by Felix Dahn
CHAPTER VI.
"Cursed omen!" growled Calpurnius.
And he hastened to join Belisarius.
"Command the retreat, quick, magister militum!"
"Why, excellent Calpurnius?"
"It is the King of the Goths himself!"
"And I am Belisarius himself," answered the latter, as he donned hissplendid helmet with its crest of white horse-hair. "How dare you leaveyour post in the vanguard?"
"I wished to bring you the news, general."
"Could no other messenger do that? Listen, Roman, you are unworthy ofbeing liberated. You tremble, you coward heart! Return at once to thefront. You will lead our horsemen to the first attack. You, Antallasand Kuturgur, take him between you. He _must_ be brave; do you hear? Ifhe shrink--down with him. Thus Romans must be taught courage! Thewatchman has just announced the last hour of night. In another hour thesun will rise. Its first beams must find the whole army on yonderhills. Up! Ambuzach, Bessas, Constantinus, Demetrius, advance to meetthe enemy!"
"General, it is as they say," announced Maxentius, the most faithful ofthe lifeguards; "innumerable Goths are advancing."
"There are two armies against us," reported Salomo, the leader of thehypaspistes of Belisarius.
"I reckon Belisarius alone to be a whole army."
"And the plan of attack?" asked Bessas.
"That I will decide upon when in sight of the enemy, while Calpurniusarrests their progress with his horsemen. Forward! Give the signal.Bring Phalion out!"
He left the tent. His generals, hypaspistes, pretorians, captains andlifeguards dispersed in all directions, in order to muster their men.
In a quarter of an hour the whole army was in motion towards the hills.
No time was lost in breaking up the camp, and the sudden movementcaused endless confusion.
Foot and horse got mingled together in the dark and moonless night. Andrumours of the superiority of the advancing barbarians had also spreaddiscouragement among the soldiers.
Two rather narrow roads alone led to the hills, which circumstancecaused much hindrance, and blocking of the way.
Far later than the hour appointed by Belisarius, the army arrived insight of the hills; and when the first beams of the sun shone uponthem, Calpurnius, the leader of the vanguard, saw Gothic weaponsglittering upon all the heights. The barbarians had been beforehandwith Belisarius.
Alarmed, Calpurnius halted, and sent word to the commander-in-chief.
Belisarius plainly saw that Calpurnius and his horsemen could not stormthe hills. He therefore gave orders that Ambazuch and Bessas, with thebest of the Armenian foot-soldiers, should advance upon the broaderroad. The right and left wings of the army were led by Constantinus andDemetrius; he himself led up his body-guard as a reserve for thecentre.
Calpurnius, rejoiced at the change of plan, placed his horsemen belowthe steepest part of a hill, where he thought himself safe from anattack, and waited for the result of the movements of Ambazuch andBessas, in order to pursue the flying Goths or support the retreatingArmenians according to circumstances.
On the summit of the heights the Goths placed themselves in an extendedline of battle.
Totila's horsemen had arrived the first; he was soon joined by Teja,mounted and feverish with thirst for battle. The axe-bearing foot werefar behind, for Teja had begged permission to join in the hand-to-handfight when and where he pleased.
Hildebrand followed later; and lastly the King with the main army.
Duke Guntharis, with his own and Teja's men, was expected to arriveshortly.
Swift as an arrow Teja flew back to the King.
"King," he cried, "beneath yonder hill stands Belisarius. By the God ofRevenge, he is lost! He has been mad enough to advance. Do not sufferhim to be beforehand with us in the attack."
"Forward!" cried King Witichis; "the Goths to the front!"
In a moment he had reached the edge of the hill and overlooked thevalley at his feet.
"Hildebad--the left wing! Thou, Totila, wilt charge in the centre withthy horsemen down that road. I shall keep the right, ready to follow orcover thee."
"That will be needless," said Totila, drawing his sword. "I warrantthat they will not be able to withstand my charge down that hill."
"We shall drive the enemy back to the camp, take it, and force theminto that shining brook just behind. Those who still remain, Totila andTeja, you will drive over the plain to Rome."
"Yes, when we have won the pass in those wood-crowned hills just beyondthe river," said Teja, pointing with his sword as he spoke.
"It appears to be unoccupied; you must reach it before the fugitives,"said Witichis.
Just then the standard-bearer. Earl Wisand of Vulsinii, rode up to theKing.
"King, thou hast promised to grant me a request."
"Yes, because at Solona, thou overthrewest the magister militum forIllyrium, Mundus, and his son."
"I have a grudge against all magistri militum. I should like to try thesame spear on Belisarius. Relieve me of my banner to-day, and allow meto seek the magister militum. He has a celebrated charger, Phalion orBalion, and my horse is getting stiff. And thou knowest the ancientright of a Gothic horseman. 'Throw the rider and take his horse.'"
"A good old Gothic right," cried old Hildebrand.
"I cannot refuse thy request," said Witichis, taking the flag from thehand of Wisand, who at once galloped away.
"Guntharis is not here. Totila, thou shalt bear the banner to-day."
"King," said Totila, "I cannot carry it if I am to show my horsemen theway to the enemy."
Witichis signed to Teja.
"Forgive me," said Teja, "to-day I need both hands."
"Well then, Hildebad!"
"Many thanks for the honour; but I do not intend to do worse than theothers."
"What?" cried Witichis, almost angry; "must I be my ownstandard-bearer? Will none of my friends honour my trust?"
"Give me the flag of Theodoric," said old Hildebrand, grasping themighty shaft. "It pleases me that the youths so thirst for fame. Giveme the banner, I will defend it to-day as I did forty summers ago."
And from that moment he rode at the King's right hand.
"The enemy's foot are advancing up the hill," said Witichis, raisinghimself in the saddle.
"They are Huns and Armenians," said Teja, looking forward with hiseagle-eyes, "I recognise their long shields!" And spurring his horse,he cried: "And Ambazuch, the perjured murderer of Petra, leads them."
"Forward, Totila!" cried the King; "and of _these_ troops--make noprisoners!"
Totila rapidly galloped off to his horsemen, who were placed at the topof the steep road which led down the hill. He carefully examined thearmour of the Armenians, who were slowly advancing up the ascent inclose columns. They carried very long and heavy shields, and shortspears for thrusting and throwing.
"They must not have time to hurl their spears," cried Totila.
He then ordered his horsemen, at the moment of encountering the enemy,to change their lances from their right hand to their left, lettingtheir bridles hang loosely from the wrist, and passing their lancesacross the manes of their horses into the bridle hand. In this way theywould hit the enemy on their unprotected side.
"As soon as the encounter has taken place--they will not be able towithstand it--throw your lances back into the arm-strap, draw yourswords, and kill whoever still stands."
He now placed his men in the shape of a wedge on the road and on eachside of it, outflanking the enemy's column. He himself led the thinedge of the wedge. He determined to allow the enemy to ascend halfwayup the hill.
Both parties looked forward to the shock in breathless expectation.
Ambazuch, an experienced warrior, quietly marched forward.
"Let them come on," he said to his people, "until you feel theirhorses' breath upon your faces. Then, and not before, hurl your lances.Aim low, at the breasts of the horses, and immediately after draw y
ourswords. In this way I have always succeeded in overthrowing horsemen."
But it turned out otherwise.
For when Totila gave the order to charge, it seemed as if a thunderingavalanche were descending the hill upon the terrified enemy. Theshining, clattering, snorting, threatening mass rushed on like ahurricane, and before the first row of the Armenians had found timeeven to raise their spears, they lay upon the ground, pierced throughby the long lances. They had been swept away as if they had never stoodthere.
All this had taken place in a moment of time; and when Ambazuch wasabout to order his second line, in which he himself stood, to kneel andshorten their spears, he found it already ridden over; the third rankdispersed; and the fourth, under Bessas, able to offer but a faintresistance to the terrible horsemen, who now began to draw theirswords.
He tried to rally his men; he flew back and called to his waveringlines to stand and fight; but just then Totila's sword reached him; amighty stroke crushed in his helmet.
He fell on his knees, and held the hilt of his sword towards the Goth.
"Take a ransom!" he cried. "I am yours!"
Totila was about to stretch forth his hand to take the sword, when Tejacried:
"Remember Petra!"
A weapon flashed, and Ambazuch sank dead on the ground.
At this the last lines of the Armenians, carrying Bessas away withthem, fled in terror. Belisarius's vanguard was annihilated.
With loud cries of joy King Witichis and his followers had witnessedTotila's victory.
"Look! now the Hunnish horsemen, who stand just below us, advanceagainst Totila," said the King to the old standard-bearer. "Totilaturns to meet them. They are much more numerous. Up, Hildebad! Hastendown the road to his aid."
"Ha!" cried old Hildebrand, bending forward in his saddle, and lookingover the edge of the rocks, "who is that tribune between the twobody-guards of Belisarius?"
Witichis bent forward also.
"Calpurnius!" he exclaimed with a sharp cry.
And suddenly, seeking no path, just from where he stood, the Kinggalloped down the hill towards his deadly enemy. The fear thatCalpurnius might escape him overpowered every other thought.
As if on wings, as if the God of Revenge were guiding him over bush andcrevice and ditch and pointed rock, the King galloped madly on.
For an instant the old master-at-arms was horrified; such a ride he hadnever beheld. But the next moment he waved his blue flag and cried:
"Forward! follow your King!"
And, the horsemen first, the foot after, the centre oL the Gothic army,leaping, jumping, and sliding down upon their shields, suddenlydescended the steep side of the hill upon the Hunnish cavalry.
Calpurnius had looked up. It had seemed to him as if he heard his name,and the cry sounded like the last trump of judgment.
He turned, and would have fled.
But the grim soldiers on his right and left caught his bridle.
"Halt, tribune!" said Antallas, pointing to Totila's horsemen--"_there_is the enemy!"
A cry of pain to the left caused him and Calpurnius to turn. The HunKuturgur, the second of the body-guards, sank with a crash from hissaddle, felled by the sword-stroke of a Goth who appeared to havedropped from the sky. And behind this Goth, the rocky steep, which yetseemed inaccessible, was filled with climbing and leaping men, and theHuns were suddenly taken in the flank by this enemy from above, whileat the same time they were attacked in front by Totila.
Calpurnius recognised the Goth.
"Witichis!" he cried in terror, and his arm fell powerless at his side.
But his horse saved him. Wounded and startled by the fall of Kuturgur,it galloped wildly away. Antallas threw himself furiously upon the Kingof the Goths, who was far in advance of his men.
"Down, madman!" he cried.
But the next moment he was slain by Witichis, who irresistibly,trampled down all those who stood in his path.
Through the crowd of Hunnish cavalry, who, terrified at his look,yielded to right and left, Witichis pursued Calpurnius.
The latter had recovered the mastery of his horse, and now soughtprotection in the thickest press of his soldiers.
In vain.
Witichis did not lose sight of him for a moment, but followed himclosely.
However he might hide himself among his men, however rapidly he rode,Calpurnius could not escape the King, who beat down all who stoodbetween him and the murderer of his son.
Group after group, knot after knot, dissolved before the terrible swordof the revengeful father. The lines of the Huns were broken through bythe fugitive and his pursuer. They were not able to close again, for,even before Totila could come up, the old standard-bearer, with horseand foot, had broken their right flank, dividing it into two parts.
When Totila galloped up, he found only flying foes. The portion to theright was soon taken between Totila and Hildebrand, and destroyed. Thegreater part on the left fled back to Belisarius.
Meantime Calpurnius galloped over the field as if pursued by theFuries.
He had a good start, for Witichis had been seven times obliged to hewhis way through the enemy.
But Boreas galloped bravely on, and carried Witichis ever nearer to hisvictim.
The fugitive heard the call to stand and fight. He only spurred hishorse the faster.
All at once it fell beneath him, and before he could rise, Witichisstood over him.
Springing from his saddle, Witichis now silently pushed the sword ofthe fallen man, which had dropped from the latter's hand, towards him.
Then Calpurnius took courage--the courage of despair.
He rose to his feet, took up his sword, and sprang at the Goth with aleap like that of a tiger.
But in the middle of his leap he fell prone to the ground; the sword ofWitichis had split his forehead open.
The King set his foot upon the breast of the corpse, and looked intothe distorted face. He sighed deeply.
"Revenge is sweet, but it will not bring back my child!"
With deep ire Belisarius had witnessed this unhappy commencement of thebattle. But his confidence and composure did not abandon him, even whenhe saw the Armenians swept away, and the horsemen of Calpurniusoverthrown and scattered.
He was now convinced of the strength and superiority of the enemy. Buthe determined to advance upon his whole line, leaving a gap in which toreceive his fugitive horsemen.
But this the Goths were quick to perceive; and, Witichis foremost, theyfollowed Totila and Hildebrand--who had annihilated the surroundedHuns--and pressed forward so furiously that they threatened to reachand break through the lines of Belisarius at the same moment with thefugitives.
This could not be permitted.
Belisarius himself filled the gap with his bodyguard on foot, andshouted to the fugitive horsemen to halt and turn.
But it seemed as if the terror which had possessed their cowardly andfallen leader had entered their hearts. They dreaded the sword of theGothic King behind them even more than their thundering chief beforethem, and without pause or stay they rushed on at a gallop, as if theyintended to ride down their own comrades.
For one moment a fearful shock--a thousand-voiced cry of fear andrage--a confused turmoil of mingled horse and foot--among themslaughtering Goths--and suddenly a dispersal to all sides, amid shrillcries of victory from the enemy.
The body-guard of Belisarius was ridden down; his main line of battlebroken.
He ordered the retreat to the camp.
But it was no longer a retreat, it was a rout. The footmen of Hildebad,Guntharis, and Teja had now arrived upon the field of battle. TheByzantines saw their order of attack broken, they despaired of furtherresistance and fled in great confusion to the camp.
Notwithstanding, they would still have been able to reach it a longtime before their pursuers, had not an unforeseen occurrence stoppedthe way.
Belisarius had set forth with such certainty of victory, that he hadordered all the carriages and
baggage of the army, and even the herdsof cattle--which, according to the custom of the time, were drivenafter--to follow the troops upon the high-roads.
The retreating masses now encountered this slowly advancing body,difficult to move and difficult to disperse, and indescribableconfusion ensued.
Soldiers and drivers came to blows; the order of march was brokenagainst the wagons, carriages, and chests. The lust of booty wasawakened, and many of the soldiers began to plunder the wagons, beforethey should fall into the hands of the enemy.
On all sides arose altercations, curses, laments, and throats,accompanied by the crash of broken wagons, and the bleating andbellowing of the terrified herds.
"Sacrifice the baggage! Fire the wagons! Gallop through the herds!"cried Belisarius, who, sword in hand, now broke a path through theturmoil with the remnant of his body-guard.
But it was all in vain.
Ever thicker, ever more entangled became the coil; it seemed impossibleto unravel it.
Despair at length tore it asunder.
The cry, "The barbarians are upon us!" sounded from the rear.
And it was no idle rumour.
Hildebad, with his foot-soldiers, had descended to the plain, and hisforemost ranks now attacked the defenceless mass. There ensued afearful press to the front; cries of terror--of rage from thebody-guard, who, mindful of their former valour, attempted to fight,but could not--of anguish from those trampled and crushed; and suddenlythe greater part of the wagons, with their teams and the thousands whowere crowded upon them or jammed between them, fell with a thunderingcrash into the ditches on the right and left of the high-road.
So at last the way was open--and impetuously, all discipline at an end,the stream of fugitives rushed on to the camp.
With loud cries of victory the Gothic foot-soldiers followed, slayingtheir easy prey with arrows, slings, and spears; while Belisarius, inthe rear, resisted with difficulty the unceasing attacks of Totila andthe King.
"Help, Belisarius!" cried Aigan, the leader of the Massagetianmercenaries, as he rode up from among the scattered groups, wiping theblood from his face. "My countrymen swear they see the devil amidst theenemy. They will not stand. Help me! Usually they fear you much morethan the devil!"
Grinding his teeth, Belisarius looked across at his right wing, whichwas flying in disorder over the fallows, pursued by the Goths.
"O Justinian, my imperial master," he exclaimed, "how badly I keep myword!"
And, entrusting the further defence of the retreat to the camp toDemetrius--for the uneven ground upon which they had now enteredembarrassed the pursuit of the enemy's horse---he galloped acrosscountry with Aigan and his mounted guard to join the mercenaries.
"Halt!" he thundered; "halt, you cowardly dogs! Who flies, whenBelisarius stands? I am with you; turn and win!" And he raised hisvisor, and showed them his majestic countenance.
And such was the power of his personality, so great the belief in hisinvincibility, that all who recognised the tall form of the commanderon his roan, hesitated, halted, and with a cry of encouragement, turnedonce more to face the pursuing Goths.
Here, at least, the flight was at an end.
Up came a tremendous Goth, easily forcing his way.
"Ha, ha! I am glad you are tired of running, you swift-footed Greeks! Icould no longer pant after you! Your legs are superior to ours; let ussee if your arms be so too. Ha! why do you fall back, my lads? Becauseof him on the roan? What of him?"
"Sir, that must be a King among the southerners; one can hardly bearthe glance of his angry eye."
"That would indeed be curious. Ah! that must be Belisarius! I am gladto meet thee, thou bold hero!" he cried across to Belisarius."Dismount, and let us measure the strength of our arms. Look, I too amon foot. Thou wilt not?" he cried angrily. "Must I fetch thee down fromthy hack?"
And he swung his immense spear in his right hand.
"Turn, sir, avoid him!" cried Aigan: "that giant hurls small masts!"
"Turn, general," repeated the hypaspistes anxiously.
But Belisarius, raising his short sword, rode quietly a horse's lengthnearer to the Goth. Whizzing came the mighty spear, straight at hisbreast.
But just before it touched, a swift stroke of his short Roman sword,and the spear fell harmless on one side.
"Hail to Belisarius, hail!" cried the Byzantines, and they pressedforward anew.
"A famous stroke!" laughed Hildebad angrily. "Let us see if thy fencecan parry _this_!"
And, bending forward, he lifted from the ploughed field an old jaggedboundary-stone, swung it in both hands backward and forward, lifted itabove his head, and hurled it with all his might at the advancing hero.
A cry from the Byzantines--Belisarius fell backwards from his horse.
All was over.
"Belisarius down! Woe, woe! All is lost!" cried the Byzantines, as thetall form disappeared, and fled madly towards the camp.
A few ran on without pause until they reached the gates of Rome.
It was in vain that the lance and spear-bearers threw themselvesdesperately against the Goths; they could only save their chief, butnot the battle.
The first sword-stroke of Hildebad, who now rushed up to Belisarius,was received on the faithful breast of Maxentius. But also a Gothichorseman, who was the next to reach the place, and who had killed sevenmen before he could make his way to the magister militum, fell from hishorse. His followers found him pierced by thirteen wounds. But he wasstill alive, and he was one of the few who fought through and outlivedthe whole war--Wisand, the bandelarius.
Belisarius, who, lifted on to his horse by Aigan and Valentinus, hisgroom, had quickly recovered his senses, raised his general's staff invain, and cried to the fugitives to stand. They could not and would nothear. In vain he struck at them right and left; he was irresistiblycarried away by the press to the very camp.
There, behind the solid gates, he at last succeeded in arresting thepursuit of the Goths.
"All honour is lost," he said indignantly; "let us at least save ourlives."
With these words he closed the gates, without any regard to the largemasses of people still outside.
An attempt of Hildebad to enter the camp without more ado wasfrustrated by the strong oaken palisades, which defied the spears andstones hurled at them.
Leaning on his sword, Hildebad cooled himself for a moment. Just thenTeja, who, like the King and Totila, had long since dismounted, turnedthe corner of the wall, which he had been examining and measuring.
"This confounded wooden fortress!" cried Hildebad, as Teja came up."Neither stone nor iron can do any good here."
"No," said Teja; "but fire can!"
He stirred with his foot a heap of ashes which lay near.
"These are from last night's watch-fires. Here are still some sparks,and brushwood lies near. Come, my men, put up your swords and kindlethe brushwood. Set the camp on fire!"
"Splendid fellow!" cried Hildebad rejoicingly. "Quick, lads! burn themout as you would a fox in his hole! The brisk north wind will help us!"
The dying watch-fires were speedily fanned into flame; hundreds offire-brands flew into the dry planks of the palisading.
Very soon bright flames rose to the sky.
The thick smoke, driven into the camp by the wind, blinded theByzantines, and rendered the defence of the walls impossible. Theyretreated to the centre of the camp.
"Oh that I were dead!" sighed Belisarius. "Evacuate the camp! Out bythe Porta Decumana! Retreat in good order to the bridges behind us!"
But the command to leave the camp broke the last ties of discipline andorder.
While the charred beams of the gate fell under the thundering strokesof Teja's axe, and the Black Earl was the first to spring into the campthrough the flames and smoke, the fugitives tore open all the gateswhich led to Rome, and hastened in confused masses to the river.
The first comers reached the two bridges unhindered and unfollowed.They had some time to spare before Hild
ebad and Teja could compelBelisarius to leave the burning camp.
But suddenly--oh, horror!--the Gothic horns sounded close at hand.
Witichis and Totila, as soon as they knew that the camp was taken, hadmounted at once, and now led their horsemen from the right and left, toattack the fugitives in the flank.
Belisarius had just galloped out of the camp by the Decumanian Gate,and was hurrying to one of the bridges, when he saw the threateningtroops of horsemen rushing up on both sides.
The great general still preserved his composure.
"Forwards at a gallop to the bridges!" he commanded his Saracens;"defend them!"
It was too late. A dull crash; then a second--the two narrowbridges had broken beneath the weight of the crowding fugitives,and by hundreds the Hunnish horsemen and the Illyrianlance-bearers--Justinian's pride--fell into the marshy waters.
Without reflecting, Belisarius, who had just reached the steep bank,spurred his horse into the foaming blood-flecked river, and swam to theother side.
"Salomo," he said to one of his pretorians, as soon as he had landed,"take a handful of my guards and gallop as hard as you can to the pass.Ride over the fugitives; you must reach it before the Goths! Do youhear? You _must_! It is our last plank of salvation!"
Salomo and Dagisthaeos obeyed, and galloped away as swift as the wind.
Belisarius collected together all whom he could reach. The Goths, aswell as the Byzantines, were detained for a time by the river.
But suddenly Aigan cried:
"Salomo is returning!"
"General," cried Salomo, as he galloped up, "all is lost! Weaponsglitter in the pass! It is already occupied by the Goths!"
For the first time on this unhappy day Belisarius started.
"The pass lost? Then not a man of my Emperor's army will escape. Thenfarewell fame, Antonina, and life! Come, Aigan, draw your sword; let menot fall living into the hands of the barbarians."
"General," said Aigan, "I have never heard you speak thus!"
"I have never before felt thus. Let us dismount and die!"
He was taking his left foot out of the stirrup, in order to spring fromhis horse, when Dagisthaeos galloped up.
"Be comforted, my general! The pass is ours--it is Roman weapons thatwe saw there. It is Cethegus, the Prefect; he occupied the pass insecret!"
"Cethegus?" cried Belisarius. "Is it possible? Is it certain?"
"Yes, my general. Look! It was high time!"
It was indeed. For a troop of Gothic horsemen, sent by King Witichis,had arrived at the pass, crossing the river by a ford, before thefugitives. But just as they were about to enter it, Cethegus, at thehead of his Illyrians, broke out of his ambush, and, after a shortcombat, drove back the surprised Goths.
"The first gleam of victory on this black day!" cried Belisarius. "Up!to the pass!"
And, in better order than before, the commander led his newly-ralliedtroops to the woody hill.
"Welcome to safety, Belisarius," cried Cethegus, as he cleansed theblade of his sword. "I have waited for you here since daybreak. I wassure that you would come."
"Prefect of Rome," said Belisarius, reaching out his hand, as he sat onhis horse, "you have saved the Emperor's army, which I had lost. Ithank you!"
The Prefect's fresh troops stood in the pass like an impenetrable wall,allowing the scattered Byzantines to pass, and repelling withoutdifficulty the attacks of the first fatigued pursuers, who pressedforward over the river.
At the close of day. King Witichis withdrew his troops to pass thenight on the conquered field, while Belisarius and his generals, at theback of the pass, mustered, as well as they could, the scatteredremnants of the army as they arrived, singly or in groups.
As soon as Belisarius had once more a few thousand men together, herode up to Cethegus, and said:
"What think you, Prefect of Rome? Your men are still fresh, and minehave yet to blunt their weapons. Let us sally forth once more, and turnthe fortune of this day. The sun will not set yet awhile."
Cethegus looked at him with astonishment, and quoted Homer's words:
"'Truly thou hast spoken a terrible word, thou mighty one!' Younever-to-be-satisfied man! Is it so hard for you to leave abattle-field without victory? No, Belisarius. There beckon the rampartsof Rome. Thither lead your harassed men. I will keep the pass until youhave reached the city; and I shall be glad if I can succeed in doingso."
And so it was arranged. Under such circumstances Belisarius was lessthan ever able to oppose the will of the Prefect. So he yielded, andled his army back to Rome, where he arrived at nightfall.
For a long time he was refused admittance; for, covered with dust andblood, it was difficult to recognise him, and many fugitives hadbrought word from the field of battle that the commander had fallen,and that all was lost.
At last Antonina, who waited anxiously upon the walls, recognised herhusband.
He was admitted at the Pincian Gate, which was afterwards named PortaBelisaria.
Beacons on the walls, between the Flaminian and Pincian Grates,announced his entrance to Cethegus, who then, under cover of night,accomplished his retreat in good order, scarcely followed by thewearied victors.
Teja alone, with a few of his horsemen, pressed forward to the hillycountry, where the Villa Borghese is now situated, and as far as theAqua Acetosa.
