying +brother has sent <i>thee</i> this sword and crown. Wear them happily! If the +kingdom can be saved, it is thou who canst save it; if not, an avenger +must be left."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But now," interrupted Hildebrand, "now we must hasten to sow +the seeds +of confidence in all hearts. This is thine office, Totila! See, the +young day breaks in glory. The first rays of the sun fall into the hall +and kiss, thy brow! It is a sign from the gods! Hail, King Totila--thou +that shalt renew the Gothic kingdom!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth pressed the glittering crown firmly upon his golden +locks, +and raised Theodoric's sword towards the morning sun.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes!" he cried, "if human strength can do it, I will raise +anew the +kingdom of the Goths."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="continue">And King Totila kept his word.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once again he raised the Goths, whose sole hold on Italy was +embodied +in a few thousand men and three cities, to a great power, greater even +than in the days of Theodoric.</p> + +<p class="normal">He drove the Byzantines out of all the towns of Italy, with +one fatal +exception.</p> + +<p class="normal">He won back the islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicilia.</p> + +<p class="normal">And still more: he victoriously crossed the old limits of the +kingdom, +and, as the Emperor obstinately refused recognition of the Gothic rule +and possession, sent his royal fleet to carry terror and devastation +into the provinces of the Eastern Empire.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Italy, in spite of the continuance of the war--which was +never +quite extinguished--bloomed under his government as in the time of +Theodoric.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is remarkable that the legends both of the Goths and +Italians +celebrate this fortunate King, now as the grandchild of Numa Pompilius, +Titus, or Theodoric, now as the spirit of the latter, returned to earth +in youthful form, to restore and bless his well-beloved kingdom.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the morning sun, issuing from the clouds of night, +irresistibly +spreads light and blessing abroad, so Totila's arms brought happiness +to Italy.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dark shadows retreated step by step at his approach. +Victory flew +before him, and the gates of the cities and the hearts of men opened to +him almost without a struggle.</p> + +<p class="normal">The manly qualities--the genius of a general and a +ruler--which had +slumbered in this fair youth, which were only guessed at by Theodoric +and Teja, and known to their full extent to no one, were now gloriously +displayed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youthful freshness of his nature, far from being destroyed +by the +hard trials of the last years, by the sufferings which he had endured +in Neapolis and before Rome, by the long absence from his beloved +Valeria, from whom he was parted farther and farther by every fresh +victory of the Byzantines, had only deepened into more earnest +manliness. The bright sympathy of his manner remained, and cast the +charm of amiability and heartfelt kindness over all his actions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sustained by his own ideality, he tamed trustingly to the +ideal in his +fellow-men; and almost all, except those governed by some diabolical +power, found his confident appeal to what was noble and good +irresistible.</p> + +<p class="normal">As light illumines whatever it shines upon, so the +noble-heartedness of +this glorious King seemed to communicate itself to his courts to his +associates, and even to his adversaries.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is irresistible as Apollo!" said the Italians.</p> + +<p class="normal">More closely regarded, we find that the secret of his great +and rapid +success lay in the genial art with which--following the inmost impulse +of his nature--he contrived to transmute the bitterness of the Italians +against Byzantine oppression into sympathy with the benevolence of the +Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">We have seen how this feeling of bitterness had taken root +amongst the +peasants, the farmers, the rich merchants, the artisans, and the middle +and lower ranks of the citizens; in fact, among the greater part of the +population.</p> + +<p class="normal">And later, when the Goths marched to the field of battle with +the +jubilating cry of "Totila!" the personality of the young King +completely estranged the Italians from their Byzantine oppressors, who +seemed to be totally forsaken by the fortune of war.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is true that a minority remained uninfluenced: the Orthodox +Church, +which knew of no peace with heretics; hard-headed Republicans; and the +kernel of the Catacomb conspiracy--the proud Roman aristocrats and the +friends of the Prefect. But this small minority compared to the mass of +the population, was of little moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King's first act was to publish a manifesto to the Goths +and +Italians.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was proved to the first that the fall of King Witichis and +Ravenna +had been the work of superior falsehood, and not of superior strength; +and the duty of revenge, begun already by three victories, was +impressed upon them.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Italians, having now experienced what kind of exchange +they had +made in revolting to Byzantium, were invited to return to their old +friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">In order to favour this return, the King promised not only a +general +amnesty, but equal rights with the Goths; the abolition of all former +Gothic privileges; the right of forming a native army; and--what was +especially effective by contrast--the abolition of all taxes upon +Italian soil or property until the end of the war.</p> + +<p class="normal">Further, as the aristocracy favoured the Byzantines--the +farmers, on +the contrary, the Goths--it was a measure of the highest prudence which +provided that every Roman noble who did not, within three months, +subject himself to the Goths, should lose his landed property in favour +of his former tenants.</p> + +<p class="normal">And, lastly, the King placed a high premium, to be paid out of +the +royal purse, on all intermarriages between Goths and Italians, +promising the settlement of the pair upon the confiscated property of +Roman senators.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Italia," concluded the manifesto, "bleeding from the wounds +inflicted +by the tyranny of Byzantium, shall recover and bloom again under my +protection. Help us, sons of Italia, to drive from this sacred ground +our common enemies, the Huns and Scythians of Justinianus. Then, in +the new-born kingdom of the Italians and Goths, a new people shall +arise--begotten of Italian beauty and cultivation, of Gothic strength +and truth--whose nobility and splendour shall be such as the world has. +never yet beheld!"</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">When Cethegus the Prefect, awaking at morn on the field-bed to +which +his wound had confined him, heard the news of Totila's accession, he +sprang from his couch with a curse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir," said the Grecian physician, "you must take care of +yourself +and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you not hear? Totila wears the Gothic crown! It is no +time now to +be prudent.--My helm, Syphax."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he snatched the manifesto from the hand of Lucius +Licinius, who had +brought the news, and read eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it not ridiculous--madness?" asked Lucius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Madness it is if the Romans be yet Romans! But are they so? +If they +are not--then we--and not the barbarian prince--work madness. The thing +must never be put to a trial, but be at once nipped in the bud. The +blow directed against the aristocracy is a masterpiece. It must not +have time to take effect. Where is Demetrius?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He marched against Totila last evening. You were asleep. The +physician +forbade us to awaken you, and Demetrius also."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Totila king, and you let me sleep! Do you not know that this +flaxen-head is the very genius of the Goths? Demetrius wishes to win +his laurels alone. How strong is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"More than twice as strong as the Goths; twelve thousand to +five +thousand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Demetrius is lost. Up--to horse! Arm all who can carry a +lance. +Leave only the wounded to guard the walls. This firebrand Totila must +be trampled out, or an ocean of blood cannot extinguish him. My +weapons--to horse!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have never seen the Prefect look so," said Lucius Licinius +to the +physician. "It must be fever? He grew pale."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is without fever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I do not comprehend it, for it cannot be <i>fear</i>. Syphax, +let us +follow him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus urged on his troop indefatigably. So indefatigably, +that only +a small suite of horsemen could keep up with his impatience and the +swift hoofs of his war-horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">At long intervals followed Marcus Licinius, Massurius with +Cethegus's +mercenaries, and Balbus with the hurriedly-armed citizens of Ravenna. +For Cethegus had indeed left in the fortress only old men, women and +children, and the wounded soldiers.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the Prefect succeeded in communicating with the +rear-guard of +the Byzantines.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila was marching from Tarvisium southwards against Ravenna.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was joined by numerous bands of armed Italians from the +provinces of +Liguria, Venetia, and Æmilia, who had been roused by his manifesto into +new hope and new resolve.</p> + +<p class="normal">They desired to fight with him his first battle against the +Byzantines.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," Totila had answered their general; "you shall decide +upon what +you will do <i>after</i> the battle. We Goths will fight alone. If we win, +then you may join us. If we lose, then the revenge of the Byzantines +will not affect you. Await the result."</p> + +<p class="normal">The report of such magnanimous sentiments attracted many more +to the +Gothic flag.</p> + +<p class="normal">Besides this, Totila's army was reinforced from hour to hour, +during +the march, by the arrival of Gothic warriors, who, singly, or in small +bands, had come out of prison or left their hiding-places when they +heard of the treachery practised on King Witichis, the accession of a +new King, and the renewal of the war.</p> + +<p class="normal">The haste with which Totila pressed forward, in order to avail +himself +of the enthusiasm of his troops before it had time to cool, and the +zeal with which Demetrius flew to meet him, soon brought the two armies +in sight of each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was at the bridge across the Padus, named Pons Padi.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Byzantines stood in the plain; they had the river, which +they had +crossed with half their foot, at their backs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Goths appeared upon the gently-sloping hills towards the +north-west.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rays of the setting sun dazzled the eyes of the +Byzantines.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila, from the hill, observed the position of the enemy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The victory is mine!" he cried to his troops, and, drawing +his sword, +he swooped upon his enemies like a falcon on his prey.</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">Cethegus and his followers had reached the last deserted camp +of the +Byzantines shortly after sunset.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were met by the first fugitives.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn, Prefect," cried the foremost horseman, who recognised +him, "turn +and save yourself! Totila is upon us! He cleaved the helm and head of +Artabazes, the best captain of the Armenians, with his own hand!" And +the man continued his flight.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A god led the barbarians!" cried a second. "All is lost--the +commander-in-chief is taken!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This King Totila is irresistible!" cried a third, trying to +pass the +Prefect, who blocked his way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell that in hell!" cried Cethegus, and struck him to the +earth. +"Forward!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But he had scarcely given the command when he recalled it.</p> + +<p class="normal">For already whole battalions of vanquished Byzantines came +flying +through the wood towards him. He saw that it would be impossible to +stem the flight of these masses with his small troop.</p> + +<p class="normal">For some time he watched the movement irresolutely.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Gothic pursuers were already visible in the distance, when +Vitalius, one of Demetrius's captains, came wounded up to Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, friend," he cried, "there is no stopping them! They will +now go on +till they reach Ravenna."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I verily believe it," said Cethegus. "They will more likely +carry my +men away with them than stand and fight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet only the half of the victors, under Teja and +Hildebrand, +follow us. The King turned back already on the field of battle. I saw +him withdraw his troops. He wheeled to the south-west."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Whither?</i>" cried Cethegus, becoming attentive. "Tell me +again. In +<i>what</i> direction?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He marched towards the south-west."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is going to Rome!" exclaimed the Prefect, and pulled his +horse +round so suddenly that it reared. "Follow me!--to the coast!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the routed army? without leaders!" cried Lucius Licinius. +"See how +they fly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let them fly! Ravenna is strong. It will hold out. Do you not +hear? +The Goth is going to <i>Rome</i>! We must get there before him. Follow me to +the coast--the way by sea is open. To Rome!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Lovely--famed far and wide for its beauty--is the valley in +which the +Passara flows from the north into the rapid Athesis, which hurries from +the west to the south-east.</p> + +<p class="normal">Like a bending figure, which leans longingly towards the +beautiful +Southland, the lofty Mendola rises at a distance from the right bank of +the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here, above the junction of the two streams, once lay the +Roman +settlement of Mansio Majæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">A little farther up the river, on a dominating rock, stood the +Castle +of Teriolis.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now--from a mountain-"muhr" or "mar" (landslip)--the town is +called +Meran.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Castle has given its name to the Tyrol.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mansio Majæ" is heard even now in the name of the place +"Mais," rich +in pleasant villas.</p> + +<p class="normal">But at the time of which we speak an East Gothic garrison lay +in the +Castle of Teriolis, as was the case in all the old Rhætian rock-nests +on the Athesis, the Isarcus, and the œnus, in order to keep down the +only half-subjected Suevi, Alamanni, and Markomanni, or, as they were +already named, the Bajuvars, who dwelt in Rhætia, on the Licus, and on +the lower course of the œnus.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, besides the garrisons of the castles, East-Gothic +families had +settled in larger numbers in the mild and fruitful valley and on the +willow-covered slopes of the mountains.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even now a singular, noble, and grave beauty distinguishes the +peasants +of the valleys of Meran, Ultner, and Sarn. These reticent people are +much more refined, pensive, and aristocratic than the Bajuvar type on +the Inn, the Lech, and the Isar.</p> + +<p class="normal">Their dialect and legends support the supposition that here +some few +remains of the Goths continued to flourish; for the legends of the +Amelungs, Dietrich of Bern, and the Rose-garden, still live in the +names of the places and the traditions of the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon one of the highest mountains on the left shore of the +Athesis, a +Goth named Iffa had before-times settled; his descendants continued the +settlement.</p> + +<p class="normal">The mountain is named the "Iffinger" to this day. Upon the +southern +slope, half-way up, the simple settlement was fixed. The Gothic +emigrants had found it already cultivated. The Rhætian alpine-house, +which Druses had met with when he conquered the Rasenian +mountain-people, had suffered no change in its characteristic and +commodious form through the Roman conquerors, who built their villas in +the valley, and their watch-towers on dominating rocks.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the Romanised inhabitants of the Eltsch valley had, after +the +East-Gothic invasion, remained in quiet possession of their property.</p> + +<p class="normal">For not here, but farther east, from the Save and over the +Isonzo, had +the Goths pressed forward into the peninsula; and only when Ravenna and +Odoacer had fallen, did Theodoric spread his hosts in a peaceful and +regular manner over North Italy and the Etschland.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus Iffa and his people had peacefully shared the soil with +the Roman +settlers whom they found upon the mountain, which at that time still +possessed its Rasenian name.</p> + +<p class="normal">A third of the arable land, the meadows and woods; a third +part of the +house, slaves, and animals, was, here as everywhere, claimed by the +Gothic settler from the Roman farmer.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the course of years, however, the Roman <i>hospes</i> had found +this +close and involuntary vicinity to the barbarians inconvenient. He +therefore left the rest of his property on the mountains to the Goths, +in exchange for thirty yoke of the splendid oxen which the Germans had +brought with them from Pannonia--and which they so well understood how +to breed--and went southwards, where the Romans dwelt in greater +numbers.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so the "Iffinger" had become completely Germanic, for the +present +master had suddenly sold the few Roman slaves which he possessed, +and had replaced them by men and maids of Germanic race: Gepidians +taken in war. This master was again named "Iffa," like his ancestor. +He lived alone, a silver-haired man. A brother, and his wife and +daughter-in-law, had, many years ago, been buried under a landslip.</p> + +<p class="normal">A son, a younger brother, and a son of the latter, had obeyed +the call +of King Witichis to arms, and had never returned from the siege of +Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">So no one was left to the old man but his two grandchildren, +the boy +and girl of the son who had fallen.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun had set gloriously behind the mountains which bordered +the +incomparable Etsch valley in the blue distance to the south and west.</p> + +<p class="normal">A warm golden lustre lay upon the tender porphyry colouring of +the +"Iffinger," making it glow like red wine.</p> + +<p class="normal">Up the mountain slope, upon the top of which stood a +dwelling-house +with a row of stalls a little apart, climbed slowly, step by step, +resting ever and again, and holding her hands over her eyes as she +looked at the sunset, a child--or was it already a maiden?--who was +driving a flock of lambs before her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She now and then gave her <i>protégées</i> time to crop with dainty +tooth +the aromatic Alpine herbs which grew in their path, and beat time with +the hazel stick which she carried to an ancient and simple melody, the +words of which she was softly singing:</p> + +<p class="text20">"Little lambkins,<br> +Follow freely;<br> +By your shepherd's<br> +Hand led heedful;<br> +Like the heaven's<br> +Lovely lambkins,<br> +Like the quiet<br> +Steady stars, that<br> +Shining, sparkling,<br> +Obey ever<br> +Their bright shepherd,<br> +Mustered by the<br> +Mild moon ever,<br> +Without trouble,<br> +Without pause."</p> + +<p class="normal">She ceased, and bent forward to look over into a deep ravine +on her +left hand, which had been hollowed out in the steep slope by a rapid +mountain brook. Now, being summer, the water was very shallow. On the +opposite side the hill again rose steeply upward.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where can he be?" the girl said; "usually his goats are +already +descending the hill when the sun has turned to gold. My flowers will +fade soon!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She seated herself upon a stone near the path, let the lambs +graze, +laid the hazel stick beside her, and allowed the apron of sheepskin, +which, till now, she had held up carefully, to fall. A shower of the +loveliest Alpine flowers fell to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">She began to wind a wreath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The blue speik will suit his brown hair the best," she said +as she +worked busily. "I get much more tired when I drive the flock alone than +when he is with me. And yet then we climb much higher. I wonder how it +is! How my naked feet burn! I might go down to the brook and cool them. +And then I should see him sooner when he comes along the height. The +sun does not scorch any more."</p> + +<p class="normal">She took off the large broad pumpkin leaf which she wore +instead of a +hat; and now was seen the shining colour of her pale golden hair--so +fair it was!--which, stroked back from the temples, was tied together +at the back of the head with a red ribbon. Like a flood of sunbeams it +rippled over her neck, which was only covered by a white woollen +kirtle, that, confined at the waist with a leather girdle, reached a +little above the knees.</p> + +<p class="normal">She measured the size of her wreath on her own head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," she said, "his head is larger. I will add these +Alpine +roses."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she tied the two ends of the wreath together with +delicate +grasses, sprang up, shook the remaining flowers from her lap, took the +wreath in her left hand, and turned to descend the steep declivity, at +the foot of which the brook gurgled amid the stones.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! stop up here and wait! Thou, too, darling White Elf! I +will come +back directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">And she drove back the lambs, which had tried to follow, and +which now, +bleating, looked wistfully after their mistress.</p> + +<p class="normal">With great agility the practised girl sprang down the ravine; +now +holding fast to the tough shrubs, spurge-olives, and yellow willow; now +boldly leaping from rock to rock.</p> + +<p class="normal">The loose stones broke and the fragments came rattling after +her. As +she merrily jumped after the rolling pebbles, she suddenly heard a +sharp and threatening hiss from below.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before she could turn, a great copper-brown snake, which had +no doubt +been disturbed from sunning itself on a stone, coiled itself up, ready +to dart at her naked feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">The child was alarmed; her knees trembled, and screaming +loudly, she +called:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalgoth, help! help!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A clear voice immediately replied to this cry of fear with the +words, +"Alaric! Alaric!" which sounded like a battle-cry.</p> + +<p class="normal">The bushes on the right creaked and cracked; stones rolled +down the +slope, and, swift as an arrow, a slender boy in a rough wolf-skin flew +between the hissing snake and the affrighted maiden.</p> + +<p class="normal">He hurled his strong Alpine stick like a spear, and with so +true an aim +that the small head of the snake was transfixed to the ground. Its long +body twined convulsively round the deadly shaft.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gotho, thou art not wounded?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, thanks to thee, thou hero!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then let me say the snake-charm before the viper ceases to +struggle; +it will ban all its fellows for three leagues around."</p> + +<p class="normal">And lifting the three first fingers of his right hand, the boy +repeated +the ancient saying:</p> + +<p class="text20">"Woe! thou wolf-worm,<br> +Wriggle wildly!<br> +Bite the bushes,<br> +Poisonous panting:<br> +Men and maidens,<br> +Hurt thou shalt not.<br> +Down, black devil,<br> +Venomous viper,<br> +Down and die now!<br> +High o'er the heads<br> +Of scaly-bright serpents<br> +Steppeth the race of the glorious Goths!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">As he finished speaking, and was bending to examine the snake, +the girl +suddenly placed the wreath which she had made upon his curly auburn +hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail, hero and helper! Look! the victor's wreath was ready +for thee. +Ah! how well the blue flowers become thee!" And she clapped her hands +joyfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thy foot is bleeding!" said Adalgoth anxiously; "let me suck +the +wound. If the poisonous snake has bitten thee!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was only a sharp stone. Thou wouldst better like to die +thyself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For thee, Gotho, how gladly! But the poison is harmless in +the mouth. +Now let me wash thy wound. I have still some vinegar and water left in +my gourd. And then I will put sage-leaves upon it, and healing endive."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, he gently made her sit down upon a stone, lifted +her naked +foot and dropped the mixture out of the gourd upon it. This done, he +sprang up, looked about in the grass, and presently returned with some +soothing herbs, which he tied carefully over the wound with the leather +strap which he loosened from his own foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How kind thou art, dear boy!" said the girl, stroking his +hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now let me carry thee--only up the hill?" he begged; "I +should so like +to hold thee in my arms!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed thou shalt not!" she laughed, as she sprang up; "I am +no +wounded lamb! See how I can run. But where are thy goats?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There they come out from the juniper-trees. I will call +them."</p> + +<p class="normal">And putting his shepherd's-pipe to his mouth, he blew a shrill +note, +swinging his stick round his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sturdy goats came leaping towards him--fearing punishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now, laying his arm tenderly about the girl's neck, and +strewing a +stripe of salt from his pocket upon the earth, which the goats, +following, eagerly licked up, Adalgoth went up the slope.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But tell me, dearest," said Gotho, when they had arrived at +the top of +the hill, and she was gathering her lambs together, "why thy cry was +again 'Alaric! Alaric!' just as when thou madest the eagle leave my +little White Elf, which it had already seized in its talons?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is my battle-cry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who taught it thee?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Grandfather; the first time he took me with him to hunt +wolves. The +time when I got this skin from Master Isegrim's ribs. As I sprang at +the wolf, which could not escape and turned to attack me, crying +'Iffa,' just as I had always heard grandfather cry, he said, 'Thou must +not cry "Iffa," Adalgoth. When thou attackest a hero or a monster, cry +"Alaric!" it will bring thee luck.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But none of our ancestors are so named, brother. We know all +their +names."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had now reached the stalls, into which they drove the +animals, and +then seated themselves before an open window upon a wooden bench, which +ran round the front of the house on each side of the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There are," counted Gotho, "first Iffamer, our father; and +Uncle +Wargs, who was buried by the mountain; then Iffa, our grandfather; +Iffamuth, our other uncle; Iffaswinth, his son; and Iffarich, our +great-grandfather; and Iffa again--but no Alaric."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet I feel as if I had often heard that name at the time +when I +used first to run about the mountain; when the great landslip killed +Uncle Wargs. And I like the name. Grandfather has told me about a +hero-king who was called so; who was first of all the heroes to conquer +the fortress of Roma--thou knowest, it is the city from which father +and Uncle Iffamuth and Cousin Iffaswinth never returned. And that hero +died young, like Siegfried, the dragon-killer, and Balthar, the heathen +god. And his grave is in a deep river. There he lies on his golden +shield, under his treasures, and tall reeds bend and wave above him. +And now another king has arisen, who is called Totila, as the warriors +who relieved the garrison over there in the Castle of Teriolis told me. +They say he is just like that Alaric, and like Siegfried and the +Sun-god. And grandfather says that I also shall become a warrior and go +down to King Totila and rush into the fray with the cry of 'Alaric! +Alaric!' Long ago I got tired of climbing about and keeping goats here +on the mountains, where there is nothing to fight but wolves, or at +most a bear which eats up the grapes and honey-combs. You all praise my +harp-playing and my songs, but I feel that they are not worth it, and +that I cannot learn much more from the old man. I should like to sing +better things. I am never tired of listening to the soldiers' stories +about the victories of glorious King Totila. Lately I gave the best +chamois I ever shot to old Hunibad--whom the King sent up here to nurse +his wounds--so that he might tell me, for the third time, all about the +battle at the bridge across the Padus, and how King Totila himself +overthrew that black devil, the dreadful Cethegus. And I have made a +song about it, which begins:</p> + +<p class="text20">"Tremble, thou traitor,<br> +Cunning Cethegus;<br> +Tricks will not serve thee;<br> +Teja the terrible<br> +Daunts thy defiance.<br> +And brightly arises,<br> +Like morning and May-time,<br> +Like night from the darkness,<br> +The favourite of Heaven,<br> +The bright and the beautiful<br> +King of the Goths.</p> + +<p class="continue">"But it goes no further; and I can make no more poetry alone. +I need a +master for the words and the harp. I should like to finish a song that +I have began about the spear-hurler Teja, whom they call the 'Black +Earl,' and who is said to play the harp wonderfully. And long ago--but +this I tell to thee alone--I should have run away without asking +grandfather, who always says I am too young yet, if <i>one</i> thing did not +keep me back."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sprang hastily up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that, brother?" asked Gotho, who sat quite still and +looked +full at him with her large blue eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, if thou dost not guess it," he answered almost angrily, +"I cannot +tell thee. But now I must go and forge some new arrow-points in the +smithy. First give me one more kiss--there! And now let me kiss each of +thine eyes, and thy fair hair. Good-bye, dear sister, until +supper-time."</p> + +<p class="normal">He left her and ran to a side building, before the door of +which stood +a grind-stone and various implements.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gotho rested her cheek upon her hand, and looked thoughtful. +Then she +said aloud:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot guess it; for of course he would take me with him. +We could +not live apart."</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose with a slight sigh, and went to a field near the +house, to +look after the linen which was lying there bleaching.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now old Iffa rose from his seat behind the open window, +where he +had heard all that had passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This will not do," he cried, rubbing his head hard. "I never +yet had +the heart to separate the children--for they were but children! I +always waited and waited; and now I think I have put it off a little +too long. Away with thee, young Adalgoth!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He left the dwelling-house, and walked slowly to the smithy. +He found +the boy working busily. With puffed-out cheeks, he blew into the fire +on the hearth, and held the already roughly-prepared arrow-points in +it, in order to make them red-hot and fit for the hammer. Then he took +them out with a pair of pincers, laid them on an anvil, and hammered +out neat points and hooks. Without pausing in his work, he nodded +silently to his grandfather, striking sturdily upon the anvil till the +sparks flew.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," thought the old man, "just now, at least, he thinks of +nothing +but arrows and iron."</p> + +<p class="normal">But suddenly the young smith finished his work with a +tremendous +stroke, threw away the hammer, passed his hand across his hot forehead, +and asked, turning sharply to the old man:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Grandfather, where do men come from?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jesus, Woden, and Maria!" exclaimed the old man, starting +back. "Boy, +how comest thou to such thoughts?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The thoughts come to me, not I to them. I mean the first +men--the very +first. That tall Hermegisel over there in Teriolis, who ran away from +the Arian church at Verona, and can read and write, says that the +Christian God made a man in a garden out of clay, and, while he slept, +took one of his ribs and made a woman. That is ridiculous; for out of +the longest rib that ever was, one could not make ever so small a +girl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I don't believe it either," the old man thoughtfully +confessed. +"It is difficult to imagine. And I remember that my father once said, +as he was sitting by the hearth, that the first men grew upon +trees. But old Hildebrand, who was his friend, although he was much +older--and who stopped here on his way back from an expedition against +the savage Bajuvars, and who was sitting near father, for it was early +in the year, and very rough and cold--<i>he</i> said that it was all right +about the trees; only that men did not grow on them, but that two +heathen gods--Hermegisel called them demons--once found an ash and an +alder lying on the sea-shore, and from them they framed a man and a +woman. They still sing an old song about it. Hildebrand knew a few +words of it, but my father could not remember it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would rather believe that. But, at all events, there were +very few +people at the beginning?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And at first there was only <i>one</i> family?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the old ones generally died before the young ones?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I tell thee what, grandfather. Either the race of men +must have +died out, or, as it still exists--and thou seest that is what I am +coming to--brothers and sisters must often have married each other, +until more families were formed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalgoth, the fairies are riding thee! Thou speakest +nonsense!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all. And, in short, if it could happen before, it can +happen +now; and I will have my sister Gotho for my wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man ran to stop the boy's mouth by force; but the lad +evaded +him and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know all that thou wouldst say. The priests from Tridentum +would +soon get to know of it here, and tell the King's Earl. But I can go +with her to some distant land, where no one knows us. And she will go +with me, I know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed! Thou knowest that already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; I am sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But this thou dost not know, Adalgoth," the old man now said, +gravely +and decidedly: "that to-night is the last which thou wilt spend upon +the 'Iffinger.' Up, Adalgoth! I command thee--I, thy grandfather and +guardian! Thou hast a sacred duty to perform--the duty of revenge! Thou +wilt fulfil it at the court, and with the army of Totila. A duty +bequeathed to thee by thine uncle Wargs--bequeathed to thee by +thine ancestor. Thou art now old and strong enough to undertake it. +To-morrow, at dawn of day, thou wilt start for the south--for Italia, +where King Totila punishes evil-doers, helps the good cause, and fights +against that wretch, Cethegus. Follow me to my chamber. I have to hand +over to thee a jewel, which was left for thee by thine uncle Wargs, and +to give thee many a word of counsel. But do not speak about it to +Gotho; do not make her heart heavy. If thou obeyest thine uncle's +orders and my counsel, thou wilt become a mighty and joyous hero in +King Totila's court. And then, but only then, thou shalt again see +Gotho!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Very grave and pale, the youth followed his grandfather into +the house. +There, in the old man's chamber, they talked in low voices for a long +time.</p> + +<p class="normal">At supper, Adalgoth was missing.</p> + +<p class="normal">He sent word to Gotho by their grandfather that he had gone to +bed, +being more tired than hungry.</p> + +<p class="normal">But at night, when Gotho slept, he went into her room on +tiptoe. The +moon threw a soft light upon her angel face.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalgoth stopped upon the threshold, and only stretched out +his right +hand towards her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall see thee again, my Gotho," he cried, and signed a +farewell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Presently he crossed the threshold of the simple alpine +cottage.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stars had scarcely begun to pale; fresh and exhilarating +the +night-wind blew from the mountains around his temples.</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked up at the silent sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once a falling star shot in a bright semicircle over +his head. +It fell towards the south.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth raised his shepherd's staff, and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The stars beckon thither! Now beware, Cethegus the traitor!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="continue">On seeing the disastrous result of the battle at the bridge +across the +Padus, the Prefect had sent messengers back to his troops and the armed +citizens of Ravenna, who were following him, to order them to return at +once to the latter city. He left the defeated troops of Demetrius to +their fate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila had taken all the flags and field-badges of the twelve +thousand, +a thing which, as Procopius angrily writes, "never before happened to +the Romans."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus himself, with his small band of trusty adherents, +hastened +across the Æmilia to the west coast of Italy, which he reached at +Populonium. There he went on board a swift ship of war, and, favoured +by a strong breeze from the north-east (sent, as he said, by the +ancient gods of Latium), sailed to the harbour of Rome--Portus.</p> + +<p class="normal">He could never have succeeded in reaching Rome by land, for, +after +Totila's victory, all Tuscany and Valeria fell to the Goths; the plains +unconditionally, and also such cities as were held by weak Byzantine +garrisons.</p> + +<p class="normal">Near Mucella, a day's march from Florence, the King once again +vanquished a powerful army of Byzantines, under the command of eleven +disunited leaders, who had gathered together the imperial garrisons of +the Tuscan fortresses to block his way. The commander-in-chief of this +army, Justinus, escaped to Florence with difficulty.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King treated his numerous prisoners with such lenity, that +very +many Italians and imperial mercenaries deserted their flag and joined +the Gothic army.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now all the roads of Central Italy were covered by Goths +and +natives who hastened to join Totila on his march to Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">Arrived at the latter city, Cethegus had at once taken the +necessary +measures for its defence.</p> + +<p class="normal">For Totila, after this new victory at Mucella, approached +rapidly, +scarcely detained by anything but the ovations made to him by the +cities and castles on his way, which rivalled each other in opening +wide their gates to the conqueror.</p> + +<p class="normal">The few forts which still resisted were invested by small +divisions of +Italians, kept in order by a few chosen Gothic troops. Totila was +enabled to do this without weakening his army, as, during his march to +Rome, his power was increased, like a river, by the inflowing of +greater or smaller parties of Goths and Italians. Not only did the +Italian peasants join him by thousands, but even the mercenaries of +Belisarius, who for months had received no pay, now offered their +weapons to the Goths, so that a few days after the arrival of the +Prefect, Totila led a very considerable army before the walls of Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">With loud hurrahs the troops in the Gothic encampment greeted +the +arrival of the brave Duke Guntharis, Wisand the bandalarius. Earl +Markja, and old Grippa, whose release Totila had procured by exchanging +them for the prisoners taken at the battle of the Padus.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the almost impossible task was laid upon Cethegus of +manning +effectually his grandly-designed fortifications. The whole army of +Belisarius was missing--besides the greater part of his own soldiers, +who were slowly sailing to the harbour of Portcus from Ravenna.</p> + +<p class="normal">In order, even insufficiently, to defend the entire circle of +the +ramparts, Cethegus was obliged, not only to demand unusual and +unexpected exertions from the Roman legionaries, but also to increase +their numbers by despotic measures.</p> + +<p class="normal">From boys of sixteen years of age to old men of sixty, he +called "all +the sons of Romulus, Camillus, and Cæsar to arms; to protect the +sanctuary of their forefathers against the barbarians."</p> + +<p class="normal">But his appeal was scarcely read or propagated, and was +responded to by +very few volunteers; while he saw with mortification that the manifesto +of the Gothic King, which was thrown every night over the walls in many +places, was carried about and read by crowds; so that he angrily +proclaimed that anyone found picking up, pasting on the walls, or +reading this manifesto, or in any way facilitating its publication, +would be punished by the confiscation of his property or the loss of +his liberty.</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of this, the manifesto still spread among the +citizens, and +the list of volunteers remained empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">He then sent his Isaurians into all the houses to drag boys +and old men +to the walls by force; and very soon he was more feared, and even +hated, than beloved.</p> + +<p class="normal">His stern will, and the gradual arrival of his troops from +Ravenna, +alone checked the growing discontent of the Roman population.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in the Gothic camp messengers of good fortune overtook +each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja and Hildebrand had pursued the Byzantines to the gates of +Ravenna.</p> + +<p class="normal">The defence of that city was conducted by Demetrius, one of +the +exchanged prisoners, and by Bloody Johannes; that of the harbour town +of Classis by Constantianus against Hildebrand, who had won Ariminum in +passing, for the citizens had disarmed the Armenian mercenaries of +Artasires and opened the gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja had beaten the troops of the Byzantine general Verus, who +had +defended the crossing of the Santernus; had killed the general with his +own hand, and had then hastened through the whole of North Italy with +the manifesto in his left hand, his sword in his right, and in a few +weeks had won by force or by persuasion all towns and castles as far as +Mediolanum.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila, taught by the experience of the first siege of +Rome, would +not expose his troops by attempting to storm the formidable defences of +the Prefect, and also desired to spare his future capital.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will get into Rome with linen wings, and on wooden +bridges," he one +day said to Duke Guntharis; left to him the investment of the city; and +taking all his horsemen with him, marched for Neapolis.</p> + +<p class="normal">There in the harbour lay, very inefficiently manned, an +imperial fleet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila's march upon the Appian Way through South Italy +resembled a +triumphal procession.</p> + +<p class="normal">Those districts which had suffered the longest under the yoke +of the +Byzantines were now most willing to greet the Goths as liberators.</p> + +<p class="normal">The maidens of Terracina went to meet the King of the Goths +with +wreaths of flowers.</p> + +<p class="normal">The people of Minturnæ brought out a golden chariot, made the +King +descend from his white horse, and dragged him into the town in triumph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look! look!" was the cry in the streets of Casilinum--an +ancient place +once dedicated to the worship of the Campanian Diana--"Phœbus Apollo +himself has descended from Olympus and comes as a saviour to the +sanctuary of his sister!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The citizens of Capua begged him to impress the first gold +coins of his +reign with the inscription, "<i>Capua revindicata</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus it continued until he reached Neapolis; the very same +road he had +once passed as a wounded fugitive.</p> + +<p class="normal">The commander of the Armenian mercenaries in Neapolis, who had +a very +brave but small troop, did not dare to trust the fidelity of the +population in case of a siege.</p> + +<p class="normal">He therefore led his lance-bearers and the armed citizens to +meet the +King outside the gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">But before the battle commenced, a man on a white horse rode +out of the +lines of Goths, took his helmet from his head, and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you forgotten me, men of the Parthenopæian city? I am +Totila. You +loved me when I was commander of your harbour. You shall bless me as +your King. Do you not recollect how I saved in my ships your wives and +children from the Huns of Belisarius? Listen. These very wives and +children are again in my power; not as fugitives, but as prisoners. To +protect them from the Byzantines (perhaps from me also), you sent them +into the strong fortress of Cumæ. But know that Cumæ has surrendered, +and all the fugitives are in my power. I have been advised to keep them +as hostages in order to compel you to capitulate. But that is repugnant +to my feelings. I have set them at liberty; the wives of the Roman +senators I have sent to Rome. But your wives and children, men of +Neapolis, I have brought with me; not as my hostages, not as my +prisoners, but as my guests. Look how they stream out of my tents! Open +your arms to receive them--they are free! Will you now fight against +me? I cannot believe it! Who will be the first to aim at this breast?" +and he opened wide his arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to King Totila the Good!" was the universal acclamation.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the warm-hearted men threw down their weapons, rushed +forward, and +greeted with tears of joy their liberated wives and children, kissing +the hem of Totila's mantle.</p> + +<p class="normal">The commander of the mercenaries rode up to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lancers are surrounded and too weak to fight alone. Here, +O King, +is my sword. I am your prisoner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so, brave Arsakide! Thou art unconquered--therefore no +prisoner. +Go with thy troop whither thou wilt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I <i>am</i> a prisoner, conquered by your magnanimity and the +splendour of +your eyes. Permit us henceforward to fight under your flag."</p> + +<p class="normal">In this manner a chosen troop, who stood by him faithfully, +was won for +Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">Amid a shower of flowers he made his entry into Neapolis +through Porta +Nolana.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Aratius, the admiral of the Byzantine fleets could +raise the +anchors of his war-ships, their crews were overpowered by the sailors +of the many merchant vessels which lay near in the harbour, the masters +of which were old admirers and thankful <i>protégés</i> of Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">Without shedding a drop of blood, the King had gained a fleet +and the +third city of importance in the kingdom.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the evenings during the banquet which the rejoicing +inhabitants had +prepared for him, Totila stole softly away.</p> + +<p class="normal">With surprise the Gothic sentinels saw their King, all alone, +disappear +into an old half-fallen tower, close to an ancient olive-tree by the +Porta Capuana.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day there appeared a decree of Totila which dispensed +the +women and girls of the Jews of Neapolis from a pole-tax which had, +until now, been laid upon them; and which--they being forbidden to +carry jewels in public--permitted them to wear a golden heart upon the +bosom of their dress as a mark of distinction.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the neglected garden, where a tall stone cross and a +deep-sunk grave +were completely overgrown with wild ivy and moss, there presently arose +a monument of the most beautiful black marble, with the simple +inscription: "<i>Miriam from Valeria.</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">But there was no one living in Neapolis who understood its +meaning.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">There now streamed into Neapolis ambassadors from Campania and +Samnium, +Bruttia and Lucania, Apulia and Calabria, who came to invite the Gothic +King to enter their cities as a liberator.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even the important and strong fortress of Beneventum and the +neighbouring forts of Asculum, Canusia, and Acheruntia surrendered at +discretion.</p> + +<p class="normal">In these districts thousands of cases occurred in which the +peasants +were settled upon the lands of their former masters, who had fallen in +battle, or had fled to Byzantium or to Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">Besides Rome and Ravenna, there were now in the hands of the +Byzantines, only Florentia, held by Justinus; Spoletium, whose joint +governors were Bonus and Herodianus; and Perusia, under the Hun, +Uldugant.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a few days the King, reinforced by many Italians from the +south of +the Peninsula, had new manned his conquered fleet, and left the harbour +in full sail, while his horsemen marched by land on the Via Appia to +the north.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rome was the goal of both ships and horse; while Teja, having +conquered all the country between Ravenna and the Tiber--Petra and +Cæsena fell without bloodshed--the Æmilia and both Tuscanies (the +Annonarian and the Sub-urbicarian), marched with a third army on the +Flaminian Way against the city of the Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">On hearing of these movements, Cethegus was obliged to +acknowledge that +the struggle would now begin in good earnest, and, like a dragon in his +den, he determined to defend himself to the death.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a proud and contented look he viewed the ramparts and +towers, and +said to his brothers-in-arms, who were uneasy at the approach of the +Goths:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be comforted! Against these invincible walls they shall be +broken to +pieces for the second time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But at heart he was not so easy as his words and looks would +seem to +indicate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not that he ever repented his past deeds or thought his plans +unachievable. But that when, after repeated reverses, he appeared to +have arrived at the point of success, he should be as far off the goal +as ever because of Totila's victories--this feeling had a great effect +upon even <i>his</i> iron nerves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Water wears away a rock!" he said, when his friend Licinius +once asked +him why he looked so gloomy. "And besides, I cannot sleep as I used to +do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since when?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since--Totila! That fair youth has stolen my slumbers!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Though the Prefect felt so secure and so superior to all his +enemies +and adversaries, Totila's bright and open nature, and his easily-won +success, irritated him so much, that his coolness often melted in the +heat of his passion; while Totila went to meet the universally feared +foe with a sense of victory which nothing could disquiet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has luck, the downy-beard!" cried Cethegus, when he heard +of the +easy conquest of Neapolis. "He is as fortunate as Achilles and +Alexander. But luckily such god-like youths never grow old! The soft +gold of such natures is quickly worn out. We lumps of native iron last +longer. I have seen the laurels and roses of the enthusiast, and it +seems to me that I shall soon see his cypresses. It cannot be that I +shall yield to this maiden soul! Fortune has borne him rapidly to a +dizzy height; she will hurl him down as rapidly and dizzily. Will she +first carry him over the ramparts of Rome?--Fly then, without effort, +young Icarus, in the brightest sunshine. I, through blood and strife, +step by step, climb up in the shade. But I shall stand on high when the +treacherous and burning kiss of Fortune has melted the wax on thy bold +wings. Thou wilt vanish beneath me like a falling star!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This, however, did not seem likely to happen soon.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus awaited with impatience the arrival of a numerous +fleet from +Ravenna, which was to bring him the remainder of his troops, and all +who could be spared of the legionaries and the troops of Demetrius, as +well as a quantity of provisions.</p> + +<p class="normal">When these reinforcements had arrived, he would be able to +relieve the +grumbling Romans from their arduous duties.</p> + +<p class="normal">For weeks he had comforted the embittered inhabitants with the +promise +of this fleet.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last it was announced by a swift-sailer that the fleet had +reached +Ostia.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus caused the news to be published in all the streets +with a +flourish of trumpets, and announced that at the next Ides of October, +eight thousand citizens would be relieved from duty on the walls. He +also caused double rations of wine to be distributed among the soldiers +on the ramparts.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Ides of October arrived, thick fog covered Ostia and +the sea.</p> + +<p class="normal">The day after, a little sailing-boat flew from Ostia to +Portus. The +trembling crew announced that King Totila had attacked the Ravennese +triremes with the fleet from Neapolis, under the protection of a thick +fog. Of the eighty ships, twenty were burnt or sunk; the remaining +sixty, with all their men and provisions, taken.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus would not believe it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He hurried on board his own swift boat, the <i>Sagitta</i>, and +flew down +the Tiber.</p> + +<p class="normal">But with difficulty he escaped the boats of the King, who had +already +blockaded the harbour of Portus and sent small cruisers up the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect now hastily caused a double river-bolt to be laid +across +the Tiber; the first consisting of masts; the second of iron chains +placed an arrow's length farther up the river. The space between the +two bolts was filled with a great number of small boats.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus felt deeply the blow which had fallen upon him. Not +only had +his long-wished-for reinforcements fallen into the enemy's hand; not +only was he obliged to lay still heavier burdens upon the Romans, who +began to curse him, for now the river, too, had to be defended against +the constant attempts of the Gothic ships to break through; but with a +slight shudder of horror he saw approaching nearer and nearer the most +terrible of all enemies--famine.</p> + +<p class="normal">The water-road, by which he, as formerly Belisarius, had +received +abundant provisions, was now blocked.</p> + +<p class="normal">Italy had no third fleet. That of Neapolis and that of Ravenna +blockaded Rome under the Gothic flag.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the horsemen which Marcus Licinius had sent on the +Flaminian +Way to reconnoitre and forage, came galloping back with the news that a +strong army of Goths, under the dreaded Teja, was approaching at a +quick step. The vanguard had already reached Reate.</p> + +<p class="normal">The day following Rome was also invested on the last side +which had +remained open--the north--and had nothing left to depend upon but its +own citizens.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the latter were weak enough, however strong might be the +Prefect's +will and the walls of the city.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet for weeks and months Cethegus's stern resolution sustained +the +despairing defenders against their will.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the fall of the city, not by force, but by starvation, +was +expected daily.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this juncture an unexpected event occurred, which revived +the hopes +of the besieged, and put the genius and good fortune of the young King +to a hard proof: for there once more appeared upon the scene of +battle--Belisarius!</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">When news arrived in the golden palace of the Cæsars at +Byzantium of +the lost battles on the Padus and at Mucella; of the renewed siege of +Rome, and the loss of Neapolis and almost all Italy, the Emperor +Justinian, who had already imagined the West again united to the East, +was awakened from his dream of triumph in a terrible manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was now easy for the friends of Belisarius to prove that +the recall +of that hero had been the origin of all these disasters.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was clear that as long as Belisarius had been in Italy +victory had +followed victory; and no sooner had he turned his back, than +misfortunes crowded one upon the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Byzantine generals in Italy openly acknowledged that they +could not +replace Belisarius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not able," wrote Demetrius from Ravenna, "to meet Totila +in the open field. Scarcely am I able to defend this fortress in the +marshes. Neapolis has fallen. Rome may surrender any day. Send us +again the lion-hearted man, whom, in our vanity, we dreamed we could +replace--the conqueror of the Vandals and the Goths."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Belisarius, although he had sworn never again to serve the +ungrateful Emperor, forgot all his wrongs as soon as Justinian smiled +upon him. And when, after the fall of Neapolis, he actually embraced +him and called him "his faithful sword"--in truth, the Emperor had +never believed in the general's rebellion, but was envious of his +sovereign position--Belisarius could no longer be restrained by +Antonina and Procopius. As, however, the Emperor feared the expense of +a second enterprise in Italy (besides that of the Persian wars, which +Narses conducted successfully but expensively in Asia), avarice and +ambition produced a struggle within him, which would, perhaps, have +lasted longer than the resistance of Rome and Ravenna, had not Prince +Germanus and Belisarius proposed an expedient. The noble Prince was +impelled by the wish to revisit Ravenna and the tomb of Mataswintha, +and to revenge her memory on the rude barbarians, for Cethegus had +declared that the cause of the tragic end of this incomparable woman +was that her mind had been disordered in consequence of her forced +marriage with Witichis.</p> + +<p class="normal">Belisarius, on his side, could not endure that all his fame +should be +imperilled by Totila's success. "For," asked his enemies at court, +"could he really have conquered a people who, within the year, had +again almost made themselves masters of Italy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had given his word to annihilate the Goths, and he would +keep it.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, influenced by these motives, Germanus and Belisarius +proposed to +conquer Italy for the Emperor at their own expense. The Prince offered +his whole fortune for the equipment of a fleet; Belisarius all his +lately reinforced body-guard and lance-bearers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a proposition after Justinian's own heart!" cried +Procopius, +when informed of it by Belisarius. "Not a solidus out of his own +pocket! And perhaps the laurels of fame and a province for this world, +and the wholesale destruction of heretics to rejoice Heaven and +Theodora! You may be sure that he will accept, and give you his +fatherly benediction into the bargain. But nothing else. You, +Belisarius, I know, can be as little kept back as Balan, your piebald, +when he hears the call of the trumpet; but I will not see your +lamentable fall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fall? Wherefore, Raven of Misfortune?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This time you have both Goths and Italians against you. And +you could +not conquer the first when Italy was <i>for</i> you."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Belisarius only reproached him with cowardice, and +presently went +to sea with Germanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor, in fact, gave them nothing but his blessings and +the great +toe of the holy Mazaspes.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Byzantines in Italy breathed again when they heard that an +imperial +fleet had anchored off Salona, in Dalmatia, and that the army had +landed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even Cethegus, to whom the news was brought by spies, +exclaimed with a +sigh:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Better Belisarius in Rome than Totila!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the King of the Goths was filled with anxiety. He +determined first +of all to discover the strength of the Byzantine army, in order to +decide upon what course he would take. Perhaps it would be necessary to +raise the siege of Rome, and advance to attack the army of relief.</p> + +<p class="normal">Belisarius sailed from Salona to Pola, where he mustered his +ships and +men. While there, two men came to him, who announced themselves to be +Herulian mercenaries, therefore Goths, but speaking Latin well. They +said that they had been sent by Bonus, one of the commanders of +Spoletium.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had succeeded in passing the Gothic lines, and they +pressed the +commander-in-chief to come to the relief of that place. They begged for +exact particulars as to the strength of his army and the number of his +ships, in order to be able to revive the sinking courage of the +besieged by trustworthy reports.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my friends," said Belisarius, "you must perforce +embellish your +report; for the truth is, that the Emperor has left me entirely to my +own resources."</p> + +<p class="normal">All the day long he showed these messengers his army and +fleet.</p> + +<p class="normal">The night following the messengers had disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were Thorismuth and Aligern, who had been sent by King +Totila, and +now furnished him with the much-desired particulars.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, from the very beginning, fate was against Belisarius, and +the whole +course of this campaign was unworthy of the fame of that great general.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is true that he succeeded in running into the harbour of +Ravenna, +and providing that city with provisions.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, the very day that he arrived. Prince Germanus was +attacked by a +fatal malady while visiting the tomb of Mataswintha.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had been buried in the vault of the palace, near the +graves of her +brother and the young King Athalaric.</p> + +<p class="normal">Germanus died, and, according to his last wish, was buried +beside the +woman he had loved so truly.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a little niche in the same vault there reposed a heart +which had +ever beat warmly for Queen "Beautiful-hair."</p> + +<p class="normal">Aspa, the Numidian slave, would not outlive her beloved +mistress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In my home," she had said, "the virgins of the Goddess of the +Sun +often voluntarily leap into the flames which receive the Godhead. +Aspa's goddess, the lovely, bright, and kind, has left her. Aspa will +not live forlorn in the cold and darkness. She will follow her Sun."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had heaped up flowers in the death-chamber of her +mistress--heaped +them still higher than on the day when she had prepared the same small +room for a bridal chamber--and had kindled unknown combustibles and +African resin, the stupefying odours of which drove away all the other +slaves. But Aspa had spent the night in the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next morning Syphax, attracted by the well-known but +dangerous +odour, which reminded him of his country's sacrificial customs, went +softly into the room, which was as silent as the grave. At +Mataswintha's feet, her head buried in flowers, he had found his +Antelope--dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She died," he told Cethegus, "for love of her mistress. And +now I have +none left on earth but you."</p> + +<p class="normal">After the burial of Germanus, Belisarius left Ravenna with the +whole +fleet.</p> + +<p class="normal">But his very next undertaking, an attempt to surprise +Pisaurum, was +repulsed with great loss.</p> + +<p class="normal">And King Totila, now acquainted with the small number of +Belisarius's +troops, had sent skirmishers, under the command of Wisand, supported by +a few ships of war, to take Firmum, which was situated on the same +coast, almost under the generals very eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Byzantines, Herodian and Bonus, surrendered Spoletium to +Earl +Grippa, after the lapse of thirty days, during which they had hoped for +reinforcements from Belisarius in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">In Assisium the commander of the garrison was a man of the +name of +Sisifrid, a Goth who had deserted in the days of the fall of Witichis.</p> + +<p class="normal">This man well knew what was in store for him, should he fall +into +Hildebrand's hands, who besieged the fort in person. Hatred of such +treason had enticed the old man from the siege of Ravenna to complete +this task of retribution.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Goth obstinately defended the town, but when, during a +sally, the +axe of the old master-at-arms sent him to the other world, the citizens +obliged the Thracian garrison to yield. Many aristocratic Italians, +members of the old Catacomb conspiracy, three hundred Illyrian +horsemen, and some chosen body-guards of Belisarius, were taken +prisoners.</p> + +<p class="normal">Immediately afterwards, Placentia, the last town in the Æmilia +which +was held by a Saracen garrison for the Emperor, was forced to +capitulate to Earl Markja, who commanded the small army of investment.</p> + +<p class="normal">In Bruttia, the fortress of Ruscia, the most important harbour +for +Thurii, surrendered to the bold Aligern.</p> + +<p class="normal">Belisarius now despaired of reaching Rome by land. On hearing +of the +terrible distress of that city, he determined at once to attempt to +relieve it by running the blockade of the Gothic fleet.</p> + +<p class="normal">But as he sailed round the south point of Calabria, off +Hydrunt, a +fearful storm dispersed his ships; he himself, with a few triremes, was +driven southward as far as Sicily, and the greater part of his ships, +which had taken refuge in a bay near Croton, were there surprised and +taken by a Gothic squadron sent by the King from Rome, which had lain +in ambush near Squillacium. These prizes proved to be an important +addition to the Gothic fleet, for, as we shall see hereafter, the +Goths, were thereby enabled to attack the Byzantines in their islands +and coast-towns.</p> + +<p class="normal">After this blow, the forces of Belisarius, which had been weak +from the +very first, became completely powerless.</p> + +<p class="normal">Generalship and valour could not replace missing ships, +warriors, and +horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">The hope that the Italians, as in the first campaign, would +revolt to +the Emperor's commander-in-chief, proved vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus the whole enterprise was a complete failure, as we are +told by +Procopius in unsparing words.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor left all petitions for reinforcements unanswered. +And when +Antonina repeatedly begged for permission to return, the Empress sent +the mocking reply, "that the Emperor dare not venture, for the second +time, to interrupt the hero in the course of his victories."</p> + +<p class="normal">So, lying off Sicily, Belisarius spent a miserable time of +doubt and +helplessness.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">And meanwhile the suffering and exhaustion of the citizens in +Rome +reached its highest point.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hunger thinned the ranks, never very full, of the defenders on +the +walls.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect in vain did his utmost. In vain he had recourse to +all +possible measures of persuasion or despotism. In vain he lavishly +opened his coffers to provide the means of existence for the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the stores of grain which he had procured from Sicily and +garnered +in the Capitol were exhausted.</p> + +<p class="normal">He promised incredible rewards to any boat which should +succeed in +running the blockade of the King's ships and bring provisions to the +city; to every mercenary who ventured to creep through the gates and +the tents of the besiegers and bring back food.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila's watchfulness was not to be deceived.</p> + +<p class="normal">At first the promised reward had tempted a few avaricious and +daring +men to venture out at night. But when Earl Teja, next morning, caused +their heads to be thrown over the walls at the Flaminian Gate, even the +most venturesome lost all desire to follow their example.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dung of animals was sold at a high price.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hungry women fought for the weeds and nettles which they found +on the +heaps of rubbish.</p> + +<p class="normal">Long since had hunger taught the populace to eat greedily +unheard-of +things.</p> + +<p class="normal">And countless deserters fled from the city to the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja would have forced them to return, in order the sooner to +oblige +the city to surrender; but Totila gave orders that they should be +received and fed, and that care should be taken that they did not +injure themselves by the too sudden gratification of their ravenous +appetites.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus now spent his nights upon the walls. At various hours +he +himself, spear and shield in hand, went the round of the patrols, and +sometimes took the place of a sentinel who was overcome with hunger or +the want of sleep. His example certainly had the greatest effect on the +brave. The two Licinii, Piso, and Salvius Julianus stood by the Prefect +and his blindly-devoted Isaurians with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p class="normal">But not so all Romans; not Balbus, the gormandiser.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Piso," said Balbus one day, "I cannot endure it any +longer. It is +not in a man's power, at least not in mine. Holy Lucullus! who would +have thought that I should ever give my last and largest diamonds for +half a rock-marten!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remember the time," answered Piso, laughing, "when you +would have +put your cook in irons if he had let a lobster boil a minute too long."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A lobster! Mercy on us! How can you recall such a picture to +my mind! +I would give my immortal soul for one claw of a lobster, or even for +the tail. And never to sleep one's fill! To be awakened, if not by +hunger, by the trumpets of the patrol!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at the Prefect! For the last fourteen days he has not +slept +fourteen hours. He lies upon his hard shield, and drinks rain-water out +of his helmet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Prefect! He need not eat. He lives upon his pride, like +the bear +on his fat, and sucks his own gall. He is made of nothing but sinews +and muscles, pride and hatred! But I--who had accumulated such soft +white flesh, that the mice nibbled at me when I slept, thinking that I +was a Spanish ham!--Do you know the latest news? A whole herd of fat +oxen was driven into the Gothic camp this morning--all from Apulia; +darlings of gods and men!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day early Piso, with Salvius Julianus, came to wake +the +Prefect, who had lain down on the wall by the Porta Portuensis, close +to the most important point of defence, the bolt across the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive me for disturbing your rare slumbers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was not asleep; I was awake. Tell me your news, tribune."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Last night Balbus deserted his post with twenty citizens. +They let +themselves down from the Porta Latina by ropes. Outside there had been +heard all night long the lowing of Apulian herds. It seems that their +bellowing was irresistible."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the smile of the satirist faded away when he looked at the +Prefect's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let a cross thirty feet high be erected before the house of +Balbus in +the Via Sacra. Every deserter who falls into our hands shall be +crucified thereon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"General--Constantinus abolished the punishment of crucifixion +in the +name of our Saviour," said Salvius Julianus reprovingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I re-introduce the practice in honour of Rome. That +Emperor no +doubt held it to be impossible that a Roman noble and tribune could +desert his post for the sake of roast meat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have other news. I can no longer set the watch on the tower +of the +Porta Pinciana. Of the sixteen mercenaries nine are either dead or +sick."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Almost the same thing is reported by Marcus Licinius, at the +Porta +Tiburtina," said Julianus. "Who can ward off the danger which threatens +us on all sides?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I! and the courage of the Romans. Go! Let the heralds summon +all the +citizens, who may yet be in the houses, to the Forum Romanum."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir, there are only women, children, and sick people----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Obey, tribune!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And with a dark expression on his face the Prefect descended +from the +walls, mounted his noble Spanish charger, and, followed by a troop of +mounted Isaurians, made a long round through the city, everywhere +assuring himself that the sentinels were on the alert, and examining +the troops; thus giving the herald time to summon the people, and the +latter to obey. He advanced, very slowly, along the right bank of the +Tiber. A few ragged people crept out of their huts to stare in dull +despair at the passing horsemen. Only at the Bridge of Cestius did the +throng become thicker.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus stopped his horse in order to muster the guard on the +bridge.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly, from the door of a low hut, there rushed a woman +with +dishevelled hair, holding a child in her arms. Another pulled at her +ragged skirt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bread? bread?" she asked; "can stones be softened by tears +until they +become bread? Oh no! They remain as hard--as hard as that man. Look, +children, that is the Prefect of Rome. He upon the black horse, with +the crimson crest and the terrible eyes! But I fear him no longer. +Look, children! that man forced your father to keep watch on the walls +day and night, until he fell dead. Curses on the Prefect of Rome!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And she shook her fist at the immovable horseman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bread, mother! Give us something to eat," howled the +children.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have nothing more for you to eat, but plenty to drink! +Come!" +screamed the woman, and, clasping the elder child round the waist with +her right arm, and pressing the younger more firmly to her bosom, she +cast herself over the wall into the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">A cry of horror, followed by curses, ran through the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She was mad!" said the Prefect in a loud voice, and rode on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, she was the wisest of us all!" cried a voice from the +crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Silence! Legionaries, sound the trumpets! Forwards! To the +Forum!" +commanded Cethegus, and the troop of horsemen galloped away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Across the Fabrician Bridge and through the Carmentalian Gate, +the +Prefect arrived in the Forum Romanum at the foot of the Capitoline +Hill.</p> + +<p class="normal">The wide space appeared almost empty; the few thousand people +who, clad +in miserable garments, crouched upon the steps of the temple and halls, +or supported themselves on their staffs or spears, made little +impression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does the Prefect want?"--"What can he want? we have +nothing left +but our lives."--"And those he will--" "Do you know that the day before +yesterday the coast town Centumcellæ surrendered to the Goths?"--"Yes; +the citizens overpowered the Prefect's Isaurians and opened the +gates."--"Would that we could follow their example!"--"We must do it +soon, or it will be too late."--"Yesterday my brother fell down dead, +some boiled nettles still in his mouth. He was too weak to swallow the +mess."---"Yesterday in the Forum Boarium a mouse was sold for its +weight in gold!"--"For a week I got roasted meat from a butcher--he +would not sell the flesh raw."--"You were lucky! They storm all houses +where they smell roast meat!"--"But the day before yesterday he was +torn to pieces by the mob, for he had enticed beggar-children into his +house--and that was the flesh he had sold us!"--"But do you know what +the Gothic King does with his prisoners? He treats them as a father +treats his helpless children; and most of them enter his army at +once."--"Yes, and those who will not he provides with money for the +journey."--"Yes, and with clothes and shoes and provisions. The +sick and wounded are nursed."--"And he gives them guides to the +coast towns."--"And sometimes he even pays for their passage in +merchant-ships to the East."--"Look, the Prefect dismounts!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He looks like Pluto!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is no longer Princeps Senatus, but Princeps Inferorum."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at his eyes! As cold as ice, and yet like red-hot +arrows."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my godmother is right; she says that only those who have +no heart +can look like that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is an old tale. Spectres and Lemures have eaten his +heart in the +night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, bah! There are no Lemures. But there is a devil, for it +says so in +the Bible. And the Prefect has sold himself to the devil. The Numidian +who is holding his black horse by the bridle is an imp from hell, who +always accompanies him. Nothing can hurt the Prefect. He feels neither +hunger nor thirst nor the want of sleep. But he can never smile, for he +has sold his soul!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The deacon of St. Paul's has explained it all. And it is a +sin to +serve such a man any longer. Did he not betray our Bishop, Silverius, +to the Emperor, and send him over the sea in chains?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And lately he accused sixty priests, Orthodox and Arian, of +treason, +and banished them from the city."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he must have promised the devil that he would torment the +Romans."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But we will endure it no longer. We are free! He himself has +often +told us so. I will ask him by what right----"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the bold speaker stopped short, for the Prefect glanced at +the +murmuring group as he mounted the rostrum.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quirites," he began, "I call upon you all to become +legionaries. +Famine and treachery--a shameful thing to say of Romans!--have thinned +the ranks of our defenders. Do you hear the sound of hammers? A +crucifix is being erected to punish all deserters. Rome demands still +greater sacrifices from her citizens, for <i>they</i> have no choice. The +citizens of other towns choose between surrender or destruction. We, +who have grown up in the shadow of the Capitol, have no choice; for +more than a thousand years of heroism sanctify this place. Here no +coward thought dare arise. You cannot again endure to see the +barbarians tie their horses to the columns of Trajan. We must make a +last effort. The marrow of heroism ripens early in the descendants of +Romulus and Cæsar; and late is spent the strength of the men who drink +of the waters of the Tiber. I call upon all boys from their twelfth, +all men until their eightieth year, to help to man the walls. Silence! +Do not murmur. I shall send my tribunes and the lance-bearers into +every house--only to prevent boys of too tender years and too aged men +from volunteering their services--then why do you murmur? Does any one +know of something better? Let him speak out boldly; from this place, +which I now vacate in his favour."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this, the group at which the Prefect looked became +perfectly silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">But behind him, amid those whom his eye could not intimidate, +there +arose a threatening cry:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bread!" "Surrender!" "Bread!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus turned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you not ashamed? You, worthy of your great name, have +borne so +much, and now, when it is only necessary to hold out a little longer, +you would succumb? In a few days Belisarius will bring relief."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You told us so seven times already!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And after the seventh time Belisarius lost almost all his +ships.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which now aid in blocking our harbour!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should name a term; a limit to this misery. My heart +bleeds for +this people!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who are you?" the Prefect asked the invisible speaker of the +last +sentence; "you can be no Roman!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am Pelagius the deacon, a Christian and a priest of the +Lord. And I +fear not man but God. The King of the Goths, although a heretic, has +promised to restore to the orthodox the churches of which his +fellow-heretics, the Arians, have deprived them, in every town which +surrenders. Three times already has he sent a herald to the citizens of +Rome with the most lenient proposals--they have never been permitted to +speak to us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be silent, priest! You have no fatherland but heaven; no +people but +the communion of saints; no army but that of the angels. Manage your +heavenly kingdom, but leave to men the kingdom of the Romans."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the man of God is right!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Set us a term."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A short one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Till then we will still hold out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if it elapse without relief----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we will surrender!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will open the gates."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cethegus shunned this thought. Not having received news +from the +outer world for weeks, he had no idea when Belisarius could possibly +arrive at the mouth of the Tiber.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" he cried. "Shall I fix a term during which you will +remain +Romans, and after which you will become cowards and slaves! Honour +knows no term!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You speak thus, because you do not believe in the +reinforcements."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I speak thus, because I believe in <i>you</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But we will have a term. We are resolved. You speak of Roman +freedom! +Are we free, or are we bound to obey you like your slaves? We demand a +term, and we will have it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will have it!" repeated a chorus of voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Cethegus could reply, the sound of trumpets was heard +from the +south-eastern corner of the Forum.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the Via Sacra advanced a crowd of people, citizens and +soldiers; +in their midst were two horsemen in foreign armour.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Lucius Licinius galloped before them, sprang off his horse, +and mounted +the tribune.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A herald from the Goths! I arrived too late to prevent his +entrance as +usual. The famished legionaries at the Tiburtinian Gate opened it for +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Down with him! He must not speak," cried the Prefect, rushing +from the +tribune and drawing his sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the people guessed his intentions. They surrounded the +herald with +cries of joy, protecting him from the Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Peace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bread! Peace! Listen to the herald!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! do not listen to him!" thundered Cethegus. "Who is +Prefect of +Rome, he or I? Who defends this city? I, Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius; +and I tell you, do not listen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he tried to make a way for himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, thick as a swarm of bees, women and old men threw +themselves into +his path, and the armed citizens surrounded the herald.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak, herald!" they cried; "what bring you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Peace and deliverance!" cried Thorismuth, and waved his white +wand. +"Totila, King of the Italians and the Goths, sends you greetings and +demands a safe-conduct into the city, in order to tell you important +news and to announce peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to King Totila!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will hear him. He shall come!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus had hastily mounted his horse, and now ordered his +trumpeters +to blow a flourish.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this well-known sound, all became quiet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hear me, herald! I, the governor of this city, refuse a +safe-conduct. +I shall treat every Goth who enters this city as an enemy."</p> + +<p class="normal">But at these words a cry of rage burst from the multitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cornelius Cethegus, are you our officer or our tyrant? We are +free. +You have often vaunted the majesty of the Roman people. And the Roman +people command that the King shall be heard. Do we not, people of +Rome?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We do!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is according to law," growled the Quirites.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have heard! Will you obey or defy the people of Rome?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus sheathed his sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thorismuth and his companion galloped off to fetch the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect signed to the young tribunes to draw near him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lucius Licinius," he said, "go to the Capitol. Salvius +Julianus, you +will protect the lower river-bolt: the bolt of masts. Quintus Piso, you +will defend the chain-bolt. Marcus Licinius, you shall keep the bulwark +which protects the ascent to the Capitoline Hill and the way to my +house. The mercenaries will follow me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you intend to do, general?" asked Lucius Licinius, as +he was +preparing to obey the order.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Attack and destroy the barbarians."</p> + +<p class="normal">There were but fifty horsemen and about a hundred +lance-bearers to +follow the Prefect, when he had sent away the tribunes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the people had waited anxiously for the sound of the +Gothic +horns.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last they were heard, and presently there appeared +Thorismuth and +six horn-blowers; Wisand the bandalarius, carrying the royal blue +banner of the Goths; the King, accompanied by Duke Guntharis and Earl +Teja; and about ten other leaders, almost all without weapons; only +Earl Teja displayed his broad and dreaded axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">As this procession was on the point of setting forth from the +Gothic +encampment, to ride through the Metronian Gate into the city, Duke +Guntharis felt some one pull his mantle, and looking down, beheld a boy +or youth, with short and curly brown hair and blue eyes, standing near +his horse, with a shepherd's staff in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Art thou the King? No, thou art not he. And that, that is +brave Teja, +the Black Earl, as the songs call him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What wouldst thou with the King, boy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would fight for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou art still too tender. Go, and return two summers hence. +And, +meanwhile, guard thy flocks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I may be young, but I am no longer weak, and I have guarded +the flock +long enough. Ha! I see that that is the King!" and he went up to +Totila, and bowed gracefully, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"By thy leave, O King!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he caught the bridle of the horse to lead it, as if it +were a +matter of course.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King looked amused, and smiled at the boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the boy led his horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Guntharis thought: "I have seen that face before! But no, +it is +only a resemblance; yet such a resemblance I have never seen in my +life. And how noble is the young shepherd's carriage!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to King Totila! Peace and salvation!" cried the people, +as the +Goths entered the city.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the young guide looked up into the King's shining +countenance, and +sang in a soft sweet voice:</p> + +<p class="text20">"Cunning Cethegus:<br> +Tricks will not serve thee!<br> +Teja the terrible<br> +Daunts thy defiance.<br> +And brightly arises,<br> +Like morning and May-time,<br> +Like night from the darkness,<br> +The favourite of heaven,<br> +The bright, and the beautiful<br> +King of the Goths!<br> +To him are wide opened<br> +All halls and all hearts;<br> +To him, overpowered,<br> +Yield Winter and Woe!"</p> + +<p class="normal">When the King entered the Forum, there fell a dead silence +upon the +people.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cethegus, who had expected this, immediately took +advantage of it. +He urged his horse into the crowd and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What would you, Goth, in this my city?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila cast one flaming look at him, and then turned away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With <i>him</i> I speak, for evermore, only with my sword! With +him, the +threefold liar and murderer! To <i>you</i> I speak, unhappy and befooled +inhabitants of Rome! Your sufferings wring my heart. I come to end your +misery. I come without arms, for I am safer, trusting to the honour of +Romans, than protected by sword and shield."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus no more attempted to interrupt him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quirites," continued Totila, "you yourselves have truly +acknowledged +that I might long since have stormed your walls with my hosts. For now +you have but stones, and no men to defend them. But if Rome were +carried by storm, then Rome would burn; and I confess that I would +rather never enter Rome, than enter to find it in ashes. I will not +reproach you with the manner in which you have requited the kindness of +Theodoric and the Goths. Have you forgotten the time when you coined +your gold with the grateful inscription, 'Roma felix'? Truly you are +punished enough; more heavily punished by hunger, pestilence, and the +yoke of the Byzantines and that demon Cethegus, than by the severest +penalty which we could have inflicted. More than eight thousand +people--women and children not included--have perished. Your deserted +houses fall into ruins; you greedily pluck the grass which grows in +your temples; despair walks your streets with hollow eyes; famished +mothers--Roman mothers--have devoured the flesh of their own children. +Until this day, your resistance was heroic, although lamentable. But +henceforward it is madness. Your last hope was placed in Belisarius. +Then hear: Belisarius has sailed from Sicily to Byzantium. He has +deserted you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus ordered the trumpets to be sounded, in order to drown +the +groans of the multitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">For some time it was all in vain, but at last the brazen tones +conquered.</p> + +<p class="normal">When all was quiet the Prefect cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a lie! Do not believe such barefaced lies!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have the Goths, have I, ever lied to you, Romans? But you +shall +believe your own eyes and ears. Come forward, man, and speak. Do you +know him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A Byzantine in rich armour was led forward by the Gothic +horsemen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Konon!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The navarchus of Belisarius!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We know him!" cried the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus turned pale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Men of Rome," said the Byzantine, "Belisarius, the magister +militum, +has sent me to King Totila. I arrived in the camp to-day. Belisarius +was obliged to return to Byzantium. On leaving Sicily, he recommended +Rome and Italy to the well-known benevolence of King Totila. This was +my message to him and to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If this be so," cried Cethegus, with a threatening voice, +"then now is +the day to prove whether you be Romans or bastards! Mark me well! +Cethegus the Prefect will never, never surrender his Rome to the +barbarians! Oh I think once more of the time when I was your all! When +you exalted my name above those of the saints! Who has given you, for +years, work, bread, and, what is more, weapons? Who protected +you--Belisarius or Cethegus?--when these barbarians encamped by +millions before your walls? Who saved Rome, with his heart's blood, +from King Witichis? For the last time I call you to the combat! Do you +hear me, grandchildren of Camillus? As he once, solely by the might of +the Roman sword, swept the Gauls, who had already taken the city, away +from the Capitol, so will I sweep away these Goths! Follow me! We will +sally forth and let the world see what is possible to Roman valour when +led by Cethegus and despair. Choose!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye, choose!" cried Totila, raising himself in his stirrups. +"Choose +between certain destruction or certain freedom. If you once more follow +this madman, I can no longer protect you. Listen to Earl Teja, who +stands at my right hand. You know him, I think. I can no longer protect +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," cried Teja, raising his mighty axe, "then, by the God of +Hate, no +more mercy! If you refuse this last offer, not a life will be spared +within these walls. I, and a thousand others, have sworn it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I offer you complete immunity, and will prove a mild and just +king to +you. Ask Neapolis what I am! Choose between me and the Prefect!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to King Totila! Death to the Prefect!" was the unanimous +acclamation.</p> + +<p class="normal">And, as if at a signal, the women and children, with uplifted +hands, +threw themselves on their knees; while all the armed inhabitants raised +their weapons threateningly, and many a spear was hurled at the +Prefect. They were the very weapons which he himself had given to the +people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are dogs--no Romans!" exclaimed Cethegus, with +disdainful fury, +and turned his horse. "To the Capitol!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And his horse, with a sudden leap, cleared the row of kneeling +and +screaming women. Through a shower of darts which the Romans now sent +after him galloped the Prefect, riding down the few who had courage +enough to try to stop him.</p> + +<p class="normal">His crimson crest soon disappeared in the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">His companions galloped swiftly after him. The lance-bearers +on foot +retreated in good order, now and then turning and levelling their +spears. Thus they reached the lofty bulwark which, held by Marcus +Licinius, protected the ascent to the Capitol, and the way to the +Prefect's house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What next? Shall we pursue?" the citizens asked the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--stay. Let all the gates be opened. Wagons laden with +meat, bread, +and wine stand ready in the camp. Let them be brought into all parts of +the city. Feed the people of Rome for three whole days. My Goths shall +keep watch to prevent excess."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the Prefect?" asked Duke Guntharis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cornelius Cethegus, the ex-Prefect of Rome, will not escape +the +vengeance of God," cried Totila, turning away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And not mine!" cried the shepherd-boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And not mine!" said Teja, and galloped after the King.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Most of the quarters of the city of Rome had now fallen into +the hands +of the enemy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus was in possession of that part of the city which +extended on +the right bank of the Tiber from the Mausoleum of Hadrian in the north +to the Porta Portuensis in the south, near which were situated the two +bolts across the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the left bank the Prefect held only the small but +dominating quarter +west of the Forum Romanum, of which the Capitol formed the centre. This +quarter was enclosed by walls and high bulwarks which stretched from +the shore of the Tiber at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, and round +the hill eastwards, to the Forum of Trajan in the north; while at the +back and westwards from the Capitol, they passed between the Circus +Flaminius and the Theatre of Marcellus (abandoning the first and +enclosing the last), and ended at the Fabrician Bridge and the Island +of the Tiber.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King had left the Forum, and the rest of the day was spent +by the +inhabitants of the city in feasting and rejoicing.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King caused eighty wagons, each drawn by four oxen, to be +drawn up +in all the principal squares and places of those parts of the city +which had surrendered. And round about these wagons, upon the pavement +or upon speedily-erected wooden benches, lay the famishing population, +raising their voices in thanks to God, the saints, and the "good King."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect had at once closed all the gates which led from +those parts +of the city occupied by the Goths into <i>his</i> Rome; particularly the +approaches from the Forum Romanum to the Capitol, and the Flumentanian, +Carmentalian and Ratumenian Gates. He caused them all to be barricaded, +and divided the few soldiers he had at his command among the most +important points of defence.</p> + +<p class="normal">He held much about the same part of Rome as he had before +occupied +under and against Belisarius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Salvius Julianus must have another hundred Isaurians to +protect the +bolt of masts on the river," he commanded. "The Abasgian bowmen must +hasten to join Piso at the bolt of chains. Marcus Licinius will remain +on the bulwark of the Forum."</p> + +<p class="normal">But now Lucius Licinius announced that the rest of the +legionaries, who +had not been present at the scene on the Forum, because they had been +on duty in the now barricaded portion of the city, were become very +unruly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," cried Cethegus, "the odour of the roast meat for which +their +comrades sold their honour, tickles their nostrils! I come."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he rode up to the Capitol, where the legionaries, about +five +hundred men, were standing in their ranks with a very gloomy and +threatening aspect.</p> + +<p class="normal">Looking at them with a searching eye, Cethegus slowly rode +along their +front.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For you I had reserved the fame of having defended the Lares +and +Penates of the Capitol against the barbarians. I hear, indeed, that you +prefer the joints of beef below there. But I will not believe it. You +will not desert the man who, after centuries of helplessness, has again +taught the Romans how to fight and conquer. Whoever will stand by +Cethegus and the Capitol--let him raise his sword."</p> + +<p class="normal">But not a blade was seen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hunger is a more powerful god than the Capitoline Jupiter," +said +Cethegus contemptuously.</p> + +<p class="normal">A centurion stepped forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is not that, Prefect of Rome. But we will not fight +against our +fathers and brothers who are on the side of the Goths."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ought to keep you as hostages for your fathers and +brothers, and +when they storm the bulwarks, throw to them your heads! But I fear it +would not stop them in their enthusiasm, which comes from their +stomachs! Go--you are not worthy to save Rome! Open the gate, Licinius. +Let them turn their backs upon the Capitol and honour!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the legionaries marched away, all but about a hundred men, +who +stood still irresolutely, leaning on their spears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what do you want?" cried Cethegus, riding up to them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To die with you, Prefect of Rome!" cried one of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the others repeated: "To die with you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you! Do you see, Licinius, a hundred Romans! Are they +not +enough to found a new Roman Empire?--I will give you the post of +honour; you shall defend the bulwark to which I have given the name of +Julius Cæsar."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sprang from his horse, threw the bridle to Syphax, called +his +tribunes together, and spoke:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now listen to my plan."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have a plan already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. We will attack! If I know these barbarians, we are safe +for +to-night from any assault. They have won three quarters of the city. +Before they think of the last quarter, their victory must be celebrated +in a hundred thousand tipsy bouts. At midnight the whole company of +yellow-haired heroes and drinkers will be immersed in feasting, wine, +and sleep; and the hungry Quirites will not be behindhand in excess. +Look! How they feast and sing below there--crowned with flowers! And +very few barbarians have yet entered the city. That is our hope of +victory. At midnight we will sally forth from all our gates--they will +not dream of an attack from such a minority--and slay them in their +revels."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your plan is bold," said Lucius Licinius. "And if we fall, +the Capitol +will be our tombstone!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You learn from me words as well as sword-strokes," said +Cethegus, +smiling. "My plan is desperate, but it is the only one now possible. Is +the watch set? I will go home and sleep for a couple of hours. No one +must rouse me before that time. In two hours come and wake me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can sleep at such a moment, general?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; I <i>must</i>. And I hope I shall sleep soundly. I must have +time to +collect myself--I have just yielded the Forum Romanum to the barbarian +King! It was too much! I need time to recover myself. Syphax, I asked +yesterday if no more wine was to be had on the right bank of the +Tiber?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have been to seek some. There is yet a little in the temple +of your +God; but the priests say that it is dedicated to the service of the +altar."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will not have spoiled it! Go, Lucius, and take it from +the +priests. Divide it amongst the hundred men on the bulwark of Cæsar. It +is the only thing that I can give them to show my gratitude."</p> + +<p class="normal">Followed by Syphax, Cethegus now rode slowly home.</p> + +<p class="normal">He stopped at the principal entrance to his house.</p> + +<p class="normal">In answer to the call of Syphax, Thrax, a groom, opened the +gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus dismounted and stroked the neck of his noble charger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our next ride will be a sharp one, my Pluto--to victory or in +flight! +Thrax, give him the white bread which was reserved for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The horse was led into the stables near at hand. The stalls +were empty. +Pluto shared the spacious building only with the brown horse belonging +to Syphax. All the Prefect's other horses had been slaughtered and +devoured by the mercenaries.</p> + +<p class="normal">The master of the house passed through the splendid vestibule +and +atrium into the library.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old ostiarius and secretary, the slave Fidus, who was past +carrying +a spear, the only domestic in the house. All the slaves and freedmen +were upon the walls--either living or dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reach me the roll of Plutarch's Cæsar, and the large goblet +set with +amethysts--it scarcely needed their decoration--full of spring water."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect stayed in the library for some time. The old +servant had +lighted the lamp, filled with costly oil of spikenard, as he had been +accustomed to do in times of peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus cast a long look at the numerous busts, Hermes, and +statues, +which cast sharp shadows along the exquisite mosaic pavement.</p> + +<p class="normal">There, upon pedestals or brackets, on which were inscribed +their names, +stood small marble busts of almost all the heroes of Rome, from the +mythic Kings to the long rows of Consuls and Cæsars, ended by Trajan, +Hadrian, and Constantine.</p> + +<p class="normal">The ancestors of the "Cethegi" formed a numerous group.</p> + +<p class="normal">An empty niche already contained the pedestal upon which his +bust would +one day stand--the last on that side of the room, for he was the last +of his house.</p> + +<p class="normal">But on another side there was a whole row of arches and empty +niches, +destined for future scions of the family, not by marriage, but by +adoption, should the name of Cethegus be continued into more fortunate +generations.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Cethegus walked slowly past the rows of busts, he chanced +to look at +the niche destined to contain his own, and, to his astonishment, saw +that it was not empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that?" he asked. "Lift up the lamp, secretary. Whose +is that +bust standing in my place?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive, master! The pedestal of that bust, one of the +ancients, +needed reparation. I was obliged to remove it, and I placed it in the +empty niche to keep it from harm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Show a light. Still higher. Who can it be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Cethegus read the short inscription upon the bust: +"Tarquinius +Superbus, tyrant of Rome, died in exile; banished from the city by the +inhabitants on account of his monstrous despotism. A warning to future +generations."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus, in his youth, had himself composed this inscription.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took the bust away, and placed it on one side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Away with the omen!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lost in thought, he entered his study.</p> + +<p class="normal">He leaned his helm, shield, and sword against the couch. The +slave +kindled the lamp which stood on the tortoise-shell table, brought the +goblet and the roll of papyrus, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus took up the roll.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he soon laid it down again. His forced composure could not +last; it +was too unnatural. In the Roman Forum the Quirites drank with the +barbarians to the health of the King of the Goths and the ruin of the +Prefect of Rome, the Princeps Senatus! In two hours he was about to +attempt to wrest the city from the Goths. He could not fill up the +short pause with the perusal of a biography which he almost knew by +heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">He drank thirstily of the water in the goblet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he threw himself upon his couch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was it an omen?" he asked himself. "But there are no omens +for +those who do not believe in them. 'This is the only omen: to fight for +the fatherland,' says Homer. Truly, I fight not alone for my native +land; I fight still more for myself. But have not to-day's events +disgracefully proved that Rome is Cethegus, and Cethegus is Rome? These +name-forgetting Romans do not make Rome. The Rome of to-day is far more +Cethegus than the Rome of old was Cæsar. Was not he, too, a tyrant in +the eyes of fools?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose uneasily, and went up to the colossal statue of his +great +ancestor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God-like Julius! If I could pray, I would pray now to thee! +Help me! +Complete the work of thy grandchild. How hard have I striven since the +day when the idea of the renewal of thy empire was born within my +brain--born full-armed, like Pallas Athene from the head of Jupiter! +How have I fought, mentally and physically, by day and by night! And +though thrown to the ground seven times by the superior force of two +peoples, seven times have I again struggled to my feet, unconquered and +unintimidated! A year ago my goal seemed near--so near; and now, this +very night, I must fight this fair youth for Rome and for my life! Can +it be that I must succumb after such deeds and such exertions? Succumb +to the good fortune of a youth! Is it, then, impossible for thy +descendant to stand alone for his nation, until he renew both it and +himself? Is it impossible to conquer the barbarians and the Greeks? Can +not I, Cethegus, stop the wheel of Fate and roll it backward? Must I +fail because I stand alone--a general without an army, a king without a +nation to support him? Must I yield thy and my Rome? I cannot, will not +think so! Did not thy star fade shortly before Pharsalus? and didst +thou not swim over the Nile to save thy life, bleeding from a hundred +wounds? And yet thou hast succeeded. Again thou hast entered Rome in +triumph. It will not go more hardly with thy descendant. No; I will not +lose my Rome! I will not lose my house, and this thy God-like image, +which has often, like the crucifix of the Christian, filled me with +hope and comfort. As a pledge of my success, to thee I will entrust a +treasure. Where can anything on earth be safe if not with thee? In an +hour of despondency, I was about to give this treasure to Syphax to +bury in the earth. But if I lose Rome and this house, this sanctuary, I +will lose all. Who can decipher these hieroglyphics? As thou hast kept +the letters and the diary, so shalt thou keep this treasure also."</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying, he drew from the bosom of his tunic, beneath his +shirt of +mail, a rather large leather bag, filled with costly pearls and +precious stones, and touched a spring on the left side of the statue, +below the edge of its shield.</p> + +<p class="normal">A small opening was revealed, out of which he took an oblong +casket of +beautifully-carved ivory, provided with a golden lock. The casket +contained all sorts of writings and rolls of papyrus. He now added the +bag.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, great ancestor, guard my secrets and my treasure. With +whom +should they be safe, if not with thee?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He touched the spring again, and the statue looked as perfect +as +before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beneath thy shield, upon thy heart! As a pledge that I trust +in thee +and my good fortune as thy descendant! As a pledge that nothing shall +force me away from thee and Rome--at least for any length of time. If I +<i>must</i> go--I will return again. And who will seek my secret in the +marble Cæsar?"</p> + +<p class="normal">If the water in the amethyst cup had been the strongest wine, +it could +not have had a more intoxicating effect than this soliloquy or dialogue +with the colossal statue which Cethegus worshipped like a god.</p> + +<p class="normal">The unnatural strain upon all his mental and physical powers +during the +last few weeks; the unsuccessful attempt to persuade the people on the +Forum; the conception of a new and desperate plan as soon as he had +been defeated in the first, and the consuming anxiety with which he +awaited its execution, had excited and exhausted the iron nerves of the +Prefect to the utmost.</p> + +<p class="normal">He thought, spoke, and acted as if in a high fever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Tired out, he threw himself upon his couch at the foot of the +statue; +and suddenly sleep overcame him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was not the sound sleep which, until now, he had been +able to +command at will, even after some criminal act or before a dangerous +enterprise: the result of a strong constitution which was superior to +all excitement.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the first time his slumber was uneasy, disturbed by +changeful +dreams, which, like the fancies of a delirious man, chased each other +through his brain.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the visions of the dreamer took a more concrete form.</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw the statue at the feet of which he lay, grow and grow. +The +majestic head rose higher and higher, and passed through the roof of +the house. With its crown of laurel it at last penetrated the clouds, +and towered into the starry heavens.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take me with thee!" sighed Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the demigod replied:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can scarcely see thee from this height. Thou art too small! +Thou +canst not follow me."</p> + +<p class="normal">And it seemed to Cethegus that a thunderbolt fell and +shattered the +roof of his house. With a crash the beams fell upon him, burying him +under the ruins. The statue of Cæsar also broke and fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">And crash after crash echoed through the place.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus woke, sprang up, and looked around in bewilderment.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The sound continued.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was real--no dream! Blow after blow fell thundering against +the door +of his house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus caught up his helm and sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">At that moment Syphax and Lucius rushed into the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Up, general!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Up, Cethegus!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two hours cannot yet have passed. Why have you awakened me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Goths! They have been beforehand with us! They storm the +bulwarks!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Damn them! Where do they storm?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus had already reached the door of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where does the King attack?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the bolts on the river. He has sent fire-ships up the +stream. +Floats with heavy towers on deck, full of resin, pitch, and sulphur. +The first bolt of masts and all the boats between are in flames! +Salvius Julianus is wounded and taken prisoner. There! you can see the +reflection of the flames in the south-east!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The bolt of chains--does it hold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It holds still. But if it break--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I, as once before, am the bolt of Rome! Forward!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Syphax led up the snorting horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus swung himself into the saddle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Away! Where is your brother Marcus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the bulwark by the Forum."</p> + +<p class="normal">As Cethegus and Lucius were galloping off, they were met by a +mass of +mercenaries, Isaurians and Abasgians, who fled from the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly!" they cried. "Save the Prefect!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Cethegus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here--to save you! Turn back. To the river!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He galloped on. The reflection of the burning masts plainly +showed the +way. Arrived at the river bank, Cethegus dismounted. Syphax placed his +horse out of harm's way in an empty storehouse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Torches!" cried Cethegus. "Into the boats! There lie a dozen +ready. +Bowmen, into the boats! Follow me! Lucius, go into the second boat. Row +up to the chain. Place yourselves close to it. Whatever comes up the +river--shoot! They cannot land below the bolt, the walls are too high +and descend straight into the water. They <i>must</i> come up here to the +chain!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Already a few boats, filled with Goths, had ventured too near. +Some +caught fire at the burning masts; others were upset in the crush and +confusion. One, which had approached within half an arrow's length of +the chain, drove helplessly down the stream again: all the crew had +been killed by the arrows of the Abasgians.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you see! There goes a boat of corpses! Resist to the last +man. +Nothing is lost! Bring torches and firebrands! Kindle the wharf there! +Fire against fire!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look there, master!" cried Syphax, who never left the +Prefect's side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye, now comes the struggle!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a splendid sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Goths had seen that the bolt of chains could never be +forced by +small boats, so they had hewn away so much of the burning bolt of masts +that a space was left in the middle just broad enough to permit the +passage of a ship of war.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to try to pass up the river, exposed to the arrows of the +Abasgians, between the flaming ends of the masts, and propelled only by +their oars, might be more dangerous for the large vessel than for the +"boat of corpses."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Goths hesitated and stopped just before the burning beams.</p> + +<p class="normal">But suddenly there arose a strong breeze from the south, +rippling the +surface of the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you feel the wind? It is the breath of the God of Victory! +Set the +sails! Now follow me, my Goths!" cried a joyful voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sails were set, and the wings of the royal galley, the +"Wild Swan," +spread wide to the breeze.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a magnificent spectacle as the great vessel, all its +canvas +spread, and urged by a hundred oarsmen, came majestically up the river, +illuminated by the terrible light from the burning masts and boats.</p> + +<p class="normal">With irresistible force the noble galley sailed up the stream.</p> + +<p class="normal">On both sides of the upper deck, high above the heads of the +oarsmen on +the lower deck, kneeled close rows of Gothic warriors, their shields +forming a brazen roof to protect them from the arrows of the foe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon the bows of the ship an immense figure of a swan lifted +high its +snowy wings.</p> + +<p class="normal">Between these wings, upon the back of the swan, stood King +Totila, his +sword in his right hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward!" he cried. "Pull, my men, with all your might! Be +ready, +Goths!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus recognised the youth's tall figure. He even +recognised the +voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let the galley approach quite close. When within twenty feet, +shoot! +Not yet!--Now! now shoot!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Crouch close, Goths!" cried Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">A hail of arrows fell over the galley. But they rebounded from +a roof +of shields.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Damn them!" cried Piso, behind the Prefect. "They intend to +break the +chain with the force of the shock. And they will surely do it, even if +every man on deck should fall! The oarsmen we cannot reach, and the +south wind cannot be wounded!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fire the sails! fire the ship! Bring firebrands!" cried +Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ever nearer rustled the threatening "Swan."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ever nearer approached the ruinous shock against the +tightly-stretched +chains.</p> + +<p class="normal">Firebrands were hurled at the galley.</p> + +<p class="normal">One flew into the sail of the main-mast, burnt quickly up, and +then +died out.</p> + +<p class="normal">A second--Cethegus himself had hurled it--passed close to the +golden +locks of the King. It fell near him. He had not remarked it; but a +shepherd-boy, who carried no weapon but a shepherd's staff, ran up and +trampled it out.</p> + +<p class="normal">The other brands rebounded from the shields and fell hissing +into the +river.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the prow of the galley was only eight feet from the +chain.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Romans trembled in expectation of the shock.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus stepped to the bow of his boat, balancing and aiming +his heavy +spear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mark!" he said; "as soon as the King falls, be quick with +more +firebrands."</p> + +<p class="normal">Never had the practised soldier aimed better. Drawing back his +spear +once more, he launched it at the King with all the force lent to his +arm by hatred.</p> + +<p class="normal">His followers waited breathlessly. But the King did not fall. +He had +caught sight of Cethegus while aiming; at the same moment he threw down +his long and narrow shield and awaited the flying shaft with his left +arm drawn back.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whistling came the spear straight at the spot where the King's +bare +neck showed above his breastplate.</p> + +<p class="normal">When within a few inches of his throat, the King caught the +shaft with +his left hand and immediately hurled it back at the Prefect, wounding +him on the left arm just above his shield.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus fell on his knee.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same instant the galley struck the chain. It burst. The +Roman +boats which lay near, including that of Cethegus, were upset; and most +of them drove masterless down the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Victory!" shouted Totila. "Yield, mercenaries!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus, bleeding, swam to the left bank of the river. He saw +how the +Gothic galley lowered two boats, into one of which sprang the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw how a whole flotilla of large vessels, which had sailed +up in +the wake of the King's galley, now broke through the boats of his +bowmen, and landed troops on both sides of the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw how his Abasgians--neither armed nor in the mood for a +hand-to-hand fight--surrendered themselves by companies to the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw how a rain of arrows from the royal galley fell upon +the +defenders on the left bank.</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw how the little boat, in which stood the King, now +approached the +place where he himself stood, dripping with water.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had lost his helmet in the river, his shield he had thrown +away, in +order the more speedily to gain the land.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was on the point of attacking the King, who had just +landed, with +his sword alone, when a Gothic arrow grazed his neck.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well hit, Haduswinth?" cried a young voice; "better than at +the +Mausoleum!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo, Gunthamund!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus tottered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Syphax caught his arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same moment a hand was laid on his shoulder. He +recognised +Marcus Licinius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You here! Where are your men?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dead!" said Marcus. "The hundred Romans fell on the bulwark. +Teja, the +terrible Teja, stormed it. The half of your Isaurians fell on the way +to the Capitol. The rest still keep the doors, and the half-bulwark in +front of your house. I can no more. Teja's axe penetrated through my +shield and entered my ribs. Farewell, O great Cethegus! Save the +Capitol. But--look there! Teja is quick!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he fell to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the Capitoline Hill flames rose high into the night.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is nothing more to be done here," the Prefect said with +difficulty, for he was losing blood fast and becoming rapidly weak. "I +will save the Capitol! To you, Piso, I leave the barbarian King. Once +before you have wounded a Gothic King upon the threshold of Rome. Now +wound a second, but this time mortally! You, Lucius, will revenge your +brother. Do not follow me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he spoke he cast one more furious glance at the King, at +whose feet +kneeled his Abasgians, and sighed deeply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You tremble, master!" said Syphax sadly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Rome</i> trembles!" cried Cethegus. "To the Capitol!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Lucius Licinius pressed the hand of his dying brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall follow him notwithstanding," he said, "for he is +wounded."</p> + +<p class="normal">While Cethegus, Syphax, and Lucius Licinius disappeared in the +distance, Piso crouched behind the columns of a Basilica close to which +the street led upwards from the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the King had placed the Abasgians under the guard of +his +soldiers. He went a few steps up the bank of the river and pointed with +his sword to the flames which arose from the Capitol.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he turned to the Goths who were landing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward!" he cried. "Make haste! The flames up there must be +extinguished. The fight is over. Now, Goths, protect and preserve Rome, +for it is yours!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Piso took advantage of the moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Apollo!" he exclaimed; "if ever my satires hit their mark, +help now my +sword!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he sprang from behind the column towards the King, who +stood with +his back turned to him. But before he could deal a blow, he let his +sword fell with a loud cry. A sturdy stroke from a stick had lamed his +hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Immediately a young shepherd sprang upon him and pulled him to +the +ground, kneeling on his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yield, thou Roman wolf!" cried a clear boyish voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! Piso.... the poet He is thy prisoner, boy," said the +King, who now +turned. "He shall ransom himself with a goodly sum. But who art thou, +young shepherd?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is the saviour of your life, sire," interposed old +Haduswinth. "We +saw the Roman rush at you, but we were too far off to call or help you. +We owe your life to this boy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is thy name, young hero?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalgoth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what wouldst thou here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cethegus, the traitor, the Prefect of Rome! where is he, +King? Pray +tell me. I was sent to the boats. I heard that he would oppose thy +attack here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was here. He has fled; most likely to his house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wouldst thou overcome that King of Hell with this stick?" +asked +Haduswinth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," cried the boy; "I have now a sword."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he took up his prisoner's sword, which was lying on the +ground; +brandished it over his head and rushed away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila gave Piso in charge to the Goths, who had now landed in +great +numbers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hasten!" he cried again. "Save the Capitol, which the Romans +are +destroying!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Meanwhile the Prefect had left the river and gone in the +direction of +the Capitol.</p> + +<p class="normal">He passed the Porta Trigemina and arrived at the Forum +Boarium.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before the Temple of Janus he met with a crowd of people by +which he +was detained for a short time.</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of his wound he had made such haste that Lucius and +Syphax +could scarcely follow. They had repeatedly lost sight of him. Only now +did they overtake him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now tried to go through the Porta Carmentalis, and thus +gain the +back of the Capitol.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he found the gate already occupied by numerous Goths. +Amongst them +was Wachis. He recognised the Prefect from a distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Revenge for Rauthgundis!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">A heavy stone struck the Prefect's helmless head. He turned +and fled.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now remembered that there was a sinking of the wall not far +from the +gate. He determined to climb it at that place.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he neared it, the flames from the Capitol again shot high +into the +air.</p> + +<p class="normal">Three men sprang over the wall just in front of him. They were +Isaurians. They recognised him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly, general! The Capitol is lost! Teja, the black Gothic +devil!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did he--did Teja kindle the fire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; we ourselves set a wooden bulwark, which the barbarians +had taken, +on fire. The Goths do all they can to extinguish the flames."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The barbarians save the Capitol!" said Cethegus bitterly, and +supported himself upon a spear which was handed to him by one of the +mercenaries.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must get to my house."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he turned to the right, the shortest way to the principal +entrance +to his house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O master, that way is dangerous!" cried one of the Isaurians. +"The +Goths will soon be there. I heard the Black Earl ask repeatedly after +you. He was seeking you everywhere upon the Capitol. He will now seek +you in your house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I <i>must</i> once more go to my house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But he had scarcely gone a few steps, when a troop of Goths +and Romans, +carrying torches and firebrands, came towards him from the city.</p> + +<p class="normal">The foremost, who were Romans, recognised him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Prefect!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The destroyer of Rome!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has set the Capitol on fire! Down with him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Arrows, stones, and spears were hurled at Cethegus. One of his +Isaurians fell; the others took to their heels.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus was hit by an arrow; it penetrated slightly into his +left +shoulder. He tore it out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A Roman arrow, with my own stamp!" he cried with a terrible +laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">With difficulty he gained a dark side-street.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before his House there was a crowd of soldiers, trying in vain +to break +open the principal door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus heard the uproar, and well understood the cries of +rage with +which the soldiers accompanied their ineffectual exertions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The door is strong," he said to himself. "Before they force +an +entrance, I shall be again out of the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">He hurried to the back of the house. He pressed a secret +spring which +opened the door of the court, entered, and, leaving the door open +behind him, hurried in.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hark! a stroke--very different from all which had gone +before--thundered against the front door of the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a battle-axe!" thought Cethegus. "That is Teja?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He hastened to a small gap in the wall, which afforded an +outlook into +the main street. It was Teja. His long black locks waved about his bare +head; in his left hand he carried a firebrand; in his right the dreaded +battle-axe. He was covered with blood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cethegus!" he shouted at every stroke of his axe. "Cornelius +Cethegus +Cæsarius, where art thou? I sought thee in the Capitol, Prefect of +Rome! Where art thou? Must I seek thee upon thy hearth?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus, listening, heard hasty steps behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Syphax had reached the court, and had followed his master +through the +open door. He now caught sight of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O master, fly! I will protect thy threshold with my body."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he hastened past Cethegus, through a suite of apartments +to the +front door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus turned to the right. He could hardly keep himself +upright. He +managed to reach the "Hall of Jupiter." Here he sank to the ground. But +the next moment he again sprang to his feet, for a fearful noise was +heard from the front door.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last it was broken in.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a thundering crash it fell inwards, and Teja entered the +dwelling +of his enemy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon the threshold, with a leap like that of a panther, the +Moor sprang +upon him, grasping his throat and raising a dagger in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Goth let fall his axe, seized him in his right hand, +and, like +a stone from a sling, the Moor flew sideways through the door and +rolled down the steps into the street.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where art thou, Cethegus?" again sounded the voice of Teja, +coming +nearer and nearer, from the vestibule and the atrium.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some doors, which had been bolted by the secretary, Fidus, +were forced +one after the other by Teja's axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">With difficulty Cethegus dragged himself to the middle of the +Hall of +Jupiter. He still hoped to be able to reach the study and take the +writings and treasure out of the statue of Cæsar.</p> + +<p class="normal">He heard the crash of another falling door, and the voice of +Teja now +sounded from the study.</p> + +<p class="normal">He heard how the soldiers, who had pressed forward after Teja +into the +library, were demolishing the statues and busts of his ancestors.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is thy master, old man?" asked Teja's voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">The slave had taken refuge in the study.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know not, by my soul!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not even here! Cethegus! coward! Where hidest thou?"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was now evident that the soldiers had also entered the +study.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus could no longer stand upright.</p> + +<p class="normal">He leaned against the marble statue of Jupiter, from which the +hall +took its name.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What shall be done with this house?" he heard some one ask.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It shall be burned!" cried Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The King has forbidden that," answered the voice of +Thorismuth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but I have begged this house from the King. It shall be +razed to +the ground! Down with the temple of that devil! Down with the holiest +of holies--this idol!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A fearful blow resounded.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a crash the Cæsar statue fell in fragments to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gold, jewels, and rolls of papyrus covered the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! the barbarian!" cried Cethegus, forgetting himself, and +he was +about to rush into the study with his drawn sword, when he fell +senseless at the foot of the statue of Jupiter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hark! What was that?" cried a boyish voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The voice of the Prefect!" exclaimed Teja, and opening the +door which +led from the study into the hall, he sprang forward, swinging his +battle-axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the hall was empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">A pool of blood lay at the feet of the Jupiter, and a broad +track of +the crimson fluid led to the window which opened into the inner court.</p> + +<p class="normal">The court was empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">But some Goths who entered it found the little door closed +from +outside; the key was still in the lock on the side of the street.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had forced this door--some of them had also gone +round from +the front of the house--and had searched the side-street and the +dwellings in it, they only found the Prefect's sword, which was +recognised by Fidus, the secretary.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a gloomy look Teja took it up, and returned into the +study.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take up carefully all that was concealed in the Prefect's +idol, +particularly the writings, and carry everything to the King. Where is +the King?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When he left the Capitol, he, with all the Romans and Goths, +went into +the sanctuary of St. Peter, to attend a service of thanksgiving."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well. Go to him in the church and give him everything. +Also the +sword of the fugitive. Tell him that Teja sends it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thy order shall be obeyed," said Thorismuth. "But thou--wilt +thou not +go with us to the church?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where wilt thou spend this night of victory, when all the +others are +giving thanks?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will spend it in the ruins of this house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he thrust the firebrand into the purple cushions of the +Prefect's +couch.</p> + +<br> + +<br> + +<h2>BOOK V.--<i>Continued</i>.</h2> + +<h3>TOTILA.</h3> + +<p class="normal">"Happy are we that this sunny youth still lives!"--<i>Margrave +Ruediger +of Bechelaren</i>, Act i., Scene i.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>PART II.</h2> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Thenceforth King Totila held his court in Rome with much +splendour and +rejoicing.</p> + +<p class="normal">The heaviest task of all the war seemed to be completed.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the fall of Rome, most of the small forts on the coast +and in the +Apennines opened their gates; very few remained to be taken by siege.</p> + +<p class="normal">For this purpose the King sent forth his generals, Teja, +Guntharis, +Grippa, Markja, and Aligern; while he himself undertook the difficult +political task of reducing to order the kingdom so long disturbed by +war or rebellion. He had, indeed, almost to refound it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He sent his dukes and earls into the towns and districts to +carry out +his intentions in all departments of the state; particularly to protect +the Italians from the vengeance of the victorious Goths. He had +published from the Capitol a general amnesty; excluding only one +person: the ex-Prefect, Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everywhere he caused the destroyed churches, both Catholic and +Arian, +to be restored; everywhere the landed property was settled, the taxes +newly-laid and diminished.</p> + +<p class="normal">The beneficial results of all this care were not long in +making +themselves felt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even when Totila had first assumed the crown and issued his +manifesto, +had the Italians resumed the long-neglected cultivation of the land. +The Gothic soldiers were directed to refrain from disturbing this +important work, and to do all in their power to prevent any such +disturbance on the part of the Byzantines.</p> + +<p class="normal">And a wonderful fertility of the soil, a harvest of grain, +wine, and +oil, such as had not been seen for ages, seemed to prove that the +blessing of Heaven had fallen upon the young King.</p> + +<p class="normal">The news of the taking of Neapolis and Rome spread rapidly +through the +Eastern Empire, where it was received with great astonishment, for all +there had long since considered the Gothic kingdom to be extinct.</p> + +<p class="normal">Merchants who had been tempted by the strong and just +government, the +security of the high-roads and of the sea--which were severally +protected by patrols of soldiers and watchful squadrons of Gothic +ships--to revisit the deserted towns and harbours of the peninsula, +praised the justice and benevolence of the royal youth, and told of the +flourishing state of his kingdom, and of the brilliancy of his court at +Rome, where he gathered about him the senators who had repented of +their rebellion, and gave to the populace liberal alms and splendid +games in the Circus.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Kings of the Franks acknowledged this change of +circumstances. They +sent presents--Totila rejected them; they sent ambassadors--Totila +would not receive them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King of the Ostrogoths frankly offered an alliance against +Byzantium and the hand of his daughter. The Avarian and Slavonian +marauders on the eastern frontier were punished. With the exception of +the few fortresses which were still in a state of siege--Ravenna, +Perusium, and a few small castles--the whole country enjoyed as perfect +peace as in Theodoric's most glorious days.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same time, the King was wise enough to be moderate. He +acknowledged, in spite of his victories, the danger-fraught superiority +of the East, and earnestly sought to make peace with the Emperor.</p> + +<p class="normal">He resolved to send an embassy to Byzantium, to offer peace on +the +basis of a full acknowledgment of the Gothic rule in Italy. He would +renounce all claim to Sicily--where not a Goth was now dwelling (the +Gothic settlements on that island had never been very numerous); he +would also resign those parts of Dalmatia now occupied by the +Byzantines. On his side the Emperor should immediately evacuate +Ravenna, which no perseverance or stratagem on the part of the Gothic +besiegers had been able to reduce.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the person most qualified to undertake this mission of +peace and +reconciliation, the King thought of a man who was distinguished by +worth and dignity, by his love for Italy and the Goths, and who was +renowned, even in the East, for his wisdom--the venerable Cassiodorus.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although the pious old man had withdrawn from all affairs of +state for +many years, the young King succeeded in persuading him to leave the +peaceful quiet of his lonely cloister, and brave the troubles and +dangers of a journey to Byzantium in order to perform this noble and +pious work.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was impossible to lay upon the old man the whole burden +of such +an embassy, and the King now sought for a younger and stronger man to +accompany him. A man of similar benevolent and Christian feeling--a +second apostle of peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few weeks after the conquest of Rome, a royal messenger +carried the +following letter over the Cottian Alps into Provence:</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"To Julius Manilius Montanus, Totila, who is called the King +of the +Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, my beloved friend, return to my heart! Years have +passed; much +blood has been shed, and many tears have fallen. More than once, +terribly or fortunately, has everything changed around me since I +pressed your hand for the last time. Everything around me has changed, +but I remain the same. All is as it was between you and me. I still +revere the idols at whose shrines we worshipped together in the first +dreams of our youth, but growing experience has ennobled these idols. +When sin, treachery, and all dark powers raged upon Italian soil, you +abandoned it. See, they have disappeared, like moisture in the sun and +wind. The conquered demons growl in the distance, and a rainbow +stretches its brilliant arch over this my beloved kingdom. When nobler +souls unhappily succumbed. Heaven preserved me to see the end of the +fearful storm and to sow the seeds of a new time. Come now, my Julius; +help me to carry out those dreams at which you so often smiled, +thinking them <i>mere</i> dreams. Help me to create a new people of Goths +and Italians, which will unite the advantages and exclude the +weaknesses of both nations. Help me to found a realm of justice and of +peace, of freedom and of beauty, ennobled by Italian grace, and +strengthened by Gothic endurance. You, my Julius, have built a cloister +for the Church--help me to build a temple for humanity. I am lonely, +friend, at the summit of fortune. Lonely my bride awaits the full +completion of my vow. The war has robbed me of my devoted brother. Will +you not come, my Dioscuros? In two months I shall expect you at Taginæ +with Valeria."</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">Julius read; and with emotion said to himself: "My friend, I +come!"</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">Before King Totila left Rome for Taginæ, he resolved to pay an +old debt +of gratitude, and to give a worthy, that is a beautiful, form to an old +connection that, until now, had not satisfied the desire for harmony +which possessed his soul--his connection with the first hero of his +nation, with Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had been friends from their earliest boyhood. Although +Teja was +several years older, he had always perceived and honoured the depth of +the younger man's nature under the brilliant husk of his joyous +temperament. And a common inclination to enthusiasm and idealism, +besides a certain pride and magnanimity, had drawn them early together. +Later, however, their opposite fates had caused their originally very +different natures to deviate more and more.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sunny brightness of the one seemed to contrast with the +austerity +of the other with painful brilliancy. And Totila, after repeated and +impetuous attempts to dispel the gloom of his silent friend--the cause +of which he did not know, and the nature of which he did not +understand--had at last, attributing it to a morbid mind, withdrawn to +a distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The milder, though grave and softer influence of Julius, and +his +passion for Valeria, gradually estranged Totila from the friend of his +boyhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the experience of late years, the sufferings and dangers +he had +endured since the death of Valerius and Miriam, the burning of +Neapolis, the distress of Rome, the crimes committed at Ravenna and +Castra Nova, and lately the cares and duties of royalty, had so +completely matured the impatient and joyous youth, that he was now able +to do full justice to his gloomy friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">And what had not this friend accomplished since the night when +they had +sworn brotherhood!</p> + +<p class="normal">When the others had become paralysed by suffering; when +Hildebrand's +impatience, Totila's enthusiasm, and the quiet steadfastness of +Witichis, even old Hildebrand's icy fortitude, had wavered--Teja had +never sighed, but always acted; never hoped, but always dared!</p> + +<p class="normal">At Regeta, before Rome, after the fall of Ravenna, and again +before +Rome--what had he not accomplished! What did not the kingdom owe to his +efforts! And he would receive no thanks.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Witichis had offered him the dignity of a duke, gold, and +land, he +had rejected the offer as an offence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lonely, silent, and melancholy, he walked through the streets +of Rome, +the last shadow in the light of Totila's presence. He stood next to the +King's throne, with his black eyes ever lowered to the ground. He stole +away without a word from the royal table. He never laid aside his +armour or weapons.</p> + +<p class="normal">Only when in action did he sometimes laugh; when, with +contempt of +death, or the temerity which courts it, he sprang amid the spears of +the Byzantines--then only did he seem to feel at ease, then all his +being was life, movement, and fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was known to all the nation--and Totila specially had known +it from +his boyhood--that this melancholy hero possessed the gift of song.</p> + +<p class="normal">But since his return from captivity in Greece, no one had ever +been +able to persuade him to sing one of his glowing and inspiring songs; +and yet every one knew that his little triangular harp was his constant +companion in war or peace, inseparable as his sword. At the moment of +attack he was sometimes heard to sing wild snatches of song to the +measure of the Gothic horns. And whoever followed him into the +wilderness of white marble and green bushes, among the old Roman ruins, +where he was fond of passing his nights, might sometimes hear him play +some long-forgotten melody, accompanying it with dreamy words. But if +any one--which was seldom the case--ventured to ask what he wanted, he +turned silently away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once, after the taking of Rome, he replied to a similar +question put by +Guntharis, by the words, "The head of the Prefect!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The only person whose company he affected was Adalgoth, to +whom he had +lately attached himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young shepherd had been raised to the office of herald and +cup-bearer to the King, as a reward for his bold act at the storming of +the Tiber shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had brought with him, though little schooled, a decided +gift for +song. Teja was pleased with his genius; and it was reported that he +secretly taught him his superior art, though they suited each other as +little as night and morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is just on that account," said Teja, when his brave cousin +Aligern +once remarked this to him, "something must be left when the night +sinks."</p> + +<p class="normal">The King felt that the only thing that could be offered to +this man was +in <i>his</i> power to offer--neither gold, nor land, nor dignities.</p> + +<p class="normal">One night King Totila came to where the two bards were +sitting. He +followed the sounds which, arising at irregular intervals from a grove +of cypresses, and interrupted by half-sung, half-spoken words, were +borne to his ear by the night wind. Unnoticed and unbetrayed by the +soft moonlight, Totila reached the avenue of half-wild laurels and +cypresses which led into the centre of the garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now Teja heard the approaching footsteps, and laid aside +his harp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is the King," he said; "I recognise his step. What seekest +thou +here, my King?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I seek thee, Teja," answered Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja sprang from his seat upon a fallen column.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we must fight!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Totila; "but I deserve this reproach."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took Teja's hand, and affectionately drew him down to his +former +seat, placing himself at his side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not seek thy sword, Teja; I sought thyself. I need +thee; not +thine arm, but thy heart. No, Adalgoth; do not go. Thou mayst see--and +I wish thee to see--how every one must love this proud man, the 'Black +Earl.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it," said Adalgoth, "ever since I first saw him. He is +like a +dark forest, through the branches of whose lofty trees blows a +mysterious breach, full of terror and charm."</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja fixed his large and melancholy eyes upon the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My friend," began Totila, "the gracious God of Heaven has +endowed me +richly. I have won back a kingdom which was half-lost; shall I not be +able to win back the half-lost heart of a friend? And it was to this +friend's efforts that most of my success was owing; he must now help me +to regain my friend. What has estranged thee from me? Forgive me if I, +or my good fortune, has offended thee. I know to whom I owe my crown; +but I cannot wear it with gladness if only thy sword and not thy heart +be mine. We were once friends, Teja; oh! let us be so again, for I miss +thee sorely!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he would have embraced Teja, but the latter caught both +his hands +and pressed them to his heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This evening's walk honours thee more than thy victorious +march +through Italy! The tear which I see glittering in thine eye is worth +more than the richest pearl upon thy crown. Forgive thou me; I have +been unjust. The gifts of fortune and thy careless joy have not +corrupted thy heart. I have never been angered against thee; I have +ever loved thee, and it was with sorrow that I saw our paths in life +diverge; for, in truth, thou art more congenial to me, nearer than thou +ever wert to the brave Witichis, or even to thine own brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Adalgoth; "you two complete each other like light +and +shade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our natures are, indeed, equally emotional and fiery," said +the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If Witichis and Hildebad," continued Teja, "went the straight +way with +a steady pace, we two were borne, by our impatient enthusiasm, as if on +wings. And being so congenial, though so different, it pains me that, +in thy sunny bliss, thou seemest to think that any one who cannot laugh +like thee is a sick fool! Oh, my King and friend! whoever has once +experienced certain trials and woes, and conceived certain thoughts, +has for ever lost the sweet art of laughter!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila, filled with a deep sense of Teja's worth, answered:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whoever has fulfilled life's noblest duties with a heroism +equal to +thine, my Teja, may be pitied, but not blamed, if he proudly scorns +life's light pleasures."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And thou couldst think that I was envious of thy good fortune +or thy +cheerful humour? O Totila! it is not with envy, but with deep, deep +sadness that I observe thee and thy hopefulness. As a child may excite +our sadness who believes that sunshine, spring-time, and life endure +for ever; who knows neither night, winter, nor death! Thou trustest +that success and happiness will be the reward of the cheerful-hearted; +but I for ever hear the flapping of the wings of Fate, who, deaf and +merciless to curses, prayers, or thanks, sweeps high above the heads of +poor mortals and their futile works."</p> + +<p class="normal">He ceased, and looked out into the darkness, as if he saw the +shadow of +the coming future.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said the young cup-bearer, "that reminds me of an +old adage +which Iffa sang in the mountain, and which means something like that; +he had learnt it from Uncle Wargs:</p> + +<p class="text20">"'Good fortune or bad<br> +Is not the world's aim;<br> +That is but vain folly,<br> +Imagined by men.<br> +On the earth is fulfilled<br> +A Will everlasting.<br> +Obedience, defiance--<br> +They serve it alike.'</p> + +<p class="continue">"But," he continued thoughtfully, "if, with all our exertions, +we can +never alter the inevitable, why do we move our hands at all? Why do we +not wait for what shall come in dull inaction? In what lies the +difference between hero and coward?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It does not lie in victory, my Adalgoth, but in the kind of +strife or +endurance! Not justice, but necessity decides the fate of nations. +Often enough has the better man, the nobler race, succumbed to the +meaner. 'Tis true that generosity and nobility of mind are in +themselves a power. But they are not always able to defy other and +ignoble powers. Noble-mindedness, generosity, and heroism can always +consecrate and glorify a downfall, but not always prevent it. And the +only comfort we have is, that it is not <i>what</i> we endure, but <i>how</i> we +endure it, that honours us the most; it is often not the victor, but +the conquered hero, who deserves the crown of laurels."</p> + +<p class="normal">The King looked meditatively at the ground, leaning on his +sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How much thou must have suffered, friend," he then said +warmly, +"before thou couldst embrace such a dark error! Thou hast lost thy God +in heaven! For me, that would be worse than to lose the sun in the +sky--I should feel as if blinded. I could not breathe if I could not +believe in a just God, who looks down from His heavenly throne upon the +deeds of men, and makes the good cause to triumph!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And King Witichis?" asked Teja; "what evil had he done? that +man +without spot or blemish! And I myself, and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">He suddenly became silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thy life has been a mystery to me since our early youth----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Enough for the present," said Teja. "I have this evening +revealed more +of my inmost heart than in many a long year. The time will surely come +when I may unfold to thee my life and my thoughts. I should not like," +he continued, turning to Adalgoth, and stroking his shining locks, "to +dim too soon the bright harp-strings of the youngest and best singer of +our nation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As thou wilt," said the King, rising. "To me thy sorrow is +sacred. +But, I pray thee, let us cherish our refound friendship. To-morrow I go +to Taginæ, to my bride. Accompany me--that is, if it does not pain thee +to see me happy with a Roman woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh no--it touches me--it reminds me of---- I will go with +thee!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Soon after this conversation, the King, Earl Teja, Adalgoth, +and a +numerous suite, arrived at the small town of Taginæ, above which, on a +precipitous and thickly-wooded height, stood the cloister founded by +Valerius, in which Valeria still continued to reside.</p> + +<p class="normal">For her the place had lost all its terrors. She had become +used to it, +not only physically but morally. Slowly but surely, her reluctant soul +was influenced by the grave authority of the sacred precincts.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King met her in the cloister garden, and it seemed to him +that her +complexion was much paler, her step slower, than usual.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What ails you, Valeria?" he asked tenderly. "When our vow +seemed past +fulfilment, you were still full of hope and courage. Now, when your +lover wears the crown of this realm, and the foot of the enemy treads +the sacred soil of Italia in scarcely more than one city, will you sink +and despair?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not despair, friend," said Valeria gravely, "but renounce. +No, no! +be patient and hear me. Why do you hide from me what all Italia +knows--what your people wish? The King of the Ostrogoths at Toletum has +offered you his alliance against Byzantium, and the hand of his +daughter. Your people expect and wish you to accept both these offers. +I will not be more selfish than was that high-minded daughter of your +nation, Rauthgundis, of whom your minstrels already sing. And I know +that you are as capable of sacrifice as the simple-minded man who was +your unfortunate King."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope that I should be so, if necessary. But happily there +is no need +of sacrifice. I do not want the help of the Ostrogoth. Look around, or +rather, look beyond these convent walls. Never has the kingdom +flourished as it does now. Once again I will offer to make peace with +the Emperor. If he still refuse, a war will break out such as he has +never seen. Ravenna will soon fell. Truly, my power and my courage are +not reduced to the point of renunciation! The air of this cloister has +at length enervated your steadfast mind. You must leave this place. +Choose the most lovely of all Italian cities for your residence. Let us +rebuild your father's house in Neapolis."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. Leave me here. I have learned to love this quiet place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is the quiet of the grave! And you know well that to +renounce you +would be to renounce the ideal of my life. You are the living symbol +of all my plans; you are to me Italia herself! You must become +mine--wholly, irrevocably mine. Goths and Italians shall take their +King and Queen for a pattern; they shall become as united and happy as +we. No--no objections--no more doubts! Thus I smother them!" and he +passionately embraced her.</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">A few days later Julius Montanus arrived, coming from Genoa +and +Urbinum.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King and his retinue went to meet him outside the cloister +gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two friends embraced each other tenderly; for some time +they were +incapable of speaking.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja stood near and gravely observed them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir," whispered Adalgoth, "who is the man with the deep-set +eyes? a +monk?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In his heart he is; but not outwardly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Such a young man with such an old look! Dost thou know whom +he +resembles? That picture in the cloisters on the golden background."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is true; he is like that gentle and sorrowful head of the +Apostle +John."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your letter," Julius said to Totila, "found me already +resolved to +come here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were about to seek me--or Valeria?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Totila. I came to be examined and accepted by +Cassiodorus. +Benedict of Nursia, who fills our century with the fame of his +miracles, has founded an order which powerfully attracts me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Julius, you must not do that! What spirit of flying from the +world has +seized upon my companions? Valeria, you, and Teja!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fly from nothing," said Julius, "not even from the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How," continued the King, taking his friend by the arm, and +leading +him towards the cloister, "how come you, in the bloom of your manhood, +to think of this moral suicide? Look, there comes Valeria. She must +help me to convince you. Ah, if you had ever loved, you would not turn +your back upon the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">Julius smiled, but made no reply. He quietly clasped Valeria's +offered +hand, and followed her into the cloister, where Cassiodorus came to +meet them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thanks to the King's eloquence, he was able to induce his +friend to +promise that he would accompany the aged Cassiodorus to Byzantium in a +few days. Julius at first shunned the glitter, the noise, and the +wickedness of the Emperor's court, until at last Cassiodorus' example +and Totila's persuasions overcame his scruples.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think," the King said, "that more pious works can be +accomplished in +the world than in the cloister. <i>This</i> embassy is such a pious work; a +work which is to save two nations from the horrors of renewed warfare."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," said Julius, "a king and a hero can serve God as +well as a +monk. I do not blame your manner of service--leave mine to me. It seems +to me that in the time in which we live, when an ancient world is +sinking amid much terror, and a new one arises amid wild storms; when +all the vices of a degenerated heathenism are mixed with the wildness +of a barbarous race; when luxury, brute force, and the lusts of the +flesh fill East and West, I think it is well done to found a sanctuary +apart from the world, where poverty, purity, and humble-mindedness can +dwell in peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But to me," said Totila, "it seems that splendour, the +happiness of +honest love, and cheerful pride, are no sin before the God of Heaven! +What thinkest thou of our dispute, friend Teja?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has no meaning for me," answered Teja quietly, "for your +God is not +my God. But let us not speak of that, for here comes Valeria."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="continue">One evening, the same on which Adalgoth had arrived with the +King at +Taginal, Gotho, the shepherdess, stood in the sunset light upon the +southern declivity of the Iffinger, leaning upon her staff.</p> + +<p class="normal">Round her gambolled and grazed her flock of sheep and lambs, +and +gradually gathered close round their mistress, eagerly expecting to be +led to the sheepfold.</p> + +<p class="normal">But they waited and bleated in vain, for the pretty maiden +bent over +the mossy stones on the edge of the clear mountain brook. Heaped up in +her leather apron lay the lovely scented flowers of the mountain: +thyme, wild-rose, mint--which grew on the moist edges of the brook--and +the dark blue enzian.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gotho murmured and spoke to herself, to the flowers, and to +the running +stream, throwing the flowers into the water, sometimes singly, +sometimes in little sprays or unfinished wreaths.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How many," said the girl, as she tossed her thick yellow +braids over +her shoulder, "how many of you have I sent away to greet him! For he +has gone to the south, and the water runs there too. But I know not if +you give my greeting, for he has never yet come home. But you, as you +rise and sink in the dance of the ripples, you beckon me to follow you. +Ah! if I could! or follow the little fish which dart down the stream +like dark arrows! Or the swift mountain swallows that skim through the +air as free as thought! Or the rosy-winged evening clouds, when the +mountain wind drives them southwards! But most surely of all would the +heart of the seeker herself find him, could she but leave the mountain, +and follow him to the distant and sunny land. But what should I do down +there? A shepherdess amongst the warriors or the wise court-ladies! And +I shall certainly see him again, as surely as I shall again see the +sun, although it sinks behind yonder mountains. It is sure to come +again, and yet! all the time between its parting ray and its morning +greeting is filled with longing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">From the house there suddenly sounded a far-reaching tone, a +blast upon +the twisted ram's horn. Gotho looked up; it had become darker; she +could see the red fire upon the hearth glimmer through the open door. +The sheep answered the well-known sound with louder bleatings, +stretching their necks in the direction of the house and the stalls. +The brown and shaggy sheep-dog sprang upon Gotho, as if to remind her +that it was time to go home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will go directly," she said, smiling, and stroking the +dog's head. +"Ah! the sheep are sooner tired of their pasture than the shepherdess +of her thoughts! Now, forwards, White Elf, thou art already become a +great fat sheep!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She went down the hill towards the little hollow between two +mountain +summits, where the house and stalls found protection from the wind and +the avalanches. There the last rays of the sun dazzled her no more. The +stars were already visible. Gotho looked up at the sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are so beautiful, because <i>he</i> has looked at them so +often!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A shooting-star fell to the south.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He calls me! Thither!" cried Gotho, slightly trembling.</p> + +<p class="normal">She now drove the sheep more quickly forward, and presently +shut +them into their cot, and entered the large and only chamber of the +ground-floor of the dwelling-house.</p> + +<p class="normal">There she found her grandfather stretched upon the raised +stone placed +close to the hearth; his feet covered with two large sheep-skins.</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked paler and older than usual.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seat thyself beside me, Gotho," he said, "and drink; here is +milk +mixed with honey. Listen to me. The time is come of which I have often +spoken. We must part. I am going home. Thy dear face is indistinct; my +tired old eyes can no longer distinguish thy features. And yesterday +when I tried to go down to the spring, my knees failed me. Then I felt +that the end was near, and I sent the goat-herd over to Teriolis with a +message. But thou shalt not be present when his soul flies out of old +Iffa's mouth. The death of a man is not lovely to behold--especially +death upon the straw-bed. And thou hast never yet seen anything +sorrowful. This shadow shall not fall upon thy young life. To-morrow, +before cockcrow, brave Hunibad will come over from Teriolis to fetch +thee--he has promised me to do so. His wounds are not yet healed; he is +yet weak; but he says that he cannot remain idle when, as they say, the +war will be sure to break out again. He wishes to go to King Totila in +Rome. And there too thou must go with an important message. He shall be +thy guide and protector. Bind thick soles of beech-rind under thy feet, +for the way is long. Brun, the dog, may accompany thee. Take that bag +of goat's leather; in it are six gold pieces which belonged to--to +Adalgoth's--to your father; they are Adalgoth's--but thou mayst use +them--they will last till thou reachest Rome. And take a bundle of +scented mountain hay from the meadows of the Iffinger, and lay thy head +upon it at night; then thou wilt sleep more soundly. And when thou +reachest Rome and the golden palace of the King, and enterest the hall, +observe which of the men wears a golden circlet upon his brow, and from +whose countenance shines a light like that of the morning--that will be +King Totila. Then bow thy head before him--but not too much--and do not +bend thy knee; for thou art a free Goth's free child. Thou must give +the King this roll, which I have carefully kept for many summers. It +comes from Uncle Wargs, who was buried by the mountain."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man lifted a brick from the masonry which separated +the hearth +from the floor of stamped clay, and took from a hole a roll of papyrus, +which, tied and sealed, was folded in a piece of parchment covered with +writing and fastened with strange seals.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here," he said, "take the greatest care of this writing. That +upon the +parchment cover I myself dictated to Hermegisel over in Majæ. He swore +to keep it secret, and he has kept his oath. And now he can speak no +more from out of his grave in the church. And thou and Hunibad--you +cannot read. That is a good thing, for it might be dangerous for thee +and--and another--if any one knew what that roll contains before +Totila, the mild and just King, has read it. Above all, hide it +carefully from the Italians. And in every town to which thou comest, +ask if there dwells Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius, the Prefect of Rome. +And if the door-keepers say aye, then turn upon thy heel, however tired +thou mayst be, and however late the night, or hot the day, and wander +on until thou hast put three several waters between thee and the man +Cethegus. And no less carefully than the writing--thou seest that I +have put rosin, such as drops from the fir-trees, upon it instead of +wax, and I have scratched our house-mark upon the seal, the mark that +our cattle and wagons bear--not less carefully keep this old and costly +gold."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he took from the hole the half of a broad gold bracelet, +such as +the Gothic heroes wore upon their naked arms. He kissed the bracelet +and the imperfect Runic inscription upon it reverently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This came from Theodoric, the great King, and from him--my +dear--son +Wargs. Mark--it belongs to Adalgoth. It is his most valuable +inheritance. The other half of the bracelet--and the half of the +inscription--I gave to the boy when I sent him away. When King Totila +has read the writing, and if Adalgoth is present--as he must be if he +obeys my orders--then call Adalgoth and put half-ring to half-ring, and +ask the King to pronounce a judgment. He is said to be mild and wise +and clear as the light of day. He will judge righteously. If not he, +then no one. Now kiss my darkening eyes, and go and sleep. May the Lord +of heaven and all his clear eyes, sun, moon, and stars, shine upon all +thy ways. When thou hast found Adalgoth, and when thou dwellest with +him in the little rooms of the close houses in the narrow streets of +the city, and when it feels too small and close and narrow down +there--then both of you think of your childish days up here upon the +high Iffinger, and once again the fresh mountain air will seem to blow +across your heated brows."</p> + +<p class="normal">Silently, without objection, without fear, without a question, +the +shepherd-girl listened and obeyed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, grandfather!" she said, kissing him upon his eyes; +"I thank +thee for much love and faithfulness."</p> + +<p class="normal">But she did not weep.</p> + +<p class="normal">She knew not what death was.</p> + +<p class="normal">She went away from him to the threshold of the door, and +looked out at +the mountain landscape, which now appeared dark and melancholy. The sky +was clear, the summits of the mountains shone in the moonlight.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell!" said Gotho; "farewell, thou Iffinger! and thou, +Wolf's-head! and thou, old Giant! and thou, running below, +bright-shining Passara! Do you know it already? To-morrow I leave you +all. But I go willingly, for I go to <i>him</i>!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">After the lapse of many weeks, Cassiodorus and Julius returned +from +Byzantium, bringing--no peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">On landing, Cassiodorus, weary of the world and its ways, +retired at +once to Brundusium, to his Apulian cloister, leaving Julius to report +their ill-success to the King in Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila received his friend in the Capitol, in the presence of +the +leaders of the army.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At first," related Julius, "our prospects were sufficiently +favourable. The Emperor, who had formerly refused to receive the +ambassadors of Witichis, could not shut his palace doors in the face of +the most learned man of the West, the pious and wise Cassiodorus. We +were received with kindness and respect. In the council held by the +Emperor, men of distinction, such as Tribonianus and Procopius, raised +their voices in favour of peace. The Emperor himself seemed inclined +thereto. His two great generals, Narses and Belisarius, were fighting, +at different points of the south-eastern frontier of the Empire, +against Persians and Saracens; and the campaign in Italy and Dalmatia +had demanded such great sacrifices, and had lasted so long, that war +with the Goths had become hateful to the Emperor. It was indeed not +likely that he would entirely renounce the hope of reconquering Italy, +but he saw the impossibility of doing so at present. He therefore +willingly entered into negotiations of peace, and accepted our +proposals for further consideration. His first thought was, as he told +us, to bring about a provisional division of the peninsula; the far +larger portion of the country, to the south of the Padus, to belong to +the Emperor, the northern half to the Goths. One day at noon, we had +left the Emperor's presence with great hopes; the audience had turned +out more favourably than all former ones. But in the evening of the +same day we were surprised by the arrival of the Curo-palata Marcellus, +accompanied by slaves carrying the gifts which it is customary to +present to parting guests--a not-to-be-mistaken sign that all +negotiations were broken off. Confounded at this sudden change, +Cassiodorus decided, for the sake of his work of peace, to dare the +utmost--namely, to seek an audience of the Emperor after the +presentation of the parting gifts. Tribonianus, who had always opposed +the war, and who highly esteemed Cassiodorus, allowed himself to be +prevailed upon to sue for this extraordinary grace. The answer came in +a very ungracious threat of banishment should he ever again venture to +petition for anything against the clearly-expressed will of the +Emperor, Never, never would the Emperor conclude peace with the +barbarians, until they had entirely evacuated the kingdom. Never would +he look upon the Goths in Italy as anything but enemies. In vain we +tried," Julius continued, "to discover the cause of this sudden change. +We only learned that, after our last audience, the Empress, who is said +to be often suffering, had invited her husband to dinner in her +apartments. But it is certain that the Empress, formerly known to be +the most zealous advocate of war, has lately given her voice in favour +of peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what," asked the King, who had listened quietly, and with +an +expression of countenance more threatening than anxious--"what +has procured me the honour of such a change of sentiment in the +circus-girl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is whispered that, becoming more and more anxious for the +salvation +of her soul, the Empress desires to use all pecuniary means--not for a +war, the end of which she scarcely expects to outlive--but upon the +erection of churches, and especially for the completion of the church +of St. Sophia. It is said that she wishes to be buried with the plan of +this church imprinted upon her bosom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No doubt as a shield against the anger of the Almighty, at +the +resurrection of the dead! The woman thinks to disarm her God with her +hundred churches, and to bribe Him with the sums expended. What madness +this belief engenders!" murmured Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We could discover nothing," repeated Julius; "for I cannot +think the +shadow of suspicion which crossed my mind, perhaps the shadow of a +mistake, of any moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What was that?" inquired Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That evening, as I left the palace at a late hour, thinking +over +Tribonianus's unfavourable report, the golden litter of the Empress was +carried past me by her Cappadocian slaves from the quadrangle of the +garden where stands the Empress's palace. The trellised shutter was +lifted a little by the inmate of the litter--I looked up--and it seemed +to me as if I recognised----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?" asked the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My unhappy protector, the vanished Cethegus," concluded +Julius sadly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That can scarcely be," said the King. "He fell when Rome was +taken. It +was surely a mistake when Teja thought he heard his voice in his +house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I</i> mistake that voice!" cried Teja. "And what meant his +sword, which +Adalgoth found at the corner of the street?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He may have lost it earlier, when he hurried to the Tiber +from his +house. I distinctly saw him conduct the defence of the chain from his +boat. He hurled his spear at me with all the force and steadiness lent +by intense hatred. And I struck him, I am sure, when I cast the spear +back again. And Gunthamund, that excellent shot, told me that he was +certain that he wounded the Prefect in the neck. His mantle with the +purple hem was found by the river, pierced by many arrows and covered +with blood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No doubt he died there," Julius said, very gravely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you such good Christians, and do not know that demons are +immortal?" asked Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They may be," said the King, "but so are angels!" and, with a +frown on +his brow, he continued: "Up, my brave Teja! now there is new work for +thy sword. Hear it, Duke Guntharis, Wisand, Grippa, Markja, Thorismuth, +and Aligern--I shall soon have enough to do for you all. You have heard +that Emperor Justinian refuses to make peace, and will not leave us in +quiet possession of Italy. It is evident that he considers us inclined +to peace at any cost. He thinks it can never hurt him to have us for +enemies; that in the worst case we shall quietly await his attack in +Italy; that Byzantium will always be able to choose the moment, +repeating it until successful. Well--we will show him that we can +become dangerous! That it might be wiser to leave us Italy, and not +irritate us! He will not let us enjoy our kingdom? Then, as in the +days of Alaric and Theodoric, he shall again see the Goths in his +own country! At present only this--for secrecy is the mother of +victory--we will reach the heart of the Eastern Empire as we once +reached Rome--on canvas wings and wooden bridges.--Now, Justinianus, +protect thine own hearth-stone!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Soon after the Emperor's refusal of the proposals of the Goths +had +arrived in Rome, we find--in the dining-room of a simple but +tastefully-built and furnished house upon the Forum Strategii at +Byzantium, which, close to the incomparable shore of the Golden +Horn, affords a view of the Straits and of the splendid suburb +"Justiniana"--two men engaged in confidential talk.</p> + +<p class="normal">The master of the house was our old--and, we hope, not +unloved--acquaintance Procopius, who now lived much respected as a +senator in Byzantium.</p> + +<p class="normal">He zealously attended to the wants of his guest, but in doing +so used +his left hand. His right arm ended in a covered stump.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," he was saying, "at every moment I am reminded by my +missing hand +of a folly. I do not, however, repent it. I should do the same thing +again even if it cost me my eyesight. It was a folly of the heart, and +to be capable of that is the greatest happiness. I have never been able +really to love a woman. My only love was and is--Belisarius! I know +very well--you need not draw down the corners of your mouth so +contemptuously, friend--I see very clearly the weaknesses and +imperfections of my hero. But that is exactly what is sweet in a +heart-folly--to love the foibles of your idol more than the merits of +other people. And so--to cut my story short--it was during the last +Persian war that, one day, I warned the lion-hearted general not to +ride through a dangerous wood with a scanty escort. Of course he did it +all the more, the dear fool; and of course Procopius, the wise fool, +rode with him. All happened just as I had expected. The whole wood was +suddenly filled with Persians. It seemed as if the wind had shaken the +withered leaves from the trees, and every leaf was an axe or a spear. +It was very like the ambush before the Tiburtinian Gate. Balan, the +faithful piebald, bore his master for the last time. Stuck full of +spears, he fell dead to the ground. I assisted the hero to mount my own +horse. But a Persian prince, who was almost as tall as his name was +long--the pleasant fellow was called Adrastaransalanes--aimed a blow at +the magister militum which, in my hurry, I received upon my right +arm--for my shield was occupied in protecting Belisarius against a +Saracen. The blow was well meant; if it had reached my hero's helmless +head, it would have cracked it like a nutshell. As it was, it only cut +off my fore-arm as if it had never been part of my body."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course Belisarius escaped, and of course Procopius was +taken +prisoner," said the guest, shaking his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite right, you commander of perspicacity, as my friend +Adrastaransalanes would call you. But the same man with his long body, +scimitar, and name--you will not insist upon my repeating it--was so +moved by my 'elephantine magnanimity,' as he expressed himself, that he +very soon set me free without ransom. He only begged for a ring which +had been on the finger of my former right hand: as a remembrance, he +said. Since then it is all over with my campaigns," added Procopius +more gravely. "But in this loss of my pen-hand I see a punishment. I +have written with it many a useless or not perfectly sincere word. +However, if a like punishment overtook all the writers of Byzantium, +there would soon be not a two-handed man left who could write. Writing +is now a much slower and more difficult process with me. But that is +good, for then, at every word one considers whether it is worth the +trouble of inscribing or whether one is justified in doing so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have read with true enjoyment," said the guest, "your +'Vandal Wars,' +your 'Persian Wars,' and, as far as it goes, the 'Gothic War.' When +recovering from my hurt, it was my favourite book. But I am surprised +that you were not sent to the Ult-ziagirian Huns and the mines of +Cherson to keep our friend Petros company. If Justinian so severely +punishes the forgery of documents--how harshly must he punish veracity +in history! And you have so mercilessly scourged his indecision, his +avarice, his mistakes in the choice of generals and officers--I wonder +that you go unpunished."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I have not escaped punishment," said the historian +gravely. "He +left me my head: but he tried to rob me of my honour; and <i>she</i> still +more, the beautiful demon. For I had hinted that Justinian was tied to +her apron-string. And she as passionately tries to hide her dominion +as to uphold it. When my book was published, she called me to her. +When I entered her apartment, and saw those pages upon her lap, I +thought--Adrastaransalanes took off the hand that wrote; this woman +will take off the head that thought. But she contented herself with +giving me her little golden shoe to kiss; smiled very sweetly, and +said, 'You write Greek better than any other author of our day, +Procopius. So beautifully and so truly! I have been advised to sink you +to the dumb fishes in the Bosphorus. But the man who so well told the +truth when it was bitter to us, will also tell the truth when it is +sweet to our ears. The greatest censurer of Justinian shall be his +greatest panegyrist. Your punishment for the book upon Justinian's +warlike deeds--shall be a book upon Justinian's peaceful deeds. You +will write by the imperial order a book upon the edifices erected by +the Emperor. You cannot deny that he has done great things in that +line. If you were a better jurist than your camp-life with the great +Belisarius has, unfortunately, allowed you to become--you should +describe the Emperor's great piece of mosaic--his pandects. But for +that your legal education is not complete enough' (and she was right!). +'Therefore you will describe the edifices of Justinian; and you +yourself will be a living monument of his generosity. For you must +confess that, for far less heinous offences, many an author under +former Emperors has lost eyes, nose, and other things that it is +disagreeable to miss. No Emperor has ever allowed such things to be +said of him, and, moreover, rewarded candour with new commissions. But +if the edifices of Justinian were to displease you, then indeed I fear +you would not long outlive your want of taste--the gods would punish +such ingratitude with a speedy death. See, I have procured this reward +for you--for Justinian would have made you senator--so that you may +be right in your assertion that Theodora possesses a pernicious and +all-commanding influence!' Another kiss of her foot; of which she took +advantage playfully to strike me on the mouth with her shoe. I had made +my will before going to this audience. You now see how this demon in a +woman's form revenges herself upon me! One really cannot censure the +edifices erected by Justinian: one can only be silent--or praise them. +If I remain silent, it will cost me my life. If I speak and do not +praise, it will cost my life and my veracity. Therefore I must either +praise or die. And I am weak enough," concluded Procopius with a sigh, +"to prefer to praise and live."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have consumed so much Thucydides and Tacitus, dry or +liquid," said +the guest, filling the glasses, "and yet have become neither a +Thucydides nor a Tacitus!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would rather let my long-named friend cut off my left hand +also than +write about these buildings."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep your hand. But, after the public panegyric on the +buildings, +write a secret history of the shameful deeds of Justinian and +Theodora."</p> + +<p class="normal">Procopius sprang from his seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would be devilish, but grand! The advice is worthy of +you, +friend. For that you shall have one of the nine muses of Herodotus from +my cellar--my oldest, dearest, most excellent wine. Oh! this secret +history shall excite astonishment! The only pity is that I cannot +relate the most filthy and most murderous deeds. I should die of +disgust. And that which I can write will be always looked upon as +immensely exaggerated. And what will posterity say of Procopius, who +left a panegyric, a criticism, and an accusation--one and all on +Justinian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Posterity will say that he was the greatest historian, but +also the +son and the victim, of the Empire of Byzantium. Revenge yourself; she +has left you your clever head and your left hand. Well, your left hand +need not know what your right hand formerly wrote. Draw the picture of +this Empress and her husband for all future generations. Then <i>they</i> +will not have conquered with their buildings, but <i>you</i> with your +secret history. They would have punished limited candour; you will +punish them by an unlimited revelation of the truth. Every one revenges +himself with his own weapons--the bull with his horns, the warrior with +his sword, the author by his pen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Particularly," said Procopius, "when he has only his left +hand. I +thank you, and will follow your advice, Cethegus. I will write the +'Secret History' in revenge for the 'Edifices.' But now it is your turn +to tell your story. I know the progress of events, through letters and +the report of fugitives from Rome, or legionaries set free by Totila, +until the time when you were last seen in your house, or, as they say, +were last heard. Now relate what happened afterwards, you Prefect +without a city!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Immediately," said Cethegus. "But tell me first, how did +Belisarius +succeed in the last Persian war?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As usual. You should not need to ask such a question! He had +really +beaten the enemy, and was on the point of forcing the Persian King, +Chosroes, the son of Kabades, to conclude a lasting peace. Just then +Areobindos, the Prince of Purple Snails, appeared in the camp with the +announcement of an armistice of half a year's duration, granted, +unknown to Belisarius, by Byzantium. Justinian had long ago entered +into secret negotiations with Chosroes; he needed money; he again +pretended to mistrust Belisarius, and let the Persian King escape for a +hundred tons of gold, just as we were about to draw the net over him. +Narses was wiser. When the Prince of Purple Snails came to him, on the +Saracen side of the scene of war, he declared that the ambassador must +be either a forger or a madman, took him prisoner, and continued the +war until he had completely vanquished the Saracens. Then he sent the +imperial ambassador back with an excuse to Byzantium. But the best +excuse was the keys and treasures of seventy forts and towns which he +had wrested from the enemy during the armistice, which Belisarius had +respected."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This Narses is----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The greatest man of our time," said Procopius, "the Prefect +of Rome not +excepted; for he does not, like the latter, wish for impossibilities. +But we--that is, Belisarius and the cripple Procopius--always growling +and grumbling, yet always as faithful as a poodle-dog, and never taught +by experience, kept the armistice, gnashed our teeth, and returned to +Byzantium. And now we wait for new commissions, laurels, and kicks. +Fortunately, Antonina has renounced her inclination for the flowers and +verses of other men, and so the couple--the lion and the dove--live +very happily together here in Byzantium. Belisarius, day and night, +naturally thinks of nothing but how he can again prove his heroism and +devotion to his imperial master. Justinian is his folly, as Belisarius +is mine. But now for your story."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Cethegus took a deep draught from the cup which stood before +him, which +was made of chased gold and shaped like a tower.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was considerably changed since that last night in Rome. The +wrinkles +on his temples were more sharply defined; his lip more firmly closed; +his under-lip protruded still farther than before; and the ironical +smile, which used to make him look younger and handsomer, very rarely +played round the corners of his mouth. His eyes were generally half +shut; only sometimes did he raise the lids to dart a glance, which, +always dreaded by those upon whom it fell, now appeared more cruel and +piercing than ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">He seemed to have become, not older, but harsher, more +inexorable, and +more merciless.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know," he began, "all that happened until the fall of +Rome. In one +night I lost the city, the Capitol, my house, and my Cæsar! The crash +of the fall of that image pained me more than the arrows of the Goths, +or even of the Romans. As I was about to punish the destroyer of my +Cæsar, my senses forsook me. I fell at the foot of the statue of +Jupiter. I was restored to my senses by the cool breeze that blows over +the Tiber, and which once before, twenty years ago, had restored a +wounded man."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of that another time, perhaps--perhaps never," he said, +hastily +cutting short a question from his host. "This time Lucius Licinius--his +brother died for Rome and for me--and the faithful Moor, who had +escaped the Black Earl as if by miracle, saved my life. Cast out of the +front entrance by Teja--who, in his eagerness to murder the master, had +no time to murder the slave--Syphax hurried to the back-door. There he +met Lucius Licinius, who had only just then reached my house by a +side-street. Together they followed the trace of my blood to the hall +of the Jupiter. There they found me senseless, and had just time to +lower me from the window, like a piece of baggage, into the court. +Syphax jumped down and received me from the hands of the tribune, who +then quickly followed, and they hurried with me to the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There very few people were to be seen, for all the Goths and +friendly +Romans had followed the King to the Capitol to help to extinguish the +flames. Totila had expressly ordered--I hope to his destruction!--that +all non-combatants should be spared and left unmolested. So my bearers +were allowed to pass everywhere. It was thought that they carried a +dead man. And they themselves, for some time, thought so too. In the +river they found an empty fishing-boat full of nets. They laid me in +it. Syphax threw my bloody mantle, with the purple hem of the 'princeps +senatus,' upon the shore, in order to mislead my enemies. They covered +me with sail-cloth and nets, and rowed down the river, through the +still burning boats. When we had passed them, I came to myself. Syphax +bathed my face with the water of the Tiber. My first glance fell on the +still burning Capitol. They told me that my first exclamation was, +'Turn back! the Capitol!' And they were obliged to keep me quiet by +force. My first clear thought was naturally: 'To return; to take +revenge; to re-conquer Rome.' In the harbour of Portus we met with an +Italian ship laden with grain. There were seven rowers in it. My +companions approached it to beg for wine and bread, for they also were +wounded and exhausted. The rowers recognised me. One of them wanted to +take me prisoner and deliver me up to the Goths, sure of a rich reward. +But the other six had served under me at the Mausoleum. I had nourished +them for years. They slew the man who wanted to betray me, and promised +Lucius that they would save me if it were possible. They hid me in +heaps of grain while we passed the Gothic guardships which watched at +the entrance of the harbour, Lucius and Syphax put on the dress of +sailors, and rowed with the others. Thus we escaped. But while on board +this vessel I was dangerously ill from my wounds. Only the ceaseless +care of Syphax and the sea-air saved me. For days, they say, I only +reiterated the words, 'Rome, Capitol, Cæsar!' When we landed at +Panormus, in Sicily, under the protection of the Byzantines, I rapidly +recovered. My old friend Cyprianus, who had admitted me into +Theodoric's palace when I was made Prefect, received me at Panormus as +captain of the harbour. Scarcely recovered, I went to Asia Minor--or, +as you say, Asiana--to my estates; you know that I had splendid +possessions at Sardes, Philadelphia, and Tralles----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have them no longer--the columned villas?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I sold them all, for I was obliged at once to find the means +of +engaging fresh mercenaries, in order to liberate Rome and Italy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tenax propositi!" cried Procopius, amazed. "You have not, +even now, +given up hope?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can I give up myself? I have sent Licinius to enlist a wild +and savage +race, the Longobardians."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God protect your Italy if <i>they</i> ever set foot in it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have also succeeded in winning the Empress to my cause, and +by her +means the propositions of peace made by Cassiodorus were refused at the +last moment. For Rome must be freed from the barbarians! But when shall +I find means to move this lazy colossus, Justinian? When will fate call +me to my battle-field--Italia?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment Syphax entered the room. He brought Cethegus a +message +from the Empress. It ran:</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the Jupiter of the Capitol. Do not leave your house +to-morrow until +I call you.--Theodora."</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">On the next day the Emperor Justinian was standing buried in +deep +reflection before the tall golden crucifix in his room. The expression +of his face was very grave, but without a trace of alarm or doubt. +Quiet decision lay upon his features, which, else not handsome or +noble, at this moment betrayed mental power and superiority. He lifted +his eyes almost threateningly to the crucifix.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God of the Cross," he said, "Thou puttest Thy faithful +servant to a +hard proof! It seems to me that I have deserved better. Thou knowest +all that I have done to the honour of Thy name! Why do not Thy strokes +fall upon Thine enemies, the heathens and barbarians? Why not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was interrupted in his soliloquy by the entrance of the +chamberlains +and wardrobe-keepers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Justinian exchanged his morning garment for the robes of +state. His +slaves served him upon their knees.</p> + +<p class="normal">He apparelled himself in a tunic of white silk, reaching to +the knees, +embroidered with gold on both sides, and confined by a purple girdle. +The tightly-fitting hose were also of silk of the same colour. His +slaves threw over his shoulders a splendid mantle of a lighter shade of +purple, with a broad hem of gold thread, upon which red circles and +symbolic animal-forms, embroidered in green silk, alternated with each +other. But the pearls and precious stones which were lavishly strewed +over it, rendered the design almost invisible, and made the mantle so +heavy, that the assistance of the train-bearer must have been indeed a +welcome relief.</p> + +<p class="normal">On each of his arms the Emperor wore three broad golden +bracelets. The +wide crown was made of massive gold, arched over with two rows of +pearls. His mantle was fastened on the shoulder with a costly brooch of +large precious stones.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sceptre-keeper put into the Emperor's hand a golden staff +the +length of a man, at the top of which was a globe made out of a single +large emerald, and surmounted with a golden cross.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor grasped it firmly and rose from his seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">A slave offered him the thick-soled buskins which he usually +wore, in +order to increase his height.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; to-day I need no buskins," said Justinian, and left the +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Down the Stairs of the Lions, so called from the twenty-four +immense +marble lions which guarded the twelve steps, and which had been brought +from Carthage by Belisarius, the Emperor descended to a lower story, +and entered the Hall of Jerusalem.</p> + +<p class="normal">This hall derived its name from the porphyry columns, the onyx +vases, +the golden tables and the numerous golden vessels which, arranged on +pedestals and along the walls, were said to have formerly decorated the +Temple of Jerusalem. These treasures had been taken to Rome by Titus, +after the destruction of Jerusalem. From Rome the Sea-king Geiseric had +taken them on his dragon-ships, together with the Empress Eudoxia, to +his capital, Carthage. And now Belisarius had brought them from +Carthage to the Emperor of the East.</p> + +<p class="normal">The cupola of the hall, representing the firmament, was +wrought in +mosaic. Costly blue stones formed the ground-work, in which was inlaid, +besides the sun, the moon, the eye of God, the lamb, the fish, the +birds, the palm, the vine, the unicorn, and many other symbols of +Christianity, the whole zodiac and innumerable stars of massive gold.</p> + +<p class="normal">The cost of the cupola alone was estimated as high as the +whole income +of the taxes on property in all the Empire for forty-five years.</p> + +<p class="normal">Opposite the three great arches of the entrance, which were +closed by +curtains--it was the only entrance to the hall--and were guarded +outside by a threefold line of imperial body-guards--the "Golden +Shields"--stood, at the bottom of the semicircular hall, the elevated +throne of the Emperor, and below it on the left the seat of the +Empress.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Justinian entered the hall with a numerous retinue of +palace +officials, all the assembly, consisting of the highest dignitaries of +the realm, threw themselves upon their faces in humble prostration.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Empress also rose, bowed deeply, and crossed her arms upon +her +bosom. Her dress was exactly similar to that of her husband. Her white +stola was also covered by a purple mantle, but without hem. She carried +a very short sceptre of ivory.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor cast a slight but contemptuous glance at the +patriarchs, +archbishops, bishops, patricians and senators, who, above thirty in +number, occupied a row of gilded chairs set in a semicircle and +provided with cushions. He then passed through the middle of the hall +and ascended his throne with a quick firm step. Twelve of the chief +officers of the palace stood upon the steps of the two thrones, holding +white wands in their hands. A blast of trumpets gave the signal to the +kneeling assembly to rise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reverend bishops and worthy senators," began the Emperor, "we +have +called you together, to ask your advice in an affair of great moment. +But why is our Magister Militum per Orientum, Narses, absent?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He returned only yesterday from Persia--he is sick and +confined to +bed," answered the usher.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is our treasurer of the Sacri Palatii, Trebonianus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has not yet returned from his embassy to Berytus about the +code."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Belisarius, our Magister Militum per Orientum extra +Ordinem?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He does not reside in Byzantium, but in Asia, in the Red +House at +Sycæ."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He keeps too far apart in the Red House. It displeases us. +Why does he +avoid our presence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He could not be found."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not even in the house of his freedman, Photius?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has gone hunting to try the Persian hunting-leopards," +said Leo, +the assistant-huntsman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is never to be found when wanted, and is always present +when not +wanted. I am not content with Belisarius.--Hear now what has lately +been communicated to me by letter; afterwards you shall hear the report +of the envoys themselves. You know that we have allowed the war in +Italy to die away--for we had other occupation for our generals. You +know that the barbarian King sued for peace and the quiet possession of +Italy. We rejected it at that time; awaiting more convenient +circumstances. The Goth has answered, not in words, but by very +insolent deeds. No one in Byzantium knows of it--we kept the news to +ourselves, thinking it impossible, or at least exaggerated. But we find +that it is true; and now you shall hear it and advise upon it. The +barbarian King has sent a fleet and an army to Dalmatia with great +haste and secrecy. The fleet entered the harbour of Muicurum near +Salona; the army landed and carried the fortress by storm. In a similar +way the fleet surprised the coast-town of Laureata. Claudianus, our +governor at Salona, sent numerous and strongly-manned vessels to retake +the town from the Goths. But a naval combat took place, and the Goth, +Duke Guntharis, beat our Squadron so thoroughly that he made prizes of +all the vessels without exception, and carried them victoriously into +the harbour of Laureata. Further, the Gothic King equipped a second +fleet of four hundred large ships at Centumcellæ. It was formed for the +most part of Byzantine vessels, which, sent from the East to Sicily to +reinforce Belisarius, in ignorance that the Italian harbours were again +in possession of the Goths, had been taken by a Gothic earl, Grippa, +with all their crews and freights. The goal of this second fleet was +unknown. But suddenly the barbarian King himself appeared with the +fleet before Regium, the fortress in the extreme southern part of +Bruttia, which place we had won on our first landing in Italy, and had +not since lost. After a brave resistance, the garrison of Herulians and +Massagetæ were forced to capitulate. But the tyrant Totila sailed +immediately to Sicily, to wrest from us that earliest of Belisarius's +conquests. He beat the Roman governor Domnentiolus, who met him in the +open field, and in a short time took possession of the whole island, +with the exception of Messana, Panormus and Syracusæ, which were +enabled to hold out by reason of their formidable fortifications. A +fleet which I sent to attempt the reconquest of Sicily was dispersed by +a storm. A second was driven by the north-west wind to the +Peloponnesus. At the same time a third fleet of triremes, equipped by +this indefatigable King and commanded by Earl Haduswinth, sailed for +Corsica and Sardinia. The first of these islands presently fell to the +Goths, after the imperial garrison of the capital city of Alexia had +been beaten before the walls. The rich Corsican Furius Ahalla, to whom +the greater part of the island belongs, was absent in India. But his +stewards and tenants had been ordered, in case of a landing of the +Goths, in nowise to oppose them, but to aid them to the best of their +power. From Corsica the barbarians turned to Sardinia. Here, near +Karalis, they beat the troops which our magister militum had sent from +Africa to conquer the island, and took Karalis as well as Sulci, Castra +Trajani and Turres. The Goths then settled down in both islands and +treated them as permanently-acquired dependencies of the Gothic +kingdom, placing Gothic commanders in all the towns, and raising taxes +according to Gothic law. Strange to say, these taxes are far less heavy +than ours, and the inhabitants shamelessly declare that they would +rather pay the barbarians fifty than ninety to us. But all this was not +enough. Sailing to the north-east from Sicily, the tyrant Totila united +his squadron with a fourth fleet, under Earl Teja, off Hydrus. Part of +this united fleet, under Earl Thorismuth, sailed to Corcyra, took +possession of that island, and thence conquered all the surrounding +islands. But not yet enough. The tyrant Totila and Earl Teja already +attack the mainland of our Empire."</p> + +<p class="normal">A murmur of terror interrupted the august speaker.</p> + +<p class="normal">Justinian resumed in an angry voice:</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have landed in the harbour of Epirus vetus, carried the +towns +Nicopolis and Anchisus, south-west of the ancient Dodona, and taken a +great many of our ships along the coast. All this may excite your +indignation against the insolence of these barbarians; but you have now +to hear what will move you in a different way. Briefly, according to +reports which reached me yesterday, it is certain that the Goths are in +full march upon Byzantium itself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this some of the senators sprang to their feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They intend a double attack. Their united fleet, commanded by +Duke +Guntharis, Earls Markja, Grippa, and Thorismuth, has beaten, in a +combat of two days' duration, the fleet which protected our island +provinces, and has driven it into the straits of Sestos and Abydos. +Their army, under Totila and Teja, is marching across Thessaly by way +of Dodona against Macedonia. Thessalonica is already threatened. Earl +Teja has razed to the ground the 'New Wall' which we had there erected. +The road to Byzantium is open. And no army stands between us and the +barbarians. All our troops are on the Persian frontier. And now listen +to what the Goth proposes. Fortunately God has befooled and blinded him +to our weakness. He again offers us peace under the former conditions, +with the one exception that he now intends to keep possession of +Sicily. But he will evacuate all his other conquests if we will +acknowledge his rule in Italy. As I had no means, neither fleets nor +cohorts, to stop his victorious course, I have, for the present, +demanded an armistice. This he has agreed to, on condition that +afterwards peace is to be concluded on the former conditions. I have +agreed to this----"</p> + +<p class="normal">And, pausing, the Emperor cast a searching glance at the +assembly, and +looked askance at the Empress.</p> + +<p class="normal">The assembly was evidently relieved. The Empress closed her +eyes in +order to conceal their expression. Her small hand grasped convulsively +the arm of her throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I agreed to it with the reservation that I should first +hear the +opinion of my wife, who has lately been an advocate for peace, and that +also of my wise senate. I added that I myself was inclined to peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">All present looked more at ease.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I believed that I could tell beforehand what would be the +decision +of my counsellors. Upon this understanding, the horsemen of Earl Teja +unwillingly halted at Thessalonica; unfortunately they had already +taken prisoner the bishop of that city. But they have sent him here +with other prisoners, carrying messages and letters--you shall hear +them and then decide. Reflect that if we refuse to conclude a peace, +the barbarians will soon stand before our gates, and that we are only +asked to yield that which the Empire has given up long ago, and which +Belisarius in two campaigns failed to reconquer--Italia! Let the envoys +approach."</p> + +<p class="normal">Through the arches of the entrance the body-guard now led in +several +men, in clerical, official, and military costume. Trembling and +sighing, they threw themselves at the feet of Justinian. Even tears +were not wanting.</p> + +<p class="normal">At a sign from the Emperor they rose again, and stood before +the steps +of the throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your petitions and lamentations," said the Emperor, "I +received +yesterday. Protonotary, now read to us the letter from the Bishop of +Nicopolis and the wounded Governor of Illyricum--since then the latter +has succumbed to his wounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">The protonotary read:</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Justinianus, the unconquerable Emperor of the Romani, +Dorotheos, +Bishop of Nicopolis, and Nazares, Governor of Illyricum. The place +whence we write these words will be the best proof of their gravity. We +write on board the royal barge of the Gothic King, the <i>Italia</i>. When +you read these words, you will have already learned the defeat of the +fleet, the loss of the islands, the storming of the 'New Wall,' and the +destruction of the army of Illyricum. Quicker than the messengers and +the fugitives from these battles, have the Gothic pursuers reached us. +The Gothic King has conquered and spared Nicopolis. Earl Teja has +conquered and burnt Anchisus. I, Nazares, have served in the army for +thirty years--and never have I seen such an attack as that in which +Earl Teja overthrew me at the gates of Anchisus. They are irresistible, +these Goths! Their horsemen sweep the country from Thessalonica to +Philippi. The Goths in the heart of Illyricum! That has not been heard +of for sixty years. And the King has sworn to return every year until +he has peace--or Byzantium! Since he won Corcyra and the Sybotes, he +stands upon the bridge of your Empire. Therefore, as God has touched +the heart of this King, as he offers peace at a moderate price--the +price of what he has actually gained--we beseech you, in the name of +your trembling subjects, and of your smoking towns, to conclude a +peace! Save us and save Byzantium! For your generals Belisarius and +Narses will rather be able to stop the course of the sun and the +blowing of the wind, than to stay King Totila and the terrible Teja."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are prisoners," said the Emperor, interrupting the +reader; "and +perhaps they speak in fear of death. Now it is your turn to speak, +venerable Bishop of Thessalonica; you, Anatolius, commander of Dodona; +and you, Parmenio, brave captain of the Macedonian lancers. You are +safe here under our imperial protection, but you have seen the +barbarian generals. What do you advise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this the aged Bishop of Thessalonica again threw himself +upon his +knees, and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"O Emperor of the Romani, the barbarian King, Totila, is a +heretic, and +accursed for ever, yet never have I seen a man more richly endowed with +all Christian virtues! Do not strive with him! In the other world he +will be damned for ever, but--I cannot comprehend it--on earth God +blesses all his ways. He is irresistible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I understand it well," interposed Anatolius. "It is his craft +which +wins for him all hearts--the deepest hypocrisy, a power of +dissimulation which outdoes all our much-renowned and defamed Grecian +cunning. The barbarian plays the part of a philanthropist so +excellently, that he almost deceived me, until I reflected that there +was no such thing in the world as the love which this man pretends, +with all the art of a comedian. He acts as if he really felt compassion +for his conquered enemies! He feeds the hungry, he divides the +booty--your tax-money, O Emperor!--amongst the country people, whose +fields have been devastated by the war. Women who had fled into the +woods, and were found by his horsemen, he returns uninjured to their +husbands. He enters the villages to the sound of a harp, played by a +beautiful youth, who leads his horse. Do you know what is the +consequence? Your own subjects, O Emperor of the Romani, rebel to him, +and deliver your officers, who have obeyed your severe laws, into his +hands. The peasants and farmers of Dodona did so by me. This barbarian +is the greatest comedian of the century, and the clever hypocrite +understands many other things besides fighting. He has entered into an +alliance against you with the distant Persians, with your inveterate +enemy Chosroes. We ourselves saw the Persian ambassador ride out of his +camp towards the East."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Anatolius had ceased speaking, the Macedonian captain +gave his +report, which ran:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ruler of the Romani--since Earl Teja gained the high-road of +Thessalonica, nothing stands between your throne and his battle-axe but +the walls of this city. He who stormed the 'New Wall' eight times in +succession, and carried it at the ninth attempt, will carry the walls +of Byzantium at the tenth. You can only repel the Goths if you have +sevenfold their number. If you have it not, then conclude a peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Peace! peace! we beseech you, in the name of your trembling +provinces +of Epirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Deliver us from the Goths!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us not again see the days of Alaric and Theodoric!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Peace with the Goths! Peace! peace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And all the envoys, bishops, officials, and warriors sank upon +their +knees with the cry of "Peace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The effect upon the assembly was fearful.</p> + +<p class="normal">It had often happened that Persians and Saracens in the east. +Moors in +the south, and Bulgarians and Slavonians in the north-west, had made +incursions into the country, slaying and plundering, and had sometimes +beaten the troops sent against them, and escaped unhindered with their +booty. But that Grecian islands should be permanently conquered by the +enemy, that Grecian harbours should be won and governed by barbarians, +and that the high-road to Byzantium should be dominated by Goths, was +unheard of.</p> + +<p class="normal">With dismay the senators thought of the days when Gothic ships +and +Gothic armies should overrun all the Grecian islands, and repeatedly +storm the walls of Byzantium, only to be stopped by the fulfilment of +all their demands. They already seemed to hear the battle-axe of the +"Black Earl" knocking at their gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">Quietly and searchingly did Justinian look into the rows of +anxious +faces on his right and on his left.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have heard," he then began, "what Church, State, and Army +desire. +I now ask your opinion. We have already accomplished an armistice. +Shall war or shall peace ensue? One word will buy peace--our assent to +the cession of Italy, which is already lost. Whoever among you is in +favour of war, let him hold up his hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">No one moved; for the senators were afraid for Byzantium, and +they had +no doubt of the Emperor's inclination for peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My senate unanimously declares for peace. I knew it +beforehand," said +Justinian, with a singular smile. "I am accustomed always to follow the +advice of my wise councillors--and of my Empress."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this word Theodora started from her seat, and threw her +ivory +sceptre from her with such violence, that it flew far across the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The senators were startled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then farewell," cried the Empress, "farewell to what has ever +been my +pride--my belief in Justinian and his imperial dignity! Farewell all +share in the cares and honours of the state! Alas, Justinian! alas for +you and me that I must hear such words from your lips!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And she hid her face in her purple mantle, in order to conceal +the +agony which her excitement caused her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor turned towards her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What! the Augusta, my wife, who, since Belisarius returned to +Byzantium for the second time, has always advocated peace--with a short +exception--does she now, in such a time of danger, advise----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"War!" cried Theodora, uncovering her face. And, in her +intense +earnestness, she looked more beautiful than she ever did when smiling +in playful sport. "Must I, your wife, remind you of your honour? Will +you suffer these barbarians to fix themselves firmly in your Empire, +and force you to their will? You, who dreamt of the re-establishment of +the Empire of Constantine! You, Justinian, who have taken the names of +Persicus, Vandalicus, Alanicus, and Gothicus--you will allow this +Gothic stripling to lead you by the beard whithersoever he will? Are +you not the same Justinian who has been admired by the world, by +Byzantium, and by Theodora? Our admiration was an error!"</p> + +<p class="normal">On hearing these words, the Patriarch of Byzantium--he still +believed +that the Emperor had irrevocably decided upon peace--took courage to +oppose the Empress, who did not always hit upon the strict definition +of orthodoxy of which he was the representative.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" he said, "the august lady advises bloody war? Verily, +the Holy +Church has no need to plead for the heretic. Notwithstanding, the new +King is wonderfully mild towards the Catholics in Italy; and we can +wait for more favourable times, until----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, priest!" interrupted Theodora; "the outraged honour of +this Empire +can wait no longer! O Justinian!"--he still remained obstinately +silent--"O Justinian, let us not be deceived in you! You dare not let +that be wrung from you by defiance which you refused to humble +petitions! Must I remind you that once before your wife's advice, and +will, and courage, saved your honour? Have you forgotten the terrible +rebellion of the Nika? Have you forgotten how the united parties of the +Circus, of the frantic mob of Byzantium, attacked this house? The +flames arose, and the cry of 'Down with the tyrants!' rang in our ears. +All your councillors advised flight or compliance; all these reverend +bishops and wise senators, and even your generals; for Narses was away +in distant Asia, and Belisarius was shut up by the rebels in the palace +on the shore. All were in despair. Your wife Theodora was the only hero +by your side. If you had yielded or fled, your throne, your life, and +most certainly your honour, would have been lost. You hesitated. You +were inclined to fly. 'Remain, and die if need be,' I then said; 'but +die in the purple!' And you remained, and your courage saved you. You +awaited death upon your throne, with me at your side--and God sent +Belisarius to our relief! I speak the same now. Do not yield. Emperor +of the Romani--do not yield to the barbarians! Stand firm. Let the +ruins of the Golden Gate overwhelm you if the axe of the terrible Goth +can force it; but die an Emperor! This purple is stained by the +immeasurable insolence of these Germans. I throw it from me, and I +swear by the wisdom of God, never will I again resume it until the +Empire is rid of the Goths!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And she tore off her mantle and threw it down upon the steps +of the +throne. But then, greatly exhausted, she was on the point of sinking +back into her seat when Justinianus caught her in his arms and pressed +her to his bosom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Theodora," he cried, "my glorious wife! You need no purple on +your +shoulders--your spirit is clothed in purple! You alone understand +Justinian. War, and destruction to the Goths!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this spectacle the trembling senators were overwhelmed with +terror +and astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, wise fathers," cried the Emperor, turning to the +assembly, "this +time you were too clever to be men. It is indeed an honour to be called +Constantine's successor, but it is no honour to be <i>your</i> master! Our +enemies, I fear, are right; Constantine only planted here the dead +mummy of Rome, but the soul of Rome had already fled. Alas for the +Empire! Were it free or a republic, it would now have sunk in shame for +ever. It must have a master, who, when, like a lazy horse, it threatens +to sink into the quagmire, pulls it up by the rein; a strong master +with bridle, whip, and spurs!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment a little crooked man, leaning on a crutch, +forced his +way into the hall, and limped up to the steps of the throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Emperor of the Romani," he began, when he rose from his +obeisance, "a +report reached me on my bed of pain of all that the barbarians had +dared, and of what was going on here. I gathered all my strength and +dragged myself here with difficulty, for, by one word from you, I must +learn whether I have been a fool from the beginning in holding you to +be a great ruler in spite of many weaknesses; whether I shall throw +your marshal's staff into the deepest well, or still carry it with +pride! Speak only one word: war or peace?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"War! war!" cried Justinian, and his countenance beamed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Victory! Justinian!" cried the general. "Oh, let me kiss your +hand, +great Emperor!" and he limped up the steps of the throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how is this, patrician, you have all at once become a +man!" mocked +the Empress. "You were always against the war with the Goths. Have you +suddenly become endowed with a sense of honour?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Honour!" cried Narses, "after that gay soap-bubble +Belisarius, that +great child, may run! Not honour but the Empire is at stake. As long as +danger threatened from the east, I advised the Persian war. Nothing was +to be feared from the Goths. But now your piety, O Empress, and +Belisarius's hero-sword, have stirred up the hornets' nest so long, +that at last the whole swarm flies dangerously into our faces. Now the +danger threatens from that side, and I advise a Gothic war. The Goths +are nearer to Byzantium than Chosroes to the eastern frontier. He who, +like this Totila, can raise a kingdom from an abyss, can much more +easily hurl another kingdom into an abyss. This young King is a worker +of miracles, and must be stopped in time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For this once," said Justinian, "I have the rare pleasure of +finding +my Empress and Narses of one mind."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was on the point of dismissing the assembly, when the +Empress caught +his arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay, my husband," she said. "To-day, for the second time, I +have the +honour to be proved your best adviser! Is it not so? Then listen to me +and follow my further advice. Keep this wise assembly--all except +Narses--confined in this hall.--Do not tremble, Illustrissimi; this +time your lives are not in jeopardy. But you are unable to keep a +secret; at least unless your tongues are slit. For this time, we will +insure your silence by confinement.--There exists a conspiracy against +your life, Justinian, or at least against your free will. A certain +party had decided to force you to a war with the Goths. This object, +truly, is now attained. But either to-night or to-morrow early the +conspirators will again finally assemble. We must allow them to do so. +We must not hinder them in their purpose by letting them know that +their object is already planned. For dangerous persons--persons +suspected long ago, and--O Justinian--very very <i>rich</i> persons are +concerned in it. It would be a pity if they escaped my snare."</p> + +<p class="normal">Justinian was not alarmed at the word conspiracy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I also knew of it," he said. "But is it already so far +advanced? +To-morrow! Theodora," he cried, "you are more to the Empire than +Belisarius or Narses!--Captain of the Golden Shields, you will keep all +present confined here until Narses comes to fetch them. Meanwhile, my +pious and wise fathers, reflect upon this hour and its teachings! +Narses, follow us and the Empress."</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying, Justinian descended the steps of the throne. When +he, with +Theodora and Narses, had left the Hall of Jerusalem, the entrance was +immediately blocked with threatening spears.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The Emperor ordered the Empress and Narses to follow him to +his room.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they reached it, he embraced his wife with great +tenderness, +unembarrassed by the presence of a witness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How your enthusiasm rejoices and exalts me!" he exclaimed. "I +am proud +of such a wife. How beautiful you were, O Theodora, in your noble +indignation. How can I reward you! Choose any favour, any sign of my +gratitude, my best and truest councillor and co-ruler?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I, a weak woman, dare indeed believe that I may share your +thoughts +and plans in this war, then confide in me, and tell me how you intend +to conduct it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am resolved to send Belisarius again to Italy. But not +alone. His +trifling with a crown has made me wary."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I beg the favour of being allowed to propose a second +general.--Narses," she continued, before Justinian could speak, "will +you be the other?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She wished to make it impossible for him to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I thank you," Narses answered bitterly. "You know that I +am a +stubborn and ill-tempered horse; I cannot endure to draw together with +another. A marshal's staff and a wife, Justinian, should be kept on the +same condition."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alone, or not at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then <i>you</i> not at all," answered Justinian with vexation. +"You must not +imagine that you are indispensable, magister militum."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one on earth is so, Justinian. With all my heart! Send +great +Belisarius again! He may try his luck for the third time in that +country, where laurels grow so thickly. My turn will come later. I am +no doubt unnecessary here as a witness of your domestic felicity, and +at home, opposite to my sickbed, stands a map of the Italian roads. +Allow me to continue my study of it. It is more interesting than the +map of our Persian frontier. One piece of advice. You will ultimately +be obliged to send Narses to Italy. The sooner you send him the more +you will spare yourself defeat, vexation, and money. And if gout or +that wretched epilepsy should carry Narses off before King Totila lies +upon his shield, who then will conquer Italy for you? You believe in +prophecy. In Italy there runs a saying: 'T beats B, N beats T.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does that mean, perhaps, that Theodora beat Belisarius, and +Narses +beats Theodora?" asked the Empress mockingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not <i>my</i> interpretation of the riddle; it is yours. +But I +accept it. Do you know which was the wisest of your many laws, O +Justinian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That which made death the punishment of all accusations +against the +Empress, for it was the only way in which you could keep her." And he +left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The insolent fellow!" cried Theodora, sending a venomous look +after +him. "He dares to threaten! When Belisarius has once been rendered +harmless, Narses must quickly follow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But meanwhile we need them both," said Justinian. "Do you +really +propose, as the second general to be sent to Italy, the man who +persuaded us to reject the proposals of Cassiodorus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The same."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But my distrust of that ambitious man has since then become +stronger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you then forgotten," retorted Theodora, "who revealed +the +intentions of Silverius? Who was the first to warn you of Belisarius's +dangerous game?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he now frequents the company of the men who are +conspiring against +me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but, O Justinian, it is by my order, as their +destroyer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed! But if he is also deceiving you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you believe him and me, and send him to Italy, if he +brings the +conspirators to your feet in chains to-morrow, and amongst them their +unknown chief?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I already know who it is; it is Photius, the freedman of +Belisarius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Justinian; it is he whom you would again send to Italy if +I did +not warn you: Belisarius himself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor grew pale, and grasped the arm of his chair. "Will +you now +believe in that wonderful Roman's devotion, and send him to Italy with +your army, instead of Belisarius?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Everything, everything!" said Justinian. "Belisarius, then, +is really +a traitor! Then we must make haste! Let us act at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have already acted, Justinian. My net is cast, and no one +can +escape. Give me full power to draw it close."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Emperor nodded acquiescence.</p> + +<p class="normal">And passing through the curtains, Theodora said to the +door-keeper:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fetch Cethegus, the Prefect of Rome, from his house, and take +him to +my room."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Shortly after, Cethegus once more stood before the still +seductive +woman, whom he had known in youth. She was lying stretched upon her +couch in the room in which we have before seen her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Galatea frequently handed to her a small onyx-cup, filled with +the +drops prescribed by her Persian physician. Grecian doctors no longer +sufficed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Theodora," said Cethegus, after a friendly +greeting, "and +if I must thank any other than myself--and a woman!--I would rather owe +something to my early friend than to another."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen, Prefect," said Theodora, looking gravely at him. "You +would be +just the man--shall I say the barbarian or the Roman?--to first kiss a +Cleopatra whom a Cæsar and an Antony had adored, and then take her in +triumph to the Capitol in order to strangle her, as, perhaps, +Octavianus once intended, if that sly Queen had not been beforehand +with him. Cleopatra has always been my model. 'Tis true, I have never +found a Cæsar. But the asp, perhaps, will not be wanting. But you need +not thank me. I have spoken and acted out of conviction. The insolence +which we have suffered from these Goths must be smothered in blood. +Perhaps I have not always been such a faithful wife as Justinian +believed; but I was always his best and truest adviser. Belisarius and +Narses cannot be sent together, and still less singly, to Italy. You +shall go. You are a hero, a general, and a statesman, and yet you are +too weak to harm Justinian."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks for your good opinion," said Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Friend, you are a general without an army, an Emperor without +an +empire, a pilot without a ship. But enough of this--you will not +believe me. I send you to Italy because I believe that you hate the +barbarians with all your heart. The second general, whom the imperial +distrust will undoubtedly send after you, shall be Areobindos. He will +not trouble you much! I am rejoiced that I can thus serve not only my +old companion but also the Empire. Ah, Cethegus, our youth! To you men +it is either golden hopes or golden memories: to a woman it is life +itself! Oh for a single day of the time when I sent you roses and you +sent me verses!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your roses were beautiful, Theodora, but my verses were +poor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They were fine to me, for they were addressed to me! My +choice of you, +which is necessary for the Empire, is sweetened by old and new hate as +well as by old love. Belisarius must not rise to new honours. He must +fall, and this time fall low and for ever. As sure as I live!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Narses? I should understand and like it better if you +were to ruin +that head without an arm, than this arm without a head."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Patience! One after the other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has the good-natured hero done to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He? Nothing. But his wife! that clumsy Antonina, whose whole +triumph +lies in her good health."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the delicate Empress clenched her little white fist, the +fingers of +which had become more transparent than ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," she exclaimed, "how I hate her! Yes, and I envy her too! +Stupid +people are always healthy. But she shall not rejoice while I suffer!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the fate of the Capitol depends upon such a woman's +hatred!" +exclaimed Cethegus to himself. "Down with Cleopatra!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The foolish woman is in love with her husband's honour and +glory. +There I can wound her fatally!" continued Theodora.</p> + +<p class="normal">As she spoke the twitching of her delicate features betrayed +an attack +of acute pain; she threw herself back upon her cushions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My little dove," said Galatea, "do not be angry. Thou knowest +what the +Persian said. Every excitement, be it of love or of hate----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. To hate and to love is life! And as one grows older, +hatred is +almost sweeter than love. Love is false; hate is true."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In both," said Cethegus, "I am a novice compared to you. I +have always +called you the Siren of Cyprus. One can never be sure that you will not +suddenly tear your victim in the very act of embracing him--either from +love, or from hate. And what has suddenly changed your love of Antonina +into hatred?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She has become virtuous, the hypocrite! Or can she be really +so +weak-minded? It is possible. Her fishy blood can never be made to boil. +For a strong passion or a bold crime she was always too cowardly. She +is too vain to forego admiration and too paltry to reciprocate it. +Since she accompanied her husband on his campaign she has become quite +virtuous. Ha, ha, ha! because she was obliged! Even as the devil fasts +when he has nothing to eat. Because I kept her lover a prisoner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Anicius, the son of Boëthius? I heard of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he. When in Italy Antonina again clung to her husband +and shared +his fame and his misfortunes. And since that time she is a very +Penelope! When she returned here, what did the goose do? She reproached +me with having enticed her from the path of virtue! and swore that she +would save Anicius from my toils. And she succeeds, the snake! She +opens the gates of conscience and weans my unfaithful chamberlain more +and more from me--of course only to keep him for herself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you cannot imagine," said Cethegus, "that any woman can +try to save +a soul?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without profit? No. But at the same time she deceives herself +and him +by pious speeches. And oh! how gladly the youth allows himself to be +saved by this youthful blooming saint from the arms of the faded +woman--who is wasted before her time! Ha!" she added passionately, +starting from her seat, "how pitiable that the body must succumb from +fatigue before the soul has half satisfied its thirst for life! And to +live is to rule, to hate, and to love!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You seem insatiable in these arts and enjoyments."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried Theodora, "and I am proud of it. Must I indeed +leave the +richly-spread table of existence, must I leave this imperial throne, +with all my ardent love of joy and power still unquenched? Shall I only +sip a few more drops? Oh, Nature is a miserable blunderer! Once in many +thousand ages she creates, amid a host of cripples, ugly in body and +weak in mind, a soul and body like mine, perfect and strong, and full +of the longing to live and to enjoy for an eternity. And, when only six +lustres have passed, when I have scarcely sipped of the full cup +offered to me. Nature dries up the spring of life! A curse upon the +envy of the gods! But men can envy too, and envy changes them into +demons. Others shall not enjoy when I can do so no longer! Others shall +no more laugh when I must writhe in agony all night long! Antonina +shall not rejoice in her youth with the false man who was once mine and +yet could think of another, or of virtue, or of heaven! Anicius has +told me this very day that he can bear this life without fame and +honour no more--that heaven and earth call him away. He shall repent +it--together with her. Come, Cethegus," she said furiously, grasping +his arm, "come; we will destroy them both!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You forget," said Cethegus coldly, "that I have no reason to +hate +either her or him. So what I do will be done for your sake."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so, you wise and icy Roman! Do you believe that I do not +see +through you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope not," thought Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wish to keep Belisarius away from Italy. You wish to +fight and +conquer alone. Or at most with a shadow beside you, such as Bessas was +and Areobindos will be. Do you think I did not understand why you so +cleverly managed the recall of Belisarius when before Ravenna? Anxiety +for Justinian! What is Justinian to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus felt his heart beat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The freedom of Rome!" continued Theodora. "Nonsense! You know +that +only strong and simple men can be trusted with freedom. And you know +your Quirites. No, your aim lies higher."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it possible that this woman guesses what all my enemies +and friends +do not even suspect?" thought Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wish to free Italy alone, and alone rule her as +Justinian's +vice-regent. To be next to his throne, high above Belisarius and +Narses, and second only to Theodora. And if there were any higher goal, +yours would be the spirit to fly at it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus breathed again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would hardly be worth the trouble," he thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh," continued Theodora, "it is a proud feeling to be the +first of +Justinian's servants!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," thought Cethegus, "she is not capable of +imagining +anything superior to her husband, although she deceives him daily."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And," Theodora went on, "to rule <i>him</i>, the Emperor, in +company with +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The flattering atmosphere of this court dulls even the +clearest +intellect," thought Cethegus. "It is the madness of the purple. She can +only think of herself as all-commanding."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Cethegus," continued Theodora; "I would allow no other +man even +to <i>think</i> of this. But I will help you to obtain it. With you I will +share the mastery of the world. Perhaps only because I remember many a +foolish youthful dream. Do you still remember how, years ago, we shared +two cushions in my little villa? We called them the Orient and the +Occident. It was an omen. So will we now share the Orient and the +Occident. Through my Justinian I will rule the Orient. Through my +Cethegus I will rule the Occident!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ambitious, insatiable woman!" thought Cethegus. "Oh that +Mataswintha +had not died! She at this court--and you would sink for ever!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But to gain this," said Theodora, "Belisarius must be got out +of the way. Justinian had resolved to send him once more as your +commander-in-chief to Italy."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus frowned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He trusts again and again to his dog-like fidelity. He must +be +thoroughly convinced of his falsity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will be difficult to manage," said Cethegus. "Theodora +will +sooner learn to be faithful than Belisarius to be false."</p> + +<p class="normal">A blow from Theodora's little hand was the punishment for this +speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To you, foolishly, I have been ever faithful--that is, in +affection. +Do you want Belisarius again in Italy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"On no account!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then help me to ruin him, together with Anicius, the son of +Boëthius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So be it," said the Prefect. "I have no reason to spare the +brother of +Severinus. But how can you possibly bring proofs against Belisarius? I +am really curious. If you accomplish <i>that</i>, I will declare myself no +less a novice in plots and machinations than in love and hatred."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that you are, you dull son of Latium! Now listen. But it +is such a +dangerous subject, that I must beg thee, Galatea, to keep watch that no +one comes and listens. No, my good mother, not inside! I beg thee; +<i>outside</i> the door. Leave me alone with the Prefect: it is--more's the +pity--no secret of love?"</p> + +<p class="normal">When, after some time, the Prefect left the room, he said to +himself:</p> + +<p class="normal">"If this woman were a man--I should kill her! She would be +more +dangerous than the barbarians and Belisarius together! But then, +certainly, the iniquity would be neither so inscrutable nor so +devilish!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Soon after the Prefect had returned home, Syphax announced the +son of +Boëthius, who came from the Empress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Let him enter, and admit no one else until he has gone," +said +Cethegus. "Meanwhile send quickly for Piso, the tribune."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he rose to meet Anicius, who now entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Anicius was no longer a youth, and his delicate features were +much +improved by the expression of resolution which at this moment rested +upon them. He was dressed very simply, and his hair, which was usually +curled, now hung straight down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You remind me of your beautiful sister, Anicius."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words the Prefect received his visitor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is on her account, Cethegus, that I come," said Anicius +gravely. +"You are the oldest friend of my father and of our house. You hid +Severinus and me from our enemies, and assisted us to escape at your +own risk. You are the only man in Byzantium to whom I can appeal in a +mysterious affair. A few days ago I received this incomprehensible +letter, 'To the son of my patron; Corbulo the freedman----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Corbulo? I know that name!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was the freedman of my father, with whom my mother and +sister took +refuge, and who----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fell before Rome with your brother!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. But he only died after being carried into the Gothic +encampment, +for he was taken prisoner, together with my dying brother, in the +village <i>ad aras Bacchi</i>. So I am told by one of Belisarius's +mercenaries called Sutas, who was taken prisoner at the same time, And +who has now brought me the letter which Corbulo could not finish. Read +it for yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus took the small wax tablet with its scarcely legible +writing +and read:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'The legacy of your dying brother, and his last words were: +Anicius +must revenge our mother, our sister, and myself. It was the same enemy +of our house, the same demon who----'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The letter ends here," said Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. Corbulo lost his senses and never again became +conscious, the +mercenary said."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is not much to be made of this," observed Cethegus, +shrugging +his shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but the mercenary Sutas--they were all in the same +tent--heard a +few words spoken by my dying brother to Corbulo, which may give us the +key to the letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?" asked Cethegus, with concealed anxiety.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Severinus said: 'I suspect it. He knew of the ambush--he sent +us to +meet certain death.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who?" asked Cethegus quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is just what I want to find out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have no suspicion?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but it cannot be impossible to discover the man who is +meant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How will you manage it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Sent us to meet certain death,' that can only mean some +leader or +general who was the cause of my brother's sharing that fatal morning +ride out of the Tiburtinian Gate. For Severinus did not at that time +belong to the suite of Belisarius. He was a tribune of your legions. If +you, Belisarius, and Procopius will earnestly try to find out the man +who sent Severinus with Belisarius, you must succeed. For he did not go +with other legionaries--none of your legionaries or horsemen +accompanied Belisarius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As far as I recollect," said Cethegus, "you are right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not one," repeated Anicius. "Procopius--unfortunately he has +gone to +examine the buildings which Justinian has erected in Asia--was present, +and has often told me the names of all who were with him. When he +returns, I will make a careful inquiry of what my brother did just +before the sally. Into whose house or tent he went--I will not rest, I +will ask all the still living comrades of Severinus where they saw him +last before he rode out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very acute for your years," said the Prefect with a +strange +smile. "What will you be when you are arrived at maturity? But +certainly you are in a good school. Does the Empress know of this +letter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. And she shall never hear of it. Do not name her to me! +This duty +of revenge has been sent by God to tear me away from her!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But she sent you to me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In another affair, which, however, shall end very differently +to what +she intends. A few hours ago she sent for me, and asked me once again +if it was so very terrible to be kept in a golden cage. But the woman +disgusts me. And I heartily regret the months that I have wasted at her +side, while my brother fought and fell for the fatherland. I gave her +such a rude answer, that I expected a storm. But, to my astonishment, +she was perfectly quiet, and said, smiling, 'Be it so. No faithfulness +lasts long. Go to Antonina, or to Virtue, or to both goddesses. But, as +a last sign of my favour, I will save you from certain destruction. +There exists in Byzantium a conspiracy against the life or free will of +Justinian. Be quiet--I know it. I know also that you are already half +won; that you have not yet gone to any of their meetings, but that you +have the documents of the conspiracy in your keeping. I have allowed +them to do as they liked, because there are some of my old enemies +amongst them, whom I wish to ruin. In a few days they will be +surprised. But I will warn and save you. Go to the Prefect. He must +take you with him away from Byzantium. Tell him that you are in danger, +and that Theodora sends you. But say nothing to him of the conspiracy. +There are some of his tribunes concerned in it, whom he would gladly +save, but whom I will destroy.' All this she said to me, and I came, +but not to fly! I came to warn you and my Roman comrades. I shall also +go to the meeting--there is no danger for to-day, the Empress said--and +warn them all. I shall tell them that the conspiracy is discovered. You +must not be there, Prefect; you must not place yourself in any further +danger. Justinian already suspects you. The foolish youths wish to wait +until they have won Belisarius to their cause! And if they are not +warned they will most likely be all taken prisoners to-morrow. I shall +hasten to tell them of their danger. But, that done, I will not rest a +moment until I have discovered the murderer of my brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Both intentions are highly praiseworthy," said Cethegus. +"But, by the +way, where do you hide the papers of the conspirators?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where I hide all secrets," said Anicius, blushing--"secrets +and +letters that are sacred and dear to me; where I will also hide this +tablet. You shall know the spot, for you, the oldest friend of my +house, must help me to complete my task of vengeance. I have written +out Sutas's report of the scarcely-comprehensible conversation of the +two dying men. They spoke of 'poisoning'--of 'murderous order'--of an +'accusation before the senate'--therefore our enemy must be a Roman +senator--of a 'crimson crest'-of a 'black devil of a horse----'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Et cetera, et cetera," said Cethegus, interrupting him. +"Where is your +hiding-place? It may be that you will have to escape in a hurry--for I +strongly advise you not to trust the Empress--and perhaps you would not +even be able to reach your house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And besides," added Anicius, "it is necessary that you take +up my +work. I should in any case have told you of the hiding-place. It is in +the cistern in the court of my house--the third brick to the right of +the wheel is hollow. And you must know for another reason," he +concluded gloomily. "If it is not possible to save my friends, if my +own freedom is in danger--for you are right in your warning: I have +long since remarked that I am followed by the spies of the Emperor or +Empress--then I will quickly make a bloody end to it all. What matter +if I die, if I cannot fulfil the duty which Severinus has imposed upon +me? Then--it is my office to tell the Emperor every morning how the +Empress has passed the night--then--I will strike the tyrant in the +midst of his slaves!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Madman!" cried Cethegus, in real terror--for he <i>now</i> wished +to keep +Justinian alive and in power--"to what has remorse and a planless and +dissolute life brought you? No! the son of Boëthius must not end as a +murderer. If you wish to atone in blood for your inglorious past--then +fight with my legions! Purify yourself in the blood of the barbarians, +shed, not by the dagger of the murderer, but by the sword of the hero!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You speak nobly, Cethegus. And will you really place <i>me</i>, +untried and +without fame, amongst your brave knights? How can I thank you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare your thanks until all is ended--until we meet again. +Meanwhile +warn the conspirators. That alone will be a proof of courage. For, as +it seems you are followed, I think it a dangerous task. If you shun the +danger, say so frankly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I</i> hesitate to give the first proof of my courage! I would +go and +warn them, even if certain death were the consequence."</p> + +<p class="normal">He pressed the Prefect's hand, and hurried away.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as he was gone, Syphax brought in the tribune Piso +through +another door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Master of Iambics," cried Cethegus, "you must now be as +quick-footed +as your verses! Enough of conspiracy and creeping here in Byzantium! +You must immediately seek all the young Romans who frequent the house +of Photius. The setting sun must find none of you within those walls. +Your lives depend upon it. No one must go to the 'evening feast' at +Photius's house. Go hunting, singly or in groups; make boat-races on +the Bosphorus; only hurry away. The conspiracy is superfluous. The +sound of the trumpet will soon summon you to battle against the +barbarians in Latium. Away with you all! Wait for me at Epidamnus. +Thence, with my Isaurians, I will fetch you to the third fight for +Rome. Away!--Syphax," he said, when left alone with his slave, "have +you inquired at the great general's house? When is he expected back?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At sunset."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is his faithful wife at home? Good. Bring a litter--not +mine--bring +the first you find at the Hippodrome. The blinds must shut closely. +Take it to the harbour, into the back street of the slop-dealers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir, the worst rabble of this city of vagabonds dwell in that +street. +What will you do there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will there enter the litter, and then go to the Red House."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="continue">In the Red House, the abode of Belisarius, which was situated +in the +suburb "Justiniana" (Sycæ), sat Antonina in the women's chamber, +working busily.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was embroidering a border of golden laurels upon a mantle +for her +hero, Belisarius.</p> + +<p class="normal">Near her, upon a citron-wood table, lay, in a costly binding +set with +precious stones, a splendid edition of the "Vandal Wars," by Procopius, +the lately published book which described her husband's prowess.</p> + +<p class="normal">At her feet lay a magnificent animal, one of the four tame +hunting +leopards which the Persian King had presented to Belisarius after the +last peace; a very costly present, for it was seldom that the attempt +to tame these leopards succeeded, and many hundreds of cubs which had +been caught or born in confinement, were obliged to be killed as +useless after being trained for years. The large, beautiful, and +powerful animal--it easily became wild when it tasted warm blood while +hunting, and had therefore been left at home stretched itself +luxuriously, like a cat, upon the folds of Antonina's dress, played +with her ball of gold thread, waved its tail, and sometimes rubbed its +round and clever-looking head against the feet of its mistress.</p> + +<p class="normal">A slave entered and announced a stranger--he had arrived in a +modest +litter, and was dressed in a common mantle--the door-keeper would have +refused to admit him, as the master was away, and the mistress received +no visitors, but he would not be denied; he ordered them to announce to +Antonina "the conqueror of Pope Silverius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cethegus!" cried Antonina.</p> + +<p class="normal">She grew pale and trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him in at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">The influence which the powerful intellect of Cethegus had +gained upon +her the first time of their meeting; the recollection that, when her +husband, Procopius, and all the leaders of the army, had helplessly +succumbed to the priest, this man had conquered and humbled the +conqueror; of how, at the entrance into Rome, the fight on the bridge +of the Anio, the defence of Rome Against Witichis, in the camp of +Ravenna and at the taking of that city, he had always and everywhere +kept the upper hand, and yet had never used his superiority inimically +against her husband; how nothing but misfortune had followed any +neglect of his warnings; how all his counsels had been victorious in +themselves--these recollections now confusedly crossed her mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">She heard the footsteps of the Prefect, and hastily rose.</p> + +<p class="normal">The leopard--pushed roughly aside and disturbed in his +comfortable +sport on account of the intruder--rose with a low growl, and looked +threateningly at the door, gnashing his yellow teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus, before entering, drew the curtain violently aside +and thrust +forth his head, which was covered by a cowl. The abrupt movement must +have either frightened or irritated the leopard. When the Persian lion +and tiger tamers first began to break in a newly-caught animal, they +were accustomed to envelop themselves and cover their heads with long +woollen cloaks. Possibly the fierce and never wholly-tamed beast was +reminded of his old enemies. With a terrible howl he crouched in +preparation for a deadly spring, whipping the floor with his long tail +and foaming at the mouth a sure sign of fury.</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonina saw it with horror.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly! fly, Cethegus!" she screamed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had he done so, had he but turned his back, he would have been +lost; +the monster would at once have been upon his back with his teeth in his +neck. For no door closed the entrance, the only barrier was a curtain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus promptly stepped forward, threw back his cowl, looked +straight +into the leopard's eyes, raising his left hand with an action of +command, and threatening him with the dagger held in his right.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Down! down! The irons are hot!" he cried in the Persian +language, at +the same time moving a step in advance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The leopard suddenly broke into a whining howl of fear; his +muscles, +which had been contracted for the spring, relaxed; he crept whining, +with his belly on the ground, to the feet of Cethegus, and howling with +fear, licked the sandal of his left foot, while Cethegus set his right +foot firmly upon the animal's neck.</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonina had sunk upon her couch in her fear; she now stared +at the +terrible, but beautiful scene.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That animal--the prostration!" she stammered. "Dareios always +refused +to do it; he was furious when Belisarius insisted upon it. Where have +you learned this, Cethegus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In Persia, of course," he answered.</p> + +<p class="normal">And he kicked the thoroughly cowed animal between the ribs +with such +violence, that with a howl it flew into the farthest comer of the room, +where it remained trembling and crouching, with its eyes fixed upon its +subduer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Belisarius only mastered the forts, but not the language of +Persia," +said Cethegus. "And these beasts do not understand Greek. You are +grimly guarded, Antonina, when Belisarius is absent," he added, as he +hid his dagger in the folds of his dress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What brings you to my house?" Antonina asked, still +trembling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My often misdoubted friendship. I would save your husband, +who has the +courage of a lion, but not the dexterity of a mouse! Procopius is +unfortunately absent, or I should have sent that better-trusted +adviser, I know that a heavy blow threatens Belisarius from the +Emperor. We must ward it off. The favour of the Emperor----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is very fickle, I know. But the services of Belisarius----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are his ruin. Justinian would not fear an insignificant man. +But he +fears Belisarius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That we have often experienced," sighed Antonina.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Learn then--you before all others--what no one outside the +palace +knows: the Emperor's indecision is at an end. He has decided upon war +with the Goths."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At last!" cried Antonina, with a beaming countenance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but--think of the shame! Belisarius is not appointed +commander-in-chief."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who else?" asked Antonina angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am one of the generals----"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him suspiciously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; it was my aim long since, I confess. But the second in +command is +to be Areobindos. I cannot conquer the Goths with him, hindered by his +ignorance. No one can conquer the Goths but Belisarius. Therefore I +must have him near me, or, for aught I care, over me. See, Antonina, I +hold myself to be the greater statesman----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Belisarius is a hero, no statesman!" cried the proud wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it would be ridiculous to compare myself as a general +with the +conqueror of the Vandals, Goths, and Persians. You see that I openly +confess that I am not influenced only by friendship to Belisarius, but +also by egotism. I <i>must</i> have Belisarius for a comrade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is clear," said Antonina, much pleased.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Justinian is not to be persuaded to appoint him. Still +more, he +again suspects him, and indeed more than ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, by all the saints! wherefore?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Belisarius is innocent; but he is very imprudent. For months +he +has received secret letters, notes, and warnings--stuck into his +bathing-robe, or thrown into his garden--which invite him to take part +in a conspiracy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens! You know of this?" stammered Antonina.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately not I only, but also others--the Emperor +himself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the conspiracy is not against the Emperor's life or +throne," said +Antonina apologetically.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; only against his free will. 'War with the +Goths.'--'Belisarius +commander-in-chief.'--'It is shameful to serve an ungrateful +master.'--'Force the Emperor to his own advantage.' Such and similar +things do these papers contain, do they not? Well, Belisarius has +certainly not accepted; but, imprudently, he did not at once speak of +these invitations to the Emperor, and this oversight may cost him his +head!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, holy saints!" cried Antonina, wringing her hands. "He +omitted to +do so at my request, by my advice. Procopius advised him to tell all to +the Emperor. But I--I feared Justinian's mistrust, which might have +discovered the semblance of guilt in the mere fact that such papers had +been sent to Belisarius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was not that alone, I think," said Cethegus cautiously, +when he had +looked round to see if any could hear, "which impelled you to give such +advice, taken, of course, by Belisarius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What else? What can you mean?" asked Antonina in a low voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she blushed up to the roots of her hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You knew that good friends of yours were concerned in the +conspiracy; +you wished first to warn them before the plot was betrayed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," she stammered. "Photius, the freedman----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet another," whispered Cethegus, "who, scarcely freed +from +Theodora's gilded prison, would only exchange it for the vaults of the +Bosphorus."</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonina covered her face with her hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know all, Antonina--the slight fault of former days, the +good +resolutions of a later time. But in this case your old inclination has +ensnared you. Instead of thinking only of Belisarius, you thought also +of his welfare. And if Belisarius now falls, whose is the guilt?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! be silent! have pity!" cried Antonina.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not despair," continued Cethegus. "You have still a strong +prop, +one who will be your advocate with the Emperor. Even if banishment be +threatened, the prayers of your friend Theodora will prevent the +worst."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Empress!" cried Antonina, in terror. "Oh, how she will +misrepresent! She has sworn our undoing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is bad," said Cethegus--"very bad! For the Empress also +knows of +the conspiracy, and of the invitations to Belisarius. And you know that +a much less crime than that of being invited to join a conspiracy is +sufficient----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Empress knows of it! Then we are lost! Oh! you who know +how to +find a means of escape when no other eye can see it--help I save us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Antonina sank at the Prefect's feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">A lamentable howl issued from the corner of the room. The +leopard +trembled with renewed fear. The Prefect cast a rapid glance at his +beaten adversary, and then gently raised the kneeling woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not despair, Antonina. Yes; there is a way to save +Belisarius--but +only one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must he tell <i>now</i> what has happened? As soon as he returns?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For that it is too late; and it would be too little. He would +not be +believed; mere words would not prove that he was in earnest. No; he +must prove his fidelity by deeds. He must seize all the conspirators +together, and deliver them into the Emperor's power."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can he seize them all together?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They themselves have invited him. To-night they assemble in +the house +of Photius, his freedman. He must consent to put himself at their head. +He must go to the meeting, and take them all prisoners. Anicius," he +added, "has been warned already by the Empress. I have seen him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas! But if he must die, it is to save Belisarius. My +husband must do +as you say; I see that it is the only way. And it is a bold and +dangerous step; it will allure him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think he will sacrifice his freedman?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have warned the fool again and again. What matters Photius +when +Belisarius is in danger! If ever I have had any power over my husband, +I shall prevail to-day. Procopius has often advised him to give such a +brutal--as he called it--proof of his fidelity. I will remind him of +it. You may be sure that he will follow our united counsel."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well. He must be there before midnight. When the +watchman on the +walls calls the hour, I shall break into the hall. And it is better, so +that Belisarius may be quite safe, that he only enter the meeting when +he sees my Moor Syphax in the niche before the house behind the statue +of Petrus. He may also place a few of his guards in front of the house. +In case of need, they can protect him, and bear witness in his favour. +He is not capable of much feigning; he must only join the meeting +shortly before midnight; thus he will have no need to speak. Our guards +will wait in the Grove of Constantinus, at the back of Photius's house. +At midnight--the trumpet sounds when the guard is relieved, and you +know that it can be distinctly heard--we shall break in. Belisarius, +therefore, need not undertake the dangerous task of giving a signal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you--you will be sure to be there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall not fail. Farewell, Antonina."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, suddenly stepping backwards, his face still turned +towards the +leopard, his dagger pointed, he had gained the exit.</p> + +<p class="normal">The leopard had waited for this moment; he moved slightly in +his +corner, rising slowly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But as he reached the curtain, Cethegus once again raised his +dagger +and threatened him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Down, Dareios! the irons are hot!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he was gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">The leopard laid his head upon the mosaic floor and uttered a +howl of +impotent fury.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The power and glory of Totila were now at their height. His +happiness +was completed by his union with Valeria.</p> + +<p class="normal">The betrothal had just taken place in the church of St. Peter, +and was +solemnised by Cassiodorus, assisted by Julius, now a Catholic priest, +and also by an Arian minister. When Cassiodorus had betrothed the +daughter of his old friend to the King, and they had exchanged rings, +the royal couple were led in solemn procession over the Janiculum +towards the right bank of the river, and across the Theodosian and +Valentinian Bridges, which were decorated with triumphal arches. +Following the course of the river, the procession entered a villa +situated on an eminence overlooking the river and the campagna, and the +betrothed couple took their places under a magnificent baldachin in the +great hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">There, before the assembled national army, under the golden +shield of +the King, which was hung upon his spear, the Roman bride stepped into +the right shoe of her Gothic bridegroom, while he laid his mailed right +hand upon her head, which was covered with a transparent veil.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus the betrothal was completed according to ecclesiastical, +Roman, +and Germanic custom.</p> + +<p class="normal">This ceremony over, Totila and Valeria took their seats at the +centre +table upon the terrace of the villa; Valeria surrounded by noble Roman +and Gothic women, Totila by the dukes and earls of his army.</p> + +<p class="normal">Grecian and Roman flute-players played and sang alternately; +Roman +dances followed the sword-dance of the Gothic youths. Presently, +dressed in a long, white festive garment, the hem embroidered in gold, +and a wreath of laurel and oak-leaves upon his head, Adalgoth stood +forth in front of the royal pair, cast an inquiring look at his teacher +in war and song. Earl Teja, who sat on the King's right hand, and, to +the accompaniment of his harp, sang in a clear voice:</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Hear, all ye people, far and near,</p> +<p class="t8">Hear, Byzant', to thy dole:</p> +<p class="t6">The Gothic King, good Totila,</p> +<p class="t8">Thrones on the Capitol/</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"No more is Belisarius' name</p> +<p class="t8">In Rome with honour decked:</p> +<p class="t6">Of Orcus, and no more of Rome</p> +<p class="t8">Cethegus is Prefect.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Of what leaves shall we weave the crown</p> +<p class="t8">For good King Totila?</p> +<p class="t6">Like sweetest rose upon his breast</p> +<p class="t8">Blooms sweet Valeria.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Peace, freedom, right, and law protect</p> +<p class="t8">His shield, his star, his sword:</p> +<p class="t6"><i>Olive</i>, thy peaceful spray now give,</p> +<p class="t8">Give for the peaceful Lord!</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Who carried terror and revenge?</p> +<p class="t8">Who bore the Grecians down?</p> +<p class="t6">Come, <i>laurel</i>, leaf of victory,</p> +<p class="t8">Make rich my hero's crown!</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"But his victorious strength grew not</p> +<p class="t8">From Roma's mouldering ground:</p> +<p class="t6">With leaves of young Germanic <i>oak</i></p> +<p class="t8">Let his young head be crowned.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Hear, all ye people, far and near,</p> +<p class="t8">Hear, Byzant', to thy dole:</p> +<p class="t6">The Gothic King, young Totila,</p> +<p class="t8">Thrones on the Capitol."</p> +</div></div> +<p class="normal">A burst of applause rewarded his song, during which a Roman +youth and a +Gothic maiden, kneeling before Totila and Valeria, offered each a crown +of roses, laurels, olive-leaves and oak-leaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Our</i> songs are also not quite without sweetness, Valeria," +said +Totila with a smile, "and not without strength and truth. I owe my life +to this youthful minstrel." And he laid his hand upon Adalgoth's head. +"He struck thy countryman Piso, his colleague in the art of song, most +roughly upon his clever scanning fingers--as a punishment for having +written many a verse to my Valeria and raised the deadly steel against +me with one and the same hand!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is one thing that I would rather have heard, my +Adalgoth," Teja +said to the boy in a low voice, "than your song of praise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that, my Earl of harp and sword?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The death-cry of the Prefect, whom thou hast only sent to +hell in thy +verse."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Adalgoth was called away down the steps by a crowd of +Gothic +warriors, who would not part with him for a long time; for his song +pleased the Gothic heroes who had fought with Totila much better than +it will perhaps please you, my reader.</p> + +<p class="normal">Duke Guntharis embraced and kissed Adalgoth and said, as he +drew him +aside:</p> + +<p class="normal">"My young hero! What a resemblance! Whenever I see thee my +first +thought is: Alaric!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, that is my battle-cry!" said Adalgoth, and, engaged in +conversation, they disappeared amid the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same time the King looked back at the vestibule of the +villa, +for the performance of the flute-players stationed there was suddenly +interrupted.</p> + +<p class="normal">He quickly perceived the cause and started from his seat with +a cry of +astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">For between the two centre and flower-wreathed columns of the +entrance +stood a form which seemed scarcely human. A maiden of wondrous beauty, +clad in a pure white garment, holding a staff in her hand, and with a +wreath of star-like flowers upon her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! what is that? Lives this charming figure?" the King +asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">And all the guests followed the direction of the King's eyes +and the +movement of his hand with equal wonder, for the small opening left +between the pillars by the masses of flowers was filled up by a more +lovely form than their eyes had ever beheld.</p> + +<p class="normal">The child, or girl, had fastened her shining white linen tunic +upon her +left shoulder with a large sapphire clasp; her broad golden girdle was +set with a row of sapphires. The long and pointed sleeves of her dress +fell from her shoulders like two white wings. Wreaths of ivy were +twined about her whole figure; in her right hand, which rested on her +bosom, she held a shepherd's staff, wreathed with flowers; her left +hand carried a beautiful crown of wild-flowers and was laid upon the +head of a large shaggy dog, whose neck was likewise surrounded with a +wreath.</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl looked without fear, but thoughtfully and +examiningly, at the +brilliant assembly. For a while the guests stared and waited, and the +maiden stood motionless. Then the King left his seat, went towards her, +and said with a smile:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Welcome to our feast, if thou art an earthly being. But +if--which I +almost believe--thou art the lovely Queen of the Elves--why then, be +welcome too! We will place a throne for thee high above the King's +seat." And with a graceful action he opened both his arms, inviting her +to approach.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a light and gentle step the maiden crossed the threshold +of the +vestibule and, blushing, replied:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What sweet folly speakest thou, O King! I am no queen. I am +Gotho, the +shepherdess. But thou--I see it more by thy clear brow than by thy +diadem--thou art Totila, the King of the Goths, whom they call the +'King of joy.' I have brought flowers for thee and thy lovely bride. I +heard that this feast was to celebrate a betrothal. Gotho has nothing +else to give. I plucked and twined these flowers as I came through the +last meadow. And now, O King, protector of the orphan's right, hear and +help me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The King again took his place near Valeria. The maiden stood +between +them. Valeria took one of her hands; the King laid his hand upon her +head, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I swear to protect thee and thy rights by thine own lovely +head. Who +art thou, and what is thy desire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sire, I am the grand-child and child of peasants. I have +grown up in +solitude amid the flowers of the Iffinger mountain. I had nothing dear +to me on earth except my brother. He left me to seek thee. And when my +grandfather felt that he was dying, he sent me to thee to find my +brother and the solution of my fate. And he gave me old Hunibad from +Teriolis as a companion and protector. But Hunibad's wounds were not +fully healed and soon re-opened, and he was obliged to stay sick at +Verona. And I had to nurse him for a long time, until at last he died +too. And then I went alone, accompanied only by my faithful dog Brun, +across all this wide hot country, until at last I found the city of +Rome and thee. But thou keepest good order, O King, in thy land--thou +deservest all praise. Thy high-roads are watched day and night by +soldiers and horsemen. And they were friendly and good to the lonely +wandering child. They sent me to the houses of good Goths at nightfall, +where the housewife cherished me. And it is said that the law is so +well obeyed in thy realm, that a golden bracelet might be laid upon the +high-road, and would be found again after many many nights. In one +town, Mantua, I think it was called, just as I was crossing the +market-place, there was a great press, and the people ran together. And +thy soldiers led forth a Roman to die there, and cried: 'Marcus +Massurius must die the death, at the King's command. The King set him, +a prisoner of war, free, and the insolent Roman ravished a Jewish girl. +Sang Totila has renewed the law of the great Theodoric.' And they +struck off his head in the open market-place, and all the people were +terrified at King Totila's justice. Now, my faithful Brun, thou mayest +rest here; here no one will hurt thee. I have even ornamented <i>his</i> +neck with flowers to-day, in honour of thee and thy bride."</p> + +<p class="normal">She slightly struck the powerful dog on the head; he +immediately went +up to the King's throne, and laid his left fore-foot confidingly upon +the King's knee. And the King gave him water to drink out of a flat, +golden dish.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For golden fidelity a golden dish," he said. "But who is thy +brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," the girl answered thoughtfully, "from what Hunibad +told me +during the journey and upon his sick-bed, I think that the name my +brother bears is not his real one. But he is easy to be known," she +added, blushing. "His locks are golden-brown; his eyes are blue as +these shining stones; his voice is as clear as the note of the lark; +and when he plays his harp, he looks up as if he saw the heavens open."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalgoth!" cried the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalgoth!" repeated all the guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy--he had heard the loud shout of his name--flew up the +steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Gotho!" he exclaimed in a jubilant voice, and locked her +in a +tender embrace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Those two belong to each other," said Duke Guntharis, who had +followed +the youth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like the dawn and the rising sun," added Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But now," said the girl, as she quietly withdrew from +Adalgoth's arms, +"let me fulfil my errand and the behest of my dying grandfather. Here, +O King, take this roll and read it. In it is contained the fate of +Adalgoth and Gotho; the past and the present, said our grandfather."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The King broke the seals and read:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'This is written by Hildegisel, the son of Hildemuth, whom +they call +"the long;" once priest, now castellan at Teriolis. Written at the +dictation of old Iffa; and it is all written down faithfully. Lo!--now +it begins! The Latin is not always as good as that sung in the +churches. But thou, O King, wilt understand it. For where it is bad +Latin it is good Gothic. Lo!--now it really begins. Thus speaks the old +man Iffa: My Lord and King Totila; the roll which is wrapped in this +cover is the writing of the man Wargs, who, however, was neither my +son, nor was his name Wargs--but his name was Alaric, and he was a +Balthe, the banished Duke of----'"</p> + +<p class="normal">A ay of astonishment from all present interrupted the King. He +paused. +But Duke Guntharis cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then Adalgoth, who calls himself the son of Wargs, is the son +of +Alaric! whom he himself, in his office of herald, has often, riding +through the town on a white horse, loudly summoned to appear. And never +saw I a greater resemblance than that between the father Alaric and the +son Adalgoth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to the Duke of Apulia!" cried Totila, with a smile, as +he +embraced the boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, speechless with excitement, Gotho sank upon her knees, +her eyes +filled with tears, and, looking up at Adalgoth, she sighed:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then thou art not my brother! O God!--Hail, Duke of Apulia! +Farewell! +farewell for ever!" and she rose to her feet and turned to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not my sister!" cried Adalgoth. "That is the best thing which +this +dukedom brings me! Stop there!" and he caught Gotho in his arms, +pressed her to his bosom, and kissed her heartily. Then he led her +up to the King, saying, "Now, King Totila, unite us! Here is my +bride--here is my duchess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Totila, who had meanwhile cast a rapid glance over the two +documents, answered smiling:</p> + +<p class="normal">"In this case I do not need the wisdom of Solomon. Young Duke +of +Apulia, thus I betroth thee to thy bride." And he laid the laughing, +weeping girl in Adalgoth's arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he turned to the assembled Goths, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Permit me shortly to explain to you what this writing--the +Latin of +which is rather rude, for Hildegisel was cleverer with the sword than +the pen--contains. Here is, besides, Duke Alaric's declaration of his +innocence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That has already been proved by his son," cried Duke +Guntharis. "And I +never believed in his guilt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Duke Alaric," continued the King, "discovered his secret +accuser too +late. Our Adalgoth, as you know, brought his innocence to light, when +he found the hidden documents in the broken statue of Cæsar. Cethegus +the Prefect had kept a sort of diary in a secret cypher. But +Cassiodorus, with grief and amazement, deciphered the writing, and +found an entry at the commencement of the book, written about twelve +years ago, which ran thus: 'Duke Alaric condemned. That he was +innocent, is now only believed by himself and his accuser. He who +injures Cethegus shall not live. At the time when I woke from a +death-like swoon on the banks of the Tiber, I swore to be revenged. I +made a vow and it is now fulfilled.' The cause of this hatred is still +a secret. But it is connected in some way with our friend Julius +Montanus. Where is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has already returned to St. Peter's with Cassiodorus," +answered +Earl Teja; "excuse them. Every day at this hour they pray for peace +with Byzantium. And Julius," he added with a bitter smile, "prays also +for the Prefect's soul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"King Theodoric," said the King, "was hardly to be persuaded +of the +guilt of the brave duke, with whom he was on terms of intimate +friendship."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," observed Duke Guntharis, "he once gave him a broad gold +bracelet +with a runic device."</p> + +<p class="normal">The King now resumed his reading of the papers:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'I took a bracelet given me by King Theodoric'--these are the +words of +the duke--'when I fled with my child. Broken in two just in the centre +of the runic inscription. It will one day serve to prove the honourable +birth of my son.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He bears the proof on his face," cried Duke Guntharis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the golden proof is also not wanting!" exclaimed +Adalgoth: "at +least old Iffa gave me a broken bracelet. Here it is," and he took out +the half of a broken bracelet, which he carried tied to a ribbon round +his neck; "I have never been able to explain the sense of these words:</p> + +<p class="text20">"'The Amelung--<br> +The eagle--<br> +In need--<br> +The friend--'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou hast not the other half," said Gotho, and took the +second half of +the bracelet from her bosom. "See, here is written:</p> + +<p class="text20">"'--to the Balthe,<br> +--to the falcon,<br> +--and death,<br> +--to the friend.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Teja, holding the two halves together, read:</p> + +<p class="text20">"'The Amelung to the Balthe,<br> +The eagle to the falcon,<br> +In need and death,<br> +The friend to the friend.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the King continued to read from the roll:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'King Theodoric could no longer protect me when letters were +laid +before him, in which my handwriting was so excellently imitated that I +myself, on being shown a harmless sentence which had been cut out, +acknowledged without hesitation that I had written it. Then the judges +fitted the piece into the parchment and read the whole to me. That +letter purported to be written to the court of Byzantium, with the +promise that the writer would murder the King and evacuate South Italy, +if the Emperor would acknowledge him as King of North Italy. And the +judges condemned me. As I was led away from the hall, I met my old +friend Cethegus Cæsarius in the passage. I had some time before +succeeded in persuading a girl with whom he was in love to leave him +and marry a good friend of mine in Gaul. Cethegus forced his way +through my guards, struck me lightly on the shoulder and said, "He from +whom his love has been torn, comforts himself with revenge;" and his +eyes told me that he, and no other, had been my secret accuser. As a +last favour, the King procured me the means of escape. But I and all my +house were outlawed. For a long time I wandered restlessly in the +northern mountains, until I recollected that some old and faithful +adherents of my house were settled upon the Iffinger mountain. Thither +I went with my boy, taking with me a few hereditary jewels, and my +faithful friends received me and my son, and hid me under the name of +Wargs--the banished--and gave out that I was the son of old Iffa, +sending away all untrustworthy servants who might have betrayed me. +Thus I lived in secret for some years. I educate my son to be my +avenger on Cethegus the traitor, and when I die, old Iffa will continue +this education. I hope the day will come when my innocence will be +proved. But if it delays too long, my son, when he can wield the sword, +shall leave the Iffinger and go to Italy, and revenge his father upon +Cethegus Cæsarius. That is my last word to my son.'--'But,'" the King +now read from a second paper, "'soon after the Duke had written this, a +great landslip buried him, together with some of my relations. And I, +Iffa, have brought up the boy as my grandchild and Gotho's brother, for +the ban had not been taken off the family of Duke Alaric, and I did not +wish to expose the boy to the revenge of that devil, Cethegus. And that +it might not be possible for the boy to betray anything about his +dangerous parentage, I never told him of it. But when he was grown up, +and I heard that there reigned in the Roman citadel a mild and just +King, who had conquered the devilish Prefect as the God of Morning +conquers the Giant of the Night, I sent young Adalgoth away, and told +him that, according to his father's command, he must revenge the noble +chief and patron of our family upon Cethegus the traitor. But I did not +even then tell him that he was Alaric's son, for I feared the ban. So +long as his father's innocence was unproved, his father's name could +only injure him. And I sent him away in great haste, for I discovered +that the belief in his brotherly relation to my grandchild, Gotho, had +not prevented him from loving her in a very unbrotherly manner. I might +have told him that Gotho was not his sister. But far be it from me that +I should dishonestly try to unite the noble scion of my old master and +patron with my blood, the simple shepherd's child. No, if justice still +exists upon earth, he will soon take his place as Duke of Apulia, like +his father before him. And as I fear that I may die before he sends me +word of the Prefect's ruin, I have begged the long Hildegisel to write +all this down.' (And I, Hildegisel, have received for the writing +twenty pounds of the best cheese, and twelve jars of honey, which I +thankfully acknowledge, and all of which was good.) 'And with, these +writings, and with the blue stones and fine garments and golden solidi +from the inheritance of the Balthes, I send my child Gotho to King +Totila the Just, to whom she must reveal everything. He will take the +ban away from the innocent son of the guiltless duke. And when Adalgoth +knows that he is the heir of the Balthes, and that Gotho is not his +sister--then he may freely choose or shun the shepherdess; but this he +must know, that the race of the Iffingers was never a race of vassals, +but free from the very beginning, although under the protection of the +House of Balthe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'And now. King Totila, decide the fate of my grandchild and +Adalgoth.'"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">"Well," laughed the King, "thou hast spared me the trouble, +Duke of +Apulia!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the little duchess," added Valeria, "has, as if she had +foreseen +what was coming, already adorned herself like a bride."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In honour of <i>you</i>," said the shepherdess. "When I heard of +this feast +as I entered the gates of Roma, I opened my bundle, as my grandfather +had bidden me, and put on my ornaments."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our betrothal," said Adalgoth to his bride, "has fallen upon +the day +of the King's betrothal; shall our wedding take place also on the +wedding-day of the royal pair?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" interrupted Valeria hastily, almost anxiously. "Add +no other +to a vow which is yet unfulfilled! You children of Fortune, be wise. +You have to-day found each other. Keep to-day fast, for to-morrow +belongs to the unknown!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou speakest truth!" cried Adalgoth. "Even today shall be +our +wedding!" and he lifted Gotho upon his left arm, and showed her to all +the people. "Look here, ye good Goths! This is my little wife and +duchess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With your favour!" said a modest voice. "When so much +sunshine falls +upon the summits and heights of the nation, the lower vegetation would +also gladly share some of its warmth."</p> + +<p class="normal">A homely-looking man approached the King, leading a pretty +girl by the +hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it thou, brave Wachis?" cried Earl Teja, going up to him. +"And no +longer a bond-servant, but with the long hair of a freedman?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, sir. My poor master. King Witichis, gave me my liberty +when he +sent me away with Mistress Rauthgundis and Wallada. Since then I have +let my hair grow. And my mistress--I know it for a fact--was about to +free Liuta, so that we might be married according to the law of the +nation; but, alas, my mistress never returned to her home at Fæsulæ. +But I returned just at the right moment to save Liuta, for the very +next day the Saracens burnt the house and murdered all whom they found. +After Mistress Rauthgundis's death--leaving no one to claim the +inheritance, for a storm had buried her father Athalwin under an +avalanche--Liuta became the King's property; and therefore I would beg +the King to take me again as a bond-servant, so that we may not be +punished if we marry, and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wachis, thou art indeed faithful!" cried Totila, interrupting +him. +"No! thou shalt contract a free marriage! Give me a gold-piece."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, King Totila," said Gotho, eagerly taking one from her +shepherd's +bag; "it is the last of six."</p> + +<p class="normal">The King took the gold, laid it upon Liuta's open palm, and +then struck +her hand from below, so that the gold-piece flew up into the air, and +fell ringing upon the mosaic pavement.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the King said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Liuta, thou art free! No bonds hold thee. Go in peace and +rejoice with +thy bridegroom."</p> + +<p class="normal">Earl Teja now came forward and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wachis, once before thou hast borne the shield of a luckless +master. +Wilt thou now become my shield-bearer?"</p> + +<p class="normal">With tears in his eyes, Wachis clasped the hand of the Earl in +both his +own.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Teja lifted his golden goblet and solemnly said:</p> + +<p class="text20">"Fortune befall you!<br> +Already shines on you<br> +The shimmering sunshine:<br> +Yet thankfully think<br> +Of the Dear and the Dead<br> +With reverent remembrance!<br> +He who strove unsuccessful,<br> +The world-renowned warrior:<br> +Witichis, Waltharis' worthiest son!<br> +Though you celebrate cheerily<br> +The feast of the fairest,<br> +The Deity's darlings,<br> +Yet honour for ever<br> +The memory mournful<br> +Of the Great and the Good!<br> +I remind you, O revellers,<br> +To drink to the dear ones;<br> +To the manliest man,<br> +And the worthiest woman;<br> +To Rauthgundis and Witichis,<br> +Deploring, I drink!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And all solemnly and silently returned his pledge.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then King Totila once more raised his cup and said before all +the +people:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>He</i> deserved! <i>I</i> received! To him be eternal honour!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he resumed his place--the other two betrothed couples had +been +seated at the King's table--Earl Thorismuth, of Thurii (he had been +rewarded for his valour by the title of Earl, but, at his own request, +had retained his office of herald and shield-hearer), ascended the +steps, and lowered his herald's staff before the King, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I come to announce strangers, O King of the Goths! Guests who +have +sailed here from afar. The large fleet, of about a hundred ships, which +was reported by thy coast-guards and from the harbour-towns, has now +run into the harbour of Portus. It has brought northern people, an old, +brave, and seafaring folk, from the land of farthest Thule. Their +dragon-ships have lofty decks, and their monstrous figure-heads terrify +the beholder. But they come to thee in peace. Yesterday the flag-ship +lowered its boats, and our noble guests have sailed up the river. I +challenged them, and received the answer: 'King Harald of Goetaland, +and Haralda (his wife, as it seems), wish to greet King Totila.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lead them to us! Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth. Earl Teja, +Earl +Wisand, and Earl Grippa, go to meet and accompany them here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Presently, to the sound of strange and twisted horns made of +shells, +and surrounded by twenty of their sailors and heroes clad in close +coats of mail, there appeared on the terrace two figures which far +overtopped even the slender Totila and his table companions.</p> + +<p class="normal">King Harald bore upon his helmet the two wings--each several +feet +long--of the black sea-eagle. The tail-feathers of the same bird +floated from his iron crest. Down his back fell the skin of a monstrous +black bear, the jaws and fore-paws of which hung from broad iron rings +upon his breast-plate. His coat, woven of iron wire, reached to the +knee, and was confined round the hips by a broad belt of seal-skin, set +with shells. His arms and legs were bare, but at once adorned and +protected by broad golden bracelets. A short knife hung from a steel +chain at his belt. In his right hand he carried a long forked spear +like a harpoon. His thick, bright yellow hair fell like a mane low down +upon his shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">At his left hand stood--scarcely shorter by a finger's +length--the +Walkyre-like form of his female companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon her head she wore a golden open helmet, decorated with +the small +wings of the silver-gull. Her bright red hair, which had a metallic +lustre, fell from beneath it in a long straight mass over the small +strip of white bearskin which covered her back--more an ornament than a +mantle--almost to her ankles.</p> + +<p class="normal">A closely-fitting mail, made of little scales of gold, +betrayed the +incomparable figure of the Amazon, yielding to every movement of her +heaving bosom. Her under garment, which reached half-way between the +knee and ankle, was tastefully made of the white skin of the snow-hare. +Her arms were covered by sleeves made of rows of amber beads, which +glittered strangely in the evening rays of the southern sunshine.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon her left shoulder was gravely perched one of the delicate +white +falcons of Iceland.</p> + +<p class="normal">A small hatchet was stuck into her girdle. She carried over +her +shoulder a long sweeping harp, surmounted with a swan's head and neck +of silver.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Roman populace--their eyes opened wide in wonder--pressed +after +these singular figures, and even the Goths could not but admire the +wondrously fair complexion and the singularly light and sparkling eyes +of these northerners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As the black hero who received me," began the Viking, +"assures me that +he is not the King, then no other can be he but thou," and he gave his +hand to Totila, first pulling off his fighting-glove of shark's skin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Welcome to the Tiber, my cousins from Thuleland!" cried +Totila, as he +raised his cup and pledged his guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">Seats were quickly prepared, and the royal visitors took their +places +at the King's table; their followers at the table near them. Adalgoth +poured out wine from tall, two-handled jugs.</p> + +<p class="normal">King Harald drank, and looked wonderingly around.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By Asathor!" he cried; "but it is beautiful here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Such I imagine Walhalla to be!" said his companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Goths and the northerners could scarcely understand each +other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it pleases thee so well, brother," Totila slowly said, +"then rest +amongst us with thy wife for some time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho-ho! Rome-King!" laughed the giantess, and tossed back her +head so +suddenly, that the waves of her red hair shook.</p> + +<p class="normal">The falcon flew screaming up, and circled round her head three +times. +It then quietly returned to her shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The man has not yet been born," continued the Amazon, "who +could +conquer Haralda's heart and hand. Harald alone, my brother, can bend my +arm, and spring and hurl his spear farther than I."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Patience, my little sister! I trust that soon a man of marrow +will +master thy coy maidenhood. This King here, although he looks as mild as +Baldur, yet resembles Sigurd, the vanquisher of Fafner. You shall vie +with each other in hurling the spear."</p> + +<p class="normal">Haralda cast a long look at the Gothic King, blushed, and +pressed a +kiss upon her falcon's smooth head.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Evil befell, as the singers tell us, when Sigurd strove with +the +Amazon. Rather let woman greet woman in peace. Give thy hand, Haralda, +to my bride."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he signed to Valeria, to whom Duke Guntharis had very +imperfectly +translated what was said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Valeria rose with graceful dignity. She wore a long white +Roman-Grecian +garment, which hung in soft folds, and was confined at the waist by a +golden girdle, and upon the shoulder with a cameo brooch. Bound her +nobly-shaped head was bound a branch of laurel, which Totila had taken +from Adalgoth's wreath to fasten into her black hair. Her beauty, and +the rhythm of her movements and the folds of her garments, seemed to +float around her like music. She silently held out her hand to her +northern sister.</p> + +<p class="normal">Haralda had cast a sharp and not very friendly look upon the +Roman +girl; but admiration soon dispelled the angry surprise which had +overspread her countenance, and she said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"By Freia's necklace! thou art the most lovely woman I have +ever +beheld. I doubt whether a Wish-girl of Walhalla could compare with +thee. Dost thou know, Harald, whom this Princess resembles? Ten nights +ago we laid waste an island in the blue Grecian sea, and plundered a +columned temple. There stood a tall, icy-cold woman, made of white +stone; upon her breast was the figure of a head surrounded with snakes; +at her feet the night-bird; she was clad in a garment of many folds. +Swen unfortunately broke her to pieces because of the jewels in her +eyes. The King's bride resembles that marble goddess."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must translate what she has said to thee," said Totila, +turning to +Valeria with a smile. "Thy poetical adorer, Pisa, could not have +flattered thee more delicately than this Bellona of the north. They +landed, so we were told, at Melos, and there broke the beautiful statue +of Athene, sculptured by Phidias. You have made great desolation, I +hear," he continued, turning to Harald, "in all the islands between +Cos, Chios, and Melos. What, then, has led you so peacefully to us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That I will tell thee, brother; but only after more drink." +And he +held out his cup to Adalgoth. "No, do not spoil the splendid juice with +water! Water should be salt, so that no one could drink it unless he +were a shark or a walrus. Water is good to carry us upon its back, but +not to be carried in our stomachs. And this vine-beer of yours is a +wonderful drink. I am soon tired of our mead; it is like a tame sweet +dish. But this vine-mead! the more a man drinks, the thirstier he +becomes. And if one drank too much--which is scarcely possible--it is +not like the intoxication of ale or mead, which makes a man ready to +pray to Asathor to hammer an iron ring round his temples. No; the +intoxication of the vine is like the sweet madness of the Skalds--a man +feels like a god! So much for the vine! But now I will tell thee how it +was that we came here."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">"Well," began King Harald, "our home is in Thuleland, as the +Skalds +call it; in Goetaland, as we name it. For Thuleland is the land where +one does <i>not</i> dwell; where only, still nearer to the ice-mountains, +<i>other</i> people live. Our realm reaches, towards the rising of the sun, +to the sea and our island, Gothland; towards the setting of the sun, as +far as Hallin and the Skioldungahaff; towards midday, to Smaland, +Skone, and the kingdom of the Sea-Danes; towards midnight, to Svealand. +The King is my father, Frode, whom Odin loves. He is much wiser than I; +but he has now crowned me as Vi-king, upon the sacred-stone at +King-Sala, because he is already a hundred years old, and quite blind. +Now the minstrels in our halls still sing the legends which tell that +you Goths were originally our brothers, and that only by reason of the +wandering of the peoples have you gradually drawn nearer to the south; +for you followed the flight of the crane from the Caucasus, but we the +running of the wolf."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If that be so," said King Totila, smiling, "I prefer the +crane for a +guide."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It may well seem so to thee, sitting here in this gay +drinking-hall," +answered King Harald gravely. "But however that maybe--and I do not +quite believe it, for then we ought to understand each other's words +better--we truly and highly honour this our blood-relationship. For a +long time nothing but good news came from your warm realm to our cold +Gothaland--news of the highest fame. And once my father and your King +Thidrekr,<a name="div2Ref_note01" href="#div2_note01"><sup>1</sup></a> who is praised by the harp-songs of our Skalds, exchanged +envoys and gifts, through the agency of the Esthes, who live on the +Austrway. These men led our envoys to the Wends, on the Wyzla; these to +the Longobardians, on the Tisia; these to the Herulians, on the Dravus; +these through Savia to Salona and Ravenna."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou art a man learned in roads and countries," observed +Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That the Viking must be; for else he will never go forwards, +and +likewise never get back. Well, for some time we only heard of your +glory and good fortune. But once and again there came bad news, brought +by merchants who bought our furs and eiderdown and amber, and took it +to the Frisians, and Saxons, and franks, giving us in exchange +artfully-formed vessels, and silver and gold. The news became sadder +and more sad; we heard that King Thidrekr had died, and that afterwards +great evils had broken out in your realm. We heard of defeat, +treachery, and of the murder of Kings; of Goths warring against Goths; +and of the might of the false Prince of Grêkaland. And it was said that +you had broken your heads by thousands against the high walls of your +own Roman citadel, which was held not by you, but by a man like +Asathor, and another man still worse than the fire-fiend Loki. And we +asked if none of the many Kings and Princes who had begged favours of +Thidrekr of Raven could have helped you. But at that the Frank +merchant, who offered us fine tissues from the Wahala, laughed and +said, 'Broken fortunes, broken faith! They have all forsaken the +luckless Gothic heroes, Visigoths and Burgundians, Herulians and +Thuringians, and most of all we Franks, for we are wiser than all.' +But, on hearing this. King Frode threw down his staff angrily, and +cried, 'Where is my strong son Harald?" 'Here, father,' I answered, and +took his hand. 'Hast thou heard,' my father continued, 'the news of the +faithlessness of the Southland Kings? Such things shall not be said or +sung of the men of Goetaland! If all others turn away from the Goths of +Gardarike and Raven, we will keep faith and help them in their need. +Up, my brave Harald, and thou, my bold Haralda! equip a hundred +dragon-ships, and fill them with men and weapons. Put your hands deeply +into my royal treasure at Kinsala, and do not spare the heaped-up +golden rings. And set forth with Odin's wind in your sails. Go first +from Konghalla, past the island Danes and the Jutlanders, towards the +setting of the sun; thence along the coasts of the Frisians and the +Franks, through the narrow path of the sea; then sail farther round the +realm of the Sueves to the mountain land that is called Asturia; and +round the land of the Visigoths bend towards the south. Then wind +through the narrow strait of the wide ocean, where Asathor and Odin +have set two pillars.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will then have entered the sea of Midilgard, where lie +innumerable +islands covered with evergreen bushes, out of which shine marble halls, +upheld by high, round stone-beams. Lay waste these islands, for they +belong to the false Prince of Grêkaland. And then sail to the Roman +citadel or to Raven, and help the people of King Thidrekr against their +enemies. And fight for them by land and water, and stand by them until +all their enemies are overcome. And then speak to them and say: Thus +advises King Frode, who will soon have seen a hundred winters, and who +has seen the rise and fall of many peoples, and who, as a young Viking, +has himself visited the Southland. This is his advice: 'Leave the +Southland, however beautiful it may be. You cannot endure therein. As +little as the iceberg can endure when it drifts into the southern sea. +The sun, air, and waves consume it continually, and be it ever so +mighty, it must melt away and leave not a trace behind. It is better to +live in the poor Northland than to die in the rich Southland. Go on +board our dragon-ships, and equip your own, and fill them with all your +people; men, women, and children; and with your oxen and horses, and +weapons and treasures; and leave the hot ground that will surely +swallow you up, and come away to us. We will press closely together and +make room, or take as much land from the Wends and Esthes as you need. +And you shall be preserved fresh and green. Down there the southern +sun withers and scorches you.' This is the advice of King Frode, whom +men have called the Wise for fifty years. Now as we passed into the sea +of Midilgard, we had already heard from seafarers that your troubles +had been put an end to by a new King, whom they described as looking +like the god Baldur; that you had re-won the Roman citadel and all the +land of Gardarike, and had even victoriously carried destruction into +part of Grêkaland itself. And now we see with our own eyes that you do +not need the aid of our weapons. You live in plenty and pleasure, and +everything is full of red gold and white stone. But still I must repeat +my father's words and advice; listen to him; he is wise! Until now, +every one who has despised King Frode's advice, has bitterly regretted +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila shook his head, smiled, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"We owe you and King Frode warm thanks for rare and noble +faithfulness. +Such brotherly love from the Northern heroes shall never be forgotten +in the songs of the Goths. But, O King Harald, follow me and look about +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Totila rose and took his guest by the hand, and led him to +the +entrance of the pavilion, casting back the hanging curtains.</p> + +<p class="normal">There lay river and land and city in the glowing light of the +setting +sun.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at this land, wonderful in the beauty of its sky and +soil and +art. Look at this Tiber-stream, covered by a happy, jubilant, and +handsome people. Look at these masses of laurel and myrtle. Cast thine +eyes upon the columned palaces, which shine across from Rome in the +evening rays; on the tall marble figures upon these terrace-steps--and +say thou, if all this were thine, wouldst thou ever leave it? Wouldst +thou exchange all this magnificence for the firs and pines of the +cold land of the north, where spring-time never blooms, for the +smoke-blackened wooden huts on the misty heaths?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye, that I would, by Thorns hammer! This land is good to lay +waste, +to luxuriate and win battles in; but that done, then up and away with +the booty! But you, Goths, are thrown here like drops of water upon hot +iron. And if ever we sons of Odin shall rule this land, it will be only +such of us as have a strong support in other sons of Odin. But you--you +have already become very different to us. Your grandfathers, your +fathers, and yourselves have wooed Roman women; in a few generations, +if this continue, you will be Romanised. Already you have become +smaller, and darker in skin, eyes, and hair. At least many of you. I +long to be away from this soft and sultry air, and to breathe the north +wind that rushes over our woods and waves. Yes, and I long for the +smoke-blackened halls of wood, where Gothic runes are burnt into the +roof-beams, and the harps of the Skalds hang on the wooden pillars, and +the sacred hearth-fire glows hospitably for ever! I long for our +Northland, for it is our home!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then permit us to love <i>our</i> home: this land Italia!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will never be your home; but perhaps your grave. You are +strangers +and will remain so. Or you will become Romanised. But there is no +abiding in the land possible for you as sons of Odin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us at least try, my brother Harald," cried Totila, +laughing. "Yes, +we have changed in the two centuries during which our people have lived +among the laurels. But are we the worse for it? Is it necessary to wear +a bearskin in order to be a hero? Is it necessary to rob gold and +marble statues in order to enjoy them? Can one be only either a +barbarian or a Roman? Can we not keep the virtues of the Germans and +lay aside their faults? Adopt the virtues of the Romans without their +vices?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Harald shook his massive head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should rejoice at your success, but I do not believe in it. +The +plant takes the nature of the soil and climate upon and under which it +lives. And, for my part, I should not at all like it, even if I and +mine could succeed. Our faults are dearer to me than the virtues of the +Italians--if they have any."</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila remembered the words with which he himself had answered +Julius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"From the north comes all strength--the world belongs to the +Northmen," +concluded Harald.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell it to them in the words of thy favourite song," said his +sister.</p> + +<p class="normal">And she handed him her harp; and Harald played and sang an +alliterative +measure, or <i>stabreim</i>, which Adalgoth, translating it into rhymed +verse, thus repeated to Valeria:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t6">"Thor stood at the midnight end of the world,</p> +<p class="t8">And the battle-axe flew from his hand.</p> +<p class="t6">'As far as the battle-axe flies when hurled,</p> +<p class="t8">Is mine the sea and the land!'</p> +<p class="t6">And the hammer flew from his powerful hand</p> +<p class="t8">Like chaff by a hurricane blown:</p> +<p class="t6">And it fell in the farthest southern-land,</p> +<p class="t8">So that all became his own.</p> +<p class="t6">Since then 'tis German right and grace</p> +<p class="t8">With the hammer the lands to merit;</p> +<p class="t6">We come of the Hammer-God's noble race,</p> +<p class="t8">And his world-wide realm will inherit!"</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">A burst of applause from his Gothic hearers rewarded the royal +minstrel, who looked as if he could well realise the proud boast of the +song.</p> + +<p class="normal">Harald once more emptied his deep golden cup. Then he rose and +said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, my little sister Haralda, and you, my sailor brothers, +we must +break up. We must be on board the <i>Midgardschlange</i> before the moon +shines upon her deck. What says the Wikinga-Balk?--</p> + +<p class="text20">"'Ill sleeps the ship<br> +When her pilot lies on shore.'</p> + +<p class="continue">"Long friendship--short parting; that is northern custom."</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila laid his hand upon his guest's arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Art thou in such haste? Fearest thou to become Romanised with +us? Do +but remain; it does not come so quickly. And with thee would scarcely +happen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There thou art right, Rome-King," laughed the giant; "and, by +Thor's +hammer, I am proud of it! But we must go. We had three things to do +here. To help you in battle. You do not need us. Or do you? Shall we +wait until new wars break out?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Totila, with a smile; "we have peace and not new +strife in +view. And if it should really once more come to a war--shall I prove +thee right, brother Harald, in thinking us Goths too weak to uphold our +rule alone? Have we not beaten our enemies without your help? Could we +not beat them again, we Goths alone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought as much," said the Viking. "Secondly, we came to +fetch you +back to the Northland. You will not come. And, thirdly, to lay waste +the islands of the Emperor of Grêkaland. That is a merry sport, which +we have not sufficiently practised. Come with us, help us, and revenge +yourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; the word of a king is sacred. We have agreed to an +armistice which +has still several months to run. And listen, friend Harald. Have a care +and do not mistake <i>our</i> islands for those of the Emperor. It would +displease me if----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," laughed Harald, "fear nothing. We have already +noticed that +thy harbours and coasts are excellently guarded. And here and there +thou hast erected high gallows, and affixed to them tablets inscribed +with Roman runes. Thy commodore at Panormus translated it to us:</p> + +<p class="text20">"'Sea-robbers drowned,<br> +Land-robbers hanged;<br> +That is the law<br> +In Totila's land.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my sea-brothers have taken a great dislike to thy sticks +and +tablets and runes. Farewell, then, Rome-King of the Goths! May thy +good-fortune endure! Farewell, lovely Queen of Night! Farewell, all you +heroes! we shall meet again in Walhalla, if not sooner."</p> + +<p class="normal">And after taking a short leave, the northerners walked away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Haralda threw her falcon into the air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly before us, Snotr--on deck!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the intelligent bird flew away, swift as an arrow, +straight down +the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King and Valeria accompanied their guests halfway down the +staircase; there they exchanged the last greetings. The Amazon cast one +more rapid glance at Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">Harald remarked it, and as they descended the last steps he +whispered:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Little sister, it is on thy account that I left so quickly. +Do not +grieve about this handsome King. Thou knowest that I have inherited +from our father the gift of recognising men who are fated to die. I +tell thee, death by the spear hovers over this King's sunny head. He +will not again see the changing of the moon."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this the strong and tender-hearted woman forced back the +tears which +rose into her proud eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Duke Guntharis, Earl Teja, and Duke Adalgoth accompanied the +Goths to +their boats on the Tiber, and waited until they had put off.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja looked after them gravely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, King Frode is wise," he said. "But folly is often +sweeter than +truth; and grander. Go back to the terrace without me, Duke Guntharis. +I see the King's despatch-boat coming up the river. I will wait and see +what news it brings."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will wait with thee, my master," said Adalgoth, looking at +Teja +anxiously. "Thy countenance is so terribly grave. What is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a foreboding, my Adalgoth," answered Teja, putting his +arm +round the youth's neck. "See how rapidly the sun sets. I shudder! Let +us go and meet the boat--it will land below there, where lie the +ancient marble columns."</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila and Valeria had returned to the pavilion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wert thou moved, my beloved," asked the Roman girl with +emotion, "by +what that stranger said? It was--Guntharis and Teja explained it to +me--of very grave import."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila quickly raised his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Valeria, it did not move me! I have taken great +Theodoric's great +work upon my shoulders. I will live and die for the dream of my youth, +for my kingdom! Come--where is Adalgoth, my cup-bearer? Come; let us +once more pledge a cup, Valeria--let us drink to the good fortune of +the Gothic kingdom!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he lifted up his cup; but before he could put it to his +lips, +Adalgoth, with a loud call, hurried up the steps followed by Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">"King Totila," cried Adalgoth breathlessly, "prepare to hear +terrible +news; collect thyself----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila set down his cup and asked, turning pale:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thy despatch-boat has brought news from Ancona. The Emperor +has broken +the armistice--he has----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja had now drawn near. He was pale with fury.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Up, King Totila!" he cried. "Exchange the wreath for the +helmet! Off +Senogallia, near Ancona, a Byzantine fleet suddenly attacked our +squadron which lay under the protection of the armistice. Our ships +no more exist. A powerful army of the enemy has landed. And the +commander-in-chief is--Cethegus the Prefect!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">In the camp of Cethegus the Prefect at Setinum, at the foot of +the +Apennines, a few miles north of Taginæ, Lucius Licinius, who had just +arrived by sea from Epidamnus, was walking up and down, in eager +conversation with Syphax, before the tent of the commander-in-chief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My master has been anxiously expecting you, tribune, for many +days," +said the Moor; "he will be rejoiced to find you in the camp when he +returns. He has ridden out to reconnoitre."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whither rode he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Towards Taginæ, with Piso and the other tribunes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the next fortified town occupied by the Goths to the +south, is +it not? But now, you wise Moor, tell me what happened last at +Byzantium? You know that your master sent me to levy forces among the +Longobardians, long before anything was decided. And as, after a +dangerous journey through the country of the Longobardians and Gepidæ, +I safely crossed the rapid Ister near Novæ into Justinian's kingdom, +and went to fetch the promised orders of the Prefect from my host at +Nicopolis, I only found a laconic command to meet him in Senogallia. I +was much astonished; for I scarcely dared to hope that he would ever +again, at the head of the imperial fleet and army, victoriously tread +the soil of Italy. From Senogallia I followed your march hither. The +few captains whom I have met in the camp told me briefly of the course +of events until shortly before the arrest of Belisarius. But they could +not tell me how that occurred, and what took place later. Now you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I know what happened almost as well as my master, for I +was +present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it possible? Can Belisarius really have conspired against +the +Emperor? I could never have believed it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Syphax smiled slyly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no right to judge of that. I can only tell you exactly +what +happened. Listen--but come into the tent and refresh yourself. My +master would scold me for letting you stand outside unattended to. And +we can talk more freely inside," he added, as he closed the curtains of +the tent behind him. Then begging his master's guest to be seated, he +served him with fruit and wine, and began his account. "As the night of +that fateful day fell, I went and hid myself in a niche of Photius's +house, behind the tall statue of some Christian saint, whose name I do +not know, but who had a famous broad back. I could easily look into the +hall of the house through an aperture just above my head, which had +been made to allow the passage of fresh air. The faint light within +enabled me to distinguish a number of the aristocrats whom I had often +seen in the imperial palace, and in the houses of Belisarius and +Procopius. The first thing that I understood--for my master has taken +care that I should learn the speech of the Greeks who call themselves +Romani--was what the master of the house was saying to a man who had +just then entered. 'Rejoice,' he said, 'for Belisarius comes. After +scarcely deigning to look at me yesterday when, full of expectation, I +stopped him in the gymnasium of Zenon, to-day he himself addressed me +as I was slowly and cautiously passing his house, for I knew that he +would return from the hunt towards evening. He pressed this waxen +tablet into my hand, first looking round to make sure that no one +observed him. And on the tablet is written: "I cannot longer withstand +your appeals. Certain reasons impel me to join you. I shall come this +evening." But,' continued the master of the house, 'where is Piso, +where is Salvius Julianus and the other young Romans?' 'They will not +be coming,' answered the man. 'I saw almost all of them in boats on the +Bosphorus. They have no doubt sailed to some feast at the Prefect's +villa, near the Gate of Constantine.' 'Let them go,' said Photius; 'we +do not need the brutal Latins, nor the proud and false Prefect. Verily, +Belisarius outweighs them all.' At that moment I saw Belisarius enter +the hall. He wore an ample mantle, which entirely hid his figure. The +master of the house hurried to meet him, and all present gathered +respectfully around him. 'Great Belisarius,' said his freedman, 'we +know how to value your compliance.' And he pressed upon Belisarius the +little ivory staff which is held by the head of the assembly, and led +him to the raised seat of the president, which he himself had just +vacated. 'Speak--command--act--we are ready,' said Photius. 'I shall +act at the right time,' answered Belisarius gloomily, and took his +seat. Just then young Anicius rushed into the room with tangled hair +and flying garments; a drawn sword in his hand. 'Fly!' he cried. 'We +are discovered and betrayed.' Belisarius rose. 'They have forced my +house,' continued Anicius. 'My slaves were taken prisoners. The weapons +which I had hidden were found, and your letters and documents, and, +alas, my own too, have disappeared from a hiding-place which was known +only to me! And still more--as I turned into the grove of Constantine, +I thought I heard the sound of whispering and the rattle of arms +amongst the bushes. I am followed--save yourselves!' The conspirators +rushed to the doors. Belisarius alone remained quietly standing before +his chair. 'Take heart!' cried Photius. 'Follow the example of your +hero-chief!' But the sound of a trumpet was heard from the great +house-door, the sign for me to leave my post and join my master, who +stormed into the house at the head of the imperial lance-bearers and +Golden Shields, with the Prefect of Byzantium, and the archon of the +palace-guard. My master looked splendid," continued Syphax +enthusiastically, "as, with a flaming torch in his left hand, a sword +in his right, and his crimson plume floating behind him, he rushed into +the hall; so looks the fire-demon when he issues from a blazing +mountain in Africa! I drew my sword and sprang to my master's left +side, for he carried no shield. He had ordered me to render young +Anicius harmless as soon as possible. 'Down with all who resist, in the +name of Justinian!' cried my master. His sword was dripping with blood, +for he had killed with his own hand the body-guards whom Belisarius had +placed at the entrance of the grove. 'Yield!' he cried to the +frightened crowd; 'and thou, archon of the palace, arrest <i>all</i> the +conspirators. Do you understand--<i>all</i>!' 'Is it possible! Shameless +traitor!' cried Anicius, and rushed at my master with his sword. 'Yes,' +he cried, 'there is the crimson crest! Die, murderer of my brother!' +But the next moment he lay at our feet, severely wounded. I drew my +sword out of his breast, and then disarmed Photius, who was the only +one who still resisted. All the others allowed themselves to be taken +like sheep bewildered by a thunder-storm. 'Bravo, Syphax!' cried my +master. 'Examine his dress for any writings.' Then he turned to the +archon, asking him if he were ready, for he had stopped hesitatingly +opposite Belisarius, who remained perfectly quiet. 'What!' asked the +archon--'must I also arrest the magister militum?' '<i>All</i>, I said. 'Do +you no longer understand Greek? You see--all see--that Belisarius is at +the head of the conspiracy--he holds the president's staff, he occupies +the president's chair.' 'Ha!' now cried Belisarius; 'is it so! Guards! +Help, help, my body-guards! Marcellus, Barbatio, Ardaburius!" 'The dead +cannot hear, magister militum,' said my master. 'Yield, in the name of +the Emperor! Here is his great seal. For this night he has made me his +representative, and a thousand lances bristle round this house.' +'Fidelity is madness!' cried Belisarius, threw his sword away, and held +out his strong arms to the archon, who put on the chains. 'Into the +dungeons with all the prisoners,' said my master. 'Photius and +Belisarius must be put separately into the round tower of Anastasius, +in the palace. I will hasten to the Emperor and return his ring, and +take him this steel'--he lifted the sword of Belisarius from the +ground--'and tell him that he may sleep in peace. The conspiracy is +crushed--the Empire is saved!'--The very next morning the trial for +high treason was commenced. Many witnesses were heard--I amongst them. +I swore that I had seen Belisarius received and heard him greeted as +the head of the conspiracy. I myself had taken the tablet from the +dress of Photius. Belisarius would have appealed to the testimony of +his bodyguards, but they were all dead. Photius and other prisoners, +submitted to the rack, confessed that Belisarius had finally consented +to become the head of the conspiracy. Antonina was strictly guarded in +the Red House. The Empress refused to grant the interview for which she +passionately sued. It told strongly against both her and Belisarius +when spies of the Empress bore witness that they had seen young Anicius +steal by night into the house of Belisarius for weeks together. And it +shocked the judges that Anicius himself, Antonina and Belisarius, +continued obstinately to deny their guilt, although it was so fully +proved. Immediately after the arrest I was sent for by my master, to +tell Antonina that he had been most painfully surprised to find that +Belisarius was <i>really</i> at the head of the conspiracy; and at the same +time to say that he had found not alone letters of hatred in the +cistern belonging to Anicius. As I said these words, which I did not +understand, the beautiful wife of Belisarius fell fainting to the +ground.--We left Byzantium before Belisarius was sentenced; but Photius +and most of the others were already condemned to death as we set sail +with the imperial fleet for Epidamnus, where my master's tribunes and +mercenaries, and the imperial forces originally intended for the +Persian wars, were awaiting us. For my master had been honoured with +the newly-created dignity of Magister Militum per Italium, and the +command of the 'first army.' The 'second army' was to be brought after +us by Prince Areobindos, when he had accomplished the easy task of +overpowering the small Gothic garrisons in the towns of Epirus and the +islands with a force five times their number."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is said will be the punishment of Belisarius?" asked +Lucius +Licinius. "I could never have believed that that man----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The judge will certainly condemn him to death, for his guilt +is clear. +But people speculate as to whether the Emperor's anger or his former +affection for the general will get the victory. Most of them think that +the Emperor will change the sentence of death into one of banishment +and loss of sight. My master says that Belisarius's senseless denial of +his guilt does him great harm. And he is also without the assistance of +his wise friend Procopius, who is absent in Asia. Cethegus managed the +embarkation of the troops to Epidamnus with such secrecy that the +stupid Goths, who, besides, reckoned upon the armistice, were +completely taken by surprise; and while the crews were sleeping on +shore, the scantily-guarded Gothic fleet was taken and destroyed. But +hark! here comes my master; he alone has such a proud step?"</p> + +<p class="normal">From Licinius Cethegus now learned that not only had he +obtained a +promise from Alboin, the Longobardian chief, that he would come to the +help of Cethegus with twenty thousand men (a number which the latter, +always jealous, found almost too great), but that he had succeeded in +engaging other warlike troops of mercenaries.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus, on his side, informed Lucius that, although he had +been able +to relieve Ravenna, he had met with much hindrance on the part of his +own countrymen, who were slow to rise in revolt against the Goths; and +that only with the Byzantines under his command, it would be impossible +to beat Totila. He complained bitterly of the delay of Areobindos in +bringing up the "second army," and regretted that he had been unable to +reach Taginæ before Earl Teja, who had beaten the Saracens there posted +with great loss, and had taken up a strong position in the expectation +of being speedily joined by King Totila with the army.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Taginæ is the key of the position," concluded Cethegus. +"Earl Teja +must have flown from Rome on the wings of the wind! I have tried to-day +to ascertain the strength of his garrison, but I could not penetrate +beyond Capræ. The barbarian King is already on the march, and where, +oh! where tarries my 'second army?'"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The next day Totila reached Taginæ, accompanied by Valeria and +Julius. +He had hastened forward to join Teja with a portion of his troops, +while Wisand and Guntharis reached him later with the main army. Only +after their arrival could any attack be made upon the very strong +position of the Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus, too, attempted no assault, but while thus inactive, +awaiting +his "second army," he once more, and in vain, endeavoured to regain the +lost affection of Julius. He went to Taginæ to meet him at a spot +between the outposts of the opposing forces. He tried all possible +means to induce him to return to his allegiance, even unveiling the +history of his past life. The mother of Julius had once been betrothed +to Cethegus, but her father had been persuaded by Duke Alaric to break +off the match, and to give her in marriage to a Gothic noble. On the +day of her wedding, Cethegus, mad with grief, had tried to carry her +off by force, but, overpowered by numbers, had been struck down, and +thrown, seemingly lifeless, on the banks of the Tiber. Many years +after, he had found Julius, a young boy, forsaken, with his dying +mother, in their villa on the banks of the Rhodus, which had been +sacked by bands of marauders. From that moment Cethegus had adopted the +son of his lost bride.--But in vain he now appealed to the gratitude of +his adopted son. Julius not only recoiled with horror from any further +connection with a man whose ruthless hands were stained with blood, but +his deepening religious feeling separated him entirely from the avowed +atheist.</p> + +<p class="normal">And, blow upon blow, Cethegus was disappointed in another +matter. The +"second army" was at last reported as approaching. Syphax brought the +news; he had ridden night and day in order to reach the Prefect +before this army should arrive, for at its head was, not Areobindos, +but--<i>Narses</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vexed and alarmed, Cethegus left his camp, and rode forward to +meet +Narses, with whom he found Alboin, the Longobardian chief. Narses +received him with marked coolness, and at once explained to him that he +could suffer no rival in his camp; that Cethegus must either serve +under him as one of his generals, or remain inactive as his <i>guest</i>. +Clearly seeing that he must either submit or be a prisoner, Cethegus at +once affirmed that he considered it an honour to serve under Narses, +and together the generals reached a favourable position between +Helvillum and Taginæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">And a mighty army was that of Narses, with which he had +advanced from +the north and east in terrible strides, driving before him the Goths +from position to position, making no prisoners, but inexorably +annihilating all who stood in his way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila had but a small force to oppose to these numbers, for +his army +had been fearfully diminished; and now, when the Italians foresaw the +probable consequences of the renewed war, and that the Goths were being +slowly but surely overcome, they ceased to rally round Totila's flag, +and even, where they felt themselves safe, betrayed the hiding-places +of the Gothic people to the Byzantines. The persecuted Gothic families +fled, and sought protection in the camp of Totila, who, fearing the +famine sure to be caused by the accumulation of helpless masses, sent +them still farther south to those parts of the peninsula yet uninvaded +by Narses.</p> + +<p class="normal">Surrounded by his Earls, Totila now formed a plan by which he +intended +to entice the centre of the army of Narses (which was held by the +Longobardians) into an ambush between Capræ and Taginæ. Reckoning upon +the headlong valour of the Longobardians, Totila determined to place +the full half of his troops in the town of Capræ, leaving the other +half in Taginæ. Totila himself, with his small troop of horsemen, would +advance beyond Capræ against the Longobardians; and at the moment of +attack, would turn, feigning a sudden panic; would gallop back through +the gates of Capræ (the troops there remaining concealed in the +houses), and thus draw on the Longobardians to pursue him into the +narrow road, between low hills, which lay between Capræ and Taginæ. At +this spot Totila would place in ambush a troop of Persian horsemen, +which had been unexpectedly brought to him by his old friend and rival, +Furius Ahalla, who had orders, when the Longobardians were fairly taken +in the trap, to issue from their ambush, and annihilate them. Totila +counted upon the fidelity of Ahalla, who was bound to him by strong +ties of gratitude in spite of the defeat he had suffered in his suit of +Valeria. This plan of Totila was highly approved of by Hildebrand, and +all the warriors who shared his counsels.</p> + +<p class="normal">The evening before the day of its execution all was in +readiness. +Furius Ahalla and his horsemen were posted in the narrow road, the +"Flaminian Way." Earl Thorismuth himself went out to make sure that +they had punctually obeyed orders. When he returned to Totila's camp, +he brought word that Furius Ahalla begged Totila to delay his attack +and feigned flight on the morrow, until three hundred of his best men, +who had been delayed on the march, should have joined him; of which +event he would immediately apprise Totila outside the gates of Capræ.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Totila, smiling, "I will await the proper moment, +and +meantime entertain the Longobardians by my feats of horsemanship. +To-morrow, Teja, God will decide the right. Thou sayest there is no God +but necessity. I say there is a living God--my victory to-morrow shall +prove it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay," cried Julius, who was present, "ye shall not tempt the +Lord!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seest thou," cried Teja, as he rose and took up his shield, +"Julius +fears for his God!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Brilliantly arose the sun on the next morning, casting its +first beams +over the warlike movement in the Gothic camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the King issued from his dwelling in the marketplace of +Taginæ, +Adalgoth, Thorismuth, and Phaza hurried to meet him with his milk-white +charger, sent, together with a magnificent suit of armour, by Valeria, +his bride.</p> + +<p class="normal">His arms rang as the King swung himself into the saddle.</p> + +<p class="normal">His grooms led up two other horses in reserve, one of which +was Pluto, +the Prefect's restless and fiery charger.</p> + +<p class="normal">From Totila's shoulders flowed his long white mantle, held +together at +the neck by a broad and heavy clasp set with precious stones. His +cuirass was of shining silver, richly inlaid with gold, the figure of a +flying swan upon the breast. The edges of the cuirass at the neck, +arms, and belt, were bound with red silk. Beneath it showed the coat of +white silk, reaching over the thighs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Broad gold bracelets and silvered gauntlets protected his arms +and +hands; greaves his knees and the top of his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">His narrow and gracefully-shaped shield was divided into three +fields +of silver, gold, and crimson. On the golden field the figure of the +flying swan was wrought in white enamel.</p> + +<p class="normal">The caparison and reins of his horse were set with silver and +embroidered with red silk.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his right hand the King held a spear, to the point of which +Valeria +had fastened four streamers of red and white riband; merrily they +fluttered in the morning breeze.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus brilliantly arrayed, the King rode through the streets of +Taginæ +at the head of his horsemen. Earl Thorismuth, Phaza, and Duke Adalgoth, +and also Julius, rode in his train. Julius carried no weapons, but he +bore a shield forged by Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">Never had Totila shone in such beauty! The people greeted him +upon his +way with shouts of joy. At the northern gate of Taginæ, Aligern came +riding towards him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought that thy place was with the right wing," said the +King. +"What brings thee here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My cousin Teja has ordered me to remain at thy side and guard +thy +life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Teja is untiring in his care of me!" cried the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">Aligern joined the escort.</p> + +<p class="normal">Earl Thorismuth now undertook the command of the footmen who +were +hidden in the houses of Taginæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">Outside the gate, the King rode to the front of his not very +numerous +troop of horsemen, and disclosed his plan to the captains.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I entrust to you, comrades, the most difficult of all +tasks--flight! +But the flight will be only seeming. What is true, is your courage and +the destruction of the foe."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the small troop rode forward past the place of ambush +on the +Flaminian Way, the King convincing himself that the Persian horsemen +were in readiness upon both the wooded heights. The ambush on the right +was commanded by Furius himself, that on the left by his chief, +Isdigerd.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila now rode into Capræ through the southern gate, and +admonished +the bowmen under Earl Wisand not to issue from the houses in which they +were concealed, until the Persian horsemen had fallen upon the +Longobardians from their ambush, but then immediately to sally out of +the southern gate, while at the same time the spear-bearers would +advance against the enemy from the northern gate of Taginæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thus the Longobardians and such of Narses' foot who have +pressed +forward between Capræ and Taginæ will be surrounded on all sides and +crushed. I and Thorismuth attack in front, Furius and Isdigerd on both +flanks, and Wisand in the rear. They will be lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does he not look like the sun-god?" Adalgoth delightedly +asked Julius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Peace! Make no idol of sun or man! Besides, to-day is the +solstice!" +answered Julius.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length the King reached the northern gate of Capræ, left it +open +behind him, and galloped out with his little troop upon the level land +between Capræ and Helvillum.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here Narses had placed his centre; foremost Alboin with his +Longobardians. Behind these, at a considerable distance, stood Narses +in his litter, surrounded by Cethegus, Liberius, Auzalas, and other +leaders.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses had had a bad night, disturbed by slight fits. He was +very weak, +and could not stand up for any length of time in his low and open +litter.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had strictly admonished Alboin not to advance to the attack +without +special orders.</p> + +<p class="normal">King Totila gave a sign to his horsemen, and at a trot the +thin line +advanced towards the far superior ranks of the Longobardians.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They surely will not shame us by attacking us with only a few +lances?" +cried Alboin.</p> + +<p class="normal">But an attack did not seem to be the present object of the +King.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had ridden far in advance of his men, who had suddenly +halted, and +now attracted all eyes by his feats of horsemanship.</p> + +<p class="normal">The spectacle which he afforded was so wonderful in the eyes +of the +Byzantines, that the witnesses related it in astonishment to Procopius, +who, himself amazed, has remitted it to us.</p> + +<p class="normal">"On this day," he writes, "King Totila evidently wished to +show his +enemies what manner of man he was. His weapons and his horse shone with +gold. So many shining red streamers fluttered from the point of his +spear that this ornament alone announced the King from a distance. +Thus, mounted on a splendid charger, in the space between the two +armies, did he indulge in a skilful exercise of arms. Now he rode in a +circle; now he caracoled in semicircles to the right and left; now he +hurled his spear into the air, as he rode off at full gallop, and +caught it by the middle of the shaft as it fell quivering, first with +his right hand, and then with his left; and thus he showed to the +wondering troops his feats of horsemanship."</p> + +<p class="normal">After the battle, however, the Byzantines learned the true +reason of +this merry sport.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a time Alboin looked on quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he said to a Longobardian chief who stood near him:</p> + +<p class="normal">"That fellow rides to the battle-field adorned like a +bridegroom! What +costly armour! We do not see the like at home, Gisulf. And not to dare +to attack! Does Narses again sleep?"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">At last a Persian horseman, making his way through the ranks +of the +Goths, galloped up to the King, gave a message, and galloped back again +at full speed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At last!" cried Totila. "Now enough of sport! Brave Alboin, +son of +Audoin," he loudly cried across to the enemy's ranks, "wilt thou really +fight for the Greeks against us? Then come on, O King's son--it is a +King who calls thee?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Alboin could no longer restrain his impatience.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mine must he be with armour and horse!" he shouted, and +spurred +forward with his lance couched.</p> + +<p class="normal">Totila, with a gentle pressure of his thigh, brought his horse +to a +sudden standstill. It seemed that he intended to stand the shock.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alboin came on at a furious gallop.</p> + +<p class="normal">Another slight pressure of Totila's thigh, a clever spring to +one side, +and the Longobardian, who could not check his horse, rushed far past +his adversary.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the next moment Totila was at Alboin's back; he could +easily have +bored him through with his spear.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Longobardians, seeing the danger of their chief, uttered +loud cries +and hurried to his assistance.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila whirled his lance round, and contented himself with +giving +his adversary such a thrust in the left side with the shaft end, that +Alboin fell headlong out of his saddle on the right side of his horse. +Totila quietly rode back to his troop, waving his spear over his head +in triumph.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alboin had remounted, and now led his troop against the thin +ranks of +the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">But just before the shock of meeting, the King cried, "Fly! +fly into +the town!" turned his horse's head, and galloped away towards Capræ.</p> + +<p class="normal">His horsemen followed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">For one moment Alboin halted in perplexity. But the next he +cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is nothing else; it is a pure flight! There they run into +the gate! +Yes, feats of horsemanship are one thing, and fighting is another. +After them, my wolves! into the town!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Longobardians galloped forwards to Capræ, burst open +the +northern gate--which had been closed, but not bolted, by the flying +Goths--and rushed through the long street towards the southern gate, +through which the last Goth was just disappearing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses had till now stood upright in his litter with +difficulty, +observing all that passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Halt!" he angrily cried. "Halt! Blow the trumpets! Sound the +retreat! +It is the most clumsy trap in the world! But this Alboin thinks that if +any one runs away from him, it must be in earnest!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the trumpeters blew in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">The cries of victory uttered by the pursuing Longobardians, +drowned the +blast of the trumpets; or those that heard it disregarded it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses groaned as he saw the last ranks of the Longobardians +disappear +into the Gate of Capræ.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" he sighed; "those blockheads oblige me to commit a folly +with +open eyes. I cannot let them suffer for their stupidity as they +deserve. I still need them. Therefore, forward, in the name of +nonsense! Before we can overtake them, they may be already half +destroyed! Forward, Cethegus, Anzalas, and Liberius! Take the +Isaurians, Armenians, and Illyrians, and get into Capræ. But reflect +that the town <i>cannot</i> be empty. It is a snare, into which we follow +those blind bulls with open eyes. I will come after in my litter; but I +can stand no more."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he sank back into his seat, terribly fatigued. A slight +convulsion, +such as he often experienced when excited, shook his frame.</p> + +<p class="normal">The footmen of Cethegus and Liberius advanced towards the town +at a +rapid march, the two leaders riding in front.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile pursued and pursuers had rushed through the little +town, and +the last Longobardians had passed Capræ, while the first, with Alboin, +had reached that part of the Flaminian Way where the two hills bounded +and confined the road on the right and left.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King galloped forward another horse's length; then he +halted, +turned, and gave a sign.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalgoth, who rode at his side, blew his horn, and out of the +northern +gate of Taginæ issued Thorismuth and his spear-bearers, while from the +double ambush on the hills the Persian horsemen of the Corsican burst +out with a yell and a blast of cornets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now wheel about, my Goths! Forward to the charge! Woe to the +befooled!" cried Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alboin looked helplessly round.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have never before trotted into anything so evil, my +wolves!" he +said.</p> + +<p class="normal">He would have retreated, but now Gothic footmen issued +likewise from +the southern gate of Capræ, blocking the way back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is nothing for it but to die merrily, Gisulf! Greet +Rosimunda, +if thou escapest!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he turned to meet one of the leaders of the Persian +horsemen, who, +distinguished by a richly-gilded open helm, had now reached the road, +and was advancing straight upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he came up to Alboin, he of the gilded helmet cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn, Longobardian! yonder stands our common foe! <i>Down with +the +Goths!</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he ran his sword through a Gothic horseman who was aiming +a stroke +at Alboin.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the Persian horsemen, galloping past the +Longobardians, +attacked the horrified Goths. For a moment the latter halted, taken by +surprise. But when they saw that it was no mistake--that the ambush was +against <i>them</i>, and not against the Longobardians--they cried, +"Treachery, treachery! all is lost!" and, this time in unfeigned +flight, rushed back to Taginæ, carrying everything along with them, +even their own footmen, who were just issuing from the gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even the King changed countenance when he saw the Corsican +strike at +the Goths at Alboin's side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is treachery!" he cried. "Ha! the tiger! Down with +him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he rushed at the Corsican. But before he could reach him, +Isdigerd +the Persian had stormed into the road from the left between the King +and Furius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aim at the King!" he cried to his men. "All spears at the +King! There +he is, the white one! With the swan on his helmet! Down with him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A hail of spears whistled through the air. In a moment the +King's +shield bristled with darts.</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time the Corsican had recognised the tall and +glittering figure +in the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is he! I will have his heart's blood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he forced his way through his own and Isdigerd's men.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two enraged adversaries were now separated only by a few +feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Totila had turned against Isdigerd. Pierced in the neck by +the +King's spear, the chief fell dead to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Totila and Furius met.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Corsican aimed his spear full at the King's unprotected +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">But suddenly the glittering helmet and the white mantle had +disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Two spears had struck the white horse, and at the same time a +third +pierced the King's shield and wounded his left arm severely.</p> + +<p class="normal">Horse and man fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Isdigerd's Persians raised a wild cry of exultation and +pressed +forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">Furius and Alboin spurred their horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare the King's life! take him prisoner! He spared me!" +cried Alboin.</p> + +<p class="normal">For he had been greatly touched when Gisulf told him that he +distinctly +saw the King change the point of his spear for the shaft.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! Down with Totila!" cried Furius.</p> + +<p class="normal">And he hurled his spear at the wounded man, whom Aligern was +trying to +lift upon the Prefect's horse and lead out of the fight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Julius caught the Corsican's first spear upon Teja's proven +shield.</p> + +<p class="normal">Furius called for a second, and aimed at the press around the +King; +Phaza, the Armenian, tried to parry the stroke and received the spear +in his heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Furius, who had now spurred close up, raised his long and +crooked +scimetar against the King. But before the stroke could fall the +Corsican fell backwards from his saddle.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Duke of Apulia had thrust the staff of his banner +with such +force against Ahalla's breast that the wood was shattered.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Totila's banner--the costly work of Valeria and her +women--was +in the greatest danger in Adalgoth's hands. For all the enemy's horse +pressed upon the bold young standard-bearer; a stroke of Gisulf's axe +struck the staff and broke it again--Adalgoth tore off the silken flag +and tucked it into his sword-belt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alboin had now come up, and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yield, thou King of the Goths--to me, a King's son!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Aligern had just succeeded in lifting the King on to the +Prefect's +horse; he turned to the Longobardian, who, wishing to stay the +King's flight but to save his life, aimed a stroke at the latter's +horse with his spear. But the next moment Aligern had cleft Alboin's +vulture-winged helmet, and, stunned, the latter wavered in his saddle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, the leaders of their enemies being for the moment +repulsed, +Adalgoth, Aligern, and Julius had time to lead the King out of the +tumult as far as the northern gate of Taginæ. From this place the King +would have conducted the battle, but he could scarcely hold himself +upright in his saddle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thorismuth," he said, "thou must defend Taginæ; for the +present Capræ +is lost. Let a mounted messenger fetch the whole of Hildebrand's wing +here; the road to Rome must be kept open at all costs. Teja, as I +learned, has already joined in the battle with his left wing.--To +defend the retreat to the south--is our last hope!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And, saying this, he swooned away.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Earl Thorismuth said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I and my spearmen will defend Taginæ to the last man. Not a +foe shall +get in here; neither the Persians nor the Longobardians. I will protect +the King's life as long as I can raise a finger. Take him farther back; +into the mountain--into the cloister but make haste, for there, from +the Gate of Capræ, come the enemy's foot--and, look there!--Cethegus +the Prefect with his Isaurians! Capræ and our bowmen are lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And so it was.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wisand, obeying his orders, had not defended Capræ, but had +allowed +Cethegus and Liberius to enter, and only when they were fairly inside +the town did he begin the fight in the streets, at the same time +sending a thousand of his men out of the southern gate to attack the +Longobardians.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, as the ambuscades had fallen upon the Goths instead of +the +Longobardians; as Alboin and Furius united in dispersing or +annihilating the few Gothic horsemen, and the attack intended by the +spearmen from Taginæ did not take place; the Gothic bowmen, first in +Capræ itself, and then on the Flaminian Way, between Capræ and Taginæ, +were quickly crushed by superior force.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wisand escaped as if by a miracle, and, though wounded, +reached Taginæ +and reported the annihilation of his troops.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses was carried into Capræ, and the Illyrians began to +storm Taginæ. +Earl Thorismuth resisted heroically. He fought his best in order to +cover the retreat of his comrades.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was presently reinforced by a few thousand men from +Hildebrand's +left wing, who now hurried up, while the old master-at-arms led the +greater part of his troops southwards beyond Taginæ upon the high-road +to Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just as the storming of Taginæ was about to commence, Cethegus +met +Furius and Alboin, who had recovered from the blows they had received.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus had heard of the course pursued by the Corsican, +which had +decided the fate of the battle. He shook him by the hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well done, friend Furius! At last on the right side, and +against the +barbarian King!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must not escape alive!" growled the Corsican.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? How? He still lives! I thought that--he had fallen," +said +Cethegus hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; they managed to rescue him after he was wounded."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must not live!" cried Cethegus. "Then you are right! It is +of more +importance than to win Taginæ. Narses can manage that heroic work from +his litter. He has seventy to one. Up, Furius! Why do your horsemen +stand idle here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The animals cannot ride up the walls!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but they can swim. Up! take three hundred yourself, and +give me +three hundred. Two roads lead right and left from the little town +over--no! they have broken down the bridges--they lead <i>through</i> the +Clasius and the Sibola--let us take these roads. The wounded King is +certainly--can he still fight?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hardly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then he has fled beyond Taginæ--to Rome or--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; to his bride!" cried Furius. "Most certainly to Valeria +in the +cloister. Ha! I will stab him in her very arms! Up, Persians! follow +me. Thanks, Prefect! Take as many horsemen as you like. And ride to the +right--I will ride to the left round the town; for both roads lead to +the cloister."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, wheeling to the left, he disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus ordered the rest of the horsemen to follow him, +speaking in +the Persian language.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he rode up to Liberius and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will take the Gothic King prisoner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? He still lives? Then make haste!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Meanwhile you can take this Taginæ," continued Cethegus; "I +will leave +you my Isaurians."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he galloped away with Syphax and three hundred Persians.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime the wounded King had been taken by his friends out of +Taginæ +into a little pine-wood near the road, where he drank from a spring and +gradually revived.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Julius," he said, "ride on to Valeria; tell her that the +battle is +lost, but not the kingdom. That I am alive and still hope. As soon as I +feel a little stronger I shall ride up to the Spes Bonorum. I ordered +Teja and Hildebrand there when they had finished their tasks. It is a +high and safe position. Go, I beg thee; comfort Valeria and take her +also from the cloister to Spes Bonorum. Thou wilt not? Then I must +myself ride up the difficult road--surely thou wilt spare me that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Julius was reluctant to leave the wounded man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, relieve me from my helmet and mantle! they are so heavy," +said +Totila.</p> + +<p class="normal">Julius took them from him and gave him his own mantle.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<p class="continue">All at once a thought flashed across the mind of the monk; had +they not +once before exchanged garments--the Dioscuri?</p> + +<p class="normal">Had he not once before drawn the murderous steel directed at +Totila's +heart upon himself?</p> + +<p class="normal">He thought they were followed. It seemed to him that he heard +horses +approaching, and Aligern--Adalgoth held the King's head upon his +knees--had hastened to the edge of the wood to look.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is they," he cried as he returned; "Persian horsemen +are +riding up from both sides of the wood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then make haste, Julius," begged Totila; "save Valeria! Take +her to +Teja at the sarcophagus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will make all speed, my friend! Farewell till we meet +again!" And +Julius once more pressed Totila's hand. Then he mounted Pluto--he chose +the wounded horse, leaving his own, which was unhurt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Unseen by Totila, he set the helmet with its silver swan upon +his head, +folded the white mantle around him, and galloped out of the wood +towards the cloister hill.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This road," he thought, "is open and undefended, while the +road which +the King will take to the Spes Bonorum leads through wood and vineyard. +Perhaps I shall succeed in attracting the pursuers away from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, in fact, he had no sooner issued from beneath the trees, +and begun +to ride up the hill, than he saw that the horsemen who had come from +beyond Taginæ were eagerly following him.</p> + +<p class="normal">In order to keep the pursuers away from the King, and from +discovering +their error, he urged his horse to its full speed.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the animal was wounded, and the way was very steep. Nearer +and +nearer came the pursuers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is he."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, it is not. He is too short," said the leader of the +troop, who +rode foremost.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would he fly alone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would be the best way to escape," observed the leader.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is he most surely; I see the silver swan on his helmet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the white mantle!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he rode a white horse," said the leader.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, at first," said one of the horsemen; "but when it fell, +struck by +my spear, they lifted him--I was close by--upon that charger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Enough," said the leader, "you are right. I recognise the +horse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A noble animal! How it keeps on, and up hill, too, although +wounded."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he is a noble animal! And I will make him stop. Pay +attention! +Halt, Pluto!" he shouted. "On your knees!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Snorting and trembling, the clever, obedient animal, in spite +of spur +and blows, stood stockstill, and slowly bent its fore-legs in the sand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is ruin, barbarian, to ride the Prefect's horse! There, +take that +for the Forum! and that for the Capitol! and that for Julius!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Prefect--for he it was--furiously hurled three spears +one after +the other, his own and two carried by Syphax, at the back of his +victim, and with such force that they passed completely through the +fugitive's body.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Cethegus sprang from his horse, drew his sword, and +taking the +fallen man by the back of his helmet, dragged up his head from the +earth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Julius!" he screamed in horror.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You, O Cethegus!" Julius could just murmur.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Julius! you must not, must not die!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Cethegus passionately tried to stanch the blood that +issued from +the three wounds.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you love me," said the dying man, "save him--save Totila!" +And his +gentle eyes closed for ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus put his hand upon the heart of the dead man; he laid +his ear +upon the bared breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All is over!" he then said, in a faint voice. "O Manilia! +Julius, I +loved thee! And he died with <i>his</i> name upon his lips! All is over!" he +cried again, but this time in a voice of anger; "the last bond which +united me to human love I have myself cut, deceived by mocking +accident! It was my last weakness! And now all tender feeling, be dead +to me! Lift him on to the horse.--This, my Pluto, shall be your last +service.--Take him--up there I see a chapel--take him there, and let +him be buried with all ceremony by the priests. Merely say that he died +as a monk--that he died for his friend. He deserves a Christian burial. +But I," he added, with a terrible expression on his face, "I will once +more seek his friend; I will unite them without delay--and for ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he mounted his horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whither?" asked Syphax. "Back to Taginæ?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! down into that wood. He must be hidden there, for thence +came +Julius."</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">During these occurrences the King had recovered, and now rode +with +Adalgoth, Aligern, and a few riders, straight out of the wood, on the +outer edge of which the road ascended to the chapel hill. As they +issued from the trees they could distinctly perceive the walls of the +building.</p> + +<p class="normal">But they themselves had been seen, for they heard a yell to +their +right, and over the open level a numerous troop of horsemen came +galloping towards them from the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King recognised the leader, and before his companions +could prevent +him, he spurred his horse, couched his spear, and rushed to meet his +enemy. Like two thunderbolts from the lowering heavens, the two +horsemen crashed together.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Insolent barbarian!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Miserable traitor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And both fell from their horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had met with such fury, that neither of them had thought +of +defending himself, but only of overthrowing his adversary.</p> + +<p class="normal">Furius Ahalla had fallen dead, for the King had pierced him to +the +heart through gilded shield and breastplate with such force, that the +shaft of the spear had broken in the wound. But the King also sank +dying into Adalgoth's arms. Ahalla's lance had entered his breast just +below his throat.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalgoth tore Valerians blue banner out of his belt and tried +to stanch +the streaming blood--in vain; the bright blue was at once dyed deep +red.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gothia!" breathed Totila, "Italia! Valeria!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment, before the unequal fight could commence, +Alboin arrived +upon the spot with his Longobardians. He had followed the Prefect, not +being inclined to remain idle while the fight was going on round the +walls of Taginæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Longobardian looked silently and with emotion at the +corpse of the +King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He gave me my life--I could not save his," he said gravely.</p> + +<p class="normal">One of his horsemen pointed to the rich armour worn by the +dead man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Alboin, "this royal hero must be buried with all +his royal +trappings."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, Alboin, on the rocky height above us," said Adalgoth, +"his +bride and his tomb, self-chosen, have waited for him long."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take him up! I will give safe-conduct to the noble corpse and +the +noble bearers. Now, my men, follow me back to the fight!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<p class="continue">But the fight was over: as Alboin and the Prefect discovered, +to their +great disgust, when they again reached Taginæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect, just as he had entered the pine-wood and was +about to +follow the King's track, had been overtaken by a messenger from +Liberius, who sent word for him to return immediately. Narses was +insensible, and the peril of the situation necessitated immediate +counsel.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses insensible--Liberius perplexed--the victory they had +thought +certain, endangered--these circumstances weighed more with the Prefect +than the doubtful expectation of dealing the death-stroke to the +half-dead King.</p> + +<p class="normal">In haste Cethegus galloped back to Taginæ the way that he had +come. +When he reached the town he found Liberius, who cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Too late! I have already settled and agreed to everything. A +truce! +The rest of the Goths march off!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" thundered Cethegus--he would gladly have poured all +the blood +of the Goths upon the grave of his darling as a sacrifice. "They march? +A truce? Where is Narses?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He lies insensible in his litter; he has been taken with +severe +convulsions. The fright, the surprise--it prostrated him, and no +wonder."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What surprise? Speak, man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Liberius briefly related how they had forced their way +into Taginæ +with fearful loss of blood, "for the Goths stood like a wall"--had been +obliged to storm house by house, even room by room--"we were obliged to +hack to pieces by inches one of their leaders, who ran Anzalas through +as he leaped into the first breach, before we could force our way into +the town over his body."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who was he?" asked Cethegus earnestly. "I hope Earl Teja?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; Earl Thorismuth. When we had finished our bloody work, +and Narses +was about to let himself be carried into the town, he met in the gate a +messenger from our left wing--which no more exists! It was Zeuxippos, +wounded, and accompanied by Gothic heralds."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has----?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He whom you just named--Earl Teja! He guessed or learned that +Zeuxippos was threatening his centre, that the King was wounded--and, +well knowing that he would arrive too late to turn the course of events +at Taginæ, he came to a bold and desperate resolution. He suddenly gave +up his post of expectation on the hills, threw himself upon our left +wing, which was slowly advancing up the hill opposite to him, beat it +at the first onset, pursued the fugitives into their camp, and there +made prisoners of ten thousand of our men, and all the captains, +amongst them my Orestes and Zeuxippos. He sent Gothic heralds to +Narses, who took Zeuxippos with them to witness to the truth of what +they said, and demanded an immediate truce of twenty-four hours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Otherwise he swore to slay all his ten thousand +prisoners---together +with the captains."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is no matter," observed Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It may be no matter to you, Roman--what matters to you a +myriad of our +troops?--but not so to Narses. The terrible surprise, the still more +terrible necessity of making a choice, quite prostrated him. A severe +attack of his malady came on, and as he sank down, he gave me his +commander's staff, and I, of course, accepted the conditions----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, Pylades must save Orestes!" said Cethegus in a +rage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And, besides, ten thousand men of the imperial army!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not bound by this agreement," cried Cethegus; "I shall +again +attack."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You dare not! Teja has taken most of his prisoners and all +the +captains with him as hostages--he will slay them if another arrow be +shot?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him slay them! I shall attack."</p> + +<p class="normal">"See whether the Byzantines will follow you! I at once +communicated the +order of Narses to your troops: for now <i>I</i> am Narses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall die, as soon as Narses has recovered his senses!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cethegus perceived that he could do nothing against the +Goths with +his mercenaries alone. For when Teja had retreated to the cloister and +chapel hill and the Flaminian Way with his prisoners, and Hildebrand's +wing had also reached the road with little loss of life--for the two +rivers, and then the news of the truce, had checked the pursuit +attempted by Johannes--the Goths had gathered the rest of their troops +together and taken up a safe position.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus waited with impatience for the recovery of Narses, +who he +hoped would never acknowledge the agreement concluded by his +representative.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Meanwhile Teja and Hildebrand had arrived upon the chapel +hill, +whither, as they had been apprised, the wounded King had been carried.</p> + +<p class="normal">News of later events had not yet reached them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before they entered the walls which enclosed the grove before +the +chapel, the two leaders had agreed upon the plan which they would +propose to the King. There was no other way but to retreat to the south +under the protection of the truce. But when they entered the grove, +what a sight met their view!</p> + +<p class="normal">Sobbing loudly, Adalgoth hurried up to Teja, and led him to an +ancient +and ivy-grown sarcophagus. Within it, upon his shield, lay King Totila. +The majesty of death gave to his noble features a solemnity that made +them more beautiful than they had ever been when brightened by joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">On his left hand rested Julius, in the open hollow cover of +the +sarcophagus, which had long since fallen from its proper place. Under +the common shadow of death, the resemblance between the "Dioscuri" was +more striking and touching than ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">And between the two friends lay a third form, which had been +carefully +laid by Gotho and Liuta upon the King's blood-stained mantle. Upon a +gently-rising mound lay Valeria, the Roman virgin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fetched from the neighbouring cloister to receive her lover, +she had +thrown herself, without a scream, without even a sigh, upon the broad +shield with its solemn burthen, which Adalgoth and Aligern were +carrying through the gate with sad and slow steps. Before any one could +speak, she had cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know all--he is dead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had assisted them to lay the corpse in the sarcophagus, +and while +so occupied she had repeated to herself, in a low voice, these words:</p> + +<p class="text10">"'Him too thou seest, how stalwart, tall, and fair!<br> +Yet must he yield to death and stubborn fate,<br> +Whene'er, at morn or noon or eve, the spear<br> +Or arrow from the bow may rend his life.<br> +Then may I, too, visit th' eternal shades!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, without haste, quietly and slowly, she drew a dagger +from her +girdle, and with the words, "Here, stern Christian God, take my soul! +thus I fulfil the vow!" the Roman maiden thrust the sharp steel into +her bosom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassiodorus, a little cross of cedar in his hand, went, deeply +moved--the tears trickled down his venerable white beard--from corpse +to corpse, repeating the prayers of the Church.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the pious women of the cloister, who had accompanied +Valeria, began +the simple and noble chant:</p> + +<p class="text20">"Vis ac splendor seculorum,<br> +Belli laus et flos amorum<br> +Labefacta mox marcescunt;<br> +Dei laus et gratia sine<br> +Ævi termino vel fine<br> +In eternum perflorescunt."</p> + +<p class="normal">Gradually the grove had become filled with warriors, who had +followed +their leaders. Among them were Earls Wisand and Markja.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja heard the report of the weeping Adalgoth in silence. Then +he went +close to the King's corpse. Without a tear, he laid his mailed right +hand upon the King's wounded breast, bent over him, and whispered:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will complete the work."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he went back and took his place under a mighty tree, +which rose +above a forgotten grave-mound, and spoke to the little group of +soldiers who stood silently and reverently round the dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gothic men! the battle is lost, and the kingdom likewise. +Whoever will +now go to Narses, whoever will subject himself to the Emperor, I will +not keep him back. But I am resolved to fight to the end; not for +victory, but to die the free death of a hero. Whoever wishes to share +this fate with me, may remain. You all wish it? 'Tis well."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hildebrand interposed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The King has fallen. The Goths cannot--even to die--fight +without a +King. Athalaric, Witichis, Totila--<i>one</i> only can be the fourth; only +one is worthy to succeed these three; thou, Teja, our last, our +greatest hero!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Teja; "I will be your King. Under me you shall not +live +joyfully; you shall only die greatly. Be still! No cry of joy, no clang +of arms must greet me. Whoever will have me for his King, let him do as +I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he broke a small branch from the tree under which he +stood, and +twisted it round his helmet. All silently followed his example.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalgoth, who stood next him, whispered:</p> + +<p class="normal">"O King Teja! it is a cypress bough! Thus is crowned a victim +doomed to +sacrifice!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my Adalgoth, thou speakest prophecy;" and Teja swung his +sword in +a circle round his head. "Doomed to death!"</p> + +<br> + +<br> + +<h2>BOOK VI.</h2> +<h3>TEJA</h3> + +<p class="normal">"I have now to describe a most remarkable battle, and the high +heroism of the man who was inferior to none of the heroes--of +Teja."--<i>Procopius: Gothic War</i>, iv. 35.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The destiny of the Goths was soon to be fulfilled. The rolling +stone +approached the abyss.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Narses came to his senses and learned what had taken +place, he +gave orders at once to arrest Liberius and send him to Byzantium to +answer for his conduct.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not say," he said to his confidant, Basiliskos, "that +he has +come to a false decision. I myself could not have done otherwise. But I +should have done it for different reasons. <i>His</i> only wish was to save +his friend and the ten thousand prisoners. That was wrong. Situated as +he was, he ought to have sacrificed them, for he could not overlook the +actual condition of the war. He did not know, as I know, that after +this battle the Gothic kingdom is lost--whether it be completely +destroyed at Rome or Neapolis is indifferent--and that alone would have +been, and is, the reason for which the ten thousand should be saved."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At Neapolis? But why not at Rome? Do you not remember the +formidable +fortifications of the Prefect? Why should not the Goths throw +themselves into Rome and resist for months?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why? Because things are very different with regard to Rome. +But the +Goths know this as little as Liberius. And Cethegus--above all--must +know nothing of it yet; therefore be silent. Where is the Prefect of +Rome?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has hastened forward, in order to be the first to conduct +the +pursuit as soon as the time of truce has expired."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Surely you have taken care----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not doubt it! He would have marched with his Isaurians +alone, but +I--that is, Liberius at my order--gave him Alboin and the Longobardians +as companions, and you know----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Narses, with a smile, "my wolves will not lose +sight of +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how long shall he----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As long as he is necessary to me; not an hour longer. So the +young and +royal wonder-worker lies upon his shield! Now may Justinian rightly +call himself 'Gothicus,' and again sleep peacefully. But truly--he will +never more sleep peacefully--that disappointed widower----"</p> + +<p class="normal">So the two generals, Narses and Teja, were of one opinion with +regard +to the Gothic kingdom. It was lost. The flower of the Goths had fallen +at Capræ and Taginæ. Totila had placed there five-and-twenty thousand +men; not even a thousand had escaped. The two wings of the army had +also suffered great loss; and so King Teja commenced his retreat to the +south with scarcely twenty thousand men.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was urged to the greatest speed by the calls for help sent +by the +little army under Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa, who were hard pressed +by the greater force of the Byzantines under the command of Armatus and +Dorotheos, who had landed between Rome and Neapolis.</p> + +<p class="normal">And besides this, Teja's retreat was also precipitated because +of the +terrible manner in which, when the truce was ended, he was pursued by +Narses.</p> + +<p class="normal">While the Longobardians and Cethegus pursued the fugitives +without +pause, Narses slowly followed with the main army, spreading to the +right and left his two formidable wings, which extended in the +south-west far beyond the Sub-urbicarian Tuscany to the Tyrrhenian sea, +and in the north-east through Picenum to the Ionian Gulf, extinguishing +as they passed from north to south and from west to east, every trace +of the Goths behind them.</p> + +<p class="normal">This proceeding was considerably facilitated by the now +general +desertion of the Gothic cause on the part of the Italians. The +benevolent King, who had once won their sympathies, had been succeeded +by a gloomy hero of terrible reputation. And all who hesitated were +speedily drawn over to the other side, not by inclination to the rule +of Byzantium, but from fear of Narses and of the Emperor's severity, +who threatened all who took the part of the barbarians with death.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Italians who still served in Teja's army now deserted and +hastened +to Narses. It also happened much more frequently than before the battle +of Taginæ, that Gothic settlers were betrayed to the Romani by their +Italian neighbours, generally by the <i>hospes</i>, who had been obliged to +relinquish a third of his property to the Goths; or, where the Italians +were in the majority, the Goths were either killed, or taken prisoners +and delivered up to the two Byzantine fleets, the "Tyrrhenian" and the +"Ionian," which, sailing along the coasts of those seas, accompanied +the march of the land forces and received all the captured Goths on +board--men, women, and children.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forts and towns, weakly garrisoned--for Teja had been +obliged to +strengthen his small army by lessening their numbers--generally fell by +means of the Italian population, who now overpowered the Gothic +garrison, as, after Totila's election, they had done the imperial. Thus +fell, during the progress of the war, Namia, Spoletium and Perusia; the +few towns which resisted were invested.</p> + +<p class="normal">So Narses resembled a strong man who walks with outstretched +arms +through a narrow passage, pursuing all who try to hide themselves +before him. Or a fisher, who wades up a stream with a sack-net; behind +him all is empty. The few Goths who could yet save themselves fled +before the "iron roller" to the army of the King, which soon consisted +of a greater number of the defenceless than of warriors.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Visigoths were again engaged in migration, just as they +had been a +hundred years before, but this time the iron net of Narses was behind +them; and before them, as they advanced farther and farther into the +constantly narrowing peninsula, the sea. And not a ship did they +possess in which to fly.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Added to this, an inevitable necessity reduced the number of +Goths in +the King's army capable of bearing arms in the most frightful manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the very commencement of the pursuit, Cethegus, with his +mercenaries, and Alboin with his Longobardians, had stuck to the +heels of the fugitives, and consequently, if the retreat of the Gothic +army--already delayed by the number of women, children, and aged people +who had joined it--was not to be brought to a complete standstill, it +was necessary to sacrifice each night a small number of heroes, who +halted at some spot suitable for their design, and held the pursuers at +bay by an obstinate, fearless, and hopeless resistance, until the main +army had again gained a considerable advance.</p> + +<p class="normal">This cruel, but only possible expedient, always entailed the +loss of at +least fifty men, and often, where the place to be defended had a wider +front, a much greater number.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before King Teja marched from Spes Bonorum, he had explained +this plan +to the assembled army; his faithful troops silently assented to it. And +every morning the "death-doomed" volunteered so eagerly to join this +forlorn hope, that King Teja--with humid eyes--made them draw lots, not +wishing to offend any one by the preference of others. For the Goths, +who saw nothing before them but the certain destruction of the nation, +and many of whom knew that their wives and children had fallen into the +enemy's hands, vied with each other in seeking death.</p> + +<p class="normal">So their retreat became a triumphal procession of Gothic +heroes, and +every halting-place a monument of courageous self-sacrifice. Thus, +among the leaders of the "doomed rear-guard," old Haduswinth fell near +Nuceria Camellaria; the young and skilful archer, Gunthamund, at Ad +Fontes; and the swift rider, Gudila, at Ad Martis. But these +sacrifices, and the King's generalship, were not without influence on +the fate of the nation.</p> + +<p class="normal">Near Fossatum, between Tudera and Narnia, a night attack took +place +between the rear-guard under Earl Markja, and the horsemen of Cethegus, +which lasted from afternoon till sunrise.</p> + +<p class="normal">When at last the returning light illumined the +hastily-constructed +earthworks thrown up by the Goths, they were as still and silent as the +grave.</p> + +<p class="normal">The pursuers advanced with the utmost caution. At last +Cethegus sprang +from his horse and on to the parapet of the earthworks, followed by +Syphax.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus turned and signed to his men: "Follow me; there is no +danger! +You have only to step over the bodies of our enemies, for here they all +lie--a full thousand. Yonder is Earl Markja; I know him."</p> + +<p class="normal">But when the earthworks were demolished, and Cethegus and his +horsemen +continued their pursuit of the main army--which had gained a great +advance they soon learned from the peasants of the neighbourhood that +the Gothic army had not passed on the Flaminian Way at all.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the noble sacrifice of this night, King Teja had been +enabled to +conceal the further direction of his retreat, and the pursuers had lost +the scent.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus advised Johannes and Alboin, the one to send a +portion of his +men to the south-east, the other to the left on the Flaminian Way, to +try to find the lost track. He himself longed to get to Rome. He wished +to reach that city before Narses. Once there, he hoped to be able to +checkmate him, as he had done Belisarius, from the Capitol.</p> + +<p class="normal">After discovering that King Teja had evaded all pursuit, +Cethegus +summoned his trusty tribunes, and told them that he was resolved--if +necessary, by force--to rid himself of the constant supervision of +Alboin and Johannes--who were at present weakened by the division of +their troops at his advice--and to hasten with his Isaurians alone +straight to Rome by the Flaminian Way, which was now no longer blocked +by the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">But even while he was speaking, he was interrupted by the +entrance of +Syphax, who led into the tent a Roman citizen, whom he had with +difficulty rescued from the hands of the Longobardians. The man had +asked for the Prefect, and the Longobardians had answered, laughing, +that they would treat him (the messenger) "as usual."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," added Syphax, "a great crowd of people is approaching +in the +rear; I will see what it is and bring you word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know you, Tullus Faber," said the Prefect, turning to the +messenger, +when Syphax had left him; "you were ever faithful to Rome and to me. +What news do you bring?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"O Prefect!" cried the man, "we all thought you were dead, for +you sent +us no answer to eight several messages."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not received even one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you do not know what has happened in Rome? Pope +Silverius has +died in exile in Sicily. His successor is Pelagius, your enemy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know nothing. Speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas, you will neither be able to advise nor to help. Rome +has----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then Syphax returned, but before he could speak, he was +followed +into the tent by Narses, supported by Basiliskos.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have allowed yourself to be detained here so long by a +thousand +Gothic spears," said the commander-in-chief angrily, "that the healthy +have escaped, and the sick have overtaken you. This King Teja can do +more than break shields; he can weave veils with which to blind the +Prefect's sharp sight. But I see through many veils, and also through +this. Johannes, call your people back. Teja cannot have gone south, he +must have gone northwards, for he, no doubt, has known long since that +which concerns the Prefect most: Rome is wrested from the Goths."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus looked at him with sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had smuggled a few clever men into the city. They excited +the +inhabitants to a midnight revolt. All the Goths in the city were slain; +only five hundred men escaped into the Mausoleum of Hadrian, and +continue to defend it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Faber took courage to put in a word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We sent eight messengers to you. Prefect, one after the +other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Away with this man!" cried Narses, signing to his officers. +"Yes," he +continued quietly, "the citizens of Rome think lovingly of the Prefect, +to whom they owe so much: two sieges, hunger, pestilence, and the +burning of the Capitol! But the messengers sent to you always lost +their way, and fell into the hands of the Longobardians, who, no doubt, +slew them. But the embassy sent to me by the Holy Father, Pelagius, +reached me safely, and I have concluded an agreement, of which you, +Prefect of Rome, will surely approve."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In any case, I shall not be able to annul it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The good citizens of Rome fear nothing so much as a third +siege. They +have stipulated that we shall undertake nothing that can lead to +another fight for their city. They write that the Goths in the +Mausoleum will soon succumb to hunger; that they themselves can defend +their walls; and they have sworn only to deliver up their city, after +the destruction of those Goths, to their natural protector and chief, +the Prefect of Rome. Are you content with that, Cethegus? Read the +agreement. Give it to him, Basiliskos."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus read the paper with deep and joyful emotion. So they +had not +forgotten him, his Romans! So now, when everything was coming to a +crisis, they called, not the hated Byzantines, but himself, their +patron, back to the Capitol! He again felt at the height of power.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am content," he said, returning the roll.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have promised," continued Narses, "to make no attempt to +get the +city into my power by force. First King Teja must follow King Totila. +Then Rome--and many other things. Accompany me, Prefect, to the council +of war."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Cethegus left the council in the tent of Narses, and +asked after +Tullus Faber, not a trace of the latter was to be found.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Narses, that great general, had acutely guessed in what +direction King +Teja had turned aside from the Flaminian Way. He had first gone north +towards the coast of the Ionian Gulf, and thence, with singular +knowledge of the roads, had led his fugitive people and army by a +circuitous route past Hadria, Aternum, and Ortona, to Samnium. That +Rome was lost, he had learned beyond Nuceria Camellaria from some Goths +who had fled from that city.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King, whose impatient and unsparing disposition ever +looked forward +to the end, not unwillingly found himself obliged to get rid of his +prisoners.</p> + +<p class="normal">In number about as strong as their conquerors, the captives +had made +the office of guarding them so difficult, that Teja threatened to +punish with death any attempt at escape.</p> + +<p class="normal">Notwithstanding, when the army marched northwards, a number of +these +prisoners made an attempt to free themselves by force. Very many were +killed in the struggle that ensued, and the King ordered that all the +rest, together with Orestes and the whole of the officers, should be +thrown into the Aternus with their hands bound; where they died +miserably by drowning.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Adalgoth begged Teja to revoke his cruel sentence, the +latter +replied:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did they not fall upon our defenceless women and children in +their +peaceful homes, and slay them? This is no longer a war between +warriors; it is nation murdering nation. Let us do our part."</p> + +<p class="normal">From Samnium the King, leaving his unarmed people to follow +slowly +under scanty escort--for they were threatened by no pursuit--hurried +forward with his best troops to Campania. His arrival in those parts +was so unexpected, that he not only surprised Duke Guntharis and Earl +Grippa, whose small army had melted still more in consequence of +frequent battles with superior forces, but, shortly after, the enemy +also, who now had thought themselves sure of victory.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had found Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa occupying a secure +position +between Neapolis and Beneventum. He learned that the Romani were +threatening Cumæ from Capua.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They shall not reach that city before me," he cried; "I have +to +complete there an important work."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, his army being now reinforced by the garrison of his own +county +town of Tarentum, under the command of brave Ragnaris, he surprised the +superior force of the Byzantines, which was about to march upon Cumæ, +and defeated them with great loss. He himself slew the Archon Armatus +with his battle-axe, and at his side young Adalgoth ran Dorotheos +through with his spear. The Byzantines were routed, and fled northwards +to Terracina.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the last ray of sunshine cast by the God of Victory +upon the +blue banner of the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day King Teja entered Cumæ. Totila, upon his last +fatal march +from Rome, had decided, at the instance of Teja, and contrary to his +custom, to take with him hostages from that city. No one knew what had +become of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the evening of his entry into Cumæ, King Teja ordered the +walled-up +garden of the Castle of Cumæ to be broken open. There were hidden the +hostages from Rome: patricians and senators--among them Maximus, +Cyprianus, Opilio, Rusticus, and Fidelius, the most distinguished men +of the Senate--in all they numbered three hundred. All were members of +the old league against the Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja ordered the Goths who had lately escaped from Rome to +tell these +hostages how the Romans, persuaded by envoys sent by Narses, had one +night risen in revolt, had murdered all the Goths upon whom they could +lay hands, even the women and children, and had driven the rest into +the <i>Moles Hadriani</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King fastened such a terrible look upon the trembling +hostages, as +they listened to this news, that two of them could not endure to wait +till the end, but then and there killed themselves by dashing their +heads against the stony walls which surrounded them.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Goths from Rome had sworn to the truth of their +story, the +King silently turned away and left the garden. An hour after, the heads +of the three hundred hostages stared ghastly down from the summit of +the walls.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was not alone to fulfil this terrible judgment that I came +here," +Teja said to Adalgoth: "I have also to reveal a sacred secret."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he invited him and the other leaders of the troops to a +solemn and +joyless midnight banquet. When the sad feast was over, the King made a +sign to old Hildebrand, who nodded, and took a dimly burning torch from +the iron ring into which it was stuck on the centre column of the +vaulted hall, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Follow me, children of these latter days, and take your +shields with +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the third hour of the July night; the stars glittered +in the +sky. Out of the hall, silently following the King and the aged +master-at-arms, there stepped Guntharis and Adalgoth, Aligern, Grippa, +Ragnaris, and Wisand the standard-bearer. Wachis, the King's +shield-bearer, closed the procession, carrying a second torch.</p> + +<p class="normal">Opposite the castle garden rose an ancient round tower, named +the Tower +of Theodoric, because that great King had restored it. Old Hildebrand +was the first to enter this tower with his torch, but instead of +leaving the ground-floor, which contained only the empty tower-room, +the old man halted, knelt down, and carefully measured fifteen spans of +his large hand from the door, which he had closed behind them, to the +centre of the room. The whole floor seemed to be composed of three +colossal slabs of granite. When Hildebrand had measured the fifteen +spans, he held his thumb upon the spot at which he had arrived, and +struck his battle-axe against the floor; it sounded hollow. Boring the +point of his axe into a scarcely-visible crack in the stone, he signed +to his companions to stand aside on his left; when they had done so, he +pushed a portion of the slab to the right. A chasm, as deep as the +tower was high above them, revealed itself to the astonished eyes of +those present.</p> + +<p class="normal">The opening was only large enough to admit one man at a time. +It led to +a narrow flight of more than two hundred steps, hewn in the living +rock.</p> + +<p class="normal">Silently, at a sign from Hildebrand, the men descended. When +they +arrived at the bottom, they found that the circular space was divided +in the middle by a stone wall. The semicircle into which they had +entered was empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now King Teja measured ten spans on the wall to the +centre, and +pressing his hand upon a stone, a small door opened inwards. Hildebrand +entered with his torch, and kindled two others which were fixed upon +the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The observers started back dazzled, and covered their eyes +with their +hands. When they again looked up, they recognised--at once guessing the +secret--the whole rich treasure of Dietrich of Berne.</p> + +<p class="normal">There lay, partly heaped up symmetrically, partly thrown in +disorder +one upon another, weapons, vessels, and ornaments of all kinds. Strong +Etruscan steel-caps of ancient times, brought by the commerce of the +Goths as far as the Baltic, or to the Pruth and Dniester, and now +brought back to the south by the migration of the nations, probably +near to the very spot where they had been fashioned. Near these lay +flat wooden head-pieces, over which was stretched the skin of the seal, +or the jaws of the ice-bear; pointed Celtic helmets; high-crested helms +from Rome or Byzantium; neck-rings of bronze and iron, of silver and +gold. Shields--from the clumsy wooden shield, as tall as a man, which +was set up like a wall to hide the archer, to the small round and +ornamented horseman's shield of the Parthians, studded with pearls and +precious stones. Ancient ring-mail of crushing weight, and light-padded +clothing of purple-coloured linen, besides scimitars, swords and +daggers, of stone, bronze, and steel. Axes and clubs of all kinds--from +those rudely made from the bones of the mammoth and tied to the antler +of a stag with bast, to the Frankish <i>franciska</i>, and the small +perforated and gilded axe with which the Roman circus-riders used to +split an apple while at full gallop. Spears, lances, and darts of all +sorts--from the roughly carved tusk of the narwal, to the ebony shaft, +inlaid with gold, of the Asdingian Vandal Kings in Carthage, and the +massive golden arrows of these princes, with steel points a foot long, +and the shafts decorated with the purple feathers of the flamingo. +War-mantles--made of the fur of the black fox, the skin of the +Numidian lion, and the costliest purple of Sidon. Shoes--from +the long shovel-shaped snowshoes of the Skrito Fins, to the golden +sandals of Byzantium. Doublets of Frisian wool, and tunics of Chinese +silk. Innumerable vessels and table utensils--tall vases, flat salvers, +cups, and round-bellied urns, of amber, of gold, of silver, of +tortoise-shell. Arm-rings and shoulder-clasps, necklaces of pearls and +of crystal beads, and innumerable other utensils for meat and drink, +for clothing and decoration, for sport and war.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This secret cave," said Teja, "known only to us, the blood +brethren--the master-at-arms caused it to be hewn in the rock when he +was Earl of Cumæ, forty years ago--was the vault in which was hidden +the treasure of the Goths. This is the reason why Belisarius found so +little, when he ransacked the treasure-house at Ravenna. The most +costly pieces of booty, the gifts, the collection of Amelung trophies +in war and peace, which existed long before Theodoric, in the time of +Winithar, Ermanarich, Athal, Ostrogotho, Isarna, Amala, and Gaut--all +these have we concealed here. We left nothing in Ravenna but the minted +gold, and such things as seemed richer in intrinsic value than in +honour. For months our enemies have walked above these treasures; but +the faithful abyss kept the secret. But now we will carry all away with +us. Take the treasures on your shields, and hand them from one to +another up the steps. We will take it to the last battle-field upon +which an Ostrogothic army will ever fight. No, do not be anxious, young +Adalgoth; even when I have fallen, and all is lost, the enemy shall not +bear away the sacred treasure to Byzantium. For wonderful is the last +battle-field which I have chosen; it shall conceal and swallow up the +last of the Goths, their treasure and their fame!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and their greatest treasure and noblest renown," said +old +Hildebrand; "not merely gold and silver and precious stones. Look here, +my Goths!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he held his torch towards a curtain which shut off a +portion of the +treasure-cave, and pushed the curtain to one side. As he did so, all +present fell upon their knees. For they recognised the great dead, who +sat, erect and clothed in purple, upon a golden throne, the spear still +grasped in his right hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the great Theodoric.</p> + +<p class="normal">The art which had been introduced to the Romans by the +Egyptians--the +art of embalming the dead--had preserved the body of the hero-King with +terrible perfection.</p> + +<p class="normal">All present were struck dumb with emotion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Many years ago," at last Hildebrand began, "Teja and I +mistrusted the +good fortune of the Goths. And I, who, before the breaking out of the +war, had the command of the guard-of-honour at the Mausoleum of +Ravenna, in which Amalaswintha had interred her dead father--I liked +the building but little, and still less the incense-scented priests who +so often prayed there for the soul of my good and great King--I thought +that if ever all trace of my nation were rooted out of this southern +land, no Italian or Greekling should mock at the remains of our beloved +hero. No! even as the first great conqueror of the Roman fortress, +Alaric the Visigoth, found his unknown and never to be dishonoured tomb +in the sacred bed of the stream, so also should my great King be +delivered from the curiosity of posterity. And, with Teja's help, I +took the noble corpse away by night, from its marble house, and from +the vicinity of the whining priests, and we brought it hither, as part +of the royal treasure. Here it was safe. And if, after the lapse of +centuries, some accident should betray its resting-place, who could +then recognise the King with the eagle-eye? And so the sarcophagus at +Ravenna is empty, and the monks sing and pray in vain. Here, near his +treasures and his trophies, in hero splendour, erect upon his throne, +he rests; it is more pleasing to his soul, which looks down from +Walhalla, than to see his mortal remains stretched out, weighed down by +heavy stones, and surrounded with clouds of incense."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But now," concluded Teja, "the hour has come for him once +more to rise +from the abyss. When you have raised the treasure, we will carefully +lift up this beloved form. Early to-morrow we will march out of this +city. The approach of Narses and the Prefect has already been +announced. We will go, with royal corpse and royal treasure, to the +last battle-field of the Goths, whither I have already sent the women +and children. The battle-field--long ago I saw it in the visions of my +sleepless nights--the battle-field whereon we and our nation will +gloriously perish; the battlefield which, even when the last spear is +broken, can save and hide all who do not fear to die in its glowing +bosom; the battle-field which Teja has chosen for you and for himself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I guess thy meaning," whispered Adalgoth; "this last +battle-field +is----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mons Vesuvius!" said Teja. "To work!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">As rapidly as his fearful, all-encompassing system would +allow, Narses, +after the council which we have mentioned as taking place at Fossatum, +had marched southward with his whole force and with the broadest front, +in order to make an end of all the remaining Goths. Only to Tuscany did +he send two small detachments, under his generals, Vitalianus and +Wilmuth, to take such forts as still resisted, and, after them, Lucca, +in Annonarian Tuscany. Valerianus, who had meanwhile conquered Petra +Pertusa, which place blocked the Flaminian Way beyond Helvillum, was +sent still farther north against Verona, the obstinate defence of which +had enabled many Goths to escape up the valley of the Athesis to the +Passara.</p> + +<p class="normal">With these exceptions, Narses hurried south with the whole of +his army. +He himself passed Rome on the Flaminian Way; while Johannes, on the +coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Herulian Vulkaris on that of the +Ionian Gulf, were to drive the Goths before them.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Johannes and Vulkaris found but little work to do; for in +the north +the Gothic families had already been received, in passing, into the +mass of the army of the King, which it was now impossible to overtake; +and from the south the Goths had likewise long since streamed past Rome +to Neapolis, whither expresses from the King had bidden them to repair. +"Mons Vesuvius!" was the rallying word for all these Gothic fugitives.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses had named Anagnia to his two wings as the point of +reunion with +the main body.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus gladly accepted the commander's invitation to remain +with him +in the centre, for he could expect no great events with the two wings; +and the road taken by Narses led past Rome. In case that the commander, +in spite of his promise, should attempt to procure entrance into Rome, +Cethegus would be on the spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, almost to the Prefect's astonishment, Narses kept his +word. He +quietly marched his army past Rome. And he called upon Cethegus to be +witness to his interview with Pope Pelagius and the other governing +bodies of Rome, which interview took place below the walls at the Porta +Belisaria (Pinceana), between the Flaminian and Salarian Gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once more the Pope and the Romans assured Narses--swearing by +the holy +remains of Cosma and Damian (according to legend, Arabian physicians +who were martyred under Diocletian), which were brought in silver and +ivory caskets to the walls--that they would unhesitatingly, after the +annihilation of the Goths in the Moles Hadriani, open their gates to +the Prefect of Rome, but firmly resist any attempt on the part of the +Byzantines to enter the city by force; for they would not expose +themselves to any possible struggle which might yet take place.</p> + +<p class="normal">The offer of Narses to leave them at once a few thousand armed +men, in +order to enable them the more speedily to reduce the Moles Hadriani, +was civilly but decidedly refused, to the great joy of the Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have learned two things during the last few years," he +said +to Lucius Licinius, as they rode away at the termination of the +interview--"to keep the Romani at a distance, and to connect Cethegus +with the well-being of Rome. That is already a great deal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I regret, my general," said Lucius Licinius, "that I cannot +share your +joy and confidence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I neither," cried Salvius Julianus. "I fear Narses; I +mistrust him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oho! what wise men!" laughed Piso. "One should exaggerate +nothing; not +even prudence. Has not everything turned out better than we dared to +hope since the night when a shepherd-boy struck the greatest Roman poet +upon his immortal verse-writing hand, and the great Prefect of Rome +swam down the Tiber in a granary?--since Massurius Sabinus was +recognised by Earl Markja, dressed in the garments of his Hetares, in +which disguise he was about to make his escape?--and since the great +jurist, Salvius Julianus, was rudely fished up, bleeding, from the +slime of the river by Duke Guntharis? Who would have thought then that +we should ever be able to count upon our fingers the day when not a +single Goth would be left to tread Italian soil?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, poet," said Cethegus with a smile; "these two +friends +of ours suffer from '<i>Narses</i>-fever,' as their hero suffers from +epilepsy. To over-rate one's enemy is also a failing. The holy remains +upon which those priests have sworn, are really sacred to them; they +will not break such an oath."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I had only seen, besides the priests and artisans," +replied +Licinius, "any of our friends upon the walls! But there were none but +fullers, butchers, and carpenters! Where is the aristocracy of Rome? +Where are the men of the Catacombs?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Taken away as hostages," said Cethegus. "And they were +rightly served? +Did they not return to Rome, and do homage to the fair-haired Goth? If +now the 'Black Earl' cuts off their heads, it cannot be helped. Be +comforted; you see things in too dark a light, all of you. The crushing +superiority of Narses has made you timid. He is a great general; but +the fact that he has made this treaty with Rome--this agreement that I, +and no other, should be admitted--and that he has <i>kept</i> it, shows that +he is harmless as a statesman. Let us but once again breathe the air of +the Capitol! It does not agree with epileptic subjects."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when, the next morning, the young tribunes went to fetch +the +Prefect from his tent to join the united march against Teja, their +leader received them with sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," he cried, "who knows the Romans best, you or the +Prefect of +Rome? Listen--but be silent. Last night a centurion, one of the +newly-formed city cohorts, named Publius Macer, stole out of Rome +and into my tent. The Pope has entrusted to his care the Porta Latina, +to that of his brother Marcus, the Capitol. He showed me both +commissions--I know the handwriting of Pelagius--they are authentic. +The Romans are long since tired of the rule of the priesthood. They +would rejoice once more to see me, and you, and my Isaurians patrolling +the walls. Publius left me his nephew Aulus, at once as a hostage and a +pledge, who will let us know the night--which will be announced to him +in the harmless words of a letter agreed upon beforehand--on which the +Romans will open to us their gates and the Capitol. Narses cannot +complain if the Romans voluntarily admit us--I shall use no force. Now, +Licinius! Tell me, Julianus, who best knows Rome and the Romans?"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Narses now marched to Anagnia. Two days after his arrival, his +two +wings reached that place according to order. After some days occupied +in resting, mustering, and newly ordering his immense forces, the +commander-in-chief marched to Terracina, where the remainder of the +troops of Armatus and Dorotheos joined him. And now the united army +rolled forward against the Goths, who had taken up a most excellent and +secure position on Vesuvius, on the opposite mountain. Mons Lactarius, +and on both shores of the little river Draco, which flowed into the sea +north of Stabiæ.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since he had left Cumæ, marched past Neapolis (the citizens of +which +place shut their strong gates, which had been restored by Totila, +overpowered the garrison and declared that, following the example of +Rome, they would at present hold their fortress against both parties), +and reached his chosen battle-field, King Teja had done all that was +possible to make his naturally strong position still stronger.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had caused provisions to be carried from the fertile +country around +up to the mountains, in sufficient quantities to nourish his people +until the light of the last day should dawn upon his nation.</p> + +<p class="normal">It has ever been a vain task for learned investigation to +attempt to +find on Mons Lactarius or Vesuvius the exact spots which correspond to +the description of Procopius. It is impossible to fix upon any one of +the innumerable ravines and valleys. And yet the description of the +Byzantine historian, grounded as it was upon the verbal reports of the +leaders and generals of the army of Narses, cannot be doubted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rather may the contradictions be simply explained by the +sudden, +forcible and gigantic changes, and by the still more numerous, gradual +and slighter alterations made in the face of the country by streams of +lava, landslips, the crumbling of the rocks, and floods which have +taken place upon that never quiet mountain, during the course of more +than thirteen centuries. Even credible accounts of much later Italian +authors, concerning places and positions on Mount Vesuvius, cannot +always be reconciled with the reality.</p> + +<p class="normal">The ground which sucked up Teja's life-blood has no doubt been +covered, +ages ago, by deep layers of silent and impenetrable lava.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even Narses was compelled to admire the circumspection with +which his +barbarian adversary had chosen his last place of defence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He intends to die like the bear in his den," he exclaimed as +he +observed the whole of the Gothic defences from his litter at Nuceria. +"And many of you, my dear wolves," he added, turning with a smile to +Alboin, "will fall under the blows of this bear's paws when you try to +trot through those narrow entrances."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oho! It is only necessary to let so many run in at once that +the bear +gets both paws full and is not able to strike again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Softly, softly! I know of a pass on Vesuvius--long ago, when +I still +nursed my miserable body hoping to restore its strength, I spent weeks +together upon Mons Lactarius, in order to enjoy the pure air, and at +that time I firmly impressed upon my memory the pass I speak of; from +that pass--if the Goths get into it--only famine can drive them out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will be tiresome!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is nothing else for it. I have no desire once more to +sacrifice +a myriad of imperial troops in order to stamp out these last sparks."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so it happened. Very gradually, gaining each forward step +only at a +great and bloody loss, did Narses draw his net tighter and more tightly +together. He surrounded in a semicircle every point of the Gothic +position, on west, north, and east; only on the south, the sea-side, +where he himself had encamped on the strand, was he able to leave a +space undefended, for the enemy had no ships whereon to fly or +wherewith to procure provisions.</p> + +<p class="normal">The "Tyrrhenian" fleet of Narses was already occupied in +carrying the +captive Goths to Byzantium; the "Ionian" was shortly expected; a few +vessels had been sent to cruise in the Bay of Bajæ and opposite +Surrentum. Thus Narses, notwithstanding his great superiority, only +gradually occupied, with obstinate patience and forgetting nothing, +Piscinula, Cimiterium, Nola, Summa, Melane, Nuceria, Stabiæ, Cumæ, +Bajæ, Misenum, Puteoli, and Nesis. And presently Neapolis also became +alarmed at the power of Narses, and voluntarily opened to him its +gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">From all sides the Byzantines advanced concentrically towards +the +Gothic position. After many furious battles the Byzantines succeeded in +driving the Goths away from Mons Lactarius and over the river Draco; +where the rest of the nation encamped upon a level plain above the pass +so highly praised by Narses, in the immediate vicinity of one of the +numerous craters which, at that time, surrounded the foot of the +principal cone; only rarely, when the wind blew from the south-east, +suffering from the smoke and sulphurous exhalations of the volcano.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here, in the innumerable hollows and ravines of the mountain, +the +unarmed people encamped under the open sky, or under the tents and +wagons which they had brought with them, in the warm August air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The only access to this encampment," writes Procopius, "could +be +obtained by a narrow pass, the southern opening of which was so small +that a man holding a shield could completely block it up."</p> + +<p class="normal">This opening was guarded day and night, each man occupying it +for an +hour, by King Teja himself, Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth, Earl Grippa, +Earl Wisand, Aligern, Ragnaris, and Wachis. Behind them the pass was +filled by a hundred warriors, who relieved each other at intervals.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so, in accordance with the system pursued by Narses, the +whole +terrible war, the struggle for Rome and Italy, had been dramatically +reduced to a point; to a battle for a ravine of a foot or two wide on +the southern point of the so dearly-loved, so obstinately-defended +peninsula. Even in the historical representation of Procopius, the fate +of the Goths resembles the last act of a grand and awful tragedy.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the shore, opposite to the hill from which the pass was +approached, +Narses had pitched his tents with the Longobardians; on his right +Johannes; on his left Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect drew the attention of his tribunes to the fact +that Narses, +by the cession of this position--Cethegus himself had chosen it--had +given either a proof of great imprudence or of complete inoffensiveness +of intention, "for," said Cethegus, "with this position he has left +open the way to Rome, which he could easily have prevented, by giving +me the command of the right wing or of the centre. Hold yourselves in +readiness to start secretly and at night with all the Isaurians, as +soon as a sign is made by Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you?" asked Licinius anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remain here with the dreaded commander. If he had wished to +murder +me--he could have done so long ago. But it is evident that he has no +such intention. He will not act against me without just cause. And if I +obey the call of the Romans, I do not break, I fulfil, our agreement."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Above the narrow pass on Vesuvius, which we will call the +Ravine of the +Goths, a small but deep chasm had been formed by the black blocks of +lava. Within it King Teja had concealed the most sacred possession of +the nation--the corpse of King Theodoric and the royal treasure. +Theodoric's banner was fixed before the mouth of this chasm.</p> + +<p class="normal">A purple mantle, stretched upon four spears, formed the dark +curtain to +the rocky chamber which the last King of the Goths had chosen for his +royal hall. A block of lava, covered with the skin of the black tiger, +formed his last throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here King Teja rested, when not called away by his +jealously-held post +at the southern entrance of the Ravine of the Goths; upon which, now +from a distance with arrows, slings, and hurling--spears, now close at +hand in a bold and sudden attack, the outposts of Narses commenced +their assaults. None of the brave guardians returned home without +bringing tokens of such attacks upon shield and armour, or leaving +signs at the entrance of the ravine, in the form of slain enemies.</p> + +<p class="normal">This happened so frequently, that the stench arising from the +decay of +the bodies threatened to render any further sojourn in the ravine +impossible. Narses seemed to have counted upon this circumstance, for, +when Basiliskos lamented the useless sacrifice, he said, "Perhaps our +slain soldiers will be more useful after death than during their life." +But King Teja ordered that the bodies should be thrown by night over +the lava cliffs; so that, horribly mutilated, they seemed a warning to +all who should attempt to follow their example. Seeing this, Narses +begged to be allowed to send unarmed men to fetch away the bodies, a +favour which King Teja immediately granted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since retiring into this ravine, the Goths had not lost a +single man in +fight; for only the foremost man in the pass was exposed to the enemy, +and, supported by the comrades who stood behind him, this guardian had +never yet been killed.</p> + +<p class="normal">One night, after sunset--it was now the month of September, +and all +traces of the battle at Taginæ were already obliterated; the flowers +planted by Cassiodorus and the nuns of the cloister round the +sarcophagi of King Totila, his bride, and his friend, had put forth new +shoots--King Teja, who had just been relieved from his post by Wisand, +approached his lava hall, his spear upon his shoulder. Before the +curtain which closed the entrance to his rocky chamber, Adalgoth +received Teja with a sad smile, and, kneeling, offered to him a golden +goblet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me still fulfil my office of cup-bearer," he said; "who +knows how +long it may last?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not much longer!" said Teja gravely, as he seated himself. +"We will +remain here, outside the curtain. Look! how magnificently the bay and +the coast of Surrentum shine in the glowing light left by the setting +sun--the blue sea is changed to crimson blood! Truly, the Southland +could afford no more beauteous frame with which to enclose the +last battle of the Goths. Well, may the picture be worthy of its +setting! The end is coming. How wonderfully everything that I +foreboded--dreamed, and sang--has been fulfilled!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the King supported his head upon both his hands. Only when +the +silver tones of a harp was heard, did he again look up. Adalgoth had, +unseen, fetched the King's small harp from behind the curtain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou shalt hear," he said, "how I have completed thy song of +the +Ravine; or I might have said, how it has completed itself. Dost thou +remember that night in the wilderness of ivy, marble, and laurel in +Rome? It was not a battle already fought, a battle of ancient days, of +which thou didst sing. No! in a spirit of prophecy, thou hast sung our +last heroic battle here." And he played and sang:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t6">"Where arise the cliffs of lava,</p> +<p class="t8">On Vesuvius' glowing side,</p> +<p class="t6">Tones of deepest woe and wailing,</p> +<p class="t8">Evening's peace and calm deride.</p> +<p class="t6">For the brave dead's direst curses</p> +<p class="t8">Rest upon the rocky tomb,</p> +<p class="t6">Where the Gothic hero-nation</p> +<p class="t8">Will fulfil their glorious doom."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Teja, "glorious, my Adalgoth! Of that glory no +fate and no +Narses shall deprive us. The awful judgment, which our beloved Totila +challenged, has fallen heavily upon himself, his people, and his God. +No Heavenly Father has, as that noble man imagined, weighed our +destinies in a just balance. We fall by the thousand treacheries of the +Italians and the Byzantines, and by the brute superiority of numbers. +But <i>how</i> we fall, unshaken, proud even in our decay, can be decided by +no fate, but only by our own worth. And after us? Who after us will +rule in this land? Not for long these wily Greeks--and not the native +strength of the Italians. Numerous tribes of Germans still exist on the +other side of the mountains--and I nominate them our heirs and our +avengers."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he softly took up the harp which Adalgoth had laid down, +and sang +in a low voice as he looked down upon the rapidly darkening sea. The +stars glittered over his head; and at rare intervals he struck a chord.</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Extinguished is the brightest star</p> +<p class="t8">Of our Germanic race!</p> +<p class="t6">O Dietrich, thou beloved of Bern,</p> +<p class="t8">Thy shield is bruised, defaced.</p> +<p class="t6">Unblemished truth and courage fail--</p> +<p class="t8">The coward wins--the noble fly;</p> +<p class="t6">Rascals are lords of all the world--</p> +<p class="t8">Up, Goths, and let us die!</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"O wicked Rome, O southern gleam,</p> +<p class="t8">O lovely, heavenly blue!</p> +<p class="t6">O rolling blood-stained Tiber-stream--</p> +<p class="t8">O Southerns, all untrue!</p> +<p class="t6">Still cherishes the North its sons</p> +<p class="t8">Of courage true and high;</p> +<p class="t6">Vengeance will roll its thunders soon--</p> +<p class="t8">Then, up! and let us die!"</p> +</div></div> +<p class="normal">"The melody pleases me," said Adalgoth; "but is it already +finished? +What is the end?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'The end can only be sung in time to the stroke of the +sword," said +Teja. "Soon, methinks, thou wilt also hear this end." And he rose +from his seat. "Go, my Adalgoth," he said; "leave me alone. I have +already kept thee far too long from"--and he smiled through all his +sadness--"from the loveliest of all duchesses. You have but few of +such evening hours to spend together, my poor children! If I could but +save your young and budding lives----" He passed his hand across his +brow. "Folly!" he then cried; "you are but a part of the doomed +nation--perhaps the loveliest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalgoth's eyes had filled with tears as the King mentioned +his young +wife. He now went up to Teja and laid his hand inquiringly upon his +shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is there no hope? She is so young!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"None," answered Teja; "for no saving angel will come down +from heaven. +We have still a few days before famine commences its inroads. Then I +will make a speedy end. The warriors shall sally forth and fall in +battle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the women, the children--the defenceless thousands?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot help them. I am no god. But not a Gothic woman or +maiden need +fall into slavery under the Byzantines, unless they choose shame +instead of a free death. Look there, my Adalgoth--in the dark night the +glow of the mountain is fully seen. Seest thou, there, a hundred paces +to the right.--Ha! how splendidly the fiery smoke rushes from the +gloomy mouth!--When the last guardian of the pass has fallen--one leap +into that abyss--and no insolent Roman hand shall touch our pure women. +Thinking of <i>them</i>--more than of us, for we can fall anywhere thinking +of the Gothic women, I chose for our last battle-field--Vesuvius!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Adalgoth, no longer weeping, but with enthusiasm, threw +himself +into Teja's arms.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">A few days after Cethegus had taken up his chosen position on +the left +of Narses with his mercenaries, the report came to the camp of the +Byzantines that the Goths in the Mausoleum of Hadrian had been +overpowered.</p> + +<p class="normal">So now all Rome was in the hands of the Romans; not a single +Goth, and, +as Cethegus exultingly thought, not a single Byzantine, ruled in his +Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">If he could now succeed in throwing his Isaurians, under the +command of +the tribunes, into Rome, the Prefect would be in a much more favourable +position, opposed to Narses, than he had ever been opposed to +Belisarius, with whom he had been obliged to share the possession of +the city.</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the messengers who had brought the news from Rome, at +the same +time gave to Aulus, the hostage, a letter from the two centurions, the +brothers Macer, which ran thus: "The bride has recovered from her long +sickness; if the bridegroom will come, there is nothing more to hinder +the wedding. Come, Aulus."</p> + +<p class="normal">These were the words fixed upon. Cethegus communicated them to +his +Roman knights.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excellent!" cried Lucius. "Now I shall be able to place a +monument +upon the spot where my brave brother fell for Rome and for Cethegus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Salvius Julianus, "imprescriptible is the Romans' +right to +Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if we are to go secretly, see to it well, Prefect," said +Piso, +"that our departure is concealed so long from the greatest cripple of +all times, that it will be impossible for him to overtake us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Cethegus, "you shall not depart in secret. I have +convinced +myself that this most prudent of all heroes has placed outposts far +beyond our position on the left wing. What we considered our outposts +are hemmed round by <i>his</i>--occupied by his Longobardian wolves, whom he +has placed in all directions. Without his consent, you cannot manage +your departure either by force or deception. It will be far wiser to +act openly. If he chooses, he can frustrate our plan, for, in any case, +he is sure to hear of it. But he will have nothing to say against +it--you will see! I shall tell him of my resolution, and, depend upon +it, he will approve of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"General, that is very bold; it is great!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is the only possible way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you are right," said Salvius Julianus, after a few +moments' +reflection. "Force and deception are equally impossible; and should +Narses consent, I will willingly confess that my fears----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Were founded upon an over-estimation of the <i>statesman</i> +Narses. +Large numbers have intimidated you, and the certainly not to be +over-estimated <i>general-ship</i> of the sick man. I confess that before +the battle of Taginæ the whole horizon threatened thunderstorms; but, +as I am still alive, those appearances must have been illusive. I will +at once send you with my inquiry to Narses. You are suspicious, you +will therefore observe sharply. Go, tell him that the Romans have +resolved to admit me, their Prefect, within their walls <i>now</i>, before +the annihilation of Teja's army. And I wish to know if he will permit +you to march to Rome with my Isaurians, or if he would consider such an +act as a breach of our agreement. Against his will neither I nor the +Isaurians will set forth."</p> + +<p class="normal">The two tribunes took leave, and, as he stepped out of the +Prefect's +tent, Piso said with a laugh to the others:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The crutch of Narses rendered your wits useless, longer than +the stick +of the shepherd did my fingers!"</p> + +<p class="normal">When they were well outside, Syphax hurried up to his master.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O master," he said, "do not trust this sick man with his +quiet and +impenetrable looks! Last night I again questioned my snake oracle. I +divided the skin of my idol into two pieces, and laid them upon live +coals. The piece which I called 'Narses' outlasted by far the piece +which I called 'Cethegus.' Shall I not make the attempt? You know that +a scratch with this dagger, and he is lost! What would it matter if +they impaled Syphax, the son of Hiempsal? I cannot do it by stealth, +for the Longobardian prince sleeps in the tent of Narses, in a bed +stretched across the entrance, and seven of his 'little wolves' lie +upon the threshold. The Herulians stand outside the curtain. According +to your hint, I have watched Narses' tent at night ever since we left +Helvillum. Even a gnat can scarcely escape the vigilance of the +Herulians and Longobardians when it flies into the tent. But openly, by +day, one spring into his litter--a scratch of the skin--and he is a +dead man in a quarter of an hour!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And before that time has elapsed, not only is Syphax, the son +of +Hiempsal, a corpse, but also Cethegus. No. But listen; I have +discovered where the commander is accustomed to hold his secret +conversations with Basiliskos and Alboin. Not in his tent--a camp has a +thousand ears--but in the bath. The physicians have ordered Narses a +morning bath in the bay at Stabiæ, and he has had a bath-house built +out into the sea, which can only be reached in a boat. When Alboin and +Basiliskos accompany him thither, they are only as wise as--well, as +Basiliskos and Alboin. But when they return, they are full of the +wisdom of Narses; they know what letters have come from Byzantium, and +many other things. Round about the bath-house there is much seaweed. +Syphax, for how long a time can you dive?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As long," answered the slave, not without pride, "as the +clumsy and +suspicious crocodile in our streams takes to observe the gazelle which +has been thrown into the reeds as a bait, and to make up his mind to +swim to it--then a knife from below in his belly! This small-eyed +Narses has something of the crocodile--we will see if I cannot outdo +him by patient diving."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excellent! my panther on shore, my diving duck in the water!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would leap into fire for your sake, then you would call me +your +'salamander.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you must manage to listen to the conversation of this +sick man +when he goes to bathe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The office will very well suit another game which I have on +hand. For +many days a fisherman, who throws his net every morning and evening, +and never catches anything, has been signing and winking to me in a +very innocent-sly manner. I believe he is watching for me, and not for +sea mullets. But the long-bearded wolves of this Alboin are always at +my heels. Perhaps, when I dive into the water, I shall be able to catch +up what this fisherman wishes to confide to me."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Very gravely, but no more in a melting mood, Adalgoth told his +young +wife of the resolve of the King, and of the last alternative between +death and a shameful slavery.</p> + +<p class="normal">He expected an outbreak of wild grief, such as it had been so +difficult +even for him to repress. But, to his astonishment, Gotho remained +unshaken.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have foreseen this long ago, my Adalgoth! It is no +misfortune; to +lose what we love, and still live, that alone is a misfortune. I have +attained to the highest earthly bliss, I am thy wife. Whether I shall +have been so for ten years or for twenty, or for scarcely half a year, +alters nothing. At least we shall die together on the same day, +possibly at the same hour. For King Teja will not forbid thee--when +thou hast done thy part in the last battle, and, perhaps wounded, canst +fight no longer--he will not forbid thee to come and take me in thine +arms--how often hast thou carried me on the Iffinger!--and leap with me +into the abyss. Oh, Adalgoth!" she cried, passionately embracing him, +"how happy we have been! We will show that we were worthy of such +bliss, by dying bravely, without cowardly lament. The scion of the +Balthe," and she smiled, "shall not say that the shepherd's daughter +could not keep pace with his nobility. There arises in my soul a vision +of the grandeur of our mountains! My grandfather, Iffa, admonished me, +when I left him, to call to mind the fresh and free air of our +mountains, and the strict and noble severity of the proud heights, +should ever life in the narrow, small, gilded chambers here below +seem too paltry for our souls. We have not been menaced with that, but +now, when it is necessary to raise our minds from timid, tender +sorrow--which almost crept over me--and to gain strength for a noble +resolve, the remembrance of my native mountains has made me strong. +'Shame on thee,' I said to myself, 'shame on thee, daughter of the +mountains! What would the Iffinger, and the Wolfshead, and all the +stony giants say, if they saw the shepherdess despair? Be worthy of thy +mountains and of thy hero husband.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalgoth pressed his young wife to his bosom, with mingled +pride and +joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Behind the tent of the Duke lay the low hut, made of dried +branches, +where dwelt Wachis and Liuta. Liuta, who had heard from Gotho what fate +menaced them, had been obliged to use all her powers of persuasion upon +her husband (who sat shaking his head and hammering and patching his +shield, which had been sadly defaced, by Longobardian arrows in the +last watch he had held at the mouth of the pass, and who now began to +whistle to hide his suppressed sobs) before she could raise him to a +like enthusiasm of renunciation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not think," said the honest man, "that the Lord of +heaven can see +it done. I am one of those who never like to say, 'All is over!' The +proud ones, those who hold their heads high, like King Teja and Duke +Adalgoth, certainly run constantly against the beams of fate. But we +small people, who can stoop and bend, easily find a mouse-hole or a +chink in the wall by which to escape. It is too vile! miserable! cruel! +rascally!"--and each word was accompanied by a sounding stroke with his +hammer. "I will not believe it! I cannot believe that hundreds of good +women, pretty girls, lisping children, and stammering old men, must +jump into the hellish fire of this accursed mountain! As if it were but +a merry bonfire! As if they would come out at the other side safe and +sound! I might just as well have let thee burn in the house at Fæsulæ. +And not only thou must burn, but also our expected child, whom I have +already named Witichis."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or Rauthgundis," said Liuta, blushing, as she bent over her +husband's +shoulder and stopped his hammering. "Let this name admonish thee, +Wachis! Think of our beloved mistress. Was she not a thousand times +better than Liuta, the poor maid-servant? And would she have hesitated +or refused to die on the same day with all her people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou art right, wife!" exclaimed Wachis, with a last furious +stroke of +his hammer. "Thou knowest I am a peasant, and peasants do not at all +like to die. But if the heavens fall, they strike down peasants as well +as others; and before it happens--ha-ha!--I will deal many a famous +stroke! That would please Sir Witichis and Mistress Rauthgundis right +well also. In honour of them--yes, thou art right, Liuta--we will live +bravely--and, if it cannot be otherwise, bravely die!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="continue">It was with most joyful surprise that the two tribunes, +Licinius and +Julianus, entered the tent of the Prefect after their interview with +Narses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Once again you have conquered, O Cethegus!" cried Licinius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have got the upper hand, Prefect of Rome," said Salvius +Julianus. +"I do not understand it, but Narses really abandons Rome to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha!" cried Piso, who had entered with the others, "that is +your old +Cæsarian luck, Cethegus! Your star, which has seemed to wane since this +famous cripple's arrival, shines anew. It seems to me that sometimes +his <i>mind</i> suffers from attacks of epilepsy. For, with a sound mind, +how could he quietly let you enter Rome? No! Quem deus vult perdere +dementat! Now will Quintus Piso again wander through the Forum, and +look into the book-stalls to see if the Goths have assiduously bought +his 'Epistolas ad amabilissimum, carissimum pastorem Adalgothum et ejus +pedum'--(Letters to the very amiable and greatly beloved shepherd-boy, +Adalgoth, and his bludgeon)."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you have composed in exile, like Ovidius?" asked Cethegus, +smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," answered Piso. "The six-footed verses come more +readily, since +they no longer need to fear the Goths, who are a foot longer. And amid +the noise of Gothic banquetings it would not be easy to compose, even +in time of peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has composed some merry verses, intermixed with Gothic +words, on +that subject too," said Salvius Julianus. "How does it begin, 'Inter +hails Gothicum skapja'----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not wrong my words! It is not permitted to quote falsely +what is +immortal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, how go the verses?" asked Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thus," said Piso:</p> + +<p class="text10"><span style="letter-spacing:3em"> </span>"De conviviis barbarorum.<br> +Inter: 'Hails Gothicum! skapja matjan jah drinkan!'<br> +Non audet quisquam dignos educere versus:<br> +Calliope madido trepidat se jungere Baccho,<br> +Ne pedibus non stet ebria Musa suis."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Horrible poetry!" exclaimed Salvius Julianus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who knows," said Piso, laughing, "whether the thirst of the +Goths will +not become immortal through these verses?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But now tell me exactly what Narses answered?" said Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"First he listened to us with great incredulity," replied +Licinius, "He +asked suspiciously, 'Is it possible that the prudent Romans can again +beg for an Isaurian garrison and the Prefect, whom they have to thank +for so much famine and unwilling valour?' But I answered that he +under-rated the patriotism of the Romans, and that it was your affair +if you had deceived yourself. If the Romans did not voluntarily admit +us, your seven thousand men were too weak to storm the city. This +seemed to convince him. He only required our promise that, if we were +not admitted voluntarily, we would at once return here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And we thought we might well venture to promise this in your +name," +concluded Julianus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were right," said Cethegus, with a smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Narses then said that he would not hinder us if the Romans +liked to +have us. And he is so completely harmless," Licinius went on, "that he +does not seem to wish to detain you, even as a hostage; for he inquired +when the Prefect would start. Therefore he must have taken it for +granted that you would lead the Isaurians to Rome yourself. And he has +nothing to say against that either. He was evidently surprised when I +answered that you preferred to witness here the destruction of the +Goths."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Cethegus, "where, then, is this terrible Narses, +the great +statesman! Even my friend Procopius sadly over-rated him, when he once +named him to me as the greatest man of the time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The greatest man of the time is--some one else," cried +Licinius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was natural that Procopius should give the palm to the +superior +enemy of his Belisarius. But one almost ought to take advantage of the +clumsy blunder made by the 'greatest man,'" continued Cethegus +reflectively. "The gods might be angry if we did not make use of the +miracle of infatuation which they have accomplished for us. I alter my +resolution; I long to get to the Capitol; I will go with you to Rome. +Syphax, we will start--at once! Saddle my horse!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Syphax gave his master a warning look.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave me, tribunes!" said Cethegus, "I will recall you +directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O sir!" cried Syphax eagerly, as soon as they were alone, "do +not go +to-day! Send the others on in advance. To-morrow early I shall fish two +great secrets out of the sea. Diving under his boat, I have already +spoken to the fisherman I mentioned. He is no fisher, he is a slave, a +post-slave belonging to Procopius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say?" asked Cethegus hastily and in a low tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We could only exchange a few words in a whisper. The +Longobardians +stood on the shore watching us. Seven letters from Procopius, sent +either openly or secretly, have never reached you. He therefore chose +this clever messenger, who will fish to-night by moonlight and give me +the letter. He had not brought it with him to-day. And to-morrow +early--to-day he was too ill--Narses will again bathe in the sea. I +have found a hiding-place among the weeds; quite close. And should they +chance to see bubbles rising from the water, I can whistle like an +otter. I saw the imperial post arrive with well-filled mail-bags. +Basiliskos took them. Do but wait until to-morrow early; Narses will be +sure to talk over the latest secrets from Byzantium with Basiliskos and +Alboin. Or at least leave me here alone----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, that would be at once to betray you as a spy. You are +worth more +than ten times your weight in gold, Syphax!--I shall remain here till +to-morrow," he continued, as the tribunes again entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, come with us!" begged Licinius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Away from the oppressive influence of this Narses!" added +Julianus.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cethegus frowned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does he still over-top me in your eyes, this fool, who allows +Cethegus +to escape from his well-guarded camp to Rome; who throws the fish out +of his net into the water? Verily, he has too much intimidated you! +To-morrow evening I will follow you. I have still some business to +transact here, which no one but myself can complete. Meanwhile, if Rome +does not resist, you can occupy it without me. But I shall surely +overtake you at Terracina. If not, march into Rome. You, Licinius, will +keep the Capitol for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">With sparkling eyes Licinius exclaimed: "You honour me highly, +my +general! I will answer for the Capitol with my life! May I venture a +petition?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not expose yourself foolhardily to the spear of the Gothic +King! +The day before yesterday he hurled two spears at once at you; one in +each hand. If I had not caught the one from his left hand upon my +shield----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, Licinius, the Jupiter of the Capitol would have blown +it aside +before it struck me. For the god still needs me. But you mean well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not widow Roma!" persisted Lucius.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus looked at him with the irresistible look of admiring +love +which was so winning on <i>his</i> face; and continued, turning to Salvius +Julianus:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You, Salvius, will occupy the Mausoleum. And you, Piso, the +rest of +the city on the left bank of the Tiber. Particularly the Porta Latina; +through that gate I shall follow you. You will not open to Narses +<i>alone</i>, any more than you formerly did to Belisarius alone. Farewell; +salute my Roma for me. Tell her, that the last contest for her +possession, that between Narses and Cethegus, has ended with victory +for Cethegus. We shall meet again in Rome! Roma eterna!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Roma eterna!" repeated the tribunes with enthusiasm, and +hurried out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, why was not this Licinius the son of Manilia!" cried +Cethegus, +looking after the young men as they departed. "Folly of my heart, why +art thou so obstinate? Licinius, you shall take the place of Julius as +my heir! Oh, would that you were indeed Julius!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The departure of the Prefect for Rome was delayed for many +days. +Narses, who invited him to his table, did not indeed seek to keep him +back. He even expressed his astonishment that the "Ruler of the +Capitol" was not more powerfully drawn to the Tiber stream.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," he said with a smile, "I can understand that, as +you have +seen these barbarians rule and conquer so long in your Italy, you +desire strongly to see them fall there. But I cannot say how long that +event may yet be put off. The pass cannot be taken by storm as long as +it is defended by men like this King Teja. Already more than a thousand +of my Longobardians, Alamannians, Burgundians, Herulians, Franks, and +Gepidæ have fallen before it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Send for once," interposed Alboin in a vexed tone of +voice--"send for +once your brave Romani Against the Goths. The Herulians, Vulkaris and +Wilmuth, fell under King Teja's axe almost as soon as they arrived +here; the Gepidian Asbad, under the spear of that boy Adalgoth; my +cousin Gisulf lies wounded by Duke Guntharis's sword; Wisand, the +standard-bearer, has stabbed the Frank count, Butilin, with the point +of his flagstaff; the old master-at-arms has dashed out the brains of +the Burgundian Gernot with his stone axe; the Alamannian Liuthari was +slain by Earl Grippa, and my shield-bearer, Klaffo, by a common Gothic +soldier. And for every one of these heroes, a dozen of their followers +lie dead also. If, at midnight last night, a block of lava, upon which +I was standing, had not most opportunely slipped down just as King +Teja, who can see in the dark, was hurling his lance at me, Rosamunda +would not be the loveliest woman, but the loveliest widow in the realm +of the Longobardians! As it was I got off with some ugly bruises, which +will not be extolled in future heroic songs, but which I fancy much +more than King Teja's best spear in my stomach. But I think that it is +now the turn of other heroes. Let your Macedonians and Illyrians come +forward. We have shown them often enough how a man can die in front of +that needle's eye."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my little wolf! Diamond cut diamond!" laughed Narses. +"Always +Germans against Germans; there are too many of you in the world!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You seem to have the same fatherly opinion about the +Isaurians--at +least about <i>mine</i>!--magister militum," said Cethegus. "Shortly before +their departure for Rome, you ordered my Isaurians to storm the pass in +mass--the first storming-party in mass that you had ever ordered! Seven +hundred of my seven thousand remained dead upon those rocks, and +Sandil, my tried and faithful chief, at last found this Black Earl's +axe too sharp for his helmet. He was very valuable to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, the rest are safe in Rome. But nothing except fire can +drive +these Goths out of their last hole; unless indeed the earth would do me +the favour to quake, as it did at Ravenna when Belisarius----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is there still no news of the result of the process against +Belisarius?" asked Cethegus. "Letters came lately from Byzantium, did +they not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not yet read them all.--Or, if not fire--then hunger. +And if +they then sally forth for a last battle, many a brave man would rather +hear the murmur of the Ganges than the murmur of the Draco. Not you, +Prefect! I know that you can look boldly into the eye of death."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will still wait here a little and see how things turn out. +It is bad +travelling weather. It storms and rains unceasingly. On the first or +second warm sunshiny day, I will start for Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was true. On the night of the departure of the Isaurians, +the +weather had suddenly changed. The fisherman, who dwelt in a village +near Stabiæ, could not venture out upon the sea; less on account of the +storm than because of the Longobardians, who had long been watching him +with suspicion, and who had once arrested him. Only when his old father +came forward and proved that Agnellus was really his, the old +fisherman's son, did they hesitatingly let him go free. But he did not +dare to pretend to fish, when no other fisher threw out his nets; and +only far out upon the water could Syphax, who was also closely watched, +venture to communicate with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The exits of all the camps, even of the half-deserted camp of +Cethegus--Narses had placed only three thousand Thracians and Persians +in the tents deserted by the Isaurians--were guarded night and day by +the Longobardians. And Narses was also obliged to postpone his baths +for some days. But for the secrets, namely, the letter from Procopius +and the conversation held by Narses in his bath-house, Cethegus fully +intended to wait.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="continue">The usual good luck of the Prefect did not desert him. The +weather +changed again. On the morning of the day after his last conversation +with Narses, the sun rose splendidly over the blue and sparkling bay, +and hundreds of small fishing-boats set out to take advantage of the +favourable weather.</p> + +<p class="normal">Syphax, yielding his place at the threshold of his master's +tent to the +four Isaurians, who alone had remained behind their comrades, had +disappeared at the first approach of dawn.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Cethegus had taken his morning bath in an adjoining tent, +and was +returning to his breakfast, he heard Syphax making a great noise as he +approached through the lines of tents.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" he was shouting; "this fish is for the Prefect. I have +paid for +it in hard cash. The great Narses will not wish to eat other people's +fish!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And with these words he tore himself loose from Alboin, and +from +several Longobardians, as well as from a slave belonging to Narses, who +were trying to detain him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus stopped. He recognised the slave. It was the cook of +the +generally sick and always temperate general, whose art was scarcely +practised except for his master's guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir," the well-educated Greek said to the Prefect, in his +native +language, "do not blame me for this unseemly turmoil. What does a +sea-mullet matter to me! But these long-bearded barbarians forced me to +take possession, at any cost, of this fish-basket, which your slave was +bringing from the boats."</p> + +<p class="normal">A glance which Cethegus exchanged with Syphax sufficed. The +Longobardian had not understood what had been said. Cethegus gave +Syphax a blow on the cheek, and cried in Latin:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-for-nothing, insolent slave! will you never learn +manners? Shall +not the sick general have the best there is?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he roughly snatched the basket from the Moor and gave it +to the +slave.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here is the basket. I hope Narses will enjoy the fish."</p> + +<p class="normal">The slave, who thought he had refused the gift distinctly +enough, took +the basket with a shake of his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What can it all mean?" he asked in Latin as he went away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It means," answered Alboin, who followed him, "that the best +fish is +<i>not</i> hidden in the basket, but somewhere else."</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Syphax entered the tent, he eagerly felt in his +waterproof +belt of crocodile-skin for a roll of papyrus, which he handed to the +Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You bleed, Syphax!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only slightly. The Longobardians pretended, when they saw me +swimming +in the water, to take me for a dolphin, and shot their arrows at me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nurse yourself--a solidus for every drop of your blood!--the +letter is +worth blood and gold, as it seems. Nurse yourself! and bid the +Isaurians let no one enter."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now, alone in his tent, the Prefect began to read.</p> + +<p class="normal">His features grew darker and darker. Ever deeper became the +wrinkle in +the centre of his mighty forehead; ever more harshly and firmly +compressed his lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius, the Ex-prefect and ex-friend, +Procopius of Cæsarea, for the last time. This is the most sorrowful +business for which I have ever used either my former or my present +pen-hand. And I would gladly give this my left hand, as I gave my right +for Belisarius, if I need not write this letter. The revocation and +renunciation of our friendship of thirty years! In this unheroic time I +believed in two heroes; the hero of the sword, Belisarius; and the hero +of the intellect, Cethegus. In future I must hate, and almost despise, +the latter."</p> + +<p class="normal">The reader threw the letter on the couch upon which he lay. +Then he +took it up again with a frown and read on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing more was wanting but that Belisarius should prove to +be the +traitor that you would have represented him to be. But his innocence is +as clearly proved as your black falsehood. I had often felt uneasy at +the crookedness of your ways, into which you had partly led me also; +but I believed in the grandeur and unselfishness of your design: the +liberation of Italy! Now, however, I see that the mainspring of your +actions was measureless, unlimited, merciless ambition! A design which +necessitates such means as you have used is desecrated in my eyes for +ever. You tried to ruin Belisarius, that brave and simple-minded man, +by means of his own repentant wife, and to sacrifice him to Theodora +and to your own ambition. That was devilish; and I turn away from you +for ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus closed his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ought not to wonder at it," he said to himself. "He too has +his +idol: Belisarius! Whoever touches that idol is as hateful to the wise +Procopius as he who sees in the Cross merely a piece of wood is to the +Christian. Therefore I ought not to wonder at it--but it pains me! Such +is the power of a thirty years' habit. During all those years a warmer +feeling came over my heart at the sound of the name, Procopius! How +weak does custom make us! The Goth deprived me of Julius--Belisarius +deprives me of Procopius! Who will deprive me of Cethegus, my oldest +and last friend? No one. Neither Narses nor Fate. Away with you, +Procopius, out of the circle of my life! Almost too lachrymose, +certainly too long, is the funeral speech which I have held over you. +What else does the dead man say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he continued to read:</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I write this letter, because I wish to close our long +friendship--to which you have put an end by your treacherous attack +upon my hero, Belisarius--with a last sign of affection. I wish to warn +and to save you, if it yet be possible. Seven letters which I sent you +have evidently never reached you, otherwise you would not still be +dwelling in the camp of Narses, as his army-reports affirm. So I will +entrust this eighth letter to my slave, Agnellus, a fisherman's son +from Stabiæ, where you are now encamped. I will give him his freedom, +and recommend this letter to him as my last commission. For, although I +ought to hate you, I still love you, Cethegus! It is hard to abandon +you, and I would gladly save you. When, shortly after your departure, I +returned to Byzantium--already on the way the news of the arrest +of Belisarius (on account of treachery!) came upon me like a +thunderbolt--I believed at first that you, like the Emperor, had been +deceived. In vain I tried to gain a hearing from Justinian; he raged +against all who had ever been united in ties of friendship to +Belisarius. In vain I strove to see Antonina by every means in my +power. She was strictly guarded (thanks to your hints) in the Red +House. In vain I proved to Tribonianus the impossibility of treachery +on the part of Belisarius. He shrugged his shoulders and said: 'I +cannot comprehend it! But the proof is striking; this senseless denial +of the visits of Anicius. He is lost!' And he was lost. The sentence +was pronounced; Belisarius was condemned to death; Antonina to +banishment. The Emperor mercifully <i>mitigated</i> the sentence of +Belisarius into banishment--far from Antonina's exile--the loss of +sight, and confiscation of his property. This terrible judgment lay +heavy upon all Byzantium. No one believed in the guilt of Belisarius +except the Emperor and the judges. But no one was able to prove his +innocence, or change his fate. I was resolved to go with him into +banishment; the one-armed with the blind. Then--and may he be blessed +for it for ever!--his great enemy, Narses, saved him! He whom I once +named to you as the greatest man of the age."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure," said Cethegus to himself, "and now he will also +be the +most magnanimous."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As soon as the news reached him in the Baths of +Nikomedia--whither the +sick man had repaired--he hurried back to Byzantium. He sent for me and +said: 'You know well that it would have been my greatest pleasure to +beat Belisarius thoroughly in the open field; but he who has been my +great and noble rival shall not perish miserably because of these lies. +Come with me. We two--his greatest friend and his greatest enemy--will +together save that impetuous man.' And he demanded an audience of the +Emperor, which was at once granted to the enemy of Belisarius. Then he +said to Justinian: 'It is impossible that Belisarius is a traitor. His +only failing is his blind fidelity to your ingratitude.' But Justinian +was deaf. Then Narses laid his marshal's staff at the Emperor's feet +and said: 'Well, either you will annul the sentence of the judges, and +permit a new inquiry, or you will lose both your generals on one day. +For, on the same day that Belisarius goes into exile, I go too. Then +see to it, who will guard your doors from the Goths, Persians, and +Saracens.' And the Emperor hesitated, and demanded three days' time for +consideration, and meanwhile Narses was to be allowed to look through +the papers in company with me, and to speak to Anicius and all +concerned. I soon perceived from the papers that the worst proof +against Belisarius--for I hoped to be able to explain away the consent +which he had written upon the tablet found in the house of Photius--was +the secret and midnight visits of Anicius, which Belisarius, Antonina, +and Anicius himself, obstinately and unreasonably denied. I then spoke +to Antonina in private. I told her that these visits and their denial +would be the ruin of Belisarius. Then she cried with sparkling eyes: +'Then I alone will be ruined, and Belisarius shall be saved! He really +knew nothing of these visits, for Anicius did not come to him--he came +to me. All the world shall know it--even Belisarius! He may kill me, +but he shall be saved!' And she gave me a little bundle of letters from +Anicius, which, certainly, when laid before the Emperor, would explain +everything, but would also accuse the <i>Empress</i> in a terrible manner. +And how firmly stood Theodora at that time in the esteem of Justinian! +I hastened with these letters to Narses. He read them through and said, +'In this case, either Belisarius and all of us are ruined--or the +beautiful she-devil will fall! It is for life or death! First come with +me to Antonina once more.' And, accompanied by guards, and taking +Antonina with us, we hastened to Anicius, who was slowly recovering +from his wound in prison."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus stamped his foot; but he read on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then we all four went to Justinian. The magnanimous +sinner, +Antonina, confessed upon her knees the nightly meetings with Anicius, +which, however, she had only encouraged in order to deliver the youth +from the toils of the Empress. She gave the Emperor the letters of +Anicius, which spoke of the seductress, of her manifold arts, of the +secret passage to her chamber, and of the turning statue. The poor +Emperor broke out into a fearful rage; he would have arrested us all +upon the spot for leze majesty, for unlimited calumny. But Belisarius +said, 'Do that--to-morrow! But this evening, when the Empress sleeps, +let Anicius and me lead you through the turning statue into the chamber +of your wife, seize her letters, confront her with Antonina and +Anicius, subject the old witch Galatea to the torture, and then see if +you do not learn much more than you will like to hear. And if we have +deceived ourselves, punish us to-morrow as you like!' The turning, +statue! that was so palpable! The assurance of Anicius, that he had +often passed this secret door, was so provoking! Such things could +scarcely be invented. Justinian accepted our proposition. That very +night Anicius led the Emperor and us three into the garden adjoining +the Empress's apartments. A hollow plantain-tree concealed the mouth of +the subterranean passage which ended under the mosaic of Theodora's +ante-room. Until then, Justinian had still preserved his belief in the +Empress. But when Anicius pushed a marble slab to one side, and opened +a secret lock with a secret key that he had fetched from his house, and +the statue became visible, the Emperor, half fainting, sank back into +my arms. At last he roused himself, and pressed forward alone past the +statue into the chamber. Twilight filled the room. The dimly burning +lamp shone over the couch of Theodora. The poor befooled man went up to +her with a stealthy and unsteady step. There lay Theodora, fully +dressed in imperial garments. A shrill cry from the Emperor called us +to his side, and also Galatea from an adjoining chamber, whom I +immediately seized. Justinian, stiff with horror, pointed to the +couch--we stepped forward--the Empress was dead! Galatea, not less +startled than we, fell into convulsions. Meanwhile, we searched the +room, and found, upon a golden tripod, the ashes of numerous rolls of +parchment. Anicius called for slaves and lights. By this time Galatea +had recovered, and, wringing her hands, told how the Empress had left +her rooms towards evening--about the time of our audience--without +attendants, in order to visit the Emperor, as she frequently did at +that hour. She had returned almost immediately, very quiet, but +strikingly pale. She had ordered the tripod to be filled with glowing +coals, and had then locked herself up in her room. When Galatea knocked +some time later, she had answered that she had gone to rest, and +required nothing more. On hearing this, the Emperor threw himself again +upon the beloved corpse; and now, by the light of the lamps which had +been brought, he saw that the little ruby capsule, containing poison, +in the ring which had once belonged to Cleopatra, and which Theodora +wore upon her little finger, had been opened--the Empress had killed +herself! Upon the lemonwood table lay a strip of parchment, upon which +was written her favourite motto: 'To live is to rule by means of +beauty.' We were still in doubt whether it was the tortures of her +malady or the discovery of her threatened fall which had driven her to +this desperate deed. But our doubts were soon solved. When the news of +Theodora's death spread through the palace, Theophilos, the Emperor's +door-keeper, hurried, half desperate, into the chamber of death, threw +himself at the Emperor's feet, and confessed that he guessed the +connection. He had been for years in the secret service of the Empress, +and every time that the Emperor held an audience to which he had given +orders that the Empress was not to be admitted, he (the doorkeeper) had +apprised the latter of it. She had then almost always heard the most +secret councils of the Emperor from a hiding-place in the doorway of an +adjacent chamber. Thus yesterday he had, as usual, informed the Empress +that we were to have an audience, to which he had been particularly +ordered not to admit her. Presently she had entered her hiding-place, +but she had scarcely heard a few words spoken by Antonina and Anicius, +when, with a smothered cry, she had sank half fainting behind the +curtains; but, quickly rising, she had made a sign to him to keep +silence, and then disappeared.--Narses pressed the Emperor to question +Galatea upon the rack, but Justinian said, 'I will inquire no further.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Day and night he remained alone near the corpse of the still +beloved +woman, after which he caused her to be interred, with the highest +imperial honours, in the church of St. Sophia. It was officially +published that the Empress had been suffocated by charcoal fumes while +sleeping. The tripod, with the ashes, was publicly exposed. But that +night had made Justinian an old man. The complete agreement of the +evidence of Antonina, Anicius, Belisarius, Photius, the slaves of +Antonina, the litter-bearers who had taken you to Belisarius's house +before his arrest--all fully proved that you, in conjunction with the +Empress, had persuaded Belisarius, through Antonina, to place himself +seemingly at the head of the conspirators; and I swore to the fact that +a few weeks ago he had expressed to me his just anger at the project of +Photius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Justinian hastened to the cell where Belisarius was confined, +embraced +him with tears, begged his forgiveness for himself and for Antonina, +who remorsefully confessed all her innocent love-makings, and obtained +full pardon. The Emperor, in atonement, begged Belisarius to accept the +chief command in Italy. But Belisarius said, 'No, Justinian; my work on +earth is finished. I shall retire with Antonina to my most distant +villa in Mesopotamia, and there bury myself and my past. I am cured of +the wish to serve you. If you will grant me a last favour, then give +the command of the army in Italy to my friend and preserver, Narses. He +shall revenge me upon the Goths, and upon that Satan called Cethegus!' +And the two great enemies embraced before our sympathetic eyes. All +this was buried in the deepest secrecy, in order to spare the memory of +the Empress; for Justinian still loves her. It was announced that the +innocence of Belisarius had been fully proved by Narses, Tribonianus, +and me, by means of lately-discovered letters of the conspirators. +Justinian pardoned all who had been sentenced; also Scævola and +Albinus, who were formerly undone by you. But I tell you the whole +truth, in order to warn and save you. For, although I do not know in +what way, I am quite convinced that Justinian has sworn your ruin, and +entrusted your destruction to the hands of Narses. Your design to found +a free and recognised Rome, ruled only by yourself, was madness. To it +you have sacrificed everything--even our fair friendship. I shall +accompany Belisarius and Antonina, and I will try, in the contemplation +of their complete reconciliation and happiness, to forget the disgust, +doubt, and vexation with which all human affairs have filled me."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">Cethegus sprang from his seat, tossed the letter down, and +hastily +paced his tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Feeble creature! and weak-minded Cethegus! to vex yourself +that +another soul is lost to you! Had you not lost Julius long before you +killed him? And yet you still live and strive! And this Narses, whom +all fear as if he were God and devil in one--is he, then, really so +dangerous? Impossible! He has blindly entrusted Rome to me and mine. It +is not his fault that I do not defy him at this moment from the +Capitol. Bah! I cannot learn to be afraid in my old days. I trust in my +star! Is it foolhardiness? Is it the calmest wisdom? I do not know; but +it seems to me that confidence like this led Cæsar from victory to +victory! However, I can scarcely learn more from the secret council of +Narses in his bath-house than I have learned from this letter." And he +tore the papyrus roll into small pieces. "I will start this very day, +even if Syphax has overheard nothing at this moment, for I think it is +the hour of the bath."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then Johannes was announced, and, at a sign from +Cethegus, was +admitted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Prefect of Rome," said Johannes, "I am come to beg pardon for +an old +injury. The pain I felt at the loss of my brother Perseus made me +suspicious."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let that rest," said Cethegus; "it is forgotten."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I have not forgotten," continued Johannes, "your heroic +valour. In +order at once to honour it and profit by it, I come to you with a +proposal. I and my comrades, used to Belisarius's straightforward +attacks, find the caution of the great Narses very tiresome. We have +now been lying for nearly two months before this cursed pass; we lose +men and win no renown. The commander-in-chief will starve the +barbarians out. Who knows how long that may last? And there will be a +fine butchery if, at last driven by despair, the barbarians break out +and sell dearly every drop of their blood! It is clear that if we only +had the mouth of that confounded pass----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, <i>if</i>!" said Cethegus, smiling. "It is not ill-defended +by this +Teja."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just on that account he must fall! He, the King, is evidently +the only +one who holds together the whole loose bundle of spears. Therefore I +and more than a dozen of the best blades in the camp have formed a +league. Whenever it is the King's turn to guard the pass--the approach +is so narrow and steep, that only one at a time can attempt a +hand-to-hand fight--we, one after the other, taking our turns by lot, +will attack him; the others will keep as close as possible to the +foremost combatant, will save him if wounded, step into his place when +he falls, or, if he is victor and slays the Goth, press forward into +the ravine. Besides me, there are the Longobardians Alboin, Gisulf, and +Autharis, the Herulians Rodulf and Suartua, Ardarich the Gepide, +Gunebad the Burgundian, Chlotachar and Bertchramn the Franks, Vadomar +and Epurulf the Alamannians, Garizo the tall Bajuvar, Kabades the +Persian, Althias the Armenian, and Taulantius the Illyrian. We should +much like to have your terrible sword among us. Will you, Cethegus, be +one in our league? I know you hate this black-haired hero."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gladly," said Cethegus, "as long as I am here. But I shall +soon +exchange this camp for the Capitol."</p> + +<p class="normal">A strange and mocking smile passed across the face of +Johannes, which +did not escape Cethegus. But he attributed it to a wrong feeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You cannot well doubt my courage," he said, "according to +your own +words. But there are more important things for me to do than to stamp +out the last glimmering sparks of the Gothic war. The orphaned city +longs for her Prefect. The Capitol beckons me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Capitol!" repeated Johannes. "I think, Cethegus, that a +heroic +death is also worth something."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, when the aim of one's life is reached."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But no one knows, O Cethegus, how near he has approached his +aim. But, +another thing: it seems to me as if something is in preparation among +the barbarians on their cursed mountain. From the hill near my quarters +we can peep a little, through a gap, over the peaks of the lava. I +should like you to turn your practised eye in that direction. At least, +they shall not surprise us by a sally. Follow me thither. But do not +speak of our league to Narses; he does not approve of such things. I +purposely chose the hour of his bath for my visit to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will come," said Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">He finished putting on his armour, and, after vainly inquiring +for +Syphax of the Isaurian sentry, went with Johannes through his own and +the central camp of Narses, and finally turned into that on the right +wing--the camp of Johannes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon the crown of the little hill mentioned by Johannes stood +a great +many officers, who were eagerly looking through a small gap in the lava +into the portion of the Gothic encampment visible to them.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Cethegus had looked for some time, he cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no doubt about it! They are evacuating this +easternmost part +of their position; they are pushing the wagons, which were drawn +together, apart, and dragging them farther to the right, to the west. +That must mean concentration; perhaps a sally."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you think, Johannes?" quietly asked a young captain, +who had +evidently only lately arrived from Byzantium, and who was a stranger to +Cethegus, "what do you think? Could not the new catapults reach the +barbarians from the point of that rock? I mean the last inventions of +Martinus--such as my brother took to Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>To Rome?</i>" repeated Cethegus, and cast a sharp look at the +questioner +and at Johannes.</p> + +<p class="normal">He felt himself suddenly turn hot and cold--a fright came over +him, +more terrible still than he had experienced when he had heard of the +landing of Belisarius, of Totila's election, of Totila's march to Rome +at <i>Pons Padi</i>, of Totila's entrance into the Tiber; or of the arrival +of Narses in Italy. It seemed to him as if an iron hand were clutching +his heart and brain. He saw that Johannes imposed silence on the young +questioner with a furious frown.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>To Rome?</i>" again repeated Cethegus in a low voice, and +fixing his +eyes, now upon the stranger, now upon Johannes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, yes, of course, to Rome!" at last answered Johannes. +"Zenon, +this man is Cethegus, the Prefect of Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Byzantine bowed with the expression of one who sees +for the +first time some far-famed monster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cethegus, Zenon here, a captain who till now has been +fighting on the +Euphrates, arrived only yesterday evening with some Persian bowmen from +Byzantium."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And his brother," asked Cethegus, "has gone to <i>Rome</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My brother Megas," quietly answered the Byzantine--who had +now +collected himself--"had the order to offer to the Prefect of Rome"--and +here he again bowed--"the newly-invented double-catapults for the walls +of Rome. He embarked long before me; so I thought that he had already +arrived, and was gone to you in Rome. But his freight is very heavy. I +am rejoiced to become personally acquainted with the most powerful man +of the West, the glorious defender of the Tomb of Hadrian."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cethegus cast another sharp look at Johannes, and, +abruptly bowing +to all present, turned to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had gone a few paces he suddenly looked back, and +caught sight +of Johannes, with both his fists raised in anger, scolding at the +talkative young archon. A cold shudder ran through the Prefect. He +intended to reach his tent by the shortest cut, and, without waiting +for Syphax and his discoveries, to mount his horse and hasten to Rome +without taking leave.</p> + +<p class="normal">The shortest way to get to his tent was to leave the camp of +Johannes, +and walk along the straight line of the semicircle formed by the whole +encampment. In front of him a few Persian bowmen were riding out of the +camp commanded by Johannes. And some peasants who had sold wine to the +soldiers were also permitted to pass unhindered by the sentinels. These +sentries were all Longobardians, to whom, as everywhere, the exits of +this camp were entrusted by Narses.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Cethegus was about to follow his countrymen, these sentries +stopped +him with their spears. He caught at the shafts and angrily pushed them +aside. At this one of the Longobardians blew his horn; the others +pressed more closely round Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By order of Narses!" said Autharis, the captain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And those?" asked Cethegus, pointing to the peasants and the +Persians.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Those are not you," said the Longobardian.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the sound of the horn a troop of guards had hurried up. +They bent +their bows. Cethegus silently turned his back on them and returned to +his tent by the way that he had come.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps it was only his suddenly-aroused mistrust which made +him +imagine that all the Byzantines and Longobardians whom he passed +regarded him with half-jeering, half-compassionate looks. When he +reached his tent he asked the Isaurian sentry:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is Syphax back?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, sir, long since. He is impatiently waiting for you in +the tent. +He is wounded."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus quickly pushed aside the curtains and entered. +Syphax, deadly +pale beneath his bronzed skin, rushed to meet him, embraced his knees, +and whispered in passionate and desperate excitement:</p> + +<p class="normal">"O my master! my lion! You are ensnared--lost--nothing can +save you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Compose yourself, slave!" said Cethegus. "You bleed?" +"It is nothing! They would not permit me to return to your camp--they +began to struggle with me as if in joke, but their dagger-stabs were +bitter earnest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who? Whose dagger-stabs?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Longobardians, master, who have placed double guards at +all the +entrances of your camp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Narses shall give me a reason for this," said Cethegus +angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The reason--that is, the pretext--he sent Kabades to inform +you of +it--is a menaced sally by the Goths. But oh! my lion, my eagle, my +palm-tree, my wellspring--you are lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And again the Numidian threw himself at his master's feet, +covering +them with tears and kisses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me coherently," said Cethegus, "what you have heard."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he leaned against the central support of his tent, +crossing his +arms behind his back, and raising his head. He did not seem to regard +the troubled face of Syphax, but to gaze at vacancy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O sir--I shall not be able to tell it very clearly--but I +succeeded in +reaching my hiding-place among the sea-weed. It was scarcely necessary +to dive--the weeds hid me sufficiently. The bathing-house is made of +thin wood and has been newly covered with linen since the last storm. +Narses came in his little boat with Alboin, Basiliskos, and three other +men, disguised as Longobardians--but I recognised Scævola, Albinus----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are not dangerous," interrupted Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And--Anicius!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you not mistaken?" asked Cethegus sharply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir, I knew his eyes and his voice! From their +conversation--I did not +understand every word--but the sense was clear----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would that you could repeat their very words!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They spoke Greek, sir, and I do not understand it as well as +your +language--and the waves made a noise, and the wind was unfavourable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what did they say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The three men only came from Byzantium yesterday +evening--they at once +demanded your head. But Narses said, 'No murder! A just sentence after +a process in all form.' 'When is it to be?' asked Anicius. 'So soon as +it is time.' 'And Rome?' asked Basiliskos. 'He will never see Rome +again!' answered Narses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" cried Cethegus. "Wait a moment. I must be quite +clear."</p> + +<p class="normal">He wrote a few lines upon a wax tablet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has Narses returned from his bath?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Long ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well." He gave the tablet to the sentinel at the door. +"Bring +back the answer immediately.--Continue, Syphax."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cethegus could no longer stand still. He began hastily to +pace the +tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O sir, something monstrous must have happened at Rome--I +could not +exactly understand what. Anicius put a question; in it he named your +Isaurians. Narses said, 'I am rid of the chief Sandil,' and he added, +laughing, 'and the rest are well cared for in Rome by Aulus and the +brothers Macer, my decoy-birds.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did he name those names?" asked Cethegus grimly. "Did he use +that +word?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, sir. Then Alboin said, 'It is well that the young +tribunes are +gone; it would have cost a hard fight.' And Narses replied, 'All the +Prefect's Isaurians must go. Shall we fight a bloody battle in our own +camp, and let King Teja burst in upon us?' O sir, I fear that they have +enticed your most faithful followers away from you with evil intent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe so too," said Cethegus gravely. "But what did they +say about +Rome?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alboin asked after a leader whose name I had never heard +before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Megas?" asked Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Megas! That was it. How did you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter. Continue! What about this Megas?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alboin asked how long Megas had been in Rome. Narses said, +'In any +case long enough for the Roman tribunes and the Isaurians.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus groaned aloud.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," continued Syphax, "Scævola remarked that the citizens +of Rome +idolised their tyrant and his young knights. 'Yes.' answered Narses, +'formerly; but now they hate and fear nothing so much as the man who +tried by force once more to make them brave men and Romans.' Then +Albinus asked, 'But if they were to take his part again? His name has +an all-conquering influence.' Narses answered, 'Twenty-five thousand +Armenians in the Capitol and the Mausoleum will bind the Romans----'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus struck his fist fiercely on his forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Will bind them more strictly than Pope Pelagius, their +treaty, or +their oath.' 'Their treaty and their oath?' asked Scævola. 'Yes,' +answered Narses, 'their oath and treaty! They have sworn only to open +their gates to the Prefect of Rome.' 'Well, and then?' asked Anicius. +'Well', they know, and they knew then, that now the Prefect of Rome is +called--Narses. <i>To me, not to him</i> have, they sworn!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus threw himself upon his couch and hid his face in his +purple-hemmed mantle. No loud complaint issued from his heaving chest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, my dear master!" cried Syphax, "it will kill you! But I +have not +yet finished. You must know all. Despair will give you strength, as it +does to the snared lion."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus raised his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Finish," he said. "What I have still to hear is indifferent; +it can +only concern me, not Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it concerns you in a fearful manner! Narses went on to +say, after +a few speeches which escaped me in the noise of the waves--that +yesterday, at the same time as the long-expected news from Rome----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What news?" asked Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He did not mention what. He said, 'At the same time, Zenon +brought me +word to open the sealed orders which I carry from the Emperor; for the +latter rightly judges that any day may bring about the destruction of +the Goths. I opened and'--O master, it is dreadful----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Narses said, 'All the great Justinian's littleness is exposed +in these +orders. I believe he would more easily pardon Cethegus for having +enticed him to blind Belisarius, than for having been in collusion with +Theodora, for having been the seducer of the Empress! A frightful +anachron'--I did not understand the word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Anachronism!" said Cethegus, quietly righting Syphax.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'For having deceived and outwitted him. The fate which +Cethegus almost +brought upon Belisarius, will now fall upon his own head--the loss of +his sight.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Really!" said Cethegus with a smile. But he involuntarily +felt for his +dagger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Narses said further," continued Syphax, "that you were to +suffer the +punishment which, in blasphemous desecration of Christ's death, and +contrary to the law of the Emperor Constantine, you had lately +introduced into Rome. What can he mean by that?" added Syphax +anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Crucifixion!" said Cethegus as he put up his dagger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O master!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Softly! I do not yet hang in the air. I still firmly tread +the +hero-nourishing earth. Conclude!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Narses said that he was a general and no executioner, and +that the +Emperor would have to be contented if he only sent him your head to +Byzantium. But oh, not that! Only not that--if we <i>must</i> die!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We?" said Cethegus, who had fully gained his usual calmness. +"<i>You</i> +have not deceived the great Emperor. The danger does not threaten you."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Syphax continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you not know then? Oh, do not doubt it. All Africa knows +that if +the head of a corpse is wanting, the soul must creep for ages through +dust and mire, in the shape of a vile and filthy headless worm. Oh, +they shall not separate your head from your trunk!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It still stands firm upon these shoulders of mine, like the +globe on +the shoulders of Atlas. Peace--some one comes."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Isaurian who had been sent to Narses, entered with a +sealed letter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Cethegus Cæsarius: Narses, the magister militum. There is +nothing +to prevent your carrying out your wish to go to Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now I understand," said Cethegus, and read on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The sentinels have orders to let you ride forth. But, if you +insist +upon going, I will give you a thousand Longobardians under Alboin as an +escort, for the roads are very unsafe. As, in all probability, an +attempt will be made by the Goths, to-day or tomorrow, to break through +our lines, and repeated foolhardy sallies on the part of my soldiers +have led to the loss of leaders and troops, I have ordered that no one +be permitted to leave the camp without my express permission, and have +entrusted the watch, even that of the tents, to my Longobardians."</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus sprang to the entrance of his tent, and tore the +curtains +open. His four Isaurians were just being led away. Twenty +Longobardians, under Autharis, drew up before the tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had thought of escaping to-night," he said to Syphax, +turning back. +"It is now impossible. But it is better so, more dignified. Rather a +Gothic spear in my breast, than a Grecian arrow in my back. But I have +not yet read all that Narses writes."</p> + +<p class="normal">He read on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you will come to my tent, you will learn what measures I +have taken +against the probably great bloodshed which will ensue if the barbarians +venture to sally, as they threaten. But I have still a painful +communication to make to you. News, which reached me yesterday evening +by sea from Rome, informs me that your tribunes and the greater part of +the Isaurians have been killed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! Licinius, Piso, Julianus!" cried the Prefect, startled +out of his +icy and defiant calmness by deep pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a pause he controlled his emotion sufficiently to take +up the +letter and read on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"When they had been quietly admitted into the city (shamefully +decoyed!) they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor. +They tried, contrary to their promise, to use force. Lucius Licinius +attempted to take the Capitol by storm; Piso, the Porta Latina; Salvus +Julianus, the Mausoleum. They fell, each before the place which he +attacked. What remained of the Isaurians were taken prisoners."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My second Julius follows the first!" cried Cethegus. "Well, I +do not +need an heir, for Rome will never now be mine! It is over! The great +struggle for Rome is over! And brute force, small cunning, has +conquered the mind of Cethegus as it did the sword of the Goth. O +Romans, Romans! <i>You, too, my sons?</i> You are my Brutus. Come, Syphax, +you are free. I go to meet death. Go back to your deserts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O master!" cried Syphax, sobbing passionately, as he crouched +at the +feet of Cethegus. "Do not send me from you! I am not less faithful than +Aspa! Let me die with you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be it so," said Cethegus quietly, and laying his hand upon +the Moor's +head. "I have loved you, my panther! Then die with me. Give me my helm, +shield, sword, and spear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whither go you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"First to Narses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Vesuvius!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p class="continue">King Teja's intention was to throw himself at night with all +his armed +men--except a few guards who would be left in the ravine--into the camp +of Narses, and there, favoured by the darkness and surprise, to commit +great carnage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, when the last of his warriors had fallen, and--probably +at +daybreak--the enemy prepared to assault the pass, the unarmed +people--at least those who did not prefer slavery to death--were to +seek an honourable grave in the neighbouring crater of Vesuvius, after +which the few remaining defendants of the pass would sally forth and +die fighting.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the King called his people together, and left the +alternative to +their choice, he was filled with pride and joy to find that not one +voice among the thousands of women and children--for all the boys from +ten years of age and all the old men were armed--was raised in favour +of dishonour rather than death. His hero soul rejoiced in the thought +that his whole race, by a deed unheard of in the history of nations, +would die a glorious and heroic death, and worthily seal the renown of +their great past.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, the despairing idea of the grim hero was not to be +carried +out. His dying eyes were to behold a brighter and more consoling +picture. Narses, ever watchful and wary, had noticed the mysterious +preparations of his enemies even sooner than Johannes and Cethegus, and +had called a meeting of generals, which was to be held in his tent at +the fifth hour, in order to explain to them his counter-measures.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a lovely September morning, full of shining light and +shining +mist over land and sea; a golden glow, such as, even in Italy, is only +poured forth in like wondrous beauty over the Bay of Neapolis.</p> + +<p class="normal">Into the clear sky curled the white cloud of smoke from the +summit of +Vesuvius. Upon the curved line of the shore the smooth and gentle waves +rolled in a rhythmic measure. Close to the edge of the water--so close +that the ripples of the waves often wetted his steel-shod feet--a +lonely man walked slowly along, carrying his spear over his shoulder, +and apparently coming from the left wing of the Byzantine army. The sun +glistened upon his round shield, upon his splendid armour. The +sea-breeze played with his crimson crest.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Cethegus; and the way he was going led to the gates of +death. He +was followed at a short distance by the Moor. He soon reached a little +promontory which stretched out into the bay, and going to its outer +point, he turned and looked towards the northwest. There lay Rome--his +Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell!" he cried with deep emotion; "farewell, ye seven +immortal +hills! Farewell, old Tiber stream! thou that hast laved the venerable +ruins through many centuries. Twice hast thou tasted my blood; twice +hast thou saved my life. Now, kindly River-god, thou canst save me no +more! I have striven and fought for thee, my Rome, as none of thy +children, not even Cæsar, has ever done before.--The struggle is over; +the general without an army is vanquished. I now acknowledge that a +mighty intellect may possibly supply the place of a single man, but not +the want of a whole nation's patriotism. Intellect can preserve its own +youth, but it cannot renew that of others, I have tried to do what is +impossible; for to do only what is possible is common; and it is better +to fall striving for the superhuman than to be lost in dull resignation +among the common herd. But"--and he kneeled down and wet his hot +forehead with the salt water--"be thou blessed, Ansonia's sacred flood; +be thou blessed, Italians sacred soil!"--and he put his hand deep into +the sea sand--"thy most faithful son parts from thee with a thankful +heart--moved, not by the terrors of approaching death, but only by thy +beauty. I forebode for thee, Italia, an oppressive foreign rule; I have +not been able to turn it aside, but I have offered up my heart's blood; +and if the laurels of thy Empire are for ever withered--may the olive +of thy people's love of freedom still bloom amid the ruins of thy +cities, and may the day quickly come when no foreign master rules in +all the length and breadth of the land, and when thou art mistress of +thyself from the sacred Alps to the sacred sea!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose quietly, and now walked more rapidly through the +centre camp to +the tent of the commander-in-chief. When he entered it, he found all +the generals and officers assembled. Narses called to him in a friendly +voice, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You come at the right moment, Cethegus. Twelve of my +officers, whom I +have discovered in a foolish league, such as barbarians, but not the +scholars o£ Narses, might make, have appealed to you in excuse. They +say that what is shared in by the wise Cethegus cannot be foolish. +Speak! have you really joined this league against Teja?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have; and when I leave you--let me be the first, Johannes, +without +casting lots--I go straight to Vesuvius. The hour of the King's watch +approaches."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This pleases me, Cethegus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks. It will, no doubt, save you much trouble, <i>Prefect of +Rome</i>," +answered Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">A movement of extreme surprise escaped all present; for even +those who +were initiated into the secret were amazed that Cethegus knew the +position of affairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses alone remained unmoved. He merely said in a low voice +to +Basiliskos:</p> + +<p class="normal">"He knows all, and it is well that he does so." Then he turned +to +Cethegus and said: "It is not my fault, Cethegus, that I did not tell +you sooner of your dismissal; the Emperor had strictly forbidden me to +do so. I approve of your resolve, for it agrees with my best +intentions.--The barbarians shall not have the pleasure of slaying +another myriad of my people tonight. We will march forward at once with +all our troops, including both our wings, to within a spear's throw +from the pass. We will not leave the Goths room to sally far out. The +first step they take beyond the mouth of the ravine shall be amongst +our spears. I have also nothing to object, Cethegus, if volunteers +offer to fight that King of terrors. With his death, I hope, the +resistance of the Goths will cease. Only one thing makes me anxious. I +have long ago ordered up the Ionian fleet--for I expected that all +would be over a few days earlier--and yet it has not arrived. The ships +are to take the captured barbarians on board at once, and carry them to +Byzantium.--Has the swift-sailer which I sent to gather news beyond the +Straits, of Regium not yet returned. Captain Konon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, general. Neither has a second swift ship, which I sent +after the +first."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can the late storm have damaged the fleet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible, general! It was not violent enough. And the +fleets +according to the last reports, lay safe at anchor in the harbour of +Brundusium."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we cannot wait for the ships! Forward, my leaders! We +will march +at once to the pass. Farewell, Cethegus! Do not let your dismissal +disquiet you. I fear that you will be menaced with many a troublesome +process when the war is ended. You have many enemies, rightly and +wrongly. There are bad omens against you. But I know that from the very +beginning you have believed in only one omen--'The only omen'----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Is to die for the fatherland!' Grant me one more favour, +Narses. +Allow me--for my Isaurians and tribunes are in Rome--to gather round me +all the Italians and Romans whom you have divided among your troops, +and lead them against the barbarians."</p> + +<p class="normal">For one moment Narses hesitated. Then he said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, go; gather them together and lead them--to death," he +added in a +low voice to Basiliskos. "There are at most fifteen hundred men. I do +not grudge him the pleasure of falling at the head of his countrymen. +Nor them the pleasure of falling behind him!--Farewell, Cethegus."</p> + +<p class="normal">Silently greeting Narses with his uplifted spear, Cethegus +left the +tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"H'm!" said Narses to Alboin, "you may well look after him, +Longobardian. There goes a remarkable piece of universal history. Do +you know who that is marching away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A great enemy to his enemies," said Alboin gravely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, wolf, look at him again; there goes to his death--the +last +Roman!"</p> + +<p class="normal">When all the leaders, except Basiliskos and Alboin, had left +Narses, +there hurried into the tent from behind a curtain, Anicius, Scævola, +and Albinus, still in the disguise of Longobardians, and with faces +full of alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" cried Scævola, "will you save that man from his +judges?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And his body from the executioner; and his fortune from his +accusers?" +added Albinus.</p> + +<p class="normal">Anicius was silent; he only clenched his hand upon the hilt of +his +sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">"General," said Alboin, "let these two brawlers put off the +dress of my +people. I am disgusted with them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are not wrong there, wolf!" said Narses; and turning to +the others +he said, "you need no further disguise. You are useless to me as +accusers. Cethegus is judged; and the sentence will be carried out--by +King Teja. But you, you ravens, shall not hack at the hero after he is +dead."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the order of the Emperor?" asked Scævola stubbornly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Even Justinian cannot blind and crucify a dead man. When +Cethegus +Cæsarius has fallen, I cannot wake him up again to please the Emperor's +cruelty. And of his money, you, Albinus, shall not receive a single +solidus, nor you, Scævola, one drop of his blood. His gold is for the +Emperor, his blood for the Goths, and his name for immortality."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you wish the death of a hero for that wretch?" now asked +Anicius +angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, son of Boëthius; for he has deserved it! But you have a +veritable +right to revenge yourself on him--you shall behead the fallen man, and +take his head to the Emperor at Byzantium. Do you not hear the tuba? +The fight has commenced!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">When King Teja saw the whole of Narses' forces advancing +towards the +mouth of the pass, he said to his heroes:</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems that instead of the stars, the mid-day sun is to +shine upon +the last battle of the Goths! That is the only change in our plan."</p> + +<p class="normal">He then placed a number of warriors in front of the hollow in +the lava, +showed them the royal treasure and the corpse of Theodoric, raised upon +a purple throne, and ordered them to pay attention while the fight for +the pass was raging, and, on receiving a sign from Adalgoth--to whom +and Wachis he had confided the last defence of the pass--at once to +throw the throne and the coffers into the crater. The unarmed people +pressed together round the lava cave--not a tear was seen, not a sigh +was heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja arranged his men into hundreds, and these hundreds into +families, +so that father and sons, brothers and cousins, fought at each other's +side; an order of battle the terrible obstinacy of which the Romans had +often experienced since the days of the Cimbrians and Teutons, of +Ariovist and Armin. The natural construction of the last battlefield of +the Goths necessitated of itself the old order of battle inherited from +Odin--the wedge.</p> + +<p class="normal">The deep and close columns of the Byzantines now stood in +orderly ranks +from the shore of the sea to within a spear's throw from the mouth of +the pass: a magnificent but fearful spectacle. The sun shone brightly +upon their weapons, while the Goths still stood in the deep shadow of +the rocks. Far away over the spears and standards of the enemy, the +Goths beheld the lovely blue sea, the surface of which flashed with a +silvery light.</p> + +<p class="normal">King Teja stood near Adalgoth, who carried the banner of +Theodoric, at +the mouth of the pass. All the poet was roused in the Hero-King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look!" he said to his favourite, "what more lovely place +could a man +have to die in? It cannot be more beautiful in the heaven of the +Christian, nor in Master Hildebrand's Asgard or Breidablick. Up, +Adalgoth! Let us die here, worthy of our nation and of this beauteous +death-place."</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw back the purple mantle which he wore over his black +steel +armour, took the little harp upon his left arm, and sang in a low, +restrained voice:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t6">"From farthest North till Rome--Byzant--</p> +<p class="t8">The Goths to battle call!</p> +<p class="t6">In glory rose the Goths' bright star--</p> +<p class="t8">In glory shall it fall!</p> +<p class="t6">Our swords raised high, we fight for fame;</p> +<p class="t8">Heroes with heroes vie;</p> +<p class="t6">Farewell, thou noble hero-race--</p> +<p class="t8">Up, Goths, and let us die!"</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">And he shattered the still vibrating harp upon the rocks at +his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now, Adalgoth, farewell! Would that I could have saved +the rest of +my people! Not here; but by an unobstructed retreat to the north. It +was not to be. Narses would never grant it, and the last of the Goths +cannot <i>beg</i>. Now let us go--to death!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And raising his dreaded weapon, the mighty battleaxe with its +lance-like shaft, he stepped to the head of the "wedge," Behind +him Aligern, his cousin, and old Hildebrand. Behind them Duke Guntharis +of Tuscany, the Wölfung, Earl Grippa of Ravenna, and Earl Wisand +of Volsinii, the standard-bearer. Behind them again, Wisand's +brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, and four earls, his kinsmen. Then, in +ever-broadening front, first six, then ten Goths. The rear was formed +of close ranks, arranged by tens.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wachis, halting in the pass near Adalgoth, blew, at a sign +from the +King, a signal on the Gothic war-horn, and the assaulting force marched +out of the ravine.</p> + +<p class="normal">The heroes in league with Johannes stood upon the first level +place +close before the pass; only Alboin, Gisulf, and Cethegus were still +missing. Next behind the ten leaders stood Longobardians and Herulians, +who at once greeted the advancing Goths with a hail of spears.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first to rush upon the King, who was easily recognisable +by the +crown upon his helmet, was Althias the Armenian. He fell dead at once, +his skull split to the ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">The second was the Herulian, Rodulf. Holding his spear at his +left side +with both hands, he rushed at Teja. Teja stood firm, and, receiving the +stroke upon his narrow shield, pierced his adversary through the body +with the lance-like point of his battle-axe. Rodulf staggered back at +the shock, then fell dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Teja could disengage his weapon from the scales of his +enemy's +mail-coat, Suartua, the nephew of the fallen Herulian, the Persian +Kabades, and the Bajuvar Garizo, all attacked him at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja thrust back the last--the nearest and boldest--with such +vigour, +that he fell in the narrow and slippery lava path, and over a declivity +on the right.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now help, O holy virgin of Neapolis!" cried the tall man as +he flew +downwards. "Help me, as you have done during all these years of war!" +And, but little damaged, Miriam's admirer came to a stop, slightly +stunned by his fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herulian Suartua was brandishing his sword over Teja's +head, when +Aligern, springing forward, struck his arm clean off his shoulder. +Suartua screamed and fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kabades, who tried to rip up the King's body with his long and +crooked +scimetar, had his brains dashed out by old Hildebrand's stone axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja, again become master of his battle-axe, and rid of his +nearest +foes, now sprang forward to attack in his turn. He hurled his axe at a +man in a boar-helmet--that is, a helmet decorated with the head and +tusks of a wild boar. It was Epurulf, the Alamannian, who fell +backwards to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">Above Teja bent Vadomar, Epurulf's kinsman, and tried to +possess +himself of the Gothic King's terrible weapon; but Teja was upon him in +a moment, his short sword in his right hand. It flashed, and Vadomar +fell dead upon the corpse of his friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two Franks, Chlotachar and Bertchramn, hurried up at the +same +moment, swinging the franciska, a weapon similar to Teja's battle-axe. +Both axes whizzed through the air at once. Teja caught one upon his +shield; the second, which came hurtling at his head, he parried with +his own axe, and in another moment he stood between his two +adversaries, whirled his axe round him in a circle, and at one blow the +two Franks fell right and left, both their helmets beaten in.</p> + +<p class="normal">At that moment a spear struck the King's shield; it pierced +the steel +rim, and slightly grazed his arm. As he turned to meet this enemy--it +was the Burgundian Gundobad--Ardarich, the Gepide, ran at him from +behind with his drawn sword, and struck him a heavy blow on the top of +his helmet. But the next moment Ardarich fell, pierced through by the +spear of Duke Guntharis; and the King pressed Gundobad, who defended +himself valiantly, down upon his knees. Gundobad lost his helmet in the +struggle, and Teja thrust the spike of his shield into his throat.</p> + +<p class="normal">But already Taulantius the Illyrian and Autharis the +Longobardian stood +before Teja. The Illyrian struck at the King's shield with a heavy club +made of the root of the ilex, and broke off a piece of the lower rim. +At the same time, just above the crack thus made, a lance, hurled by +the Longobardian, struck the shield and tore off the fastening of the +spike, sticking with its hook into the hole, and dragging the shield +down by its weight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Already Taulantius raised his club over the King's head. But +Teja did +not loiter; sacrificing his half-shattered shield, he dashed it into +the Illyrian's visorless face, letting it go; and almost at the same +moment he thrust the point of his battle-axe through the breast-plate +of Autharis, who was rushing upon him. But now the King stood without a +shield, and his distant enemies redoubled their hail of spears and +arrows. With axe and sword, Teja parried the thickly falling darts.</p> + +<p class="normal">An alarum from the pass caused him to look round. He saw that +the +greater part of the warriors whom he had led out of the ravine had +fallen. The innumerable projectiles hurled from a distance had done +their deadly work, and already, advancing from the left, a powerful +division of Longobardians, Persians, and Armenians, had attacked them +in the flank, and now mingled in a hand-to-hand fight.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the right the King saw a column of Thracians, Macedonians, +and +Franks press forward against the guardians of the pass with spears +couched; while a third division--Gepidians, Alamannians, Isaurians, and +Illyrians, tried to cut off himself and the small troop which still +stood at his back from the retreat into the pass.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja looked sharply towards the pass. For a moment the banner +of +Theodoric disappeared--it seemed to have fallen. This circumstance +decided the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Back into the pass! Save Theodoric's banner!" he cried to +those behind +him, and tried to break through the troop of enemies which surrounded +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But they were in terrible earnest, for they were led by +Johannes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Upon the King," lie cried. "Do not let him through. Do not +let him go +back! Spears! Throw!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Aligern had come up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take my shield!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja caught the proffered shield just in time to receive the +lance +hurled by Johannes, which would otherwise have pierced his visor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Back to the pass!" again Teja cried, and rushed with such +impetuosity +upon Johannes, that the latter fell to the ground. The two nearest +Isaurians succumbed to Teja's sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Teja, Aligern, Guntharis, Hildebrand, Grippa, Wisand +and +Ragnaris hurried back to the pass. But here the battle was already +raging. Alboin and Gisulf had stormed the pass, and a heavy, pointed +block of lava, hurled by Alboin, had struck Adalgoth on the thigh, and +caused him to sink upon his knees. But Wachis had caught the falling +banner, and Adalgoth, quickly rising, had pushed the Longobardian, who +was pressing forward, out of the pass with the spike of his shield.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sudden return of the King with his little troop of heroes +relieved +the almost overpowered guardians of the pass. The Longobardians fell in +heaps before the unexpected assault in their rear. With loud cries the +two guardians of the pass rushed forth, and the Longobardians, carrying +their leaders along irresistibly, ran and leaped over the jagged lava +in their downward retreat. But they did not run far. They were absorbed +by the ranks of Isaurians, and Illyrians, Gepidians and Alamannians, +who advanced in force, led by Johannes. Gnashing his teeth, he had +risen from his fall, had set his helmet straight, and at once led his +men against the pass, into which Teja had now entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward!" cried Johannes; "up and at him, Alboin, Gisulf, +Vitalianus, +Zenon! Let us see if this King be really spear-proof!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Teja had now taken up his old position at the mouth of the +pass, and +leaning upon the shaft of his battle-axe, he rested awhile to cool +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, barbarian King! the end is at hand! Have you crept again +into +your snail-shell? Come out, or I will make a hole in your house. Come +out, if you be a man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus cried Johannes, twirling his spear over his head in +defiance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give me three spears!" cried Teja, and gave his shield and +battle-axe +to Adalgoth, who stood near him still, though wounded. "There! Now, as +soon as he falls, follow me out."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he took one step forward out of the pass, without his +shield, and +holding his three spears in his hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Welcome to the open! and to death!" cried Johannes, as he +hurled his +spear.</p> + +<p class="normal">The spear was accurately aimed at the King's visor. But Teja +bent to +one side, and the strong ashen lance was shattered against the opposite +rock.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Teja hurled his first spear in return, Johannes +cast himself +upon his face; the spear flew over him and killed Zenon, who stood +close behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Johannes quickly recovered his feet, and rushed at the King +like +lightning, catching the King's second spear, which immediately followed +the first, upon his shield. But Teja, immediately after hurling this +second lance with his right hand, had followed it up by a third with +his left, and this spear, unnoticed by Johannes, passed completely +through the latter's body, the point coming out at his back. The brave +man fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this his Isaurians and Illyrians were seized with terror; +for, after +Belisarius, Johannes was looked upon as the first hero of Byzantium. +They cried aloud, turned, and fled in wild disorder down the mountain, +followed by Teja and his heroes. For one moment the Longobardians, who +had again collected together, still held firm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Gisulf--clench your teeth--let us stand against this +death-dealing King," cried Alboin.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Teja was already upon them. His fearful battle-axe +glittered above, +between them. Pierced through his armour deep into the left shoulder, +Alboin fell, and immediately afterwards Gisulf lay on the ground with +his helmet shattered. Then there was no more stopping the rest: +Longobardians, Gepidians, Alamannians, Herulians, Isaurians and +Illyrians, scattered in headlong flight, rushed down the mountain.</p> + +<p class="normal">With shouts of exultation, Teja's companions followed. Teja +himself +kept to the pass. He called to Wachis for spear after spear, and aiming +high over the Gothic pursuers, hurled them at the flying enemy, killing +whomsoever he touched.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were the Emperor's best troops. In their flight they +carried away +with them the Macedonians, Thracians, Persians, Armenians, and Franks, +who were slowly climbing the ascent, and fled until they reached +Narses, who had anxiously raised himself upright in his litter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Johannes has fallen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alboin is severely wounded!" they cried as they ran past. +"Fly! Back +into the camp!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A new column of attack must be--Ha! look!" said Narses, +"there comes +Cethegus, at the very nick of time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Cethegus it was. He had completed his long ride through +all the +troops to which Narses had sent Romans and Italians; he had formed +these into five companies of three hundred men each, and when they were +drawn up in battle array, he took his place quietly at their head.</p> + +<p class="normal">Anicius followed at a distance. Syphax, carrying two spears, +kept close +behind his master. Letting the defeated fugitives pass through the +vacant spaces between their ranks, the Italians marched on. Most of +them were old legionaries of Rome and Ravenna, and faithfully attached +to Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Gothic pursuers hesitated as they met with these fresh, +well-ordered troops, and slowly receded to the pass. But Cethegus +followed. Past the bloody place, covered with corpses, where Teja had +first destroyed the league of the twelve; past the spot farther up, +where Johannes had fallen, he marched on with a quiet and steady step, +his shield and spear in his left hand, his sword in his right. Behind +him, with lances couched, came the legionaries.</p> + +<p class="normal">They marched up the mountain in silence, without the word of +command, +or the flourish of trumpets. The Gothic heroes would not retreat into +the pass behind their King. They halted before the entrance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Guntharis was the first with whom Cethegus came into contact. +The +Duke's spear was shattered on the shield of Cethegus, and at once +Cethegus thrust his spear into his adversary's body; the deadly shaft +broke in the wound.</p> + +<p class="normal">Earl Grippa of Ravenna set to work to avenge the Wölfung; he +swung his +long sword over his head; but Cethegus ran under the thrust, and struck +the old follower of Theodoric below the right shoulder with his broad +Roman sword. Grippa fell and died.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wisand, the standard-bearer, advanced furiously against +Cethegus; their +blades crossed; sparks flew from shield and helmet; but Cethegus +cleverly parried a too hasty stroke, and before the Goth could recover +himself, the broad blade of the Roman had entered his thigh. Wisand +tottered. Two of his cousins bore him out of the fight.</p> + +<p class="normal">His brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, now attacked Cethegus, but +Syphax, +running up, caught the well-thrust spear in his hand, and before +Ragnaris could let fall the shaft, and draw his axe from his belt, +Cethegus stabbed him in the forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Struck with horror, the Goths retreated before the terrible +Roman, and +pressed past their King into the ravine. Aligern alone, Teja's cousin, +would not yield. He hurled his spear with such force at the shield of +Cethegus, that it pierced it; but Cethegus lowered it quickly, and +received Aligern, as he rushed forward, on the point of his sword. +Severely wounded, Aligern fell into old Hildebrand's arms, who, letting +fall his heavy stone axe, tried to carry the fainting man into the +ravine.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Aligern's spear had also been well-aimed. The shield-arm +of +Cethegus bled profusely. But he did not heed it; he pressed on to make +an end of both the Goths, Hildebrand and Aligern, and at that moment +Adalgoth caught sight of his father's hated enemy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alaric! Alaric!" he shouted, and, springing forward, he +caught up the +heavy stone axe from the ground. "Alaric!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cethegus caught the name and looked up. The axe, accurately +aimed, came +whizzing through the air upon his tall helmet. Stunned, Cethegus fell. +Syphax sprang to him, took him in both his arms, and carried him aside. +But the legionaries would not retreat; they could not. Behind them, +sent by Narses, two thousand Persians and Thracians pressed up the +ascent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bring hurling spears!" commanded their leader, Aniabedes. "No +hand-to-hand fight! Cast spears at the King until he fall. By order of +Narses!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The soldiers willingly obeyed this order, which promised to +spare their +blood. Presently such a fearful hail of darts rattled against the +narrow opening of the pass, that not a Goth was able to issue forth and +stand before the King.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Teja, filling the entrance with his body and his +shield, +defended his people for some time--for a very considerable time--quite +alone. Procopius, following the report of eye-witnesses, has described +with admiration this, the last fight of King Teja:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have now to describe a very remarkable fight, and the +heroism of a +man who is inferior to none of those we call heroes--of Teja. He stood, +visible to all, covered by his shield, and brandishing his spear, in +front of his own ranks. All the bravest Romans, whose number was great, +attacked him alone; for with his death, they thought, the battle would +be at an end. All hurled and thrust their lances at him alone; but he +received the darts upon his shield, and, repeatedly sallying forth, +killed numbers of his adversaries, one after the other. And when his +shield was stuck so full of darts that it was too heavy for him to +hold, he signed to his shield-bearer to bring him a fresh one. Thus he +stood; not turning, nor throwing his shield on his back and retreating, +but firm as a rock, dealing death to his foes with his right hand, +warding it off with his left, and ever calling to his weapon-bearers +for new shields and new spears."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Wachis and Adalgoth--heaps of shields and spears had +been +brought to the spot from the royal treasure--who continually handed to +Teja fresh weapons.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the courage of the Romans, Persians, and Thracians +sank as they +saw all their efforts wrecked against this living shield of the Goths, +and all their bravest men slain by the spears of the King. They +wavered--the Italians called anxiously upon Cethegus--they turned and +fled. Then Cethegus started up from his long stupor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Syphax, a fresh spear! Halt! Stand, Romans! Roma, Roma +eterna!" And +raising himself with an effort, he advanced against Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Romans recognised his voice. "Roma, Roma eterna!" they +shouted, as +they ceased their flight and halted. But Teja had also recognised the +voice. His shield bristled with twelve lances--he could hold it no +longer; but when he recognised the adversary who was advancing, he +thought no more of changing it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No shield! My battle-axe! Quick!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Wachis handed to him his favourite weapon.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then King Teja dropped his shield, and, swinging his axe, +rushed out of +the pass at Cethegus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Die, Roman!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once again the two great enemies looked each other in the +face. Then +spear and axe whizzed through the air. Neither thought of parrying the +stroke, and both fell. Teja's axe had pierced Cethegus's left breast +through shield and armour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Roma, Roma eterna!" once more cried Cethegus, and fell back +dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">His spear had struck the King's right breast. Not dead, but +mortally +wounded, he was carried into the pass by Hildebrand and Adalgoth. And +they had need to make haste. For when, at last, they saw the King of +the Goths fall--he had fought without a pause for eight hours, and +evening was coming on--all the Italians, Persians, and Thracians, and +fresh columns of attack which had now come up, rushed towards the pass, +which was now again defended by Adalgoth with his shield; Hildebrand +and Wachis supporting him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Syphax took the body of Cethegus in his arms and carried it to +one +side. Weeping aloud he held the noble head of his master upon his +knees, the features of which appeared almost superhuman in the majesty +of death. Before him raged the battle. Just then the Moor remarked that +Anicius, followed by a troop of Byzantines--Scævola and Albinus among +them--was approaching him, and pointing to the body of Cethegus with an +air of command.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Halt!" cried Syphax, springing up as they drew near; "what do +you +want?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The head of the Prefect, to take to the Emperor," answered +Anicius; +"obey, slave!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Syphax uttered a yell--his spear rushed through the air, +and +Anicius fell. And before the others, who at once busied themselves with +the dying man, could come near him, Syphax had taken his beloved burden +upon his back, and began to climb up a steep precipice of lava near the +pass, which Goths and Byzantines had, till then, held to be impassable. +More and more rapidly the slave advanced. His goal was a little column +of smoke which rose just at the other side of the cliff. For there +yawned one of the small crater chasms of Vesuvius. For one moment +Syphax stopped upon the edge of the black rocks; once again he raised +the corpse of Cethegus erect in his strong arms, as if to show the +noble form to the setting sun. And suddenly master and slave had +disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fiery mountain had received the faithful Syphax and the +dead +Cethegus, his greatness and his guilt, onto its glowing bosom. The hero +was snatched away from the small spite of his enemies.</p> + +<p class="normal">Scævola and Albinus, who had witnessed the occurrence, +hastened to +Narses, and demanded that the corpse should be sought for on the sides +of the crater. But Narses said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not grudge the mighty hero his mighty grave. He has +deserved it. +I fight with the living, and not with the dead."</p> + +<p class="normal">But almost at the same moment, the tumultuous battle round the +pass, +which Adalgoth, not unworthy of his royal master, heroically defended +against the attacks of the enemy, ceased. For while, standing behind +Adalgoth, Hildebrand and Wachis suddenly cried, "Look! look at the sea! +The dragon ships! The northern heroes! Harald! Harald!"--the solemn +tones of the tuba were heard from below, sounding the signal for a +cessation of hostilities--for a truce. Very gladly the fatigued and +harassed warriors lowered their weapons.</p> + +<p class="normal">But King Teja, who lay upon his shield--Hildebrand had +forbidden every +one to draw out the spear of Cethegus from the wound--"for his life +would flow out with his blood"--asked in a faint voice:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I hear them cry? The northern heroes? The ships? Is +Harald +there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Harald! He comes to our rescue! He brings safety for the +rest of +the nation! For us, and for the women and children!" cried Adalgoth +joyously, as he knelt at Teja's side. "So thy incomparable heroism, my +ever-beloved hero; thy superhuman and untiring efforts, were not in +vain! Basiliskos has just come, sent by Narses. Harald has destroyed +the Ionian fleet in the harbour of Brundusium; he threatens to land and +attack the already exhausted Byzantines; he demands to be allowed to +carry away all the remaining Goths, with weapons and goods, to +Thuleland and liberty! Narses has agreed; he will honour, he says, King +Teja's noble heroism, in the remnant of his people. May we accept? Oh, +may we accept, my King?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Teja, as his eyes grew dim. "You may and shall. +The rest of +my people free! The women, the children, delivered from a terrible +death! Oh, happy that I am! Yes, take all who live to Thuleland; and +take with you--two of the dead: King Theodoric--and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And King Teja!" said Adalgoth: and kissed the dead man's +mouth.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p class="continue">And so it happened, and this was the manner of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Immediately after Narses had left his tent, a fisherman was +led before +him, who had just sailed round the promontory of Surrentum in a small +and swift vessel, and who announced that an immense fleet of the Goths +was in full sail for the coast. Narses laughed; for he knew that not a +Gothic sail was to be found on all the seas.</p> + +<p class="normal">More narrowly questioned, the man was obliged to confess that +he had +not seen the fleet himself; but merchants had told him of it, and had +related that a great naval combat had taken place, in which the Goths +had destroyed the Emperor's fleet, at Brundusium.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was impossible, as Narses well knew. And when the +fisherman +described the appearance of the pretended Gothic ships, according to +what his informers had told him, the commander-in-chief cried out:</p> + +<p class="normal">"At last they are coming! Triremes and galleys! They are our +ships +which are approaching, not Gothic vessels."</p> + +<p class="normal">No one thought of the Viking's fleet, which had not been heard +of for +four moons, and which, it was believed, had sailed to the north.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few hours later, as the battle was raging round the pass, +engrossing +the attention of all, the coastguards announced to Narses the fact of +the approach of a very large imperial fleet. The ship of the admiral, +the Sophia, had been distinctly recognised. But the number of sails was +far greater than had been expected. The ships which Narses had sent to +urge the coming of the fleet were also among them, sailing first. The +strong south-eastern breeze would shortly bring them within sight of +the camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">And presently Narses himself could enjoy from the hill the +magnificent +spectacle of the approach of the fleet, propelled not only by their +spreading sails, but also by their long oars.</p> + +<p class="normal">Much relieved, he again turned his attention to the combat +upon +Vesuvius--when, suddenly, messengers reached him from the camp, +affirming the first reports in an alarming manner, or rather, they +brought much worse news. They had hurried on in advance of an embassy +which reached the litter of Narses just as Cethegus was advancing for +the last time against Teja.</p> + +<p class="normal">This embassy consisted of the admiral and captains of the +Ionian fleet, +who came forward with their hands in chains, and guarded by four +Northmen, whose message they had been brought to interpret. They +briefly related that they had been attacked by the fleet of the Viking +one stormy night, and had lost almost all their ships; that not one +could escape to warn Narses, for the enemy had blockaded the harbour.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Jarl Harald had heard of the threatened destruction of +the Goths +upon Vesuvius, he had sworn to prevent or to share their evil fate. And +sending the captured Grecian ships in advance, prudently hiding behind +them his dragon-ships, he had hurried to the coast of Neapolis on the +wings of the east wind. "And thus," concluded the interpreters, "thus +says Harald the Viking: 'Either you will allow all yet living Goths, +with all their weapons and goods, to leave the Southland upon our ships +and return with us to their fatherland; in return for which we will +give up all our thousands of prisoners, and all our prize-ships, except +those we need for the transport of the Goths; or we will immediately +kill our prisoners, land, and attack you, your camp and army, in the +rear. Then see to it, how many of you, when attacked in front by the +Goths, in the rear by us, will remain alive! For we Northmen fight to +the last man! I have sworn it by Odin.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Without a moment's hesitation Narses agreed to the departure +of the +Goths.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have only sworn to drive them out of the Empire," he said, +"not out +of the world. It would bring me small renown if I overpowered and +slaughtered the poor remains of such a noble nation. I reverence the +heroism of this Teja; in forty years of warfare I have never seen his +like. And I have no desire to try how my harassed army, which has had a +day of the hardest fighting, and has lost almost all its leaders and +numbers of its bravest soldiers, would resist these northern giants, +who come with untired strength and unconquered courage."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so Narses had immediately sent heralds to Harald and to +the pass. +The battle ceased; the retreat of the Goths began.</p> + +<p class="normal">In double ranks, reaching from the summit of the mountain down +to the +sea, the army of heroes formed a lane. The Viking had landed four +hundred men, who received the Goths on the sea-shore. But before the +march began, Karses signed to Basiliskos and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Gothic war is over--the stag is killed--now away with the +wolves +which hunted him to the death. How are the wounded leaders of the +Longobardians?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before I answer," said Basiliskos respectfully, "accept this +laurel-wreath, which your army sends to you. It is laurel from +Vesuvius; from the pass above; there is heroes' blood upon the leaves."</p> + +<p class="normal">The first impulse of Narses was to push the wreath aside; but +after a +pause, he said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well; give it to me." But he laid it beside him in the +litter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Autharis, Warnfrid, Grimoald, Aripert, Agilulf and Rotharis +are dead," +Basiliskos now reported. "Altogether the Longobardians have lost seven +thousand men; Alboin and Gisulf, severely wounded, lie motionless in +their tents."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, very good! As soon as the Goths have embarked, let the +Longobardians be led away. They are dismissed my service. And say to +Alboin, as my parting words: 'After the death of Narses--<i>perhaps</i>; but +certainly not before.' I will remain here in my litter; support me with +the cushions--I cannot stand--but I must witness this wonderful +spectacle."</p> + +<p class="normal">And in truth it was a grand and moving sight to behold the +last of the +Goths, as they turned their backs upon Vesuvius and Italy, and embarked +in the high-prowed ships which were to bear them away to the safe and +sheltering north.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the ravine, into which not a single enemy had succeeded +in +penetrating, was heard at intervals the solemn tones of the Gothic +war-horns, accompanied by monotonous, grave, and touching strains from +the men, women, and children--the ancient death-song of the Gothic +nation.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hildebrand and Adalgoth--the last chiefs, the hoary Past and +the golden +Future--had arranged the order of march.</p> + +<p class="normal">Foremost went, full-armed, five hundred men, led by Wisand, +the +standard-bearer, who, in spite of his wounds, bravely opened the +procession, leaning on his spear. Then followed, stretched upon his +last shield, the spear of Cethegus still sticking in his breast, +without helmet, his noble and pallid face framed by his long black +locks--King Teja, covered with a purple mantle, and carried by four +warriors. Behind him came Adalgoth and Gotho, and Adalgoth, softly +striking his harp, sang in a low voice:</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"Give place, ye peoples, to our march:</p> +<p class="t8">The doom of the Goths is sped!</p> +<p class="t6">No crown, no sceptre carry we,</p> +<p class="t8">We bear the noble dead.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"With shield to shield, and spear to spear,</p> +<p class="t8">We march to the Northland cool;</p> +<p class="t6">Until in grey and distant seas</p> +<p class="t8">We find the Island Thule.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"That is the Isle of the brave and true,</p> +<p class="t8">Where none dishonour fears;</p> +<p class="t6">There we will lay our bravest King</p> +<p class="t8">In his bed of oaken spears.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="t6">"From off our feet--give place! give place!--</p> +<p class="t8">We shake Rome's traitor dust;</p> +<p class="t6">We only bear our King away--</p> +<p class="t8">For the Gothic crown is lost!"</p> +</div></div> +<p class="normal">When the bier was carried past the litter, Narses called a +halt, and +said in a low voice in the Latin language:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mine was the victory, but his the fame! There, take the +laurel wreath! +Other generations may see greater things, but now. King Teja, I greet +you as the greatest hero of all ages!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he laid the laurel wreath upon the dead man's pallid brow. +The +bearers again took up the bier, and slowly and solemnly, to the sad +sound of Adalgoth's silver harp, the death-song of the people, and the +long-drawn tones of the war-horns, the procession marched on towards +the sea, which now glowed magnificently in the evening red.</p> + +<p class="normal">Close behind Teja's body was carried a lofty crimson throne. +Upon it +rested the silent august form of Dietrich of Bern; upon the head the +crowned helm; on the left arm the tall shield; a spear leaning against +the right shoulder. On the left of the throne marched old Hildebrand, +his eyes fixed upon the face of his beloved master, which shone in the +magic light of the setting sun. He held aloft the banner with the +device of the lion, high above the head of the great Dead. The evening +breeze from the Ausonian Sea rustled in the folds of the immense flag, +which, in ghost-like speech, seemed to be taking leave of Italian soil.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the corpse was carried past, Narses said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know by the shudder which passes across me that this is the +wise +King of Ravenna! First came a stronger, now a greater man. Let us do +this dead man homage."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, with great exertion, he rose upright in his litter, and +bent his +head reverently before the corpse.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then followed the wounded, supported by or carried in the arms +of their +followers. This part of the procession was opened by Aligern, who was +carried on a broad shield by Wachis and Liuta, assisted by two +warriors. Then came the chests and coffers, the baskets and vessels, +containing the royal treasure and the goods of the different families, +which, until then, had been hidden in the wagons.</p> + +<p class="normal">Afterwards came the great mass of the unarmed people--women, +girls, +children, and old people--for the boys, from ten years of age upwards, +would not part with the weapons which had been entrusted to them, and +marched in a separate corps.</p> + +<p class="normal">Narses smiled as the little fair-haired heroes passed, looking +up at +him with anger and defiance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," he said, "the Goths have taken care that the Emperor's +successors and their generals shall not want work!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The procession was closed by the rest of the Gothic army.</p> + +<p class="normal">Innumerable boats lent their assistance in the embarkation of +the +people and their scanty possessions. Presently all were on board the +high-decked vessels of the Northmen.</p> + +<p class="normal">The corpses of Teja and Theodoric, the royal banner, and the +royal +treasure, were taken into Harald's ship. The great Dietrich of Bern +was placed upon his throne at the foot of the mainmast, and his +lion-standard hoisted to the mast-head. Old Hildebrand installed +himself at the foot of the throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the stern of the ship, Adalgoth and Wisand had laid down +the body of +Teja. The mighty Harald and his beautiful sister approached it +sorrowfully. The Viking laid his mailed hand gently upon the dead man's +breast, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I could not save thee, bold and daring King! I could not save +thee and +thy people. Nothing remains but to take thee and the rest of thy folk +to the land of the strong and the true, from which you should never +have departed. Thus, after all, I bring back to King Frode the Gothic +nation."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Haralda said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will preserve the body of the noble dead by secret arts, so +that it +shall endure until we land in our home. There we will vault for him and +King Thidrekr a hill-grave near the sea, so that they may together hear +the roar of the breakers and hold converse with each other; for they +were worthy of each other. Look, my brother! the enemy's army stands in +ranks upon the strand; they lower their flags and weapons in reverence, +and the sun sinks glowing behind Misenum and yonder islands; a crimson +glow covers the sea as with a royal mantle; our white sails are +coloured red, and red gold shines upon our weapons! Look how the south +wind spreads out the banner of King Thidrekr! The wind, which obeys the +will of the gods, points to the north! Up, brother Harald! weigh +anchor! direct the rudder! turn the dragon's prow! Up, Freya's wise +bird! Fly, my falcon!"--and she tossed her falcon into the air--"point +out the way! to the north! to Thuleland! Home! home we take the last of +the Goths!"</p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note01" href="#div2Ref_note01">Footnote 1</a>: Theodoric.</p> + +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<br> + +<br> + +<h4>BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY.</h4> +<p class="right"><i>H. L. & Co.</i></p> + +<br> + +<br> + +<br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Struggle for Rome, v. 3, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR ROME, V. 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 32377-h.htm or 32377-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/7/32377/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Struggle for Rome, v. 3 + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Lily Wolffsohn + +Release Date: May 15, 2010 [EBook #32377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR ROME, V. 3 *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/astruggleforrom02dahngoog + 2. Diphthong oe and OE are represented by [oe] and [OE]. + + + + + + A STRUGGLE FOR ROME. + + BY + FELIX DAHN. + + + _T R A N S L A T E D F R O M T H E G E R M A N_ + BY + LILY WOLFFSOHN. + + + "If there be anything more powerful than Fate, + It is the courage which bears it undismayed." + GEIBEL. + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + VOL. III. + + + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON. + 1878. + [_All Rights Reserved._] + + + + + + + A STRUGGLE FOR ROME. + + + BOOK IV.--_Continued_. + + WITICHIS. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + +Thanks to the precautions taken by Procopius, the trick had succeeded +completely. + +At the moment in which the flag of the Goths fell and their King was +taken prisoner, they were everywhere surprised and overpowered. +In the courts of the palace, in the streets and canals of the city +and in the camp, they were surrounded by far superior numbers. A +palisade of lances met their sight on all sides. Almost without an +exception the paralysed Goths laid down their arms. The few who offered +resistance--the nearest associates of the King--were struck down. + +Witichis himself, Duke Guntharis, Earl Wisand, Earl Markja, and the +leaders of the army who were taken prisoners with them, were placed in +separate confinement; the King imprisoned in the "prison of Theodoric," +a strong and deep dungeon in the palace itself. + +The procession from the Gate of Stilicho to the Forum of Honorius had +not been interrupted. + +Arrived at the palace, Belisarius summoned the Senate and decurions of +the city, and took their oaths of allegiance for Emperor Justinian. + +Procopius was sent to Byzantium with the golden keys of Neapolis, Rome, +and Ravenna. He was to give a full report to the Emperor, and to demand +for Belisarius the prolongation of his office until Italy had been +completely tranquillised, as could not fail to be the case presently, +and afterwards, as had been the case after the Vandal wars, to accord +him the honour of a triumph, with the exposure of the King of the +Goths, as prisoner of war, in the Hippodrome. + +For Belisarius looked upon the war as ended. + +Cethegus almost shared this belief. But still he feared the outbursts +of indignation amongst the Goths in the provinces. Therefore he took +care that, for the present, no report of the manner in which the city +had fallen should pass the gates; and he pondered upon some means of +making use of the imprisoned King himself, to palliate the possible +renewal of national feeling in the Goths. + +He also persuaded Belisarius to send Acacius, with the Persian +horsemen, to follow Hildebad, who had escaped in the direction of +Tarvisium. + +In vain he tried to speak to the Queen. + +She had not yet fully recovered the effects of the night of the +earthquake, and admitted no one. She had even listened to the news of +the fall of the city with indifference. The Prefect gave her a guard of +honour, in order to make sure of her, for he had great plans in +connection with her. Then he sent her the sword of the King, +accompanying it with a note. + +"I have kept my word. King Witichis is ruined, you are revenged and +free. Now it is your turn to fulfil my wish." + +A few days later, Belisarius, deprived of his constant adviser +Procopius, called the Prefect to an interview in the right wing of the +palace, where he had taken up his quarters. + +"Unheard-of mutiny!" he cried, as Cethegus entered. + +"What has happened?" + +"You know that I placed Bessas, with the Lazian mercenaries, in the +trenches of the Gate of Honorius, one of the most important points of +the city. Hearing that the temper of these troops was insubordinate I +recalled them--and Bessas----" + +"Well?" + +"Refuses to obey." + +"Without reason? Impossible!" + +"A ridiculous reason! Yesterday the term of my office expired." + +"Well?" + +"And Bessas declares that since midnight I am no longer his commander!" + +"Shameful! But he is in the right." + + +"In the right! In a few days the Emperor's reply will arrive, according +to my wish. He will naturally, after the conquest of Ravenna, again +appoint me as commander-in-chief, until the war is ended. The news may +be here the day after to-morrow." + +"Perhaps still sooner, Belisarius. At sunset the watchman on the +lighthouse of Classis announced the approach of a ship coming from +Ariminum. It appears to be an imperial trireme. It may run into harbour +at any hour. Then the knot will be loosened." + +"I will cut it beforehand. My body-guard shall storm the trenches and +strike the head off the obstinate Bessas----" + +He was interrupted by the entrance of Johannes. + +"General," he cried, "the Emperor is here! The Emperor, Justinian +himself, has just anchored in the harbour of Classis." + +Cethegus involuntarily started. Was such a thunderbolt from a clear +sky, such a whim of the incalculable despot, after such toil, to +overthrow the almost perfect structure of his plans? + +But Belisarius, with sparkling eyes, asked: + +"The Emperor? How do you know?" + +"He comes himself to thank you for your victory--never was such +honour done to mortal man! The ship from Ariminum bears the imperial +flag--purple and silver. You know that that indicates the actual +presence of the Emperor." + +"Or of a member of his family," interposed Cethegus thoughtfully, and +once more breathing freely. + +"Let us hasten to the harbour, to receive our Imperial master," cried +Belisarius. + + +He was disappointed in his joy and pride when, on their way to Classis, +they were met by the first courtiers who had disembarked, and who +demanded quarters in the palace, not for the Emperor, but for his +nephew Germanus. + +"At least he sends the next in rank," said Belisarius--consoling +himself--to Cethegus as they went on. "Germanus is the noblest man at +court. Just, incorruptible, and pure. They call him 'The Lily of the +Swamp.' But you do not listen to me!" + +"Pardon! but I saw my young friend Lucius Licinius in the crowd of +people who are approaching us." + +"Salve, Cethegus!" cried Lucius as he made his way to the Prefect. + +"Welcome to free Italy! What news from the Empress?" asked Cethegus in +a whisper. + +"Her parting word, 'Nike!' (Victoria), and this letter," Lucius +whispered just as softly. "But," and he frowned, "never again send me +to that woman!" + +"No, no, young Hippolytus, I think it will never again be necessary." + +They had now reached the quay of the harbour, the steps of which the +Imperial Prince was just ascending. His noble form distinguished itself +from the crowd of splendid courtiers who surrounded him, and he was +received by the troops and the people with imperial honours and cries +of joy. + +Cethegus looked keenly at him. + +"His pale face has become still paler," he remarked to Licinius. + +"Yes. They say that the Empress, because she could not seduce him, has +poisoned him." + +The Prince, bowing his acknowledgments to all sides, had now reached +Belisarius, who greeted him reverently. + +"I return your greeting, Belisarius," said the Prince gravely; "follow +me at once to the palace. Where is Cethegus the Prefect? Where is +Bessas? Ah, Cethegus!" he said, grasping the latter's hand, "I am glad +to see again the greatest man in Italy. You will presently accompany me +to the granddaughter of Theodoric. To her belongs my first visit. I +bring her gifts from Justinian and my humble service. She was a +prisoner in her own kingdom; she shall be a queen at the Court of +Byzantium." + +"That she shall!" thought Cethegus. He bowed profoundly and said, "I +know that you are acquainted with the Princess already. Her hand was +once destined for you." + +A flush rapidly spread over the cheek of the Prince. + +"But unfortunately," he answered, "not her heart. I saw her here years +ago, at her mother's court, and since then, my mind's eye has beheld +nothing but her picture." + +"Yes, she is the loveliest woman on earth," said the Prefect quietly. + +"Accept this chrysolite as thanks for that word!" cried Germanus, and +put a ring upon the Prefect's finger. + +They entered the door of the palace. "Now, Mataswintha," said Cethegus +to himself, "now a new life begins for you. I know no Roman woman--one +girl perhaps excepted--who could resist such a temptation. And shall +this rude barbarian withstand?" + +As soon as the Prince had partially recovered from the fatigue of the +voyage, and had exchanged his travelling dress for a state-costume, he +appeared, with Cethegus at his side, in the throne-room of the great +Theodoric. + +The trophies of Gothic valour still hung on the walls of the lofty and +vaulted hall. On three sides ran a colonnade; in the middle of the +fourth stood the elevated throne of Theodoric. + +The Prince ascended the steps of the throne with dignity. Cethegus with +Belisarius, Bessas, Demetrius, Johannes, and numerous other leaders, +remained standing at a short distance. + +"In the name of my Imperial master and uncle, I take possession of this +city of Ravenna and of the Western Roman Empire," said Germanus. "To +you, magister militum, this writing from our master the Emperor. Break +the seal, and read it before the assembly. Such were the orders of +Justinian." + +Belisarius stepped forward, received the letter upon his knees, kissed +the seal, rose, opened it, and read: + +"'Justinian, Emperior of the Romans, Lord of the East and West, +conqueror of the Persians and Saracens, of the Vandals and Alans, of +the Lazians and Sabirians, of the Huns and Bulgarians, the Avarians and +Slavonians, and lastly of the Goths, to Belisarius the Consul, lately +magister militum. We have been acquainted by Cethegus the Prefect with +the events which led to the fall of Ravenna. His report will, at his +request, be communicated to you. We, however, cannot at all agree with +the good opinion, therein expressed, of you and your successes; and we +dispense you from your office as commander-in-chief. We order you by +this letter to return at once to Byzantium, to answer for yourself +before our throne. We can the less accord you a triumph, such as you +received after the Vandal wars, because neither Rome nor Ravenna fell +through your valour; Rome having freely capitulated, and Ravenna having +fallen by means of an earthquake, which was a sign of the anger of the +Almighty against the heretics, and against highly suspicious actions, +the harmlessness of which you, accused of high treason, must prove +before our throne. As, in consideration of former merit, we would not +condemn you unheard--for East and West shall celebrate us to all +time as the King of Justice--we refrain from arresting you as your +accusers wish. Without chains--only bound by the fetters of your own +self-accusing conscience--you will appear before our Imperial +countenance.'" + +Belisarius reeled; he could read no further; he covered his face with +his hands and let the letter fall. + +Bessas lifted it up, kissed it, and read on: + +"'We name the strategist Bessas as your successor in the army. We +charge the Archon Johannes with the care of Ravenna. The administration +of the taxes will remain--in spite of the highly unjust complaints made +against him by the Italians--in the hands of the logician Alexandros, +who is so zealous in our service. And as our Governor in Italy we name +the highly-deserving Prefect of Rome, Cornelius Cethegus Caesarius. Our +nephew Germanus, furnished with Imperial power, is answerable for your +transport to our fleet off Ariminum, whence Areobindos will take you to +Byzantium.'" + +Germanus rose, and ordered all present, except Belisarius and Cethegus, +to leave the hall. + +Then he descended from the throne, and went up to Belisarius, who was +now totally unconscious of what was going on around him. He stood +immovable, leaning his head and arm against a column, and staring at +the ground. + +The Prince took his right hand. + +"It pains me, Belisarius, to be the bearer of such a message. I +undertook it, because I thought that a friend would fulfil such an +errand more gently than any of the enemies who were eager to do it. But +I cannot deny that this last victory of yours cancels the fame of many +former ones. Never could I have expected such a game of lies from the +hero Belisarius! Cethegus begged that his report to the Emperor should +be laid before you. It is full of your praise. Here it is. I believe it +was the Empress who kindled the anger of Justinian against you. But you +do not hear----" + +And he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the unfortunate man. +Belisarius shook it off. + +"Let me alone, boy! You bring me--you bring me the true thanks of a +crowned head!" + +Germanus drew himself up with dignity. + +"Belisarius, you forget yourself, and who I am!" + +"Oh no! I am a prisoner, and you are my gaoler. I will go at once on +board your ship--only spare me chains and fetters." + + +It was very late before the Prefect could get away from the Prince, who +spoke to him with the greatest frankness on state affairs and his own +personal wishes. + +As soon as Cethegus was alone in his rooms, which had also been +appointed to him in the palace, he hastened to read the letter which +Lucius Licinius had brought from the Empress. It ran thus: + + +"You have conquered, Cethegus. As I read your epistle I thought of old +times, when your letters to Theodora, written in the same cipher, did +not talk of statesmanship and warfare, but of kisses and roses----" + + +"She must always remind me of that!" cried the Prefect, interrupting +his perusal of the letter. + + +"But even in this letter I recognise the irresistible intellect that, +more even than your youthful beauty, conquered the women of Byzantium. +And this time also I accede to the wishes of the old friend as I +once did to those of the young one. Ah, how I love to think of our +youth--our sweet youth! I fully understand that Antonina's spouse would +stand far too securely for the future if he did not fall now. So--as +you wrote me--I whispered to the Emperor that a subject who could play +such a game with crowns and rebellion was too dangerous; no general +ought to be exposed to such temptations. What he had this time feigned, +he could, at another time, carry into earnest practice. These words +weighed more heavily than all Belisarius's success, and my--that is, +your--demands were granted. For mistrust is the very soul of Justinian. +He trusts no one on earth, except--Theodora. Your messenger, Lucius, is +_handsome_, but unamiable; he has nothing in his head but weapons and +Rome. Ah, Cethegus, my friend, youth is now no more what it was! You +have conquered, Cethegus--do you remember that evening when I first +whispered those words?--but do not forget to whom you owe your victory. +And mind: Theodora permits herself to be used as a tool only so long as +she likes. Never forget that." + + +"Certainly not," said Cethegus, as he carefully destroyed the letter. +"You are too dangerous an ally, Theodora, my little demon! I will see +whether you cannot be replaced.--Patience! In a few weeks Mataswintha +will be in Byzantium." + + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + +The round tower, in the deepest dungeon of which Witichis was confined, +was situated at the angle of the right wing of the palace, the same in +which he had dwelt and ruled as King. + +The iron door of the tower formed the end of a long passage which led +from a court, and which was separated from this court by a heavy iron +gate. + +Exactly opposite this gate, on the ground-floor of the building at the +left side of the court, was the small dwelling of Dromon, the +_carcerarius_ or gaoler of the prison. + +This dwelling consisted of two small chambers; the first, which was +separated from the second by a curtain, was merely an ante-room. + +The inner chamber afforded an outlook across the court to the round +tower. + +Both rooms were very simply furnished. A straw couch in the inner room, +and two chairs, a table, and a row of keys upon the walls in the outer +room, was almost all that they contained. + +Upon the wooden bench in the window abovementioned, sat, day and +night--her eyes fixed upon the hole in the wall, through which alone +light and air could penetrate to the King's prison--a silent and +thoughtful woman. + +It was Rauthgundis. Her eyes never left the little chink in the wall, +"For," she said to herself, "thither turn all my thoughts--there, where +_his_ eyes too are ever fixed." + +Even when she spoke to her companion, Wachis, or to the gaoler, she +never turned her eyes away. It seemed as if she thought that her mere +look could guard the prisoner from every danger. + +On the day of which we speak she had sat thus for a long time. + +It was evening. Dark and threatening the massive tower rose into the +sky, casting a broad shadow over the court and the left wing of the +palace. + +"Thanks, O Heavenly Father," murmured Rauthgundis; "even the strokes of +fate have led to good. If, as I once intended, I had gone to my father +upon the High Arn, I should never have heard of all the misery here. Or +far too late. But I could not bear to forsake the last resting-place of +my child near our home. The last, indeed, I was obliged to leave, for +how could I know that _she_, his Queen, would not come there? I dwelt +in the woods near Faesulae, and when news came of failure, and one +misfortune followed another; when the Persians burnt our house, and I +saw the flames from my hiding-place; it was too late to escape to my +father. All the roads were blocked, and the Italians delivered all whom +they found with yellow hair into the hands of the Massagetae. No way was +open but the road here--to the city where I had ever refused to go as +_his_ wife. I came like a fugitive beggar. Wachis, the slave, now the +freedman, and Wallada, our horse, alone remained faithful to me. +But--forced by God's hand to come, whether I would or not--I found that +it was only that I might save _him_--deliver him from the shameful +treachery of his wife, and out of the hands of his enemies! I thank +Thee, O God, for this Thy mercy!" + +Her attention was attracted by the rattling of the iron gate opposite. + +A man with a light came through it across the court, and now entered +the ante-room. It was the old gaoler. + +"Well? Speak! cried Rauthgundis, leaving her seat and hurrying to him. + +"Patience--patience! Let me first set down the lamp. There! Well, he +has drunk and it has done him good." + +Rauthgundis laid her hand upon her heart. + +"'What is he doing?" she asked. + +"He always sits in the same position, perfectly silent. He sits on a +stone block, his back turned to the door, his head supported on his +hands. He gives me no answer when I speak to him. Generally he does not +even move; I believe grief and pain have stupefied him. But to-day, +when I handed him the wine in the wooden cup and said, 'Drink, dear +sir; it comes from true friends,' he looked up. Ah, his look was so +sorrowful, as sad as death! He drank deeply, and bowed his head +thankfully, and gave such a sigh, that it cut me to the heart." + +Rauthgundis covered her eyes with her hand. + +"God knows what horrid thing that man means to do to him!" the old man +murmured to himself. + +"What sayest thou?" + +"I say that you must eat and drink well, or else you will lose your +strength; and you will need it before long, poor woman!" + +"I shall have strength enough!" + +"Then take at least a cup of wine." + +"Of this wine? No, it is all for him!" + +And she went back into the inner chamber, where she again took her old +place. + +"The flask will last some time," old Dromon said to himself; "but we +must save him soon, if he is to be saved at all. There comes Wachis. +May he bring good news, else----" + +Wachis entered. Since his visit to the Queen he had exchanged his steel +cap and mantle for clothes borrowed from Dromon. + +"I bring good news!" he cried, as he entered. "But where were you an +hour ago? I knocked in vain." + +"We had both gone out to buy wine." + +"To be sure; that is the reason why the whole room smells so sweet. +What do I see? Why, this is old and costly Falernian! How could you pay +for it?" + +"Pay for it?" repeated the old man. "With the purest gold in the world! +I told you that the Prefect had purposely let the King starve, in order +to undermine his health. For many days I have received no rations for +him. Against my conscience I have kept him alive by depriving the other +prisoners. This Rauthgundis would no longer suffer. She fell into deep +thought, and then asked me whether the rich Roman ladies still paid so +dearly for the yellow locks of the Gothic women. Suspecting nothing, I +said 'Yes.' She went away, and soon returned shorn of her beautiful +auburn hair, but with a handful of gold. With this the wine was +bought." + +Wachis went into the next room, and kissing the hand of Rauthgundis, +exclaimed: "Good and faithful wife!" + +"What art thou doing, Wachis? Rise, and tell me thy news." + +"Yes, tell us," said Dromon, joining them. "What says my Paukis? What +advice does he give?" + +"What matters his advice?" asked Rauthgundis. "I can manage alone." + +"We need him very much. The Prefect has formed nine cohorts, after the +model of the Roman legionaries, of all the youth of Ravenna, and my +Paulus is enrolled amongst them. Luckily, the Prefect has entrusted the +guard of the city gates to these legionaries. The Byzantines are placed +outside the city in the harbour; the Isaurians here in the palace." + +"Yes," continued Wachis; "and these gates are carefully closed at +night; but the breach near the Tower of AEtius is not yet repaired. Only +sentinels are placed there to guard it." + +"When has my son the watch?" + +"In two days. He will have the third night-watch." + +"Thanks be to the saints! It could not have lasted much longer. I +feared----" + +He hesitated. + +"What? Speak!" cried Rauthgundis. "I can bear to hear everything." + +"Perhaps it is well that you should know it; for you are cleverer than +we two, and will better find out what is to be done. I fear they have +something wicked in their heads. As long as Belisarius had the command +here, it went well with the King. But since Belisarius has gone and the +Prefect--that silent demon!--is master of the palace, things look +dangerous. He visits the King every day, and speaks to him for a long +time, earnestly and threateningly. I have often listened in the +passage. But it seems to have little effect, for the King, I believe, +never answers him; and when the Prefect comes out, he looks as black as +thunder. For six days I have received no wine for the King, and only a +little piece of bread; and the air down there is as mouldy and damp as +the grave." + +Rauthgundis sighed deeply. + +"Yesterday," continued Dromon, "when the Prefect came up, he looked +blacker than ever. He asked me----" + +"Well? Tell me, whatever it may be!" + +"He asked me whether the instruments of torture were in good order!" + +Rauthgundis turned pale, but remained silent. + +"The wretch!" cried Wachis. "What did you----" + +"Do not be afraid; all is safe for a time. 'Clarissimus,' I said--and +it is the pure truth--'the screws and pincers, the weights and spikes, +and the whole delightful apparatus lie all together as safe as +possible.' 'Where?' he asked. 'In the deep sea,' I answered; 'I myself, +at the order of King Theodoric, threw them in!' For you must know, +Mistress Rauthgundis, that when your master was a simple Earl, he once +saved me from being tortured. At his request, the horrible practice was +fully abolished. I owe him my life and my sound limbs, and I would +gladly risk my neck for him. And, if it cannot be otherwise, I will +leave this city with you. But we must not delay long, for the Prefect +has no need of my pincers and screws if he once takes it into his head +to torture a man's marrow out of his bones. I fear him as I fear the +devil!" + +"And I hate him as I hate a lie!" cried Rauthgundis sternly. + +"So we must be quick," Dromon went on, "before he can carry out his +cruel intentions; for he is certainly planning something terrible +against the King. I don't know what he can want of the poor prisoner. +Now listen, and mark my words. The third night from now, when Paulus +keeps the watch, and I take the King his evening drink, I will unlock +his chains, throw my mantle over him, and lead him out of the prison +and the passage into the court. Thence he will be able to go unnoticed +to the gate of the palace, where the sentinel will demand the +watch-word. This I shall acquaint him with. When he is once in the +street, he must go direct to the Tower of AEtius, where Paulus will let +him pass the breach. Outside, in the pine-grove of Diana, at a short +distance from the gate, Wachis will wait for him with Wallada. But no +one must accompany him; not even you, Rauthgundis. He will escape more +surely alone." + +"Of what consequence am I? He shall be free; not even bound to me! Thou +must not even name my name. I have brought him misfortune enough, I +will only look at him once again from the window as he goes away!" + + +The Prefect now sunned himself in the feeling of supremacy. He was +Governor of Italy. By his order the fortifications were repaired and +strengthened, the citizens practised in the use of arms all over the +country. The representatives of Byzantium could no longer +counterbalance him. Their captains had no luck; the siege of Tarvisium, +as well as of Verona and Ticinum, made no progress. And Cethegus heard +with pleasure that Hildebad, whose troops had been augmented by +deserters to the number of about six hundred, had badly beaten Acacius, +who had overtaken and attacked him with a thousand Persian horsemen. +But Hildebad's road was still blocked by a strong battalion of +Byzantines, who marched against him from Mantua--he had intended to +join Totila at Tarvisium--and he was obliged to throw himself into the +Castle of Castra Nova, which was still occupied by the Goths under +Thorismuth. + +Here the Byzantines kept him shut up. They could not, however, take the +strong fortress, and the Prefect already foresaw that Acacius would +soon call upon him to help to destroy the Goths, who could then no +longer escape him. It rejoiced him that, since the departure of +Belisarius, the forces of Byzantium were proved, in the face of all +Italy, to be incapable of putting an end to the resistance of the +Goths. And the harshness of the Byzantine financial administration, +which had accompanied Belisarius wherever he went--for he could not +prevent the practice of draining the resources of the country, which +was carried on at the Emperor's command--awakened or heightened the +dislike of both town and country to the East Roman rule. + +Cethegus took good care not--as Belisarius had often done--to oppose +the worst acts of Justinian's officials. It gave him great pleasure +when the populations of Neapolis and Rome repeatedly broke out into +open rebellion against their oppressors. + +When the Goths were completely annihilated, the power of the Byzantines +become contemptible, and their tyranny sufficiently hated, Italy might +be called upon to assert her independence, and her saviour, her ruler, +would be Cethegus. + +Notwithstanding, he was troubled by one circumstance--for he was far +from undervaluing his enemies. The Gothic war, the last sparks of which +were not yet trampled out, might at any time flame up anew, fanned by +the national indignation aroused by the treachery which had been +practised. It had great weight with the Prefect that the most hated +leaders of the Goths, Totila and Teja, had not been taken in the trap +laid at Ravenna. + +For the purpose, therefore, of preventing such a national uprising as +he feared, he attempted to drag from the Gothic King a declaration, +that he had surrendered himself and the city without hope and without +condition, and that he called upon his people to abstain from fruitless +resistance. He also wished his prisoner to tell him in what castle the +war-treasure of Theodoric was concealed. + +Even in those days such a treasure, as a means of gaining foreign +princes and mercenaries, was of the highest importance. If the Goths +lost it, they would lose their best chance of strengthening their +exhausted forces by the aid of foreign weapons. + +And it was the Prefect's greatest wish not to let this treasure--which +legend spoke of as immense--fall into the hands of the Byzantines--whose +need of money, and the tyranny caused by this need, were such active +allies in his plans--but to secure it for himself. His means were also +not inexhaustible. But opposed to the calm steadfastness of his prisoner, +the Prefect's efforts to extort the secret were vain. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + +All necessary measures had been taken for the escape of the King. + +Rauthgundis and Wachis had made themselves thoroughly acquainted with +the pine-grove where the faithful freedman was to wait with the charger +of Dietrich of Bern. + +And it was with the confidence which completed preparations always lend +to a stout heart, that Rauthgundis returned to the dwelling of the +gaoler. + +But she turned pale when the latter rushed to meet her with an air of +desperation, and dragged her across the threshold. + +Once in the room, he threw himself on his knees before her, beating his +breast with his fists and tearing his grey hair. + +For some time he could find no words. + +"Speak," cried Rauthgundis, pressing her hand to her wildly-beating +heart. "Is he dead?" + +"No; but flight is impossible! all is lost! all is lost! An hour ago +the Prefect came, and went down to the King. As usual, I opened both +doors for him, the passage and the prison door, and then----" + +"Well?" + +"Then he took both keys from me, saying he would keep them in future +himself." + +"And thou gavest them up!" said Rauthgundis, grinding her teeth. + +"How could I refuse? I did all I could. I kept them back and asked: +'Master, do you no longer trust me?' He looked at me with a look that +seemed to pierce soul and body. 'From this moment,' he said, 'no +longer,' and snatched the keys from my hand." + +"And thou didst not prevent him?" + +"Oh, mistress, you are unjust! What could you have done in my place? +Nothing!" + +"I should have strangled him. And now? What shall we do now?" + +"Do? Nothing! Nothing can be done!" + +"He _must_ be liberated. Dost thou hear? he _must_!" + +"But, mistress, I know not how." + +Rauthgundis caught up an axe which lay near the hearth. + +"We will open the doors by force." + +Dromon tried to take the axe from her hand. + +"It is impossible! They are thickly plated with iron." + +"Then send for the monster! Tell him that Witichis desires to speak +with him, and I will strike him down at the passage door." + +"And then? You rave! Let me go out. I will call Wachis away from his +useless watch." + +"No! I cannot think that we shall not succeed. Perhaps that devil will +return of his own accord. Perhaps--" she continued reflectively--"Ha!" +she cried suddenly, "it must be so. He wants to murder him! He intends +to steal alone to the defenceless prisoner. But woe to him if he come! +I will guard the threshold of that door as if it were a sanctuary, and +woe to him if he cross it!" + +She leaned heavily against the half-door of the room, and swung the +ponderous axe. + +But Rauthgundis was wrong. + +Not to kill his prisoner had the Prefect taken the keys into his own +keeping. + +He had gone with them in his hand to the south side of the palace, +where he gained admittance to Mataswintha's room. + +The stillness of death and the excitement of fever alternated so +rapidly in Mataswintha, that Aspa could never look at her mistress +without the tears rushing to her eyes. + +"Most beautiful daughter of the Germans," began the Prefect, "dissipate +the cloud which rests upon your white brow, and listen to me calmly." + +"How is the King? You leave me without news. You promised to let him go +free when all was decided. You promised that he should be taken over +the Alps. You have not kept your word." + +"I promised it on two conditions. You know them well, and you have not +yet done your part. Tomorrow the nephew of the Emperor will return from +Ariminum, ready to take you to Byzantium, and I desire you to give him +hopes that you will become his bride. Your marriage with Witichis was +forced and null." + +"No, never! I have told you so before." + +"I am sorry for it, for the sake of my prisoner, for he will not see +the light of day again until you are on the way to Byzantium with +Germanus." + +"Never!" + +"Do not irritate me, Mataswintha. The folly of the girl who bought the +Ares' head at such a high price, is, I think, outgrown. For that once +enamoured being has since sacrificed the Ares of the Goths to his +enemies. But if you still honour that dream of girlhood, then save the +man you once loved." + +Mataswintha shook her head. + +"Until now I have treated you as a free agent, as a Queen. Do +not remind me that you, as well as he, are in my power. You will +become the wife--soon the widow--of this noble Prince--and +Justinian--Byzantium--the whole world, will lie at your feet. Daughter +of the Amelungs, is it possible that you do not love power?" + +"I only love---- Never!" + +"Then I must force you." + +She laughed. + +"_You?_ Force _me_?" + +"Yes, I force you! (She still loves the man she has ruined!) The second +condition is this: that the prisoner fill up this empty space with a +name--the name of the castle in which the treasure of the Goths is +concealed--and sign the declaration. He refuses to do this with a +stubbornness which begins to anger me. Seven times I, the conqueror, +have been to him. He would never yet speak to me. And the first time I +went I received a look for which alone he deserves to lose his haughty +head." + +"He will never consent!" + +"That remains to be seen. The continual dropping of water wears away a +stone at last. But I can wait no longer. Early to-day I received word +that that mad Hildebad, in a furious sally, has beaten Bessas so +thoroughly, that the latter can scarcely continue the siege. Everywhere +the Goths rebel. I must go and make an end of it, and extinguish these +last sparks with the water of deception, which is better than blood. To +this end I must have the King's declaration, and the secret of the +castle. Therefore I tell you that if, before to-morrow, you do not +consent to accompany the Prince to Byzantium, and have not procured for +me the signature of the prisoner, witnessed as such by yourself, I +will--I swear by the Styx--kill----" + +Horrified at the awful expression of Cethegus's face, Mataswintha +started from her seat and grasped his arm. + +"You will not kill _him_!" + +"Yes; or rather, I will first torture him, then blind him, and +afterwards kill him!" + +"No! no!" screamed Mataswintha. + +"I am resolved. The executioners are ready. And you, you shall tell him +this. He will believe that I am in earnest when he sees your despair. +You will perhaps be able to soften him; the sight of me only hardens +him. Perhaps he thinks that he is still in the hands of Belisarius, +that tender-hearted hero. You will tell him in whose power he really +is. Here are the documents--here the keys which open his prison. You +shall choose the hour yourself." + +A ray of joyful hope shone from Mataswintha'a eyes. Cethegus failed not +to remark it, but, smiling calmly, he left the room. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + +Soon after the Prefect had left the Queen it became quite dark. + +The sky was thickly covered with ragged clouds, which were driven +across the moon by the fierce wind, so that brief and uncertain light +alternated with a gloom rendered greater by contrast. + +Dromon had completed his evening round of the cells, and returned to +his dwelling tired and sad. + +He found no light within. He could scarcely make out that Rauthgundis +was still leaning against the half"door, the axe in her hand, her eyes +fixed upon the door of the passage. + +"Let me strike a light, mistress, and kindle the chips upon the hearth. +Share the evening meal with me. Come, you wait here in vain." + +"No, no light, no fire! I can see better what happens in the court +without, for it is moonlight." + +"Well, at least come in here and rest yourself. Here is bread and +meat." + +"Shall I eat while he hungers?" + +"You will be exhausted! Of what are you thinking the whole evening?" + +"Of what am I thinking?" repeated Rauthgundis, still looking out. "I am +thinking how often we have sat in the colonnade before our beautiful +house, when the fountain splashed in the garden and the cicalas chirped +in the trees. The cool night-breeze fanned his beloved face, and I +nestled against his shoulder, and we did not speak one word, and above +us was the silent march of the stars. And we listened to the deep and +peaceful breathing of our child, who had fallen asleep upon my lap, his +little hands, like soft white fetters, clasping the arm of his father. +Alas! his arm now wears other fetters! Iron fetters--that pain----" + +And she pressed her forehead against the iron grating, until she, too, +felt pain. + +"Mistress, why do you torment yourself thus? We cannot help it!" + +"'But we will help it! I must save him and----Dromon! look there! What +is that?" she whispered, and pointed at something in the court. + +The old man hastened noiselessly to her side. + +In the court was a tall white figure, which seemed to glide stealthily +along the wall. + +At brief intervals, but sharp and clear, the moonlight fell upon it. + +"It is a Lemure! The ghost of some one who has been murdered here!" +said the old man, trembling. "God and all the saints protect us!" + +He crossed himself and covered his head with his mantle. + +"No," said Rauthgundis, "the dead do not return from the other world! +Now it has disappeared--all is dark. Ha! the moon breaks through +once--more there it is again! It moves towards the passage-door. What +is that shining red in the white light? Ha! it is the Queen--that is +her red hair? She stops at the door! She opens it! She is going to +murder him in his sleep!" + +"God knows, it is the Queen! But _she_ murder him! How could she?" + +"_She_ could! But, as I live, she shall not! Follow her! A miracle +opens the door to us. But softly, softly!" + +And she went out on tiptoe into the court, the axe still in her hand, +slowly and stealthily, seeking the shadow. Dromon followed her closely. + +Meanwhile Mataswintha, for she it was, had opened the door and gone +forward, down many steps and then through a small passage, feeling the +way with her hands. + +She now reached the door of the prison. She opened it very softly. + +Through an aperture high up on the wall, where a stone had been taken +out, a slanting strip of moonlight fell into the square and narrow +dungeon. + +The light revealed the prisoner. He sat motionless upon a block of +stone, his back turned to the door, his head supported on his hands. + +Mataswintha trembled and leaned against the doorpost. The air felt damp +and icy-cold. She shivered. She could not say a word for very horror. + +Witichis remarked the draught of air from the open door. He lifted his +head, but did not look round. + +"Witichis--King Witichis--" at last stammered Mataswintha; "it is I! +Dost thou hear me?" + +But the prisoner did not move. + +"I come to save thee--fly! Thou art free!" + +But the prisoner dropped his head again. + +"Oh, speak!--oh, only look at me!" + +She now went quite into the dungeon. Gladly would she have touched his +arm, and taken his hand, but she did not yet dare. + +"Cethegus will kill thee!" she said; "torture thee. He surely will if +thou dost not fly!" + +And now her desperation gave her courage. She drew nearer. + +"But thou wilt fly! Thou shalt not die! I must save thee! I beseech +thee, fly, fly! Oh, thou dost not hear me, and time presses! Sometime +thou shalt know everything! but now fly--to life and liberty! I have +the keys of the doors! fly, fly!" And now she grasped his arm and tried +to drag him from his seat. + +But she heard the rattling of chains--on his arms on his feet. He was +chained to the block of stone. + +"Oh! what is this?" she cried, and fell upon her knees. + +"Stone and iron," he said, in a toneless voice. "Leave me, I am doomed. +And even if these bonds did not hold me--I would not follow thee. Back +to the world? The world is one great lie. Everything is a lie." + +"Thou art right. It is better to die. Let me die with thee, but forgive +me! For I, too, have lied to thee." + +"It is very possible. It does not surprise me." + +"But thou wilt forgive me before we die? I have hated thee--I have +rejoiced in thy ruin--I have--oh, it is so hard to tell! I have not the +strength to confess it! And yet I must have thy forgiveness. Oh, +forgive me!--give me thy hand as a sign of thy pardon." + +But Witichis had sunk back into his former stupor. + +"Oh, I beseech thee--forgive me, whatever I may have done!" + +"Go--why should I not forgive thee? thou art like the rest--not better +and not worse." + +"No, I am more wicked than all--and yet better. At least more +miserable. It is true that I hated thee, but only because thou hast +ever thrust me from thee. Thou wouldst not permit me to share thy life. +Forgive me!--O God! I only wish to die with thee!--give me thy hand as +a sign of pardon!" + +Kneeling and beseeching, she stretched out both her hands. + +The King again lifted his head. The kindness of his nature awoke within +him, and overpowered his own dull pain. + +"Mataswintha," he said, lifting his chained hand, "go. I am sorry for +thee. Let me die alone. Whatever thou mayst have done--go--I forgive +thee." + +"O Witichis!" breathed Mataswintha, and would have clasped his hand, +but she felt herself suddenly and violently dragged away. + +"Incendiary! never shall he forgive thee! Come, Witichis!--_my_ +Witichis!--follow me; thou art free!" + +The King sprang up, roused to life by this voice. + +"Rauthgundis! My wife! Thou hast never lied! Thou art true! at last I +have thee again!" + +And, with a gasp of joy, he stretched out his arms. His wife flew to +his bosom, and tear's of delight rushed from their eyes. + +But Mataswintha, who had risen, tottered to the wall. She slowly +stroked her loose red hair out of her eyes and looked at the pair, who +were illuminated by the bright moonlight from the chink in the wall. + +"How he loves her! Yes, he will follow _her_! But he shall not! He +shall remain and die with me!" + +"Delay no longer!" said the voice of Dromon at the door. + +"Come, come quickly, my life!" cried Rauthgundis. + +She drew a little key from her bosom and felt at the chains, seeking +the small opening of the lock. + +"What? Shall I really breathe once more the air of freedom?" asked the +prisoner, half sinking back into his stupor. + +"Yes; the free and open air!" cried Rauthgundis, and threw the loosened +chains to the ground. "Here, Witichis, here is a weapon! an axe! Take +it!" + +Eagerly the Goth took the axe and weighed it in his hand. + +"Ha! how the weapon strengthens my arm and soul!" + +"I knew it, my brave Witichis," said Rauthgundis, kneeling down and +unlocking the chain which bound his left foot to the block of stone. +"Now step out, for thou art free!" + +Witichis, raising the axe in his right hand, made a step toward the +door. + +"And _she_ is permitted to loose his chains!" whispered Mataswintha. + +"Yes, free!" cried Witichis, drawing a deep breath. "Come, Rauthgundis, +let us go!" + +"He goes with _her_!" screamed Mataswintha, and cast herself before the +pair. "Witichis--farewell--but tell me once more--that thou hast +forgiven me!" + +"Forgiven thee!" cried Rauthgundis. "Never--never! She has destroyed +our kingdom--she has betrayed thee! It was no lightning--it was her +hand which kindled the granaries!" + +"Ha--then be thou accursed!" cried Witichis. "Away, away from this +serpent!" and, thrusting Mataswintha violently away, he crossed the +threshold, followed by Rauthgundis. + +"Witichis," screamed Mataswintha, dragging herself up--"stay--stay! +Hear one word--Witichis!" + +"Be silent," said Dromon, grasping her arm. "You will alarm the guard!" + +But Mataswintha, now no more mistress of herself, ran up the steps into +the passage. "Stay, Witichis--stay!" she screamed. "Thou canst not +leave me thus!" and fell fainting to the earth. + +Dromon hurried past her, and followed the fugitives. + +But the shrill cries of Mataswintha had already reached the ear of one +who ever slept lightly. Cethegus, his sword in his hand, and only half +dressed, came out of his chamber into the gallery which looked over the +square court of the palace. + +"Guards!" he cried. "To arms!" + +The soldiers were already astir. + +Scarcely had Witichis, Rauthgundis, and Dromon left the passage and +safely reached the dwelling of the latter, when six Isaurian +mercenaries rushed noisily into the passage. + +Quick as thought Rauthgundis ran out of the house to the heavy iron +door, shut it, turned the key, and took it out. + +"Now they can do no harm," she whispered. + +The husband and wife presently hastened from Dromon's house to the +great gate which led from the court into the street. The single +sentinel who had remained behind stopped them and demanded the +watchword. "Rome," he cried, "and----" + +"Revenge!" cried Witichis, and struck him down with the axe. + +The sentinel screamed and fell, hurling his spear at the fugitives. It +pierced the last of the three--Dromon. + +As Witichis and Rauthgundis rushed down the marble stairs of the palace +into the street, they heard the imprisoned soldiers thundering at the +strong iron door, and a loud voice calling: "Syphax, my horse!" Then +they disappeared into the darkness. + +A few minutes later the courtyard was bright with the lights of many +torches, and several horsemen galloped off to the different gates of +the city. + +"Six thousand solidi to whoever takes him alive; three thousand if he +be brought in dead!" cried Cethegus, swinging himself into the saddle. +"Up, Sons of the Wind, Ellak and Mondzach, Huns and Massagetae! Ride as +you have never ridden before!" + +"But whither?" asked Syphax, as he galloped out of the gate at his +master's aide. + +"That is difficult to say. But all the gates are closed and guarded. +They can only escape by a breach." + +"There are two large breaches." + +"Look at Jupiter, which is just rising from behind the clouds in the +east. It seems to sign to me. In that direction----" + +"Lies the breach near the Tower of AEtius." + +"Good! Then thither--I follow my star!" + + +Meantime the fugitives had happily reached the breach, where Paulus, +the son of Dromon, let them pass. In the pine-grove of Diana they found +their faithful Wachis and two horses. + +The husband and wife mounted Wallada. The freedman took the other horse +and rode off at a gallop towards the river, which at this point was +very broad. + +Witichis held Rauthgundis before him. + +"My wife--losing thee I had lost all: life and courage. But now I will +once more try for the kingdom. Oh, how could I ever let thee go, thou +soul of my soul!" + +"Thine arm is wounded with the chaffing of the chain. Lay it across my +neck, my Witichis." + +"Forward, Wallada--quick! It is for life or death!" + +They now issued from the grove into the open country. They reached the +shore of the river. + +Wachis was trying to urge his rearing steed into the dark flood. The +animal shyed and resisted. + +The freedman sprang off. + +"It is very deep, very rapid," he said. "For three days the river has +been unusually full. The ford is useless. The horses will have to swim, +and the current will drag us far to the left. There are rocks in the +stream, and the moonlight is so inconstant and deceptive." + +He looked doubtfully and searchingly up and down the river. + +"Hark! what was that?" asked Rauthgundis. "It was not the wind in the +trees." + +"It is horses!" cried Witichis. "They approach rapidly. I hear the +clatter of arms. There--torches! Now into the river for life or +death--but softly!" + +He urged his horse into the water. + +"There is no footing. The horses must swim. Hold fast by the mane, +Rauthgundis. Forward, Wallada!" + +Snorting and trembling, the noble animal looked at the black water. His +mane was blown wildly about his head--he held his fore-feet stretched +out, his haunches drawn in. + +"Forward, Wallada!" said Witichis, and called softly into the faithful +animal's ear, "Theodoric!" + +At this the charger sprang willingly into the water. + +The pursuing horsemen had already galloped out of the wood, Cethegus +foremost; at his side rode Syphax with a torch. + +"Here the track disappears in the sand, master." + +"They are in the river. Forward, Huns!" + +But the horsemen drew rein and stood stock-still. + +"Well, Ellak, why do you linger? At once into the flood!" + +"Sir, we cannot. Before we ride into running water at night-time, we +must ask forgiveness of Phug, the water-spirit. We must first pray to +him." + +"Pray when you are across as long as you like; but now----" + +Just then a strong gust of wind blew from the river and extinguished +all the torches. + +The river rushed and roared. + +"You see, sir, that Phug is angry." + +"Be silent. Did you see nothing? There to the left." + +The moon just then glanced between the driving clouds. It shone upon +the light-coloured garments of Rauthgundis. She had lost her brown +mantle. + +"Aim quickly; there!" + +"We cannot; we must first finish our worship!" + +The clouds passed across the moon, and it was again quite dark. + +With a curse, Cethegus snatched bow and quiver from the shoulder of the +chief of the Huns. + +"Come on!" cried Wachis in a low voice, when he had almost reached the +opposite shore; "come quickly, before the moon issues from that narrow +strip of cloud!" + +"Halt, Wallada!" cried Witichis, as he dismounted in order to lighten +the burden, and held fast by the horse's mane. "Here is a rock. Take +care, Rauthgundis." + +Horse, man, and woman were checked for a moment while balancing upon +the top of the rock, past which the water rushed and gurgled in a deep +whirl. + +Suddenly the moon shone out clear and bright. It illuminated the +surface of the stream and the group on the rock. + +"It is they!" cried Cethegus, who held his bow and arrow ready. + +He took a rapid aim, and pulled the string. + +Whistling, the long black-feathered arrow flew from the string. + +"Rauthgundis!" cried Witichis in terror; for his wife started +convulsively and sank forward upon the horse's neck. But she did not +utter a groan. "Rauthgundis, thou art hit?" + +"I believe so. Leave me here and save thyself." + +"Never! Let me support thee." + +"For God's sake, sir, stoop! dive! They take aim again!" + +The Huns had finished praying. They rode a short way into the water, +fixing their arrows and taking aim. + +"Leave me, Witichis. Fly! I will die here." + +"No; I will never leave thee again!" + +He lifted her out of the saddle, and tried to hide her on the rock. The +group stood in the full light of the moon. + +"Yield, Witichis!" cried Cethegus, spurring his horse up to its +haunches in the water. + +"A curse upon thee, thou traitor!" was the reply of Witichis. + +Twelve arrows whizzed at once. The charger of Theodoric leaped wildly +forward, and sank for ever into the flood. + +But Witichis also was mortally wounded. + +"With thee!" sighed Rauthgundis. She held him closely with both arms. + +"With thee!" + +And, locked in a fast embrace, husband and wife sank into the river. + +In bitter grief, Wachis, on the farther shore, called their names. In +vain. Three times he called, and then galloped away into the night. + +"Get the bodies out," ordered Cethegus grimly, turning his horse to the +bank. + +And the Huns rode and swam to the rock, and sought for the bodies. But +they sought in vain. + +The rapid current had carried man and wife, united now for ever, into +the free and open sea. + + +The same day Prince Germanus had returned from Ariminum to the harbour +of Ravenna, ready to take Mataswintha to Byzantium. + +The latter was only roused from the faint into which she had fallen +when left by Witichis and Rauthgundis, by the noise of the hammers with +which the work-people broke open the passage to liberate the soldiers. + +The Princess was found crouching upon the steps of the prison. She was +carried up to her chamber in a high fever. She lay for hours upon her +purple cushions without moving or speaking, her eyes fixed in a wild +stare. + +Towards noon Cethegus asked for admission. + +His look was dark and threatening; his expression cold as ice. + +He went up to Mataswintha's couch. + +"He is dead!" she quietly said. + +"He would not have it otherwise. He--and you. It is useless to reproach +you. But you see what ensues when you oppose me. The report of his +death will inevitably rouse the barbarians to new fury. You have +created a difficult task for me; for you only are the cause of his +flight and death. The least that you can do to atone for this is to +fulfil my second wish. Prince Germanus has landed. He comes to fetch +you. You will follow him." + +"Where is the corpse?" + +"It has not been found. The current has carried it away; his body +and--the woman's." + +Mataswintha's lips twitched. + +"Even in death! She died with him?" + +"Think no more of the dead. In two hours I will return with the Prince. +Will you then be prepared to welcome him?" + +"I shall be ready." + +"'Tis well. We will be punctual." + +"I also. Aspa, call all my slaves; they shall adorn me richly to meet +this Prince. Diadem, purple, and silk." + +"She has lost her senses," Cethegus said to himself as he left the +room. "But women are tough; she will recover them. These women can +live, even when their hearts are broken." + +He went to console the impatient Prince. + +Before the expiration of the time appointed, a slave came to invite the +two men to come to the Queen. + +Germanus crossed the threshold of her room with a rapid step. But he +stood still astonished. He had never seen the Gothic Princess looking +so lovely, so queenly. + +She had placed a high golden diadem upon her shining hair, which fell +over her shoulders in two thick tresses. Her under-dress of heavy white +silk, embroidered with golden flowers, was only visible below the knee, +for the upper part of her body was covered by the royal purple. Her +face was white and cold as marble: her eyes blazed with a strange and +supernatural light. + +"Prince Germanus," she said, as he entered, "you once spoke to me of +love; but do you know of what you spoke? To love is to die." + +Germanus looked inquiringly at the Prefect, who now came forward. + +He was about to speak, but Mataswintha, in a clear loud voice, +recommenced: + +"Prince Germanus, you are famed as the most highly-cultivated man of a +learned court, where it is a favourite pastime to practise the solving +of finely-pointed riddles. I also will put to you a riddle; see to it +that you solve it. Let the clever Prefect, who so well understands +human nature, help you. What is this?--A wife, and yet a maid; a widow, +and yet no wife? You cannot guess? You are right; death alone resolves +all riddles!" + +With a sudden movement, she cast off her purple robe. + +There was a flash of steel! She had stabbed herself to the heart. + +With a shriek, Germanus and Aspa (who had stood behind) sprang forward. + +Cethegus silently caught the falling figure. + +She died as soon as he drew the sword from her breast. He knew the +sword. He himself had sent it to her. + +It was the sword of King Witichis. + + + + + + BOOK V. + TOTILA. + + +"Well for us that this sunny youth still lives!"--_Margrave Ruediger of +Bechelaren_, Act i., Scene i. + + + + + PART I. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +A few days after the death of Mataswintha and the departure of Prince +Germanus, who was deeply shocked by the sad event, a message came from +Castra Nova, which rendered necessary the march of Byzantine troops +from Ravenna. + +Hildebad had been informed, by fugitive Goths, who had made their way +in disguise through the lines of the besiegers, of the treacherous +imprisonment of the King. + +On hearing the news, he sent word to Cethegus and Belisarius, through +some prisoners whom he released, that he challenged them, either +together or singly, to mortal combat, "if they had a drop of courage in +their veins, or a trace of honour in their souls." + +"He thinks that Belisarius is still in the country, and does not seem +to fear him greatly," said Bessas. + +"This might be a means," said Cethegus cunningly, of ruining the +turbulent fellow. "But, certainly, it needs great courage--such courage +as Belisarius possesses." + +"You know that I do not yield to him a jot in that," answered Bessas. + +"Good," said Cethegus. "Then follow me to my house. I will show you how +to destroy this giant. You shall succeed where Belisarius failed." But +he said to himself, "Bessas is indeed a tolerably bad commander; but +Demetrius is still worse, and therefore easier to lead. And I owe +Bessas a grudge for that affair of the Tiburtinian Gate at Rome." + + +The Prefect had not without reason feared that the almost extinguished +resistance of the Goths would be renewed on hearing of the treason +practised on their King. + +No exact report had yet reached old Hildebrand at Verona, Totila at +Tarvisium, or Teja at Ticinum. + +They had only heard that Ravenna had fallen, and that the King was +imprisoned. + +Vague rumours of treachery accompanied this report, and the friends of +the King, in their pain and anger, were persuaded that the fall of the +strong fortress and of the brave King had not been effected by honest +means. + +Instead of discouraging them, this misfortune only increased the +strength of their resistance. + +They weakened their besiegers by repeated and successful sallies. + +And the enemy felt almost constrained to raise the siege, for already +signs of an important change of circumstance crowded upon them from all +sides. + +This change was, in fact, a rapidly progressing reversion of feeling in +the Italian population, at least of the middle classes: the merchants +and artisans of the towns; the peasants and farmers of the country. + +The Italians had everywhere greeted the Byzantines as liberators. + +But after a short period their exultation died away. + +Whole troops of officials followed Belisarius from Byzantium, sent by +Justinian to reap without delay the fruits of the war, and to fill the +ever-empty treasury of the East with the riches of Italy. + +In the midst of all the suffering caused by the war, these zealous +officials began their work. + +As soon as Belisarius had occupied a town, his treasurer summoned all +free citizens to the Curia or to the Forum; ordered them to divide +themselves into six classes according to their wealth, and then called +upon each class to value the property of the class above it. + +According to this valuation, the imperial officials then laid the +highest possible tax upon each class. + +And, as these officials were almost necessitated, because of the +retention and curtailment of their never punctually paid salaries, to +think of filling their own pockets as well as the Emperor's treasury, +the oppression they put in practice became intolerable. + +They were not content with the high rates which the Emperor required to +be paid in advance for three years; the special tax laid upon every +liberated town of Italy as a "gratitude tax"--besides the large +contributions and requisitions which Belisarius and his generals were +obliged to demand for the use of the army--for neither gold nor +provisions came from Byzantium--but every official sought to extort +special payments, by special means, out of the richer citizens. + +They everywhere ordered a revision of the tax-lists, discovered arrears +owing since the times of the Gothic Kings, even from the days of +Odoacer, and left the citizens the option of paying immense sums for +indemnity or of carrying on a ruinous lawsuit with Justinian's fiscus, +who scarcely ever lost one. + +But if the tax-lists were incomplete or destroyed--which happened often +enough in those times of war--the accountants arbitrarily reconstructed +them. + +In short, all the arts of finance which had ruined the provinces of the +Eastern Empire were practised in Italy, after the landing of +Belisarius, as far as imperial arms could reach. + +Without consideration for the misery of war-time, the tax executors +unyoked the oxen of the peasant from the plough, took his tools from +the workshop of the artisan, and his wares from the house of the +merchant. + +In many towns the people rebelled against their oppressors and drove +them away; but they only returned in larger numbers with severer +measures. + +The Mauretanian horsemen of Justinian, with African bloodhounds, hunted +the desperate peasants from their hiding-places in the woods, whither +they had fled to escape the tax-gatherer. And Cethegus, who alone was +in a position to check such deeds, looked on with calculating coolness. + +He desired that, before the end of the war, all Italy should have +become acquainted with the tyranny of Byzantium, for then it would be a +lighter task for him to persuade the people to rise and, when they had +got rid of the Goths, to throw off the burden of the Byzantines. He +listened to the complaints of the deputations from various towns, who +appealed to him for assistance, with a shrug and the laconic answer: + +"That is only Byzantine government--you must get used to it." + +"No," had answered the deputation from Rome, "one does not get +accustomed to what is unbearable. The Emperor may live to see that of +which he has never even dreamed!" + +To Cethegus this could only mean the independence of Italy; he knew of +nothing else. + +But he was mistaken. + +Although he thought meanly enough of his countrymen and the times in +which he lived, he yet believed that he could elevate them by example. + +But the thought so natural to his spirit; as necessary to him as the +air he breathed--the freedom and independence of Italy--was far too +grand for the comprehension of that generation. + +They could only vacillate between two masters. + +And when the yoke of Byzantium proved unbearable they began to recall +to their memory the milder rule of the Goths; a possibility which had +never entered the Prefect's head. + +And yet such was the case. + +Before Tarvisium, Ticinum, and Verona, there now happened on a small +scale, that which was preparing on a large one in such cities as +Neapolis and Rome. The Italian country-people revolted against +the Byzantine officials and soldiers, and the inhabitants of the +above-named three cities supported the Goths in every possible manner. + +So, when Totila, backed by the armed peasants of the plains, had +destroyed a great part of their works, the besiegers of Tarvisium were +obliged to cease their attacks, and limit themselves to the defence of +their camp, thus enabling Totila to draw supplies and soldiers from the +neighbouring country. + +With a more cheerful spirit than usual he one evening made his round of +the walls of Tarvisium. + +Rosy clouds floated across the sky, and the sun, as it sank behind the +Venetian hills, gilded all the plain before him. + +With emotion he watched the peasants from the neighbourhood streaming +through the open gates of the city, bringing bread, meat, and wine to +his half-starved Goths; who, on their part, hurried out into the open +country, and Germans and Italians, embracing, celebrated the victory +which they had together gained over their hated enemies. + +"Is it then impossible," said Totila to himself, "to preserve and +propagate this amity through the whole country? Is it a necessity that +these two nations should be eternally divided? How their friendship +embellishes each! Have we not also failed, in that we ever treated the +Italians as the vanquished? We meet them with suspicion, instead of +with generous confidence. We demand their obedience, and neglect to win +their affection. And it would have been well worth the winning! Had it +been won--never would Byzantium have gained a footing here! The release +from my vow--Valeria--would not have been so unattainable. Would that +it were permitted me to strive for this goal in _my_ way!" + +His reflections and dreams were interrupted by a messenger from the +outposts, announcing that the enemy had suddenly forsaken their camp, +and were in fall retreat to the south, towards Ravenna. On the road to +the west clouds of dust were seen: a large body of horsemen was +approaching--probably Goths. + +Totila received the news with joy, but also with doubt. He took all +necessary measures against a stratagem. + +But during the night his doubts were resolved. He was awakened by the +news of a Gothic victory, and the arrival of the victor. + +He hurried out and found Hildebrand, Teja, Thorismuth, and Wachis. + +With the cry of "Victory! victory!" his friends greeted him, and +Teja and Hildebrand announced that at Ticina, and Verona also, the +country-people had rebelled against the Byzantines, and had aided the +Goths in falling upon the besiegers, whom, after destroying their +defences, they had forced to retreat. + +But in spite of this joyful news, there lay in Teja's eyes and voice a +deeper melancholy than usual. + +"What of sorrow hast thou to communicate, beside this joy?" asked +Totila. + +"The shameful ruin of the best man in the world!" said Teja, and signed +to Wachis, who now related the sufferings and death of the King and his +wife. + +"I escaped the arrows of the Huns by hiding amongst the rushes. Thus I +still live. But only for one thing; that is, to revenge my master upon +his betrayer and murderer--Cethegus the Prefect." + +"No; the Prefect is mine!" said Teja. + +"Thou, Totila, hast the first right to his life," said Hildebrand, "for +thou hast a brother to revenge." + +"My brother Hildebad!" cried Totila. "What of him?" + +"He has been shamefully murdered by the Prefect," said Thorismuth, +"before my very eyes, and I could not prevent it." + +"My strong Hildebad dead!" exclaimed Totila. "Speak!" + +"The hero lay with us in the Castle of Castra Nova, near Mantua," +related Thorismuth. "The report of the King's treacherous death had +reached us. Hildebad challenged Belisarius and Cethegus to mortal +combat. Presently a herald arrived, who said that Belisarius had +accepted the challenge, and expected thy brother on the plain between +our walls and their camp. Thy brother set forth rejoicing; we horsemen +followed. And verily, there rode out of a tent, in his golden armour, +with closed helm and white plume, with his round shield--well known to +us all--the hero, Belisarius. Only twelve horsemen followed him; +foremost of all, Cethegus the Prefect. The other Byzantines halted just +outside the camp. Hildebad ordered me to follow him with an equal +number of horsemen. The two combatants greeted each other with their +spears; the trumpets sounded, and Hildebad rushed at his enemy. The +next moment the latter lay upon the ground, pierced through and +through. Thy brother, unhurt, dismounted, crying: 'That was no thrust +from Belisarius!' and opened the visor of the dying man. 'Bessas!' +cried Hildebad, and looked, furious at the deception, towards his +enemies. Then the Prefect gave a sign. The twelve Moorish horsemen +hurled their spears, and, severely hit, thy brother fell." + +Totila covered his face. Teja went sympathisingly up to him. + +"Listen to the end," said Thorismuth. "When we saw this murder, we were +filled with fury. We threw ourselves upon the enemy, who, trusting that +we should be discouraged, pressed forward from the camp. After a hot +fight, we compelled them to fly. Only the speed of his devilish horse +saved the Prefect, who was wounded in the shoulder by my spear. Thy +brother lived to see our victory. He caused the chest which he had +brought from Ravenna to be carried down to the Castle; opened it, and +said to me: 'Crown, shield, and sword of Theodoric. Take them to my +brother.' And with his last breath he cried: 'He must revenge me and +renew our kingdom. Tell him--that I loved him very dearly!' Then he +sank back upon his shield, and his faithful soul departed." + +"My brother! Oh, my beloved brother!" cried Totila, leaning against a +pillar. Tears flowed from his eyes. + +There was a moment of reverent silence. + +Then: "Remember thine oath!" cried Hildebrand. "He was doubly thy +brother! Thou wilt revenge him!" + +"Yes," said Totila, and involuntarily he drew the sword--which Teja +handed to him--from its sheath. "I will revenge him!" + +It was the sword of Theodoric. + +"And renew the kingdom," said old Hildebrand solemnly, and, taking the +crown, he set it upon Totila's head. "Hail to thee, King of the Goths!" + +Totila started. + +He raised his left hand to the golden coronet. + +"What do ye?" he exclaimed. + +"That which is right. The dying hero's words were prophecy! Thou wilt +surely renew the kingdom. Three victories call upon thee to take up the +struggle. Remember thine oath. We are not yet defenceless. Shall we lay +down our weapons? Shall we submit to treachery and tricks?" + +"No," cried Totila, "that we will not. And it is well done to choose a +king, as a sign of renewed hope. But here stands Earl Teja, worthier +than I, of proved experience. Choose Teja!" + +"No," said Teja, shaking his head, "it is thy turn first! Thy dying +brother has sent _thee_ this sword and crown. Wear them happily! If the +kingdom can be saved, it is thou who canst save it; if not, an avenger +must be left." + +"But now," interrupted Hildebrand, "now we must hasten to sow the seeds +of confidence in all hearts. This is thine office, Totila! See, the +young day breaks in glory. The first rays of the sun fall into the hall +and kiss, thy brow! It is a sign from the gods! Hail, King Totila--thou +that shalt renew the Gothic kingdom!" + +The youth pressed the glittering crown firmly upon his golden locks, +and raised Theodoric's sword towards the morning sun. + +"Yes!" he cried, "if human strength can do it, I will raise anew the +kingdom of the Goths." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +And King Totila kept his word. + +Once again he raised the Goths, whose sole hold on Italy was embodied +in a few thousand men and three cities, to a great power, greater even +than in the days of Theodoric. + +He drove the Byzantines out of all the towns of Italy, with one fatal +exception. + +He won back the islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicilia. + +And still more: he victoriously crossed the old limits of the kingdom, +and, as the Emperor obstinately refused recognition of the Gothic rule +and possession, sent his royal fleet to carry terror and devastation +into the provinces of the Eastern Empire. + +And Italy, in spite of the continuance of the war--which was never +quite extinguished--bloomed under his government as in the time of +Theodoric. + +It is remarkable that the legends both of the Goths and Italians +celebrate this fortunate King, now as the grandchild of Numa Pompilius, +Titus, or Theodoric, now as the spirit of the latter, returned to earth +in youthful form, to restore and bless his well-beloved kingdom. + +As the morning sun, issuing from the clouds of night, irresistibly +spreads light and blessing abroad, so Totila's arms brought happiness +to Italy. + +The dark shadows retreated step by step at his approach. Victory flew +before him, and the gates of the cities and the hearts of men opened to +him almost without a struggle. + +The manly qualities--the genius of a general and a ruler--which had +slumbered in this fair youth, which were only guessed at by Theodoric +and Teja, and known to their full extent to no one, were now gloriously +displayed. + +The youthful freshness of his nature, far from being destroyed by the +hard trials of the last years, by the sufferings which he had endured +in Neapolis and before Rome, by the long absence from his beloved +Valeria, from whom he was parted farther and farther by every fresh +victory of the Byzantines, had only deepened into more earnest +manliness. The bright sympathy of his manner remained, and cast the +charm of amiability and heartfelt kindness over all his actions. + +Sustained by his own ideality, he tamed trustingly to the ideal in his +fellow-men; and almost all, except those governed by some diabolical +power, found his confident appeal to what was noble and good +irresistible. + +As light illumines whatever it shines upon, so the noble-heartedness of +this glorious King seemed to communicate itself to his courts to his +associates, and even to his adversaries. + +"He is irresistible as Apollo!" said the Italians. + +More closely regarded, we find that the secret of his great and rapid +success lay in the genial art with which--following the inmost impulse +of his nature--he contrived to transmute the bitterness of the Italians +against Byzantine oppression into sympathy with the benevolence of the +Goths. + +We have seen how this feeling of bitterness had taken root amongst the +peasants, the farmers, the rich merchants, the artisans, and the middle +and lower ranks of the citizens; in fact, among the greater part of the +population. + +And later, when the Goths marched to the field of battle with the +jubilating cry of "Totila!" the personality of the young King +completely estranged the Italians from their Byzantine oppressors, who +seemed to be totally forsaken by the fortune of war. + +It is true that a minority remained uninfluenced: the Orthodox Church, +which knew of no peace with heretics; hard-headed Republicans; and the +kernel of the Catacomb conspiracy--the proud Roman aristocrats and the +friends of the Prefect. But this small minority compared to the mass of +the population, was of little moment. + +The King's first act was to publish a manifesto to the Goths and +Italians. + +It was proved to the first that the fall of King Witichis and Ravenna +had been the work of superior falsehood, and not of superior strength; +and the duty of revenge, begun already by three victories, was +impressed upon them. + +And the Italians, having now experienced what kind of exchange they had +made in revolting to Byzantium, were invited to return to their old +friends. + +In order to favour this return, the King promised not only a general +amnesty, but equal rights with the Goths; the abolition of all former +Gothic privileges; the right of forming a native army; and--what was +especially effective by contrast--the abolition of all taxes upon +Italian soil or property until the end of the war. + +Further, as the aristocracy favoured the Byzantines--the farmers, on +the contrary, the Goths--it was a measure of the highest prudence which +provided that every Roman noble who did not, within three months, +subject himself to the Goths, should lose his landed property in favour +of his former tenants. + +And, lastly, the King placed a high premium, to be paid out of the +royal purse, on all intermarriages between Goths and Italians, +promising the settlement of the pair upon the confiscated property of +Roman senators. + +"Italia," concluded the manifesto, "bleeding from the wounds inflicted +by the tyranny of Byzantium, shall recover and bloom again under my +protection. Help us, sons of Italia, to drive from this sacred ground +our common enemies, the Huns and Scythians of Justinianus. Then, in +the new-born kingdom of the Italians and Goths, a new people shall +arise--begotten of Italian beauty and cultivation, of Gothic strength +and truth--whose nobility and splendour shall be such as the world has. +never yet beheld!" + + +When Cethegus the Prefect, awaking at morn on the field-bed to which +his wound had confined him, heard the news of Totila's accession, he +sprang from his couch with a curse. + +"Sir," said the Grecian physician, "you must take care of yourself +and----" + +"Did you not hear? Totila wears the Gothic crown! It is no time now to +be prudent.--My helm, Syphax." + +And he snatched the manifesto from the hand of Lucius Licinius, who had +brought the news, and read eagerly. + +"Is it not ridiculous--madness?" asked Lucius. + +"Madness it is if the Romans be yet Romans! But are they so? If they +are not--then we--and not the barbarian prince--work madness. The thing +must never be put to a trial, but be at once nipped in the bud. The +blow directed against the aristocracy is a masterpiece. It must not +have time to take effect. Where is Demetrius?" + +"He marched against Totila last evening. You were asleep. The physician +forbade us to awaken you, and Demetrius also." + +"Totila king, and you let me sleep! Do you not know that this +flaxen-head is the very genius of the Goths? Demetrius wishes to win +his laurels alone. How strong is he?" + +"More than twice as strong as the Goths; twelve thousand to five +thousand." + +"Demetrius is lost. Up--to horse! Arm all who can carry a lance. +Leave only the wounded to guard the walls. This firebrand Totila must +be trampled out, or an ocean of blood cannot extinguish him. My +weapons--to horse!" + +"I have never seen the Prefect look so," said Lucius Licinius to the +physician. "It must be fever? He grew pale." + +"He is without fever." + +"Then I do not comprehend it, for it cannot be _fear_. Syphax, let us +follow him." + +Cethegus urged on his troop indefatigably. So indefatigably, that only +a small suite of horsemen could keep up with his impatience and the +swift hoofs of his war-horse. + +At long intervals followed Marcus Licinius, Massurius with Cethegus's +mercenaries, and Balbus with the hurriedly-armed citizens of Ravenna. +For Cethegus had indeed left in the fortress only old men, women and +children, and the wounded soldiers. + +At last the Prefect succeeded in communicating with the rear-guard of +the Byzantines. + +Totila was marching from Tarvisium southwards against Ravenna. + +He was joined by numerous bands of armed Italians from the provinces of +Liguria, Venetia, and AEmilia, who had been roused by his manifesto into +new hope and new resolve. + +They desired to fight with him his first battle against the Byzantines. + +"No," Totila had answered their general; "you shall decide upon what +you will do _after_ the battle. We Goths will fight alone. If we win, +then you may join us. If we lose, then the revenge of the Byzantines +will not affect you. Await the result." + +The report of such magnanimous sentiments attracted many more to the +Gothic flag. + +Besides this, Totila's army was reinforced from hour to hour, during +the march, by the arrival of Gothic warriors, who, singly, or in small +bands, had come out of prison or left their hiding-places when they +heard of the treachery practised on King Witichis, the accession of a +new King, and the renewal of the war. + +The haste with which Totila pressed forward, in order to avail himself +of the enthusiasm of his troops before it had time to cool, and the +zeal with which Demetrius flew to meet him, soon brought the two armies +in sight of each other. + +It was at the bridge across the Padus, named Pons Padi. + +The Byzantines stood in the plain; they had the river, which they had +crossed with half their foot, at their backs. + +The Goths appeared upon the gently-sloping hills towards the +north-west. + +The rays of the setting sun dazzled the eyes of the Byzantines. + +Totila, from the hill, observed the position of the enemy. + +"The victory is mine!" he cried to his troops, and, drawing his sword, +he swooped upon his enemies like a falcon on his prey. + + +Cethegus and his followers had reached the last deserted camp of the +Byzantines shortly after sunset. + +They were met by the first fugitives. + +"Turn, Prefect," cried the foremost horseman, who recognised him, "turn +and save yourself! Totila is upon us! He cleaved the helm and head of +Artabazes, the best captain of the Armenians, with his own hand!" And +the man continued his flight. + +"A god led the barbarians!" cried a second. "All is lost--the +commander-in-chief is taken!" + +"This King Totila is irresistible!" cried a third, trying to pass the +Prefect, who blocked his way. + +"Tell that in hell!" cried Cethegus, and struck him to the earth. +"Forward!" + +But he had scarcely given the command when he recalled it. + +For already whole battalions of vanquished Byzantines came flying +through the wood towards him. He saw that it would be impossible to +stem the flight of these masses with his small troop. + +For some time he watched the movement irresolutely. + +The Gothic pursuers were already visible in the distance, when +Vitalius, one of Demetrius's captains, came wounded up to Cethegus. + +"Oh, friend," he cried, "there is no stopping them! They will now go on +till they reach Ravenna." + +"I verily believe it," said Cethegus. "They will more likely carry my +men away with them than stand and fight." + +"And yet only the half of the victors, under Teja and Hildebrand, +follow us. The King turned back already on the field of battle. I saw +him withdraw his troops. He wheeled to the south-west." + +"_Whither?_" cried Cethegus, becoming attentive. "Tell me again. In +_what_ direction?" + +"He marched towards the south-west." + +"He is going to Rome!" exclaimed the Prefect, and pulled his horse +round so suddenly that it reared. "Follow me!--to the coast!" + +"And the routed army? without leaders!" cried Lucius Licinius. "See how +they fly!" + +"Let them fly! Ravenna is strong. It will hold out. Do you not hear? +The Goth is going to _Rome_! We must get there before him. Follow me to +the coast--the way by sea is open. To Rome!" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +Lovely--famed far and wide for its beauty--is the valley in which the +Passara flows from the north into the rapid Athesis, which hurries from +the west to the south-east. + +Like a bending figure, which leans longingly towards the beautiful +Southland, the lofty Mendola rises at a distance from the right bank of +the river. + +Here, above the junction of the two streams, once lay the Roman +settlement of Mansio Majae. + +A little farther up the river, on a dominating rock, stood the Castle +of Teriolis. + +Now--from a mountain-"muhr" or "mar" (landslip)--the town is called +Meran. + +The Castle has given its name to the Tyrol. + +"Mansio Majae" is heard even now in the name of the place "Mais," rich +in pleasant villas. + +But at the time of which we speak an East Gothic garrison lay in the +Castle of Teriolis, as was the case in all the old Rhaetian rock-nests +on the Athesis, the Isarcus, and the [OE]nus, in order to keep down the +only half-subjected Suevi, Alamanni, and Markomanni, or, as they were +already named, the Bajuvars, who dwelt in Rhaetia, on the Licus, and on +the lower course of the [OE]nus. + +But, besides the garrisons of the castles, East-Gothic families had +settled in larger numbers in the mild and fruitful valley and on the +willow-covered slopes of the mountains. + +Even now a singular, noble, and grave beauty distinguishes the peasants +of the valleys of Meran, Ultner, and Sarn. These reticent people are +much more refined, pensive, and aristocratic than the Bajuvar type on +the Inn, the Lech, and the Isar. + +Their dialect and legends support the supposition that here some few +remains of the Goths continued to flourish; for the legends of the +Amelungs, Dietrich of Bern, and the Rose-garden, still live in the +names of the places and the traditions of the people. + +Upon one of the highest mountains on the left shore of the Athesis, a +Goth named Iffa had before-times settled; his descendants continued the +settlement. + +The mountain is named the "Iffinger" to this day. Upon the southern +slope, half-way up, the simple settlement was fixed. The Gothic +emigrants had found it already cultivated. The Rhaetian alpine-house, +which Druses had met with when he conquered the Rasenian +mountain-people, had suffered no change in its characteristic and +commodious form through the Roman conquerors, who built their villas in +the valley, and their watch-towers on dominating rocks. + +All the Romanised inhabitants of the Eltsch valley had, after the +East-Gothic invasion, remained in quiet possession of their property. + +For not here, but farther east, from the Save and over the Isonzo, had +the Goths pressed forward into the peninsula; and only when Ravenna and +Odoacer had fallen, did Theodoric spread his hosts in a peaceful and +regular manner over North Italy and the Etschland. + +Thus Iffa and his people had peacefully shared the soil with the Roman +settlers whom they found upon the mountain, which at that time still +possessed its Rasenian name. + +A third of the arable land, the meadows and woods; a third part of the +house, slaves, and animals, was, here as everywhere, claimed by the +Gothic settler from the Roman farmer. + +In the course of years, however, the Roman _hospes_ had found this +close and involuntary vicinity to the barbarians inconvenient. He +therefore left the rest of his property on the mountains to the Goths, +in exchange for thirty yoke of the splendid oxen which the Germans had +brought with them from Pannonia--and which they so well understood how +to breed--and went southwards, where the Romans dwelt in greater +numbers. + +And so the "Iffinger" had become completely Germanic, for the present +master had suddenly sold the few Roman slaves which he possessed, +and had replaced them by men and maids of Germanic race: Gepidians +taken in war. This master was again named "Iffa," like his ancestor. +He lived alone, a silver-haired man. A brother, and his wife and +daughter-in-law, had, many years ago, been buried under a landslip. + +A son, a younger brother, and a son of the latter, had obeyed the call +of King Witichis to arms, and had never returned from the siege of +Rome. + +So no one was left to the old man but his two grandchildren, the boy +and girl of the son who had fallen. + +The sun had set gloriously behind the mountains which bordered the +incomparable Etsch valley in the blue distance to the south and west. + +A warm golden lustre lay upon the tender porphyry colouring of the +"Iffinger," making it glow like red wine. + +Up the mountain slope, upon the top of which stood a dwelling-house +with a row of stalls a little apart, climbed slowly, step by step, +resting ever and again, and holding her hands over her eyes as she +looked at the sunset, a child--or was it already a maiden?--who was +driving a flock of lambs before her. + +She now and then gave her _protegees_ time to crop with dainty tooth +the aromatic Alpine herbs which grew in their path, and beat time with +the hazel stick which she carried to an ancient and simple melody, the +words of which she was softly singing: + + "Little lambkins, + Follow freely; + By your shepherd's + Hand led heedful; + Like the heaven's + Lovely lambkins, + Like the quiet + Steady stars, that + Shining, sparkling, + Obey ever + Their bright shepherd, + Mustered by the + Mild moon ever, + Without trouble, + Without pause." + +She ceased, and bent forward to look over into a deep ravine on her +left hand, which had been hollowed out in the steep slope by a rapid +mountain brook. Now, being summer, the water was very shallow. On the +opposite side the hill again rose steeply upward. + +"Where can he be?" the girl said; "usually his goats are already +descending the hill when the sun has turned to gold. My flowers will +fade soon!" + +She seated herself upon a stone near the path, let the lambs graze, +laid the hazel stick beside her, and allowed the apron of sheepskin, +which, till now, she had held up carefully, to fall. A shower of the +loveliest Alpine flowers fell to the ground. + +She began to wind a wreath. + +"The blue speik will suit his brown hair the best," she said as she +worked busily. "I get much more tired when I drive the flock alone than +when he is with me. And yet then we climb much higher. I wonder how it +is! How my naked feet burn! I might go down to the brook and cool them. +And then I should see him sooner when he comes along the height. The +sun does not scorch any more." + +She took off the large broad pumpkin leaf which she wore instead of a +hat; and now was seen the shining colour of her pale golden hair--so +fair it was!--which, stroked back from the temples, was tied together +at the back of the head with a red ribbon. Like a flood of sunbeams it +rippled over her neck, which was only covered by a white woollen +kirtle, that, confined at the waist with a leather girdle, reached a +little above the knees. + +She measured the size of her wreath on her own head. + +"Certainly," she said, "his head is larger. I will add these Alpine +roses." + +Then she tied the two ends of the wreath together with delicate +grasses, sprang up, shook the remaining flowers from her lap, took the +wreath in her left hand, and turned to descend the steep declivity, at +the foot of which the brook gurgled amid the stones. + +"No! stop up here and wait! Thou, too, darling White Elf! I will come +back directly." + +And she drove back the lambs, which had tried to follow, and which now, +bleating, looked wistfully after their mistress. + +With great agility the practised girl sprang down the ravine; now +holding fast to the tough shrubs, spurge-olives, and yellow willow; now +boldly leaping from rock to rock. + +The loose stones broke and the fragments came rattling after her. As +she merrily jumped after the rolling pebbles, she suddenly heard a +sharp and threatening hiss from below. + +Before she could turn, a great copper-brown snake, which had no doubt +been disturbed from sunning itself on a stone, coiled itself up, ready +to dart at her naked feet. + +The child was alarmed; her knees trembled, and screaming loudly, she +called: + +"Adalgoth, help! help!" + +A clear voice immediately replied to this cry of fear with the words, +"Alaric! Alaric!" which sounded like a battle-cry. + +The bushes on the right creaked and cracked; stones rolled down the +slope, and, swift as an arrow, a slender boy in a rough wolf-skin flew +between the hissing snake and the affrighted maiden. + +He hurled his strong Alpine stick like a spear, and with so true an aim +that the small head of the snake was transfixed to the ground. Its long +body twined convulsively round the deadly shaft. + +"Gotho, thou art not wounded?" + +"No, thanks to thee, thou hero!" + +"Then let me say the snake-charm before the viper ceases to struggle; +it will ban all its fellows for three leagues around." + + +And lifting the three first fingers of his right hand, the boy repeated +the ancient saying: + + "Woe! thou wolf-worm, + Wriggle wildly! + Bite the bushes, + Poisonous panting: + Men and maidens, + Hurt thou shalt not. + Down, black devil, + Venomous viper, + Down and die now! + High o'er the heads + Of scaly-bright serpents + Steppeth the race of the glorious Goths!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +As he finished speaking, and was bending to examine the snake, the girl +suddenly placed the wreath which she had made upon his curly auburn +hair. + +"Hail, hero and helper! Look! the victor's wreath was ready for thee. +Ah! how well the blue flowers become thee!" And she clapped her hands +joyfully. + +"Thy foot is bleeding!" said Adalgoth anxiously; "let me suck the +wound. If the poisonous snake has bitten thee!" + +"It was only a sharp stone. Thou wouldst better like to die thyself?" + +"For thee, Gotho, how gladly! But the poison is harmless in the mouth. +Now let me wash thy wound. I have still some vinegar and water left in +my gourd. And then I will put sage-leaves upon it, and healing endive." + +Thus saying, he gently made her sit down upon a stone, lifted her naked +foot and dropped the mixture out of the gourd upon it. This done, he +sprang up, looked about in the grass, and presently returned with some +soothing herbs, which he tied carefully over the wound with the leather +strap which he loosened from his own foot. + +"How kind thou art, dear boy!" said the girl, stroking his hair. + +"Now let me carry thee--only up the hill?" he begged; "I should so like +to hold thee in my arms!" + +"Indeed thou shalt not!" she laughed, as she sprang up; "I am no +wounded lamb! See how I can run. But where are thy goats?" + +"There they come out from the juniper-trees. I will call them." + +And putting his shepherd's-pipe to his mouth, he blew a shrill note, +swinging his stick round his head. + +The sturdy goats came leaping towards him--fearing punishment. + +And now, laying his arm tenderly about the girl's neck, and strewing a +stripe of salt from his pocket upon the earth, which the goats, +following, eagerly licked up, Adalgoth went up the slope. + +"But tell me, dearest," said Gotho, when they had arrived at the top of +the hill, and she was gathering her lambs together, "why thy cry was +again 'Alaric! Alaric!' just as when thou madest the eagle leave my +little White Elf, which it had already seized in its talons?" + +"That is my battle-cry." + +"Who taught it thee?" + +"Grandfather; the first time he took me with him to hunt wolves. The +time when I got this skin from Master Isegrim's ribs. As I sprang at +the wolf, which could not escape and turned to attack me, crying +'Iffa,' just as I had always heard grandfather cry, he said, 'Thou must +not cry "Iffa," Adalgoth. When thou attackest a hero or a monster, cry +"Alaric!" it will bring thee luck.'" + +"But none of our ancestors are so named, brother. We know all their +names." + +They had now reached the stalls, into which they drove the animals, and +then seated themselves before an open window upon a wooden bench, which +ran round the front of the house on each side of the door. + +"There are," counted Gotho, "first Iffamer, our father; and Uncle +Wargs, who was buried by the mountain; then Iffa, our grandfather; +Iffamuth, our other uncle; Iffaswinth, his son; and Iffarich, our +great-grandfather; and Iffa again--but no Alaric." + +"And yet I feel as if I had often heard that name at the time when I +used first to run about the mountain; when the great landslip killed +Uncle Wargs. And I like the name. Grandfather has told me about a +hero-king who was called so; who was first of all the heroes to conquer +the fortress of Roma--thou knowest, it is the city from which father +and Uncle Iffamuth and Cousin Iffaswinth never returned. And that hero +died young, like Siegfried, the dragon-killer, and Balthar, the heathen +god. And his grave is in a deep river. There he lies on his golden +shield, under his treasures, and tall reeds bend and wave above him. +And now another king has arisen, who is called Totila, as the warriors +who relieved the garrison over there in the Castle of Teriolis told me. +They say he is just like that Alaric, and like Siegfried and the +Sun-god. And grandfather says that I also shall become a warrior and go +down to King Totila and rush into the fray with the cry of 'Alaric! +Alaric!' Long ago I got tired of climbing about and keeping goats here +on the mountains, where there is nothing to fight but wolves, or at +most a bear which eats up the grapes and honey-combs. You all praise my +harp-playing and my songs, but I feel that they are not worth it, and +that I cannot learn much more from the old man. I should like to sing +better things. I am never tired of listening to the soldiers' stories +about the victories of glorious King Totila. Lately I gave the best +chamois I ever shot to old Hunibad--whom the King sent up here to nurse +his wounds--so that he might tell me, for the third time, all about the +battle at the bridge across the Padus, and how King Totila himself +overthrew that black devil, the dreadful Cethegus. And I have made a +song about it, which begins: + + "Tremble, thou traitor, + Cunning Cethegus; + Tricks will not serve thee; + Teja the terrible + Daunts thy defiance. + And brightly arises, + Like morning and May-time, + Like night from the darkness, + The favourite of Heaven, + The bright and the beautiful + King of the Goths. + +"But it goes no further; and I can make no more poetry alone. I need a +master for the words and the harp. I should like to finish a song that +I have began about the spear-hurler Teja, whom they call the 'Black +Earl,' and who is said to play the harp wonderfully. And long ago--but +this I tell to thee alone--I should have run away without asking +grandfather, who always says I am too young yet, if _one_ thing did not +keep me back." + +He sprang hastily up. + +"What is that, brother?" asked Gotho, who sat quite still and looked +full at him with her large blue eyes. + +"Nay, if thou dost not guess it," he answered almost angrily, "I cannot +tell thee. But now I must go and forge some new arrow-points in the +smithy. First give me one more kiss--there! And now let me kiss each of +thine eyes, and thy fair hair. Good-bye, dear sister, until +supper-time." + +He left her and ran to a side building, before the door of which stood +a grind-stone and various implements. + +Gotho rested her cheek upon her hand, and looked thoughtful. Then she +said aloud: + +"I cannot guess it; for of course he would take me with him. We could +not live apart." + + +She rose with a slight sigh, and went to a field near the house, to +look after the linen which was lying there bleaching. + +But now old Iffa rose from his seat behind the open window, where he +had heard all that had passed. + +"This will not do," he cried, rubbing his head hard. "I never yet had +the heart to separate the children--for they were but children! I +always waited and waited; and now I think I have put it off a little +too long. Away with thee, young Adalgoth!" + +He left the dwelling-house, and walked slowly to the smithy. He found +the boy working busily. With puffed-out cheeks, he blew into the fire +on the hearth, and held the already roughly-prepared arrow-points in +it, in order to make them red-hot and fit for the hammer. Then he took +them out with a pair of pincers, laid them on an anvil, and hammered +out neat points and hooks. Without pausing in his work, he nodded +silently to his grandfather, striking sturdily upon the anvil till the +sparks flew. + +"Well," thought the old man, "just now, at least, he thinks of nothing +but arrows and iron." + +But suddenly the young smith finished his work with a tremendous +stroke, threw away the hammer, passed his hand across his hot forehead, +and asked, turning sharply to the old man: + +"Grandfather, where do men come from?" + +"Jesus, Woden, and Maria!" exclaimed the old man, starting back. "Boy, +how comest thou to such thoughts?" + +"The thoughts come to me, not I to them. I mean the first men--the very +first. That tall Hermegisel over there in Teriolis, who ran away from +the Arian church at Verona, and can read and write, says that the +Christian God made a man in a garden out of clay, and, while he slept, +took one of his ribs and made a woman. That is ridiculous; for out of +the longest rib that ever was, one could not make ever so small a +girl." + +"Well, I don't believe it either," the old man thoughtfully confessed. +"It is difficult to imagine. And I remember that my father once said, +as he was sitting by the hearth, that the first men grew upon +trees. But old Hildebrand, who was his friend, although he was much +older--and who stopped here on his way back from an expedition against +the savage Bajuvars, and who was sitting near father, for it was early +in the year, and very rough and cold--_he_ said that it was all right +about the trees; only that men did not grow on them, but that two +heathen gods--Hermegisel called them demons--once found an ash and an +alder lying on the sea-shore, and from them they framed a man and a +woman. They still sing an old song about it. Hildebrand knew a few +words of it, but my father could not remember it." + +"I would rather believe that. But, at all events, there were very few +people at the beginning?" + +"To be sure." + +"And at first there was only _one_ family?" + +"Certainly." + +"And the old ones generally died before the young ones?" + +"Of course." + +"Then I tell thee what, grandfather. Either the race of men must have +died out, or, as it still exists--and thou seest that is what I am +coming to--brothers and sisters must often have married each other, +until more families were formed." + +"Adalgoth, the fairies are riding thee! Thou speakest nonsense!" + +"Not at all. And, in short, if it could happen before, it can happen +now; and I will have my sister Gotho for my wife." + +The old man ran to stop the boy's mouth by force; but the lad evaded +him and said: + +"I know all that thou wouldst say. The priests from Tridentum would +soon get to know of it here, and tell the King's Earl. But I can go +with her to some distant land, where no one knows us. And she will go +with me, I know." + +"Indeed! Thou knowest that already?" + +"Yes; I am sure." + +"But this thou dost not know, Adalgoth," the old man now said, gravely +and decidedly: "that to-night is the last which thou wilt spend upon +the 'Iffinger.' Up, Adalgoth! I command thee--I, thy grandfather and +guardian! Thou hast a sacred duty to perform--the duty of revenge! Thou +wilt fulfil it at the court, and with the army of Totila. A duty +bequeathed to thee by thine uncle Wargs--bequeathed to thee by +thine ancestor. Thou art now old and strong enough to undertake it. +To-morrow, at dawn of day, thou wilt start for the south--for Italia, +where King Totila punishes evil-doers, helps the good cause, and fights +against that wretch, Cethegus. Follow me to my chamber. I have to hand +over to thee a jewel, which was left for thee by thine uncle Wargs, and +to give thee many a word of counsel. But do not speak about it to +Gotho; do not make her heart heavy. If thou obeyest thine uncle's +orders and my counsel, thou wilt become a mighty and joyous hero in +King Totila's court. And then, but only then, thou shalt again see +Gotho!" + +Very grave and pale, the youth followed his grandfather into the house. +There, in the old man's chamber, they talked in low voices for a long +time. + +At supper, Adalgoth was missing. + +He sent word to Gotho by their grandfather that he had gone to bed, +being more tired than hungry. + +But at night, when Gotho slept, he went into her room on tiptoe. The +moon threw a soft light upon her angel face. + +Adalgoth stopped upon the threshold, and only stretched out his right +hand towards her. + +"I shall see thee again, my Gotho," he cried, and signed a farewell. + +Presently he crossed the threshold of the simple alpine cottage. + +The stars had scarcely begun to pale; fresh and exhilarating the +night-wind blew from the mountains around his temples. + +He looked up at the silent sky. + +All at once a falling star shot in a bright semicircle over his head. +It fell towards the south. + +The youth raised his shepherd's staff, and cried: + +"The stars beckon thither! Now beware, Cethegus the traitor!" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +On seeing the disastrous result of the battle at the bridge across the +Padus, the Prefect had sent messengers back to his troops and the armed +citizens of Ravenna, who were following him, to order them to return at +once to the latter city. He left the defeated troops of Demetrius to +their fate. + +Totila had taken all the flags and field-badges of the twelve thousand, +a thing which, as Procopius angrily writes, "never before happened to +the Romans." + +Cethegus himself, with his small band of trusty adherents, hastened +across the AEmilia to the west coast of Italy, which he reached at +Populonium. There he went on board a swift ship of war, and, favoured +by a strong breeze from the north-east (sent, as he said, by the +ancient gods of Latium), sailed to the harbour of Rome--Portus. + +He could never have succeeded in reaching Rome by land, for, after +Totila's victory, all Tuscany and Valeria fell to the Goths; the plains +unconditionally, and also such cities as were held by weak Byzantine +garrisons. + +Near Mucella, a day's march from Florence, the King once again +vanquished a powerful army of Byzantines, under the command of eleven +disunited leaders, who had gathered together the imperial garrisons of +the Tuscan fortresses to block his way. The commander-in-chief of this +army, Justinus, escaped to Florence with difficulty. + +The King treated his numerous prisoners with such lenity, that very +many Italians and imperial mercenaries deserted their flag and joined +the Gothic army. + +And now all the roads of Central Italy were covered by Goths and +natives who hastened to join Totila on his march to Rome. + +Arrived at the latter city, Cethegus had at once taken the necessary +measures for its defence. + +For Totila, after this new victory at Mucella, approached rapidly, +scarcely detained by anything but the ovations made to him by the +cities and castles on his way, which rivalled each other in opening +wide their gates to the conqueror. + +The few forts which still resisted were invested by small divisions of +Italians, kept in order by a few chosen Gothic troops. Totila was +enabled to do this without weakening his army, as, during his march to +Rome, his power was increased, like a river, by the inflowing of +greater or smaller parties of Goths and Italians. Not only did the +Italian peasants join him by thousands, but even the mercenaries of +Belisarius, who for months had received no pay, now offered their +weapons to the Goths, so that a few days after the arrival of the +Prefect, Totila led a very considerable army before the walls of Rome. + +With loud hurrahs the troops in the Gothic encampment greeted the +arrival of the brave Duke Guntharis, Wisand the bandalarius. Earl +Markja, and old Grippa, whose release Totila had procured by exchanging +them for the prisoners taken at the battle of the Padus. + +And now the almost impossible task was laid upon Cethegus of manning +effectually his grandly-designed fortifications. The whole army of +Belisarius was missing--besides the greater part of his own soldiers, +who were slowly sailing to the harbour of Portcus from Ravenna. + +In order, even insufficiently, to defend the entire circle of the +ramparts, Cethegus was obliged, not only to demand unusual and +unexpected exertions from the Roman legionaries, but also to increase +their numbers by despotic measures. + +From boys of sixteen years of age to old men of sixty, he called "all +the sons of Romulus, Camillus, and Caesar to arms; to protect the +sanctuary of their forefathers against the barbarians." + +But his appeal was scarcely read or propagated, and was responded to by +very few volunteers; while he saw with mortification that the manifesto +of the Gothic King, which was thrown every night over the walls in many +places, was carried about and read by crowds; so that he angrily +proclaimed that anyone found picking up, pasting on the walls, or +reading this manifesto, or in any way facilitating its publication, +would be punished by the confiscation of his property or the loss of +his liberty. + +In spite of this, the manifesto still spread among the citizens, and +the list of volunteers remained empty. + +He then sent his Isaurians into all the houses to drag boys and old men +to the walls by force; and very soon he was more feared, and even +hated, than beloved. + +His stern will, and the gradual arrival of his troops from Ravenna, +alone checked the growing discontent of the Roman population. + +But in the Gothic camp messengers of good fortune overtook each other. + +Teja and Hildebrand had pursued the Byzantines to the gates of Ravenna. + +The defence of that city was conducted by Demetrius, one of the +exchanged prisoners, and by Bloody Johannes; that of the harbour town +of Classis by Constantianus against Hildebrand, who had won Ariminum in +passing, for the citizens had disarmed the Armenian mercenaries of +Artasires and opened the gates. + +Teja had beaten the troops of the Byzantine general Verus, who had +defended the crossing of the Santernus; had killed the general with his +own hand, and had then hastened through the whole of North Italy with +the manifesto in his left hand, his sword in his right, and in a few +weeks had won by force or by persuasion all towns and castles as far as +Mediolanum. + +But Totila, taught by the experience of the first siege of Rome, would +not expose his troops by attempting to storm the formidable defences of +the Prefect, and also desired to spare his future capital. + +"I will get into Rome with linen wings, and on wooden bridges," he one +day said to Duke Guntharis; left to him the investment of the city; and +taking all his horsemen with him, marched for Neapolis. + +There in the harbour lay, very inefficiently manned, an imperial fleet. + +Totila's march upon the Appian Way through South Italy resembled a +triumphal procession. + +Those districts which had suffered the longest under the yoke of the +Byzantines were now most willing to greet the Goths as liberators. + +The maidens of Terracina went to meet the King of the Goths with +wreaths of flowers. + +The people of Minturnae brought out a golden chariot, made the King +descend from his white horse, and dragged him into the town in triumph. + +"Look! look!" was the cry in the streets of Casilinum--an ancient place +once dedicated to the worship of the Campanian Diana--"Ph[oe]bus Apollo +himself has descended from Olympus and comes as a saviour to the +sanctuary of his sister!" + +The citizens of Capua begged him to impress the first gold coins of his +reign with the inscription, "_Capua revindicata_." + +Thus it continued until he reached Neapolis; the very same road he had +once passed as a wounded fugitive. + +The commander of the Armenian mercenaries in Neapolis, who had a very +brave but small troop, did not dare to trust the fidelity of the +population in case of a siege. + +He therefore led his lance-bearers and the armed citizens to meet the +King outside the gates. + +But before the battle commenced, a man on a white horse rode out of the +lines of Goths, took his helmet from his head, and cried: + +"Have you forgotten me, men of the Parthenopaeian city? I am Totila. You +loved me when I was commander of your harbour. You shall bless me as +your King. Do you not recollect how I saved in my ships your wives and +children from the Huns of Belisarius? Listen. These very wives and +children are again in my power; not as fugitives, but as prisoners. To +protect them from the Byzantines (perhaps from me also), you sent them +into the strong fortress of Cumae. But know that Cumae has surrendered, +and all the fugitives are in my power. I have been advised to keep them +as hostages in order to compel you to capitulate. But that is repugnant +to my feelings. I have set them at liberty; the wives of the Roman +senators I have sent to Rome. But your wives and children, men of +Neapolis, I have brought with me; not as my hostages, not as my +prisoners, but as my guests. Look how they stream out of my tents! Open +your arms to receive them--they are free! Will you now fight against +me? I cannot believe it! Who will be the first to aim at this breast?" +and he opened wide his arms. + +"Hail to King Totila the Good!" was the universal acclamation. + +And the warm-hearted men threw down their weapons, rushed forward, and +greeted with tears of joy their liberated wives and children, kissing +the hem of Totila's mantle. + +The commander of the mercenaries rode up to him. + +"My lancers are surrounded and too weak to fight alone. Here, O King, +is my sword. I am your prisoner." + +"Not so, brave Arsakide! Thou art unconquered--therefore no prisoner. +Go with thy troop whither thou wilt." + +"I _am_ a prisoner, conquered by your magnanimity and the splendour of +your eyes. Permit us henceforward to fight under your flag." + +In this manner a chosen troop, who stood by him faithfully, was won for +Totila. + +Amid a shower of flowers he made his entry into Neapolis through Porta +Nolana. + +Before Aratius, the admiral of the Byzantine fleets could raise the +anchors of his war-ships, their crews were overpowered by the sailors +of the many merchant vessels which lay near in the harbour, the masters +of which were old admirers and thankful _proteges_ of Totila. + +Without shedding a drop of blood, the King had gained a fleet and the +third city of importance in the kingdom. + +In the evenings during the banquet which the rejoicing inhabitants had +prepared for him, Totila stole softly away. + +With surprise the Gothic sentinels saw their King, all alone, disappear +into an old half-fallen tower, close to an ancient olive-tree by the +Porta Capuana. + +The next day there appeared a decree of Totila which dispensed the +women and girls of the Jews of Neapolis from a pole-tax which had, +until now, been laid upon them; and which--they being forbidden to +carry jewels in public--permitted them to wear a golden heart upon the +bosom of their dress as a mark of distinction. + +In the neglected garden, where a tall stone cross and a deep-sunk grave +were completely overgrown with wild ivy and moss, there presently arose +a monument of the most beautiful black marble, with the simple +inscription: "_Miriam from Valeria._" + +But there was no one living in Neapolis who understood its meaning. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +There now streamed into Neapolis ambassadors from Campania and Samnium, +Bruttia and Lucania, Apulia and Calabria, who came to invite the Gothic +King to enter their cities as a liberator. + +Even the important and strong fortress of Beneventum and the +neighbouring forts of Asculum, Canusia, and Acheruntia surrendered at +discretion. + +In these districts thousands of cases occurred in which the peasants +were settled upon the lands of their former masters, who had fallen in +battle, or had fled to Byzantium or to Rome. + +Besides Rome and Ravenna, there were now in the hands of the +Byzantines, only Florentia, held by Justinus; Spoletium, whose joint +governors were Bonus and Herodianus; and Perusia, under the Hun, +Uldugant. + +In a few days the King, reinforced by many Italians from the south of +the Peninsula, had new manned his conquered fleet, and left the harbour +in full sail, while his horsemen marched by land on the Via Appia to +the north. + +Rome was the goal of both ships and horse; while Teja, having +conquered all the country between Ravenna and the Tiber--Petra and +Caesena fell without bloodshed--the AEmilia and both Tuscanies (the +Annonarian and the Sub-urbicarian), marched with a third army on the +Flaminian Way against the city of the Prefect. + +On hearing of these movements, Cethegus was obliged to acknowledge that +the struggle would now begin in good earnest, and, like a dragon in his +den, he determined to defend himself to the death. + +With a proud and contented look he viewed the ramparts and towers, and +said to his brothers-in-arms, who were uneasy at the approach of the +Goths: + +"Be comforted! Against these invincible walls they shall be broken to +pieces for the second time!" + +But at heart he was not so easy as his words and looks would seem to +indicate. + +Not that he ever repented his past deeds or thought his plans +unachievable. But that when, after repeated reverses, he appeared to +have arrived at the point of success, he should be as far off the goal +as ever because of Totila's victories--this feeling had a great effect +upon even _his_ iron nerves. + +"Water wears away a rock!" he said, when his friend Licinius once asked +him why he looked so gloomy. "And besides, I cannot sleep as I used to +do." + +"Since when?" + +"Since--Totila! That fair youth has stolen my slumbers!" + +Though the Prefect felt so secure and so superior to all his enemies +and adversaries, Totila's bright and open nature, and his easily-won +success, irritated him so much, that his coolness often melted in the +heat of his passion; while Totila went to meet the universally feared +foe with a sense of victory which nothing could disquiet. + +"He has luck, the downy-beard!" cried Cethegus, when he heard of the +easy conquest of Neapolis. "He is as fortunate as Achilles and +Alexander. But luckily such god-like youths never grow old! The soft +gold of such natures is quickly worn out. We lumps of native iron last +longer. I have seen the laurels and roses of the enthusiast, and it +seems to me that I shall soon see his cypresses. It cannot be that I +shall yield to this maiden soul! Fortune has borne him rapidly to a +dizzy height; she will hurl him down as rapidly and dizzily. Will she +first carry him over the ramparts of Rome?--Fly then, without effort, +young Icarus, in the brightest sunshine. I, through blood and strife, +step by step, climb up in the shade. But I shall stand on high when the +treacherous and burning kiss of Fortune has melted the wax on thy bold +wings. Thou wilt vanish beneath me like a falling star!" + +This, however, did not seem likely to happen soon. + +Cethegus awaited with impatience the arrival of a numerous fleet from +Ravenna, which was to bring him the remainder of his troops, and all +who could be spared of the legionaries and the troops of Demetrius, as +well as a quantity of provisions. + +When these reinforcements had arrived, he would be able to relieve the +grumbling Romans from their arduous duties. + +For weeks he had comforted the embittered inhabitants with the promise +of this fleet. + +At last it was announced by a swift-sailer that the fleet had reached +Ostia. + +Cethegus caused the news to be published in all the streets with a +flourish of trumpets, and announced that at the next Ides of October, +eight thousand citizens would be relieved from duty on the walls. He +also caused double rations of wine to be distributed among the soldiers +on the ramparts. + +When the Ides of October arrived, thick fog covered Ostia and the sea. + +The day after, a little sailing-boat flew from Ostia to Portus. The +trembling crew announced that King Totila had attacked the Ravennese +triremes with the fleet from Neapolis, under the protection of a thick +fog. Of the eighty ships, twenty were burnt or sunk; the remaining +sixty, with all their men and provisions, taken. + +Cethegus would not believe it. + +He hurried on board his own swift boat, the _Sagitta_, and flew down +the Tiber. + +But with difficulty he escaped the boats of the King, who had already +blockaded the harbour of Portus and sent small cruisers up the river. + +The Prefect now hastily caused a double river-bolt to be laid across +the Tiber; the first consisting of masts; the second of iron chains +placed an arrow's length farther up the river. The space between the +two bolts was filled with a great number of small boats. + +Cethegus felt deeply the blow which had fallen upon him. Not only had +his long-wished-for reinforcements fallen into the enemy's hand; not +only was he obliged to lay still heavier burdens upon the Romans, who +began to curse him, for now the river, too, had to be defended against +the constant attempts of the Gothic ships to break through; but with a +slight shudder of horror he saw approaching nearer and nearer the most +terrible of all enemies--famine. + +The water-road, by which he, as formerly Belisarius, had received +abundant provisions, was now blocked. + +Italy had no third fleet. That of Neapolis and that of Ravenna +blockaded Rome under the Gothic flag. + +And now the horsemen which Marcus Licinius had sent on the Flaminian +Way to reconnoitre and forage, came galloping back with the news that a +strong army of Goths, under the dreaded Teja, was approaching at a +quick step. The vanguard had already reached Reate. + +The day following Rome was also invested on the last side which had +remained open--the north--and had nothing left to depend upon but its +own citizens. + +And the latter were weak enough, however strong might be the Prefect's +will and the walls of the city. + +Yet for weeks and months Cethegus's stern resolution sustained the +despairing defenders against their will. + +At last the fall of the city, not by force, but by starvation, was +expected daily. + +At this juncture an unexpected event occurred, which revived the hopes +of the besieged, and put the genius and good fortune of the young King +to a hard proof: for there once more appeared upon the scene of +battle--Belisarius! + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +When news arrived in the golden palace of the Caesars at Byzantium of +the lost battles on the Padus and at Mucella; of the renewed siege of +Rome, and the loss of Neapolis and almost all Italy, the Emperor +Justinian, who had already imagined the West again united to the East, +was awakened from his dream of triumph in a terrible manner. + +It was now easy for the friends of Belisarius to prove that the recall +of that hero had been the origin of all these disasters. + +It was clear that as long as Belisarius had been in Italy victory had +followed victory; and no sooner had he turned his back, than +misfortunes crowded one upon the other. + +The Byzantine generals in Italy openly acknowledged that they could not +replace Belisarius. + +"I am not able," wrote Demetrius from Ravenna, "to meet Totila +in the open field. Scarcely am I able to defend this fortress in the +marshes. Neapolis has fallen. Rome may surrender any day. Send us +again the lion-hearted man, whom, in our vanity, we dreamed we could +replace--the conqueror of the Vandals and the Goths." + +And Belisarius, although he had sworn never again to serve the +ungrateful Emperor, forgot all his wrongs as soon as Justinian smiled +upon him. And when, after the fall of Neapolis, he actually embraced +him and called him "his faithful sword"--in truth, the Emperor had +never believed in the general's rebellion, but was envious of his +sovereign position--Belisarius could no longer be restrained by +Antonina and Procopius. As, however, the Emperor feared the expense of +a second enterprise in Italy (besides that of the Persian wars, which +Narses conducted successfully but expensively in Asia), avarice and +ambition produced a struggle within him, which would, perhaps, have +lasted longer than the resistance of Rome and Ravenna, had not Prince +Germanus and Belisarius proposed an expedient. The noble Prince was +impelled by the wish to revisit Ravenna and the tomb of Mataswintha, +and to revenge her memory on the rude barbarians, for Cethegus had +declared that the cause of the tragic end of this incomparable woman +was that her mind had been disordered in consequence of her forced +marriage with Witichis. + +Belisarius, on his side, could not endure that all his fame should be +imperilled by Totila's success. "For," asked his enemies at court, +"could he really have conquered a people who, within the year, had +again almost made themselves masters of Italy?" + +He had given his word to annihilate the Goths, and he would keep it. + +So, influenced by these motives, Germanus and Belisarius proposed to +conquer Italy for the Emperor at their own expense. The Prince offered +his whole fortune for the equipment of a fleet; Belisarius all his +lately reinforced body-guard and lance-bearers. + +"That is a proposition after Justinian's own heart!" cried Procopius, +when informed of it by Belisarius. "Not a solidus out of his own +pocket! And perhaps the laurels of fame and a province for this world, +and the wholesale destruction of heretics to rejoice Heaven and +Theodora! You may be sure that he will accept, and give you his +fatherly benediction into the bargain. But nothing else. You, +Belisarius, I know, can be as little kept back as Balan, your piebald, +when he hears the call of the trumpet; but I will not see your +lamentable fall." + +"Fall? Wherefore, Raven of Misfortune?" + +"This time you have both Goths and Italians against you. And you could +not conquer the first when Italy was _for_ you." + +But Belisarius only reproached him with cowardice, and presently went +to sea with Germanus. + +The Emperor, in fact, gave them nothing but his blessings and the great +toe of the holy Mazaspes. + +The Byzantines in Italy breathed again when they heard that an imperial +fleet had anchored off Salona, in Dalmatia, and that the army had +landed. + +Even Cethegus, to whom the news was brought by spies, exclaimed with a +sigh: + +"Better Belisarius in Rome than Totila!" + +And the King of the Goths was filled with anxiety. He determined first +of all to discover the strength of the Byzantine army, in order to +decide upon what course he would take. Perhaps it would be necessary to +raise the siege of Rome, and advance to attack the army of relief. + +Belisarius sailed from Salona to Pola, where he mustered his ships and +men. While there, two men came to him, who announced themselves to be +Herulian mercenaries, therefore Goths, but speaking Latin well. They +said that they had been sent by Bonus, one of the commanders of +Spoletium. + +They had succeeded in passing the Gothic lines, and they pressed the +commander-in-chief to come to the relief of that place. They begged for +exact particulars as to the strength of his army and the number of his +ships, in order to be able to revive the sinking courage of the +besieged by trustworthy reports. + +"Well, my friends," said Belisarius, "you must perforce embellish your +report; for the truth is, that the Emperor has left me entirely to my +own resources." + +All the day long he showed these messengers his army and fleet. + +The night following the messengers had disappeared. + +They were Thorismuth and Aligern, who had been sent by King Totila, and +now furnished him with the much-desired particulars. + +So, from the very beginning, fate was against Belisarius, and the whole +course of this campaign was unworthy of the fame of that great general. + +It is true that he succeeded in running into the harbour of Ravenna, +and providing that city with provisions. + +But, the very day that he arrived. Prince Germanus was attacked by a +fatal malady while visiting the tomb of Mataswintha. + +She had been buried in the vault of the palace, near the graves of her +brother and the young King Athalaric. + +Germanus died, and, according to his last wish, was buried beside the +woman he had loved so truly. + +In a little niche in the same vault there reposed a heart which had +ever beat warmly for Queen "Beautiful-hair." + +Aspa, the Numidian slave, would not outlive her beloved mistress. + +"In my home," she had said, "the virgins of the Goddess of the Sun +often voluntarily leap into the flames which receive the Godhead. +Aspa's goddess, the lovely, bright, and kind, has left her. Aspa will +not live forlorn in the cold and darkness. She will follow her Sun." + +She had heaped up flowers in the death-chamber of her mistress--heaped +them still higher than on the day when she had prepared the same small +room for a bridal chamber--and had kindled unknown combustibles and +African resin, the stupefying odours of which drove away all the other +slaves. But Aspa had spent the night in the room. + +The next morning Syphax, attracted by the well-known but dangerous +odour, which reminded him of his country's sacrificial customs, went +softly into the room, which was as silent as the grave. At +Mataswintha's feet, her head buried in flowers, he had found his +Antelope--dead. + +"She died," he told Cethegus, "for love of her mistress. And now I have +none left on earth but you." + +After the burial of Germanus, Belisarius left Ravenna with the whole +fleet. + +But his very next undertaking, an attempt to surprise Pisaurum, was +repulsed with great loss. + +And King Totila, now acquainted with the small number of Belisarius's +troops, had sent skirmishers, under the command of Wisand, supported by +a few ships of war, to take Firmum, which was situated on the same +coast, almost under the generals very eyes. + +The Byzantines, Herodian and Bonus, surrendered Spoletium to Earl +Grippa, after the lapse of thirty days, during which they had hoped for +reinforcements from Belisarius in vain. + +In Assisium the commander of the garrison was a man of the name of +Sisifrid, a Goth who had deserted in the days of the fall of Witichis. + +This man well knew what was in store for him, should he fall into +Hildebrand's hands, who besieged the fort in person. Hatred of such +treason had enticed the old man from the siege of Ravenna to complete +this task of retribution. + +The Goth obstinately defended the town, but when, during a sally, the +axe of the old master-at-arms sent him to the other world, the citizens +obliged the Thracian garrison to yield. Many aristocratic Italians, +members of the old Catacomb conspiracy, three hundred Illyrian +horsemen, and some chosen body-guards of Belisarius, were taken +prisoners. + +Immediately afterwards, Placentia, the last town in the AEmilia which +was held by a Saracen garrison for the Emperor, was forced to +capitulate to Earl Markja, who commanded the small army of investment. + +In Bruttia, the fortress of Ruscia, the most important harbour for +Thurii, surrendered to the bold Aligern. + +Belisarius now despaired of reaching Rome by land. On hearing of the +terrible distress of that city, he determined at once to attempt to +relieve it by running the blockade of the Gothic fleet. + +But as he sailed round the south point of Calabria, off Hydrunt, a +fearful storm dispersed his ships; he himself, with a few triremes, was +driven southward as far as Sicily, and the greater part of his ships, +which had taken refuge in a bay near Croton, were there surprised and +taken by a Gothic squadron sent by the King from Rome, which had lain +in ambush near Squillacium. These prizes proved to be an important +addition to the Gothic fleet, for, as we shall see hereafter, the +Goths, were thereby enabled to attack the Byzantines in their islands +and coast-towns. + +After this blow, the forces of Belisarius, which had been weak from the +very first, became completely powerless. + +Generalship and valour could not replace missing ships, warriors, and +horses. + +The hope that the Italians, as in the first campaign, would revolt to +the Emperor's commander-in-chief, proved vain. + +Thus the whole enterprise was a complete failure, as we are told by +Procopius in unsparing words. + +The Emperor left all petitions for reinforcements unanswered. And when +Antonina repeatedly begged for permission to return, the Empress sent +the mocking reply, "that the Emperor dare not venture, for the second +time, to interrupt the hero in the course of his victories." + +So, lying off Sicily, Belisarius spent a miserable time of doubt and +helplessness. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +And meanwhile the suffering and exhaustion of the citizens in Rome +reached its highest point. + +Hunger thinned the ranks, never very full, of the defenders on the +walls. + +The Prefect in vain did his utmost. In vain he had recourse to all +possible measures of persuasion or despotism. In vain he lavishly +opened his coffers to provide the means of existence for the people. + +For the stores of grain which he had procured from Sicily and garnered +in the Capitol were exhausted. + +He promised incredible rewards to any boat which should succeed in +running the blockade of the King's ships and bring provisions to the +city; to every mercenary who ventured to creep through the gates and +the tents of the besiegers and bring back food. + +But Totila's watchfulness was not to be deceived. + +At first the promised reward had tempted a few avaricious and daring +men to venture out at night. But when Earl Teja, next morning, caused +their heads to be thrown over the walls at the Flaminian Gate, even the +most venturesome lost all desire to follow their example. + +The dung of animals was sold at a high price. + +Hungry women fought for the weeds and nettles which they found on the +heaps of rubbish. + +Long since had hunger taught the populace to eat greedily unheard-of +things. + +And countless deserters fled from the city to the Goths. + +Teja would have forced them to return, in order the sooner to oblige +the city to surrender; but Totila gave orders that they should be +received and fed, and that care should be taken that they did not +injure themselves by the too sudden gratification of their ravenous +appetites. + +Cethegus now spent his nights upon the walls. At various hours he +himself, spear and shield in hand, went the round of the patrols, and +sometimes took the place of a sentinel who was overcome with hunger or +the want of sleep. His example certainly had the greatest effect on the +brave. The two Licinii, Piso, and Salvius Julianus stood by the Prefect +and his blindly-devoted Isaurians with enthusiasm. + +But not so all Romans; not Balbus, the gormandiser. + +"No, Piso," said Balbus one day, "I cannot endure it any longer. It is +not in a man's power, at least not in mine. Holy Lucullus! who would +have thought that I should ever give my last and largest diamonds for +half a rock-marten!" + +"I remember the time," answered Piso, laughing, "when you would have +put your cook in irons if he had let a lobster boil a minute too long." + +"A lobster! Mercy on us! How can you recall such a picture to my mind! +I would give my immortal soul for one claw of a lobster, or even for +the tail. And never to sleep one's fill! To be awakened, if not by +hunger, by the trumpets of the patrol!" + +"Look at the Prefect! For the last fourteen days he has not slept +fourteen hours. He lies upon his hard shield, and drinks rain-water out +of his helmet." + +"The Prefect! He need not eat. He lives upon his pride, like the bear +on his fat, and sucks his own gall. He is made of nothing but sinews +and muscles, pride and hatred! But I--who had accumulated such soft +white flesh, that the mice nibbled at me when I slept, thinking that I +was a Spanish ham!--Do you know the latest news? A whole herd of fat +oxen was driven into the Gothic camp this morning--all from Apulia; +darlings of gods and men!" + +The next day early Piso, with Salvius Julianus, came to wake the +Prefect, who had lain down on the wall by the Porta Portuensis, close +to the most important point of defence, the bolt across the river. + +"Forgive me for disturbing your rare slumbers." + +"I was not asleep; I was awake. Tell me your news, tribune." + +"Last night Balbus deserted his post with twenty citizens. They let +themselves down from the Porta Latina by ropes. Outside there had been +heard all night long the lowing of Apulian herds. It seems that their +bellowing was irresistible." + +But the smile of the satirist faded away when he looked at the +Prefect's face. + +"Let a cross thirty feet high be erected before the house of Balbus in +the Via Sacra. Every deserter who falls into our hands shall be +crucified thereon." + +"General--Constantinus abolished the punishment of crucifixion in the +name of our Saviour," said Salvius Julianus reprovingly. + +"Then I re-introduce the practice in honour of Rome. That Emperor no +doubt held it to be impossible that a Roman noble and tribune could +desert his post for the sake of roast meat." + +"I have other news. I can no longer set the watch on the tower of the +Porta Pinciana. Of the sixteen mercenaries nine are either dead or +sick." + +"Almost the same thing is reported by Marcus Licinius, at the Porta +Tiburtina," said Julianus. "Who can ward off the danger which threatens +us on all sides?" + +"I! and the courage of the Romans. Go! Let the heralds summon all the +citizens, who may yet be in the houses, to the Forum Romanum." + +"Sir, there are only women, children, and sick people----" + +"Obey, tribune!" + +And with a dark expression on his face the Prefect descended from the +walls, mounted his noble Spanish charger, and, followed by a troop of +mounted Isaurians, made a long round through the city, everywhere +assuring himself that the sentinels were on the alert, and examining +the troops; thus giving the herald time to summon the people, and the +latter to obey. He advanced, very slowly, along the right bank of the +Tiber. A few ragged people crept out of their huts to stare in dull +despair at the passing horsemen. Only at the Bridge of Cestius did the +throng become thicker. + +Cethegus stopped his horse in order to muster the guard on the bridge. + +Suddenly, from the door of a low hut, there rushed a woman with +dishevelled hair, holding a child in her arms. Another pulled at her +ragged skirt. + +"Bread? bread?" she asked; "can stones be softened by tears until they +become bread? Oh no! They remain as hard--as hard as that man. Look, +children, that is the Prefect of Rome. He upon the black horse, with +the crimson crest and the terrible eyes! But I fear him no longer. +Look, children! that man forced your father to keep watch on the walls +day and night, until he fell dead. Curses on the Prefect of Rome!" + +And she shook her fist at the immovable horseman. + +"Bread, mother! Give us something to eat," howled the children. + +"I have nothing more for you to eat, but plenty to drink! Come!" +screamed the woman, and, clasping the elder child round the waist with +her right arm, and pressing the younger more firmly to her bosom, she +cast herself over the wall into the river. + +A cry of horror, followed by curses, ran through the crowd. + +"She was mad!" said the Prefect in a loud voice, and rode on. + +"No, she was the wisest of us all!" cried a voice from the crowd. + +"Silence! Legionaries, sound the trumpets! Forwards! To the Forum!" +commanded Cethegus, and the troop of horsemen galloped away. + +Across the Fabrician Bridge and through the Carmentalian Gate, the +Prefect arrived in the Forum Romanum at the foot of the Capitoline +Hill. + +The wide space appeared almost empty; the few thousand people who, clad +in miserable garments, crouched upon the steps of the temple and halls, +or supported themselves on their staffs or spears, made little +impression. + +"What does the Prefect want?"--"What can he want? we have nothing left +but our lives."--"And those he will--" "Do you know that the day before +yesterday the coast town Centumcellae surrendered to the Goths?"--"Yes; +the citizens overpowered the Prefect's Isaurians and opened the +gates."--"Would that we could follow their example!"--"We must do it +soon, or it will be too late."--"Yesterday my brother fell down dead, +some boiled nettles still in his mouth. He was too weak to swallow the +mess."---"Yesterday in the Forum Boarium a mouse was sold for its +weight in gold!"--"For a week I got roasted meat from a butcher--he +would not sell the flesh raw."--"You were lucky! They storm all houses +where they smell roast meat!"--"But the day before yesterday he was +torn to pieces by the mob, for he had enticed beggar-children into his +house--and that was the flesh he had sold us!"--"But do you know what +the Gothic King does with his prisoners? He treats them as a father +treats his helpless children; and most of them enter his army at +once."--"Yes, and those who will not he provides with money for the +journey."--"Yes, and with clothes and shoes and provisions. The +sick and wounded are nursed."--"And he gives them guides to the +coast towns."--"And sometimes he even pays for their passage in +merchant-ships to the East."--"Look, the Prefect dismounts!" + +"He looks like Pluto!" + +"He is no longer Princeps Senatus, but Princeps Inferorum." + +"Look at his eyes! As cold as ice, and yet like red-hot arrows." + +"Yes, my godmother is right; she says that only those who have no heart +can look like that." + +"That is an old tale. Spectres and Lemures have eaten his heart in the +night." + +"Ah, bah! There are no Lemures. But there is a devil, for it says so in +the Bible. And the Prefect has sold himself to the devil. The Numidian +who is holding his black horse by the bridle is an imp from hell, who +always accompanies him. Nothing can hurt the Prefect. He feels neither +hunger nor thirst nor the want of sleep. But he can never smile, for he +has sold his soul!" + +"How do you know?" + +"The deacon of St. Paul's has explained it all. And it is a sin to +serve such a man any longer. Did he not betray our Bishop, Silverius, +to the Emperor, and send him over the sea in chains?" + +"And lately he accused sixty priests, Orthodox and Arian, of treason, +and banished them from the city." + +"That is true!" + +"And he must have promised the devil that he would torment the Romans." + +"But we will endure it no longer. We are free! He himself has often +told us so. I will ask him by what right----" + +But the bold speaker stopped short, for the Prefect glanced at the +murmuring group as he mounted the rostrum. + +"Quirites," he began, "I call upon you all to become legionaries. +Famine and treachery--a shameful thing to say of Romans!--have thinned +the ranks of our defenders. Do you hear the sound of hammers? A +crucifix is being erected to punish all deserters. Rome demands still +greater sacrifices from her citizens, for _they_ have no choice. The +citizens of other towns choose between surrender or destruction. We, +who have grown up in the shadow of the Capitol, have no choice; for +more than a thousand years of heroism sanctify this place. Here no +coward thought dare arise. You cannot again endure to see the +barbarians tie their horses to the columns of Trajan. We must make a +last effort. The marrow of heroism ripens early in the descendants of +Romulus and Caesar; and late is spent the strength of the men who drink +of the waters of the Tiber. I call upon all boys from their twelfth, +all men until their eightieth year, to help to man the walls. Silence! +Do not murmur. I shall send my tribunes and the lance-bearers into +every house--only to prevent boys of too tender years and too aged men +from volunteering their services--then why do you murmur? Does any one +know of something better? Let him speak out boldly; from this place, +which I now vacate in his favour." + +At this, the group at which the Prefect looked became perfectly silent. + +But behind him, amid those whom his eye could not intimidate, there +arose a threatening cry: + +"Bread!" "Surrender!" "Bread!" + +Cethegus turned. + +"Are you not ashamed? You, worthy of your great name, have borne so +much, and now, when it is only necessary to hold out a little longer, +you would succumb? In a few days Belisarius will bring relief." + +"You told us so seven times already!" + +"And after the seventh time Belisarius lost almost all his ships. + +"Which now aid in blocking our harbour!" + +"You should name a term; a limit to this misery. My heart bleeds for +this people!" + +"Who are you?" the Prefect asked the invisible speaker of the last +sentence; "you can be no Roman!" + +"I am Pelagius the deacon, a Christian and a priest of the Lord. And I +fear not man but God. The King of the Goths, although a heretic, has +promised to restore to the orthodox the churches of which his +fellow-heretics, the Arians, have deprived them, in every town which +surrenders. Three times already has he sent a herald to the citizens of +Rome with the most lenient proposals--they have never been permitted to +speak to us." + +"Be silent, priest! You have no fatherland but heaven; no people but +the communion of saints; no army but that of the angels. Manage your +heavenly kingdom, but leave to men the kingdom of the Romans." + +"But the man of God is right!" + +"Set us a term." + +"A short one!" + +"Till then we will still hold out." + + +"But if it elapse without relief----" + +"Then we will surrender!" + +"We will open the gates." + +But Cethegus shunned this thought. Not having received news from the +outer world for weeks, he had no idea when Belisarius could possibly +arrive at the mouth of the Tiber. + +"What!" he cried. "Shall I fix a term during which you will remain +Romans, and after which you will become cowards and slaves! Honour +knows no term!" + +"You speak thus, because you do not believe in the reinforcements." + +"I speak thus, because I believe in _you_!" + +"But we will have a term. We are resolved. You speak of Roman freedom! +Are we free, or are we bound to obey you like your slaves? We demand a +term, and we will have it." + +"We will have it!" repeated a chorus of voices. + +Before Cethegus could reply, the sound of trumpets was heard from the +south-eastern corner of the Forum. + +From the Via Sacra advanced a crowd of people, citizens and soldiers; +in their midst were two horsemen in foreign armour. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Lucius Licinius galloped before them, sprang off his horse, and mounted +the tribune. + +"A herald from the Goths! I arrived too late to prevent his entrance as +usual. The famished legionaries at the Tiburtinian Gate opened it for +him." + + +"Down with him! He must not speak," cried the Prefect, rushing from the +tribune and drawing his sword. + +But the people guessed his intentions. They surrounded the herald with +cries of joy, protecting him from the Prefect. + +"Peace!" + +"Hail!" + +"Bread! Peace! Listen to the herald!" + +"No! do not listen to him!" thundered Cethegus. "Who is Prefect of +Rome, he or I? Who defends this city? I, Cornelius Cethegus Caesarius; +and I tell you, do not listen!" + +And he tried to make a way for himself. + +But, thick as a swarm of bees, women and old men threw themselves into +his path, and the armed citizens surrounded the herald. + +"Speak, herald!" they cried; "what bring you?" + +"Peace and deliverance!" cried Thorismuth, and waved his white wand. +"Totila, King of the Italians and the Goths, sends you greetings and +demands a safe-conduct into the city, in order to tell you important +news and to announce peace." + +"Hail to King Totila!" + +"We will hear him. He shall come!" + +Cethegus had hastily mounted his horse, and now ordered his trumpeters +to blow a flourish. + +At this well-known sound, all became quiet. + +"Hear me, herald! I, the governor of this city, refuse a safe-conduct. +I shall treat every Goth who enters this city as an enemy." + +But at these words a cry of rage burst from the multitude. + +"Cornelius Cethegus, are you our officer or our tyrant? We are free. +You have often vaunted the majesty of the Roman people. And the Roman +people command that the King shall be heard. Do we not, people of +Rome?" + +"We do!" + +"It is according to law," growled the Quirites. + +"You have heard! Will you obey or defy the people of Rome?" + +Cethegus sheathed his sword. + +Thorismuth and his companion galloped off to fetch the King. + +The Prefect signed to the young tribunes to draw near him. + +"Lucius Licinius," he said, "go to the Capitol. Salvius Julianus, you +will protect the lower river-bolt: the bolt of masts. Quintus Piso, you +will defend the chain-bolt. Marcus Licinius, you shall keep the bulwark +which protects the ascent to the Capitoline Hill and the way to my +house. The mercenaries will follow me." + +"What do you intend to do, general?" asked Lucius Licinius, as he was +preparing to obey the order. + +"Attack and destroy the barbarians." + +There were but fifty horsemen and about a hundred lance-bearers to +follow the Prefect, when he had sent away the tribunes. + +Meanwhile the people had waited anxiously for the sound of the Gothic +horns. + +At last they were heard, and presently there appeared Thorismuth and +six horn-blowers; Wisand the bandalarius, carrying the royal blue +banner of the Goths; the King, accompanied by Duke Guntharis and Earl +Teja; and about ten other leaders, almost all without weapons; only +Earl Teja displayed his broad and dreaded axe. + +As this procession was on the point of setting forth from the Gothic +encampment, to ride through the Metronian Gate into the city, Duke +Guntharis felt some one pull his mantle, and looking down, beheld a boy +or youth, with short and curly brown hair and blue eyes, standing near +his horse, with a shepherd's staff in his hand. + +"Art thou the King? No, thou art not he. And that, that is brave Teja, +the Black Earl, as the songs call him!" + +"What wouldst thou with the King, boy?" + +"I would fight for him." + +"Thou art still too tender. Go, and return two summers hence. And, +meanwhile, guard thy flocks." + +"I may be young, but I am no longer weak, and I have guarded the flock +long enough. Ha! I see that that is the King!" and he went up to +Totila, and bowed gracefully, saying: + +"By thy leave, O King!" + +And he caught the bridle of the horse to lead it, as if it were a +matter of course. + +The King looked amused, and smiled at the boy. + +And the boy led his horse. + +But Guntharis thought: "I have seen that face before! But no, it is +only a resemblance; yet such a resemblance I have never seen in my +life. And how noble is the young shepherd's carriage!" + +"Hail to King Totila! Peace and salvation!" cried the people, as the +Goths entered the city. + +But the young guide looked up into the King's shining countenance, and +sang in a soft sweet voice: + + "Cunning Cethegus: + Tricks will not serve thee! + Teja the terrible + Daunts thy defiance. + And brightly arises, + Like morning and May-time, + Like night from the darkness, + The favourite of heaven, + The bright, and the beautiful + King of the Goths! + To him are wide opened + All halls and all hearts; + To him, overpowered, + Yield Winter and Woe!" + +When the King entered the Forum, there fell a dead silence upon the +people. + +But Cethegus, who had expected this, immediately took advantage of it. +He urged his horse into the crowd and cried: + +"What would you, Goth, in this my city?" + +Totila cast one flaming look at him, and then turned away. + +"With _him_ I speak, for evermore, only with my sword! With him, the +threefold liar and murderer! To _you_ I speak, unhappy and befooled +inhabitants of Rome! Your sufferings wring my heart. I come to end your +misery. I come without arms, for I am safer, trusting to the honour of +Romans, than protected by sword and shield." + +He paused. + +Cethegus no more attempted to interrupt him. + +"Quirites," continued Totila, "you yourselves have truly acknowledged +that I might long since have stormed your walls with my hosts. For now +you have but stones, and no men to defend them. But if Rome were +carried by storm, then Rome would burn; and I confess that I would +rather never enter Rome, than enter to find it in ashes. I will not +reproach you with the manner in which you have requited the kindness of +Theodoric and the Goths. Have you forgotten the time when you coined +your gold with the grateful inscription, 'Roma felix'? Truly you are +punished enough; more heavily punished by hunger, pestilence, and the +yoke of the Byzantines and that demon Cethegus, than by the severest +penalty which we could have inflicted. More than eight thousand +people--women and children not included--have perished. Your deserted +houses fall into ruins; you greedily pluck the grass which grows in +your temples; despair walks your streets with hollow eyes; famished +mothers--Roman mothers--have devoured the flesh of their own children. +Until this day, your resistance was heroic, although lamentable. But +henceforward it is madness. Your last hope was placed in Belisarius. +Then hear: Belisarius has sailed from Sicily to Byzantium. He has +deserted you." + +Cethegus ordered the trumpets to be sounded, in order to drown the +groans of the multitude. + +For some time it was all in vain, but at last the brazen tones +conquered. + +When all was quiet the Prefect cried: + +"It is a lie! Do not believe such barefaced lies!" + +"Have the Goths, have I, ever lied to you, Romans? But you shall +believe your own eyes and ears. Come forward, man, and speak. Do you +know him?" + +A Byzantine in rich armour was led forward by the Gothic horsemen. + +"Konon!" + +"The navarchus of Belisarius!" + +"We know him!" cried the crowd. + +Cethegus turned pale. + +"Men of Rome," said the Byzantine, "Belisarius, the magister militum, +has sent me to King Totila. I arrived in the camp to-day. Belisarius +was obliged to return to Byzantium. On leaving Sicily, he recommended +Rome and Italy to the well-known benevolence of King Totila. This was +my message to him and to you." + +"If this be so," cried Cethegus, with a threatening voice, "then now is +the day to prove whether you be Romans or bastards! Mark me well! +Cethegus the Prefect will never, never surrender his Rome to the +barbarians! Oh I think once more of the time when I was your all! When +you exalted my name above those of the saints! Who has given you, for +years, work, bread, and, what is more, weapons? Who protected +you--Belisarius or Cethegus?--when these barbarians encamped by +millions before your walls? Who saved Rome, with his heart's blood, +from King Witichis? For the last time I call you to the combat! Do you +hear me, grandchildren of Camillus? As he once, solely by the might of +the Roman sword, swept the Gauls, who had already taken the city, away +from the Capitol, so will I sweep away these Goths! Follow me! We will +sally forth and let the world see what is possible to Roman valour when +led by Cethegus and despair. Choose!" + +"Aye, choose!" cried Totila, raising himself in his stirrups. "Choose +between certain destruction or certain freedom. If you once more follow +this madman, I can no longer protect you. Listen to Earl Teja, who +stands at my right hand. You know him, I think. I can no longer protect +you." + +"No," cried Teja, raising his mighty axe, "then, by the God of Hate, no +more mercy! If you refuse this last offer, not a life will be spared +within these walls. I, and a thousand others, have sworn it!" + +"I offer you complete immunity, and will prove a mild and just king to +you. Ask Neapolis what I am! Choose between me and the Prefect!" + +"Hail to King Totila! Death to the Prefect!" was the unanimous +acclamation. + +And, as if at a signal, the women and children, with uplifted hands, +threw themselves on their knees; while all the armed inhabitants raised +their weapons threateningly, and many a spear was hurled at the +Prefect. They were the very weapons which he himself had given to the +people. + +"They are dogs--no Romans!" exclaimed Cethegus, with disdainful fury, +and turned his horse. "To the Capitol!" + +And his horse, with a sudden leap, cleared the row of kneeling and +screaming women. Through a shower of darts which the Romans now sent +after him galloped the Prefect, riding down the few who had courage +enough to try to stop him. + +His crimson crest soon disappeared in the distance. + +His companions galloped swiftly after him. The lance-bearers on foot +retreated in good order, now and then turning and levelling their +spears. Thus they reached the lofty bulwark which, held by Marcus +Licinius, protected the ascent to the Capitol, and the way to the +Prefect's house. + +"What next? Shall we pursue?" the citizens asked the King. + +"No--stay. Let all the gates be opened. Wagons laden with meat, bread, +and wine stand ready in the camp. Let them be brought into all parts of +the city. Feed the people of Rome for three whole days. My Goths shall +keep watch to prevent excess." + +"And the Prefect?" asked Duke Guntharis. + +"Cornelius Cethegus, the ex-Prefect of Rome, will not escape the +vengeance of God," cried Totila, turning away. + +"And not mine!" cried the shepherd-boy. + +"And not mine!" said Teja, and galloped after the King. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +Most of the quarters of the city of Rome had now fallen into the hands +of the enemy. + +Cethegus was in possession of that part of the city which extended on +the right bank of the Tiber from the Mausoleum of Hadrian in the north +to the Porta Portuensis in the south, near which were situated the two +bolts across the river. + +On the left bank the Prefect held only the small but dominating quarter +west of the Forum Romanum, of which the Capitol formed the centre. This +quarter was enclosed by walls and high bulwarks which stretched from +the shore of the Tiber at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, and round +the hill eastwards, to the Forum of Trajan in the north; while at the +back and westwards from the Capitol, they passed between the Circus +Flaminius and the Theatre of Marcellus (abandoning the first and +enclosing the last), and ended at the Fabrician Bridge and the Island +of the Tiber. + +The King had left the Forum, and the rest of the day was spent by the +inhabitants of the city in feasting and rejoicing. + +The King caused eighty wagons, each drawn by four oxen, to be drawn up +in all the principal squares and places of those parts of the city +which had surrendered. And round about these wagons, upon the pavement +or upon speedily-erected wooden benches, lay the famishing population, +raising their voices in thanks to God, the saints, and the "good King." + +The Prefect had at once closed all the gates which led from those parts +of the city occupied by the Goths into _his_ Rome; particularly the +approaches from the Forum Romanum to the Capitol, and the Flumentanian, +Carmentalian and Ratumenian Gates. He caused them all to be barricaded, +and divided the few soldiers he had at his command among the most +important points of defence. + +He held much about the same part of Rome as he had before occupied +under and against Belisarius. + +"Salvius Julianus must have another hundred Isaurians to protect the +bolt of masts on the river," he commanded. "The Abasgian bowmen must +hasten to join Piso at the bolt of chains. Marcus Licinius will remain +on the bulwark of the Forum." + +But now Lucius Licinius announced that the rest of the legionaries, who +had not been present at the scene on the Forum, because they had been +on duty in the now barricaded portion of the city, were become very +unruly. + +"Ah," cried Cethegus, "the odour of the roast meat for which their +comrades sold their honour, tickles their nostrils! I come." + +And he rode up to the Capitol, where the legionaries, about five +hundred men, were standing in their ranks with a very gloomy and +threatening aspect. + +Looking at them with a searching eye, Cethegus slowly rode along their +front. + +At last he spoke. + +"For you I had reserved the fame of having defended the Lares and +Penates of the Capitol against the barbarians. I hear, indeed, that you +prefer the joints of beef below there. But I will not believe it. You +will not desert the man who, after centuries of helplessness, has again +taught the Romans how to fight and conquer. Whoever will stand by +Cethegus and the Capitol--let him raise his sword." + +But not a blade was seen. + +"Hunger is a more powerful god than the Capitoline Jupiter," said +Cethegus contemptuously. + +A centurion stepped forward. + +"It is not that, Prefect of Rome. But we will not fight against our +fathers and brothers who are on the side of the Goths." + +"I ought to keep you as hostages for your fathers and brothers, and +when they storm the bulwarks, throw to them your heads! But I fear it +would not stop them in their enthusiasm, which comes from their +stomachs! Go--you are not worthy to save Rome! Open the gate, Licinius. +Let them turn their backs upon the Capitol and honour!" + +And the legionaries marched away, all but about a hundred men, who +stood still irresolutely, leaning on their spears. + +"Well, what do you want?" cried Cethegus, riding up to them. + +"To die with you, Prefect of Rome!" cried one of them. + +And the others repeated: "To die with you!" + +"I thank you! Do you see, Licinius, a hundred Romans! Are they not +enough to found a new Roman Empire?--I will give you the post of +honour; you shall defend the bulwark to which I have given the name of +Julius Caesar." + +He sprang from his horse, threw the bridle to Syphax, called his +tribunes together, and spoke: + +"Now listen to my plan." + +"You have a plan already?" + +"Yes. We will attack! If I know these barbarians, we are safe for +to-night from any assault. They have won three quarters of the city. +Before they think of the last quarter, their victory must be celebrated +in a hundred thousand tipsy bouts. At midnight the whole company of +yellow-haired heroes and drinkers will be immersed in feasting, wine, +and sleep; and the hungry Quirites will not be behindhand in excess. +Look! How they feast and sing below there--crowned with flowers! And +very few barbarians have yet entered the city. That is our hope of +victory. At midnight we will sally forth from all our gates--they will +not dream of an attack from such a minority--and slay them in their +revels." + +"Your plan is bold," said Lucius Licinius. "And if we fall, the Capitol +will be our tombstone!" + +"You learn from me words as well as sword-strokes," said Cethegus, +smiling. "My plan is desperate, but it is the only one now possible. Is +the watch set? I will go home and sleep for a couple of hours. No one +must rouse me before that time. In two hours come and wake me." + +"You can sleep at such a moment, general?" + +"Yes; I _must_. And I hope I shall sleep soundly. I must have time to +collect myself--I have just yielded the Forum Romanum to the barbarian +King! It was too much! I need time to recover myself. Syphax, I asked +yesterday if no more wine was to be had on the right bank of the +Tiber?" + +"I have been to seek some. There is yet a little in the temple of your +God; but the priests say that it is dedicated to the service of the +altar." + +"That will not have spoiled it! Go, Lucius, and take it from the +priests. Divide it amongst the hundred men on the bulwark of Caesar. It +is the only thing that I can give them to show my gratitude." + +Followed by Syphax, Cethegus now rode slowly home. + +He stopped at the principal entrance to his house. + +In answer to the call of Syphax, Thrax, a groom, opened the gate. + +Cethegus dismounted and stroked the neck of his noble charger. + +"Our next ride will be a sharp one, my Pluto--to victory or in flight! +Thrax, give him the white bread which was reserved for me." + +The horse was led into the stables near at hand. The stalls were empty. +Pluto shared the spacious building only with the brown horse belonging +to Syphax. All the Prefect's other horses had been slaughtered and +devoured by the mercenaries. + +The master of the house passed through the splendid vestibule and +atrium into the library. + +The old ostiarius and secretary, the slave Fidus, who was past carrying +a spear, the only domestic in the house. All the slaves and freedmen +were upon the walls--either living or dead. + +"Reach me the roll of Plutarch's Caesar, and the large goblet set with +amethysts--it scarcely needed their decoration--full of spring water." + +The Prefect stayed in the library for some time. The old servant had +lighted the lamp, filled with costly oil of spikenard, as he had been +accustomed to do in times of peace. + +Cethegus cast a long look at the numerous busts, Hermes, and statues, +which cast sharp shadows along the exquisite mosaic pavement. + +There, upon pedestals or brackets, on which were inscribed their names, +stood small marble busts of almost all the heroes of Rome, from the +mythic Kings to the long rows of Consuls and Caesars, ended by Trajan, +Hadrian, and Constantine. + +The ancestors of the "Cethegi" formed a numerous group. + +An empty niche already contained the pedestal upon which his bust would +one day stand--the last on that side of the room, for he was the last +of his house. + +But on another side there was a whole row of arches and empty niches, +destined for future scions of the family, not by marriage, but by +adoption, should the name of Cethegus be continued into more fortunate +generations. + +As Cethegus walked slowly past the rows of busts, he chanced to look at +the niche destined to contain his own, and, to his astonishment, saw +that it was not empty. + +"What is that?" he asked. "Lift up the lamp, secretary. Whose is that +bust standing in my place?" + +"Forgive, master! The pedestal of that bust, one of the ancients, +needed reparation. I was obliged to remove it, and I placed it in the +empty niche to keep it from harm." + +"Show a light. Still higher. Who can it be?" + +And Cethegus read the short inscription upon the bust: "Tarquinius +Superbus, tyrant of Rome, died in exile; banished from the city by the +inhabitants on account of his monstrous despotism. A warning to future +generations." + +Cethegus, in his youth, had himself composed this inscription. + +He took the bust away, and placed it on one side. + +"Away with the omen!" he cried. + +Lost in thought, he entered his study. + +He leaned his helm, shield, and sword against the couch. The slave +kindled the lamp which stood on the tortoise-shell table, brought the +goblet and the roll of papyrus, and left the room. + +Cethegus took up the roll. + +But he soon laid it down again. His forced composure could not last; it +was too unnatural. In the Roman Forum the Quirites drank with the +barbarians to the health of the King of the Goths and the ruin of the +Prefect of Rome, the Princeps Senatus! In two hours he was about to +attempt to wrest the city from the Goths. He could not fill up the +short pause with the perusal of a biography which he almost knew by +heart. + +He drank thirstily of the water in the goblet. + +Then he threw himself upon his couch. + +"Was it an omen?" he asked himself. "But there are no omens for +those who do not believe in them. 'This is the only omen: to fight for +the fatherland,' says Homer. Truly, I fight not alone for my native +land; I fight still more for myself. But have not to-day's events +disgracefully proved that Rome is Cethegus, and Cethegus is Rome? These +name-forgetting Romans do not make Rome. The Rome of to-day is far more +Cethegus than the Rome of old was Caesar. Was not he, too, a tyrant in +the eyes of fools?" + +He rose uneasily, and went up to the colossal statue of his great +ancestor. + +"God-like Julius! If I could pray, I would pray now to thee! Help me! +Complete the work of thy grandchild. How hard have I striven since the +day when the idea of the renewal of thy empire was born within my +brain--born full-armed, like Pallas Athene from the head of Jupiter! +How have I fought, mentally and physically, by day and by night! And +though thrown to the ground seven times by the superior force of two +peoples, seven times have I again struggled to my feet, unconquered and +unintimidated! A year ago my goal seemed near--so near; and now, this +very night, I must fight this fair youth for Rome and for my life! Can +it be that I must succumb after such deeds and such exertions? Succumb +to the good fortune of a youth! Is it, then, impossible for thy +descendant to stand alone for his nation, until he renew both it and +himself? Is it impossible to conquer the barbarians and the Greeks? Can +not I, Cethegus, stop the wheel of Fate and roll it backward? Must I +fail because I stand alone--a general without an army, a king without a +nation to support him? Must I yield thy and my Rome? I cannot, will not +think so! Did not thy star fade shortly before Pharsalus? and didst +thou not swim over the Nile to save thy life, bleeding from a hundred +wounds? And yet thou hast succeeded. Again thou hast entered Rome in +triumph. It will not go more hardly with thy descendant. No; I will not +lose my Rome! I will not lose my house, and this thy God-like image, +which has often, like the crucifix of the Christian, filled me with +hope and comfort. As a pledge of my success, to thee I will entrust a +treasure. Where can anything on earth be safe if not with thee? In an +hour of despondency, I was about to give this treasure to Syphax to +bury in the earth. But if I lose Rome and this house, this sanctuary, I +will lose all. Who can decipher these hieroglyphics? As thou hast kept +the letters and the diary, so shalt thou keep this treasure also." + +So saying, he drew from the bosom of his tunic, beneath his shirt of +mail, a rather large leather bag, filled with costly pearls and +precious stones, and touched a spring on the left side of the statue, +below the edge of its shield. + +A small opening was revealed, out of which he took an oblong casket of +beautifully-carved ivory, provided with a golden lock. The casket +contained all sorts of writings and rolls of papyrus. He now added the +bag. + +"Here, great ancestor, guard my secrets and my treasure. With whom +should they be safe, if not with thee?" + +He touched the spring again, and the statue looked as perfect as +before. + +"Beneath thy shield, upon thy heart! As a pledge that I trust in thee +and my good fortune as thy descendant! As a pledge that nothing shall +force me away from thee and Rome--at least for any length of time. If I +_must_ go--I will return again. And who will seek my secret in the +marble Caesar?" + +If the water in the amethyst cup had been the strongest wine, it could +not have had a more intoxicating effect than this soliloquy or dialogue +with the colossal statue which Cethegus worshipped like a god. + +The unnatural strain upon all his mental and physical powers during the +last few weeks; the unsuccessful attempt to persuade the people on the +Forum; the conception of a new and desperate plan as soon as he had +been defeated in the first, and the consuming anxiety with which he +awaited its execution, had excited and exhausted the iron nerves of the +Prefect to the utmost. + +He thought, spoke, and acted as if in a high fever. + +Tired out, he threw himself upon his couch at the foot of the statue; +and suddenly sleep overcame him. + +But it was not the sound sleep which, until now, he had been able to +command at will, even after some criminal act or before a dangerous +enterprise: the result of a strong constitution which was superior to +all excitement. + +For the first time his slumber was uneasy, disturbed by changeful +dreams, which, like the fancies of a delirious man, chased each other +through his brain. + +At last the visions of the dreamer took a more concrete form. + +He saw the statue at the feet of which he lay, grow and grow. The +majestic head rose higher and higher, and passed through the roof of +the house. With its crown of laurel it at last penetrated the clouds, +and towered into the starry heavens. + +"Take me with thee!" sighed Cethegus. + +But the demigod replied: + +"I can scarcely see thee from this height. Thou art too small! Thou +canst not follow me." + +And it seemed to Cethegus that a thunderbolt fell and shattered the +roof of his house. With a crash the beams fell upon him, burying him +under the ruins. The statue of Caesar also broke and fell. + +And crash after crash echoed through the place. + +Cethegus woke, sprang up, and looked around in bewilderment. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The sound continued. + +It was real--no dream! Blow after blow fell thundering against the door +of his house. + +Cethegus caught up his helm and sword. + +At that moment Syphax and Lucius rushed into the room. + +"Up, general!" + +"Up, Cethegus!" + +"Two hours cannot yet have passed. Why have you awakened me?" + +"The Goths! They have been beforehand with us! They storm the +bulwarks!" + +"Damn them! Where do they storm?" + +Cethegus had already reached the door of the room. + +"Where does the King attack?" + +"At the bolts on the river. He has sent fire-ships up the stream. +Floats with heavy towers on deck, full of resin, pitch, and sulphur. +The first bolt of masts and all the boats between are in flames! +Salvius Julianus is wounded and taken prisoner. There! you can see the +reflection of the flames in the south-east!" + +"The bolt of chains--does it hold?" + +"It holds still. But if it break--" + +"Then I, as once before, am the bolt of Rome! Forward!" + +Syphax led up the snorting horses. + +Cethegus swung himself into the saddle. + +"Away! Where is your brother Marcus?" + +"At the bulwark by the Forum." + +As Cethegus and Lucius were galloping off, they were met by a mass of +mercenaries, Isaurians and Abasgians, who fled from the river. + +"Fly!" they cried. "Save the Prefect!" + +"Where is Cethegus?" + +"Here--to save you! Turn back. To the river!" + +He galloped on. The reflection of the burning masts plainly showed the +way. Arrived at the river bank, Cethegus dismounted. Syphax placed his +horse out of harm's way in an empty storehouse. + +"Torches!" cried Cethegus. "Into the boats! There lie a dozen ready. +Bowmen, into the boats! Follow me! Lucius, go into the second boat. Row +up to the chain. Place yourselves close to it. Whatever comes up the +river--shoot! They cannot land below the bolt, the walls are too high +and descend straight into the water. They _must_ come up here to the +chain!" + +Already a few boats, filled with Goths, had ventured too near. Some +caught fire at the burning masts; others were upset in the crush and +confusion. One, which had approached within half an arrow's length of +the chain, drove helplessly down the stream again: all the crew had +been killed by the arrows of the Abasgians. + +"Do you see! There goes a boat of corpses! Resist to the last man. +Nothing is lost! Bring torches and firebrands! Kindle the wharf there! +Fire against fire!" + +"Look there, master!" cried Syphax, who never left the Prefect's side. + +"Aye, now comes the struggle!" + +It was a splendid sight. + +The Goths had seen that the bolt of chains could never be forced by +small boats, so they had hewn away so much of the burning bolt of masts +that a space was left in the middle just broad enough to permit the +passage of a ship of war. + +But to try to pass up the river, exposed to the arrows of the +Abasgians, between the flaming ends of the masts, and propelled only by +their oars, might be more dangerous for the large vessel than for the +"boat of corpses." + +The Goths hesitated and stopped just before the burning beams. + +But suddenly there arose a strong breeze from the south, rippling the +surface of the water. + +"Do you feel the wind? It is the breath of the God of Victory! Set the +sails! Now follow me, my Goths!" cried a joyful voice. + +The sails were set, and the wings of the royal galley, the "Wild Swan," +spread wide to the breeze. + +It was a magnificent spectacle as the great vessel, all its canvas +spread, and urged by a hundred oarsmen, came majestically up the river, +illuminated by the terrible light from the burning masts and boats. + +With irresistible force the noble galley sailed up the stream. + +On both sides of the upper deck, high above the heads of the oarsmen on +the lower deck, kneeled close rows of Gothic warriors, their shields +forming a brazen roof to protect them from the arrows of the foe. + +Upon the bows of the ship an immense figure of a swan lifted high its +snowy wings. + +Between these wings, upon the back of the swan, stood King Totila, his +sword in his right hand. + +"Forward!" he cried. "Pull, my men, with all your might! Be ready, +Goths!" + +Cethegus recognised the youth's tall figure. He even recognised the +voice. + +"Let the galley approach quite close. When within twenty feet, shoot! +Not yet!--Now! now shoot!" + +"Crouch close, Goths!" cried Totila. + +A hail of arrows fell over the galley. But they rebounded from a roof +of shields. + +"Damn them!" cried Piso, behind the Prefect. "They intend to break the +chain with the force of the shock. And they will surely do it, even if +every man on deck should fall! The oarsmen we cannot reach, and the +south wind cannot be wounded!" + +"Fire the sails! fire the ship! Bring firebrands!" cried Cethegus. + +Ever nearer rustled the threatening "Swan." + + +Ever nearer approached the ruinous shock against the tightly-stretched +chains. + +Firebrands were hurled at the galley. + +One flew into the sail of the main-mast, burnt quickly up, and then +died out. + +A second--Cethegus himself had hurled it--passed close to the golden +locks of the King. It fell near him. He had not remarked it; but a +shepherd-boy, who carried no weapon but a shepherd's staff, ran up and +trampled it out. + +The other brands rebounded from the shields and fell hissing into the +river. + +And now the prow of the galley was only eight feet from the chain. + +The Romans trembled in expectation of the shock. + +Cethegus stepped to the bow of his boat, balancing and aiming his heavy +spear. + +"Mark!" he said; "as soon as the King falls, be quick with more +firebrands." + +Never had the practised soldier aimed better. Drawing back his spear +once more, he launched it at the King with all the force lent to his +arm by hatred. + +His followers waited breathlessly. But the King did not fall. He had +caught sight of Cethegus while aiming; at the same moment he threw down +his long and narrow shield and awaited the flying shaft with his left +arm drawn back. + +Whistling came the spear straight at the spot where the King's bare +neck showed above his breastplate. + +When within a few inches of his throat, the King caught the shaft with +his left hand and immediately hurled it back at the Prefect, wounding +him on the left arm just above his shield. + +Cethegus fell on his knee. + +At the same instant the galley struck the chain. It burst. The Roman +boats which lay near, including that of Cethegus, were upset; and most +of them drove masterless down the river. + +"Victory!" shouted Totila. "Yield, mercenaries!" + +Cethegus, bleeding, swam to the left bank of the river. He saw how the +Gothic galley lowered two boats, into one of which sprang the King. + +He saw how a whole flotilla of large vessels, which had sailed up in +the wake of the King's galley, now broke through the boats of his +bowmen, and landed troops on both sides of the river. + +He saw how his Abasgians--neither armed nor in the mood for a +hand-to-hand fight--surrendered themselves by companies to the Goths. + +He saw how a rain of arrows from the royal galley fell upon the +defenders on the left bank. + +He saw how the little boat, in which stood the King, now approached the +place where he himself stood, dripping with water. + +He had lost his helmet in the river, his shield he had thrown away, in +order the more speedily to gain the land. + +He was on the point of attacking the King, who had just landed, with +his sword alone, when a Gothic arrow grazed his neck. + +"Well hit, Haduswinth?" cried a young voice; "better than at the +Mausoleum!" + +"Bravo, Gunthamund!" + +Cethegus tottered. + +Syphax caught his arm. + +At the same moment a hand was laid on his shoulder. He recognised +Marcus Licinius. + +"You here! Where are your men?" + +"Dead!" said Marcus. "The hundred Romans fell on the bulwark. Teja, the +terrible Teja, stormed it. The half of your Isaurians fell on the way +to the Capitol. The rest still keep the doors, and the half-bulwark in +front of your house. I can no more. Teja's axe penetrated through my +shield and entered my ribs. Farewell, O great Cethegus! Save the +Capitol. But--look there! Teja is quick!" + +And he fell to the ground. + +From the Capitoline Hill flames rose high into the night. + +"There is nothing more to be done here," the Prefect said with +difficulty, for he was losing blood fast and becoming rapidly weak. "I +will save the Capitol! To you, Piso, I leave the barbarian King. Once +before you have wounded a Gothic King upon the threshold of Rome. Now +wound a second, but this time mortally! You, Lucius, will revenge your +brother. Do not follow me!" + +As he spoke he cast one more furious glance at the King, at whose feet +kneeled his Abasgians, and sighed deeply. + +"You tremble, master!" said Syphax sadly. + +"_Rome_ trembles!" cried Cethegus. "To the Capitol!" + +Lucius Licinius pressed the hand of his dying brother. + +"I shall follow him notwithstanding," he said, "for he is wounded." + + +While Cethegus, Syphax, and Lucius Licinius disappeared in the +distance, Piso crouched behind the columns of a Basilica close to which +the street led upwards from the river. + +Meanwhile the King had placed the Abasgians under the guard of his +soldiers. He went a few steps up the bank of the river and pointed with +his sword to the flames which arose from the Capitol. + +Then he turned to the Goths who were landing. + +"Forward!" he cried. "Make haste! The flames up there must be +extinguished. The fight is over. Now, Goths, protect and preserve Rome, +for it is yours!" + +Piso took advantage of the moment. + +"Apollo!" he exclaimed; "if ever my satires hit their mark, help now my +sword!" + +And he sprang from behind the column towards the King, who stood with +his back turned to him. But before he could deal a blow, he let his +sword fell with a loud cry. A sturdy stroke from a stick had lamed his +hand. + +Immediately a young shepherd sprang upon him and pulled him to the +ground, kneeling on his breast. + +"Yield, thou Roman wolf!" cried a clear boyish voice. + +"Ah! Piso.... the poet He is thy prisoner, boy," said the King, who now +turned. "He shall ransom himself with a goodly sum. But who art thou, +young shepherd?" + +"He is the saviour of your life, sire," interposed old Haduswinth. "We +saw the Roman rush at you, but we were too far off to call or help you. +We owe your life to this boy." + +"What is thy name, young hero?" + +"Adalgoth." + +"And what wouldst thou here?" + +"Cethegus, the traitor, the Prefect of Rome! where is he, King? Pray +tell me. I was sent to the boats. I heard that he would oppose thy +attack here." + +"He was here. He has fled; most likely to his house." + +"Wouldst thou overcome that King of Hell with this stick?" asked +Haduswinth. + +"No," cried the boy; "I have now a sword." + +And he took up his prisoner's sword, which was lying on the ground; +brandished it over his head and rushed away. + +Totila gave Piso in charge to the Goths, who had now landed in great +numbers. + +"Hasten!" he cried again. "Save the Capitol, which the Romans are +destroying!" + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Meanwhile the Prefect had left the river and gone in the direction of +the Capitol. + +He passed the Porta Trigemina and arrived at the Forum Boarium. + +Before the Temple of Janus he met with a crowd of people by which he +was detained for a short time. + +In spite of his wound he had made such haste that Lucius and Syphax +could scarcely follow. They had repeatedly lost sight of him. Only now +did they overtake him. + +He now tried to go through the Porta Carmentalis, and thus gain the +back of the Capitol. + +But he found the gate already occupied by numerous Goths. Amongst them +was Wachis. He recognised the Prefect from a distance. + +"Revenge for Rauthgundis!" he cried. + +A heavy stone struck the Prefect's helmless head. He turned and fled. + +He now remembered that there was a sinking of the wall not far from the +gate. He determined to climb it at that place. + +As he neared it, the flames from the Capitol again shot high into the +air. + +Three men sprang over the wall just in front of him. They were +Isaurians. They recognised him. + +"Fly, general! The Capitol is lost! Teja, the black Gothic devil!" + +"Did he--did Teja kindle the fire?" + +"No; we ourselves set a wooden bulwark, which the barbarians had taken, +on fire. The Goths do all they can to extinguish the flames." + +"The barbarians save the Capitol!" said Cethegus bitterly, and +supported himself upon a spear which was handed to him by one of the +mercenaries. + +"I must get to my house." + +And he turned to the right, the shortest way to the principal entrance +to his house. + +"O master, that way is dangerous!" cried one of the Isaurians. "The +Goths will soon be there. I heard the Black Earl ask repeatedly after +you. He was seeking you everywhere upon the Capitol. He will now seek +you in your house." + +"I _must_ once more go to my house!" + +But he had scarcely gone a few steps, when a troop of Goths and Romans, +carrying torches and firebrands, came towards him from the city. + +The foremost, who were Romans, recognised him. + +"The Prefect!" + +"The destroyer of Rome!" + +"He has set the Capitol on fire! Down with him!" + +Arrows, stones, and spears were hurled at Cethegus. One of his +Isaurians fell; the others took to their heels. + +Cethegus was hit by an arrow; it penetrated slightly into his left +shoulder. He tore it out. + +"A Roman arrow, with my own stamp!" he cried with a terrible laugh. + +With difficulty he gained a dark side-street. + +Before his House there was a crowd of soldiers, trying in vain to break +open the principal door. + +Cethegus heard the uproar, and well understood the cries of rage with +which the soldiers accompanied their ineffectual exertions. + +"The door is strong," he said to himself. "Before they force an +entrance, I shall be again out of the house." + +He hurried to the back of the house. He pressed a secret spring which +opened the door of the court, entered, and, leaving the door open +behind him, hurried in. + +Hark! a stroke--very different from all which had gone +before--thundered against the front door of the house. + +"That is a battle-axe!" thought Cethegus. "That is Teja?" + +He hastened to a small gap in the wall, which afforded an outlook into +the main street. It was Teja. His long black locks waved about his bare +head; in his left hand he carried a firebrand; in his right the dreaded +battle-axe. He was covered with blood. + +"Cethegus!" he shouted at every stroke of his axe. "Cornelius Cethegus +Caesarius, where art thou? I sought thee in the Capitol, Prefect of +Rome! Where art thou? Must I seek thee upon thy hearth?" + +Cethegus, listening, heard hasty steps behind him. + +Syphax had reached the court, and had followed his master through the +open door. He now caught sight of him. + +"O master, fly! I will protect thy threshold with my body." + +And he hastened past Cethegus, through a suite of apartments to the +front door. + +Cethegus turned to the right. He could hardly keep himself upright. He +managed to reach the "Hall of Jupiter." Here he sank to the ground. But +the next moment he again sprang to his feet, for a fearful noise was +heard from the front door. + +At last it was broken in. + +With a thundering crash it fell inwards, and Teja entered the dwelling +of his enemy. + +Upon the threshold, with a leap like that of a panther, the Moor sprang +upon him, grasping his throat and raising a dagger in his hand. + +But the Goth let fall his axe, seized him in his right hand, and, like +a stone from a sling, the Moor flew sideways through the door and +rolled down the steps into the street. + +"Where art thou, Cethegus?" again sounded the voice of Teja, coming +nearer and nearer, from the vestibule and the atrium. + +Some doors, which had been bolted by the secretary, Fidus, were forced +one after the other by Teja's axe. + +With difficulty Cethegus dragged himself to the middle of the Hall of +Jupiter. He still hoped to be able to reach the study and take the +writings and treasure out of the statue of Caesar. + +He heard the crash of another falling door, and the voice of Teja now +sounded from the study. + +He heard how the soldiers, who had pressed forward after Teja into the +library, were demolishing the statues and busts of his ancestors. + +"Where is thy master, old man?" asked Teja's voice. + +The slave had taken refuge in the study. + +"I know not, by my soul!" + +"Not even here! Cethegus! coward! Where hidest thou?" + +It was now evident that the soldiers had also entered the study. + +Cethegus could no longer stand upright. + +He leaned against the marble statue of Jupiter, from which the hall +took its name. + +"What shall be done with this house?" he heard some one ask. + +"It shall be burned!" cried Teja. + +"The King has forbidden that," answered the voice of Thorismuth. + +"Yes; but I have begged this house from the King. It shall be razed to +the ground! Down with the temple of that devil! Down with the holiest +of holies--this idol!" + +A fearful blow resounded. + +With a crash the Caesar statue fell in fragments to the ground. + +Gold, jewels, and rolls of papyrus covered the floor. + +"Ah! the barbarian!" cried Cethegus, forgetting himself, and he was +about to rush into the study with his drawn sword, when he fell +senseless at the foot of the statue of Jupiter. + +"Hark! What was that?" cried a boyish voice. + +"The voice of the Prefect!" exclaimed Teja, and opening the door which +led from the study into the hall, he sprang forward, swinging his +battle-axe. + +But the hall was empty. + +A pool of blood lay at the feet of the Jupiter, and a broad track of +the crimson fluid led to the window which opened into the inner court. + +The court was empty. + +But some Goths who entered it found the little door closed from +outside; the key was still in the lock on the side of the street. + +When they had forced this door--some of them had also gone round from +the front of the house--and had searched the side-street and the +dwellings in it, they only found the Prefect's sword, which was +recognised by Fidus, the secretary. + +With a gloomy look Teja took it up, and returned into the study. + +"Take up carefully all that was concealed in the Prefect's idol, +particularly the writings, and carry everything to the King. Where is +the King?" + +"When he left the Capitol, he, with all the Romans and Goths, went into +the sanctuary of St. Peter, to attend a service of thanksgiving." + +"'Tis well. Go to him in the church and give him everything. Also the +sword of the fugitive. Tell him that Teja sends it." + +"Thy order shall be obeyed," said Thorismuth. "But thou--wilt thou not +go with us to the church?" + +"No." + +"Where wilt thou spend this night of victory, when all the others are +giving thanks?" + +"I will spend it in the ruins of this house!" + +And he thrust the firebrand into the purple cushions of the Prefect's +couch. + + + + + + + BOOK V.--_Continued_. + + TOTILA. + +"Happy are we that this sunny youth still lives!"--_Margrave Ruediger +of Bechelaren_, Act i., Scene i. + + + + PART II. + + + CHAPTER I. + +Thenceforth King Totila held his court in Rome with much splendour and +rejoicing. + +The heaviest task of all the war seemed to be completed. + +After the fall of Rome, most of the small forts on the coast and in the +Apennines opened their gates; very few remained to be taken by siege. + +For this purpose the King sent forth his generals, Teja, Guntharis, +Grippa, Markja, and Aligern; while he himself undertook the difficult +political task of reducing to order the kingdom so long disturbed by +war or rebellion. He had, indeed, almost to refound it. + +He sent his dukes and earls into the towns and districts to carry out +his intentions in all departments of the state; particularly to protect +the Italians from the vengeance of the victorious Goths. He had +published from the Capitol a general amnesty; excluding only one +person: the ex-Prefect, Cornelius Cethegus Caesarius. + +Everywhere he caused the destroyed churches, both Catholic and Arian, +to be restored; everywhere the landed property was settled, the taxes +newly-laid and diminished. + +The beneficial results of all this care were not long in making +themselves felt. + +Even when Totila had first assumed the crown and issued his manifesto, +had the Italians resumed the long-neglected cultivation of the land. +The Gothic soldiers were directed to refrain from disturbing this +important work, and to do all in their power to prevent any such +disturbance on the part of the Byzantines. + +And a wonderful fertility of the soil, a harvest of grain, wine, and +oil, such as had not been seen for ages, seemed to prove that the +blessing of Heaven had fallen upon the young King. + +The news of the taking of Neapolis and Rome spread rapidly through the +Eastern Empire, where it was received with great astonishment, for all +there had long since considered the Gothic kingdom to be extinct. + +Merchants who had been tempted by the strong and just government, the +security of the high-roads and of the sea--which were severally +protected by patrols of soldiers and watchful squadrons of Gothic +ships--to revisit the deserted towns and harbours of the peninsula, +praised the justice and benevolence of the royal youth, and told of the +flourishing state of his kingdom, and of the brilliancy of his court at +Rome, where he gathered about him the senators who had repented of +their rebellion, and gave to the populace liberal alms and splendid +games in the Circus. + +The Kings of the Franks acknowledged this change of circumstances. They +sent presents--Totila rejected them; they sent ambassadors--Totila +would not receive them. + +The King of the Ostrogoths frankly offered an alliance against +Byzantium and the hand of his daughter. The Avarian and Slavonian +marauders on the eastern frontier were punished. With the exception of +the few fortresses which were still in a state of siege--Ravenna, +Perusium, and a few small castles--the whole country enjoyed as perfect +peace as in Theodoric's most glorious days. + +At the same time, the King was wise enough to be moderate. He +acknowledged, in spite of his victories, the danger-fraught superiority +of the East, and earnestly sought to make peace with the Emperor. + +He resolved to send an embassy to Byzantium, to offer peace on the +basis of a full acknowledgment of the Gothic rule in Italy. He would +renounce all claim to Sicily--where not a Goth was now dwelling (the +Gothic settlements on that island had never been very numerous); he +would also resign those parts of Dalmatia now occupied by the +Byzantines. On his side the Emperor should immediately evacuate +Ravenna, which no perseverance or stratagem on the part of the Gothic +besiegers had been able to reduce. + +As the person most qualified to undertake this mission of peace and +reconciliation, the King thought of a man who was distinguished by +worth and dignity, by his love for Italy and the Goths, and who was +renowned, even in the East, for his wisdom--the venerable Cassiodorus. + +Although the pious old man had withdrawn from all affairs of state for +many years, the young King succeeded in persuading him to leave the +peaceful quiet of his lonely cloister, and brave the troubles and +dangers of a journey to Byzantium in order to perform this noble and +pious work. + +But it was impossible to lay upon the old man the whole burden of such +an embassy, and the King now sought for a younger and stronger man to +accompany him. A man of similar benevolent and Christian feeling--a +second apostle of peace. + +A few weeks after the conquest of Rome, a royal messenger carried the +following letter over the Cottian Alps into Provence: + + +"To Julius Manilius Montanus, Totila, who is called the King of the +Goths. + +"Come, my beloved friend, return to my heart! Years have passed; much +blood has been shed, and many tears have fallen. More than once, +terribly or fortunately, has everything changed around me since I +pressed your hand for the last time. Everything around me has changed, +but I remain the same. All is as it was between you and me. I still +revere the idols at whose shrines we worshipped together in the first +dreams of our youth, but growing experience has ennobled these idols. +When sin, treachery, and all dark powers raged upon Italian soil, you +abandoned it. See, they have disappeared, like moisture in the sun and +wind. The conquered demons growl in the distance, and a rainbow +stretches its brilliant arch over this my beloved kingdom. When nobler +souls unhappily succumbed. Heaven preserved me to see the end of the +fearful storm and to sow the seeds of a new time. Come now, my Julius; +help me to carry out those dreams at which you so often smiled, +thinking them _mere_ dreams. Help me to create a new people of Goths +and Italians, which will unite the advantages and exclude the +weaknesses of both nations. Help me to found a realm of justice and of +peace, of freedom and of beauty, ennobled by Italian grace, and +strengthened by Gothic endurance. You, my Julius, have built a cloister +for the Church--help me to build a temple for humanity. I am lonely, +friend, at the summit of fortune. Lonely my bride awaits the full +completion of my vow. The war has robbed me of my devoted brother. Will +you not come, my Dioscuros? In two months I shall expect you at Taginae +with Valeria." + + +Julius read; and with emotion said to himself: "My friend, I come!" + + +Before King Totila left Rome for Taginae, he resolved to pay an old debt +of gratitude, and to give a worthy, that is a beautiful, form to an old +connection that, until now, had not satisfied the desire for harmony +which possessed his soul--his connection with the first hero of his +nation, with Teja. + +They had been friends from their earliest boyhood. Although Teja was +several years older, he had always perceived and honoured the depth of +the younger man's nature under the brilliant husk of his joyous +temperament. And a common inclination to enthusiasm and idealism, +besides a certain pride and magnanimity, had drawn them early together. +Later, however, their opposite fates had caused their originally very +different natures to deviate more and more. + +The sunny brightness of the one seemed to contrast with the austerity +of the other with painful brilliancy. And Totila, after repeated and +impetuous attempts to dispel the gloom of his silent friend--the cause +of which he did not know, and the nature of which he did not +understand--had at last, attributing it to a morbid mind, withdrawn to +a distance. + +The milder, though grave and softer influence of Julius, and his +passion for Valeria, gradually estranged Totila from the friend of his +boyhood. + +But the experience of late years, the sufferings and dangers he had +endured since the death of Valerius and Miriam, the burning of +Neapolis, the distress of Rome, the crimes committed at Ravenna and +Castra Nova, and lately the cares and duties of royalty, had so +completely matured the impatient and joyous youth, that he was now able +to do full justice to his gloomy friend. + +And what had not this friend accomplished since the night when they had +sworn brotherhood! + +When the others had become paralysed by suffering; when Hildebrand's +impatience, Totila's enthusiasm, and the quiet steadfastness of +Witichis, even old Hildebrand's icy fortitude, had wavered--Teja had +never sighed, but always acted; never hoped, but always dared! + +At Regeta, before Rome, after the fall of Ravenna, and again before +Rome--what had he not accomplished! What did not the kingdom owe to his +efforts! And he would receive no thanks. + +When Witichis had offered him the dignity of a duke, gold, and land, he +had rejected the offer as an offence. + +Lonely, silent, and melancholy, he walked through the streets of Rome, +the last shadow in the light of Totila's presence. He stood next to the +King's throne, with his black eyes ever lowered to the ground. He stole +away without a word from the royal table. He never laid aside his +armour or weapons. + +Only when in action did he sometimes laugh; when, with contempt of +death, or the temerity which courts it, he sprang amid the spears of +the Byzantines--then only did he seem to feel at ease, then all his +being was life, movement, and fire. + +It was known to all the nation--and Totila specially had known it from +his boyhood--that this melancholy hero possessed the gift of song. + +But since his return from captivity in Greece, no one had ever been +able to persuade him to sing one of his glowing and inspiring songs; +and yet every one knew that his little triangular harp was his constant +companion in war or peace, inseparable as his sword. At the moment of +attack he was sometimes heard to sing wild snatches of song to the +measure of the Gothic horns. And whoever followed him into the +wilderness of white marble and green bushes, among the old Roman ruins, +where he was fond of passing his nights, might sometimes hear him play +some long-forgotten melody, accompanying it with dreamy words. But if +any one--which was seldom the case--ventured to ask what he wanted, he +turned silently away. + +Once, after the taking of Rome, he replied to a similar question put by +Guntharis, by the words, "The head of the Prefect!" + +The only person whose company he affected was Adalgoth, to whom he had +lately attached himself. + +The young shepherd had been raised to the office of herald and +cup-bearer to the King, as a reward for his bold act at the storming of +the Tiber shore. + +He had brought with him, though little schooled, a decided gift for +song. Teja was pleased with his genius; and it was reported that he +secretly taught him his superior art, though they suited each other as +little as night and morning. + +"It is just on that account," said Teja, when his brave cousin Aligern +once remarked this to him, "something must be left when the night +sinks." + +The King felt that the only thing that could be offered to this man was +in _his_ power to offer--neither gold, nor land, nor dignities. + +One night King Totila came to where the two bards were sitting. He +followed the sounds which, arising at irregular intervals from a grove +of cypresses, and interrupted by half-sung, half-spoken words, were +borne to his ear by the night wind. Unnoticed and unbetrayed by the +soft moonlight, Totila reached the avenue of half-wild laurels and +cypresses which led into the centre of the garden. + +But now Teja heard the approaching footsteps, and laid aside his harp. + +"It is the King," he said; "I recognise his step. What seekest thou +here, my King?" + +"I seek thee, Teja," answered Totila. + +Teja sprang from his seat upon a fallen column. + +"Then we must fight!" he exclaimed. + +"No," said Totila; "but I deserve this reproach." + +He took Teja's hand, and affectionately drew him down to his former +seat, placing himself at his side. + +"I did not seek thy sword, Teja; I sought thyself. I need thee; not +thine arm, but thy heart. No, Adalgoth; do not go. Thou mayst see--and +I wish thee to see--how every one must love this proud man, the 'Black +Earl.'" + +"I knew it," said Adalgoth, "ever since I first saw him. He is like a +dark forest, through the branches of whose lofty trees blows a +mysterious breach, full of terror and charm." + +Teja fixed his large and melancholy eyes upon the King. + +"My friend," began Totila, "the gracious God of Heaven has endowed me +richly. I have won back a kingdom which was half-lost; shall I not be +able to win back the half-lost heart of a friend? And it was to this +friend's efforts that most of my success was owing; he must now help me +to regain my friend. What has estranged thee from me? Forgive me if I, +or my good fortune, has offended thee. I know to whom I owe my crown; +but I cannot wear it with gladness if only thy sword and not thy heart +be mine. We were once friends, Teja; oh! let us be so again, for I miss +thee sorely!" + +And he would have embraced Teja, but the latter caught both his hands +and pressed them to his heart. + +"This evening's walk honours thee more than thy victorious march +through Italy! The tear which I see glittering in thine eye is worth +more than the richest pearl upon thy crown. Forgive thou me; I have +been unjust. The gifts of fortune and thy careless joy have not +corrupted thy heart. I have never been angered against thee; I have +ever loved thee, and it was with sorrow that I saw our paths in life +diverge; for, in truth, thou art more congenial to me, nearer than thou +ever wert to the brave Witichis, or even to thine own brother." + +"Yes," said Adalgoth; "you two complete each other like light and +shade." + +"Our natures are, indeed, equally emotional and fiery," said the King. + +"If Witichis and Hildebad," continued Teja, "went the straight way with +a steady pace, we two were borne, by our impatient enthusiasm, as if on +wings. And being so congenial, though so different, it pains me that, +in thy sunny bliss, thou seemest to think that any one who cannot laugh +like thee is a sick fool! Oh, my King and friend! whoever has once +experienced certain trials and woes, and conceived certain thoughts, +has for ever lost the sweet art of laughter!" + +Totila, filled with a deep sense of Teja's worth, answered: + +"Whoever has fulfilled life's noblest duties with a heroism equal to +thine, my Teja, may be pitied, but not blamed, if he proudly scorns +life's light pleasures." + +"And thou couldst think that I was envious of thy good fortune or thy +cheerful humour? O Totila! it is not with envy, but with deep, deep +sadness that I observe thee and thy hopefulness. As a child may excite +our sadness who believes that sunshine, spring-time, and life endure +for ever; who knows neither night, winter, nor death! Thou trustest +that success and happiness will be the reward of the cheerful-hearted; +but I for ever hear the flapping of the wings of Fate, who, deaf and +merciless to curses, prayers, or thanks, sweeps high above the heads of +poor mortals and their futile works." + +He ceased, and looked out into the darkness, as if he saw the shadow of +the coming future. + +"Yes, yes," said the young cup-bearer, "that reminds me of an old adage +which Iffa sang in the mountain, and which means something like that; +he had learnt it from Uncle Wargs: + + "'Good fortune or bad + Is not the world's aim; + That is but vain folly, + Imagined by men. + On the earth is fulfilled + A Will everlasting. + Obedience, defiance-- + They serve it alike.' + +"But," he continued thoughtfully, "if, with all our exertions, we can +never alter the inevitable, why do we move our hands at all? Why do we +not wait for what shall come in dull inaction? In what lies the +difference between hero and coward?" + +"It does not lie in victory, my Adalgoth, but in the kind of strife or +endurance! Not justice, but necessity decides the fate of nations. +Often enough has the better man, the nobler race, succumbed to the +meaner. 'Tis true that generosity and nobility of mind are in +themselves a power. But they are not always able to defy other and +ignoble powers. Noble-mindedness, generosity, and heroism can always +consecrate and glorify a downfall, but not always prevent it. And the +only comfort we have is, that it is not _what_ we endure, but _how_ we +endure it, that honours us the most; it is often not the victor, but +the conquered hero, who deserves the crown of laurels." + +The King looked meditatively at the ground, leaning on his sword. + +"How much thou must have suffered, friend," he then said warmly, +"before thou couldst embrace such a dark error! Thou hast lost thy God +in heaven! For me, that would be worse than to lose the sun in the +sky--I should feel as if blinded. I could not breathe if I could not +believe in a just God, who looks down from His heavenly throne upon the +deeds of men, and makes the good cause to triumph!" + +"And King Witichis?" asked Teja; "what evil had he done? that man +without spot or blemish! And I myself, and----" + +He suddenly became silent. + +"Thy life has been a mystery to me since our early youth----" + +"Enough for the present," said Teja. "I have this evening revealed more +of my inmost heart than in many a long year. The time will surely come +when I may unfold to thee my life and my thoughts. I should not like," +he continued, turning to Adalgoth, and stroking his shining locks, "to +dim too soon the bright harp-strings of the youngest and best singer of +our nation." + +"As thou wilt," said the King, rising. "To me thy sorrow is sacred. +But, I pray thee, let us cherish our refound friendship. To-morrow I go +to Taginae, to my bride. Accompany me--that is, if it does not pain thee +to see me happy with a Roman woman." + +"Oh no--it touches me--it reminds me of---- I will go with thee!" + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +Soon after this conversation, the King, Earl Teja, Adalgoth, and a +numerous suite, arrived at the small town of Taginae, above which, on a +precipitous and thickly-wooded height, stood the cloister founded by +Valerius, in which Valeria still continued to reside. + +For her the place had lost all its terrors. She had become used to it, +not only physically but morally. Slowly but surely, her reluctant soul +was influenced by the grave authority of the sacred precincts. + +The King met her in the cloister garden, and it seemed to him that her +complexion was much paler, her step slower, than usual. + +"What ails you, Valeria?" he asked tenderly. "When our vow seemed past +fulfilment, you were still full of hope and courage. Now, when your +lover wears the crown of this realm, and the foot of the enemy treads +the sacred soil of Italia in scarcely more than one city, will you sink +and despair?" + +"Not despair, friend," said Valeria gravely, "but renounce. No, no! +be patient and hear me. Why do you hide from me what all Italia +knows--what your people wish? The King of the Ostrogoths at Toletum has +offered you his alliance against Byzantium, and the hand of his +daughter. Your people expect and wish you to accept both these offers. +I will not be more selfish than was that high-minded daughter of your +nation, Rauthgundis, of whom your minstrels already sing. And I know +that you are as capable of sacrifice as the simple-minded man who was +your unfortunate King." + +"I hope that I should be so, if necessary. But happily there is no need +of sacrifice. I do not want the help of the Ostrogoth. Look around, or +rather, look beyond these convent walls. Never has the kingdom +flourished as it does now. Once again I will offer to make peace with +the Emperor. If he still refuse, a war will break out such as he has +never seen. Ravenna will soon fell. Truly, my power and my courage are +not reduced to the point of renunciation! The air of this cloister has +at length enervated your steadfast mind. You must leave this place. +Choose the most lovely of all Italian cities for your residence. Let us +rebuild your father's house in Neapolis." + +"No. Leave me here. I have learned to love this quiet place." + +"It is the quiet of the grave! And you know well that to renounce you +would be to renounce the ideal of my life. You are the living symbol +of all my plans; you are to me Italia herself! You must become +mine--wholly, irrevocably mine. Goths and Italians shall take their +King and Queen for a pattern; they shall become as united and happy as +we. No--no objections--no more doubts! Thus I smother them!" and he +passionately embraced her. + + +A few days later Julius Montanus arrived, coming from Genoa and +Urbinum. + +The King and his retinue went to meet him outside the cloister gates. + +The two friends embraced each other tenderly; for some time they were +incapable of speaking. + +Teja stood near and gravely observed them. + +"Sir," whispered Adalgoth, "who is the man with the deep-set eyes? a +monk?" + +"In his heart he is; but not outwardly." + +"Such a young man with such an old look! Dost thou know whom he +resembles? That picture in the cloisters on the golden background." + +"It is true; he is like that gentle and sorrowful head of the Apostle +John." + +"Your letter," Julius said to Totila, "found me already resolved to +come here." + +"You were about to seek me--or Valeria?" + +"No, Totila. I came to be examined and accepted by Cassiodorus. +Benedict of Nursia, who fills our century with the fame of his +miracles, has founded an order which powerfully attracts me." + +"Julius, you must not do that! What spirit of flying from the world has +seized upon my companions? Valeria, you, and Teja!" + +"I fly from nothing," said Julius, "not even from the world." + +"How," continued the King, taking his friend by the arm, and leading +him towards the cloister, "how come you, in the bloom of your manhood, +to think of this moral suicide? Look, there comes Valeria. She must +help me to convince you. Ah, if you had ever loved, you would not turn +your back upon the world." + +Julius smiled, but made no reply. He quietly clasped Valeria's offered +hand, and followed her into the cloister, where Cassiodorus came to +meet them. + +Thanks to the King's eloquence, he was able to induce his friend to +promise that he would accompany the aged Cassiodorus to Byzantium in a +few days. Julius at first shunned the glitter, the noise, and the +wickedness of the Emperor's court, until at last Cassiodorus' example +and Totila's persuasions overcame his scruples. + +"I think," the King said, "that more pious works can be accomplished in +the world than in the cloister. _This_ embassy is such a pious work; a +work which is to save two nations from the horrors of renewed warfare." + +"Certainly," said Julius, "a king and a hero can serve God as well as a +monk. I do not blame your manner of service--leave mine to me. It seems +to me that in the time in which we live, when an ancient world is +sinking amid much terror, and a new one arises amid wild storms; when +all the vices of a degenerated heathenism are mixed with the wildness +of a barbarous race; when luxury, brute force, and the lusts of the +flesh fill East and West, I think it is well done to found a sanctuary +apart from the world, where poverty, purity, and humble-mindedness can +dwell in peace." + +"But to me," said Totila, "it seems that splendour, the happiness of +honest love, and cheerful pride, are no sin before the God of Heaven! +What thinkest thou of our dispute, friend Teja?" + +"It has no meaning for me," answered Teja quietly, "for your God is not +my God. But let us not speak of that, for here comes Valeria." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +One evening, the same on which Adalgoth had arrived with the King at +Taginal, Gotho, the shepherdess, stood in the sunset light upon the +southern declivity of the Iffinger, leaning upon her staff. + +Round her gambolled and grazed her flock of sheep and lambs, and +gradually gathered close round their mistress, eagerly expecting to be +led to the sheepfold. + +But they waited and bleated in vain, for the pretty maiden bent over +the mossy stones on the edge of the clear mountain brook. Heaped up in +her leather apron lay the lovely scented flowers of the mountain: +thyme, wild-rose, mint--which grew on the moist edges of the brook--and +the dark blue enzian. + +Gotho murmured and spoke to herself, to the flowers, and to the running +stream, throwing the flowers into the water, sometimes singly, +sometimes in little sprays or unfinished wreaths. + +"How many," said the girl, as she tossed her thick yellow braids over +her shoulder, "how many of you have I sent away to greet him! For he +has gone to the south, and the water runs there too. But I know not if +you give my greeting, for he has never yet come home. But you, as you +rise and sink in the dance of the ripples, you beckon me to follow you. +Ah! if I could! or follow the little fish which dart down the stream +like dark arrows! Or the swift mountain swallows that skim through the +air as free as thought! Or the rosy-winged evening clouds, when the +mountain wind drives them southwards! But most surely of all would the +heart of the seeker herself find him, could she but leave the mountain, +and follow him to the distant and sunny land. But what should I do down +there? A shepherdess amongst the warriors or the wise court-ladies! And +I shall certainly see him again, as surely as I shall again see the +sun, although it sinks behind yonder mountains. It is sure to come +again, and yet! all the time between its parting ray and its morning +greeting is filled with longing!" + +From the house there suddenly sounded a far-reaching tone, a blast upon +the twisted ram's horn. Gotho looked up; it had become darker; she +could see the red fire upon the hearth glimmer through the open door. +The sheep answered the well-known sound with louder bleatings, +stretching their necks in the direction of the house and the stalls. +The brown and shaggy sheep-dog sprang upon Gotho, as if to remind her +that it was time to go home. + +"I will go directly," she said, smiling, and stroking the dog's head. +"Ah! the sheep are sooner tired of their pasture than the shepherdess +of her thoughts! Now, forwards, White Elf, thou art already become a +great fat sheep!" + +She went down the hill towards the little hollow between two mountain +summits, where the house and stalls found protection from the wind and +the avalanches. There the last rays of the sun dazzled her no more. The +stars were already visible. Gotho looked up at the sky. + +"They are so beautiful, because _he_ has looked at them so often!" + +A shooting-star fell to the south. + +"He calls me! Thither!" cried Gotho, slightly trembling. + +She now drove the sheep more quickly forward, and presently shut +them into their cot, and entered the large and only chamber of the +ground-floor of the dwelling-house. + +There she found her grandfather stretched upon the raised stone placed +close to the hearth; his feet covered with two large sheep-skins. + +He looked paler and older than usual. + +"Seat thyself beside me, Gotho," he said, "and drink; here is milk +mixed with honey. Listen to me. The time is come of which I have often +spoken. We must part. I am going home. Thy dear face is indistinct; my +tired old eyes can no longer distinguish thy features. And yesterday +when I tried to go down to the spring, my knees failed me. Then I felt +that the end was near, and I sent the goat-herd over to Teriolis with a +message. But thou shalt not be present when his soul flies out of old +Iffa's mouth. The death of a man is not lovely to behold--especially +death upon the straw-bed. And thou hast never yet seen anything +sorrowful. This shadow shall not fall upon thy young life. To-morrow, +before cockcrow, brave Hunibad will come over from Teriolis to fetch +thee--he has promised me to do so. His wounds are not yet healed; he is +yet weak; but he says that he cannot remain idle when, as they say, the +war will be sure to break out again. He wishes to go to King Totila in +Rome. And there too thou must go with an important message. He shall be +thy guide and protector. Bind thick soles of beech-rind under thy feet, +for the way is long. Brun, the dog, may accompany thee. Take that bag +of goat's leather; in it are six gold pieces which belonged to--to +Adalgoth's--to your father; they are Adalgoth's--but thou mayst use +them--they will last till thou reachest Rome. And take a bundle of +scented mountain hay from the meadows of the Iffinger, and lay thy head +upon it at night; then thou wilt sleep more soundly. And when thou +reachest Rome and the golden palace of the King, and enterest the hall, +observe which of the men wears a golden circlet upon his brow, and from +whose countenance shines a light like that of the morning--that will be +King Totila. Then bow thy head before him--but not too much--and do not +bend thy knee; for thou art a free Goth's free child. Thou must give +the King this roll, which I have carefully kept for many summers. It +comes from Uncle Wargs, who was buried by the mountain." + +The old man lifted a brick from the masonry which separated the hearth +from the floor of stamped clay, and took from a hole a roll of papyrus, +which, tied and sealed, was folded in a piece of parchment covered with +writing and fastened with strange seals. + +"Here," he said, "take the greatest care of this writing. That upon the +parchment cover I myself dictated to Hermegisel over in Majae. He swore +to keep it secret, and he has kept his oath. And now he can speak no +more from out of his grave in the church. And thou and Hunibad--you +cannot read. That is a good thing, for it might be dangerous for thee +and--and another--if any one knew what that roll contains before +Totila, the mild and just King, has read it. Above all, hide it +carefully from the Italians. And in every town to which thou comest, +ask if there dwells Cornelius Cethegus Caesarius, the Prefect of Rome. +And if the door-keepers say aye, then turn upon thy heel, however tired +thou mayst be, and however late the night, or hot the day, and wander +on until thou hast put three several waters between thee and the man +Cethegus. And no less carefully than the writing--thou seest that I +have put rosin, such as drops from the fir-trees, upon it instead of +wax, and I have scratched our house-mark upon the seal, the mark that +our cattle and wagons bear--not less carefully keep this old and costly +gold." + +And he took from the hole the half of a broad gold bracelet, such as +the Gothic heroes wore upon their naked arms. He kissed the bracelet +and the imperfect Runic inscription upon it reverently. + +"This came from Theodoric, the great King, and from him--my dear--son +Wargs. Mark--it belongs to Adalgoth. It is his most valuable +inheritance. The other half of the bracelet--and the half of the +inscription--I gave to the boy when I sent him away. When King Totila +has read the writing, and if Adalgoth is present--as he must be if he +obeys my orders--then call Adalgoth and put half-ring to half-ring, and +ask the King to pronounce a judgment. He is said to be mild and wise +and clear as the light of day. He will judge righteously. If not he, +then no one. Now kiss my darkening eyes, and go and sleep. May the Lord +of heaven and all his clear eyes, sun, moon, and stars, shine upon all +thy ways. When thou hast found Adalgoth, and when thou dwellest with +him in the little rooms of the close houses in the narrow streets of +the city, and when it feels too small and close and narrow down +there--then both of you think of your childish days up here upon the +high Iffinger, and once again the fresh mountain air will seem to blow +across your heated brows." + +Silently, without objection, without fear, without a question, the +shepherd-girl listened and obeyed. + +"Farewell, grandfather!" she said, kissing him upon his eyes; "I thank +thee for much love and faithfulness." + +But she did not weep. + +She knew not what death was. + +She went away from him to the threshold of the door, and looked out at +the mountain landscape, which now appeared dark and melancholy. The sky +was clear, the summits of the mountains shone in the moonlight. + +"Farewell!" said Gotho; "farewell, thou Iffinger! and thou, +Wolf's-head! and thou, old Giant! and thou, running below, +bright-shining Passara! Do you know it already? To-morrow I leave you +all. But I go willingly, for I go to _him_!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +After the lapse of many weeks, Cassiodorus and Julius returned from +Byzantium, bringing--no peace. + +On landing, Cassiodorus, weary of the world and its ways, retired at +once to Brundusium, to his Apulian cloister, leaving Julius to report +their ill-success to the King in Rome. + +Totila received his friend in the Capitol, in the presence of the +leaders of the army. + +"At first," related Julius, "our prospects were sufficiently +favourable. The Emperor, who had formerly refused to receive the +ambassadors of Witichis, could not shut his palace doors in the face of +the most learned man of the West, the pious and wise Cassiodorus. We +were received with kindness and respect. In the council held by the +Emperor, men of distinction, such as Tribonianus and Procopius, raised +their voices in favour of peace. The Emperor himself seemed inclined +thereto. His two great generals, Narses and Belisarius, were fighting, +at different points of the south-eastern frontier of the Empire, +against Persians and Saracens; and the campaign in Italy and Dalmatia +had demanded such great sacrifices, and had lasted so long, that war +with the Goths had become hateful to the Emperor. It was indeed not +likely that he would entirely renounce the hope of reconquering Italy, +but he saw the impossibility of doing so at present. He therefore +willingly entered into negotiations of peace, and accepted our +proposals for further consideration. His first thought was, as he told +us, to bring about a provisional division of the peninsula; the far +larger portion of the country, to the south of the Padus, to belong to +the Emperor, the northern half to the Goths. One day at noon, we had +left the Emperor's presence with great hopes; the audience had turned +out more favourably than all former ones. But in the evening of the +same day we were surprised by the arrival of the Curo-palata Marcellus, +accompanied by slaves carrying the gifts which it is customary to +present to parting guests--a not-to-be-mistaken sign that all +negotiations were broken off. Confounded at this sudden change, +Cassiodorus decided, for the sake of his work of peace, to dare the +utmost--namely, to seek an audience of the Emperor after the +presentation of the parting gifts. Tribonianus, who had always opposed +the war, and who highly esteemed Cassiodorus, allowed himself to be +prevailed upon to sue for this extraordinary grace. The answer came in +a very ungracious threat of banishment should he ever again venture to +petition for anything against the clearly-expressed will of the +Emperor, Never, never would the Emperor conclude peace with the +barbarians, until they had entirely evacuated the kingdom. Never would +he look upon the Goths in Italy as anything but enemies. In vain we +tried," Julius continued, "to discover the cause of this sudden change. +We only learned that, after our last audience, the Empress, who is said +to be often suffering, had invited her husband to dinner in her +apartments. But it is certain that the Empress, formerly known to be +the most zealous advocate of war, has lately given her voice in favour +of peace." + +"And what," asked the King, who had listened quietly, and with an +expression of countenance more threatening than anxious--"what +has procured me the honour of such a change of sentiment in the +circus-girl?" + +"It is whispered that, becoming more and more anxious for the salvation +of her soul, the Empress desires to use all pecuniary means--not for a +war, the end of which she scarcely expects to outlive--but upon the +erection of churches, and especially for the completion of the church +of St. Sophia. It is said that she wishes to be buried with the plan of +this church imprinted upon her bosom." + +"No doubt as a shield against the anger of the Almighty, at the +resurrection of the dead! The woman thinks to disarm her God with her +hundred churches, and to bribe Him with the sums expended. What madness +this belief engenders!" murmured Teja. + +"We could discover nothing," repeated Julius; "for I cannot think the +shadow of suspicion which crossed my mind, perhaps the shadow of a +mistake, of any moment." + +"What was that?" inquired Totila. + +"That evening, as I left the palace at a late hour, thinking over +Tribonianus's unfavourable report, the golden litter of the Empress was +carried past me by her Cappadocian slaves from the quadrangle of the +garden where stands the Empress's palace. The trellised shutter was +lifted a little by the inmate of the litter--I looked up--and it seemed +to me as if I recognised----" + +"Well?" asked the King. + +"My unhappy protector, the vanished Cethegus," concluded Julius sadly. + +"That can scarcely be," said the King. "He fell when Rome was taken. It +was surely a mistake when Teja thought he heard his voice in his +house." + +"_I_ mistake that voice!" cried Teja. "And what meant his sword, which +Adalgoth found at the corner of the street?" + +"He may have lost it earlier, when he hurried to the Tiber from his +house. I distinctly saw him conduct the defence of the chain from his +boat. He hurled his spear at me with all the force and steadiness lent +by intense hatred. And I struck him, I am sure, when I cast the spear +back again. And Gunthamund, that excellent shot, told me that he was +certain that he wounded the Prefect in the neck. His mantle with the +purple hem was found by the river, pierced by many arrows and covered +with blood." + +"No doubt he died there," Julius said, very gravely. + +"Are you such good Christians, and do not know that demons are +immortal?" asked Teja. + +"They may be," said the King, "but so are angels!" and, with a frown on +his brow, he continued: "Up, my brave Teja! now there is new work for +thy sword. Hear it, Duke Guntharis, Wisand, Grippa, Markja, Thorismuth, +and Aligern--I shall soon have enough to do for you all. You have heard +that Emperor Justinian refuses to make peace, and will not leave us in +quiet possession of Italy. It is evident that he considers us inclined +to peace at any cost. He thinks it can never hurt him to have us for +enemies; that in the worst case we shall quietly await his attack in +Italy; that Byzantium will always be able to choose the moment, +repeating it until successful. Well--we will show him that we can +become dangerous! That it might be wiser to leave us Italy, and not +irritate us! He will not let us enjoy our kingdom? Then, as in the +days of Alaric and Theodoric, he shall again see the Goths in his +own country! At present only this--for secrecy is the mother of +victory--we will reach the heart of the Eastern Empire as we once +reached Rome--on canvas wings and wooden bridges.--Now, Justinianus, +protect thine own hearth-stone!" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +Soon after the Emperor's refusal of the proposals of the Goths had +arrived in Rome, we find--in the dining-room of a simple but +tastefully-built and furnished house upon the Forum Strategii at +Byzantium, which, close to the incomparable shore of the Golden +Horn, affords a view of the Straits and of the splendid suburb +"Justiniana"--two men engaged in confidential talk. + +The master of the house was our old--and, we hope, not +unloved--acquaintance Procopius, who now lived much respected as a +senator in Byzantium. + +He zealously attended to the wants of his guest, but in doing so used +his left hand. His right arm ended in a covered stump. + +"Yes," he was saying, "at every moment I am reminded by my missing hand +of a folly. I do not, however, repent it. I should do the same thing +again even if it cost me my eyesight. It was a folly of the heart, and +to be capable of that is the greatest happiness. I have never been able +really to love a woman. My only love was and is--Belisarius! I know +very well--you need not draw down the corners of your mouth so +contemptuously, friend--I see very clearly the weaknesses and +imperfections of my hero. But that is exactly what is sweet in a +heart-folly--to love the foibles of your idol more than the merits of +other people. And so--to cut my story short--it was during the last +Persian war that, one day, I warned the lion-hearted general not to +ride through a dangerous wood with a scanty escort. Of course he did it +all the more, the dear fool; and of course Procopius, the wise fool, +rode with him. All happened just as I had expected. The whole wood was +suddenly filled with Persians. It seemed as if the wind had shaken the +withered leaves from the trees, and every leaf was an axe or a spear. +It was very like the ambush before the Tiburtinian Gate. Balan, the +faithful piebald, bore his master for the last time. Stuck full of +spears, he fell dead to the ground. I assisted the hero to mount my own +horse. But a Persian prince, who was almost as tall as his name was +long--the pleasant fellow was called Adrastaransalanes--aimed a blow at +the magister militum which, in my hurry, I received upon my right +arm--for my shield was occupied in protecting Belisarius against a +Saracen. The blow was well meant; if it had reached my hero's helmless +head, it would have cracked it like a nutshell. As it was, it only cut +off my fore-arm as if it had never been part of my body." + + +"Of course Belisarius escaped, and of course Procopius was taken +prisoner," said the guest, shaking his head. + +"Quite right, you commander of perspicacity, as my friend +Adrastaransalanes would call you. But the same man with his long body, +scimitar, and name--you will not insist upon my repeating it--was so +moved by my 'elephantine magnanimity,' as he expressed himself, that he +very soon set me free without ransom. He only begged for a ring which +had been on the finger of my former right hand: as a remembrance, he +said. Since then it is all over with my campaigns," added Procopius +more gravely. "But in this loss of my pen-hand I see a punishment. I +have written with it many a useless or not perfectly sincere word. +However, if a like punishment overtook all the writers of Byzantium, +there would soon be not a two-handed man left who could write. Writing +is now a much slower and more difficult process with me. But that is +good, for then, at every word one considers whether it is worth the +trouble of inscribing or whether one is justified in doing so." + +"I have read with true enjoyment," said the guest, "your 'Vandal Wars,' +your 'Persian Wars,' and, as far as it goes, the 'Gothic War.' When +recovering from my hurt, it was my favourite book. But I am surprised +that you were not sent to the Ult-ziagirian Huns and the mines of +Cherson to keep our friend Petros company. If Justinian so severely +punishes the forgery of documents--how harshly must he punish veracity +in history! And you have so mercilessly scourged his indecision, his +avarice, his mistakes in the choice of generals and officers--I wonder +that you go unpunished." + +"Oh, I have not escaped punishment," said the historian gravely. "He +left me my head: but he tried to rob me of my honour; and _she_ still +more, the beautiful demon. For I had hinted that Justinian was tied to +her apron-string. And she as passionately tries to hide her dominion +as to uphold it. When my book was published, she called me to her. +When I entered her apartment, and saw those pages upon her lap, I +thought--Adrastaransalanes took off the hand that wrote; this woman +will take off the head that thought. But she contented herself with +giving me her little golden shoe to kiss; smiled very sweetly, and +said, 'You write Greek better than any other author of our day, +Procopius. So beautifully and so truly! I have been advised to sink you +to the dumb fishes in the Bosphorus. But the man who so well told the +truth when it was bitter to us, will also tell the truth when it is +sweet to our ears. The greatest censurer of Justinian shall be his +greatest panegyrist. Your punishment for the book upon Justinian's +warlike deeds--shall be a book upon Justinian's peaceful deeds. You +will write by the imperial order a book upon the edifices erected by +the Emperor. You cannot deny that he has done great things in that +line. If you were a better jurist than your camp-life with the great +Belisarius has, unfortunately, allowed you to become--you should +describe the Emperor's great piece of mosaic--his pandects. But for +that your legal education is not complete enough' (and she was right!). +'Therefore you will describe the edifices of Justinian; and you +yourself will be a living monument of his generosity. For you must +confess that, for far less heinous offences, many an author under +former Emperors has lost eyes, nose, and other things that it is +disagreeable to miss. No Emperor has ever allowed such things to be +said of him, and, moreover, rewarded candour with new commissions. But +if the edifices of Justinian were to displease you, then indeed I fear +you would not long outlive your want of taste--the gods would punish +such ingratitude with a speedy death. See, I have procured this reward +for you--for Justinian would have made you senator--so that you may +be right in your assertion that Theodora possesses a pernicious and +all-commanding influence!' Another kiss of her foot; of which she took +advantage playfully to strike me on the mouth with her shoe. I had made +my will before going to this audience. You now see how this demon in a +woman's form revenges herself upon me! One really cannot censure the +edifices erected by Justinian: one can only be silent--or praise them. +If I remain silent, it will cost me my life. If I speak and do not +praise, it will cost my life and my veracity. Therefore I must either +praise or die. And I am weak enough," concluded Procopius with a sigh, +"to prefer to praise and live." + +"You have consumed so much Thucydides and Tacitus, dry or liquid," said +the guest, filling the glasses, "and yet have become neither a +Thucydides nor a Tacitus!" + +"I would rather let my long-named friend cut off my left hand also than +write about these buildings." + +"Keep your hand. But, after the public panegyric on the buildings, +write a secret history of the shameful deeds of Justinian and +Theodora." + +Procopius sprang from his seat. + +"That would be devilish, but grand! The advice is worthy of you, +friend. For that you shall have one of the nine muses of Herodotus from +my cellar--my oldest, dearest, most excellent wine. Oh! this secret +history shall excite astonishment! The only pity is that I cannot +relate the most filthy and most murderous deeds. I should die of +disgust. And that which I can write will be always looked upon as +immensely exaggerated. And what will posterity say of Procopius, who +left a panegyric, a criticism, and an accusation--one and all on +Justinian?" + +"Posterity will say that he was the greatest historian, but also the +son and the victim, of the Empire of Byzantium. Revenge yourself; she +has left you your clever head and your left hand. Well, your left hand +need not know what your right hand formerly wrote. Draw the picture of +this Empress and her husband for all future generations. Then _they_ +will not have conquered with their buildings, but _you_ with your +secret history. They would have punished limited candour; you will +punish them by an unlimited revelation of the truth. Every one revenges +himself with his own weapons--the bull with his horns, the warrior with +his sword, the author by his pen." + +"Particularly," said Procopius, "when he has only his left hand. I +thank you, and will follow your advice, Cethegus. I will write the +'Secret History' in revenge for the 'Edifices.' But now it is your turn +to tell your story. I know the progress of events, through letters and +the report of fugitives from Rome, or legionaries set free by Totila, +until the time when you were last seen in your house, or, as they say, +were last heard. Now relate what happened afterwards, you Prefect +without a city!" + +"Immediately," said Cethegus. "But tell me first, how did Belisarius +succeed in the last Persian war?" + +"As usual. You should not need to ask such a question! He had really +beaten the enemy, and was on the point of forcing the Persian King, +Chosroes, the son of Kabades, to conclude a lasting peace. Just then +Areobindos, the Prince of Purple Snails, appeared in the camp with the +announcement of an armistice of half a year's duration, granted, +unknown to Belisarius, by Byzantium. Justinian had long ago entered +into secret negotiations with Chosroes; he needed money; he again +pretended to mistrust Belisarius, and let the Persian King escape for a +hundred tons of gold, just as we were about to draw the net over him. +Narses was wiser. When the Prince of Purple Snails came to him, on the +Saracen side of the scene of war, he declared that the ambassador must +be either a forger or a madman, took him prisoner, and continued the +war until he had completely vanquished the Saracens. Then he sent the +imperial ambassador back with an excuse to Byzantium. But the best +excuse was the keys and treasures of seventy forts and towns which he +had wrested from the enemy during the armistice, which Belisarius had +respected." + +"This Narses is----" + +"The greatest man of our time," said Procopius, "the Prefect of Rome not +excepted; for he does not, like the latter, wish for impossibilities. +But we--that is, Belisarius and the cripple Procopius--always growling +and grumbling, yet always as faithful as a poodle-dog, and never taught +by experience, kept the armistice, gnashed our teeth, and returned to +Byzantium. And now we wait for new commissions, laurels, and kicks. +Fortunately, Antonina has renounced her inclination for the flowers and +verses of other men, and so the couple--the lion and the dove--live +very happily together here in Byzantium. Belisarius, day and night, +naturally thinks of nothing but how he can again prove his heroism and +devotion to his imperial master. Justinian is his folly, as Belisarius +is mine. But now for your story." + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + +Cethegus took a deep draught from the cup which stood before him, which +was made of chased gold and shaped like a tower. + +He was considerably changed since that last night in Rome. The wrinkles +on his temples were more sharply defined; his lip more firmly closed; +his under-lip protruded still farther than before; and the ironical +smile, which used to make him look younger and handsomer, very rarely +played round the corners of his mouth. His eyes were generally half +shut; only sometimes did he raise the lids to dart a glance, which, +always dreaded by those upon whom it fell, now appeared more cruel and +piercing than ever. + +He seemed to have become, not older, but harsher, more inexorable, and +more merciless. + +"You know," he began, "all that happened until the fall of Rome. In one +night I lost the city, the Capitol, my house, and my Caesar! The crash +of the fall of that image pained me more than the arrows of the Goths, +or even of the Romans. As I was about to punish the destroyer of my +Caesar, my senses forsook me. I fell at the foot of the statue of +Jupiter. I was restored to my senses by the cool breeze that blows over +the Tiber, and which once before, twenty years ago, had restored a +wounded man." + +He paused. + +"Of that another time, perhaps--perhaps never," he said, hastily +cutting short a question from his host. "This time Lucius Licinius--his +brother died for Rome and for me--and the faithful Moor, who had +escaped the Black Earl as if by miracle, saved my life. Cast out of the +front entrance by Teja--who, in his eagerness to murder the master, had +no time to murder the slave--Syphax hurried to the back-door. There he +met Lucius Licinius, who had only just then reached my house by a +side-street. Together they followed the trace of my blood to the hall +of the Jupiter. There they found me senseless, and had just time to +lower me from the window, like a piece of baggage, into the court. +Syphax jumped down and received me from the hands of the tribune, who +then quickly followed, and they hurried with me to the river. + +"There very few people were to be seen, for all the Goths and friendly +Romans had followed the King to the Capitol to help to extinguish the +flames. Totila had expressly ordered--I hope to his destruction!--that +all non-combatants should be spared and left unmolested. So my bearers +were allowed to pass everywhere. It was thought that they carried a +dead man. And they themselves, for some time, thought so too. In the +river they found an empty fishing-boat full of nets. They laid me in +it. Syphax threw my bloody mantle, with the purple hem of the 'princeps +senatus,' upon the shore, in order to mislead my enemies. They covered +me with sail-cloth and nets, and rowed down the river, through the +still burning boats. When we had passed them, I came to myself. Syphax +bathed my face with the water of the Tiber. My first glance fell on the +still burning Capitol. They told me that my first exclamation was, +'Turn back! the Capitol!' And they were obliged to keep me quiet by +force. My first clear thought was naturally: 'To return; to take +revenge; to re-conquer Rome.' In the harbour of Portus we met with an +Italian ship laden with grain. There were seven rowers in it. My +companions approached it to beg for wine and bread, for they also were +wounded and exhausted. The rowers recognised me. One of them wanted to +take me prisoner and deliver me up to the Goths, sure of a rich reward. +But the other six had served under me at the Mausoleum. I had nourished +them for years. They slew the man who wanted to betray me, and promised +Lucius that they would save me if it were possible. They hid me in +heaps of grain while we passed the Gothic guardships which watched at +the entrance of the harbour, Lucius and Syphax put on the dress of +sailors, and rowed with the others. Thus we escaped. But while on board +this vessel I was dangerously ill from my wounds. Only the ceaseless +care of Syphax and the sea-air saved me. For days, they say, I only +reiterated the words, 'Rome, Capitol, Caesar!' When we landed at +Panormus, in Sicily, under the protection of the Byzantines, I rapidly +recovered. My old friend Cyprianus, who had admitted me into +Theodoric's palace when I was made Prefect, received me at Panormus as +captain of the harbour. Scarcely recovered, I went to Asia Minor--or, +as you say, Asiana--to my estates; you know that I had splendid +possessions at Sardes, Philadelphia, and Tralles----" + +"You have them no longer--the columned villas?" + +"I sold them all, for I was obliged at once to find the means of +engaging fresh mercenaries, in order to liberate Rome and Italy." + + +"Tenax propositi!" cried Procopius, amazed. "You have not, even now, +given up hope?" + +"Can I give up myself? I have sent Licinius to enlist a wild and savage +race, the Longobardians." + +"God protect your Italy if _they_ ever set foot in it." + +"I have also succeeded in winning the Empress to my cause, and by her +means the propositions of peace made by Cassiodorus were refused at the +last moment. For Rome must be freed from the barbarians! But when shall +I find means to move this lazy colossus, Justinian? When will fate call +me to my battle-field--Italia?" + +At this moment Syphax entered the room. He brought Cethegus a message +from the Empress. It ran: + +"To the Jupiter of the Capitol. Do not leave your house to-morrow until +I call you.--Theodora." + + +On the next day the Emperor Justinian was standing buried in deep +reflection before the tall golden crucifix in his room. The expression +of his face was very grave, but without a trace of alarm or doubt. +Quiet decision lay upon his features, which, else not handsome or +noble, at this moment betrayed mental power and superiority. He lifted +his eyes almost threateningly to the crucifix. + +"God of the Cross," he said, "Thou puttest Thy faithful servant to a +hard proof! It seems to me that I have deserved better. Thou knowest +all that I have done to the honour of Thy name! Why do not Thy strokes +fall upon Thine enemies, the heathens and barbarians? Why not?" + +He was interrupted in his soliloquy by the entrance of the chamberlains +and wardrobe-keepers. + +Justinian exchanged his morning garment for the robes of state. His +slaves served him upon their knees. + +He apparelled himself in a tunic of white silk, reaching to the knees, +embroidered with gold on both sides, and confined by a purple girdle. +The tightly-fitting hose were also of silk of the same colour. His +slaves threw over his shoulders a splendid mantle of a lighter shade of +purple, with a broad hem of gold thread, upon which red circles and +symbolic animal-forms, embroidered in green silk, alternated with each +other. But the pearls and precious stones which were lavishly strewed +over it, rendered the design almost invisible, and made the mantle so +heavy, that the assistance of the train-bearer must have been indeed a +welcome relief. + +On each of his arms the Emperor wore three broad golden bracelets. The +wide crown was made of massive gold, arched over with two rows of +pearls. His mantle was fastened on the shoulder with a costly brooch of +large precious stones. + +The sceptre-keeper put into the Emperor's hand a golden staff the +length of a man, at the top of which was a globe made out of a single +large emerald, and surmounted with a golden cross. + +The Emperor grasped it firmly and rose from his seat. + +A slave offered him the thick-soled buskins which he usually wore, in +order to increase his height. + +"No; to-day I need no buskins," said Justinian, and left the room. + +Down the Stairs of the Lions, so called from the twenty-four immense +marble lions which guarded the twelve steps, and which had been brought +from Carthage by Belisarius, the Emperor descended to a lower story, +and entered the Hall of Jerusalem. + +This hall derived its name from the porphyry columns, the onyx vases, +the golden tables and the numerous golden vessels which, arranged on +pedestals and along the walls, were said to have formerly decorated the +Temple of Jerusalem. These treasures had been taken to Rome by Titus, +after the destruction of Jerusalem. From Rome the Sea-king Geiseric had +taken them on his dragon-ships, together with the Empress Eudoxia, to +his capital, Carthage. And now Belisarius had brought them from +Carthage to the Emperor of the East. + +The cupola of the hall, representing the firmament, was wrought in +mosaic. Costly blue stones formed the ground-work, in which was inlaid, +besides the sun, the moon, the eye of God, the lamb, the fish, the +birds, the palm, the vine, the unicorn, and many other symbols of +Christianity, the whole zodiac and innumerable stars of massive gold. + +The cost of the cupola alone was estimated as high as the whole income +of the taxes on property in all the Empire for forty-five years. + +Opposite the three great arches of the entrance, which were closed by +curtains--it was the only entrance to the hall--and were guarded +outside by a threefold line of imperial body-guards--the "Golden +Shields"--stood, at the bottom of the semicircular hall, the elevated +throne of the Emperor, and below it on the left the seat of the +Empress. + +When Justinian entered the hall with a numerous retinue of palace +officials, all the assembly, consisting of the highest dignitaries of +the realm, threw themselves upon their faces in humble prostration. + +The Empress also rose, bowed deeply, and crossed her arms upon her +bosom. Her dress was exactly similar to that of her husband. Her white +stola was also covered by a purple mantle, but without hem. She carried +a very short sceptre of ivory. + +The Emperor cast a slight but contemptuous glance at the patriarchs, +archbishops, bishops, patricians and senators, who, above thirty in +number, occupied a row of gilded chairs set in a semicircle and +provided with cushions. He then passed through the middle of the hall +and ascended his throne with a quick firm step. Twelve of the chief +officers of the palace stood upon the steps of the two thrones, holding +white wands in their hands. A blast of trumpets gave the signal to the +kneeling assembly to rise. + +"Reverend bishops and worthy senators," began the Emperor, "we have +called you together, to ask your advice in an affair of great moment. +But why is our Magister Militum per Orientum, Narses, absent?" + +"He returned only yesterday from Persia--he is sick and confined to +bed," answered the usher. + +"Where is our treasurer of the Sacri Palatii, Trebonianus?" + +"He has not yet returned from his embassy to Berytus about the code." + +"Where is Belisarius, our Magister Militum per Orientum extra Ordinem?" + +"He does not reside in Byzantium, but in Asia, in the Red House at +Sycae." + +"He keeps too far apart in the Red House. It displeases us. Why does he +avoid our presence?" + +"He could not be found." + + +"Not even in the house of his freedman, Photius?" + +"He has gone hunting to try the Persian hunting-leopards," said Leo, +the assistant-huntsman. + +"He is never to be found when wanted, and is always present when not +wanted. I am not content with Belisarius.--Hear now what has lately +been communicated to me by letter; afterwards you shall hear the report +of the envoys themselves. You know that we have allowed the war in +Italy to die away--for we had other occupation for our generals. You +know that the barbarian King sued for peace and the quiet possession of +Italy. We rejected it at that time; awaiting more convenient +circumstances. The Goth has answered, not in words, but by very +insolent deeds. No one in Byzantium knows of it--we kept the news to +ourselves, thinking it impossible, or at least exaggerated. But we find +that it is true; and now you shall hear it and advise upon it. The +barbarian King has sent a fleet and an army to Dalmatia with great +haste and secrecy. The fleet entered the harbour of Muicurum near +Salona; the army landed and carried the fortress by storm. In a similar +way the fleet surprised the coast-town of Laureata. Claudianus, our +governor at Salona, sent numerous and strongly-manned vessels to retake +the town from the Goths. But a naval combat took place, and the Goth, +Duke Guntharis, beat our Squadron so thoroughly that he made prizes of +all the vessels without exception, and carried them victoriously into +the harbour of Laureata. Further, the Gothic King equipped a second +fleet of four hundred large ships at Centumcellae. It was formed for the +most part of Byzantine vessels, which, sent from the East to Sicily to +reinforce Belisarius, in ignorance that the Italian harbours were again +in possession of the Goths, had been taken by a Gothic earl, Grippa, +with all their crews and freights. The goal of this second fleet was +unknown. But suddenly the barbarian King himself appeared with the +fleet before Regium, the fortress in the extreme southern part of +Bruttia, which place we had won on our first landing in Italy, and had +not since lost. After a brave resistance, the garrison of Herulians and +Massagetae were forced to capitulate. But the tyrant Totila sailed +immediately to Sicily, to wrest from us that earliest of Belisarius's +conquests. He beat the Roman governor Domnentiolus, who met him in the +open field, and in a short time took possession of the whole island, +with the exception of Messana, Panormus and Syracusae, which were +enabled to hold out by reason of their formidable fortifications. A +fleet which I sent to attempt the reconquest of Sicily was dispersed by +a storm. A second was driven by the north-west wind to the +Peloponnesus. At the same time a third fleet of triremes, equipped by +this indefatigable King and commanded by Earl Haduswinth, sailed for +Corsica and Sardinia. The first of these islands presently fell to the +Goths, after the imperial garrison of the capital city of Alexia had +been beaten before the walls. The rich Corsican Furius Ahalla, to whom +the greater part of the island belongs, was absent in India. But his +stewards and tenants had been ordered, in case of a landing of the +Goths, in nowise to oppose them, but to aid them to the best of their +power. From Corsica the barbarians turned to Sardinia. Here, near +Karalis, they beat the troops which our magister militum had sent from +Africa to conquer the island, and took Karalis as well as Sulci, Castra +Trajani and Turres. The Goths then settled down in both islands and +treated them as permanently-acquired dependencies of the Gothic +kingdom, placing Gothic commanders in all the towns, and raising taxes +according to Gothic law. Strange to say, these taxes are far less heavy +than ours, and the inhabitants shamelessly declare that they would +rather pay the barbarians fifty than ninety to us. But all this was not +enough. Sailing to the north-east from Sicily, the tyrant Totila united +his squadron with a fourth fleet, under Earl Teja, off Hydrus. Part of +this united fleet, under Earl Thorismuth, sailed to Corcyra, took +possession of that island, and thence conquered all the surrounding +islands. But not yet enough. The tyrant Totila and Earl Teja already +attack the mainland of our Empire." + +A murmur of terror interrupted the august speaker. + +Justinian resumed in an angry voice: + +"They have landed in the harbour of Epirus vetus, carried the towns +Nicopolis and Anchisus, south-west of the ancient Dodona, and taken a +great many of our ships along the coast. All this may excite your +indignation against the insolence of these barbarians; but you have now +to hear what will move you in a different way. Briefly, according to +reports which reached me yesterday, it is certain that the Goths are in +full march upon Byzantium itself!" + +At this some of the senators sprang to their feet. + +"They intend a double attack. Their united fleet, commanded by Duke +Guntharis, Earls Markja, Grippa, and Thorismuth, has beaten, in a +combat of two days' duration, the fleet which protected our island +provinces, and has driven it into the straits of Sestos and Abydos. +Their army, under Totila and Teja, is marching across Thessaly by way +of Dodona against Macedonia. Thessalonica is already threatened. Earl +Teja has razed to the ground the 'New Wall' which we had there erected. +The road to Byzantium is open. And no army stands between us and the +barbarians. All our troops are on the Persian frontier. And now listen +to what the Goth proposes. Fortunately God has befooled and blinded him +to our weakness. He again offers us peace under the former conditions, +with the one exception that he now intends to keep possession of +Sicily. But he will evacuate all his other conquests if we will +acknowledge his rule in Italy. As I had no means, neither fleets nor +cohorts, to stop his victorious course, I have, for the present, +demanded an armistice. This he has agreed to, on condition that +afterwards peace is to be concluded on the former conditions. I have +agreed to this----" + +And, pausing, the Emperor cast a searching glance at the assembly, and +looked askance at the Empress. + +The assembly was evidently relieved. The Empress closed her eyes in +order to conceal their expression. Her small hand grasped convulsively +the arm of her throne. + +"But I agreed to it with the reservation that I should first hear the +opinion of my wife, who has lately been an advocate for peace, and that +also of my wise senate. I added that I myself was inclined to peace." + +All present looked more at ease. + +"And I believed that I could tell beforehand what would be the decision +of my counsellors. Upon this understanding, the horsemen of Earl Teja +unwillingly halted at Thessalonica; unfortunately they had already +taken prisoner the bishop of that city. But they have sent him here +with other prisoners, carrying messages and letters--you shall hear +them and then decide. Reflect that if we refuse to conclude a peace, +the barbarians will soon stand before our gates, and that we are only +asked to yield that which the Empire has given up long ago, and which +Belisarius in two campaigns failed to reconquer--Italia! Let the envoys +approach." + +Through the arches of the entrance the body-guard now led in several +men, in clerical, official, and military costume. Trembling and +sighing, they threw themselves at the feet of Justinian. Even tears +were not wanting. + +At a sign from the Emperor they rose again, and stood before the steps +of the throne. + +"Your petitions and lamentations," said the Emperor, "I received +yesterday. Protonotary, now read to us the letter from the Bishop of +Nicopolis and the wounded Governor of Illyricum--since then the latter +has succumbed to his wounds." + +The protonotary read: + +"To Justinianus, the unconquerable Emperor of the Romani, Dorotheos, +Bishop of Nicopolis, and Nazares, Governor of Illyricum. The place +whence we write these words will be the best proof of their gravity. We +write on board the royal barge of the Gothic King, the _Italia_. When +you read these words, you will have already learned the defeat of the +fleet, the loss of the islands, the storming of the 'New Wall,' and the +destruction of the army of Illyricum. Quicker than the messengers and +the fugitives from these battles, have the Gothic pursuers reached us. +The Gothic King has conquered and spared Nicopolis. Earl Teja has +conquered and burnt Anchisus. I, Nazares, have served in the army for +thirty years--and never have I seen such an attack as that in which +Earl Teja overthrew me at the gates of Anchisus. They are irresistible, +these Goths! Their horsemen sweep the country from Thessalonica to +Philippi. The Goths in the heart of Illyricum! That has not been heard +of for sixty years. And the King has sworn to return every year until +he has peace--or Byzantium! Since he won Corcyra and the Sybotes, he +stands upon the bridge of your Empire. Therefore, as God has touched +the heart of this King, as he offers peace at a moderate price--the +price of what he has actually gained--we beseech you, in the name of +your trembling subjects, and of your smoking towns, to conclude a +peace! Save us and save Byzantium! For your generals Belisarius and +Narses will rather be able to stop the course of the sun and the +blowing of the wind, than to stay King Totila and the terrible Teja." + +"They are prisoners," said the Emperor, interrupting the reader; "and +perhaps they speak in fear of death. Now it is your turn to speak, +venerable Bishop of Thessalonica; you, Anatolius, commander of Dodona; +and you, Parmenio, brave captain of the Macedonian lancers. You are +safe here under our imperial protection, but you have seen the +barbarian generals. What do you advise?" + +At this the aged Bishop of Thessalonica again threw himself upon his +knees, and cried: + +"O Emperor of the Romani, the barbarian King, Totila, is a heretic, and +accursed for ever, yet never have I seen a man more richly endowed with +all Christian virtues! Do not strive with him! In the other world he +will be damned for ever, but--I cannot comprehend it--on earth God +blesses all his ways. He is irresistible!" + +"I understand it well," interposed Anatolius. "It is his craft which +wins for him all hearts--the deepest hypocrisy, a power of +dissimulation which outdoes all our much-renowned and defamed Grecian +cunning. The barbarian plays the part of a philanthropist so +excellently, that he almost deceived me, until I reflected that there +was no such thing in the world as the love which this man pretends, +with all the art of a comedian. He acts as if he really felt compassion +for his conquered enemies! He feeds the hungry, he divides the +booty--your tax-money, O Emperor!--amongst the country people, whose +fields have been devastated by the war. Women who had fled into the +woods, and were found by his horsemen, he returns uninjured to their +husbands. He enters the villages to the sound of a harp, played by a +beautiful youth, who leads his horse. Do you know what is the +consequence? Your own subjects, O Emperor of the Romani, rebel to him, +and deliver your officers, who have obeyed your severe laws, into his +hands. The peasants and farmers of Dodona did so by me. This barbarian +is the greatest comedian of the century, and the clever hypocrite +understands many other things besides fighting. He has entered into an +alliance against you with the distant Persians, with your inveterate +enemy Chosroes. We ourselves saw the Persian ambassador ride out of his +camp towards the East." + +When Anatolius had ceased speaking, the Macedonian captain gave his +report, which ran: + +"Ruler of the Romani--since Earl Teja gained the high-road of +Thessalonica, nothing stands between your throne and his battle-axe but +the walls of this city. He who stormed the 'New Wall' eight times in +succession, and carried it at the ninth attempt, will carry the walls +of Byzantium at the tenth. You can only repel the Goths if you have +sevenfold their number. If you have it not, then conclude a peace." + +"Peace! peace! we beseech you, in the name of your trembling provinces +of Epirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia!" + +"Deliver us from the Goths!" + +"Let us not again see the days of Alaric and Theodoric!" + +"Peace with the Goths! Peace! peace!" + +And all the envoys, bishops, officials, and warriors sank upon their +knees with the cry of "Peace!" + +The effect upon the assembly was fearful. + +It had often happened that Persians and Saracens in the east. Moors in +the south, and Bulgarians and Slavonians in the north-west, had made +incursions into the country, slaying and plundering, and had sometimes +beaten the troops sent against them, and escaped unhindered with their +booty. But that Grecian islands should be permanently conquered by the +enemy, that Grecian harbours should be won and governed by barbarians, +and that the high-road to Byzantium should be dominated by Goths, was +unheard of. + +With dismay the senators thought of the days when Gothic ships and +Gothic armies should overrun all the Grecian islands, and repeatedly +storm the walls of Byzantium, only to be stopped by the fulfilment of +all their demands. They already seemed to hear the battle-axe of the +"Black Earl" knocking at their gates. + +Quietly and searchingly did Justinian look into the rows of anxious +faces on his right and on his left. + +"You have heard," he then began, "what Church, State, and Army desire. +I now ask your opinion. We have already accomplished an armistice. +Shall war or shall peace ensue? One word will buy peace--our assent to +the cession of Italy, which is already lost. Whoever among you is in +favour of war, let him hold up his hand." + +No one moved; for the senators were afraid for Byzantium, and they had +no doubt of the Emperor's inclination for peace. + +"My senate unanimously declares for peace. I knew it beforehand," said +Justinian, with a singular smile. "I am accustomed always to follow the +advice of my wise councillors--and of my Empress." + +At this word Theodora started from her seat, and threw her ivory +sceptre from her with such violence, that it flew far across the hall. + +The senators were startled. + +"Then farewell," cried the Empress, "farewell to what has ever been my +pride--my belief in Justinian and his imperial dignity! Farewell all +share in the cares and honours of the state! Alas, Justinian! alas for +you and me that I must hear such words from your lips!" + +And she hid her face in her purple mantle, in order to conceal the +agony which her excitement caused her. + +The Emperor turned towards her. + +"What! the Augusta, my wife, who, since Belisarius returned to +Byzantium for the second time, has always advocated peace--with a short +exception--does she now, in such a time of danger, advise----" + +"War!" cried Theodora, uncovering her face. And, in her intense +earnestness, she looked more beautiful than she ever did when smiling +in playful sport. "Must I, your wife, remind you of your honour? Will +you suffer these barbarians to fix themselves firmly in your Empire, +and force you to their will? You, who dreamt of the re-establishment of +the Empire of Constantine! You, Justinian, who have taken the names of +Persicus, Vandalicus, Alanicus, and Gothicus--you will allow this +Gothic stripling to lead you by the beard whithersoever he will? Are +you not the same Justinian who has been admired by the world, by +Byzantium, and by Theodora? Our admiration was an error!" + +On hearing these words, the Patriarch of Byzantium--he still believed +that the Emperor had irrevocably decided upon peace--took courage to +oppose the Empress, who did not always hit upon the strict definition +of orthodoxy of which he was the representative. + +"What!" he said, "the august lady advises bloody war? Verily, the Holy +Church has no need to plead for the heretic. Notwithstanding, the new +King is wonderfully mild towards the Catholics in Italy; and we can +wait for more favourable times, until----" + +"No, priest!" interrupted Theodora; "the outraged honour of this Empire +can wait no longer! O Justinian!"--he still remained obstinately +silent--"O Justinian, let us not be deceived in you! You dare not let +that be wrung from you by defiance which you refused to humble +petitions! Must I remind you that once before your wife's advice, and +will, and courage, saved your honour? Have you forgotten the terrible +rebellion of the Nika? Have you forgotten how the united parties of the +Circus, of the frantic mob of Byzantium, attacked this house? The +flames arose, and the cry of 'Down with the tyrants!' rang in our ears. +All your councillors advised flight or compliance; all these reverend +bishops and wise senators, and even your generals; for Narses was away +in distant Asia, and Belisarius was shut up by the rebels in the palace +on the shore. All were in despair. Your wife Theodora was the only hero +by your side. If you had yielded or fled, your throne, your life, and +most certainly your honour, would have been lost. You hesitated. You +were inclined to fly. 'Remain, and die if need be,' I then said; 'but +die in the purple!' And you remained, and your courage saved you. You +awaited death upon your throne, with me at your side--and God sent +Belisarius to our relief! I speak the same now. Do not yield. Emperor +of the Romani--do not yield to the barbarians! Stand firm. Let the +ruins of the Golden Gate overwhelm you if the axe of the terrible Goth +can force it; but die an Emperor! This purple is stained by the +immeasurable insolence of these Germans. I throw it from me, and I +swear by the wisdom of God, never will I again resume it until the +Empire is rid of the Goths!" + +And she tore off her mantle and threw it down upon the steps of the +throne. But then, greatly exhausted, she was on the point of sinking +back into her seat when Justinianus caught her in his arms and pressed +her to his bosom. + +"Theodora," he cried, "my glorious wife! You need no purple on your +shoulders--your spirit is clothed in purple! You alone understand +Justinian. War, and destruction to the Goths!" + +At this spectacle the trembling senators were overwhelmed with terror +and astonishment. + +"Yes, wise fathers," cried the Emperor, turning to the assembly, "this +time you were too clever to be men. It is indeed an honour to be called +Constantine's successor, but it is no honour to be _your_ master! Our +enemies, I fear, are right; Constantine only planted here the dead +mummy of Rome, but the soul of Rome had already fled. Alas for the +Empire! Were it free or a republic, it would now have sunk in shame for +ever. It must have a master, who, when, like a lazy horse, it threatens +to sink into the quagmire, pulls it up by the rein; a strong master +with bridle, whip, and spurs!" + +At this moment a little crooked man, leaning on a crutch, forced his +way into the hall, and limped up to the steps of the throne. + +"Emperor of the Romani," he began, when he rose from his obeisance, "a +report reached me on my bed of pain of all that the barbarians had +dared, and of what was going on here. I gathered all my strength and +dragged myself here with difficulty, for, by one word from you, I must +learn whether I have been a fool from the beginning in holding you to +be a great ruler in spite of many weaknesses; whether I shall throw +your marshal's staff into the deepest well, or still carry it with +pride! Speak only one word: war or peace?" + +"War! war!" cried Justinian, and his countenance beamed. + +"Victory! Justinian!" cried the general. "Oh, let me kiss your hand, +great Emperor!" and he limped up the steps of the throne. + +"But how is this, patrician, you have all at once become a man!" mocked +the Empress. "You were always against the war with the Goths. Have you +suddenly become endowed with a sense of honour?" + +"Honour!" cried Narses, "after that gay soap-bubble Belisarius, that +great child, may run! Not honour but the Empire is at stake. As long as +danger threatened from the east, I advised the Persian war. Nothing was +to be feared from the Goths. But now your piety, O Empress, and +Belisarius's hero-sword, have stirred up the hornets' nest so long, +that at last the whole swarm flies dangerously into our faces. Now the +danger threatens from that side, and I advise a Gothic war. The Goths +are nearer to Byzantium than Chosroes to the eastern frontier. He who, +like this Totila, can raise a kingdom from an abyss, can much more +easily hurl another kingdom into an abyss. This young King is a worker +of miracles, and must be stopped in time." + +"For this once," said Justinian, "I have the rare pleasure of finding +my Empress and Narses of one mind." + +He was on the point of dismissing the assembly, when the Empress caught +his arm. + +"Stay, my husband," she said. "To-day, for the second time, I have the +honour to be proved your best adviser! Is it not so? Then listen to me +and follow my further advice. Keep this wise assembly--all except +Narses--confined in this hall.--Do not tremble, Illustrissimi; this +time your lives are not in jeopardy. But you are unable to keep a +secret; at least unless your tongues are slit. For this time, we will +insure your silence by confinement.--There exists a conspiracy against +your life, Justinian, or at least against your free will. A certain +party had decided to force you to a war with the Goths. This object, +truly, is now attained. But either to-night or to-morrow early the +conspirators will again finally assemble. We must allow them to do so. +We must not hinder them in their purpose by letting them know that +their object is already planned. For dangerous persons--persons +suspected long ago, and--O Justinian--very very _rich_ persons are +concerned in it. It would be a pity if they escaped my snare." + +Justinian was not alarmed at the word conspiracy. + +"I also knew of it," he said. "But is it already so far advanced? +To-morrow! Theodora," he cried, "you are more to the Empire than +Belisarius or Narses!--Captain of the Golden Shields, you will keep all +present confined here until Narses comes to fetch them. Meanwhile, my +pious and wise fathers, reflect upon this hour and its teachings! +Narses, follow us and the Empress." + +So saying, Justinian descended the steps of the throne. When he, with +Theodora and Narses, had left the Hall of Jerusalem, the entrance was +immediately blocked with threatening spears. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The Emperor ordered the Empress and Narses to follow him to his room. + +When they reached it, he embraced his wife with great tenderness, +unembarrassed by the presence of a witness. + +"How your enthusiasm rejoices and exalts me!" he exclaimed. "I am proud +of such a wife. How beautiful you were, O Theodora, in your noble +indignation. How can I reward you! Choose any favour, any sign of my +gratitude, my best and truest councillor and co-ruler?" + +"If I, a weak woman, dare indeed believe that I may share your thoughts +and plans in this war, then confide in me, and tell me how you intend +to conduct it." + +"I am resolved to send Belisarius again to Italy. But not alone. His +trifling with a crown has made me wary." + +"Then I beg the favour of being allowed to propose a second +general.--Narses," she continued, before Justinian could speak, "will +you be the other?" + +She wished to make it impossible for him to go. + +"No, I thank you," Narses answered bitterly. "You know that I am a +stubborn and ill-tempered horse; I cannot endure to draw together with +another. A marshal's staff and a wife, Justinian, should be kept on the +same condition." + +"How?" + +"Alone, or not at all." + +"Then _you_ not at all," answered Justinian with vexation. "You must not +imagine that you are indispensable, magister militum." + +"No one on earth is so, Justinian. With all my heart! Send great +Belisarius again! He may try his luck for the third time in that +country, where laurels grow so thickly. My turn will come later. I am +no doubt unnecessary here as a witness of your domestic felicity, and +at home, opposite to my sickbed, stands a map of the Italian roads. +Allow me to continue my study of it. It is more interesting than the +map of our Persian frontier. One piece of advice. You will ultimately +be obliged to send Narses to Italy. The sooner you send him the more +you will spare yourself defeat, vexation, and money. And if gout or +that wretched epilepsy should carry Narses off before King Totila lies +upon his shield, who then will conquer Italy for you? You believe in +prophecy. In Italy there runs a saying: 'T beats B, N beats T.'" + +"Does that mean, perhaps, that Theodora beat Belisarius, and Narses +beats Theodora?" asked the Empress mockingly. + +"That is not _my_ interpretation of the riddle; it is yours. But I +accept it. Do you know which was the wisest of your many laws, O +Justinian?" + +"Well?" + +"That which made death the punishment of all accusations against the +Empress, for it was the only way in which you could keep her." And he +left the room. + +"The insolent fellow!" cried Theodora, sending a venomous look after +him. "He dares to threaten! When Belisarius has once been rendered +harmless, Narses must quickly follow." + +"But meanwhile we need them both," said Justinian. "Do you really +propose, as the second general to be sent to Italy, the man who +persuaded us to reject the proposals of Cassiodorus?" + +"The same." + +"But my distrust of that ambitious man has since then become stronger." + +"Have you then forgotten," retorted Theodora, "who revealed the +intentions of Silverius? Who was the first to warn you of Belisarius's +dangerous game?" + +"But he now frequents the company of the men who are conspiring against +me!" + +"Yes; but, O Justinian, it is by my order, as their destroyer." + +"Indeed! But if he is also deceiving you?" + +"Will you believe him and me, and send him to Italy, if he brings the +conspirators to your feet in chains to-morrow, and amongst them their +unknown chief?" + +"I already know who it is; it is Photius, the freedman of Belisarius." + +"No, Justinian; it is he whom you would again send to Italy if I did +not warn you: Belisarius himself!" + +The Emperor grew pale, and grasped the arm of his chair. "Will you now +believe in that wonderful Roman's devotion, and send him to Italy with +your army, instead of Belisarius?" + +"Everything, everything!" said Justinian. "Belisarius, then, is really +a traitor! Then we must make haste! Let us act at once." + +"I have already acted, Justinian. My net is cast, and no one can +escape. Give me full power to draw it close." + +The Emperor nodded acquiescence. + +And passing through the curtains, Theodora said to the door-keeper: + +"Fetch Cethegus, the Prefect of Rome, from his house, and take him to +my room." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Shortly after, Cethegus once more stood before the still seductive +woman, whom he had known in youth. She was lying stretched upon her +couch in the room in which we have before seen her. + +Galatea frequently handed to her a small onyx-cup, filled with the +drops prescribed by her Persian physician. Grecian doctors no longer +sufficed. + +"I thank you, Theodora," said Cethegus, after a friendly greeting, "and +if I must thank any other than myself--and a woman!--I would rather owe +something to my early friend than to another." + +"Listen, Prefect," said Theodora, looking gravely at him. "You would be +just the man--shall I say the barbarian or the Roman?--to first kiss a +Cleopatra whom a Caesar and an Antony had adored, and then take her in +triumph to the Capitol in order to strangle her, as, perhaps, +Octavianus once intended, if that sly Queen had not been beforehand +with him. Cleopatra has always been my model. 'Tis true, I have never +found a Caesar. But the asp, perhaps, will not be wanting. But you need +not thank me. I have spoken and acted out of conviction. The insolence +which we have suffered from these Goths must be smothered in blood. +Perhaps I have not always been such a faithful wife as Justinian +believed; but I was always his best and truest adviser. Belisarius and +Narses cannot be sent together, and still less singly, to Italy. You +shall go. You are a hero, a general, and a statesman, and yet you are +too weak to harm Justinian." + +"Thanks for your good opinion," said Cethegus. + +"Friend, you are a general without an army, an Emperor without an +empire, a pilot without a ship. But enough of this--you will not +believe me. I send you to Italy because I believe that you hate the +barbarians with all your heart. The second general, whom the imperial +distrust will undoubtedly send after you, shall be Areobindos. He will +not trouble you much! I am rejoiced that I can thus serve not only my +old companion but also the Empire. Ah, Cethegus, our youth! To you men +it is either golden hopes or golden memories: to a woman it is life +itself! Oh for a single day of the time when I sent you roses and you +sent me verses!" + +"Your roses were beautiful, Theodora, but my verses were poor." + +"They were fine to me, for they were addressed to me! My choice of you, +which is necessary for the Empire, is sweetened by old and new hate as +well as by old love. Belisarius must not rise to new honours. He must +fall, and this time fall low and for ever. As sure as I live!" + +"And Narses? I should understand and like it better if you were to ruin +that head without an arm, than this arm without a head." + +"Patience! One after the other." + +"What has the good-natured hero done to you?" + +"He? Nothing. But his wife! that clumsy Antonina, whose whole triumph +lies in her good health." + +And the delicate Empress clenched her little white fist, the fingers of +which had become more transparent than ever. + +"Ah," she exclaimed, "how I hate her! Yes, and I envy her too! Stupid +people are always healthy. But she shall not rejoice while I suffer!" + +"And the fate of the Capitol depends upon such a woman's hatred!" +exclaimed Cethegus to himself. "Down with Cleopatra!" + +"The foolish woman is in love with her husband's honour and glory. +There I can wound her fatally!" continued Theodora. + +As she spoke the twitching of her delicate features betrayed an attack +of acute pain; she threw herself back upon her cushions. + +"My little dove," said Galatea, "do not be angry. Thou knowest what the +Persian said. Every excitement, be it of love or of hate----" + +"Yes. To hate and to love is life! And as one grows older, hatred is +almost sweeter than love. Love is false; hate is true." + +"In both," said Cethegus, "I am a novice compared to you. I have always +called you the Siren of Cyprus. One can never be sure that you will not +suddenly tear your victim in the very act of embracing him--either from +love, or from hate. And what has suddenly changed your love of Antonina +into hatred?" + +"She has become virtuous, the hypocrite! Or can she be really so +weak-minded? It is possible. Her fishy blood can never be made to boil. +For a strong passion or a bold crime she was always too cowardly. She +is too vain to forego admiration and too paltry to reciprocate it. +Since she accompanied her husband on his campaign she has become quite +virtuous. Ha, ha, ha! because she was obliged! Even as the devil fasts +when he has nothing to eat. Because I kept her lover a prisoner." + +"Anicius, the son of Boethius? I heard of it." + +"Yes, he. When in Italy Antonina again clung to her husband and shared +his fame and his misfortunes. And since that time she is a very +Penelope! When she returned here, what did the goose do? She reproached +me with having enticed her from the path of virtue! and swore that she +would save Anicius from my toils. And she succeeds, the snake! She +opens the gates of conscience and weans my unfaithful chamberlain more +and more from me--of course only to keep him for herself." + +"So you cannot imagine," said Cethegus, "that any woman can try to save +a soul?" + +"Without profit? No. But at the same time she deceives herself and him +by pious speeches. And oh! how gladly the youth allows himself to be +saved by this youthful blooming saint from the arms of the faded +woman--who is wasted before her time! Ha!" she added passionately, +starting from her seat, "how pitiable that the body must succumb from +fatigue before the soul has half satisfied its thirst for life! And to +live is to rule, to hate, and to love!" + +"You seem insatiable in these arts and enjoyments." + +"Yes," cried Theodora, "and I am proud of it. Must I indeed leave the +richly-spread table of existence, must I leave this imperial throne, +with all my ardent love of joy and power still unquenched? Shall I only +sip a few more drops? Oh, Nature is a miserable blunderer! Once in many +thousand ages she creates, amid a host of cripples, ugly in body and +weak in mind, a soul and body like mine, perfect and strong, and full +of the longing to live and to enjoy for an eternity. And, when only six +lustres have passed, when I have scarcely sipped of the full cup +offered to me. Nature dries up the spring of life! A curse upon the +envy of the gods! But men can envy too, and envy changes them into +demons. Others shall not enjoy when I can do so no longer! Others shall +no more laugh when I must writhe in agony all night long! Antonina +shall not rejoice in her youth with the false man who was once mine and +yet could think of another, or of virtue, or of heaven! Anicius has +told me this very day that he can bear this life without fame and +honour no more--that heaven and earth call him away. He shall repent +it--together with her. Come, Cethegus," she said furiously, grasping +his arm, "come; we will destroy them both!" + +"You forget," said Cethegus coldly, "that I have no reason to hate +either her or him. So what I do will be done for your sake." + +"Not so, you wise and icy Roman! Do you believe that I do not see +through you?" + +"I hope not," thought Cethegus. + +"You wish to keep Belisarius away from Italy. You wish to fight and +conquer alone. Or at most with a shadow beside you, such as Bessas was +and Areobindos will be. Do you think I did not understand why you so +cleverly managed the recall of Belisarius when before Ravenna? Anxiety +for Justinian! What is Justinian to you?" + +Cethegus felt his heart beat. + +"The freedom of Rome!" continued Theodora. "Nonsense! You know that +only strong and simple men can be trusted with freedom. And you know +your Quirites. No, your aim lies higher." + +"Is it possible that this woman guesses what all my enemies and friends +do not even suspect?" thought Cethegus. + +"You wish to free Italy alone, and alone rule her as Justinian's +vice-regent. To be next to his throne, high above Belisarius and +Narses, and second only to Theodora. And if there were any higher goal, +yours would be the spirit to fly at it." + +Cethegus breathed again. + +"That would hardly be worth the trouble," he thought. + +"Oh," continued Theodora, "it is a proud feeling to be the first of +Justinian's servants!" + +"Of course," thought Cethegus, "she is not capable of imagining +anything superior to her husband, although she deceives him daily." + +"And," Theodora went on, "to rule _him_, the Emperor, in company with +me." + +"The flattering atmosphere of this court dulls even the clearest +intellect," thought Cethegus. "It is the madness of the purple. She can +only think of herself as all-commanding." + +"Yes, Cethegus," continued Theodora; "I would allow no other man even +to _think_ of this. But I will help you to obtain it. With you I will +share the mastery of the world. Perhaps only because I remember many a +foolish youthful dream. Do you still remember how, years ago, we shared +two cushions in my little villa? We called them the Orient and the +Occident. It was an omen. So will we now share the Orient and the +Occident. Through my Justinian I will rule the Orient. Through my +Cethegus I will rule the Occident!" + +"Ambitious, insatiable woman!" thought Cethegus. "Oh that Mataswintha +had not died! She at this court--and you would sink for ever!" + +"But to gain this," said Theodora, "Belisarius must be got out +of the way. Justinian had resolved to send him once more as your +commander-in-chief to Italy." + +Cethegus frowned. + +"He trusts again and again to his dog-like fidelity. He must be +thoroughly convinced of his falsity." + +"That will be difficult to manage," said Cethegus. "Theodora will +sooner learn to be faithful than Belisarius to be false." + +A blow from Theodora's little hand was the punishment for this speech. + +"To you, foolishly, I have been ever faithful--that is, in affection. +Do you want Belisarius again in Italy?" + +"On no account!" + +"Then help me to ruin him, together with Anicius, the son of Boethius." + +"So be it," said the Prefect. "I have no reason to spare the brother of +Severinus. But how can you possibly bring proofs against Belisarius? I +am really curious. If you accomplish _that_, I will declare myself no +less a novice in plots and machinations than in love and hatred." + +"And that you are, you dull son of Latium! Now listen. But it is such a +dangerous subject, that I must beg thee, Galatea, to keep watch that no +one comes and listens. No, my good mother, not inside! I beg thee; +_outside_ the door. Leave me alone with the Prefect: it is--more's the +pity--no secret of love?" + +When, after some time, the Prefect left the room, he said to himself: + +"If this woman were a man--I should kill her! She would be more +dangerous than the barbarians and Belisarius together! But then, +certainly, the iniquity would be neither so inscrutable nor so +devilish!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Soon after the Prefect had returned home, Syphax announced the son of +Boethius, who came from the Empress. + +"'Let him enter, and admit no one else until he has gone," said +Cethegus. "Meanwhile send quickly for Piso, the tribune." + +And he rose to meet Anicius, who now entered the room. + +Anicius was no longer a youth, and his delicate features were much +improved by the expression of resolution which at this moment rested +upon them. He was dressed very simply, and his hair, which was usually +curled, now hung straight down. + +"You remind me of your beautiful sister, Anicius." + +With these words the Prefect received his visitor. + +"It is on her account, Cethegus, that I come," said Anicius gravely. +"You are the oldest friend of my father and of our house. You hid +Severinus and me from our enemies, and assisted us to escape at your +own risk. You are the only man in Byzantium to whom I can appeal in a +mysterious affair. A few days ago I received this incomprehensible +letter, 'To the son of my patron; Corbulo the freedman----" + +"Corbulo? I know that name!" + +"He was the freedman of my father, with whom my mother and sister took +refuge, and who----" + +"Fell before Rome with your brother!" + +"Yes. But he only died after being carried into the Gothic encampment, +for he was taken prisoner, together with my dying brother, in the +village _ad aras Bacchi_. So I am told by one of Belisarius's +mercenaries called Sutas, who was taken prisoner at the same time, And +who has now brought me the letter which Corbulo could not finish. Read +it for yourself." + +Cethegus took the small wax tablet with its scarcely legible writing +and read: + +"'The legacy of your dying brother, and his last words were: Anicius +must revenge our mother, our sister, and myself. It was the same enemy +of our house, the same demon who----'" + +"The letter ends here," said Cethegus. + +"Yes. Corbulo lost his senses and never again became conscious, the +mercenary said." + +"There is not much to be made of this," observed Cethegus, shrugging +his shoulders. + +"No; but the mercenary Sutas--they were all in the same tent--heard a +few words spoken by my dying brother to Corbulo, which may give us the +key to the letter." + +"Well?" asked Cethegus, with concealed anxiety. + +"Severinus said: 'I suspect it. He knew of the ambush--he sent us to +meet certain death.'" + +"Who?" asked Cethegus quietly. + +"That is just what I want to find out." + +"You have no suspicion?" + +"No; but it cannot be impossible to discover the man who is meant." + +"How will you manage it?" + +"'Sent us to meet certain death,' that can only mean some leader or +general who was the cause of my brother's sharing that fatal morning +ride out of the Tiburtinian Gate. For Severinus did not at that time +belong to the suite of Belisarius. He was a tribune of your legions. If +you, Belisarius, and Procopius will earnestly try to find out the man +who sent Severinus with Belisarius, you must succeed. For he did not go +with other legionaries--none of your legionaries or horsemen +accompanied Belisarius." + +"As far as I recollect," said Cethegus, "you are right." + +"Not one," repeated Anicius. "Procopius--unfortunately he has gone to +examine the buildings which Justinian has erected in Asia--was present, +and has often told me the names of all who were with him. When he +returns, I will make a careful inquiry of what my brother did just +before the sally. Into whose house or tent he went--I will not rest, I +will ask all the still living comrades of Severinus where they saw him +last before he rode out." + +"You are very acute for your years," said the Prefect with a strange +smile. "What will you be when you are arrived at maturity? But +certainly you are in a good school. Does the Empress know of this +letter?" + +"No. And she shall never hear of it. Do not name her to me! This duty +of revenge has been sent by God to tear me away from her!" + +"But she sent you to me?" + +"In another affair, which, however, shall end very differently to what +she intends. A few hours ago she sent for me, and asked me once again +if it was so very terrible to be kept in a golden cage. But the woman +disgusts me. And I heartily regret the months that I have wasted at her +side, while my brother fought and fell for the fatherland. I gave her +such a rude answer, that I expected a storm. But, to my astonishment, +she was perfectly quiet, and said, smiling, 'Be it so. No faithfulness +lasts long. Go to Antonina, or to Virtue, or to both goddesses. But, as +a last sign of my favour, I will save you from certain destruction. +There exists in Byzantium a conspiracy against the life or free will of +Justinian. Be quiet--I know it. I know also that you are already half +won; that you have not yet gone to any of their meetings, but that you +have the documents of the conspiracy in your keeping. I have allowed +them to do as they liked, because there are some of my old enemies +amongst them, whom I wish to ruin. In a few days they will be +surprised. But I will warn and save you. Go to the Prefect. He must +take you with him away from Byzantium. Tell him that you are in danger, +and that Theodora sends you. But say nothing to him of the conspiracy. +There are some of his tribunes concerned in it, whom he would gladly +save, but whom I will destroy.' All this she said to me, and I came, +but not to fly! I came to warn you and my Roman comrades. I shall also +go to the meeting--there is no danger for to-day, the Empress said--and +warn them all. I shall tell them that the conspiracy is discovered. You +must not be there, Prefect; you must not place yourself in any further +danger. Justinian already suspects you. The foolish youths wish to wait +until they have won Belisarius to their cause! And if they are not +warned they will most likely be all taken prisoners to-morrow. I shall +hasten to tell them of their danger. But, that done, I will not rest a +moment until I have discovered the murderer of my brother." + +"Both intentions are highly praiseworthy," said Cethegus. "But, by the +way, where do you hide the papers of the conspirators?" + +"Where I hide all secrets," said Anicius, blushing--"secrets and +letters that are sacred and dear to me; where I will also hide this +tablet. You shall know the spot, for you, the oldest friend of my +house, must help me to complete my task of vengeance. I have written +out Sutas's report of the scarcely-comprehensible conversation of the +two dying men. They spoke of 'poisoning'--of 'murderous order'--of an +'accusation before the senate'--therefore our enemy must be a Roman +senator--of a 'crimson crest'-of a 'black devil of a horse----'" + +"Et cetera, et cetera," said Cethegus, interrupting him. "Where is your +hiding-place? It may be that you will have to escape in a hurry--for I +strongly advise you not to trust the Empress--and perhaps you would not +even be able to reach your house." + +"And besides," added Anicius, "it is necessary that you take up my +work. I should in any case have told you of the hiding-place. It is in +the cistern in the court of my house--the third brick to the right of +the wheel is hollow. And you must know for another reason," he +concluded gloomily. "If it is not possible to save my friends, if my +own freedom is in danger--for you are right in your warning: I have +long since remarked that I am followed by the spies of the Emperor or +Empress--then I will quickly make a bloody end to it all. What matter +if I die, if I cannot fulfil the duty which Severinus has imposed upon +me? Then--it is my office to tell the Emperor every morning how the +Empress has passed the night--then--I will strike the tyrant in the +midst of his slaves!" + +"Madman!" cried Cethegus, in real terror--for he _now_ wished to keep +Justinian alive and in power--"to what has remorse and a planless and +dissolute life brought you? No! the son of Boethius must not end as a +murderer. If you wish to atone in blood for your inglorious past--then +fight with my legions! Purify yourself in the blood of the barbarians, +shed, not by the dagger of the murderer, but by the sword of the hero!" + +"You speak nobly, Cethegus. And will you really place _me_, untried and +without fame, amongst your brave knights? How can I thank you!" + +"Spare your thanks until all is ended--until we meet again. Meanwhile +warn the conspirators. That alone will be a proof of courage. For, as +it seems you are followed, I think it a dangerous task. If you shun the +danger, say so frankly." + +"_I_ hesitate to give the first proof of my courage! I would go and +warn them, even if certain death were the consequence." + +He pressed the Prefect's hand, and hurried away. + +As soon as he was gone, Syphax brought in the tribune Piso through +another door. + +"Master of Iambics," cried Cethegus, "you must now be as quick-footed +as your verses! Enough of conspiracy and creeping here in Byzantium! +You must immediately seek all the young Romans who frequent the house +of Photius. The setting sun must find none of you within those walls. +Your lives depend upon it. No one must go to the 'evening feast' at +Photius's house. Go hunting, singly or in groups; make boat-races on +the Bosphorus; only hurry away. The conspiracy is superfluous. The +sound of the trumpet will soon summon you to battle against the +barbarians in Latium. Away with you all! Wait for me at Epidamnus. +Thence, with my Isaurians, I will fetch you to the third fight for +Rome. Away!--Syphax," he said, when left alone with his slave, "have +you inquired at the great general's house? When is he expected back?" + +"At sunset." + +"Is his faithful wife at home? Good. Bring a litter--not mine--bring +the first you find at the Hippodrome. The blinds must shut closely. +Take it to the harbour, into the back street of the slop-dealers." + +"Sir, the worst rabble of this city of vagabonds dwell in that street. +What will you do there?" + +"I will there enter the litter, and then go to the Red House." + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +In the Red House, the abode of Belisarius, which was situated in the +suburb "Justiniana" (Sycae), sat Antonina in the women's chamber, +working busily. + +She was embroidering a border of golden laurels upon a mantle for her +hero, Belisarius. + +Near her, upon a citron-wood table, lay, in a costly binding set with +precious stones, a splendid edition of the "Vandal Wars," by Procopius, +the lately published book which described her husband's prowess. + +At her feet lay a magnificent animal, one of the four tame hunting +leopards which the Persian King had presented to Belisarius after the +last peace; a very costly present, for it was seldom that the attempt +to tame these leopards succeeded, and many hundreds of cubs which had +been caught or born in confinement, were obliged to be killed as +useless after being trained for years. The large, beautiful, and +powerful animal--it easily became wild when it tasted warm blood while +hunting, and had therefore been left at home stretched itself +luxuriously, like a cat, upon the folds of Antonina's dress, played +with her ball of gold thread, waved its tail, and sometimes rubbed its +round and clever-looking head against the feet of its mistress. + +A slave entered and announced a stranger--he had arrived in a modest +litter, and was dressed in a common mantle--the door-keeper would have +refused to admit him, as the master was away, and the mistress received +no visitors, but he would not be denied; he ordered them to announce to +Antonina "the conqueror of Pope Silverius." + +"Cethegus!" cried Antonina. + +She grew pale and trembled. + +"Let him in at once." + +The influence which the powerful intellect of Cethegus had gained upon +her the first time of their meeting; the recollection that, when her +husband, Procopius, and all the leaders of the army, had helplessly +succumbed to the priest, this man had conquered and humbled the +conqueror; of how, at the entrance into Rome, the fight on the bridge +of the Anio, the defence of Rome Against Witichis, in the camp of +Ravenna and at the taking of that city, he had always and everywhere +kept the upper hand, and yet had never used his superiority inimically +against her husband; how nothing but misfortune had followed any +neglect of his warnings; how all his counsels had been victorious in +themselves--these recollections now confusedly crossed her mind. + +She heard the footsteps of the Prefect, and hastily rose. + +The leopard--pushed roughly aside and disturbed in his comfortable +sport on account of the intruder--rose with a low growl, and looked +threateningly at the door, gnashing his yellow teeth. + +Cethegus, before entering, drew the curtain violently aside and thrust +forth his head, which was covered by a cowl. The abrupt movement must +have either frightened or irritated the leopard. When the Persian lion +and tiger tamers first began to break in a newly-caught animal, they +were accustomed to envelop themselves and cover their heads with long +woollen cloaks. Possibly the fierce and never wholly-tamed beast was +reminded of his old enemies. With a terrible howl he crouched in +preparation for a deadly spring, whipping the floor with his long tail +and foaming at the mouth a sure sign of fury. + +Antonina saw it with horror. + +"Fly! fly, Cethegus!" she screamed. + +Had he done so, had he but turned his back, he would have been lost; +the monster would at once have been upon his back with his teeth in his +neck. For no door closed the entrance, the only barrier was a curtain. + +Cethegus promptly stepped forward, threw back his cowl, looked straight +into the leopard's eyes, raising his left hand with an action of +command, and threatening him with the dagger held in his right. + +"Down! down! The irons are hot!" he cried in the Persian language, at +the same time moving a step in advance. + +The leopard suddenly broke into a whining howl of fear; his muscles, +which had been contracted for the spring, relaxed; he crept whining, +with his belly on the ground, to the feet of Cethegus, and howling with +fear, licked the sandal of his left foot, while Cethegus set his right +foot firmly upon the animal's neck. + +Antonina had sunk upon her couch in her fear; she now stared at the +terrible, but beautiful scene. + +"That animal--the prostration!" she stammered. "Dareios always refused +to do it; he was furious when Belisarius insisted upon it. Where have +you learned this, Cethegus?" + +"In Persia, of course," he answered. + +And he kicked the thoroughly cowed animal between the ribs with such +violence, that with a howl it flew into the farthest comer of the room, +where it remained trembling and crouching, with its eyes fixed upon its +subduer. + +"Belisarius only mastered the forts, but not the language of Persia," +said Cethegus. "And these beasts do not understand Greek. You are +grimly guarded, Antonina, when Belisarius is absent," he added, as he +hid his dagger in the folds of his dress. + +"What brings you to my house?" Antonina asked, still trembling. + +"My often misdoubted friendship. I would save your husband, who has the +courage of a lion, but not the dexterity of a mouse! Procopius is +unfortunately absent, or I should have sent that better-trusted +adviser, I know that a heavy blow threatens Belisarius from the +Emperor. We must ward it off. The favour of the Emperor----" + +"Is very fickle, I know. But the services of Belisarius----" + +"Are his ruin. Justinian would not fear an insignificant man. But he +fears Belisarius." + +"That we have often experienced," sighed Antonina. + +"Learn then--you before all others--what no one outside the palace +knows: the Emperor's indecision is at an end. He has decided upon war +with the Goths." + +"At last!" cried Antonina, with a beaming countenance. + +"Yes; but--think of the shame! Belisarius is not appointed +commander-in-chief." + +"Who else?" asked Antonina angrily. + +"I am one of the generals----" + +She looked at him suspiciously. + +"Yes; it was my aim long since, I confess. But the second in command is +to be Areobindos. I cannot conquer the Goths with him, hindered by his +ignorance. No one can conquer the Goths but Belisarius. Therefore I +must have him near me, or, for aught I care, over me. See, Antonina, I +hold myself to be the greater statesman----" + +"My Belisarius is a hero, no statesman!" cried the proud wife. + +"But it would be ridiculous to compare myself as a general with the +conqueror of the Vandals, Goths, and Persians. You see that I openly +confess that I am not influenced only by friendship to Belisarius, but +also by egotism. I _must_ have Belisarius for a comrade." + +"That is clear," said Antonina, much pleased. + +"But Justinian is not to be persuaded to appoint him. Still more, he +again suspects him, and indeed more than ever." + +"But, by all the saints! wherefore?" + +"Belisarius is innocent; but he is very imprudent. For months he +has received secret letters, notes, and warnings--stuck into his +bathing-robe, or thrown into his garden--which invite him to take part +in a conspiracy." + +"Heavens! You know of this?" stammered Antonina. + +"Unfortunately not I only, but also others--the Emperor himself!" + +"But the conspiracy is not against the Emperor's life or throne," said +Antonina apologetically. + +"No; only against his free will. 'War with the Goths.'--'Belisarius +commander-in-chief.'--'It is shameful to serve an ungrateful +master.'--'Force the Emperor to his own advantage.' Such and similar +things do these papers contain, do they not? Well, Belisarius has +certainly not accepted; but, imprudently, he did not at once speak of +these invitations to the Emperor, and this oversight may cost him his +head!" + +"Oh, holy saints!" cried Antonina, wringing her hands. "He omitted to +do so at my request, by my advice. Procopius advised him to tell all to +the Emperor. But I--I feared Justinian's mistrust, which might have +discovered the semblance of guilt in the mere fact that such papers had +been sent to Belisarius." + +"It was not that alone, I think," said Cethegus cautiously, when he had +looked round to see if any could hear, "which impelled you to give such +advice, taken, of course, by Belisarius." + +"What else? What can you mean?" asked Antonina in a low voice. + +But she blushed up to the roots of her hair. + +"You knew that good friends of yours were concerned in the conspiracy; +you wished first to warn them before the plot was betrayed." + +"Yes," she stammered. "Photius, the freedman----" + +"And yet another," whispered Cethegus, "who, scarcely freed from +Theodora's gilded prison, would only exchange it for the vaults of the +Bosphorus." + +Antonina covered her face with her hands. + +"I know all, Antonina--the slight fault of former days, the good +resolutions of a later time. But in this case your old inclination has +ensnared you. Instead of thinking only of Belisarius, you thought also +of his welfare. And if Belisarius now falls, whose is the guilt?" + +"Oh! be silent! have pity!" cried Antonina. + +"Do not despair," continued Cethegus. "You have still a strong prop, +one who will be your advocate with the Emperor. Even if banishment be +threatened, the prayers of your friend Theodora will prevent the +worst." + +"The Empress!" cried Antonina, in terror. "Oh, how she will +misrepresent! She has sworn our undoing!" + +"That is bad," said Cethegus--"very bad! For the Empress also knows of +the conspiracy, and of the invitations to Belisarius. And you know that +a much less crime than that of being invited to join a conspiracy is +sufficient----" + +"The Empress knows of it! Then we are lost! Oh! you who know how to +find a means of escape when no other eye can see it--help I save us!" + +And Antonina sank at the Prefect's feet. + +A lamentable howl issued from the corner of the room. The leopard +trembled with renewed fear. The Prefect cast a rapid glance at his +beaten adversary, and then gently raised the kneeling woman. + +"Do not despair, Antonina. Yes; there is a way to save Belisarius--but +only one." + +"Must he tell _now_ what has happened? As soon as he returns?" + +"For that it is too late; and it would be too little. He would not be +believed; mere words would not prove that he was in earnest. No; he +must prove his fidelity by deeds. He must seize all the conspirators +together, and deliver them into the Emperor's power." + +"How can he seize them all together?" + +"They themselves have invited him. To-night they assemble in the house +of Photius, his freedman. He must consent to put himself at their head. +He must go to the meeting, and take them all prisoners. Anicius," he +added, "has been warned already by the Empress. I have seen him." + +"Alas! But if he must die, it is to save Belisarius. My husband must do +as you say; I see that it is the only way. And it is a bold and +dangerous step; it will allure him." + +"Do you think he will sacrifice his freedman?" + +"We have warned the fool again and again. What matters Photius when +Belisarius is in danger! If ever I have had any power over my husband, +I shall prevail to-day. Procopius has often advised him to give such a +brutal--as he called it--proof of his fidelity. I will remind him of +it. You may be sure that he will follow our united counsel." + + +"'Tis well. He must be there before midnight. When the watchman on the +walls calls the hour, I shall break into the hall. And it is better, so +that Belisarius may be quite safe, that he only enter the meeting when +he sees my Moor Syphax in the niche before the house behind the statue +of Petrus. He may also place a few of his guards in front of the house. +In case of need, they can protect him, and bear witness in his favour. +He is not capable of much feigning; he must only join the meeting +shortly before midnight; thus he will have no need to speak. Our guards +will wait in the Grove of Constantinus, at the back of Photius's house. +At midnight--the trumpet sounds when the guard is relieved, and you +know that it can be distinctly heard--we shall break in. Belisarius, +therefore, need not undertake the dangerous task of giving a signal." + +"And you--you will be sure to be there?" + +"I shall not fail. Farewell, Antonina." + +And, suddenly stepping backwards, his face still turned towards the +leopard, his dagger pointed, he had gained the exit. + +The leopard had waited for this moment; he moved slightly in his +corner, rising slowly. + +But as he reached the curtain, Cethegus once again raised his dagger +and threatened him. + +"Down, Dareios! the irons are hot!" + +And he was gone. + +The leopard laid his head upon the mosaic floor and uttered a howl of +impotent fury. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The power and glory of Totila were now at their height. His happiness +was completed by his union with Valeria. + +The betrothal had just taken place in the church of St. Peter, and was +solemnised by Cassiodorus, assisted by Julius, now a Catholic priest, +and also by an Arian minister. When Cassiodorus had betrothed the +daughter of his old friend to the King, and they had exchanged rings, +the royal couple were led in solemn procession over the Janiculum +towards the right bank of the river, and across the Theodosian and +Valentinian Bridges, which were decorated with triumphal arches. +Following the course of the river, the procession entered a villa +situated on an eminence overlooking the river and the campagna, and the +betrothed couple took their places under a magnificent baldachin in the +great hall. + +There, before the assembled national army, under the golden shield of +the King, which was hung upon his spear, the Roman bride stepped into +the right shoe of her Gothic bridegroom, while he laid his mailed right +hand upon her head, which was covered with a transparent veil. + +Thus the betrothal was completed according to ecclesiastical, Roman, +and Germanic custom. + +This ceremony over, Totila and Valeria took their seats at the centre +table upon the terrace of the villa; Valeria surrounded by noble Roman +and Gothic women, Totila by the dukes and earls of his army. + +Grecian and Roman flute-players played and sang alternately; Roman +dances followed the sword-dance of the Gothic youths. Presently, +dressed in a long, white festive garment, the hem embroidered in gold, +and a wreath of laurel and oak-leaves upon his head, Adalgoth stood +forth in front of the royal pair, cast an inquiring look at his teacher +in war and song. Earl Teja, who sat on the King's right hand, and, to +the accompaniment of his harp, sang in a clear voice: + + "Hear, all ye people, far and near, + Hear, Byzant', to thy dole: + The Gothic King, good Totila, + Thrones on the Capitol/ + + "No more is Belisarius' name + In Rome with honour decked: + Of Orcus, and no more of Rome + Cethegus is Prefect. + + "Of what leaves shall we weave the crown + For good King Totila? + Like sweetest rose upon his breast + Blooms sweet Valeria. + + "Peace, freedom, right, and law protect + His shield, his star, his sword: + _Olive_, thy peaceful spray now give, + Give for the peaceful Lord! + + "Who carried terror and revenge? + Who bore the Grecians down? + Come, _laurel_, leaf of victory, + Make rich my hero's crown! + + "But his victorious strength grew not + From Roma's mouldering ground: + With leaves of young Germanic _oak_ + Let his young head be crowned. + + "Hear, all ye people, far and near, + Hear, Byzant', to thy dole: + The Gothic King, young Totila, + Thrones on the Capitol." + +A burst of applause rewarded his song, during which a Roman youth and a +Gothic maiden, kneeling before Totila and Valeria, offered each a crown +of roses, laurels, olive-leaves and oak-leaves. + +"_Our_ songs are also not quite without sweetness, Valeria," said +Totila with a smile, "and not without strength and truth. I owe my life +to this youthful minstrel." And he laid his hand upon Adalgoth's head. +"He struck thy countryman Piso, his colleague in the art of song, most +roughly upon his clever scanning fingers--as a punishment for having +written many a verse to my Valeria and raised the deadly steel against +me with one and the same hand!" + +"There is one thing that I would rather have heard, my Adalgoth," Teja +said to the boy in a low voice, "than your song of praise." + +"What is that, my Earl of harp and sword?" + +"The death-cry of the Prefect, whom thou hast only sent to hell in thy +verse." + +But Adalgoth was called away down the steps by a crowd of Gothic +warriors, who would not part with him for a long time; for his song +pleased the Gothic heroes who had fought with Totila much better than +it will perhaps please you, my reader. + +Duke Guntharis embraced and kissed Adalgoth and said, as he drew him +aside: + +"My young hero! What a resemblance! Whenever I see thee my first +thought is: Alaric!" + +"Why, that is my battle-cry!" said Adalgoth, and, engaged in +conversation, they disappeared amid the crowd. + +At the same time the King looked back at the vestibule of the villa, +for the performance of the flute-players stationed there was suddenly +interrupted. + +He quickly perceived the cause and started from his seat with a cry of +astonishment. + +For between the two centre and flower-wreathed columns of the entrance +stood a form which seemed scarcely human. A maiden of wondrous beauty, +clad in a pure white garment, holding a staff in her hand, and with a +wreath of star-like flowers upon her head. + +"Ah! what is that? Lives this charming figure?" the King asked. + +And all the guests followed the direction of the King's eyes and the +movement of his hand with equal wonder, for the small opening left +between the pillars by the masses of flowers was filled up by a more +lovely form than their eyes had ever beheld. + +The child, or girl, had fastened her shining white linen tunic upon her +left shoulder with a large sapphire clasp; her broad golden girdle was +set with a row of sapphires. The long and pointed sleeves of her dress +fell from her shoulders like two white wings. Wreaths of ivy were +twined about her whole figure; in her right hand, which rested on her +bosom, she held a shepherd's staff, wreathed with flowers; her left +hand carried a beautiful crown of wild-flowers and was laid upon the +head of a large shaggy dog, whose neck was likewise surrounded with a +wreath. + +The girl looked without fear, but thoughtfully and examiningly, at the +brilliant assembly. For a while the guests stared and waited, and the +maiden stood motionless. Then the King left his seat, went towards her, +and said with a smile: + +"Welcome to our feast, if thou art an earthly being. But if--which I +almost believe--thou art the lovely Queen of the Elves--why then, be +welcome too! We will place a throne for thee high above the King's +seat." And with a graceful action he opened both his arms, inviting her +to approach. + +With a light and gentle step the maiden crossed the threshold of the +vestibule and, blushing, replied: + +"What sweet folly speakest thou, O King! I am no queen. I am Gotho, the +shepherdess. But thou--I see it more by thy clear brow than by thy +diadem--thou art Totila, the King of the Goths, whom they call the +'King of joy.' I have brought flowers for thee and thy lovely bride. I +heard that this feast was to celebrate a betrothal. Gotho has nothing +else to give. I plucked and twined these flowers as I came through the +last meadow. And now, O King, protector of the orphan's right, hear and +help me!" + +The King again took his place near Valeria. The maiden stood between +them. Valeria took one of her hands; the King laid his hand upon her +head, and said: + +"I swear to protect thee and thy rights by thine own lovely head. Who +art thou, and what is thy desire?" + +"Sire, I am the grand-child and child of peasants. I have grown up in +solitude amid the flowers of the Iffinger mountain. I had nothing dear +to me on earth except my brother. He left me to seek thee. And when my +grandfather felt that he was dying, he sent me to thee to find my +brother and the solution of my fate. And he gave me old Hunibad from +Teriolis as a companion and protector. But Hunibad's wounds were not +fully healed and soon re-opened, and he was obliged to stay sick at +Verona. And I had to nurse him for a long time, until at last he died +too. And then I went alone, accompanied only by my faithful dog Brun, +across all this wide hot country, until at last I found the city of +Rome and thee. But thou keepest good order, O King, in thy land--thou +deservest all praise. Thy high-roads are watched day and night by +soldiers and horsemen. And they were friendly and good to the lonely +wandering child. They sent me to the houses of good Goths at nightfall, +where the housewife cherished me. And it is said that the law is so +well obeyed in thy realm, that a golden bracelet might be laid upon the +high-road, and would be found again after many many nights. In one +town, Mantua, I think it was called, just as I was crossing the +market-place, there was a great press, and the people ran together. And +thy soldiers led forth a Roman to die there, and cried: 'Marcus +Massurius must die the death, at the King's command. The King set him, +a prisoner of war, free, and the insolent Roman ravished a Jewish girl. +Sang Totila has renewed the law of the great Theodoric.' And they +struck off his head in the open market-place, and all the people were +terrified at King Totila's justice. Now, my faithful Brun, thou mayest +rest here; here no one will hurt thee. I have even ornamented _his_ +neck with flowers to-day, in honour of thee and thy bride." + +She slightly struck the powerful dog on the head; he immediately went +up to the King's throne, and laid his left fore-foot confidingly upon +the King's knee. And the King gave him water to drink out of a flat, +golden dish. + +"For golden fidelity a golden dish," he said. "But who is thy brother?" + +"Well," the girl answered thoughtfully, "from what Hunibad told me +during the journey and upon his sick-bed, I think that the name my +brother bears is not his real one. But he is easy to be known," she +added, blushing. "His locks are golden-brown; his eyes are blue as +these shining stones; his voice is as clear as the note of the lark; +and when he plays his harp, he looks up as if he saw the heavens open." + +"Adalgoth!" cried the King. + +"Adalgoth!" repeated all the guests. + +The boy--he had heard the loud shout of his name--flew up the steps. + +"My Gotho!" he exclaimed in a jubilant voice, and locked her in a +tender embrace. + +"Those two belong to each other," said Duke Guntharis, who had followed +the youth. + +"Like the dawn and the rising sun," added Teja. + +"But now," said the girl, as she quietly withdrew from Adalgoth's arms, +"let me fulfil my errand and the behest of my dying grandfather. Here, +O King, take this roll and read it. In it is contained the fate of +Adalgoth and Gotho; the past and the present, said our grandfather." + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +The King broke the seals and read: + +"'This is written by Hildegisel, the son of Hildemuth, whom they call +"the long;" once priest, now castellan at Teriolis. Written at the +dictation of old Iffa; and it is all written down faithfully. Lo!--now +it begins! The Latin is not always as good as that sung in the +churches. But thou, O King, wilt understand it. For where it is bad +Latin it is good Gothic. Lo!--now it really begins. Thus speaks the old +man Iffa: My Lord and King Totila; the roll which is wrapped in this +cover is the writing of the man Wargs, who, however, was neither my +son, nor was his name Wargs--but his name was Alaric, and he was a +Balthe, the banished Duke of----'" + +A ay of astonishment from all present interrupted the King. He paused. +But Duke Guntharis cried: + +"Then Adalgoth, who calls himself the son of Wargs, is the son of +Alaric! whom he himself, in his office of herald, has often, riding +through the town on a white horse, loudly summoned to appear. And never +saw I a greater resemblance than that between the father Alaric and the +son Adalgoth." + +"Hail to the Duke of Apulia!" cried Totila, with a smile, as he +embraced the boy. + +But, speechless with excitement, Gotho sank upon her knees, her eyes +filled with tears, and, looking up at Adalgoth, she sighed: + +"Then thou art not my brother! O God!--Hail, Duke of Apulia! Farewell! +farewell for ever!" and she rose to her feet and turned to go. + +"Not my sister!" cried Adalgoth. "That is the best thing which this +dukedom brings me! Stop there!" and he caught Gotho in his arms, +pressed her to his bosom, and kissed her heartily. Then he led her +up to the King, saying, "Now, King Totila, unite us! Here is my +bride--here is my duchess!" + +And Totila, who had meanwhile cast a rapid glance over the two +documents, answered smiling: + +"In this case I do not need the wisdom of Solomon. Young Duke of +Apulia, thus I betroth thee to thy bride." And he laid the laughing, +weeping girl in Adalgoth's arms. + +Then he turned to the assembled Goths, and said: + +"Permit me shortly to explain to you what this writing--the Latin of +which is rather rude, for Hildegisel was cleverer with the sword than +the pen--contains. Here is, besides, Duke Alaric's declaration of his +innocence." + +"That has already been proved by his son," cried Duke Guntharis. "And I +never believed in his guilt." + +"Duke Alaric," continued the King, "discovered his secret accuser too +late. Our Adalgoth, as you know, brought his innocence to light, when +he found the hidden documents in the broken statue of Caesar. Cethegus +the Prefect had kept a sort of diary in a secret cypher. But +Cassiodorus, with grief and amazement, deciphered the writing, and +found an entry at the commencement of the book, written about twelve +years ago, which ran thus: 'Duke Alaric condemned. That he was +innocent, is now only believed by himself and his accuser. He who +injures Cethegus shall not live. At the time when I woke from a +death-like swoon on the banks of the Tiber, I swore to be revenged. I +made a vow and it is now fulfilled.' The cause of this hatred is still +a secret. But it is connected in some way with our friend Julius +Montanus. Where is he?" + +"He has already returned to St. Peter's with Cassiodorus," answered +Earl Teja; "excuse them. Every day at this hour they pray for peace +with Byzantium. And Julius," he added with a bitter smile, "prays also +for the Prefect's soul." + +"King Theodoric," said the King, "was hardly to be persuaded of the +guilt of the brave duke, with whom he was on terms of intimate +friendship." + +"Yes," observed Duke Guntharis, "he once gave him a broad gold bracelet +with a runic device." + +The King now resumed his reading of the papers: + +"'I took a bracelet given me by King Theodoric'--these are the words of +the duke--'when I fled with my child. Broken in two just in the centre +of the runic inscription. It will one day serve to prove the honourable +birth of my son.'" + +"He bears the proof on his face," cried Duke Guntharis. + +"But the golden proof is also not wanting!" exclaimed Adalgoth: "at +least old Iffa gave me a broken bracelet. Here it is," and he took out +the half of a broken bracelet, which he carried tied to a ribbon round +his neck; "I have never been able to explain the sense of these words: + + "'The Amelung-- + The eagle-- + In need-- + The friend--'" + +"Thou hast not the other half," said Gotho, and took the second half of +the bracelet from her bosom. "See, here is written: + + "'--to the Balthe, + --to the falcon, + --and death, + --to the friend.'" + +And now Teja, holding the two halves together, read: + + "'The Amelung to the Balthe, + The eagle to the falcon, + In need and death, + The friend to the friend.'" + +But the King continued to read from the roll: + +"'King Theodoric could no longer protect me when letters were laid +before him, in which my handwriting was so excellently imitated that I +myself, on being shown a harmless sentence which had been cut out, +acknowledged without hesitation that I had written it. Then the judges +fitted the piece into the parchment and read the whole to me. That +letter purported to be written to the court of Byzantium, with the +promise that the writer would murder the King and evacuate South Italy, +if the Emperor would acknowledge him as King of North Italy. And the +judges condemned me. As I was led away from the hall, I met my old +friend Cethegus Caesarius in the passage. I had some time before +succeeded in persuading a girl with whom he was in love to leave him +and marry a good friend of mine in Gaul. Cethegus forced his way +through my guards, struck me lightly on the shoulder and said, "He from +whom his love has been torn, comforts himself with revenge;" and his +eyes told me that he, and no other, had been my secret accuser. As a +last favour, the King procured me the means of escape. But I and all my +house were outlawed. For a long time I wandered restlessly in the +northern mountains, until I recollected that some old and faithful +adherents of my house were settled upon the Iffinger mountain. Thither +I went with my boy, taking with me a few hereditary jewels, and my +faithful friends received me and my son, and hid me under the name of +Wargs--the banished--and gave out that I was the son of old Iffa, +sending away all untrustworthy servants who might have betrayed me. +Thus I lived in secret for some years. I educate my son to be my +avenger on Cethegus the traitor, and when I die, old Iffa will continue +this education. I hope the day will come when my innocence will be +proved. But if it delays too long, my son, when he can wield the sword, +shall leave the Iffinger and go to Italy, and revenge his father upon +Cethegus Caesarius. That is my last word to my son.'--'But,'" the King +now read from a second paper, "'soon after the Duke had written this, a +great landslip buried him, together with some of my relations. And I, +Iffa, have brought up the boy as my grandchild and Gotho's brother, for +the ban had not been taken off the family of Duke Alaric, and I did not +wish to expose the boy to the revenge of that devil, Cethegus. And that +it might not be possible for the boy to betray anything about his +dangerous parentage, I never told him of it. But when he was grown up, +and I heard that there reigned in the Roman citadel a mild and just +King, who had conquered the devilish Prefect as the God of Morning +conquers the Giant of the Night, I sent young Adalgoth away, and told +him that, according to his father's command, he must revenge the noble +chief and patron of our family upon Cethegus the traitor. But I did not +even then tell him that he was Alaric's son, for I feared the ban. So +long as his father's innocence was unproved, his father's name could +only injure him. And I sent him away in great haste, for I discovered +that the belief in his brotherly relation to my grandchild, Gotho, had +not prevented him from loving her in a very unbrotherly manner. I might +have told him that Gotho was not his sister. But far be it from me that +I should dishonestly try to unite the noble scion of my old master and +patron with my blood, the simple shepherd's child. No, if justice still +exists upon earth, he will soon take his place as Duke of Apulia, like +his father before him. And as I fear that I may die before he sends me +word of the Prefect's ruin, I have begged the long Hildegisel to write +all this down.' (And I, Hildegisel, have received for the writing +twenty pounds of the best cheese, and twelve jars of honey, which I +thankfully acknowledge, and all of which was good.) 'And with, these +writings, and with the blue stones and fine garments and golden solidi +from the inheritance of the Balthes, I send my child Gotho to King +Totila the Just, to whom she must reveal everything. He will take the +ban away from the innocent son of the guiltless duke. And when Adalgoth +knows that he is the heir of the Balthes, and that Gotho is not his +sister--then he may freely choose or shun the shepherdess; but this he +must know, that the race of the Iffingers was never a race of vassals, +but free from the very beginning, although under the protection of the +House of Balthe. + +"'And now. King Totila, decide the fate of my grandchild and +Adalgoth.'" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +"Well," laughed the King, "thou hast spared me the trouble, Duke of +Apulia!" + +"And the little duchess," added Valeria, "has, as if she had foreseen +what was coming, already adorned herself like a bride." + +"In honour of _you_," said the shepherdess. "When I heard of this feast +as I entered the gates of Roma, I opened my bundle, as my grandfather +had bidden me, and put on my ornaments." + +"Our betrothal," said Adalgoth to his bride, "has fallen upon the day +of the King's betrothal; shall our wedding take place also on the +wedding-day of the royal pair?" + +"No, no!" interrupted Valeria hastily, almost anxiously. "Add no other +to a vow which is yet unfulfilled! You children of Fortune, be wise. +You have to-day found each other. Keep to-day fast, for to-morrow +belongs to the unknown!" + +"Thou speakest truth!" cried Adalgoth. "Even today shall be our +wedding!" and he lifted Gotho upon his left arm, and showed her to all +the people. "Look here, ye good Goths! This is my little wife and +duchess!" + +"With your favour!" said a modest voice. "When so much sunshine falls +upon the summits and heights of the nation, the lower vegetation would +also gladly share some of its warmth." + +A homely-looking man approached the King, leading a pretty girl by the +hand. + +"Is it thou, brave Wachis?" cried Earl Teja, going up to him. "And no +longer a bond-servant, but with the long hair of a freedman?" + +"Yes, sir. My poor master. King Witichis, gave me my liberty when he +sent me away with Mistress Rauthgundis and Wallada. Since then I have +let my hair grow. And my mistress--I know it for a fact--was about to +free Liuta, so that we might be married according to the law of the +nation; but, alas, my mistress never returned to her home at Faesulae. +But I returned just at the right moment to save Liuta, for the very +next day the Saracens burnt the house and murdered all whom they found. +After Mistress Rauthgundis's death--leaving no one to claim the +inheritance, for a storm had buried her father Athalwin under an +avalanche--Liuta became the King's property; and therefore I would beg +the King to take me again as a bond-servant, so that we may not be +punished if we marry, and----" + +"Wachis, thou art indeed faithful!" cried Totila, interrupting him. +"No! thou shalt contract a free marriage! Give me a gold-piece." + +"Here, King Totila," said Gotho, eagerly taking one from her shepherd's +bag; "it is the last of six." + +The King took the gold, laid it upon Liuta's open palm, and then struck +her hand from below, so that the gold-piece flew up into the air, and +fell ringing upon the mosaic pavement. + +Then the King said: + +"Liuta, thou art free! No bonds hold thee. Go in peace and rejoice with +thy bridegroom." + +Earl Teja now came forward and said: + +"Wachis, once before thou hast borne the shield of a luckless master. +Wilt thou now become my shield-bearer?" + +With tears in his eyes, Wachis clasped the hand of the Earl in both his +own. + +And now Teja lifted his golden goblet and solemnly said: + + "Fortune befall you! + Already shines on you + The shimmering sunshine: + Yet thankfully think + Of the Dear and the Dead + With reverent remembrance! + He who strove unsuccessful, + The world-renowned warrior: + Witichis, Waltharis' worthiest son! + Though you celebrate cheerily + The feast of the fairest, + The Deity's darlings, + Yet honour for ever + The memory mournful + Of the Great and the Good! + I remind you, O revellers, + To drink to the dear ones; + To the manliest man, + And the worthiest woman; + To Rauthgundis and Witichis, + Deploring, I drink!" + +And all solemnly and silently returned his pledge. + +Then King Totila once more raised his cup and said before all the +people: + +"_He_ deserved! _I_ received! To him be eternal honour!" + +As he resumed his place--the other two betrothed couples had been +seated at the King's table--Earl Thorismuth, of Thurii (he had been +rewarded for his valour by the title of Earl, but, at his own request, +had retained his office of herald and shield-hearer), ascended the +steps, and lowered his herald's staff before the King, saying: + +"I come to announce strangers, O King of the Goths! Guests who have +sailed here from afar. The large fleet, of about a hundred ships, which +was reported by thy coast-guards and from the harbour-towns, has now +run into the harbour of Portus. It has brought northern people, an old, +brave, and seafaring folk, from the land of farthest Thule. Their +dragon-ships have lofty decks, and their monstrous figure-heads terrify +the beholder. But they come to thee in peace. Yesterday the flag-ship +lowered its boats, and our noble guests have sailed up the river. I +challenged them, and received the answer: 'King Harald of Goetaland, +and Haralda (his wife, as it seems), wish to greet King Totila.'" + +"Lead them to us! Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth. Earl Teja, Earl +Wisand, and Earl Grippa, go to meet and accompany them here." + +Presently, to the sound of strange and twisted horns made of shells, +and surrounded by twenty of their sailors and heroes clad in close +coats of mail, there appeared on the terrace two figures which far +overtopped even the slender Totila and his table companions. + +King Harald bore upon his helmet the two wings--each several feet +long--of the black sea-eagle. The tail-feathers of the same bird +floated from his iron crest. Down his back fell the skin of a monstrous +black bear, the jaws and fore-paws of which hung from broad iron rings +upon his breast-plate. His coat, woven of iron wire, reached to the +knee, and was confined round the hips by a broad belt of seal-skin, set +with shells. His arms and legs were bare, but at once adorned and +protected by broad golden bracelets. A short knife hung from a steel +chain at his belt. In his right hand he carried a long forked spear +like a harpoon. His thick, bright yellow hair fell like a mane low down +upon his shoulders. + +At his left hand stood--scarcely shorter by a finger's length--the +Walkyre-like form of his female companion. + +Upon her head she wore a golden open helmet, decorated with the small +wings of the silver-gull. Her bright red hair, which had a metallic +lustre, fell from beneath it in a long straight mass over the small +strip of white bearskin which covered her back--more an ornament than a +mantle--almost to her ankles. + +A closely-fitting mail, made of little scales of gold, betrayed the +incomparable figure of the Amazon, yielding to every movement of her +heaving bosom. Her under garment, which reached half-way between the +knee and ankle, was tastefully made of the white skin of the snow-hare. +Her arms were covered by sleeves made of rows of amber beads, which +glittered strangely in the evening rays of the southern sunshine. + +Upon her left shoulder was gravely perched one of the delicate white +falcons of Iceland. + +A small hatchet was stuck into her girdle. She carried over her +shoulder a long sweeping harp, surmounted with a swan's head and neck +of silver. + +The Roman populace--their eyes opened wide in wonder--pressed after +these singular figures, and even the Goths could not but admire the +wondrously fair complexion and the singularly light and sparkling eyes +of these northerners. + +"As the black hero who received me," began the Viking, "assures me that +he is not the King, then no other can be he but thou," and he gave his +hand to Totila, first pulling off his fighting-glove of shark's skin. + +"Welcome to the Tiber, my cousins from Thuleland!" cried Totila, as he +raised his cup and pledged his guests. + +Seats were quickly prepared, and the royal visitors took their places +at the King's table; their followers at the table near them. Adalgoth +poured out wine from tall, two-handled jugs. + +King Harald drank, and looked wonderingly around. + +"By Asathor!" he cried; "but it is beautiful here!" + +"Such I imagine Walhalla to be!" said his companion. + +The Goths and the northerners could scarcely understand each other. + +"If it pleases thee so well, brother," Totila slowly said, "then rest +amongst us with thy wife for some time." + +"Ho-ho! Rome-King!" laughed the giantess, and tossed back her head so +suddenly, that the waves of her red hair shook. + +The falcon flew screaming up, and circled round her head three times. +It then quietly returned to her shoulder. + +"The man has not yet been born," continued the Amazon, "who could +conquer Haralda's heart and hand. Harald alone, my brother, can bend my +arm, and spring and hurl his spear farther than I." + +"Patience, my little sister! I trust that soon a man of marrow will +master thy coy maidenhood. This King here, although he looks as mild as +Baldur, yet resembles Sigurd, the vanquisher of Fafner. You shall vie +with each other in hurling the spear." + +Haralda cast a long look at the Gothic King, blushed, and pressed a +kiss upon her falcon's smooth head. + +But Totila said: + +"Evil befell, as the singers tell us, when Sigurd strove with the +Amazon. Rather let woman greet woman in peace. Give thy hand, Haralda, +to my bride." + +And he signed to Valeria, to whom Duke Guntharis had very imperfectly +translated what was said. + +Valeria rose with graceful dignity. She wore a long white Roman-Grecian +garment, which hung in soft folds, and was confined at the waist by a +golden girdle, and upon the shoulder with a cameo brooch. Bound her +nobly-shaped head was bound a branch of laurel, which Totila had taken +from Adalgoth's wreath to fasten into her black hair. Her beauty, and +the rhythm of her movements and the folds of her garments, seemed to +float around her like music. She silently held out her hand to her +northern sister. + +Haralda had cast a sharp and not very friendly look upon the Roman +girl; but admiration soon dispelled the angry surprise which had +overspread her countenance, and she said: + +"By Freia's necklace! thou art the most lovely woman I have ever +beheld. I doubt whether a Wish-girl of Walhalla could compare with +thee. Dost thou know, Harald, whom this Princess resembles? Ten nights +ago we laid waste an island in the blue Grecian sea, and plundered a +columned temple. There stood a tall, icy-cold woman, made of white +stone; upon her breast was the figure of a head surrounded with snakes; +at her feet the night-bird; she was clad in a garment of many folds. +Swen unfortunately broke her to pieces because of the jewels in her +eyes. The King's bride resembles that marble goddess." + +"I must translate what she has said to thee," said Totila, turning to +Valeria with a smile. "Thy poetical adorer, Pisa, could not have +flattered thee more delicately than this Bellona of the north. They +landed, so we were told, at Melos, and there broke the beautiful statue +of Athene, sculptured by Phidias. You have made great desolation, I +hear," he continued, turning to Harald, "in all the islands between +Cos, Chios, and Melos. What, then, has led you so peacefully to us?" + +"That I will tell thee, brother; but only after more drink." And he +held out his cup to Adalgoth. "No, do not spoil the splendid juice with +water! Water should be salt, so that no one could drink it unless he +were a shark or a walrus. Water is good to carry us upon its back, but +not to be carried in our stomachs. And this vine-beer of yours is a +wonderful drink. I am soon tired of our mead; it is like a tame sweet +dish. But this vine-mead! the more a man drinks, the thirstier he +becomes. And if one drank too much--which is scarcely possible--it is +not like the intoxication of ale or mead, which makes a man ready to +pray to Asathor to hammer an iron ring round his temples. No; the +intoxication of the vine is like the sweet madness of the Skalds--a man +feels like a god! So much for the vine! But now I will tell thee how it +was that we came here." + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +"Well," began King Harald, "our home is in Thuleland, as the Skalds +call it; in Goetaland, as we name it. For Thuleland is the land where +one does _not_ dwell; where only, still nearer to the ice-mountains, +_other_ people live. Our realm reaches, towards the rising of the sun, +to the sea and our island, Gothland; towards the setting of the sun, as +far as Hallin and the Skioldungahaff; towards midday, to Smaland, +Skone, and the kingdom of the Sea-Danes; towards midnight, to Svealand. +The King is my father, Frode, whom Odin loves. He is much wiser than I; +but he has now crowned me as Vi-king, upon the sacred-stone at +King-Sala, because he is already a hundred years old, and quite blind. +Now the minstrels in our halls still sing the legends which tell that +you Goths were originally our brothers, and that only by reason of the +wandering of the peoples have you gradually drawn nearer to the south; +for you followed the flight of the crane from the Caucasus, but we the +running of the wolf." + +"If that be so," said King Totila, smiling, "I prefer the crane for a +guide." + +"It may well seem so to thee, sitting here in this gay drinking-hall," +answered King Harald gravely. "But however that maybe--and I do not +quite believe it, for then we ought to understand each other's words +better--we truly and highly honour this our blood-relationship. For a +long time nothing but good news came from your warm realm to our cold +Gothaland--news of the highest fame. And once my father and your King +Thidrekr,[1] who is praised by the harp-songs of our Skalds, exchanged +envoys and gifts, through the agency of the Esthes, who live on the +Austrway. These men led our envoys to the Wends, on the Wyzla; these to +the Longobardians, on the Tisia; these to the Herulians, on the Dravus; +these through Savia to Salona and Ravenna." + +"Thou art a man learned in roads and countries," observed Totila. + +"That the Viking must be; for else he will never go forwards, and +likewise never get back. Well, for some time we only heard of your +glory and good fortune. But once and again there came bad news, brought +by merchants who bought our furs and eiderdown and amber, and took it +to the Frisians, and Saxons, and franks, giving us in exchange +artfully-formed vessels, and silver and gold. The news became sadder +and more sad; we heard that King Thidrekr had died, and that afterwards +great evils had broken out in your realm. We heard of defeat, +treachery, and of the murder of Kings; of Goths warring against Goths; +and of the might of the false Prince of Grekaland. And it was said that +you had broken your heads by thousands against the high walls of your +own Roman citadel, which was held not by you, but by a man like +Asathor, and another man still worse than the fire-fiend Loki. And we +asked if none of the many Kings and Princes who had begged favours of +Thidrekr of Raven could have helped you. But at that the Frank +merchant, who offered us fine tissues from the Wahala, laughed and +said, 'Broken fortunes, broken faith! They have all forsaken the +luckless Gothic heroes, Visigoths and Burgundians, Herulians and +Thuringians, and most of all we Franks, for we are wiser than all.' +But, on hearing this. King Frode threw down his staff angrily, and +cried, 'Where is my strong son Harald?" 'Here, father,' I answered, and +took his hand. 'Hast thou heard,' my father continued, 'the news of the +faithlessness of the Southland Kings? Such things shall not be said or +sung of the men of Goetaland! If all others turn away from the Goths of +Gardarike and Raven, we will keep faith and help them in their need. +Up, my brave Harald, and thou, my bold Haralda! equip a hundred +dragon-ships, and fill them with men and weapons. Put your hands deeply +into my royal treasure at Kinsala, and do not spare the heaped-up +golden rings. And set forth with Odin's wind in your sails. Go first +from Konghalla, past the island Danes and the Jutlanders, towards the +setting of the sun; thence along the coasts of the Frisians and the +Franks, through the narrow path of the sea; then sail farther round the +realm of the Sueves to the mountain land that is called Asturia; and +round the land of the Visigoths bend towards the south. Then wind +through the narrow strait of the wide ocean, where Asathor and Odin +have set two pillars. + +"You will then have entered the sea of Midilgard, where lie innumerable +islands covered with evergreen bushes, out of which shine marble halls, +upheld by high, round stone-beams. Lay waste these islands, for they +belong to the false Prince of Grekaland. And then sail to the Roman +citadel or to Raven, and help the people of King Thidrekr against their +enemies. And fight for them by land and water, and stand by them until +all their enemies are overcome. And then speak to them and say: Thus +advises King Frode, who will soon have seen a hundred winters, and who +has seen the rise and fall of many peoples, and who, as a young Viking, +has himself visited the Southland. This is his advice: 'Leave the +Southland, however beautiful it may be. You cannot endure therein. As +little as the iceberg can endure when it drifts into the southern sea. +The sun, air, and waves consume it continually, and be it ever so +mighty, it must melt away and leave not a trace behind. It is better to +live in the poor Northland than to die in the rich Southland. Go on +board our dragon-ships, and equip your own, and fill them with all your +people; men, women, and children; and with your oxen and horses, and +weapons and treasures; and leave the hot ground that will surely +swallow you up, and come away to us. We will press closely together and +make room, or take as much land from the Wends and Esthes as you need. +And you shall be preserved fresh and green. Down there the southern +sun withers and scorches you.' This is the advice of King Frode, whom +men have called the Wise for fifty years. Now as we passed into the sea +of Midilgard, we had already heard from seafarers that your troubles +had been put an end to by a new King, whom they described as looking +like the god Baldur; that you had re-won the Roman citadel and all the +land of Gardarike, and had even victoriously carried destruction into +part of Grekaland itself. And now we see with our own eyes that you do +not need the aid of our weapons. You live in plenty and pleasure, and +everything is full of red gold and white stone. But still I must repeat +my father's words and advice; listen to him; he is wise! Until now, +every one who has despised King Frode's advice, has bitterly regretted +it." + +But Totila shook his head, smiled, and said: + +"We owe you and King Frode warm thanks for rare and noble faithfulness. +Such brotherly love from the Northern heroes shall never be forgotten +in the songs of the Goths. But, O King Harald, follow me and look about +you." + +And Totila rose and took his guest by the hand, and led him to the +entrance of the pavilion, casting back the hanging curtains. + +There lay river and land and city in the glowing light of the setting +sun. + +"Look at this land, wonderful in the beauty of its sky and soil and +art. Look at this Tiber-stream, covered by a happy, jubilant, and +handsome people. Look at these masses of laurel and myrtle. Cast thine +eyes upon the columned palaces, which shine across from Rome in the +evening rays; on the tall marble figures upon these terrace-steps--and +say thou, if all this were thine, wouldst thou ever leave it? Wouldst +thou exchange all this magnificence for the firs and pines of the +cold land of the north, where spring-time never blooms, for the +smoke-blackened wooden huts on the misty heaths?" + +"Aye, that I would, by Thorns hammer! This land is good to lay waste, +to luxuriate and win battles in; but that done, then up and away with +the booty! But you, Goths, are thrown here like drops of water upon hot +iron. And if ever we sons of Odin shall rule this land, it will be only +such of us as have a strong support in other sons of Odin. But you--you +have already become very different to us. Your grandfathers, your +fathers, and yourselves have wooed Roman women; in a few generations, +if this continue, you will be Romanised. Already you have become +smaller, and darker in skin, eyes, and hair. At least many of you. I +long to be away from this soft and sultry air, and to breathe the north +wind that rushes over our woods and waves. Yes, and I long for the +smoke-blackened halls of wood, where Gothic runes are burnt into the +roof-beams, and the harps of the Skalds hang on the wooden pillars, and +the sacred hearth-fire glows hospitably for ever! I long for our +Northland, for it is our home!" + +"Then permit us to love _our_ home: this land Italia!" + +"It will never be your home; but perhaps your grave. You are strangers +and will remain so. Or you will become Romanised. But there is no +abiding in the land possible for you as sons of Odin." + +"Let us at least try, my brother Harald," cried Totila, laughing. "Yes, +we have changed in the two centuries during which our people have lived +among the laurels. But are we the worse for it? Is it necessary to wear +a bearskin in order to be a hero? Is it necessary to rob gold and +marble statues in order to enjoy them? Can one be only either a +barbarian or a Roman? Can we not keep the virtues of the Germans and +lay aside their faults? Adopt the virtues of the Romans without their +vices?" + +But Harald shook his massive head. + +"I should rejoice at your success, but I do not believe in it. The +plant takes the nature of the soil and climate upon and under which it +lives. And, for my part, I should not at all like it, even if I and +mine could succeed. Our faults are dearer to me than the virtues of the +Italians--if they have any." + +Totila remembered the words with which he himself had answered Julius. + +"From the north comes all strength--the world belongs to the Northmen," +concluded Harald. + +"Tell it to them in the words of thy favourite song," said his sister. + +And she handed him her harp; and Harald played and sang an alliterative +measure, or _stabreim_, which Adalgoth, translating it into rhymed +verse, thus repeated to Valeria: + + "Thor stood at the midnight end of the world, + And the battle-axe flew from his hand. + 'As far as the battle-axe flies when hurled, + Is mine the sea and the land!' + And the hammer flew from his powerful hand + Like chaff by a hurricane blown: + And it fell in the farthest southern-land, + So that all became his own. + Since then 'tis German right and grace + With the hammer the lands to merit; + We come of the Hammer-God's noble race, + And his world-wide realm will inherit!" + +A burst of applause from his Gothic hearers rewarded the royal +minstrel, who looked as if he could well realise the proud boast of the +song. + +Harald once more emptied his deep golden cup. Then he rose and said: + +"Now, my little sister Haralda, and you, my sailor brothers, we must +break up. We must be on board the _Midgardschlange_ before the moon +shines upon her deck. What says the Wikinga-Balk?-- + + "'Ill sleeps the ship + When her pilot lies on shore.' + +"Long friendship--short parting; that is northern custom." + +Totila laid his hand upon his guest's arm. + +"Art thou in such haste? Fearest thou to become Romanised with us? Do +but remain; it does not come so quickly. And with thee would scarcely +happen." + +"There thou art right, Rome-King," laughed the giant; "and, by Thor's +hammer, I am proud of it! But we must go. We had three things to do +here. To help you in battle. You do not need us. Or do you? Shall we +wait until new wars break out?" + +"No," said Totila, with a smile; "we have peace and not new strife in +view. And if it should really once more come to a war--shall I prove +thee right, brother Harald, in thinking us Goths too weak to uphold our +rule alone? Have we not beaten our enemies without your help? Could we +not beat them again, we Goths alone?" + +"I thought as much," said the Viking. "Secondly, we came to fetch you +back to the Northland. You will not come. And, thirdly, to lay waste +the islands of the Emperor of Grekaland. That is a merry sport, which +we have not sufficiently practised. Come with us, help us, and revenge +yourselves." + +"No; the word of a king is sacred. We have agreed to an armistice which +has still several months to run. And listen, friend Harald. Have a care +and do not mistake _our_ islands for those of the Emperor. It would +displease me if----" + +"No, no," laughed Harald, "fear nothing. We have already noticed that +thy harbours and coasts are excellently guarded. And here and there +thou hast erected high gallows, and affixed to them tablets inscribed +with Roman runes. Thy commodore at Panormus translated it to us: + + "'Sea-robbers drowned, + Land-robbers hanged; + That is the law + In Totila's land.' + +"And my sea-brothers have taken a great dislike to thy sticks and +tablets and runes. Farewell, then, Rome-King of the Goths! May thy +good-fortune endure! Farewell, lovely Queen of Night! Farewell, all you +heroes! we shall meet again in Walhalla, if not sooner." + +And after taking a short leave, the northerners walked away. + +Haralda threw her falcon into the air. + +"Fly before us, Snotr--on deck!" + +And the intelligent bird flew away, swift as an arrow, straight down +the river. + +The King and Valeria accompanied their guests halfway down the +staircase; there they exchanged the last greetings. The Amazon cast one +more rapid glance at Totila. + +Harald remarked it, and as they descended the last steps he whispered: + +"Little sister, it is on thy account that I left so quickly. Do not +grieve about this handsome King. Thou knowest that I have inherited +from our father the gift of recognising men who are fated to die. I +tell thee, death by the spear hovers over this King's sunny head. He +will not again see the changing of the moon." + +At this the strong and tender-hearted woman forced back the tears which +rose into her proud eyes. + +Duke Guntharis, Earl Teja, and Duke Adalgoth accompanied the Goths to +their boats on the Tiber, and waited until they had put off. + +Teja looked after them gravely. + +"Yes, King Frode is wise," he said. "But folly is often sweeter than +truth; and grander. Go back to the terrace without me, Duke Guntharis. +I see the King's despatch-boat coming up the river. I will wait and see +what news it brings." + +"I will wait with thee, my master," said Adalgoth, looking at Teja +anxiously. "Thy countenance is so terribly grave. What is the matter?" + +"I have a foreboding, my Adalgoth," answered Teja, putting his arm +round the youth's neck. "See how rapidly the sun sets. I shudder! Let +us go and meet the boat--it will land below there, where lie the +ancient marble columns." + +Totila and Valeria had returned to the pavilion. + +"Wert thou moved, my beloved," asked the Roman girl with emotion, "by +what that stranger said? It was--Guntharis and Teja explained it to +me--of very grave import." + +But Totila quickly raised his head. + +"No, Valeria, it did not move me! I have taken great Theodoric's great +work upon my shoulders. I will live and die for the dream of my youth, +for my kingdom! Come--where is Adalgoth, my cup-bearer? Come; let us +once more pledge a cup, Valeria--let us drink to the good fortune of +the Gothic kingdom!" + +And he lifted up his cup; but before he could put it to his lips, +Adalgoth, with a loud call, hurried up the steps followed by Teja. + +"King Totila," cried Adalgoth breathlessly, "prepare to hear terrible +news; collect thyself----" + +Totila set down his cup and asked, turning pale: + +"What has happened?" + +"Thy despatch-boat has brought news from Ancona. The Emperor has broken +the armistice--he has----" + +Teja had now drawn near. He was pale with fury. + +"Up, King Totila!" he cried. "Exchange the wreath for the helmet! Off +Senogallia, near Ancona, a Byzantine fleet suddenly attacked our +squadron which lay under the protection of the armistice. Our ships +no more exist. A powerful army of the enemy has landed. And the +commander-in-chief is--Cethegus the Prefect!" + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +In the camp of Cethegus the Prefect at Setinum, at the foot of the +Apennines, a few miles north of Taginae, Lucius Licinius, who had just +arrived by sea from Epidamnus, was walking up and down, in eager +conversation with Syphax, before the tent of the commander-in-chief. + +"My master has been anxiously expecting you, tribune, for many days," +said the Moor; "he will be rejoiced to find you in the camp when he +returns. He has ridden out to reconnoitre." + +"Whither rode he?" + +"Towards Taginae, with Piso and the other tribunes." + +"That is the next fortified town occupied by the Goths to the south, is +it not? But now, you wise Moor, tell me what happened last at +Byzantium? You know that your master sent me to levy forces among the +Longobardians, long before anything was decided. And as, after a +dangerous journey through the country of the Longobardians and Gepidae, +I safely crossed the rapid Ister near Novae into Justinian's kingdom, +and went to fetch the promised orders of the Prefect from my host at +Nicopolis, I only found a laconic command to meet him in Senogallia. I +was much astonished; for I scarcely dared to hope that he would ever +again, at the head of the imperial fleet and army, victoriously tread +the soil of Italy. From Senogallia I followed your march hither. The +few captains whom I have met in the camp told me briefly of the course +of events until shortly before the arrest of Belisarius. But they could +not tell me how that occurred, and what took place later. Now you----" + +"Yes, I know what happened almost as well as my master, for I was +present." + +"Is it possible? Can Belisarius really have conspired against the +Emperor? I could never have believed it!" + +Syphax smiled slyly. + +"I have no right to judge of that. I can only tell you exactly what +happened. Listen--but come into the tent and refresh yourself. My +master would scold me for letting you stand outside unattended to. And +we can talk more freely inside," he added, as he closed the curtains of +the tent behind him. Then begging his master's guest to be seated, he +served him with fruit and wine, and began his account. "As the night of +that fateful day fell, I went and hid myself in a niche of Photius's +house, behind the tall statue of some Christian saint, whose name I do +not know, but who had a famous broad back. I could easily look into the +hall of the house through an aperture just above my head, which had +been made to allow the passage of fresh air. The faint light within +enabled me to distinguish a number of the aristocrats whom I had often +seen in the imperial palace, and in the houses of Belisarius and +Procopius. The first thing that I understood--for my master has taken +care that I should learn the speech of the Greeks who call themselves +Romani--was what the master of the house was saying to a man who had +just then entered. 'Rejoice,' he said, 'for Belisarius comes. After +scarcely deigning to look at me yesterday when, full of expectation, I +stopped him in the gymnasium of Zenon, to-day he himself addressed me +as I was slowly and cautiously passing his house, for I knew that he +would return from the hunt towards evening. He pressed this waxen +tablet into my hand, first looking round to make sure that no one +observed him. And on the tablet is written: "I cannot longer withstand +your appeals. Certain reasons impel me to join you. I shall come this +evening." But,' continued the master of the house, 'where is Piso, +where is Salvius Julianus and the other young Romans?' 'They will not +be coming,' answered the man. 'I saw almost all of them in boats on the +Bosphorus. They have no doubt sailed to some feast at the Prefect's +villa, near the Gate of Constantine.' 'Let them go,' said Photius; 'we +do not need the brutal Latins, nor the proud and false Prefect. Verily, +Belisarius outweighs them all.' At that moment I saw Belisarius enter +the hall. He wore an ample mantle, which entirely hid his figure. The +master of the house hurried to meet him, and all present gathered +respectfully around him. 'Great Belisarius,' said his freedman, 'we +know how to value your compliance.' And he pressed upon Belisarius the +little ivory staff which is held by the head of the assembly, and led +him to the raised seat of the president, which he himself had just +vacated. 'Speak--command--act--we are ready,' said Photius. 'I shall +act at the right time,' answered Belisarius gloomily, and took his +seat. Just then young Anicius rushed into the room with tangled hair +and flying garments; a drawn sword in his hand. 'Fly!' he cried. 'We +are discovered and betrayed.' Belisarius rose. 'They have forced my +house,' continued Anicius. 'My slaves were taken prisoners. The weapons +which I had hidden were found, and your letters and documents, and, +alas, my own too, have disappeared from a hiding-place which was known +only to me! And still more--as I turned into the grove of Constantine, +I thought I heard the sound of whispering and the rattle of arms +amongst the bushes. I am followed--save yourselves!' The conspirators +rushed to the doors. Belisarius alone remained quietly standing before +his chair. 'Take heart!' cried Photius. 'Follow the example of your +hero-chief!' But the sound of a trumpet was heard from the great +house-door, the sign for me to leave my post and join my master, who +stormed into the house at the head of the imperial lance-bearers and +Golden Shields, with the Prefect of Byzantium, and the archon of the +palace-guard. My master looked splendid," continued Syphax +enthusiastically, "as, with a flaming torch in his left hand, a sword +in his right, and his crimson plume floating behind him, he rushed into +the hall; so looks the fire-demon when he issues from a blazing +mountain in Africa! I drew my sword and sprang to my master's left +side, for he carried no shield. He had ordered me to render young +Anicius harmless as soon as possible. 'Down with all who resist, in the +name of Justinian!' cried my master. His sword was dripping with blood, +for he had killed with his own hand the body-guards whom Belisarius had +placed at the entrance of the grove. 'Yield!' he cried to the +frightened crowd; 'and thou, archon of the palace, arrest _all_ the +conspirators. Do you understand--_all_!' 'Is it possible! Shameless +traitor!' cried Anicius, and rushed at my master with his sword. 'Yes,' +he cried, 'there is the crimson crest! Die, murderer of my brother!' +But the next moment he lay at our feet, severely wounded. I drew my +sword out of his breast, and then disarmed Photius, who was the only +one who still resisted. All the others allowed themselves to be taken +like sheep bewildered by a thunder-storm. 'Bravo, Syphax!' cried my +master. 'Examine his dress for any writings.' Then he turned to the +archon, asking him if he were ready, for he had stopped hesitatingly +opposite Belisarius, who remained perfectly quiet. 'What!' asked the +archon--'must I also arrest the magister militum?' '_All_, I said. 'Do +you no longer understand Greek? You see--all see--that Belisarius is at +the head of the conspiracy--he holds the president's staff, he occupies +the president's chair.' 'Ha!' now cried Belisarius; 'is it so! Guards! +Help, help, my body-guards! Marcellus, Barbatio, Ardaburius!" 'The dead +cannot hear, magister militum,' said my master. 'Yield, in the name of +the Emperor! Here is his great seal. For this night he has made me his +representative, and a thousand lances bristle round this house.' +'Fidelity is madness!' cried Belisarius, threw his sword away, and held +out his strong arms to the archon, who put on the chains. 'Into the +dungeons with all the prisoners,' said my master. 'Photius and +Belisarius must be put separately into the round tower of Anastasius, +in the palace. I will hasten to the Emperor and return his ring, and +take him this steel'--he lifted the sword of Belisarius from the +ground--'and tell him that he may sleep in peace. The conspiracy is +crushed--the Empire is saved!'--The very next morning the trial for +high treason was commenced. Many witnesses were heard--I amongst them. +I swore that I had seen Belisarius received and heard him greeted as +the head of the conspiracy. I myself had taken the tablet from the +dress of Photius. Belisarius would have appealed to the testimony of +his bodyguards, but they were all dead. Photius and other prisoners, +submitted to the rack, confessed that Belisarius had finally consented +to become the head of the conspiracy. Antonina was strictly guarded in +the Red House. The Empress refused to grant the interview for which she +passionately sued. It told strongly against both her and Belisarius +when spies of the Empress bore witness that they had seen young Anicius +steal by night into the house of Belisarius for weeks together. And it +shocked the judges that Anicius himself, Antonina and Belisarius, +continued obstinately to deny their guilt, although it was so fully +proved. Immediately after the arrest I was sent for by my master, to +tell Antonina that he had been most painfully surprised to find that +Belisarius was _really_ at the head of the conspiracy; and at the same +time to say that he had found not alone letters of hatred in the +cistern belonging to Anicius. As I said these words, which I did not +understand, the beautiful wife of Belisarius fell fainting to the +ground.--We left Byzantium before Belisarius was sentenced; but Photius +and most of the others were already condemned to death as we set sail +with the imperial fleet for Epidamnus, where my master's tribunes and +mercenaries, and the imperial forces originally intended for the +Persian wars, were awaiting us. For my master had been honoured with +the newly-created dignity of Magister Militum per Italium, and the +command of the 'first army.' The 'second army' was to be brought after +us by Prince Areobindos, when he had accomplished the easy task of +overpowering the small Gothic garrisons in the towns of Epirus and the +islands with a force five times their number." + +"What is said will be the punishment of Belisarius?" asked Lucius +Licinius. "I could never have believed that that man----" + +"The judge will certainly condemn him to death, for his guilt is clear. +But people speculate as to whether the Emperor's anger or his former +affection for the general will get the victory. Most of them think that +the Emperor will change the sentence of death into one of banishment +and loss of sight. My master says that Belisarius's senseless denial of +his guilt does him great harm. And he is also without the assistance of +his wise friend Procopius, who is absent in Asia. Cethegus managed the +embarkation of the troops to Epidamnus with such secrecy that the +stupid Goths, who, besides, reckoned upon the armistice, were +completely taken by surprise; and while the crews were sleeping on +shore, the scantily-guarded Gothic fleet was taken and destroyed. But +hark! here comes my master; he alone has such a proud step?" + +From Licinius Cethegus now learned that not only had he obtained a +promise from Alboin, the Longobardian chief, that he would come to the +help of Cethegus with twenty thousand men (a number which the latter, +always jealous, found almost too great), but that he had succeeded in +engaging other warlike troops of mercenaries. + +Cethegus, on his side, informed Lucius that, although he had been able +to relieve Ravenna, he had met with much hindrance on the part of his +own countrymen, who were slow to rise in revolt against the Goths; and +that only with the Byzantines under his command, it would be impossible +to beat Totila. He complained bitterly of the delay of Areobindos in +bringing up the "second army," and regretted that he had been unable to +reach Taginae before Earl Teja, who had beaten the Saracens there posted +with great loss, and had taken up a strong position in the expectation +of being speedily joined by King Totila with the army. + +"And Taginae is the key of the position," concluded Cethegus. "Earl Teja +must have flown from Rome on the wings of the wind! I have tried to-day +to ascertain the strength of his garrison, but I could not penetrate +beyond Caprae. The barbarian King is already on the march, and where, +oh! where tarries my 'second army?'" + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +The next day Totila reached Taginae, accompanied by Valeria and Julius. +He had hastened forward to join Teja with a portion of his troops, +while Wisand and Guntharis reached him later with the main army. Only +after their arrival could any attack be made upon the very strong +position of the Prefect. + +Cethegus, too, attempted no assault, but while thus inactive, awaiting +his "second army," he once more, and in vain, endeavoured to regain the +lost affection of Julius. He went to Taginae to meet him at a spot +between the outposts of the opposing forces. He tried all possible +means to induce him to return to his allegiance, even unveiling the +history of his past life. The mother of Julius had once been betrothed +to Cethegus, but her father had been persuaded by Duke Alaric to break +off the match, and to give her in marriage to a Gothic noble. On the +day of her wedding, Cethegus, mad with grief, had tried to carry her +off by force, but, overpowered by numbers, had been struck down, and +thrown, seemingly lifeless, on the banks of the Tiber. Many years +after, he had found Julius, a young boy, forsaken, with his dying +mother, in their villa on the banks of the Rhodus, which had been +sacked by bands of marauders. From that moment Cethegus had adopted the +son of his lost bride.--But in vain he now appealed to the gratitude of +his adopted son. Julius not only recoiled with horror from any further +connection with a man whose ruthless hands were stained with blood, but +his deepening religious feeling separated him entirely from the avowed +atheist. + +And, blow upon blow, Cethegus was disappointed in another matter. The +"second army" was at last reported as approaching. Syphax brought the +news; he had ridden night and day in order to reach the Prefect +before this army should arrive, for at its head was, not Areobindos, +but--_Narses_. + +Vexed and alarmed, Cethegus left his camp, and rode forward to meet +Narses, with whom he found Alboin, the Longobardian chief. Narses +received him with marked coolness, and at once explained to him that he +could suffer no rival in his camp; that Cethegus must either serve +under him as one of his generals, or remain inactive as his _guest_. +Clearly seeing that he must either submit or be a prisoner, Cethegus at +once affirmed that he considered it an honour to serve under Narses, +and together the generals reached a favourable position between +Helvillum and Taginae. + +And a mighty army was that of Narses, with which he had advanced from +the north and east in terrible strides, driving before him the Goths +from position to position, making no prisoners, but inexorably +annihilating all who stood in his way. + +Totila had but a small force to oppose to these numbers, for his army +had been fearfully diminished; and now, when the Italians foresaw the +probable consequences of the renewed war, and that the Goths were being +slowly but surely overcome, they ceased to rally round Totila's flag, +and even, where they felt themselves safe, betrayed the hiding-places +of the Gothic people to the Byzantines. The persecuted Gothic families +fled, and sought protection in the camp of Totila, who, fearing the +famine sure to be caused by the accumulation of helpless masses, sent +them still farther south to those parts of the peninsula yet uninvaded +by Narses. + +Surrounded by his Earls, Totila now formed a plan by which he intended +to entice the centre of the army of Narses (which was held by the +Longobardians) into an ambush between Caprae and Taginae. Reckoning upon +the headlong valour of the Longobardians, Totila determined to place +the full half of his troops in the town of Caprae, leaving the other +half in Taginae. Totila himself, with his small troop of horsemen, would +advance beyond Caprae against the Longobardians; and at the moment of +attack, would turn, feigning a sudden panic; would gallop back through +the gates of Caprae (the troops there remaining concealed in the +houses), and thus draw on the Longobardians to pursue him into the +narrow road, between low hills, which lay between Caprae and Taginae. At +this spot Totila would place in ambush a troop of Persian horsemen, +which had been unexpectedly brought to him by his old friend and rival, +Furius Ahalla, who had orders, when the Longobardians were fairly taken +in the trap, to issue from their ambush, and annihilate them. Totila +counted upon the fidelity of Ahalla, who was bound to him by strong +ties of gratitude in spite of the defeat he had suffered in his suit of +Valeria. This plan of Totila was highly approved of by Hildebrand, and +all the warriors who shared his counsels. + +The evening before the day of its execution all was in readiness. +Furius Ahalla and his horsemen were posted in the narrow road, the +"Flaminian Way." Earl Thorismuth himself went out to make sure that +they had punctually obeyed orders. When he returned to Totila's camp, +he brought word that Furius Ahalla begged Totila to delay his attack +and feigned flight on the morrow, until three hundred of his best men, +who had been delayed on the march, should have joined him; of which +event he would immediately apprise Totila outside the gates of Caprae. + +"Well," said Totila, smiling, "I will await the proper moment, and +meantime entertain the Longobardians by my feats of horsemanship. +To-morrow, Teja, God will decide the right. Thou sayest there is no God +but necessity. I say there is a living God--my victory to-morrow shall +prove it." + +"Stay," cried Julius, who was present, "ye shall not tempt the Lord!" + +"Seest thou," cried Teja, as he rose and took up his shield, "Julius +fears for his God!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +Brilliantly arose the sun on the next morning, casting its first beams +over the warlike movement in the Gothic camp. + +As the King issued from his dwelling in the marketplace of Taginae, +Adalgoth, Thorismuth, and Phaza hurried to meet him with his milk-white +charger, sent, together with a magnificent suit of armour, by Valeria, +his bride. + +His arms rang as the King swung himself into the saddle. + +His grooms led up two other horses in reserve, one of which was Pluto, +the Prefect's restless and fiery charger. + +From Totila's shoulders flowed his long white mantle, held together at +the neck by a broad and heavy clasp set with precious stones. His +cuirass was of shining silver, richly inlaid with gold, the figure of a +flying swan upon the breast. The edges of the cuirass at the neck, +arms, and belt, were bound with red silk. Beneath it showed the coat of +white silk, reaching over the thighs. + +Broad gold bracelets and silvered gauntlets protected his arms and +hands; greaves his knees and the top of his feet. + +His narrow and gracefully-shaped shield was divided into three fields +of silver, gold, and crimson. On the golden field the figure of the +flying swan was wrought in white enamel. + +The caparison and reins of his horse were set with silver and +embroidered with red silk. + +In his right hand the King held a spear, to the point of which Valeria +had fastened four streamers of red and white riband; merrily they +fluttered in the morning breeze. + +Thus brilliantly arrayed, the King rode through the streets of Taginae +at the head of his horsemen. Earl Thorismuth, Phaza, and Duke Adalgoth, +and also Julius, rode in his train. Julius carried no weapons, but he +bore a shield forged by Teja. + +Never had Totila shone in such beauty! The people greeted him upon his +way with shouts of joy. At the northern gate of Taginae, Aligern came +riding towards him. + +"I thought that thy place was with the right wing," said the King. +"What brings thee here?" + +"My cousin Teja has ordered me to remain at thy side and guard thy +life." + +"My Teja is untiring in his care of me!" cried the King. + +Aligern joined the escort. + +Earl Thorismuth now undertook the command of the footmen who were +hidden in the houses of Taginae. + +Outside the gate, the King rode to the front of his not very numerous +troop of horsemen, and disclosed his plan to the captains. + +"I entrust to you, comrades, the most difficult of all tasks--flight! +But the flight will be only seeming. What is true, is your courage and +the destruction of the foe." + +And now the small troop rode forward past the place of ambush on the +Flaminian Way, the King convincing himself that the Persian horsemen +were in readiness upon both the wooded heights. The ambush on the right +was commanded by Furius himself, that on the left by his chief, +Isdigerd. + +Totila now rode into Caprae through the southern gate, and admonished +the bowmen under Earl Wisand not to issue from the houses in which they +were concealed, until the Persian horsemen had fallen upon the +Longobardians from their ambush, but then immediately to sally out of +the southern gate, while at the same time the spear-bearers would +advance against the enemy from the northern gate of Taginae. + +"Thus the Longobardians and such of Narses' foot who have pressed +forward between Caprae and Taginae will be surrounded on all sides and +crushed. I and Thorismuth attack in front, Furius and Isdigerd on both +flanks, and Wisand in the rear. They will be lost!" + +"Does he not look like the sun-god?" Adalgoth delightedly asked Julius. + +"Peace! Make no idol of sun or man! Besides, to-day is the solstice!" +answered Julius. + +At length the King reached the northern gate of Caprae, left it open +behind him, and galloped out with his little troop upon the level land +between Caprae and Helvillum. + +Here Narses had placed his centre; foremost Alboin with his +Longobardians. Behind these, at a considerable distance, stood Narses +in his litter, surrounded by Cethegus, Liberius, Auzalas, and other +leaders. + +Narses had had a bad night, disturbed by slight fits. He was very weak, +and could not stand up for any length of time in his low and open +litter. + +He had strictly admonished Alboin not to advance to the attack without +special orders. + +King Totila gave a sign to his horsemen, and at a trot the thin line +advanced towards the far superior ranks of the Longobardians. + +"They surely will not shame us by attacking us with only a few lances?" +cried Alboin. + +But an attack did not seem to be the present object of the King. + +He had ridden far in advance of his men, who had suddenly halted, and +now attracted all eyes by his feats of horsemanship. + +The spectacle which he afforded was so wonderful in the eyes of the +Byzantines, that the witnesses related it in astonishment to Procopius, +who, himself amazed, has remitted it to us. + +"On this day," he writes, "King Totila evidently wished to show his +enemies what manner of man he was. His weapons and his horse shone with +gold. So many shining red streamers fluttered from the point of his +spear that this ornament alone announced the King from a distance. +Thus, mounted on a splendid charger, in the space between the two +armies, did he indulge in a skilful exercise of arms. Now he rode in a +circle; now he caracoled in semicircles to the right and left; now he +hurled his spear into the air, as he rode off at full gallop, and +caught it by the middle of the shaft as it fell quivering, first with +his right hand, and then with his left; and thus he showed to the +wondering troops his feats of horsemanship." + +After the battle, however, the Byzantines learned the true reason of +this merry sport. + +For a time Alboin looked on quietly. + +Then he said to a Longobardian chief who stood near him: + +"That fellow rides to the battle-field adorned like a bridegroom! What +costly armour! We do not see the like at home, Gisulf. And not to dare +to attack! Does Narses again sleep?" + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +At last a Persian horseman, making his way through the ranks of the +Goths, galloped up to the King, gave a message, and galloped back again +at full speed. + +"At last!" cried Totila. "Now enough of sport! Brave Alboin, son of +Audoin," he loudly cried across to the enemy's ranks, "wilt thou really +fight for the Greeks against us? Then come on, O King's son--it is a +King who calls thee?" + +Alboin could no longer restrain his impatience. + +"Mine must he be with armour and horse!" he shouted, and spurred +forward with his lance couched. + +Totila, with a gentle pressure of his thigh, brought his horse to a +sudden standstill. It seemed that he intended to stand the shock. + +Alboin came on at a furious gallop. + +Another slight pressure of Totila's thigh, a clever spring to one side, +and the Longobardian, who could not check his horse, rushed far past +his adversary. + +But the next moment Totila was at Alboin's back; he could easily have +bored him through with his spear. + +The Longobardians, seeing the danger of their chief, uttered loud cries +and hurried to his assistance. + +But Totila whirled his lance round, and contented himself with giving +his adversary such a thrust in the left side with the shaft end, that +Alboin fell headlong out of his saddle on the right side of his horse. +Totila quietly rode back to his troop, waving his spear over his head +in triumph. + +Alboin had remounted, and now led his troop against the thin ranks of +the Goths. + +But just before the shock of meeting, the King cried, "Fly! fly into +the town!" turned his horse's head, and galloped away towards Caprae. + +His horsemen followed him. + +For one moment Alboin halted in perplexity. But the next he cried: + +"It is nothing else; it is a pure flight! There they run into the gate! +Yes, feats of horsemanship are one thing, and fighting is another. +After them, my wolves! into the town!" + +And the Longobardians galloped forwards to Caprae, burst open the +northern gate--which had been closed, but not bolted, by the flying +Goths--and rushed through the long street towards the southern gate, +through which the last Goth was just disappearing. + +Narses had till now stood upright in his litter with difficulty, +observing all that passed. + +"Halt!" he angrily cried. "Halt! Blow the trumpets! Sound the retreat! +It is the most clumsy trap in the world! But this Alboin thinks that if +any one runs away from him, it must be in earnest!" + +But the trumpeters blew in vain. + +The cries of victory uttered by the pursuing Longobardians, drowned the +blast of the trumpets; or those that heard it disregarded it. + +Narses groaned as he saw the last ranks of the Longobardians disappear +into the Gate of Caprae. + +"Oh!" he sighed; "those blockheads oblige me to commit a folly with +open eyes. I cannot let them suffer for their stupidity as they +deserve. I still need them. Therefore, forward, in the name of +nonsense! Before we can overtake them, they may be already half +destroyed! Forward, Cethegus, Anzalas, and Liberius! Take the +Isaurians, Armenians, and Illyrians, and get into Caprae. But reflect +that the town _cannot_ be empty. It is a snare, into which we follow +those blind bulls with open eyes. I will come after in my litter; but I +can stand no more." + +And he sank back into his seat, terribly fatigued. A slight convulsion, +such as he often experienced when excited, shook his frame. + +The footmen of Cethegus and Liberius advanced towards the town at a +rapid march, the two leaders riding in front. + +Meanwhile pursued and pursuers had rushed through the little town, and +the last Longobardians had passed Caprae, while the first, with Alboin, +had reached that part of the Flaminian Way where the two hills bounded +and confined the road on the right and left. + +The King galloped forward another horse's length; then he halted, +turned, and gave a sign. + +Adalgoth, who rode at his side, blew his horn, and out of the northern +gate of Taginae issued Thorismuth and his spear-bearers, while from the +double ambush on the hills the Persian horsemen of the Corsican burst +out with a yell and a blast of cornets. + +"Now wheel about, my Goths! Forward to the charge! Woe to the +befooled!" cried Totila. + +Alboin looked helplessly round. + +"We have never before trotted into anything so evil, my wolves!" he +said. + +He would have retreated, but now Gothic footmen issued likewise from +the southern gate of Caprae, blocking the way back. + +"There is nothing for it but to die merrily, Gisulf! Greet Rosimunda, +if thou escapest!" + +And he turned to meet one of the leaders of the Persian horsemen, who, +distinguished by a richly-gilded open helm, had now reached the road, +and was advancing straight upon him. + +As he came up to Alboin, he of the gilded helmet cried: + +"Turn, Longobardian! yonder stands our common foe! _Down with the +Goths!_" + +And he ran his sword through a Gothic horseman who was aiming a stroke +at Alboin. + +And now the Persian horsemen, galloping past the Longobardians, +attacked the horrified Goths. For a moment the latter halted, taken by +surprise. But when they saw that it was no mistake--that the ambush was +against _them_, and not against the Longobardians--they cried, +"Treachery, treachery! all is lost!" and, this time in unfeigned +flight, rushed back to Taginae, carrying everything along with them, +even their own footmen, who were just issuing from the gate. + +Even the King changed countenance when he saw the Corsican strike at +the Goths at Alboin's side. + +"Yes, it is treachery!" he cried. "Ha! the tiger! Down with him!" + +And he rushed at the Corsican. But before he could reach him, Isdigerd +the Persian had stormed into the road from the left between the King +and Furius. + +"Aim at the King!" he cried to his men. "All spears at the King! There +he is, the white one! With the swan on his helmet! Down with him!" + +A hail of spears whistled through the air. In a moment the King's +shield bristled with darts. + +By this time the Corsican had recognised the tall and glittering figure +in the distance. + +"It is he! I will have his heart's blood!" + +And he forced his way through his own and Isdigerd's men. + +The two enraged adversaries were now separated only by a few feet. + +But Totila had turned against Isdigerd. Pierced in the neck by the +King's spear, the chief fell dead to the ground. + +And now Totila and Furius met. + +The Corsican aimed his spear full at the King's unprotected face. + +But suddenly the glittering helmet and the white mantle had +disappeared. + +Two spears had struck the white horse, and at the same time a third +pierced the King's shield and wounded his left arm severely. + +Horse and man fell. + +Isdigerd's Persians raised a wild cry of exultation and pressed +forward. + +Furius and Alboin spurred their horses. + +"Spare the King's life! take him prisoner! He spared me!" cried Alboin. + +For he had been greatly touched when Gisulf told him that he distinctly +saw the King change the point of his spear for the shaft. + +"No! Down with Totila!" cried Furius. + +And he hurled his spear at the wounded man, whom Aligern was trying to +lift upon the Prefect's horse and lead out of the fight. + +Julius caught the Corsican's first spear upon Teja's proven shield. + +Furius called for a second, and aimed at the press around the King; +Phaza, the Armenian, tried to parry the stroke and received the spear +in his heart. + +Then Furius, who had now spurred close up, raised his long and crooked +scimetar against the King. But before the stroke could fall the +Corsican fell backwards from his saddle. + +The young Duke of Apulia had thrust the staff of his banner with such +force against Ahalla's breast that the wood was shattered. + +And now Totila's banner--the costly work of Valeria and her women--was +in the greatest danger in Adalgoth's hands. For all the enemy's horse +pressed upon the bold young standard-bearer; a stroke of Gisulf's axe +struck the staff and broke it again--Adalgoth tore off the silken flag +and tucked it into his sword-belt. + +Alboin had now come up, and cried: + +"Yield, thou King of the Goths--to me, a King's son!" + +Aligern had just succeeded in lifting the King on to the Prefect's +horse; he turned to the Longobardian, who, wishing to stay the +King's flight but to save his life, aimed a stroke at the latter's +horse with his spear. But the next moment Aligern had cleft Alboin's +vulture-winged helmet, and, stunned, the latter wavered in his saddle. + +Thus, the leaders of their enemies being for the moment repulsed, +Adalgoth, Aligern, and Julius had time to lead the King out of the +tumult as far as the northern gate of Taginae. From this place the King +would have conducted the battle, but he could scarcely hold himself +upright in his saddle. + +"Thorismuth," he said, "thou must defend Taginae; for the present Caprae +is lost. Let a mounted messenger fetch the whole of Hildebrand's wing +here; the road to Rome must be kept open at all costs. Teja, as I +learned, has already joined in the battle with his left wing.--To +defend the retreat to the south--is our last hope!" + +And, saying this, he swooned away. + +But Earl Thorismuth said: + +"I and my spearmen will defend Taginae to the last man. Not a foe shall +get in here; neither the Persians nor the Longobardians. I will protect +the King's life as long as I can raise a finger. Take him farther back; +into the mountain--into the cloister but make haste, for there, from +the Gate of Caprae, come the enemy's foot--and, look there!--Cethegus +the Prefect with his Isaurians! Caprae and our bowmen are lost!" + +And so it was. + +Wisand, obeying his orders, had not defended Caprae, but had allowed +Cethegus and Liberius to enter, and only when they were fairly inside +the town did he begin the fight in the streets, at the same time +sending a thousand of his men out of the southern gate to attack the +Longobardians. + +But, as the ambuscades had fallen upon the Goths instead of the +Longobardians; as Alboin and Furius united in dispersing or +annihilating the few Gothic horsemen, and the attack intended by the +spearmen from Taginae did not take place; the Gothic bowmen, first in +Caprae itself, and then on the Flaminian Way, between Caprae and Taginae, +were quickly crushed by superior force. + +Wisand escaped as if by a miracle, and, though wounded, reached Taginae +and reported the annihilation of his troops. + +Narses was carried into Caprae, and the Illyrians began to storm Taginae. +Earl Thorismuth resisted heroically. He fought his best in order to +cover the retreat of his comrades. + +He was presently reinforced by a few thousand men from Hildebrand's +left wing, who now hurried up, while the old master-at-arms led the +greater part of his troops southwards beyond Taginae upon the high-road +to Rome. + +Just as the storming of Taginae was about to commence, Cethegus met +Furius and Alboin, who had recovered from the blows they had received. + +Cethegus had heard of the course pursued by the Corsican, which had +decided the fate of the battle. He shook him by the hand. + +"Well done, friend Furius! At last on the right side, and against the +barbarian King!" + +"He must not escape alive!" growled the Corsican. + +"What? How? He still lives! I thought that--he had fallen," said +Cethegus hastily. + +"No; they managed to rescue him after he was wounded." + +"He must not live!" cried Cethegus. "Then you are right! It is of more +importance than to win Taginae. Narses can manage that heroic work from +his litter. He has seventy to one. Up, Furius! Why do your horsemen +stand idle here?" + +"The animals cannot ride up the walls!" + +"No; but they can swim. Up! take three hundred yourself, and give me +three hundred. Two roads lead right and left from the little town +over--no! they have broken down the bridges--they lead _through_ the +Clasius and the Sibola--let us take these roads. The wounded King is +certainly--can he still fight?" + +"Hardly." + +"Then he has fled beyond Taginae--to Rome or--" + +"No; to his bride!" cried Furius. "Most certainly to Valeria in the +cloister. Ha! I will stab him in her very arms! Up, Persians! follow +me. Thanks, Prefect! Take as many horsemen as you like. And ride to the +right--I will ride to the left round the town; for both roads lead to +the cloister." + +And, wheeling to the left, he disappeared. + +Cethegus ordered the rest of the horsemen to follow him, speaking in +the Persian language. + +Then he rode up to Liberius and said: + +"I will take the Gothic King prisoner." + +"What? He still lives? Then make haste!" + +"Meanwhile you can take this Taginae," continued Cethegus; "I will leave +you my Isaurians." + +And he galloped away with Syphax and three hundred Persians. + +Meantime the wounded King had been taken by his friends out of Taginae +into a little pine-wood near the road, where he drank from a spring and +gradually revived. + +"Julius," he said, "ride on to Valeria; tell her that the battle is +lost, but not the kingdom. That I am alive and still hope. As soon as I +feel a little stronger I shall ride up to the Spes Bonorum. I ordered +Teja and Hildebrand there when they had finished their tasks. It is a +high and safe position. Go, I beg thee; comfort Valeria and take her +also from the cloister to Spes Bonorum. Thou wilt not? Then I must +myself ride up the difficult road--surely thou wilt spare me that?" + +Julius was reluctant to leave the wounded man. + +"Oh, relieve me from my helmet and mantle! they are so heavy," said +Totila. + +Julius took them from him and gave him his own mantle. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +All at once a thought flashed across the mind of the monk; had they not +once before exchanged garments--the Dioscuri? + +Had he not once before drawn the murderous steel directed at Totila's +heart upon himself? + +He thought they were followed. It seemed to him that he heard horses +approaching, and Aligern--Adalgoth held the King's head upon his +knees--had hastened to the edge of the wood to look. + +"Yes, it is they," he cried as he returned; "Persian horsemen are +riding up from both sides of the wood!" + +"Then make haste, Julius," begged Totila; "save Valeria! Take her to +Teja at the sarcophagus." + +"I will make all speed, my friend! Farewell till we meet again!" And +Julius once more pressed Totila's hand. Then he mounted Pluto--he chose +the wounded horse, leaving his own, which was unhurt. + +Unseen by Totila, he set the helmet with its silver swan upon his head, +folded the white mantle around him, and galloped out of the wood +towards the cloister hill. + +"This road," he thought, "is open and undefended, while the road which +the King will take to the Spes Bonorum leads through wood and vineyard. +Perhaps I shall succeed in attracting the pursuers away from him." + +And, in fact, he had no sooner issued from beneath the trees, and begun +to ride up the hill, than he saw that the horsemen who had come from +beyond Taginae were eagerly following him. + +In order to keep the pursuers away from the King, and from discovering +their error, he urged his horse to its full speed. + +But the animal was wounded, and the way was very steep. Nearer and +nearer came the pursuers. + +"Is it he?" + +"Yes, it is he." + +"No, it is not. He is too short," said the leader of the troop, who +rode foremost. + +"Would he fly alone?" + +"That would be the best way to escape," observed the leader. + +"It is he most surely; I see the silver swan on his helmet!" + +"And the white mantle!" + +"But he rode a white horse," said the leader. + +"Yes, at first," said one of the horsemen; "but when it fell, struck by +my spear, they lifted him--I was close by--upon that charger." + +"Enough," said the leader, "you are right. I recognise the horse." + +"A noble animal! How it keeps on, and up hill, too, although wounded." + +"Yes, he is a noble animal! And I will make him stop. Pay attention! +Halt, Pluto!" he shouted. "On your knees!" + +Snorting and trembling, the clever, obedient animal, in spite of spur +and blows, stood stockstill, and slowly bent its fore-legs in the sand. + +"It is ruin, barbarian, to ride the Prefect's horse! There, take that +for the Forum! and that for the Capitol! and that for Julius!" + +And the Prefect--for he it was--furiously hurled three spears one after +the other, his own and two carried by Syphax, at the back of his +victim, and with such force that they passed completely through the +fugitive's body. + +Then Cethegus sprang from his horse, drew his sword, and taking the +fallen man by the back of his helmet, dragged up his head from the +earth. + +"Julius!" he screamed in horror. + +"You, O Cethegus!" Julius could just murmur. + +"Julius! you must not, must not die!" + +And Cethegus passionately tried to stanch the blood that issued from +the three wounds. + +"If you love me," said the dying man, "save him--save Totila!" And his +gentle eyes closed for ever. + +Cethegus put his hand upon the heart of the dead man; he laid his ear +upon the bared breast. + +"All is over!" he then said, in a faint voice. "O Manilia! Julius, I +loved thee! And he died with _his_ name upon his lips! All is over!" he +cried again, but this time in a voice of anger; "the last bond which +united me to human love I have myself cut, deceived by mocking +accident! It was my last weakness! And now all tender feeling, be dead +to me! Lift him on to the horse.--This, my Pluto, shall be your last +service.--Take him--up there I see a chapel--take him there, and let +him be buried with all ceremony by the priests. Merely say that he died +as a monk--that he died for his friend. He deserves a Christian burial. +But I," he added, with a terrible expression on his face, "I will once +more seek his friend; I will unite them without delay--and for ever." + +And he mounted his horse. + +"Whither?" asked Syphax. "Back to Taginae?" + +"No! down into that wood. He must be hidden there, for thence came +Julius." + + +During these occurrences the King had recovered, and now rode with +Adalgoth, Aligern, and a few riders, straight out of the wood, on the +outer edge of which the road ascended to the chapel hill. As they +issued from the trees they could distinctly perceive the walls of the +building. + +But they themselves had been seen, for they heard a yell to their +right, and over the open level a numerous troop of horsemen came +galloping towards them from the river. + +The King recognised the leader, and before his companions could prevent +him, he spurred his horse, couched his spear, and rushed to meet his +enemy. Like two thunderbolts from the lowering heavens, the two +horsemen crashed together. + +"Insolent barbarian!" + +"Miserable traitor!" + +And both fell from their horses. + +They had met with such fury, that neither of them had thought of +defending himself, but only of overthrowing his adversary. + +Furius Ahalla had fallen dead, for the King had pierced him to the +heart through gilded shield and breastplate with such force, that the +shaft of the spear had broken in the wound. But the King also sank +dying into Adalgoth's arms. Ahalla's lance had entered his breast just +below his throat. + +Adalgoth tore Valerians blue banner out of his belt and tried to stanch +the streaming blood--in vain; the bright blue was at once dyed deep +red. + +"Gothia!" breathed Totila, "Italia! Valeria!" + +At this moment, before the unequal fight could commence, Alboin arrived +upon the spot with his Longobardians. He had followed the Prefect, not +being inclined to remain idle while the fight was going on round the +walls of Taginae. + +The Longobardian looked silently and with emotion at the corpse of the +King. + +"He gave me my life--I could not save his," he said gravely. + +One of his horsemen pointed to the rich armour worn by the dead man. + +"No," said Alboin, "this royal hero must be buried with all his royal +trappings." + +"There, Alboin, on the rocky height above us," said Adalgoth, "his +bride and his tomb, self-chosen, have waited for him long." + + +"Take him up! I will give safe-conduct to the noble corpse and the +noble bearers. Now, my men, follow me back to the fight!" + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + +But the fight was over: as Alboin and the Prefect discovered, to their +great disgust, when they again reached Taginae. + +The Prefect, just as he had entered the pine-wood and was about to +follow the King's track, had been overtaken by a messenger from +Liberius, who sent word for him to return immediately. Narses was +insensible, and the peril of the situation necessitated immediate +counsel. + +Narses insensible--Liberius perplexed--the victory they had thought +certain, endangered--these circumstances weighed more with the Prefect +than the doubtful expectation of dealing the death-stroke to the +half-dead King. + +In haste Cethegus galloped back to Taginae the way that he had come. +When he reached the town he found Liberius, who cried: + +"Too late! I have already settled and agreed to everything. A truce! +The rest of the Goths march off!" + +"What?" thundered Cethegus--he would gladly have poured all the blood +of the Goths upon the grave of his darling as a sacrifice. "They march? +A truce? Where is Narses?" + +"He lies insensible in his litter; he has been taken with severe +convulsions. The fright, the surprise--it prostrated him, and no +wonder." + +"What surprise? Speak, man!" + +And Liberius briefly related how they had forced their way into Taginae +with fearful loss of blood, "for the Goths stood like a wall"--had been +obliged to storm house by house, even room by room--"we were obliged to +hack to pieces by inches one of their leaders, who ran Anzalas through +as he leaped into the first breach, before we could force our way into +the town over his body." + +"Who was he?" asked Cethegus earnestly. "I hope Earl Teja?" + +"No; Earl Thorismuth. When we had finished our bloody work, and Narses +was about to let himself be carried into the town, he met in the gate a +messenger from our left wing--which no more exists! It was Zeuxippos, +wounded, and accompanied by Gothic heralds." + +"Who has----?" + +"He whom you just named--Earl Teja! He guessed or learned that +Zeuxippos was threatening his centre, that the King was wounded--and, +well knowing that he would arrive too late to turn the course of events +at Taginae, he came to a bold and desperate resolution. He suddenly gave +up his post of expectation on the hills, threw himself upon our left +wing, which was slowly advancing up the hill opposite to him, beat it +at the first onset, pursued the fugitives into their camp, and there +made prisoners of ten thousand of our men, and all the captains, +amongst them my Orestes and Zeuxippos. He sent Gothic heralds to +Narses, who took Zeuxippos with them to witness to the truth of what +they said, and demanded an immediate truce of twenty-four hours." + +"Impossible!" + +"Otherwise he swore to slay all his ten thousand prisoners---together +with the captains." + +"That is no matter," observed Cethegus. + +"It may be no matter to you, Roman--what matters to you a myriad of our +troops?--but not so to Narses. The terrible surprise, the still more +terrible necessity of making a choice, quite prostrated him. A severe +attack of his malady came on, and as he sank down, he gave me his +commander's staff, and I, of course, accepted the conditions----" + +"Of course, Pylades must save Orestes!" said Cethegus in a rage. + +"And, besides, ten thousand men of the imperial army!" + +"I am not bound by this agreement," cried Cethegus; "I shall again +attack." + +"You dare not! Teja has taken most of his prisoners and all the +captains with him as hostages--he will slay them if another arrow be +shot?" + +"Let him slay them! I shall attack." + +"See whether the Byzantines will follow you! I at once communicated the +order of Narses to your troops: for now _I_ am Narses." + +"You shall die, as soon as Narses has recovered his senses!" + +But Cethegus perceived that he could do nothing against the Goths with +his mercenaries alone. For when Teja had retreated to the cloister and +chapel hill and the Flaminian Way with his prisoners, and Hildebrand's +wing had also reached the road with little loss of life--for the two +rivers, and then the news of the truce, had checked the pursuit +attempted by Johannes--the Goths had gathered the rest of their troops +together and taken up a safe position. + +Cethegus waited with impatience for the recovery of Narses, who he +hoped would never acknowledge the agreement concluded by his +representative. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + +Meanwhile Teja and Hildebrand had arrived upon the chapel hill, +whither, as they had been apprised, the wounded King had been carried. + +News of later events had not yet reached them. + +Before they entered the walls which enclosed the grove before the +chapel, the two leaders had agreed upon the plan which they would +propose to the King. There was no other way but to retreat to the south +under the protection of the truce. But when they entered the grove, +what a sight met their view! + +Sobbing loudly, Adalgoth hurried up to Teja, and led him to an ancient +and ivy-grown sarcophagus. Within it, upon his shield, lay King Totila. +The majesty of death gave to his noble features a solemnity that made +them more beautiful than they had ever been when brightened by joy. + +On his left hand rested Julius, in the open hollow cover of the +sarcophagus, which had long since fallen from its proper place. Under +the common shadow of death, the resemblance between the "Dioscuri" was +more striking and touching than ever. + +And between the two friends lay a third form, which had been carefully +laid by Gotho and Liuta upon the King's blood-stained mantle. Upon a +gently-rising mound lay Valeria, the Roman virgin. + +Fetched from the neighbouring cloister to receive her lover, she had +thrown herself, without a scream, without even a sigh, upon the broad +shield with its solemn burthen, which Adalgoth and Aligern were +carrying through the gate with sad and slow steps. Before any one could +speak, she had cried: + +"I know all--he is dead!" + +She had assisted them to lay the corpse in the sarcophagus, and while +so occupied she had repeated to herself, in a low voice, these words: + + "'Him too thou seest, how stalwart, tall, and fair! + Yet must he yield to death and stubborn fate, + Whene'er, at morn or noon or eve, the spear + Or arrow from the bow may rend his life. + Then may I, too, visit th' eternal shades!" + +Then, without haste, quietly and slowly, she drew a dagger from her +girdle, and with the words, "Here, stern Christian God, take my soul! +thus I fulfil the vow!" the Roman maiden thrust the sharp steel into +her bosom. + +Cassiodorus, a little cross of cedar in his hand, went, deeply +moved--the tears trickled down his venerable white beard--from corpse +to corpse, repeating the prayers of the Church. + +And the pious women of the cloister, who had accompanied Valeria, began +the simple and noble chant: + + "Vis ac splendor seculorum, + Belli laus et flos amorum + Labefacta mox marcescunt; + Dei laus et gratia sine + AEvi termino vel fine + In eternum perflorescunt." + +Gradually the grove had become filled with warriors, who had followed +their leaders. Among them were Earls Wisand and Markja. + +Teja heard the report of the weeping Adalgoth in silence. Then he went +close to the King's corpse. Without a tear, he laid his mailed right +hand upon the King's wounded breast, bent over him, and whispered: + +"I will complete the work." + +Then he went back and took his place under a mighty tree, which rose +above a forgotten grave-mound, and spoke to the little group of +soldiers who stood silently and reverently round the dead. + +"Gothic men! the battle is lost, and the kingdom likewise. Whoever will +now go to Narses, whoever will subject himself to the Emperor, I will +not keep him back. But I am resolved to fight to the end; not for +victory, but to die the free death of a hero. Whoever wishes to share +this fate with me, may remain. You all wish it? 'Tis well." + +Hildebrand interposed. + +"The King has fallen. The Goths cannot--even to die--fight without a +King. Athalaric, Witichis, Totila--_one_ only can be the fourth; only +one is worthy to succeed these three; thou, Teja, our last, our +greatest hero!" + +"Yes," said Teja; "I will be your King. Under me you shall not live +joyfully; you shall only die greatly. Be still! No cry of joy, no clang +of arms must greet me. Whoever will have me for his King, let him do as +I do." + +And he broke a small branch from the tree under which he stood, and +twisted it round his helmet. All silently followed his example. + +Adalgoth, who stood next him, whispered: + +"O King Teja! it is a cypress bough! Thus is crowned a victim doomed to +sacrifice!" + +"Yes, my Adalgoth, thou speakest prophecy;" and Teja swung his sword in +a circle round his head. "Doomed to death!" + + + + + + BOOK VI. + TEJA + +"I have now to describe a most remarkable battle, and the high +heroism of the man who was inferior to none of the heroes--of +Teja."--_Procopius: Gothic War_, iv. 35. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +The destiny of the Goths was soon to be fulfilled. The rolling stone +approached the abyss. + +When Narses came to his senses and learned what had taken place, he +gave orders at once to arrest Liberius and send him to Byzantium to +answer for his conduct. + +"I will not say," he said to his confidant, Basiliskos, "that he has +come to a false decision. I myself could not have done otherwise. But I +should have done it for different reasons. _His_ only wish was to save +his friend and the ten thousand prisoners. That was wrong. Situated as +he was, he ought to have sacrificed them, for he could not overlook the +actual condition of the war. He did not know, as I know, that after +this battle the Gothic kingdom is lost--whether it be completely +destroyed at Rome or Neapolis is indifferent--and that alone would have +been, and is, the reason for which the ten thousand should be saved." + +"At Neapolis? But why not at Rome? Do you not remember the formidable +fortifications of the Prefect? Why should not the Goths throw +themselves into Rome and resist for months?" + +"Why? Because things are very different with regard to Rome. But the +Goths know this as little as Liberius. And Cethegus--above all--must +know nothing of it yet; therefore be silent. Where is the Prefect of +Rome?" + +"He has hastened forward, in order to be the first to conduct the +pursuit as soon as the time of truce has expired." + +"Surely you have taken care----" + +"Do not doubt it! He would have marched with his Isaurians alone, but +I--that is, Liberius at my order--gave him Alboin and the Longobardians +as companions, and you know----" + +"Yes," said Narses, with a smile, "my wolves will not lose sight of +him." + +"But how long shall he----" + +"As long as he is necessary to me; not an hour longer. So the young and +royal wonder-worker lies upon his shield! Now may Justinian rightly +call himself 'Gothicus,' and again sleep peacefully. But truly--he will +never more sleep peacefully--that disappointed widower----" + +So the two generals, Narses and Teja, were of one opinion with regard +to the Gothic kingdom. It was lost. The flower of the Goths had fallen +at Caprae and Taginae. Totila had placed there five-and-twenty thousand +men; not even a thousand had escaped. The two wings of the army had +also suffered great loss; and so King Teja commenced his retreat to the +south with scarcely twenty thousand men. + +He was urged to the greatest speed by the calls for help sent by the +little army under Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa, who were hard pressed +by the greater force of the Byzantines under the command of Armatus and +Dorotheos, who had landed between Rome and Neapolis. + +And besides this, Teja's retreat was also precipitated because of the +terrible manner in which, when the truce was ended, he was pursued by +Narses. + +While the Longobardians and Cethegus pursued the fugitives without +pause, Narses slowly followed with the main army, spreading to the +right and left his two formidable wings, which extended in the +south-west far beyond the Sub-urbicarian Tuscany to the Tyrrhenian sea, +and in the north-east through Picenum to the Ionian Gulf, extinguishing +as they passed from north to south and from west to east, every trace +of the Goths behind them. + +This proceeding was considerably facilitated by the now general +desertion of the Gothic cause on the part of the Italians. The +benevolent King, who had once won their sympathies, had been succeeded +by a gloomy hero of terrible reputation. And all who hesitated were +speedily drawn over to the other side, not by inclination to the rule +of Byzantium, but from fear of Narses and of the Emperor's severity, +who threatened all who took the part of the barbarians with death. + +The Italians who still served in Teja's army now deserted and hastened +to Narses. It also happened much more frequently than before the battle +of Taginae, that Gothic settlers were betrayed to the Romani by their +Italian neighbours, generally by the _hospes_, who had been obliged to +relinquish a third of his property to the Goths; or, where the Italians +were in the majority, the Goths were either killed, or taken prisoners +and delivered up to the two Byzantine fleets, the "Tyrrhenian" and the +"Ionian," which, sailing along the coasts of those seas, accompanied +the march of the land forces and received all the captured Goths on +board--men, women, and children. + +The forts and towns, weakly garrisoned--for Teja had been obliged to +strengthen his small army by lessening their numbers--generally fell by +means of the Italian population, who now overpowered the Gothic +garrison, as, after Totila's election, they had done the imperial. Thus +fell, during the progress of the war, Namia, Spoletium and Perusia; the +few towns which resisted were invested. + +So Narses resembled a strong man who walks with outstretched arms +through a narrow passage, pursuing all who try to hide themselves +before him. Or a fisher, who wades up a stream with a sack-net; behind +him all is empty. The few Goths who could yet save themselves fled +before the "iron roller" to the army of the King, which soon consisted +of a greater number of the defenceless than of warriors. + +The Visigoths were again engaged in migration, just as they had been a +hundred years before, but this time the iron net of Narses was behind +them; and before them, as they advanced farther and farther into the +constantly narrowing peninsula, the sea. And not a ship did they +possess in which to fly. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +Added to this, an inevitable necessity reduced the number of Goths in +the King's army capable of bearing arms in the most frightful manner. + +From the very commencement of the pursuit, Cethegus, with his +mercenaries, and Alboin with his Longobardians, had stuck to the +heels of the fugitives, and consequently, if the retreat of the Gothic +army--already delayed by the number of women, children, and aged people +who had joined it--was not to be brought to a complete standstill, it +was necessary to sacrifice each night a small number of heroes, who +halted at some spot suitable for their design, and held the pursuers at +bay by an obstinate, fearless, and hopeless resistance, until the main +army had again gained a considerable advance. + +This cruel, but only possible expedient, always entailed the loss of at +least fifty men, and often, where the place to be defended had a wider +front, a much greater number. + +Before King Teja marched from Spes Bonorum, he had explained this plan +to the assembled army; his faithful troops silently assented to it. And +every morning the "death-doomed" volunteered so eagerly to join this +forlorn hope, that King Teja--with humid eyes--made them draw lots, not +wishing to offend any one by the preference of others. For the Goths, +who saw nothing before them but the certain destruction of the nation, +and many of whom knew that their wives and children had fallen into the +enemy's hands, vied with each other in seeking death. + +So their retreat became a triumphal procession of Gothic heroes, and +every halting-place a monument of courageous self-sacrifice. Thus, +among the leaders of the "doomed rear-guard," old Haduswinth fell near +Nuceria Camellaria; the young and skilful archer, Gunthamund, at Ad +Fontes; and the swift rider, Gudila, at Ad Martis. But these +sacrifices, and the King's generalship, were not without influence on +the fate of the nation. + +Near Fossatum, between Tudera and Narnia, a night attack took place +between the rear-guard under Earl Markja, and the horsemen of Cethegus, +which lasted from afternoon till sunrise. + +When at last the returning light illumined the hastily-constructed +earthworks thrown up by the Goths, they were as still and silent as the +grave. + +The pursuers advanced with the utmost caution. At last Cethegus sprang +from his horse and on to the parapet of the earthworks, followed by +Syphax. + +Cethegus turned and signed to his men: "Follow me; there is no danger! +You have only to step over the bodies of our enemies, for here they all +lie--a full thousand. Yonder is Earl Markja; I know him." + +But when the earthworks were demolished, and Cethegus and his horsemen +continued their pursuit of the main army--which had gained a great +advance they soon learned from the peasants of the neighbourhood that +the Gothic army had not passed on the Flaminian Way at all. + +By the noble sacrifice of this night, King Teja had been enabled to +conceal the further direction of his retreat, and the pursuers had lost +the scent. + +Cethegus advised Johannes and Alboin, the one to send a portion of his +men to the south-east, the other to the left on the Flaminian Way, to +try to find the lost track. He himself longed to get to Rome. He wished +to reach that city before Narses. Once there, he hoped to be able to +checkmate him, as he had done Belisarius, from the Capitol. + +After discovering that King Teja had evaded all pursuit, Cethegus +summoned his trusty tribunes, and told them that he was resolved--if +necessary, by force--to rid himself of the constant supervision of +Alboin and Johannes--who were at present weakened by the division of +their troops at his advice--and to hasten with his Isaurians alone +straight to Rome by the Flaminian Way, which was now no longer blocked +by the Goths. + +But even while he was speaking, he was interrupted by the entrance of +Syphax, who led into the tent a Roman citizen, whom he had with +difficulty rescued from the hands of the Longobardians. The man had +asked for the Prefect, and the Longobardians had answered, laughing, +that they would treat him (the messenger) "as usual." + +"But," added Syphax, "a great crowd of people is approaching in the +rear; I will see what it is and bring you word." + +"I know you, Tullus Faber," said the Prefect, turning to the messenger, +when Syphax had left him; "you were ever faithful to Rome and to me. +What news do you bring?" + +"O Prefect!" cried the man, "we all thought you were dead, for you sent +us no answer to eight several messages." + +"I have not received even one!" + +"Then you do not know what has happened in Rome? Pope Silverius has +died in exile in Sicily. His successor is Pelagius, your enemy!" + +"I know nothing. Speak!" + +"Alas, you will neither be able to advise nor to help. Rome has----" + +Just then Syphax returned, but before he could speak, he was followed +into the tent by Narses, supported by Basiliskos. + +"You have allowed yourself to be detained here so long by a thousand +Gothic spears," said the commander-in-chief angrily, "that the healthy +have escaped, and the sick have overtaken you. This King Teja can do +more than break shields; he can weave veils with which to blind the +Prefect's sharp sight. But I see through many veils, and also through +this. Johannes, call your people back. Teja cannot have gone south, he +must have gone northwards, for he, no doubt, has known long since that +which concerns the Prefect most: Rome is wrested from the Goths." + +Cethegus looked at him with sparkling eyes. + +"I had smuggled a few clever men into the city. They excited the +inhabitants to a midnight revolt. All the Goths in the city were slain; +only five hundred men escaped into the Mausoleum of Hadrian, and +continue to defend it." + +Faber took courage to put in a word. + +"We sent eight messengers to you. Prefect, one after the other." + +"Away with this man!" cried Narses, signing to his officers. "Yes," he +continued quietly, "the citizens of Rome think lovingly of the Prefect, +to whom they owe so much: two sieges, hunger, pestilence, and the +burning of the Capitol! But the messengers sent to you always lost +their way, and fell into the hands of the Longobardians, who, no doubt, +slew them. But the embassy sent to me by the Holy Father, Pelagius, +reached me safely, and I have concluded an agreement, of which you, +Prefect of Rome, will surely approve." + +"In any case, I shall not be able to annul it." + +"The good citizens of Rome fear nothing so much as a third siege. They +have stipulated that we shall undertake nothing that can lead to +another fight for their city. They write that the Goths in the +Mausoleum will soon succumb to hunger; that they themselves can defend +their walls; and they have sworn only to deliver up their city, after +the destruction of those Goths, to their natural protector and chief, +the Prefect of Rome. Are you content with that, Cethegus? Read the +agreement. Give it to him, Basiliskos." + +Cethegus read the paper with deep and joyful emotion. So they had not +forgotten him, his Romans! So now, when everything was coming to a +crisis, they called, not the hated Byzantines, but himself, their +patron, back to the Capitol! He again felt at the height of power. + +"I am content," he said, returning the roll. + +"I have promised," continued Narses, "to make no attempt to get the +city into my power by force. First King Teja must follow King Totila. +Then Rome--and many other things. Accompany me, Prefect, to the council +of war." + +When Cethegus left the council in the tent of Narses, and asked after +Tullus Faber, not a trace of the latter was to be found. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +Narses, that great general, had acutely guessed in what direction King +Teja had turned aside from the Flaminian Way. He had first gone north +towards the coast of the Ionian Gulf, and thence, with singular +knowledge of the roads, had led his fugitive people and army by a +circuitous route past Hadria, Aternum, and Ortona, to Samnium. That +Rome was lost, he had learned beyond Nuceria Camellaria from some Goths +who had fled from that city. + +The King, whose impatient and unsparing disposition ever looked forward +to the end, not unwillingly found himself obliged to get rid of his +prisoners. + +In number about as strong as their conquerors, the captives had made +the office of guarding them so difficult, that Teja threatened to +punish with death any attempt at escape. + +Notwithstanding, when the army marched northwards, a number of these +prisoners made an attempt to free themselves by force. Very many were +killed in the struggle that ensued, and the King ordered that all the +rest, together with Orestes and the whole of the officers, should be +thrown into the Aternus with their hands bound; where they died +miserably by drowning. + +When Adalgoth begged Teja to revoke his cruel sentence, the latter +replied: + +"Did they not fall upon our defenceless women and children in their +peaceful homes, and slay them? This is no longer a war between +warriors; it is nation murdering nation. Let us do our part." + +From Samnium the King, leaving his unarmed people to follow slowly +under scanty escort--for they were threatened by no pursuit--hurried +forward with his best troops to Campania. His arrival in those parts +was so unexpected, that he not only surprised Duke Guntharis and Earl +Grippa, whose small army had melted still more in consequence of +frequent battles with superior forces, but, shortly after, the enemy +also, who now had thought themselves sure of victory. + +He had found Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa occupying a secure position +between Neapolis and Beneventum. He learned that the Romani were +threatening Cumae from Capua. + +"They shall not reach that city before me," he cried; "I have to +complete there an important work." + +And, his army being now reinforced by the garrison of his own county +town of Tarentum, under the command of brave Ragnaris, he surprised the +superior force of the Byzantines, which was about to march upon Cumae, +and defeated them with great loss. He himself slew the Archon Armatus +with his battle-axe, and at his side young Adalgoth ran Dorotheos +through with his spear. The Byzantines were routed, and fled northwards +to Terracina. + +It was the last ray of sunshine cast by the God of Victory upon the +blue banner of the Goths. + +The next day King Teja entered Cumae. Totila, upon his last fatal march +from Rome, had decided, at the instance of Teja, and contrary to his +custom, to take with him hostages from that city. No one knew what had +become of them. + +On the evening of his entry into Cumae, King Teja ordered the walled-up +garden of the Castle of Cumae to be broken open. There were hidden the +hostages from Rome: patricians and senators--among them Maximus, +Cyprianus, Opilio, Rusticus, and Fidelius, the most distinguished men +of the Senate--in all they numbered three hundred. All were members of +the old league against the Goths. + +Teja ordered the Goths who had lately escaped from Rome to tell these +hostages how the Romans, persuaded by envoys sent by Narses, had one +night risen in revolt, had murdered all the Goths upon whom they could +lay hands, even the women and children, and had driven the rest into +the _Moles Hadriani_. + +The King fastened such a terrible look upon the trembling hostages, as +they listened to this news, that two of them could not endure to wait +till the end, but then and there killed themselves by dashing their +heads against the stony walls which surrounded them. + +When the Goths from Rome had sworn to the truth of their story, the +King silently turned away and left the garden. An hour after, the heads +of the three hundred hostages stared ghastly down from the summit of +the walls. + +"It was not alone to fulfil this terrible judgment that I came here," +Teja said to Adalgoth: "I have also to reveal a sacred secret." + +And he invited him and the other leaders of the troops to a solemn and +joyless midnight banquet. When the sad feast was over, the King made a +sign to old Hildebrand, who nodded, and took a dimly burning torch from +the iron ring into which it was stuck on the centre column of the +vaulted hall, saying: + +"Follow me, children of these latter days, and take your shields with +you." + +It was the third hour of the July night; the stars glittered in the +sky. Out of the hall, silently following the King and the aged +master-at-arms, there stepped Guntharis and Adalgoth, Aligern, Grippa, +Ragnaris, and Wisand the standard-bearer. Wachis, the King's +shield-bearer, closed the procession, carrying a second torch. + +Opposite the castle garden rose an ancient round tower, named the Tower +of Theodoric, because that great King had restored it. Old Hildebrand +was the first to enter this tower with his torch, but instead of +leaving the ground-floor, which contained only the empty tower-room, +the old man halted, knelt down, and carefully measured fifteen spans of +his large hand from the door, which he had closed behind them, to the +centre of the room. The whole floor seemed to be composed of three +colossal slabs of granite. When Hildebrand had measured the fifteen +spans, he held his thumb upon the spot at which he had arrived, and +struck his battle-axe against the floor; it sounded hollow. Boring the +point of his axe into a scarcely-visible crack in the stone, he signed +to his companions to stand aside on his left; when they had done so, he +pushed a portion of the slab to the right. A chasm, as deep as the +tower was high above them, revealed itself to the astonished eyes of +those present. + +The opening was only large enough to admit one man at a time. It led to +a narrow flight of more than two hundred steps, hewn in the living +rock. + +Silently, at a sign from Hildebrand, the men descended. When they +arrived at the bottom, they found that the circular space was divided +in the middle by a stone wall. The semicircle into which they had +entered was empty. + +And now King Teja measured ten spans on the wall to the centre, and +pressing his hand upon a stone, a small door opened inwards. Hildebrand +entered with his torch, and kindled two others which were fixed upon +the wall. + +The observers started back dazzled, and covered their eyes with their +hands. When they again looked up, they recognised--at once guessing the +secret--the whole rich treasure of Dietrich of Berne. + +There lay, partly heaped up symmetrically, partly thrown in disorder +one upon another, weapons, vessels, and ornaments of all kinds. Strong +Etruscan steel-caps of ancient times, brought by the commerce of the +Goths as far as the Baltic, or to the Pruth and Dniester, and now +brought back to the south by the migration of the nations, probably +near to the very spot where they had been fashioned. Near these lay +flat wooden head-pieces, over which was stretched the skin of the seal, +or the jaws of the ice-bear; pointed Celtic helmets; high-crested helms +from Rome or Byzantium; neck-rings of bronze and iron, of silver and +gold. Shields--from the clumsy wooden shield, as tall as a man, which +was set up like a wall to hide the archer, to the small round and +ornamented horseman's shield of the Parthians, studded with pearls and +precious stones. Ancient ring-mail of crushing weight, and light-padded +clothing of purple-coloured linen, besides scimitars, swords and +daggers, of stone, bronze, and steel. Axes and clubs of all kinds--from +those rudely made from the bones of the mammoth and tied to the antler +of a stag with bast, to the Frankish _franciska_, and the small +perforated and gilded axe with which the Roman circus-riders used to +split an apple while at full gallop. Spears, lances, and darts of all +sorts--from the roughly carved tusk of the narwal, to the ebony shaft, +inlaid with gold, of the Asdingian Vandal Kings in Carthage, and the +massive golden arrows of these princes, with steel points a foot long, +and the shafts decorated with the purple feathers of the flamingo. +War-mantles--made of the fur of the black fox, the skin of the +Numidian lion, and the costliest purple of Sidon. Shoes--from +the long shovel-shaped snowshoes of the Skrito Fins, to the golden +sandals of Byzantium. Doublets of Frisian wool, and tunics of Chinese +silk. Innumerable vessels and table utensils--tall vases, flat salvers, +cups, and round-bellied urns, of amber, of gold, of silver, of +tortoise-shell. Arm-rings and shoulder-clasps, necklaces of pearls and +of crystal beads, and innumerable other utensils for meat and drink, +for clothing and decoration, for sport and war. + +"This secret cave," said Teja, "known only to us, the blood +brethren--the master-at-arms caused it to be hewn in the rock when he +was Earl of Cumae, forty years ago--was the vault in which was hidden +the treasure of the Goths. This is the reason why Belisarius found so +little, when he ransacked the treasure-house at Ravenna. The most +costly pieces of booty, the gifts, the collection of Amelung trophies +in war and peace, which existed long before Theodoric, in the time of +Winithar, Ermanarich, Athal, Ostrogotho, Isarna, Amala, and Gaut--all +these have we concealed here. We left nothing in Ravenna but the minted +gold, and such things as seemed richer in intrinsic value than in +honour. For months our enemies have walked above these treasures; but +the faithful abyss kept the secret. But now we will carry all away with +us. Take the treasures on your shields, and hand them from one to +another up the steps. We will take it to the last battle-field upon +which an Ostrogothic army will ever fight. No, do not be anxious, young +Adalgoth; even when I have fallen, and all is lost, the enemy shall not +bear away the sacred treasure to Byzantium. For wonderful is the last +battle-field which I have chosen; it shall conceal and swallow up the +last of the Goths, their treasure and their fame!" + +"Yes, and their greatest treasure and noblest renown," said old +Hildebrand; "not merely gold and silver and precious stones. Look here, +my Goths!" + +And he held his torch towards a curtain which shut off a portion of the +treasure-cave, and pushed the curtain to one side. As he did so, all +present fell upon their knees. For they recognised the great dead, who +sat, erect and clothed in purple, upon a golden throne, the spear still +grasped in his right hand. + +It was the great Theodoric. + +The art which had been introduced to the Romans by the Egyptians--the +art of embalming the dead--had preserved the body of the hero-King with +terrible perfection. + +All present were struck dumb with emotion. + +"Many years ago," at last Hildebrand began, "Teja and I mistrusted the +good fortune of the Goths. And I, who, before the breaking out of the +war, had the command of the guard-of-honour at the Mausoleum of +Ravenna, in which Amalaswintha had interred her dead father--I liked +the building but little, and still less the incense-scented priests who +so often prayed there for the soul of my good and great King--I thought +that if ever all trace of my nation were rooted out of this southern +land, no Italian or Greekling should mock at the remains of our beloved +hero. No! even as the first great conqueror of the Roman fortress, +Alaric the Visigoth, found his unknown and never to be dishonoured tomb +in the sacred bed of the stream, so also should my great King be +delivered from the curiosity of posterity. And, with Teja's help, I +took the noble corpse away by night, from its marble house, and from +the vicinity of the whining priests, and we brought it hither, as part +of the royal treasure. Here it was safe. And if, after the lapse of +centuries, some accident should betray its resting-place, who could +then recognise the King with the eagle-eye? And so the sarcophagus at +Ravenna is empty, and the monks sing and pray in vain. Here, near his +treasures and his trophies, in hero splendour, erect upon his throne, +he rests; it is more pleasing to his soul, which looks down from +Walhalla, than to see his mortal remains stretched out, weighed down by +heavy stones, and surrounded with clouds of incense." + +"But now," concluded Teja, "the hour has come for him once more to rise +from the abyss. When you have raised the treasure, we will carefully +lift up this beloved form. Early to-morrow we will march out of this +city. The approach of Narses and the Prefect has already been +announced. We will go, with royal corpse and royal treasure, to the +last battle-field of the Goths, whither I have already sent the women +and children. The battle-field--long ago I saw it in the visions of my +sleepless nights--the battle-field whereon we and our nation will +gloriously perish; the battlefield which, even when the last spear is +broken, can save and hide all who do not fear to die in its glowing +bosom; the battle-field which Teja has chosen for you and for himself!" + +"I guess thy meaning," whispered Adalgoth; "this last battle-field +is----" + +"Mons Vesuvius!" said Teja. "To work!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +As rapidly as his fearful, all-encompassing system would allow, Narses, +after the council which we have mentioned as taking place at Fossatum, +had marched southward with his whole force and with the broadest front, +in order to make an end of all the remaining Goths. Only to Tuscany did +he send two small detachments, under his generals, Vitalianus and +Wilmuth, to take such forts as still resisted, and, after them, Lucca, +in Annonarian Tuscany. Valerianus, who had meanwhile conquered Petra +Pertusa, which place blocked the Flaminian Way beyond Helvillum, was +sent still farther north against Verona, the obstinate defence of which +had enabled many Goths to escape up the valley of the Athesis to the +Passara. + +With these exceptions, Narses hurried south with the whole of his army. +He himself passed Rome on the Flaminian Way; while Johannes, on the +coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Herulian Vulkaris on that of the +Ionian Gulf, were to drive the Goths before them. + +But Johannes and Vulkaris found but little work to do; for in the north +the Gothic families had already been received, in passing, into the +mass of the army of the King, which it was now impossible to overtake; +and from the south the Goths had likewise long since streamed past Rome +to Neapolis, whither expresses from the King had bidden them to repair. +"Mons Vesuvius!" was the rallying word for all these Gothic fugitives. + +Narses had named Anagnia to his two wings as the point of reunion with +the main body. + +Cethegus gladly accepted the commander's invitation to remain with him +in the centre, for he could expect no great events with the two wings; +and the road taken by Narses led past Rome. In case that the commander, +in spite of his promise, should attempt to procure entrance into Rome, +Cethegus would be on the spot. + +But, almost to the Prefect's astonishment, Narses kept his word. He +quietly marched his army past Rome. And he called upon Cethegus to be +witness to his interview with Pope Pelagius and the other governing +bodies of Rome, which interview took place below the walls at the Porta +Belisaria (Pinceana), between the Flaminian and Salarian Gates. + +Once more the Pope and the Romans assured Narses--swearing by the holy +remains of Cosma and Damian (according to legend, Arabian physicians +who were martyred under Diocletian), which were brought in silver and +ivory caskets to the walls--that they would unhesitatingly, after the +annihilation of the Goths in the Moles Hadriani, open their gates to +the Prefect of Rome, but firmly resist any attempt on the part of the +Byzantines to enter the city by force; for they would not expose +themselves to any possible struggle which might yet take place. + +The offer of Narses to leave them at once a few thousand armed men, in +order to enable them the more speedily to reduce the Moles Hadriani, +was civilly but decidedly refused, to the great joy of the Prefect. + +"They have learned two things during the last few years," he said +to Lucius Licinius, as they rode away at the termination of the +interview--"to keep the Romani at a distance, and to connect Cethegus +with the well-being of Rome. That is already a great deal." + +"I regret, my general," said Lucius Licinius, "that I cannot share your +joy and confidence." + +"I neither," cried Salvius Julianus. "I fear Narses; I mistrust him." + +"Oho! what wise men!" laughed Piso. "One should exaggerate nothing; not +even prudence. Has not everything turned out better than we dared to +hope since the night when a shepherd-boy struck the greatest Roman poet +upon his immortal verse-writing hand, and the great Prefect of Rome +swam down the Tiber in a granary?--since Massurius Sabinus was +recognised by Earl Markja, dressed in the garments of his Hetares, in +which disguise he was about to make his escape?--and since the great +jurist, Salvius Julianus, was rudely fished up, bleeding, from the +slime of the river by Duke Guntharis? Who would have thought then that +we should ever be able to count upon our fingers the day when not a +single Goth would be left to tread Italian soil?" + +"You are right, poet," said Cethegus with a smile; "these two friends +of ours suffer from '_Narses_-fever,' as their hero suffers from +epilepsy. To over-rate one's enemy is also a failing. The holy remains +upon which those priests have sworn, are really sacred to them; they +will not break such an oath." + +"If I had only seen, besides the priests and artisans," replied +Licinius, "any of our friends upon the walls! But there were none but +fullers, butchers, and carpenters! Where is the aristocracy of Rome? +Where are the men of the Catacombs?" + +"Taken away as hostages," said Cethegus. "And they were rightly served? +Did they not return to Rome, and do homage to the fair-haired Goth? If +now the 'Black Earl' cuts off their heads, it cannot be helped. Be +comforted; you see things in too dark a light, all of you. The crushing +superiority of Narses has made you timid. He is a great general; but +the fact that he has made this treaty with Rome--this agreement that I, +and no other, should be admitted--and that he has _kept_ it, shows that +he is harmless as a statesman. Let us but once again breathe the air of +the Capitol! It does not agree with epileptic subjects." + +And when, the next morning, the young tribunes went to fetch the +Prefect from his tent to join the united march against Teja, their +leader received them with sparkling eyes. + +"Well," he cried, "who knows the Romans best, you or the Prefect of +Rome? Listen--but be silent. Last night a centurion, one of the +newly-formed city cohorts, named Publius Macer, stole out of Rome +and into my tent. The Pope has entrusted to his care the Porta Latina, +to that of his brother Marcus, the Capitol. He showed me both +commissions--I know the handwriting of Pelagius--they are authentic. +The Romans are long since tired of the rule of the priesthood. They +would rejoice once more to see me, and you, and my Isaurians patrolling +the walls. Publius left me his nephew Aulus, at once as a hostage and a +pledge, who will let us know the night--which will be announced to him +in the harmless words of a letter agreed upon beforehand--on which the +Romans will open to us their gates and the Capitol. Narses cannot +complain if the Romans voluntarily admit us--I shall use no force. Now, +Licinius! Tell me, Julianus, who best knows Rome and the Romans?" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +Narses now marched to Anagnia. Two days after his arrival, his two +wings reached that place according to order. After some days occupied +in resting, mustering, and newly ordering his immense forces, the +commander-in-chief marched to Terracina, where the remainder of the +troops of Armatus and Dorotheos joined him. And now the united army +rolled forward against the Goths, who had taken up a most excellent and +secure position on Vesuvius, on the opposite mountain. Mons Lactarius, +and on both shores of the little river Draco, which flowed into the sea +north of Stabiae. + +Since he had left Cumae, marched past Neapolis (the citizens of which +place shut their strong gates, which had been restored by Totila, +overpowered the garrison and declared that, following the example of +Rome, they would at present hold their fortress against both parties), +and reached his chosen battle-field, King Teja had done all that was +possible to make his naturally strong position still stronger. + +He had caused provisions to be carried from the fertile country around +up to the mountains, in sufficient quantities to nourish his people +until the light of the last day should dawn upon his nation. + +It has ever been a vain task for learned investigation to attempt to +find on Mons Lactarius or Vesuvius the exact spots which correspond to +the description of Procopius. It is impossible to fix upon any one of +the innumerable ravines and valleys. And yet the description of the +Byzantine historian, grounded as it was upon the verbal reports of the +leaders and generals of the army of Narses, cannot be doubted. + +Rather may the contradictions be simply explained by the sudden, +forcible and gigantic changes, and by the still more numerous, gradual +and slighter alterations made in the face of the country by streams of +lava, landslips, the crumbling of the rocks, and floods which have +taken place upon that never quiet mountain, during the course of more +than thirteen centuries. Even credible accounts of much later Italian +authors, concerning places and positions on Mount Vesuvius, cannot +always be reconciled with the reality. + +The ground which sucked up Teja's life-blood has no doubt been covered, +ages ago, by deep layers of silent and impenetrable lava. + +Even Narses was compelled to admire the circumspection with which his +barbarian adversary had chosen his last place of defence. + +"He intends to die like the bear in his den," he exclaimed as he +observed the whole of the Gothic defences from his litter at Nuceria. +"And many of you, my dear wolves," he added, turning with a smile to +Alboin, "will fall under the blows of this bear's paws when you try to +trot through those narrow entrances." + +"Oho! It is only necessary to let so many run in at once that the bear +gets both paws full and is not able to strike again." + +"Softly, softly! I know of a pass on Vesuvius--long ago, when I still +nursed my miserable body hoping to restore its strength, I spent weeks +together upon Mons Lactarius, in order to enjoy the pure air, and at +that time I firmly impressed upon my memory the pass I speak of; from +that pass--if the Goths get into it--only famine can drive them out." + +"That will be tiresome!" + +"There is nothing else for it. I have no desire once more to sacrifice +a myriad of imperial troops in order to stamp out these last sparks." + +And so it happened. Very gradually, gaining each forward step only at a +great and bloody loss, did Narses draw his net tighter and more tightly +together. He surrounded in a semicircle every point of the Gothic +position, on west, north, and east; only on the south, the sea-side, +where he himself had encamped on the strand, was he able to leave a +space undefended, for the enemy had no ships whereon to fly or +wherewith to procure provisions. + +The "Tyrrhenian" fleet of Narses was already occupied in carrying the +captive Goths to Byzantium; the "Ionian" was shortly expected; a few +vessels had been sent to cruise in the Bay of Bajae and opposite +Surrentum. Thus Narses, notwithstanding his great superiority, only +gradually occupied, with obstinate patience and forgetting nothing, +Piscinula, Cimiterium, Nola, Summa, Melane, Nuceria, Stabiae, Cumae, +Bajae, Misenum, Puteoli, and Nesis. And presently Neapolis also became +alarmed at the power of Narses, and voluntarily opened to him its +gates. + +From all sides the Byzantines advanced concentrically towards the +Gothic position. After many furious battles the Byzantines succeeded in +driving the Goths away from Mons Lactarius and over the river Draco; +where the rest of the nation encamped upon a level plain above the pass +so highly praised by Narses, in the immediate vicinity of one of the +numerous craters which, at that time, surrounded the foot of the +principal cone; only rarely, when the wind blew from the south-east, +suffering from the smoke and sulphurous exhalations of the volcano. + +Here, in the innumerable hollows and ravines of the mountain, the +unarmed people encamped under the open sky, or under the tents and +wagons which they had brought with them, in the warm August air. + +"The only access to this encampment," writes Procopius, "could be +obtained by a narrow pass, the southern opening of which was so small +that a man holding a shield could completely block it up." + +This opening was guarded day and night, each man occupying it for an +hour, by King Teja himself, Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth, Earl Grippa, +Earl Wisand, Aligern, Ragnaris, and Wachis. Behind them the pass was +filled by a hundred warriors, who relieved each other at intervals. + +And so, in accordance with the system pursued by Narses, the whole +terrible war, the struggle for Rome and Italy, had been dramatically +reduced to a point; to a battle for a ravine of a foot or two wide on +the southern point of the so dearly-loved, so obstinately-defended +peninsula. Even in the historical representation of Procopius, the fate +of the Goths resembles the last act of a grand and awful tragedy. + +On the shore, opposite to the hill from which the pass was approached, +Narses had pitched his tents with the Longobardians; on his right +Johannes; on his left Cethegus. + +The Prefect drew the attention of his tribunes to the fact that Narses, +by the cession of this position--Cethegus himself had chosen it--had +given either a proof of great imprudence or of complete inoffensiveness +of intention, "for," said Cethegus, "with this position he has left +open the way to Rome, which he could easily have prevented, by giving +me the command of the right wing or of the centre. Hold yourselves in +readiness to start secretly and at night with all the Isaurians, as +soon as a sign is made by Rome." + +"And you?" asked Licinius anxiously. + +"I remain here with the dreaded commander. If he had wished to murder +me--he could have done so long ago. But it is evident that he has no +such intention. He will not act against me without just cause. And if I +obey the call of the Romans, I do not break, I fulfil, our agreement." + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +Above the narrow pass on Vesuvius, which we will call the Ravine of the +Goths, a small but deep chasm had been formed by the black blocks of +lava. Within it King Teja had concealed the most sacred possession of +the nation--the corpse of King Theodoric and the royal treasure. +Theodoric's banner was fixed before the mouth of this chasm. + +A purple mantle, stretched upon four spears, formed the dark curtain to +the rocky chamber which the last King of the Goths had chosen for his +royal hall. A block of lava, covered with the skin of the black tiger, +formed his last throne. + +Here King Teja rested, when not called away by his jealously-held post +at the southern entrance of the Ravine of the Goths; upon which, now +from a distance with arrows, slings, and hurling--spears, now close at +hand in a bold and sudden attack, the outposts of Narses commenced +their assaults. None of the brave guardians returned home without +bringing tokens of such attacks upon shield and armour, or leaving +signs at the entrance of the ravine, in the form of slain enemies. + +This happened so frequently, that the stench arising from the decay of +the bodies threatened to render any further sojourn in the ravine +impossible. Narses seemed to have counted upon this circumstance, for, +when Basiliskos lamented the useless sacrifice, he said, "Perhaps our +slain soldiers will be more useful after death than during their life." +But King Teja ordered that the bodies should be thrown by night over +the lava cliffs; so that, horribly mutilated, they seemed a warning to +all who should attempt to follow their example. Seeing this, Narses +begged to be allowed to send unarmed men to fetch away the bodies, a +favour which King Teja immediately granted. + +Since retiring into this ravine, the Goths had not lost a single man in +fight; for only the foremost man in the pass was exposed to the enemy, +and, supported by the comrades who stood behind him, this guardian had +never yet been killed. + +One night, after sunset--it was now the month of September, and all +traces of the battle at Taginae were already obliterated; the flowers +planted by Cassiodorus and the nuns of the cloister round the +sarcophagi of King Totila, his bride, and his friend, had put forth new +shoots--King Teja, who had just been relieved from his post by Wisand, +approached his lava hall, his spear upon his shoulder. Before the +curtain which closed the entrance to his rocky chamber, Adalgoth +received Teja with a sad smile, and, kneeling, offered to him a golden +goblet. + +"Let me still fulfil my office of cup-bearer," he said; "who knows how +long it may last?" + +"Not much longer!" said Teja gravely, as he seated himself. "We will +remain here, outside the curtain. Look! how magnificently the bay and +the coast of Surrentum shine in the glowing light left by the setting +sun--the blue sea is changed to crimson blood! Truly, the Southland +could afford no more beauteous frame with which to enclose the +last battle of the Goths. Well, may the picture be worthy of its +setting! The end is coming. How wonderfully everything that I +foreboded--dreamed, and sang--has been fulfilled!" + +And the King supported his head upon both his hands. Only when the +silver tones of a harp was heard, did he again look up. Adalgoth had, +unseen, fetched the King's small harp from behind the curtain. + +"Thou shalt hear," he said, "how I have completed thy song of the +Ravine; or I might have said, how it has completed itself. Dost thou +remember that night in the wilderness of ivy, marble, and laurel in +Rome? It was not a battle already fought, a battle of ancient days, of +which thou didst sing. No! in a spirit of prophecy, thou hast sung our +last heroic battle here." And he played and sang: + + "Where arise the cliffs of lava, + On Vesuvius' glowing side, + Tones of deepest woe and wailing, + Evening's peace and calm deride. + For the brave dead's direst curses + Rest upon the rocky tomb, + Where the Gothic hero-nation + Will fulfil their glorious doom." + +"Yes," said Teja, "glorious, my Adalgoth! Of that glory no fate and no +Narses shall deprive us. The awful judgment, which our beloved Totila +challenged, has fallen heavily upon himself, his people, and his God. +No Heavenly Father has, as that noble man imagined, weighed our +destinies in a just balance. We fall by the thousand treacheries of the +Italians and the Byzantines, and by the brute superiority of numbers. +But _how_ we fall, unshaken, proud even in our decay, can be decided by +no fate, but only by our own worth. And after us? Who after us will +rule in this land? Not for long these wily Greeks--and not the native +strength of the Italians. Numerous tribes of Germans still exist on the +other side of the mountains--and I nominate them our heirs and our +avengers." + +And he softly took up the harp which Adalgoth had laid down, and sang +in a low voice as he looked down upon the rapidly darkening sea. The +stars glittered over his head; and at rare intervals he struck a chord. + + "Extinguished is the brightest star + Of our Germanic race! + O Dietrich, thou beloved of Bern, + Thy shield is bruised, defaced. + Unblemished truth and courage fail-- + The coward wins--the noble fly; + Rascals are lords of all the world-- + Up, Goths, and let us die! + + "O wicked Rome, O southern gleam, + O lovely, heavenly blue! + O rolling blood-stained Tiber-stream-- + O Southerns, all untrue! + Still cherishes the North its sons + Of courage true and high; + Vengeance will roll its thunders soon-- + Then, up! and let us die!" + +"The melody pleases me," said Adalgoth; "but is it already finished? +What is the end?" + +"'The end can only be sung in time to the stroke of the sword," said +Teja. "Soon, methinks, thou wilt also hear this end." And he rose +from his seat. "Go, my Adalgoth," he said; "leave me alone. I have +already kept thee far too long from"--and he smiled through all his +sadness--"from the loveliest of all duchesses. You have but few of +such evening hours to spend together, my poor children! If I could but +save your young and budding lives----" He passed his hand across his +brow. "Folly!" he then cried; "you are but a part of the doomed +nation--perhaps the loveliest." + +Adalgoth's eyes had filled with tears as the King mentioned his young +wife. He now went up to Teja and laid his hand inquiringly upon his +shoulder. + +"Is there no hope? She is so young!" + +"None," answered Teja; "for no saving angel will come down from heaven. +We have still a few days before famine commences its inroads. Then I +will make a speedy end. The warriors shall sally forth and fall in +battle." + + +"And the women, the children--the defenceless thousands?" + +"I cannot help them. I am no god. But not a Gothic woman or maiden need +fall into slavery under the Byzantines, unless they choose shame +instead of a free death. Look there, my Adalgoth--in the dark night the +glow of the mountain is fully seen. Seest thou, there, a hundred paces +to the right.--Ha! how splendidly the fiery smoke rushes from the +gloomy mouth!--When the last guardian of the pass has fallen--one leap +into that abyss--and no insolent Roman hand shall touch our pure women. +Thinking of _them_--more than of us, for we can fall anywhere thinking +of the Gothic women, I chose for our last battle-field--Vesuvius!" + +And Adalgoth, no longer weeping, but with enthusiasm, threw himself +into Teja's arms. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +A few days after Cethegus had taken up his chosen position on the left +of Narses with his mercenaries, the report came to the camp of the +Byzantines that the Goths in the Mausoleum of Hadrian had been +overpowered. + +So now all Rome was in the hands of the Romans; not a single Goth, and, +as Cethegus exultingly thought, not a single Byzantine, ruled in his +Rome. + +If he could now succeed in throwing his Isaurians, under the command of +the tribunes, into Rome, the Prefect would be in a much more favourable +position, opposed to Narses, than he had ever been opposed to +Belisarius, with whom he had been obliged to share the possession of +the city. + +One of the messengers who had brought the news from Rome, at the same +time gave to Aulus, the hostage, a letter from the two centurions, the +brothers Macer, which ran thus: "The bride has recovered from her long +sickness; if the bridegroom will come, there is nothing more to hinder +the wedding. Come, Aulus." + +These were the words fixed upon. Cethegus communicated them to his +Roman knights. + +"Excellent!" cried Lucius. "Now I shall be able to place a monument +upon the spot where my brave brother fell for Rome and for Cethegus." + +"Yes," said Salvius Julianus, "imprescriptible is the Romans' right to +Rome." + +"But if we are to go secretly, see to it well, Prefect," said Piso, +"that our departure is concealed so long from the greatest cripple of +all times, that it will be impossible for him to overtake us." + +"No," said Cethegus, "you shall not depart in secret. I have convinced +myself that this most prudent of all heroes has placed outposts far +beyond our position on the left wing. What we considered our outposts +are hemmed round by _his_--occupied by his Longobardian wolves, whom he +has placed in all directions. Without his consent, you cannot manage +your departure either by force or deception. It will be far wiser to +act openly. If he chooses, he can frustrate our plan, for, in any case, +he is sure to hear of it. But he will have nothing to say against +it--you will see! I shall tell him of my resolution, and, depend upon +it, he will approve of it." + +"General, that is very bold; it is great!" + +"It is the only possible way." + +"Yes, you are right," said Salvius Julianus, after a few moments' +reflection. "Force and deception are equally impossible; and should +Narses consent, I will willingly confess that my fears----" + +"Were founded upon an over-estimation of the _statesman_ Narses. +Large numbers have intimidated you, and the certainly not to be +over-estimated _general-ship_ of the sick man. I confess that before +the battle of Taginae the whole horizon threatened thunderstorms; but, +as I am still alive, those appearances must have been illusive. I will +at once send you with my inquiry to Narses. You are suspicious, you +will therefore observe sharply. Go, tell him that the Romans have +resolved to admit me, their Prefect, within their walls _now_, before +the annihilation of Teja's army. And I wish to know if he will permit +you to march to Rome with my Isaurians, or if he would consider such an +act as a breach of our agreement. Against his will neither I nor the +Isaurians will set forth." + +The two tribunes took leave, and, as he stepped out of the Prefect's +tent, Piso said with a laugh to the others: + +"The crutch of Narses rendered your wits useless, longer than the stick +of the shepherd did my fingers!" + +When they were well outside, Syphax hurried up to his master. + +"O master," he said, "do not trust this sick man with his quiet and +impenetrable looks! Last night I again questioned my snake oracle. I +divided the skin of my idol into two pieces, and laid them upon live +coals. The piece which I called 'Narses' outlasted by far the piece +which I called 'Cethegus.' Shall I not make the attempt? You know that +a scratch with this dagger, and he is lost! What would it matter if +they impaled Syphax, the son of Hiempsal? I cannot do it by stealth, +for the Longobardian prince sleeps in the tent of Narses, in a bed +stretched across the entrance, and seven of his 'little wolves' lie +upon the threshold. The Herulians stand outside the curtain. According +to your hint, I have watched Narses' tent at night ever since we left +Helvillum. Even a gnat can scarcely escape the vigilance of the +Herulians and Longobardians when it flies into the tent. But openly, by +day, one spring into his litter--a scratch of the skin--and he is a +dead man in a quarter of an hour!" + +"And before that time has elapsed, not only is Syphax, the son of +Hiempsal, a corpse, but also Cethegus. No. But listen; I have +discovered where the commander is accustomed to hold his secret +conversations with Basiliskos and Alboin. Not in his tent--a camp has a +thousand ears--but in the bath. The physicians have ordered Narses a +morning bath in the bay at Stabiae, and he has had a bath-house built +out into the sea, which can only be reached in a boat. When Alboin and +Basiliskos accompany him thither, they are only as wise as--well, as +Basiliskos and Alboin. But when they return, they are full of the +wisdom of Narses; they know what letters have come from Byzantium, and +many other things. Round about the bath-house there is much seaweed. +Syphax, for how long a time can you dive?" + +"As long," answered the slave, not without pride, "as the clumsy and +suspicious crocodile in our streams takes to observe the gazelle which +has been thrown into the reeds as a bait, and to make up his mind to +swim to it--then a knife from below in his belly! This small-eyed +Narses has something of the crocodile--we will see if I cannot outdo +him by patient diving." + +"Excellent! my panther on shore, my diving duck in the water!" + +"I would leap into fire for your sake, then you would call me your +'salamander.'" + +"Well, you must manage to listen to the conversation of this sick man +when he goes to bathe." + +"The office will very well suit another game which I have on hand. For +many days a fisherman, who throws his net every morning and evening, +and never catches anything, has been signing and winking to me in a +very innocent-sly manner. I believe he is watching for me, and not for +sea mullets. But the long-bearded wolves of this Alboin are always at +my heels. Perhaps, when I dive into the water, I shall be able to catch +up what this fisherman wishes to confide to me." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Very gravely, but no more in a melting mood, Adalgoth told his young +wife of the resolve of the King, and of the last alternative between +death and a shameful slavery. + +He expected an outbreak of wild grief, such as it had been so difficult +even for him to repress. But, to his astonishment, Gotho remained +unshaken. + +"I have foreseen this long ago, my Adalgoth! It is no misfortune; to +lose what we love, and still live, that alone is a misfortune. I have +attained to the highest earthly bliss, I am thy wife. Whether I shall +have been so for ten years or for twenty, or for scarcely half a year, +alters nothing. At least we shall die together on the same day, +possibly at the same hour. For King Teja will not forbid thee--when +thou hast done thy part in the last battle, and, perhaps wounded, canst +fight no longer--he will not forbid thee to come and take me in thine +arms--how often hast thou carried me on the Iffinger!--and leap with me +into the abyss. Oh, Adalgoth!" she cried, passionately embracing him, +"how happy we have been! We will show that we were worthy of such +bliss, by dying bravely, without cowardly lament. The scion of the +Balthe," and she smiled, "shall not say that the shepherd's daughter +could not keep pace with his nobility. There arises in my soul a vision +of the grandeur of our mountains! My grandfather, Iffa, admonished me, +when I left him, to call to mind the fresh and free air of our +mountains, and the strict and noble severity of the proud heights, +should ever life in the narrow, small, gilded chambers here below +seem too paltry for our souls. We have not been menaced with that, but +now, when it is necessary to raise our minds from timid, tender +sorrow--which almost crept over me--and to gain strength for a noble +resolve, the remembrance of my native mountains has made me strong. +'Shame on thee,' I said to myself, 'shame on thee, daughter of the +mountains! What would the Iffinger, and the Wolfshead, and all the +stony giants say, if they saw the shepherdess despair? Be worthy of thy +mountains and of thy hero husband.'" + +Adalgoth pressed his young wife to his bosom, with mingled pride and +joy. + +Behind the tent of the Duke lay the low hut, made of dried branches, +where dwelt Wachis and Liuta. Liuta, who had heard from Gotho what fate +menaced them, had been obliged to use all her powers of persuasion upon +her husband (who sat shaking his head and hammering and patching his +shield, which had been sadly defaced, by Longobardian arrows in the +last watch he had held at the mouth of the pass, and who now began to +whistle to hide his suppressed sobs) before she could raise him to a +like enthusiasm of renunciation. + +"I do not think," said the honest man, "that the Lord of heaven can see +it done. I am one of those who never like to say, 'All is over!' The +proud ones, those who hold their heads high, like King Teja and Duke +Adalgoth, certainly run constantly against the beams of fate. But we +small people, who can stoop and bend, easily find a mouse-hole or a +chink in the wall by which to escape. It is too vile! miserable! cruel! +rascally!"--and each word was accompanied by a sounding stroke with his +hammer. "I will not believe it! I cannot believe that hundreds of good +women, pretty girls, lisping children, and stammering old men, must +jump into the hellish fire of this accursed mountain! As if it were but +a merry bonfire! As if they would come out at the other side safe and +sound! I might just as well have let thee burn in the house at Faesulae. +And not only thou must burn, but also our expected child, whom I have +already named Witichis." + +"Or Rauthgundis," said Liuta, blushing, as she bent over her husband's +shoulder and stopped his hammering. "Let this name admonish thee, +Wachis! Think of our beloved mistress. Was she not a thousand times +better than Liuta, the poor maid-servant? And would she have hesitated +or refused to die on the same day with all her people?" + +"Thou art right, wife!" exclaimed Wachis, with a last furious stroke of +his hammer. "Thou knowest I am a peasant, and peasants do not at all +like to die. But if the heavens fall, they strike down peasants as well +as others; and before it happens--ha-ha!--I will deal many a famous +stroke! That would please Sir Witichis and Mistress Rauthgundis right +well also. In honour of them--yes, thou art right, Liuta--we will live +bravely--and, if it cannot be otherwise, bravely die!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +It was with most joyful surprise that the two tribunes, Licinius and +Julianus, entered the tent of the Prefect after their interview with +Narses. + +"Once again you have conquered, O Cethegus!" cried Licinius. + +"You have got the upper hand, Prefect of Rome," said Salvius Julianus. +"I do not understand it, but Narses really abandons Rome to you." + +"Ha!" cried Piso, who had entered with the others, "that is your old +Caesarian luck, Cethegus! Your star, which has seemed to wane since this +famous cripple's arrival, shines anew. It seems to me that sometimes +his _mind_ suffers from attacks of epilepsy. For, with a sound mind, +how could he quietly let you enter Rome? No! Quem deus vult perdere +dementat! Now will Quintus Piso again wander through the Forum, and +look into the book-stalls to see if the Goths have assiduously bought +his 'Epistolas ad amabilissimum, carissimum pastorem Adalgothum et ejus +pedum'--(Letters to the very amiable and greatly beloved shepherd-boy, +Adalgoth, and his bludgeon)." + +"So you have composed in exile, like Ovidius?" asked Cethegus, smiling. + +"Yes," answered Piso. "The six-footed verses come more readily, since +they no longer need to fear the Goths, who are a foot longer. And amid +the noise of Gothic banquetings it would not be easy to compose, even +in time of peace." + +"He has composed some merry verses, intermixed with Gothic words, on +that subject too," said Salvius Julianus. "How does it begin, 'Inter +hails Gothicum skapja'----" + +"Do not wrong my words! It is not permitted to quote falsely what is +immortal." + +"Well, how go the verses?" asked Cethegus. + +"Thus," said Piso: + + "De conviviis barbarorum. + Inter: 'Hails Gothicum! skapja matjan jah drinkan!' + Non audet quisquam dignos educere versus: + Calliope madido trepidat se jungere Baccho, + Ne pedibus non stet ebria Musa suis." + +"Horrible poetry!" exclaimed Salvius Julianus. + +"Who knows," said Piso, laughing, "whether the thirst of the Goths will +not become immortal through these verses?" + +"But now tell me exactly what Narses answered?" said Cethegus. + +"First he listened to us with great incredulity," replied Licinius, "He +asked suspiciously, 'Is it possible that the prudent Romans can again +beg for an Isaurian garrison and the Prefect, whom they have to thank +for so much famine and unwilling valour?' But I answered that he +under-rated the patriotism of the Romans, and that it was your affair +if you had deceived yourself. If the Romans did not voluntarily admit +us, your seven thousand men were too weak to storm the city. This +seemed to convince him. He only required our promise that, if we were +not admitted voluntarily, we would at once return here." + +"And we thought we might well venture to promise this in your name," +concluded Julianus. + +"You were right," said Cethegus, with a smile. + +"Narses then said that he would not hinder us if the Romans liked to +have us. And he is so completely harmless," Licinius went on, "that he +does not seem to wish to detain you, even as a hostage; for he inquired +when the Prefect would start. Therefore he must have taken it for +granted that you would lead the Isaurians to Rome yourself. And he has +nothing to say against that either. He was evidently surprised when I +answered that you preferred to witness here the destruction of the +Goths." + +"Well," said Cethegus, "where, then, is this terrible Narses, the great +statesman! Even my friend Procopius sadly over-rated him, when he once +named him to me as the greatest man of the time." + +"The greatest man of the time is--some one else," cried Licinius. + +"It was natural that Procopius should give the palm to the superior +enemy of his Belisarius. But one almost ought to take advantage of the +clumsy blunder made by the 'greatest man,'" continued Cethegus +reflectively. "The gods might be angry if we did not make use of the +miracle of infatuation which they have accomplished for us. I alter my +resolution; I long to get to the Capitol; I will go with you to Rome. +Syphax, we will start--at once! Saddle my horse!" + +But Syphax gave his master a warning look. + +"Leave me, tribunes!" said Cethegus, "I will recall you directly." + +"O sir!" cried Syphax eagerly, as soon as they were alone, "do not go +to-day! Send the others on in advance. To-morrow early I shall fish two +great secrets out of the sea. Diving under his boat, I have already +spoken to the fisherman I mentioned. He is no fisher, he is a slave, a +post-slave belonging to Procopius." + +"What do you say?" asked Cethegus hastily and in a low tone. + +"We could only exchange a few words in a whisper. The Longobardians +stood on the shore watching us. Seven letters from Procopius, sent +either openly or secretly, have never reached you. He therefore chose +this clever messenger, who will fish to-night by moonlight and give me +the letter. He had not brought it with him to-day. And to-morrow +early--to-day he was too ill--Narses will again bathe in the sea. I +have found a hiding-place among the weeds; quite close. And should they +chance to see bubbles rising from the water, I can whistle like an +otter. I saw the imperial post arrive with well-filled mail-bags. +Basiliskos took them. Do but wait until to-morrow early; Narses will be +sure to talk over the latest secrets from Byzantium with Basiliskos and +Alboin. Or at least leave me here alone----" + +"No, that would be at once to betray you as a spy. You are worth more +than ten times your weight in gold, Syphax!--I shall remain here till +to-morrow," he continued, as the tribunes again entered. + +"Oh, come with us!" begged Licinius. + +"Away from the oppressive influence of this Narses!" added Julianus. + +But Cethegus frowned. + +"Does he still over-top me in your eyes, this fool, who allows Cethegus +to escape from his well-guarded camp to Rome; who throws the fish out +of his net into the water? Verily, he has too much intimidated you! +To-morrow evening I will follow you. I have still some business to +transact here, which no one but myself can complete. Meanwhile, if Rome +does not resist, you can occupy it without me. But I shall surely +overtake you at Terracina. If not, march into Rome. You, Licinius, will +keep the Capitol for me." + +With sparkling eyes Licinius exclaimed: "You honour me highly, my +general! I will answer for the Capitol with my life! May I venture a +petition?" + +"Well?" + +"Do not expose yourself foolhardily to the spear of the Gothic King! +The day before yesterday he hurled two spears at once at you; one in +each hand. If I had not caught the one from his left hand upon my +shield----" + +"Then, Licinius, the Jupiter of the Capitol would have blown it aside +before it struck me. For the god still needs me. But you mean well." + + +"Do not widow Roma!" persisted Lucius. + +Cethegus looked at him with the irresistible look of admiring love +which was so winning on _his_ face; and continued, turning to Salvius +Julianus: + +"You, Salvius, will occupy the Mausoleum. And you, Piso, the rest of +the city on the left bank of the Tiber. Particularly the Porta Latina; +through that gate I shall follow you. You will not open to Narses +_alone_, any more than you formerly did to Belisarius alone. Farewell; +salute my Roma for me. Tell her, that the last contest for her +possession, that between Narses and Cethegus, has ended with victory +for Cethegus. We shall meet again in Rome! Roma eterna!" + +"Roma eterna!" repeated the tribunes with enthusiasm, and hurried out. + +"Oh, why was not this Licinius the son of Manilia!" cried Cethegus, +looking after the young men as they departed. "Folly of my heart, why +art thou so obstinate? Licinius, you shall take the place of Julius as +my heir! Oh, would that you were indeed Julius!" + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +The departure of the Prefect for Rome was delayed for many days. +Narses, who invited him to his table, did not indeed seek to keep him +back. He even expressed his astonishment that the "Ruler of the +Capitol" was not more powerfully drawn to the Tiber stream. + +"Certainly," he said with a smile, "I can understand that, as you have +seen these barbarians rule and conquer so long in your Italy, you +desire strongly to see them fall there. But I cannot say how long that +event may yet be put off. The pass cannot be taken by storm as long as +it is defended by men like this King Teja. Already more than a thousand +of my Longobardians, Alamannians, Burgundians, Herulians, Franks, and +Gepidae have fallen before it." + +"Send for once," interposed Alboin in a vexed tone of voice--"send for +once your brave Romani Against the Goths. The Herulians, Vulkaris and +Wilmuth, fell under King Teja's axe almost as soon as they arrived +here; the Gepidian Asbad, under the spear of that boy Adalgoth; my +cousin Gisulf lies wounded by Duke Guntharis's sword; Wisand, the +standard-bearer, has stabbed the Frank count, Butilin, with the point +of his flagstaff; the old master-at-arms has dashed out the brains of +the Burgundian Gernot with his stone axe; the Alamannian Liuthari was +slain by Earl Grippa, and my shield-bearer, Klaffo, by a common Gothic +soldier. And for every one of these heroes, a dozen of their followers +lie dead also. If, at midnight last night, a block of lava, upon which +I was standing, had not most opportunely slipped down just as King +Teja, who can see in the dark, was hurling his lance at me, Rosamunda +would not be the loveliest woman, but the loveliest widow in the realm +of the Longobardians! As it was I got off with some ugly bruises, which +will not be extolled in future heroic songs, but which I fancy much +more than King Teja's best spear in my stomach. But I think that it is +now the turn of other heroes. Let your Macedonians and Illyrians come +forward. We have shown them often enough how a man can die in front of +that needle's eye." + +"No, my little wolf! Diamond cut diamond!" laughed Narses. "Always +Germans against Germans; there are too many of you in the world!" + +"You seem to have the same fatherly opinion about the Isaurians--at +least about _mine_!--magister militum," said Cethegus. "Shortly before +their departure for Rome, you ordered my Isaurians to storm the pass in +mass--the first storming-party in mass that you had ever ordered! Seven +hundred of my seven thousand remained dead upon those rocks, and +Sandil, my tried and faithful chief, at last found this Black Earl's +axe too sharp for his helmet. He was very valuable to me." + +"Well, the rest are safe in Rome. But nothing except fire can drive +these Goths out of their last hole; unless indeed the earth would do me +the favour to quake, as it did at Ravenna when Belisarius----" + +"Is there still no news of the result of the process against +Belisarius?" asked Cethegus. "Letters came lately from Byzantium, did +they not?" + +"I have not yet read them all.--Or, if not fire--then hunger. And if +they then sally forth for a last battle, many a brave man would rather +hear the murmur of the Ganges than the murmur of the Draco. Not you, +Prefect! I know that you can look boldly into the eye of death." + + +"I will still wait here a little and see how things turn out. It is bad +travelling weather. It storms and rains unceasingly. On the first or +second warm sunshiny day, I will start for Rome." + +It was true. On the night of the departure of the Isaurians, the +weather had suddenly changed. The fisherman, who dwelt in a village +near Stabiae, could not venture out upon the sea; less on account of the +storm than because of the Longobardians, who had long been watching him +with suspicion, and who had once arrested him. Only when his old father +came forward and proved that Agnellus was really his, the old +fisherman's son, did they hesitatingly let him go free. But he did not +dare to pretend to fish, when no other fisher threw out his nets; and +only far out upon the water could Syphax, who was also closely watched, +venture to communicate with him. + +The exits of all the camps, even of the half-deserted camp of +Cethegus--Narses had placed only three thousand Thracians and Persians +in the tents deserted by the Isaurians--were guarded night and day by +the Longobardians. And Narses was also obliged to postpone his baths +for some days. But for the secrets, namely, the letter from Procopius +and the conversation held by Narses in his bath-house, Cethegus fully +intended to wait. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The usual good luck of the Prefect did not desert him. The weather +changed again. On the morning of the day after his last conversation +with Narses, the sun rose splendidly over the blue and sparkling bay, +and hundreds of small fishing-boats set out to take advantage of the +favourable weather. + +Syphax, yielding his place at the threshold of his master's tent to the +four Isaurians, who alone had remained behind their comrades, had +disappeared at the first approach of dawn. + +When Cethegus had taken his morning bath in an adjoining tent, and was +returning to his breakfast, he heard Syphax making a great noise as he +approached through the lines of tents. + +"No!" he was shouting; "this fish is for the Prefect. I have paid for +it in hard cash. The great Narses will not wish to eat other people's +fish!" + +And with these words he tore himself loose from Alboin, and from +several Longobardians, as well as from a slave belonging to Narses, who +were trying to detain him. + +Cethegus stopped. He recognised the slave. It was the cook of the +generally sick and always temperate general, whose art was scarcely +practised except for his master's guests. + +"Sir," the well-educated Greek said to the Prefect, in his native +language, "do not blame me for this unseemly turmoil. What does a +sea-mullet matter to me! But these long-bearded barbarians forced me to +take possession, at any cost, of this fish-basket, which your slave was +bringing from the boats." + +A glance which Cethegus exchanged with Syphax sufficed. The +Longobardian had not understood what had been said. Cethegus gave +Syphax a blow on the cheek, and cried in Latin: + +"Good-for-nothing, insolent slave! will you never learn manners? Shall +not the sick general have the best there is?" + +And he roughly snatched the basket from the Moor and gave it to the +slave. + +"Here is the basket. I hope Narses will enjoy the fish." + +The slave, who thought he had refused the gift distinctly enough, took +the basket with a shake of his head. + +"What can it all mean?" he asked in Latin as he went away. + +"It means," answered Alboin, who followed him, "that the best fish is +_not_ hidden in the basket, but somewhere else." + +As soon as Syphax entered the tent, he eagerly felt in his waterproof +belt of crocodile-skin for a roll of papyrus, which he handed to the +Prefect. + +"You bleed, Syphax!" + +"Only slightly. The Longobardians pretended, when they saw me swimming +in the water, to take me for a dolphin, and shot their arrows at me." + +"Nurse yourself--a solidus for every drop of your blood!--the letter is +worth blood and gold, as it seems. Nurse yourself! and bid the +Isaurians let no one enter." + +And now, alone in his tent, the Prefect began to read. + +His features grew darker and darker. Ever deeper became the wrinkle in +the centre of his mighty forehead; ever more harshly and firmly +compressed his lips. + +"To Cornelius Cethegus Caesarius, the Ex-prefect and ex-friend, +Procopius of Caesarea, for the last time. This is the most sorrowful +business for which I have ever used either my former or my present +pen-hand. And I would gladly give this my left hand, as I gave my right +for Belisarius, if I need not write this letter. The revocation and +renunciation of our friendship of thirty years! In this unheroic time I +believed in two heroes; the hero of the sword, Belisarius; and the hero +of the intellect, Cethegus. In future I must hate, and almost despise, +the latter." + +The reader threw the letter on the couch upon which he lay. Then he +took it up again with a frown and read on: + +"Nothing more was wanting but that Belisarius should prove to be the +traitor that you would have represented him to be. But his innocence is +as clearly proved as your black falsehood. I had often felt uneasy at +the crookedness of your ways, into which you had partly led me also; +but I believed in the grandeur and unselfishness of your design: the +liberation of Italy! Now, however, I see that the mainspring of your +actions was measureless, unlimited, merciless ambition! A design which +necessitates such means as you have used is desecrated in my eyes for +ever. You tried to ruin Belisarius, that brave and simple-minded man, +by means of his own repentant wife, and to sacrifice him to Theodora +and to your own ambition. That was devilish; and I turn away from you +for ever." + +Cethegus closed his eyes. + +"I ought not to wonder at it," he said to himself. "He too has his +idol: Belisarius! Whoever touches that idol is as hateful to the wise +Procopius as he who sees in the Cross merely a piece of wood is to the +Christian. Therefore I ought not to wonder at it--but it pains me! Such +is the power of a thirty years' habit. During all those years a warmer +feeling came over my heart at the sound of the name, Procopius! How +weak does custom make us! The Goth deprived me of Julius--Belisarius +deprives me of Procopius! Who will deprive me of Cethegus, my oldest +and last friend? No one. Neither Narses nor Fate. Away with you, +Procopius, out of the circle of my life! Almost too lachrymose, +certainly too long, is the funeral speech which I have held over you. +What else does the dead man say?" + +And he continued to read: + +"But I write this letter, because I wish to close our long +friendship--to which you have put an end by your treacherous attack +upon my hero, Belisarius--with a last sign of affection. I wish to warn +and to save you, if it yet be possible. Seven letters which I sent you +have evidently never reached you, otherwise you would not still be +dwelling in the camp of Narses, as his army-reports affirm. So I will +entrust this eighth letter to my slave, Agnellus, a fisherman's son +from Stabiae, where you are now encamped. I will give him his freedom, +and recommend this letter to him as my last commission. For, although I +ought to hate you, I still love you, Cethegus! It is hard to abandon +you, and I would gladly save you. When, shortly after your departure, I +returned to Byzantium--already on the way the news of the arrest +of Belisarius (on account of treachery!) came upon me like a +thunderbolt--I believed at first that you, like the Emperor, had been +deceived. In vain I tried to gain a hearing from Justinian; he raged +against all who had ever been united in ties of friendship to +Belisarius. In vain I strove to see Antonina by every means in my +power. She was strictly guarded (thanks to your hints) in the Red +House. In vain I proved to Tribonianus the impossibility of treachery +on the part of Belisarius. He shrugged his shoulders and said: 'I +cannot comprehend it! But the proof is striking; this senseless denial +of the visits of Anicius. He is lost!' And he was lost. The sentence +was pronounced; Belisarius was condemned to death; Antonina to +banishment. The Emperor mercifully _mitigated_ the sentence of +Belisarius into banishment--far from Antonina's exile--the loss of +sight, and confiscation of his property. This terrible judgment lay +heavy upon all Byzantium. No one believed in the guilt of Belisarius +except the Emperor and the judges. But no one was able to prove his +innocence, or change his fate. I was resolved to go with him into +banishment; the one-armed with the blind. Then--and may he be blessed +for it for ever!--his great enemy, Narses, saved him! He whom I once +named to you as the greatest man of the age." + +"To be sure," said Cethegus to himself, "and now he will also be the +most magnanimous." + +"As soon as the news reached him in the Baths of Nikomedia--whither the +sick man had repaired--he hurried back to Byzantium. He sent for me and +said: 'You know well that it would have been my greatest pleasure to +beat Belisarius thoroughly in the open field; but he who has been my +great and noble rival shall not perish miserably because of these lies. +Come with me. We two--his greatest friend and his greatest enemy--will +together save that impetuous man.' And he demanded an audience of the +Emperor, which was at once granted to the enemy of Belisarius. Then he +said to Justinian: 'It is impossible that Belisarius is a traitor. His +only failing is his blind fidelity to your ingratitude.' But Justinian +was deaf. Then Narses laid his marshal's staff at the Emperor's feet +and said: 'Well, either you will annul the sentence of the judges, and +permit a new inquiry, or you will lose both your generals on one day. +For, on the same day that Belisarius goes into exile, I go too. Then +see to it, who will guard your doors from the Goths, Persians, and +Saracens.' And the Emperor hesitated, and demanded three days' time for +consideration, and meanwhile Narses was to be allowed to look through +the papers in company with me, and to speak to Anicius and all +concerned. I soon perceived from the papers that the worst proof +against Belisarius--for I hoped to be able to explain away the consent +which he had written upon the tablet found in the house of Photius--was +the secret and midnight visits of Anicius, which Belisarius, Antonina, +and Anicius himself, obstinately and unreasonably denied. I then spoke +to Antonina in private. I told her that these visits and their denial +would be the ruin of Belisarius. Then she cried with sparkling eyes: +'Then I alone will be ruined, and Belisarius shall be saved! He really +knew nothing of these visits, for Anicius did not come to him--he came +to me. All the world shall know it--even Belisarius! He may kill me, +but he shall be saved!' And she gave me a little bundle of letters from +Anicius, which, certainly, when laid before the Emperor, would explain +everything, but would also accuse the _Empress_ in a terrible manner. +And how firmly stood Theodora at that time in the esteem of Justinian! +I hastened with these letters to Narses. He read them through and said, +'In this case, either Belisarius and all of us are ruined--or the +beautiful she-devil will fall! It is for life or death! First come with +me to Antonina once more.' And, accompanied by guards, and taking +Antonina with us, we hastened to Anicius, who was slowly recovering +from his wound in prison." + +Cethegus stamped his foot; but he read on: + +"And then we all four went to Justinian. The magnanimous sinner, +Antonina, confessed upon her knees the nightly meetings with Anicius, +which, however, she had only encouraged in order to deliver the youth +from the toils of the Empress. She gave the Emperor the letters of +Anicius, which spoke of the seductress, of her manifold arts, of the +secret passage to her chamber, and of the turning statue. The poor +Emperor broke out into a fearful rage; he would have arrested us all +upon the spot for leze majesty, for unlimited calumny. But Belisarius +said, 'Do that--to-morrow! But this evening, when the Empress sleeps, +let Anicius and me lead you through the turning statue into the chamber +of your wife, seize her letters, confront her with Antonina and +Anicius, subject the old witch Galatea to the torture, and then see if +you do not learn much more than you will like to hear. And if we have +deceived ourselves, punish us to-morrow as you like!' The turning, +statue! that was so palpable! The assurance of Anicius, that he had +often passed this secret door, was so provoking! Such things could +scarcely be invented. Justinian accepted our proposition. That very +night Anicius led the Emperor and us three into the garden adjoining +the Empress's apartments. A hollow plantain-tree concealed the mouth of +the subterranean passage which ended under the mosaic of Theodora's +ante-room. Until then, Justinian had still preserved his belief in the +Empress. But when Anicius pushed a marble slab to one side, and opened +a secret lock with a secret key that he had fetched from his house, and +the statue became visible, the Emperor, half fainting, sank back into +my arms. At last he roused himself, and pressed forward alone past the +statue into the chamber. Twilight filled the room. The dimly burning +lamp shone over the couch of Theodora. The poor befooled man went up to +her with a stealthy and unsteady step. There lay Theodora, fully +dressed in imperial garments. A shrill cry from the Emperor called us +to his side, and also Galatea from an adjoining chamber, whom I +immediately seized. Justinian, stiff with horror, pointed to the +couch--we stepped forward--the Empress was dead! Galatea, not less +startled than we, fell into convulsions. Meanwhile, we searched the +room, and found, upon a golden tripod, the ashes of numerous rolls of +parchment. Anicius called for slaves and lights. By this time Galatea +had recovered, and, wringing her hands, told how the Empress had left +her rooms towards evening--about the time of our audience--without +attendants, in order to visit the Emperor, as she frequently did at +that hour. She had returned almost immediately, very quiet, but +strikingly pale. She had ordered the tripod to be filled with glowing +coals, and had then locked herself up in her room. When Galatea knocked +some time later, she had answered that she had gone to rest, and +required nothing more. On hearing this, the Emperor threw himself again +upon the beloved corpse; and now, by the light of the lamps which had +been brought, he saw that the little ruby capsule, containing poison, +in the ring which had once belonged to Cleopatra, and which Theodora +wore upon her little finger, had been opened--the Empress had killed +herself! Upon the lemonwood table lay a strip of parchment, upon which +was written her favourite motto: 'To live is to rule by means of +beauty.' We were still in doubt whether it was the tortures of her +malady or the discovery of her threatened fall which had driven her to +this desperate deed. But our doubts were soon solved. When the news of +Theodora's death spread through the palace, Theophilos, the Emperor's +door-keeper, hurried, half desperate, into the chamber of death, threw +himself at the Emperor's feet, and confessed that he guessed the +connection. He had been for years in the secret service of the Empress, +and every time that the Emperor held an audience to which he had given +orders that the Empress was not to be admitted, he (the doorkeeper) had +apprised the latter of it. She had then almost always heard the most +secret councils of the Emperor from a hiding-place in the doorway of an +adjacent chamber. Thus yesterday he had, as usual, informed the Empress +that we were to have an audience, to which he had been particularly +ordered not to admit her. Presently she had entered her hiding-place, +but she had scarcely heard a few words spoken by Antonina and Anicius, +when, with a smothered cry, she had sank half fainting behind the +curtains; but, quickly rising, she had made a sign to him to keep +silence, and then disappeared.--Narses pressed the Emperor to question +Galatea upon the rack, but Justinian said, 'I will inquire no further.' + +"Day and night he remained alone near the corpse of the still beloved +woman, after which he caused her to be interred, with the highest +imperial honours, in the church of St. Sophia. It was officially +published that the Empress had been suffocated by charcoal fumes while +sleeping. The tripod, with the ashes, was publicly exposed. But that +night had made Justinian an old man. The complete agreement of the +evidence of Antonina, Anicius, Belisarius, Photius, the slaves of +Antonina, the litter-bearers who had taken you to Belisarius's house +before his arrest--all fully proved that you, in conjunction with the +Empress, had persuaded Belisarius, through Antonina, to place himself +seemingly at the head of the conspirators; and I swore to the fact that +a few weeks ago he had expressed to me his just anger at the project of +Photius. + +"Justinian hastened to the cell where Belisarius was confined, embraced +him with tears, begged his forgiveness for himself and for Antonina, +who remorsefully confessed all her innocent love-makings, and obtained +full pardon. The Emperor, in atonement, begged Belisarius to accept the +chief command in Italy. But Belisarius said, 'No, Justinian; my work on +earth is finished. I shall retire with Antonina to my most distant +villa in Mesopotamia, and there bury myself and my past. I am cured of +the wish to serve you. If you will grant me a last favour, then give +the command of the army in Italy to my friend and preserver, Narses. He +shall revenge me upon the Goths, and upon that Satan called Cethegus!' +And the two great enemies embraced before our sympathetic eyes. All +this was buried in the deepest secrecy, in order to spare the memory of +the Empress; for Justinian still loves her. It was announced that the +innocence of Belisarius had been fully proved by Narses, Tribonianus, +and me, by means of lately-discovered letters of the conspirators. +Justinian pardoned all who had been sentenced; also Scaevola and +Albinus, who were formerly undone by you. But I tell you the whole +truth, in order to warn and save you. For, although I do not know in +what way, I am quite convinced that Justinian has sworn your ruin, and +entrusted your destruction to the hands of Narses. Your design to found +a free and recognised Rome, ruled only by yourself, was madness. To it +you have sacrificed everything--even our fair friendship. I shall +accompany Belisarius and Antonina, and I will try, in the contemplation +of their complete reconciliation and happiness, to forget the disgust, +doubt, and vexation with which all human affairs have filled me." + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Cethegus sprang from his seat, tossed the letter down, and hastily +paced his tent. + +"Feeble creature! and weak-minded Cethegus! to vex yourself that +another soul is lost to you! Had you not lost Julius long before you +killed him? And yet you still live and strive! And this Narses, whom +all fear as if he were God and devil in one--is he, then, really so +dangerous? Impossible! He has blindly entrusted Rome to me and mine. It +is not his fault that I do not defy him at this moment from the +Capitol. Bah! I cannot learn to be afraid in my old days. I trust in my +star! Is it foolhardiness? Is it the calmest wisdom? I do not know; but +it seems to me that confidence like this led Caesar from victory to +victory! However, I can scarcely learn more from the secret council of +Narses in his bath-house than I have learned from this letter." And he +tore the papyrus roll into small pieces. "I will start this very day, +even if Syphax has overheard nothing at this moment, for I think it is +the hour of the bath." + +Just then Johannes was announced, and, at a sign from Cethegus, was +admitted. + +"Prefect of Rome," said Johannes, "I am come to beg pardon for an old +injury. The pain I felt at the loss of my brother Perseus made me +suspicious." + + +"Let that rest," said Cethegus; "it is forgotten." + +"But I have not forgotten," continued Johannes, "your heroic valour. In +order at once to honour it and profit by it, I come to you with a +proposal. I and my comrades, used to Belisarius's straightforward +attacks, find the caution of the great Narses very tiresome. We have +now been lying for nearly two months before this cursed pass; we lose +men and win no renown. The commander-in-chief will starve the +barbarians out. Who knows how long that may last? And there will be a +fine butchery if, at last driven by despair, the barbarians break out +and sell dearly every drop of their blood! It is clear that if we only +had the mouth of that confounded pass----" + +"Yes, _if_!" said Cethegus, smiling. "It is not ill-defended by this +Teja." + +"Just on that account he must fall! He, the King, is evidently the only +one who holds together the whole loose bundle of spears. Therefore I +and more than a dozen of the best blades in the camp have formed a +league. Whenever it is the King's turn to guard the pass--the approach +is so narrow and steep, that only one at a time can attempt a +hand-to-hand fight--we, one after the other, taking our turns by lot, +will attack him; the others will keep as close as possible to the +foremost combatant, will save him if wounded, step into his place when +he falls, or, if he is victor and slays the Goth, press forward into +the ravine. Besides me, there are the Longobardians Alboin, Gisulf, and +Autharis, the Herulians Rodulf and Suartua, Ardarich the Gepide, +Gunebad the Burgundian, Chlotachar and Bertchramn the Franks, Vadomar +and Epurulf the Alamannians, Garizo the tall Bajuvar, Kabades the +Persian, Althias the Armenian, and Taulantius the Illyrian. We should +much like to have your terrible sword among us. Will you, Cethegus, be +one in our league? I know you hate this black-haired hero." + +"Gladly," said Cethegus, "as long as I am here. But I shall soon +exchange this camp for the Capitol." + +A strange and mocking smile passed across the face of Johannes, which +did not escape Cethegus. But he attributed it to a wrong feeling. + +"You cannot well doubt my courage," he said, "according to your own +words. But there are more important things for me to do than to stamp +out the last glimmering sparks of the Gothic war. The orphaned city +longs for her Prefect. The Capitol beckons me." + + +"The Capitol!" repeated Johannes. "I think, Cethegus, that a heroic +death is also worth something." + +"Yes, when the aim of one's life is reached." + +"But no one knows, O Cethegus, how near he has approached his aim. But, +another thing: it seems to me as if something is in preparation among +the barbarians on their cursed mountain. From the hill near my quarters +we can peep a little, through a gap, over the peaks of the lava. I +should like you to turn your practised eye in that direction. At least, +they shall not surprise us by a sally. Follow me thither. But do not +speak of our league to Narses; he does not approve of such things. I +purposely chose the hour of his bath for my visit to you." + +"I will come," said Cethegus. + +He finished putting on his armour, and, after vainly inquiring for +Syphax of the Isaurian sentry, went with Johannes through his own and +the central camp of Narses, and finally turned into that on the right +wing--the camp of Johannes. + +Upon the crown of the little hill mentioned by Johannes stood a great +many officers, who were eagerly looking through a small gap in the lava +into the portion of the Gothic encampment visible to them. + +When Cethegus had looked for some time, he cried: + +"There is no doubt about it! They are evacuating this easternmost part +of their position; they are pushing the wagons, which were drawn +together, apart, and dragging them farther to the right, to the west. +That must mean concentration; perhaps a sally." + +"What do you think, Johannes?" quietly asked a young captain, who had +evidently only lately arrived from Byzantium, and who was a stranger to +Cethegus, "what do you think? Could not the new catapults reach the +barbarians from the point of that rock? I mean the last inventions of +Martinus--such as my brother took to Rome." + +"_To Rome?_" repeated Cethegus, and cast a sharp look at the questioner +and at Johannes. + +He felt himself suddenly turn hot and cold--a fright came over him, +more terrible still than he had experienced when he had heard of the +landing of Belisarius, of Totila's election, of Totila's march to Rome +at _Pons Padi_, of Totila's entrance into the Tiber; or of the arrival +of Narses in Italy. It seemed to him as if an iron hand were clutching +his heart and brain. He saw that Johannes imposed silence on the young +questioner with a furious frown. + +"_To Rome?_" again repeated Cethegus in a low voice, and fixing his +eyes, now upon the stranger, now upon Johannes. + +"Well, yes, of course, to Rome!" at last answered Johannes. "Zenon, +this man is Cethegus, the Prefect of Rome." + +The young Byzantine bowed with the expression of one who sees for the +first time some far-famed monster. + +"Cethegus, Zenon here, a captain who till now has been fighting on the +Euphrates, arrived only yesterday evening with some Persian bowmen from +Byzantium." + +"And his brother," asked Cethegus, "has gone to _Rome_?" + +"My brother Megas," quietly answered the Byzantine--who had now +collected himself--"had the order to offer to the Prefect of Rome"--and +here he again bowed--"the newly-invented double-catapults for the walls +of Rome. He embarked long before me; so I thought that he had already +arrived, and was gone to you in Rome. But his freight is very heavy. I +am rejoiced to become personally acquainted with the most powerful man +of the West, the glorious defender of the Tomb of Hadrian." + +But Cethegus cast another sharp look at Johannes, and, abruptly bowing +to all present, turned to go. + +When he had gone a few paces he suddenly looked back, and caught sight +of Johannes, with both his fists raised in anger, scolding at the +talkative young archon. A cold shudder ran through the Prefect. He +intended to reach his tent by the shortest cut, and, without waiting +for Syphax and his discoveries, to mount his horse and hasten to Rome +without taking leave. + +The shortest way to get to his tent was to leave the camp of Johannes, +and walk along the straight line of the semicircle formed by the whole +encampment. In front of him a few Persian bowmen were riding out of the +camp commanded by Johannes. And some peasants who had sold wine to the +soldiers were also permitted to pass unhindered by the sentinels. These +sentries were all Longobardians, to whom, as everywhere, the exits of +this camp were entrusted by Narses. + +As Cethegus was about to follow his countrymen, these sentries stopped +him with their spears. He caught at the shafts and angrily pushed them +aside. At this one of the Longobardians blew his horn; the others +pressed more closely round Cethegus. + +"By order of Narses!" said Autharis, the captain. + +"And those?" asked Cethegus, pointing to the peasants and the Persians. + +"Those are not you," said the Longobardian. + +At the sound of the horn a troop of guards had hurried up. They bent +their bows. Cethegus silently turned his back on them and returned to +his tent by the way that he had come. + +Perhaps it was only his suddenly-aroused mistrust which made him +imagine that all the Byzantines and Longobardians whom he passed +regarded him with half-jeering, half-compassionate looks. When he +reached his tent he asked the Isaurian sentry: + +"Is Syphax back?" + +"Yes, sir, long since. He is impatiently waiting for you in the tent. +He is wounded." + +Cethegus quickly pushed aside the curtains and entered. Syphax, deadly +pale beneath his bronzed skin, rushed to meet him, embraced his knees, +and whispered in passionate and desperate excitement: + +"O my master! my lion! You are ensnared--lost--nothing can save you!" + +"Compose yourself, slave!" said Cethegus. "You bleed?" +"It is nothing! They would not permit me to return to your camp--they +began to struggle with me as if in joke, but their dagger-stabs were +bitter earnest." + +"Who? Whose dagger-stabs?" + +"The Longobardians, master, who have placed double guards at all the +entrances of your camp." + +"Narses shall give me a reason for this," said Cethegus angrily. + +"The reason--that is, the pretext--he sent Kabades to inform you of +it--is a menaced sally by the Goths. But oh! my lion, my eagle, my +palm-tree, my wellspring--you are lost!" + +And again the Numidian threw himself at his master's feet, covering +them with tears and kisses. + +"Tell me coherently," said Cethegus, "what you have heard." + +And he leaned against the central support of his tent, crossing his +arms behind his back, and raising his head. He did not seem to regard +the troubled face of Syphax, but to gaze at vacancy. + +"O sir--I shall not be able to tell it very clearly--but I succeeded in +reaching my hiding-place among the sea-weed. It was scarcely necessary +to dive--the weeds hid me sufficiently. The bathing-house is made of +thin wood and has been newly covered with linen since the last storm. +Narses came in his little boat with Alboin, Basiliskos, and three other +men, disguised as Longobardians--but I recognised Scaevola, Albinus----" + +"They are not dangerous," interrupted Cethegus. + +"And--Anicius!" + +"Are you not mistaken?" asked Cethegus sharply. + +"Sir, I knew his eyes and his voice! From their conversation--I did not +understand every word--but the sense was clear----" + +"Would that you could repeat their very words!" + +"They spoke Greek, sir, and I do not understand it as well as your +language--and the waves made a noise, and the wind was unfavourable." + +"Well, what did they say?" + +"The three men only came from Byzantium yesterday evening--they at once +demanded your head. But Narses said, 'No murder! A just sentence after +a process in all form.' 'When is it to be?' asked Anicius. 'So soon as +it is time.' 'And Rome?' asked Basiliskos. 'He will never see Rome +again!' answered Narses." + +"Stop!" cried Cethegus. "Wait a moment. I must be quite clear." + +He wrote a few lines upon a wax tablet. + +"Has Narses returned from his bath?" + +"Long ago." + +"'Tis well." He gave the tablet to the sentinel at the door. "Bring +back the answer immediately.--Continue, Syphax." + +But Cethegus could no longer stand still. He began hastily to pace the +tent. + +"O sir, something monstrous must have happened at Rome--I could not +exactly understand what. Anicius put a question; in it he named your +Isaurians. Narses said, 'I am rid of the chief Sandil,' and he added, +laughing, 'and the rest are well cared for in Rome by Aulus and the +brothers Macer, my decoy-birds.'" + +"Did he name those names?" asked Cethegus grimly. "Did he use that +word?" + +"Yes, sir. Then Alboin said, 'It is well that the young tribunes are +gone; it would have cost a hard fight.' And Narses replied, 'All the +Prefect's Isaurians must go. Shall we fight a bloody battle in our own +camp, and let King Teja burst in upon us?' O sir, I fear that they have +enticed your most faithful followers away from you with evil intent." + +"I believe so too," said Cethegus gravely. "But what did they say about +Rome?" + +"Alboin asked after a leader whose name I had never heard before." + +"Megas?" asked Cethegus. + +"Yes, Megas! That was it. How did you know?" + +"No matter. Continue! What about this Megas?" + +"Alboin asked how long Megas had been in Rome. Narses said, 'In any +case long enough for the Roman tribunes and the Isaurians.'" + +Cethegus groaned aloud. + +"But," continued Syphax, "Scaevola remarked that the citizens of Rome +idolised their tyrant and his young knights. 'Yes.' answered Narses, +'formerly; but now they hate and fear nothing so much as the man who +tried by force once more to make them brave men and Romans.' Then +Albinus asked, 'But if they were to take his part again? His name has +an all-conquering influence.' Narses answered, 'Twenty-five thousand +Armenians in the Capitol and the Mausoleum will bind the Romans----'" + +Cethegus struck his fist fiercely on his forehead. + +"'Will bind them more strictly than Pope Pelagius, their treaty, or +their oath.' 'Their treaty and their oath?' asked Scaevola. 'Yes,' +answered Narses, 'their oath and treaty! They have sworn only to open +their gates to the Prefect of Rome.' 'Well, and then?' asked Anicius. +'Well', they know, and they knew then, that now the Prefect of Rome is +called--Narses. _To me, not to him_ have, they sworn!'" + +Cethegus threw himself upon his couch and hid his face in his +purple-hemmed mantle. No loud complaint issued from his heaving chest. + +"Oh, my dear master!" cried Syphax, "it will kill you! But I have not +yet finished. You must know all. Despair will give you strength, as it +does to the snared lion." + +Cethegus raised his head. + +"Finish," he said. "What I have still to hear is indifferent; it can +only concern me, not Rome." + +"But it concerns you in a fearful manner! Narses went on to say, after +a few speeches which escaped me in the noise of the waves--that +yesterday, at the same time as the long-expected news from Rome----" + +"What news?" asked Cethegus. + +"He did not mention what. He said, 'At the same time, Zenon brought me +word to open the sealed orders which I carry from the Emperor; for the +latter rightly judges that any day may bring about the destruction of +the Goths. I opened and'--O master, it is dreadful----" + +"Speak!" + +"Narses said, 'All the great Justinian's littleness is exposed in these +orders. I believe he would more easily pardon Cethegus for having +enticed him to blind Belisarius, than for having been in collusion with +Theodora, for having been the seducer of the Empress! A frightful +anachron'--I did not understand the word." + +"Anachronism!" said Cethegus, quietly righting Syphax. + +"'For having deceived and outwitted him. The fate which Cethegus almost +brought upon Belisarius, will now fall upon his own head--the loss of +his sight.'" + +"Really!" said Cethegus with a smile. But he involuntarily felt for his +dagger. + +"Narses said further," continued Syphax, "that you were to suffer the +punishment which, in blasphemous desecration of Christ's death, and +contrary to the law of the Emperor Constantine, you had lately +introduced into Rome. What can he mean by that?" added Syphax +anxiously. + +"Crucifixion!" said Cethegus as he put up his dagger. + +"O master!" + +"Softly! I do not yet hang in the air. I still firmly tread the +hero-nourishing earth. Conclude!" + +"Narses said that he was a general and no executioner, and that the +Emperor would have to be contented if he only sent him your head to +Byzantium. But oh, not that! Only not that--if we _must_ die!" + +"We?" said Cethegus, who had fully gained his usual calmness. "_You_ +have not deceived the great Emperor. The danger does not threaten you." + +But Syphax continued: + +"Do you not know then? Oh, do not doubt it. All Africa knows that if +the head of a corpse is wanting, the soul must creep for ages through +dust and mire, in the shape of a vile and filthy headless worm. Oh, +they shall not separate your head from your trunk!" + +"It still stands firm upon these shoulders of mine, like the globe on +the shoulders of Atlas. Peace--some one comes." + +The Isaurian who had been sent to Narses, entered with a sealed letter. + +"To Cethegus Caesarius: Narses, the magister militum. There is nothing +to prevent your carrying out your wish to go to Rome." + +"Now I understand," said Cethegus, and read on: + +"The sentinels have orders to let you ride forth. But, if you insist +upon going, I will give you a thousand Longobardians under Alboin as an +escort, for the roads are very unsafe. As, in all probability, an +attempt will be made by the Goths, to-day or tomorrow, to break through +our lines, and repeated foolhardy sallies on the part of my soldiers +have led to the loss of leaders and troops, I have ordered that no one +be permitted to leave the camp without my express permission, and have +entrusted the watch, even that of the tents, to my Longobardians." + +Cethegus sprang to the entrance of his tent, and tore the curtains +open. His four Isaurians were just being led away. Twenty +Longobardians, under Autharis, drew up before the tent. + +"I had thought of escaping to-night," he said to Syphax, turning back. +"It is now impossible. But it is better so, more dignified. Rather a +Gothic spear in my breast, than a Grecian arrow in my back. But I have +not yet read all that Narses writes." + +He read on: + +"If you will come to my tent, you will learn what measures I have taken +against the probably great bloodshed which will ensue if the barbarians +venture to sally, as they threaten. But I have still a painful +communication to make to you. News, which reached me yesterday evening +by sea from Rome, informs me that your tribunes and the greater part of +the Isaurians have been killed." + +"Ah! Licinius, Piso, Julianus!" cried the Prefect, startled out of his +icy and defiant calmness by deep pain. + +After a pause he controlled his emotion sufficiently to take up the +letter and read on: + +"When they had been quietly admitted into the city (shamefully +decoyed!) they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor. +They tried, contrary to their promise, to use force. Lucius Licinius +attempted to take the Capitol by storm; Piso, the Porta Latina; Salvus +Julianus, the Mausoleum. They fell, each before the place which he +attacked. What remained of the Isaurians were taken prisoners." + +"My second Julius follows the first!" cried Cethegus. "Well, I do not +need an heir, for Rome will never now be mine! It is over! The great +struggle for Rome is over! And brute force, small cunning, has +conquered the mind of Cethegus as it did the sword of the Goth. O +Romans, Romans! _You, too, my sons?_ You are my Brutus. Come, Syphax, +you are free. I go to meet death. Go back to your deserts." + +"O master!" cried Syphax, sobbing passionately, as he crouched at the +feet of Cethegus. "Do not send me from you! I am not less faithful than +Aspa! Let me die with you!" + +"Be it so," said Cethegus quietly, and laying his hand upon the Moor's +head. "I have loved you, my panther! Then die with me. Give me my helm, +shield, sword, and spear." + +"Whither go you?" + +"First to Narses." + +"And then?" + +"To Vesuvius!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + +King Teja's intention was to throw himself at night with all his armed +men--except a few guards who would be left in the ravine--into the camp +of Narses, and there, favoured by the darkness and surprise, to commit +great carnage. + +Then, when the last of his warriors had fallen, and--probably at +daybreak--the enemy prepared to assault the pass, the unarmed +people--at least those who did not prefer slavery to death--were to +seek an honourable grave in the neighbouring crater of Vesuvius, after +which the few remaining defendants of the pass would sally forth and +die fighting. + +When the King called his people together, and left the alternative to +their choice, he was filled with pride and joy to find that not one +voice among the thousands of women and children--for all the boys from +ten years of age and all the old men were armed--was raised in favour +of dishonour rather than death. His hero soul rejoiced in the thought +that his whole race, by a deed unheard of in the history of nations, +would die a glorious and heroic death, and worthily seal the renown of +their great past. + +However, the despairing idea of the grim hero was not to be carried +out. His dying eyes were to behold a brighter and more consoling +picture. Narses, ever watchful and wary, had noticed the mysterious +preparations of his enemies even sooner than Johannes and Cethegus, and +had called a meeting of generals, which was to be held in his tent at +the fifth hour, in order to explain to them his counter-measures. + +It was a lovely September morning, full of shining light and shining +mist over land and sea; a golden glow, such as, even in Italy, is only +poured forth in like wondrous beauty over the Bay of Neapolis. + +Into the clear sky curled the white cloud of smoke from the summit of +Vesuvius. Upon the curved line of the shore the smooth and gentle waves +rolled in a rhythmic measure. Close to the edge of the water--so close +that the ripples of the waves often wetted his steel-shod feet--a +lonely man walked slowly along, carrying his spear over his shoulder, +and apparently coming from the left wing of the Byzantine army. The sun +glistened upon his round shield, upon his splendid armour. The +sea-breeze played with his crimson crest. + +It was Cethegus; and the way he was going led to the gates of death. He +was followed at a short distance by the Moor. He soon reached a little +promontory which stretched out into the bay, and going to its outer +point, he turned and looked towards the northwest. There lay Rome--his +Rome. + +"Farewell!" he cried with deep emotion; "farewell, ye seven immortal +hills! Farewell, old Tiber stream! thou that hast laved the venerable +ruins through many centuries. Twice hast thou tasted my blood; twice +hast thou saved my life. Now, kindly River-god, thou canst save me no +more! I have striven and fought for thee, my Rome, as none of thy +children, not even Caesar, has ever done before.--The struggle is over; +the general without an army is vanquished. I now acknowledge that a +mighty intellect may possibly supply the place of a single man, but not +the want of a whole nation's patriotism. Intellect can preserve its own +youth, but it cannot renew that of others, I have tried to do what is +impossible; for to do only what is possible is common; and it is better +to fall striving for the superhuman than to be lost in dull resignation +among the common herd. But"--and he kneeled down and wet his hot +forehead with the salt water--"be thou blessed, Ansonia's sacred flood; +be thou blessed, Italians sacred soil!"--and he put his hand deep into +the sea sand--"thy most faithful son parts from thee with a thankful +heart--moved, not by the terrors of approaching death, but only by thy +beauty. I forebode for thee, Italia, an oppressive foreign rule; I have +not been able to turn it aside, but I have offered up my heart's blood; +and if the laurels of thy Empire are for ever withered--may the olive +of thy people's love of freedom still bloom amid the ruins of thy +cities, and may the day quickly come when no foreign master rules in +all the length and breadth of the land, and when thou art mistress of +thyself from the sacred Alps to the sacred sea!" + +He rose quietly, and now walked more rapidly through the centre camp to +the tent of the commander-in-chief. When he entered it, he found all +the generals and officers assembled. Narses called to him in a friendly +voice, saying: + +"You come at the right moment, Cethegus. Twelve of my officers, whom I +have discovered in a foolish league, such as barbarians, but not the +scholars oL Narses, might make, have appealed to you in excuse. They +say that what is shared in by the wise Cethegus cannot be foolish. +Speak! have you really joined this league against Teja?" + +"I have; and when I leave you--let me be the first, Johannes, without +casting lots--I go straight to Vesuvius. The hour of the King's watch +approaches." + +"This pleases me, Cethegus." + +"Thanks. It will, no doubt, save you much trouble, _Prefect of Rome_," +answered Cethegus. + +A movement of extreme surprise escaped all present; for even those who +were initiated into the secret were amazed that Cethegus knew the +position of affairs. + +Narses alone remained unmoved. He merely said in a low voice to +Basiliskos: + +"He knows all, and it is well that he does so." Then he turned to +Cethegus and said: "It is not my fault, Cethegus, that I did not tell +you sooner of your dismissal; the Emperor had strictly forbidden me to +do so. I approve of your resolve, for it agrees with my best +intentions.--The barbarians shall not have the pleasure of slaying +another myriad of my people tonight. We will march forward at once with +all our troops, including both our wings, to within a spear's throw +from the pass. We will not leave the Goths room to sally far out. The +first step they take beyond the mouth of the ravine shall be amongst +our spears. I have also nothing to object, Cethegus, if volunteers +offer to fight that King of terrors. With his death, I hope, the +resistance of the Goths will cease. Only one thing makes me anxious. I +have long ago ordered up the Ionian fleet--for I expected that all +would be over a few days earlier--and yet it has not arrived. The ships +are to take the captured barbarians on board at once, and carry them to +Byzantium.--Has the swift-sailer which I sent to gather news beyond the +Straits, of Regium not yet returned. Captain Konon?" + +"No, general. Neither has a second swift ship, which I sent after the +first." + +"Can the late storm have damaged the fleet?" + +"Impossible, general! It was not violent enough. And the fleets +according to the last reports, lay safe at anchor in the harbour of +Brundusium." + +"Well, we cannot wait for the ships! Forward, my leaders! We will march +at once to the pass. Farewell, Cethegus! Do not let your dismissal +disquiet you. I fear that you will be menaced with many a troublesome +process when the war is ended. You have many enemies, rightly and +wrongly. There are bad omens against you. But I know that from the very +beginning you have believed in only one omen--'The only omen'----" + +"'Is to die for the fatherland!' Grant me one more favour, Narses. +Allow me--for my Isaurians and tribunes are in Rome--to gather round me +all the Italians and Romans whom you have divided among your troops, +and lead them against the barbarians." + +For one moment Narses hesitated. Then he said: + +"Well, go; gather them together and lead them--to death," he added in a +low voice to Basiliskos. "There are at most fifteen hundred men. I do +not grudge him the pleasure of falling at the head of his countrymen. +Nor them the pleasure of falling behind him!--Farewell, Cethegus." + +Silently greeting Narses with his uplifted spear, Cethegus left the +tent. + +"H'm!" said Narses to Alboin, "you may well look after him, +Longobardian. There goes a remarkable piece of universal history. Do +you know who that is marching away?" + +"A great enemy to his enemies," said Alboin gravely. + +"Yes, wolf, look at him again; there goes to his death--the last +Roman!" + +When all the leaders, except Basiliskos and Alboin, had left Narses, +there hurried into the tent from behind a curtain, Anicius, Scaevola, +and Albinus, still in the disguise of Longobardians, and with faces +full of alarm. + +"What!" cried Scaevola, "will you save that man from his judges?" + +"And his body from the executioner; and his fortune from his accusers?" +added Albinus. + +Anicius was silent; he only clenched his hand upon the hilt of his +sword. + +"General," said Alboin, "let these two brawlers put off the dress of my +people. I am disgusted with them." + +"You are not wrong there, wolf!" said Narses; and turning to the others +he said, "you need no further disguise. You are useless to me as +accusers. Cethegus is judged; and the sentence will be carried out--by +King Teja. But you, you ravens, shall not hack at the hero after he is +dead." + +"And the order of the Emperor?" asked Scaevola stubbornly. + +"Even Justinian cannot blind and crucify a dead man. When Cethegus +Caesarius has fallen, I cannot wake him up again to please the Emperor's +cruelty. And of his money, you, Albinus, shall not receive a single +solidus, nor you, Scaevola, one drop of his blood. His gold is for the +Emperor, his blood for the Goths, and his name for immortality." + +"Do you wish the death of a hero for that wretch?" now asked Anicius +angrily. + +"Yes, son of Boethius; for he has deserved it! But you have a veritable +right to revenge yourself on him--you shall behead the fallen man, and +take his head to the Emperor at Byzantium. Do you not hear the tuba? +The fight has commenced!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +When King Teja saw the whole of Narses' forces advancing towards the +mouth of the pass, he said to his heroes: + +"It seems that instead of the stars, the mid-day sun is to shine upon +the last battle of the Goths! That is the only change in our plan." + + +He then placed a number of warriors in front of the hollow in the lava, +showed them the royal treasure and the corpse of Theodoric, raised upon +a purple throne, and ordered them to pay attention while the fight for +the pass was raging, and, on receiving a sign from Adalgoth--to whom +and Wachis he had confided the last defence of the pass--at once to +throw the throne and the coffers into the crater. The unarmed people +pressed together round the lava cave--not a tear was seen, not a sigh +was heard. + +Teja arranged his men into hundreds, and these hundreds into families, +so that father and sons, brothers and cousins, fought at each other's +side; an order of battle the terrible obstinacy of which the Romans had +often experienced since the days of the Cimbrians and Teutons, of +Ariovist and Armin. The natural construction of the last battlefield of +the Goths necessitated of itself the old order of battle inherited from +Odin--the wedge. + +The deep and close columns of the Byzantines now stood in orderly ranks +from the shore of the sea to within a spear's throw from the mouth of +the pass: a magnificent but fearful spectacle. The sun shone brightly +upon their weapons, while the Goths still stood in the deep shadow of +the rocks. Far away over the spears and standards of the enemy, the +Goths beheld the lovely blue sea, the surface of which flashed with a +silvery light. + +King Teja stood near Adalgoth, who carried the banner of Theodoric, at +the mouth of the pass. All the poet was roused in the Hero-King. + +"Look!" he said to his favourite, "what more lovely place could a man +have to die in? It cannot be more beautiful in the heaven of the +Christian, nor in Master Hildebrand's Asgard or Breidablick. Up, +Adalgoth! Let us die here, worthy of our nation and of this beauteous +death-place." + +He threw back the purple mantle which he wore over his black steel +armour, took the little harp upon his left arm, and sang in a low, +restrained voice: + + "From farthest North till Rome--Byzant-- + The Goths to battle call! + In glory rose the Goths' bright star-- + In glory shall it fall! + Our swords raised high, we fight for fame; + Heroes with heroes vie; + Farewell, thou noble hero-race-- + Up, Goths, and let us die!" + +And he shattered the still vibrating harp upon the rocks at his feet. + +"And now, Adalgoth, farewell! Would that I could have saved the rest of +my people! Not here; but by an unobstructed retreat to the north. It +was not to be. Narses would never grant it, and the last of the Goths +cannot _beg_. Now let us go--to death!" + +And raising his dreaded weapon, the mighty battleaxe with its +lance-like shaft, he stepped to the head of the "wedge," Behind +him Aligern, his cousin, and old Hildebrand. Behind them Duke Guntharis +of Tuscany, the Woelfung, Earl Grippa of Ravenna, and Earl Wisand +of Volsinii, the standard-bearer. Behind them again, Wisand's +brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, and four earls, his kinsmen. Then, in +ever-broadening front, first six, then ten Goths. The rear was formed +of close ranks, arranged by tens. + +Wachis, halting in the pass near Adalgoth, blew, at a sign from the +King, a signal on the Gothic war-horn, and the assaulting force marched +out of the ravine. + +The heroes in league with Johannes stood upon the first level place +close before the pass; only Alboin, Gisulf, and Cethegus were still +missing. Next behind the ten leaders stood Longobardians and Herulians, +who at once greeted the advancing Goths with a hail of spears. + +The first to rush upon the King, who was easily recognisable by the +crown upon his helmet, was Althias the Armenian. He fell dead at once, +his skull split to the ears. + +The second was the Herulian, Rodulf. Holding his spear at his left side +with both hands, he rushed at Teja. Teja stood firm, and, receiving the +stroke upon his narrow shield, pierced his adversary through the body +with the lance-like point of his battle-axe. Rodulf staggered back at +the shock, then fell dead. + +Before Teja could disengage his weapon from the scales of his enemy's +mail-coat, Suartua, the nephew of the fallen Herulian, the Persian +Kabades, and the Bajuvar Garizo, all attacked him at once. + +Teja thrust back the last--the nearest and boldest--with such vigour, +that he fell in the narrow and slippery lava path, and over a declivity +on the right. + +"Now help, O holy virgin of Neapolis!" cried the tall man as he flew +downwards. "Help me, as you have done during all these years of war!" +And, but little damaged, Miriam's admirer came to a stop, slightly +stunned by his fall. + +The Herulian Suartua was brandishing his sword over Teja's head, when +Aligern, springing forward, struck his arm clean off his shoulder. +Suartua screamed and fell. + +Kabades, who tried to rip up the King's body with his long and crooked +scimetar, had his brains dashed out by old Hildebrand's stone axe. + +Teja, again become master of his battle-axe, and rid of his nearest +foes, now sprang forward to attack in his turn. He hurled his axe at a +man in a boar-helmet--that is, a helmet decorated with the head and +tusks of a wild boar. It was Epurulf, the Alamannian, who fell +backwards to the ground. + +Above Teja bent Vadomar, Epurulf's kinsman, and tried to possess +himself of the Gothic King's terrible weapon; but Teja was upon him in +a moment, his short sword in his right hand. It flashed, and Vadomar +fell dead upon the corpse of his friend. + +The two Franks, Chlotachar and Bertchramn, hurried up at the same +moment, swinging the franciska, a weapon similar to Teja's battle-axe. +Both axes whizzed through the air at once. Teja caught one upon his +shield; the second, which came hurtling at his head, he parried with +his own axe, and in another moment he stood between his two +adversaries, whirled his axe round him in a circle, and at one blow the +two Franks fell right and left, both their helmets beaten in. + +At that moment a spear struck the King's shield; it pierced the steel +rim, and slightly grazed his arm. As he turned to meet this enemy--it +was the Burgundian Gundobad--Ardarich, the Gepide, ran at him from +behind with his drawn sword, and struck him a heavy blow on the top of +his helmet. But the next moment Ardarich fell, pierced through by the +spear of Duke Guntharis; and the King pressed Gundobad, who defended +himself valiantly, down upon his knees. Gundobad lost his helmet in the +struggle, and Teja thrust the spike of his shield into his throat. + +But already Taulantius the Illyrian and Autharis the Longobardian stood +before Teja. The Illyrian struck at the King's shield with a heavy club +made of the root of the ilex, and broke off a piece of the lower rim. +At the same time, just above the crack thus made, a lance, hurled by +the Longobardian, struck the shield and tore off the fastening of the +spike, sticking with its hook into the hole, and dragging the shield +down by its weight. + +Already Taulantius raised his club over the King's head. But Teja did +not loiter; sacrificing his half-shattered shield, he dashed it into +the Illyrian's visorless face, letting it go; and almost at the same +moment he thrust the point of his battle-axe through the breast-plate +of Autharis, who was rushing upon him. But now the King stood without a +shield, and his distant enemies redoubled their hail of spears and +arrows. With axe and sword, Teja parried the thickly falling darts. + +An alarum from the pass caused him to look round. He saw that the +greater part of the warriors whom he had led out of the ravine had +fallen. The innumerable projectiles hurled from a distance had done +their deadly work, and already, advancing from the left, a powerful +division of Longobardians, Persians, and Armenians, had attacked them +in the flank, and now mingled in a hand-to-hand fight. + +On the right the King saw a column of Thracians, Macedonians, and +Franks press forward against the guardians of the pass with spears +couched; while a third division--Gepidians, Alamannians, Isaurians, and +Illyrians, tried to cut off himself and the small troop which still +stood at his back from the retreat into the pass. + +Teja looked sharply towards the pass. For a moment the banner of +Theodoric disappeared--it seemed to have fallen. This circumstance +decided the King. + +"Back into the pass! Save Theodoric's banner!" he cried to those behind +him, and tried to break through the troop of enemies which surrounded +him. + +But they were in terrible earnest, for they were led by Johannes. + +"Upon the King," lie cried. "Do not let him through. Do not let him go +back! Spears! Throw!" + +Aligern had come up. + +"Take my shield!" he cried. + +Teja caught the proffered shield just in time to receive the lance +hurled by Johannes, which would otherwise have pierced his visor. + +"Back to the pass!" again Teja cried, and rushed with such impetuosity +upon Johannes, that the latter fell to the ground. The two nearest +Isaurians succumbed to Teja's sword. + +And now Teja, Aligern, Guntharis, Hildebrand, Grippa, Wisand and +Ragnaris hurried back to the pass. But here the battle was already +raging. Alboin and Gisulf had stormed the pass, and a heavy, pointed +block of lava, hurled by Alboin, had struck Adalgoth on the thigh, and +caused him to sink upon his knees. But Wachis had caught the falling +banner, and Adalgoth, quickly rising, had pushed the Longobardian, who +was pressing forward, out of the pass with the spike of his shield. + +The sudden return of the King with his little troop of heroes relieved +the almost overpowered guardians of the pass. The Longobardians fell in +heaps before the unexpected assault in their rear. With loud cries the +two guardians of the pass rushed forth, and the Longobardians, carrying +their leaders along irresistibly, ran and leaped over the jagged lava +in their downward retreat. But they did not run far. They were absorbed +by the ranks of Isaurians, and Illyrians, Gepidians and Alamannians, +who advanced in force, led by Johannes. Gnashing his teeth, he had +risen from his fall, had set his helmet straight, and at once led his +men against the pass, into which Teja had now entered. + +"Forward!" cried Johannes; "up and at him, Alboin, Gisulf, Vitalianus, +Zenon! Let us see if this King be really spear-proof!" + +Teja had now taken up his old position at the mouth of the pass, and +leaning upon the shaft of his battle-axe, he rested awhile to cool +himself. + +"Now, barbarian King! the end is at hand! Have you crept again into +your snail-shell? Come out, or I will make a hole in your house. Come +out, if you be a man!" + +Thus cried Johannes, twirling his spear over his head in defiance. + +"Give me three spears!" cried Teja, and gave his shield and battle-axe +to Adalgoth, who stood near him still, though wounded. "There! Now, as +soon as he falls, follow me out." + + +And he took one step forward out of the pass, without his shield, and +holding his three spears in his hands. + +"Welcome to the open! and to death!" cried Johannes, as he hurled his +spear. + +The spear was accurately aimed at the King's visor. But Teja bent to +one side, and the strong ashen lance was shattered against the opposite +rock. + +As soon as Teja hurled his first spear in return, Johannes cast himself +upon his face; the spear flew over him and killed Zenon, who stood +close behind. + +Johannes quickly recovered his feet, and rushed at the King like +lightning, catching the King's second spear, which immediately followed +the first, upon his shield. But Teja, immediately after hurling this +second lance with his right hand, had followed it up by a third with +his left, and this spear, unnoticed by Johannes, passed completely +through the latter's body, the point coming out at his back. The brave +man fell. + +At this his Isaurians and Illyrians were seized with terror; for, after +Belisarius, Johannes was looked upon as the first hero of Byzantium. +They cried aloud, turned, and fled in wild disorder down the mountain, +followed by Teja and his heroes. For one moment the Longobardians, who +had again collected together, still held firm. + +"Come, Gisulf--clench your teeth--let us stand against this +death-dealing King," cried Alboin. + +But Teja was already upon them. His fearful battle-axe glittered above, +between them. Pierced through his armour deep into the left shoulder, +Alboin fell, and immediately afterwards Gisulf lay on the ground with +his helmet shattered. Then there was no more stopping the rest: +Longobardians, Gepidians, Alamannians, Herulians, Isaurians and +Illyrians, scattered in headlong flight, rushed down the mountain. + +With shouts of exultation, Teja's companions followed. Teja himself +kept to the pass. He called to Wachis for spear after spear, and aiming +high over the Gothic pursuers, hurled them at the flying enemy, killing +whomsoever he touched. + +They were the Emperor's best troops. In their flight they carried away +with them the Macedonians, Thracians, Persians, Armenians, and Franks, +who were slowly climbing the ascent, and fled until they reached +Narses, who had anxiously raised himself upright in his litter. + +"Johannes has fallen!" + +"Alboin is severely wounded!" they cried as they ran past. "Fly! Back +into the camp!" + +"A new column of attack must be--Ha! look!" said Narses, "there comes +Cethegus, at the very nick of time!" + +And Cethegus it was. He had completed his long ride through all the +troops to which Narses had sent Romans and Italians; he had formed +these into five companies of three hundred men each, and when they were +drawn up in battle array, he took his place quietly at their head. + +Anicius followed at a distance. Syphax, carrying two spears, kept close +behind his master. Letting the defeated fugitives pass through the +vacant spaces between their ranks, the Italians marched on. Most of +them were old legionaries of Rome and Ravenna, and faithfully attached +to Cethegus. + +The Gothic pursuers hesitated as they met with these fresh, +well-ordered troops, and slowly receded to the pass. But Cethegus +followed. Past the bloody place, covered with corpses, where Teja had +first destroyed the league of the twelve; past the spot farther up, +where Johannes had fallen, he marched on with a quiet and steady step, +his shield and spear in his left hand, his sword in his right. Behind +him, with lances couched, came the legionaries. + +They marched up the mountain in silence, without the word of command, +or the flourish of trumpets. The Gothic heroes would not retreat into +the pass behind their King. They halted before the entrance. + +Guntharis was the first with whom Cethegus came into contact. The +Duke's spear was shattered on the shield of Cethegus, and at once +Cethegus thrust his spear into his adversary's body; the deadly shaft +broke in the wound. + +Earl Grippa of Ravenna set to work to avenge the Woelfung; he swung his +long sword over his head; but Cethegus ran under the thrust, and struck +the old follower of Theodoric below the right shoulder with his broad +Roman sword. Grippa fell and died. + +Wisand, the standard-bearer, advanced furiously against Cethegus; their +blades crossed; sparks flew from shield and helmet; but Cethegus +cleverly parried a too hasty stroke, and before the Goth could recover +himself, the broad blade of the Roman had entered his thigh. Wisand +tottered. Two of his cousins bore him out of the fight. + +His brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, now attacked Cethegus, but Syphax, +running up, caught the well-thrust spear in his hand, and before +Ragnaris could let fall the shaft, and draw his axe from his belt, +Cethegus stabbed him in the forehead. + +Struck with horror, the Goths retreated before the terrible Roman, and +pressed past their King into the ravine. Aligern alone, Teja's cousin, +would not yield. He hurled his spear with such force at the shield of +Cethegus, that it pierced it; but Cethegus lowered it quickly, and +received Aligern, as he rushed forward, on the point of his sword. +Severely wounded, Aligern fell into old Hildebrand's arms, who, letting +fall his heavy stone axe, tried to carry the fainting man into the +ravine. + +But Aligern's spear had also been well-aimed. The shield-arm of +Cethegus bled profusely. But he did not heed it; he pressed on to make +an end of both the Goths, Hildebrand and Aligern, and at that moment +Adalgoth caught sight of his father's hated enemy. + +"Alaric! Alaric!" he shouted, and, springing forward, he caught up the +heavy stone axe from the ground. "Alaric!" he cried. + +Cethegus caught the name and looked up. The axe, accurately aimed, came +whizzing through the air upon his tall helmet. Stunned, Cethegus fell. +Syphax sprang to him, took him in both his arms, and carried him aside. +But the legionaries would not retreat; they could not. Behind them, +sent by Narses, two thousand Persians and Thracians pressed up the +ascent. + +"Bring hurling spears!" commanded their leader, Aniabedes. "No +hand-to-hand fight! Cast spears at the King until he fall. By order of +Narses!" + +The soldiers willingly obeyed this order, which promised to spare their +blood. Presently such a fearful hail of darts rattled against the +narrow opening of the pass, that not a Goth was able to issue forth and +stand before the King. + +And now Teja, filling the entrance with his body and his shield, +defended his people for some time--for a very considerable time--quite +alone. Procopius, following the report of eye-witnesses, has described +with admiration this, the last fight of King Teja: + +"I have now to describe a very remarkable fight, and the heroism of a +man who is inferior to none of those we call heroes--of Teja. He stood, +visible to all, covered by his shield, and brandishing his spear, in +front of his own ranks. All the bravest Romans, whose number was great, +attacked him alone; for with his death, they thought, the battle would +be at an end. All hurled and thrust their lances at him alone; but he +received the darts upon his shield, and, repeatedly sallying forth, +killed numbers of his adversaries, one after the other. And when his +shield was stuck so full of darts that it was too heavy for him to +hold, he signed to his shield-bearer to bring him a fresh one. Thus he +stood; not turning, nor throwing his shield on his back and retreating, +but firm as a rock, dealing death to his foes with his right hand, +warding it off with his left, and ever calling to his weapon-bearers +for new shields and new spears." + +It was Wachis and Adalgoth--heaps of shields and spears had been +brought to the spot from the royal treasure--who continually handed to +Teja fresh weapons. + +At last the courage of the Romans, Persians, and Thracians sank as they +saw all their efforts wrecked against this living shield of the Goths, +and all their bravest men slain by the spears of the King. They +wavered--the Italians called anxiously upon Cethegus--they turned and +fled. Then Cethegus started up from his long stupor. + +"Syphax, a fresh spear! Halt! Stand, Romans! Roma, Roma eterna!" And +raising himself with an effort, he advanced against Teja. + +The Romans recognised his voice. "Roma, Roma eterna!" they shouted, as +they ceased their flight and halted. But Teja had also recognised the +voice. His shield bristled with twelve lances--he could hold it no +longer; but when he recognised the adversary who was advancing, he +thought no more of changing it. + +"No shield! My battle-axe! Quick!" he cried. + +And Wachis handed to him his favourite weapon. + +Then King Teja dropped his shield, and, swinging his axe, rushed out of +the pass at Cethegus. + +"Die, Roman!" he cried. + +Once again the two great enemies looked each other in the face. Then +spear and axe whizzed through the air. Neither thought of parrying the +stroke, and both fell. Teja's axe had pierced Cethegus's left breast +through shield and armour. + +"Roma, Roma eterna!" once more cried Cethegus, and fell back dead. + +His spear had struck the King's right breast. Not dead, but mortally +wounded, he was carried into the pass by Hildebrand and Adalgoth. And +they had need to make haste. For when, at last, they saw the King of +the Goths fall--he had fought without a pause for eight hours, and +evening was coming on--all the Italians, Persians, and Thracians, and +fresh columns of attack which had now come up, rushed towards the pass, +which was now again defended by Adalgoth with his shield; Hildebrand +and Wachis supporting him. + +Syphax took the body of Cethegus in his arms and carried it to one +side. Weeping aloud he held the noble head of his master upon his +knees, the features of which appeared almost superhuman in the majesty +of death. Before him raged the battle. Just then the Moor remarked that +Anicius, followed by a troop of Byzantines--Scaevola and Albinus among +them--was approaching him, and pointing to the body of Cethegus with an +air of command. + +"Halt!" cried Syphax, springing up as they drew near; "what do you +want?" + +"The head of the Prefect, to take to the Emperor," answered Anicius; +"obey, slave!" + +But Syphax uttered a yell--his spear rushed through the air, and +Anicius fell. And before the others, who at once busied themselves with +the dying man, could come near him, Syphax had taken his beloved burden +upon his back, and began to climb up a steep precipice of lava near the +pass, which Goths and Byzantines had, till then, held to be impassable. +More and more rapidly the slave advanced. His goal was a little column +of smoke which rose just at the other side of the cliff. For there +yawned one of the small crater chasms of Vesuvius. For one moment +Syphax stopped upon the edge of the black rocks; once again he raised +the corpse of Cethegus erect in his strong arms, as if to show the +noble form to the setting sun. And suddenly master and slave had +disappeared. + +The fiery mountain had received the faithful Syphax and the dead +Cethegus, his greatness and his guilt, onto its glowing bosom. The hero +was snatched away from the small spite of his enemies. + +Scaevola and Albinus, who had witnessed the occurrence, hastened to +Narses, and demanded that the corpse should be sought for on the sides +of the crater. But Narses said: + +"I do not grudge the mighty hero his mighty grave. He has deserved it. +I fight with the living, and not with the dead." + +But almost at the same moment, the tumultuous battle round the pass, +which Adalgoth, not unworthy of his royal master, heroically defended +against the attacks of the enemy, ceased. For while, standing behind +Adalgoth, Hildebrand and Wachis suddenly cried, "Look! look at the sea! +The dragon ships! The northern heroes! Harald! Harald!"--the solemn +tones of the tuba were heard from below, sounding the signal for a +cessation of hostilities--for a truce. Very gladly the fatigued and +harassed warriors lowered their weapons. + +But King Teja, who lay upon his shield--Hildebrand had forbidden every +one to draw out the spear of Cethegus from the wound--"for his life +would flow out with his blood"--asked in a faint voice: + +"What do I hear them cry? The northern heroes? The ships? Is Harald +there?" + +"Yes, Harald! He comes to our rescue! He brings safety for the rest of +the nation! For us, and for the women and children!" cried Adalgoth +joyously, as he knelt at Teja's side. "So thy incomparable heroism, my +ever-beloved hero; thy superhuman and untiring efforts, were not in +vain! Basiliskos has just come, sent by Narses. Harald has destroyed +the Ionian fleet in the harbour of Brundusium; he threatens to land and +attack the already exhausted Byzantines; he demands to be allowed to +carry away all the remaining Goths, with weapons and goods, to +Thuleland and liberty! Narses has agreed; he will honour, he says, King +Teja's noble heroism, in the remnant of his people. May we accept? Oh, +may we accept, my King?" + +"Yes," said Teja, as his eyes grew dim. "You may and shall. The rest of +my people free! The women, the children, delivered from a terrible +death! Oh, happy that I am! Yes, take all who live to Thuleland; and +take with you--two of the dead: King Theodoric--and----" + +"And King Teja!" said Adalgoth: and kissed the dead man's mouth. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +And so it happened, and this was the manner of it. + +Immediately after Narses had left his tent, a fisherman was led before +him, who had just sailed round the promontory of Surrentum in a small +and swift vessel, and who announced that an immense fleet of the Goths +was in full sail for the coast. Narses laughed; for he knew that not a +Gothic sail was to be found on all the seas. + +More narrowly questioned, the man was obliged to confess that he had +not seen the fleet himself; but merchants had told him of it, and had +related that a great naval combat had taken place, in which the Goths +had destroyed the Emperor's fleet, at Brundusium. + +That was impossible, as Narses well knew. And when the fisherman +described the appearance of the pretended Gothic ships, according to +what his informers had told him, the commander-in-chief cried out: + +"At last they are coming! Triremes and galleys! They are our ships +which are approaching, not Gothic vessels." + +No one thought of the Viking's fleet, which had not been heard of for +four moons, and which, it was believed, had sailed to the north. + +A few hours later, as the battle was raging round the pass, engrossing +the attention of all, the coastguards announced to Narses the fact of +the approach of a very large imperial fleet. The ship of the admiral, +the Sophia, had been distinctly recognised. But the number of sails was +far greater than had been expected. The ships which Narses had sent to +urge the coming of the fleet were also among them, sailing first. The +strong south-eastern breeze would shortly bring them within sight of +the camp. + +And presently Narses himself could enjoy from the hill the magnificent +spectacle of the approach of the fleet, propelled not only by their +spreading sails, but also by their long oars. + +Much relieved, he again turned his attention to the combat upon +Vesuvius--when, suddenly, messengers reached him from the camp, +affirming the first reports in an alarming manner, or rather, they +brought much worse news. They had hurried on in advance of an embassy +which reached the litter of Narses just as Cethegus was advancing for +the last time against Teja. + +This embassy consisted of the admiral and captains of the Ionian fleet, +who came forward with their hands in chains, and guarded by four +Northmen, whose message they had been brought to interpret. They +briefly related that they had been attacked by the fleet of the Viking +one stormy night, and had lost almost all their ships; that not one +could escape to warn Narses, for the enemy had blockaded the harbour. + +When Jarl Harald had heard of the threatened destruction of the Goths +upon Vesuvius, he had sworn to prevent or to share their evil fate. And +sending the captured Grecian ships in advance, prudently hiding behind +them his dragon-ships, he had hurried to the coast of Neapolis on the +wings of the east wind. "And thus," concluded the interpreters, "thus +says Harald the Viking: 'Either you will allow all yet living Goths, +with all their weapons and goods, to leave the Southland upon our ships +and return with us to their fatherland; in return for which we will +give up all our thousands of prisoners, and all our prize-ships, except +those we need for the transport of the Goths; or we will immediately +kill our prisoners, land, and attack you, your camp and army, in the +rear. Then see to it, how many of you, when attacked in front by the +Goths, in the rear by us, will remain alive! For we Northmen fight to +the last man! I have sworn it by Odin.'" + +Without a moment's hesitation Narses agreed to the departure of the +Goths. + +"I have only sworn to drive them out of the Empire," he said, "not out +of the world. It would bring me small renown if I overpowered and +slaughtered the poor remains of such a noble nation. I reverence the +heroism of this Teja; in forty years of warfare I have never seen his +like. And I have no desire to try how my harassed army, which has had a +day of the hardest fighting, and has lost almost all its leaders and +numbers of its bravest soldiers, would resist these northern giants, +who come with untired strength and unconquered courage." + +And so Narses had immediately sent heralds to Harald and to the pass. +The battle ceased; the retreat of the Goths began. + +In double ranks, reaching from the summit of the mountain down to the +sea, the army of heroes formed a lane. The Viking had landed four +hundred men, who received the Goths on the sea-shore. But before the +march began, Karses signed to Basiliskos and said: + +"The Gothic war is over--the stag is killed--now away with the wolves +which hunted him to the death. How are the wounded leaders of the +Longobardians?" + +"Before I answer," said Basiliskos respectfully, "accept this +laurel-wreath, which your army sends to you. It is laurel from +Vesuvius; from the pass above; there is heroes' blood upon the leaves." + + +The first impulse of Narses was to push the wreath aside; but after a +pause, he said: + +"'Tis well; give it to me." But he laid it beside him in the litter. + +"Autharis, Warnfrid, Grimoald, Aripert, Agilulf and Rotharis are dead," +Basiliskos now reported. "Altogether the Longobardians have lost seven +thousand men; Alboin and Gisulf, severely wounded, lie motionless in +their tents." + +"Good, very good! As soon as the Goths have embarked, let the +Longobardians be led away. They are dismissed my service. And say to +Alboin, as my parting words: 'After the death of Narses--_perhaps_; but +certainly not before.' I will remain here in my litter; support me with +the cushions--I cannot stand--but I must witness this wonderful +spectacle." + +And in truth it was a grand and moving sight to behold the last of the +Goths, as they turned their backs upon Vesuvius and Italy, and embarked +in the high-prowed ships which were to bear them away to the safe and +sheltering north. + +From the ravine, into which not a single enemy had succeeded in +penetrating, was heard at intervals the solemn tones of the Gothic +war-horns, accompanied by monotonous, grave, and touching strains from +the men, women, and children--the ancient death-song of the Gothic +nation. + +Hildebrand and Adalgoth--the last chiefs, the hoary Past and the golden +Future--had arranged the order of march. + +Foremost went, full-armed, five hundred men, led by Wisand, the +standard-bearer, who, in spite of his wounds, bravely opened the +procession, leaning on his spear. Then followed, stretched upon his +last shield, the spear of Cethegus still sticking in his breast, +without helmet, his noble and pallid face framed by his long black +locks--King Teja, covered with a purple mantle, and carried by four +warriors. Behind him came Adalgoth and Gotho, and Adalgoth, softly +striking his harp, sang in a low voice: + + "Give place, ye peoples, to our march: + The doom of the Goths is sped! + No crown, no sceptre carry we, + We bear the noble dead. + + "With shield to shield, and spear to spear, + We march to the Northland cool; + Until in grey and distant seas + We find the Island Thule. + + "That is the Isle of the brave and true, + Where none dishonour fears; + There we will lay our bravest King + In his bed of oaken spears. + + "From off our feet--give place! give place!-- + We shake Rome's traitor dust; + We only bear our King away-- + For the Gothic crown is lost!" + +When the bier was carried past the litter, Narses called a halt, and +said in a low voice in the Latin language: + +"Mine was the victory, but his the fame! There, take the laurel wreath! +Other generations may see greater things, but now. King Teja, I greet +you as the greatest hero of all ages!" + +And he laid the laurel wreath upon the dead man's pallid brow. The +bearers again took up the bier, and slowly and solemnly, to the sad +sound of Adalgoth's silver harp, the death-song of the people, and the +long-drawn tones of the war-horns, the procession marched on towards +the sea, which now glowed magnificently in the evening red. + +Close behind Teja's body was carried a lofty crimson throne. Upon it +rested the silent august form of Dietrich of Bern; upon the head the +crowned helm; on the left arm the tall shield; a spear leaning against +the right shoulder. On the left of the throne marched old Hildebrand, +his eyes fixed upon the face of his beloved master, which shone in the +magic light of the setting sun. He held aloft the banner with the +device of the lion, high above the head of the great Dead. The evening +breeze from the Ausonian Sea rustled in the folds of the immense flag, +which, in ghost-like speech, seemed to be taking leave of Italian soil. + +As the corpse was carried past, Narses said: + +"I know by the shudder which passes across me that this is the wise +King of Ravenna! First came a stronger, now a greater man. Let us do +this dead man homage." + +And, with great exertion, he rose upright in his litter, and bent his +head reverently before the corpse. + +Then followed the wounded, supported by or carried in the arms of their +followers. This part of the procession was opened by Aligern, who was +carried on a broad shield by Wachis and Liuta, assisted by two +warriors. Then came the chests and coffers, the baskets and vessels, +containing the royal treasure and the goods of the different families, +which, until then, had been hidden in the wagons. + +Afterwards came the great mass of the unarmed people--women, girls, +children, and old people--for the boys, from ten years of age upwards, +would not part with the weapons which had been entrusted to them, and +marched in a separate corps. + +Narses smiled as the little fair-haired heroes passed, looking up at +him with anger and defiance. + +"Well," he said, "the Goths have taken care that the Emperor's +successors and their generals shall not want work!" + +The procession was closed by the rest of the Gothic army. + +Innumerable boats lent their assistance in the embarkation of the +people and their scanty possessions. Presently all were on board the +high-decked vessels of the Northmen. + +The corpses of Teja and Theodoric, the royal banner, and the royal +treasure, were taken into Harald's ship. The great Dietrich of Bern +was placed upon his throne at the foot of the mainmast, and his +lion-standard hoisted to the mast-head. Old Hildebrand installed +himself at the foot of the throne. + +In the stern of the ship, Adalgoth and Wisand had laid down the body of +Teja. The mighty Harald and his beautiful sister approached it +sorrowfully. The Viking laid his mailed hand gently upon the dead man's +breast, and said: + +"I could not save thee, bold and daring King! I could not save thee and +thy people. Nothing remains but to take thee and the rest of thy folk +to the land of the strong and the true, from which you should never +have departed. Thus, after all, I bring back to King Frode the Gothic +nation." + +But Haralda said: + +"I will preserve the body of the noble dead by secret arts, so that it +shall endure until we land in our home. There we will vault for him and +King Thidrekr a hill-grave near the sea, so that they may together hear +the roar of the breakers and hold converse with each other; for they +were worthy of each other. Look, my brother! the enemy's army stands in +ranks upon the strand; they lower their flags and weapons in reverence, +and the sun sinks glowing behind Misenum and yonder islands; a crimson +glow covers the sea as with a royal mantle; our white sails are +coloured red, and red gold shines upon our weapons! Look how the south +wind spreads out the banner of King Thidrekr! The wind, which obeys the +will of the gods, points to the north! Up, brother Harald! weigh +anchor! direct the rudder! turn the dragon's prow! Up, Freya's wise +bird! Fly, my falcon!"--and she tossed her falcon into the air--"point +out the way! to the north! to Thuleland! Home! home we take the last of +the Goths!" + + +FOOTNOTE: +[Footnote 1: Theodoric.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + + BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. + _H. L. & Co._ + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Struggle for Rome, v. 3, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STRUGGLE FOR ROME, V. 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 32377.txt or 32377.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/7/32377/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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