A Struggle for Rome, v. 2

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER XIII.

  After the terrible exertion of strength in the general attack and itsrepulse, which had begun with the dawn of day, and had only ended atits close, a long pause of exhaustion ensued on the part of both Gothsand Romans. The three commanders, Belisarius, Cethegus, and Witichis,lay for weeks recovering from their wounds.

  But the actual armistice was more the effect of the deep discouragementand oppression which had come over the Gothic army when, after strivingfor victory to the uttermost, it had been wrested from them at themoment of seeming success.

  All day they had done their best; their heroes had outvied each otherin deeds of valour; and yet both their plans, that against Belisariusand that against the city, were wrecked in the consummation.

  And although King Witichis, with his constant mind, did not share inthe depression of his troops, he all the more clearly discerned that,after that bloody day, he would be obliged to change the whole plan ofthe siege.

  The loss of the Goths was enormous; Procopius valued it at thirtythousand dead and more than as many wounded. On every side of the citythey had exposed themselves, with utter contempt of death, to theprojectiles of the besieged, and had fallen by thousands at thePancratian Gate and before the Mausoleum of Hadrian.

  And as, on the sixty-eight earlier attacks, the besiegers had alwayssuffered much more than the besieged, sheltered as were these lastbehind walls and towers, the great army which, a few months before,Witichis had led against the Eternal City had been fearfully reduced.

  Besides all this, hunger and pestilence had raged in their tents for aconsiderable period.

  In consequence of this discouragement and the decimation of his troops,Witichis was obliged to renounce the idea of taking the city by storm,and his last hope--he did not conceal from himself its weakness--lay inthe possibility that famine would force the enemy to capitulate.

  The country round Rome was completely exhausted, and all seemed now todepend upon which party would be longest able to bear privation, orwhich could first procure provisions from a distance.

  The Goths felt severely the loss of their fleet, which had been damagedon the coast of Dalmatia.

  The first to recover from his wounds was the Prefect.

  When carried away insensible from the door which he had closed with hisbody, he had lain for a day and a half in a state which was half sleep,half swoon.

  When, on the evening of the second day, he again opened his eyes, hisfirst glance fell upon the faithful Moor, who was crouched at the footof the bed, and who had never ceased to watch him. The snake was twinedround his arm.

  "The wooden door!" was the first scarcely audible word of the Prefect."The wooden door must be replaced by--marble blocks----"

  "Thanks, thanks, O Snake-god!" cried the slave; "now he is saved andthou too! And I, my master, have saved you." And he threw himself uponthe ground and kissed his master's bedstead; his feet he did not dareto kiss.

  "You have saved me? how?"

  "When I laid you, as pale as death, upon this bed, I fetched mySnake-god and showed you to him; and I said, 'Thou seest, O Snake-god,that my master's eyes are closed. Make them open. Until thou dost so,thou shalt not receive one drop of milk or crumb of bread. And if henever open his eyes again--then, on the day when they burn his corpse,Syphax will burn by his side, and thou, O great Snake-god, also. Thouhast the power to heal him, then do so--or burn!' Thus I spoke, and hehas healed you."

  "The city is safe--I feel it. Else I had never slept! Is Belisariusalive? Where is Procopius?"

  "In the library with your tribunes. According to the physician'ssentence, they expected to-day either your recovery, or your----"

  "Death? This time your god has saved me, Syphax.--Let the tribunesenter."

  Very soon Piso, the Licinii, Salvius Julianus, and some others stoodbefore the Prefect; they would have hurried up to his couch withemotion, but he signed to them to compose themselves.

  "Rome, through me, thanks you! You have fought like--like Romans! I cansay nothing more, or more flattering."

  He looked at the row of men before him reflectively, and then said:

  "One is missing--ah, my Corinthian! His corpse is saved, for Irecommended it, and the two statues, to Piso. Let a slab of blackCorinthian marble be placed upon the spot where he fell; set the statueof Apollo above the urn, and inscribe on the latter, 'Here died, forRome, Kallistratos of Corinth; he saved the god, and not the god him.'Now go. We shall soon meet again upon the walls.--Syphax, sendProcopius to me. And bring a large cup of Falernian.--Friend," he criedto Procopius as the latter entered, "it seems to me as if, before Ifell into this feverish sleep, I had heard some one whisper, 'Procopiushas saved the great Belisarius!' A deed which will give youimmortality. Posterity will thank you--therefore I need not. Sit by myside and tell me all. But wait--first arrange my cushions, so that Imay see my Caesar. The sight of that statue strengthens me more thanmedicine. Now speak."

  Procopius looked sharply at the sick man.

  "Cethegus," he then said, in a grave voice, "Belisarius knowseverything."

  "Everything?" said the Prefect with a smile. "That is much."

  "Cease your mockery, and do not refuse admiration to nobleness of mind,you, who yourself are noble!"

  "I? I know nothing of it."

  "As soon as Belisarius recovered his senses," continued Procopius,"Bessas naturally informed him of all that had passed. He described tohim minutely how you had ordered the Tiburtinian Gate to be keptclosed, when Belisarius lay outside in his blood, with Teja raging athis heels. He told him that you commanded that his body-guard should bebeaten down if they attempted to open the gate by force. He repeatedyour every word, also your cry: 'Rome first, then Belisarius!' And hedemanded your head in the Council. I trembled; but Belisarius said: 'Hedid right! Here, Procopius, take him my sword, and the armour which Iwore that day, as a sign that I thank him.' And in the report to theEmperor he dictated these words to me: 'Cethegus saved Rome, andCethegus alone! Send him the patricianship of Byzantium.'"

  "Many thanks! I did not save Rome for Byzantium!" observed Cethegus.

  "You need not tell Belisarius that, you un-Attic Roman!"

  "I am in no Attic humour, you life-preserver! What was your reward?"

  "Peace. He knows nothing of it, and shall never learn it."

  "Syphax, wine! I cannot bear so much magnanimity. It makes me weak.Well, what was the joke with the ambush?"

  "Friend, it was no joke, but as terrible earnest as I have ever seen.Belisarius was saved by a hair's-breadth."

  "Yes; it was one of those hairs which are always in the way of theseGoths! They are clumsy fools, one and all!"

  "You speak as if you were sorry that Belisarius was not killed!"

  "It would have served him right. I had warned him thrice. He ought bythis time to know what becomes an old general and what a youngbrawler."

  "Listen," said Procopius, looking at him earnestly. "You have won theright to speak thus at the Mausoleum. Formerly, when you depreciatedthis man's heroism----"

  "You thought I spoke in envy of the brave Belisarius? Hear it, yeimmortal gods!"

  "Yes; certainly your Gepidian laurels----"

  "Leave those boyish deeds alone! Friend, if necessary, a man mustdespise death, but else he must cherish his life carefully. For onlythe living laugh and rule, not the dumb dead. This is my wisdom, callit cowardice if you will. Therefore--there was an ambush. Tell mebriefly, how went the fight!"

  "Briskly enough! After we had scoured the neighbourhood--it seemed freefrom enemies and safe for foraging--we gradually turned our horses'heads in the direction of the city, taking with us a few goats andhalf-starved sheep which we had found. Belisarius went foremost withyoung Severinus, Johannes, and myself. Suddenly, as we issued from thevillage _ad aras Bacchi_, there came galloping out of the trees oneither side the Valerian Way a number of Gothic horsemen. I saw at oncethat they far outnumbered us, and advised that we should try to
rushbetween them straight on the road to Rome. But Belisarius thought thatthough they were many, they were not too many, so he turned to the leftto meet and break through one of their lines. But we were ill received.The Goths fought and rode better than our Mauretanian horsemen, andtheir leaders, Totila and Hildebad--I recognised the first by hisflowing yellow locks, and the last by his enormous height--madestraight at Belisarius. 'Where is Belisarius and his courage?' shoutedtall Hildebad, audible through all the clash of arms. 'Here!' at oncereplied Belisarius, and before we could prevent him, he faced thegiant. The latter lost no time, but struck the general's helmet sofuriously with his heavy battle-axe, that the golden crest, with itsplume of white horse-hair, fell to the earth, and the head ofBelisarius was bowed to the saddle-bow. The giant immediately aimed asecond and fatal blow, but young Severinus came up and received thestroke upon his round shield. The barbarian's axe pierced the shield,and entered deeply into the noble youth's neck. He fell----"

  Procopius paused, lost in painful thought.

  "Dead?" asked Cethegus quietly.

  "An old freedman of his father, who accompanied him, bore him out ofthe fight, but I hear that he died before they could reach thevillage."

  "A noble death!" said Cethegus. "Syphax, a cup of wine."

  "Meanwhile," continued Procopius, "Belisarius had recovered himself,and now, thoroughly enraged, struck his spear full at Hildebad'sbreast-plate, hurling him from his horse. We shouted with joy, butyoung Totila----"

  "Well?"

  "Had scarcely seen his brother fall, than he broke furiously throughthe lances of the body-guard, and attacked Belisarius. Aigan, thestandard-bearer, would have protected Belisarius, but the Goth's swordpierced his left arm. Totila caught the banner from his powerless hand,and threw it to the nearest Goth. Belisarius uttered a cry of rage andturned to meet his enemy; but young Totila is quick as lightning, andbefore Belisarius knew what he was about, two swift strokes fell on thelatter's shoulders. He wavered in his saddle, and then sank slowly fromhis horse, which fell dead the next moment, pierced by a spear. 'Yield,Belisarius!' cried Totila. The general had just strength enough toshake his head, and then sank insensible. I had quickly dismounted, andnow lifted him upon my own horse, and placed him under the care ofJohannes, who rallied his body-guard about him, and carried him quicklyout of the fight to the city."

  "And you?"

  "I fought on foot, and I succeeded, with the aid of our rear-guard, whonow came up--we had been obliged to sacrifice our forage--in resistingTotila. But not for long. For now the second troop of Gothic horsemenhad arrived. Like a storm of wind, up rushed the black Teja, brokethrough our right wing--which stood nearest to him--then through thefront rank, which faced Totila, and dispersed our whole array. Icounted the battle lost, caught a riderless horse, and galloped afterthe general. But Teja also had observed the direction of his flight,and galloped after us. He overtook the escort at the Fulvian Bridge.Johannes and I had placed more than half of the rest of the body-guardon the bridge, to defend the crossing, under Principius, the bravePisidian, and Tarmuth, the gigantic Isaurian. There, as I heard, allthe thirty men, and, lastly, their two faithful leaders, fell by Teja'shand alone. There fell the flower of Belisarius's body-guard; amongstthem many of my best friends: Alamundarus, the Saracen; Artasines, thePersian; Zanter, the Arminian, and many more. But their death boughtour safety. At the other side of the bridge we overtook the foot-soldierswe had left behind, who now checked the enemy's horse until, late enough,the Tiburtinian Gate was opened to the wounded general. Then, as soon aswe had sent him upon a litter to Antonina, I hastened to the Mausoleumof Hadrian--where, I had heard, the Goths had entered the city--and foundyou in danger of death."

  "And what has Belisarius now decided?"

  "His wounds are not so dangerous as yours, and yet they heal moreslowly. He has granted to the Goths the armistice which they desired,in order to bury their numerous dead."

  Cethegus started up from his cushions.

  "He should have refused it; he should have suffered no useless delay ofthe final result. I know these Gothic bulls; they have blunted theirhorns; they are tired and done for. Now is the time to strike the blowwhich I have long contemplated. Their giant bodies can ill bear theheat outside in the glowing plains; less can they support hunger; stillless thirst--for the German must be drinking if he be not snoring orfighting. It is now only necessary to intimidate yet more their prudentKing. Greet Belisarius from me, and my thanks for the sword is thisadvice: Send Johannes, with eight thousand men, through Picenum towardsRavenna; the Flaminian road is open, and will be but slightly defended,for Witichis has collected here the garrisons of all the forts, and wecan now more easily win Ravenna than the barbarians can win Rome. Andas soon as the King hears that Ravenna, his last refuge, is in danger,he will hurry thither to save it at any cost; he will take away hisarmy from these impregnable walls, and will become the persecutedinstead of the persecutor."

  "Cethegus," said Procopius, springing up, "you are a great general!"

  "Only by the way, Procopius! Now go, and take my homage to the greatvictor, Belisarius."