A Struggle for Rome, v. 3

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER III.

  Narses, that great general, had acutely guessed in what direction KingTeja had turned aside from the Flaminian Way. He had first gone northtowards the coast of the Ionian Gulf, and thence, with singularknowledge of the roads, had led his fugitive people and army by acircuitous route past Hadria, Aternum, and Ortona, to Samnium. ThatRome was lost, he had learned beyond Nuceria Camellaria from some Gothswho had fled from that city.

  The King, whose impatient and unsparing disposition ever looked forwardto the end, not unwillingly found himself obliged to get rid of hisprisoners.

  In number about as strong as their conquerors, the captives had madethe office of guarding them so difficult, that Teja threatened topunish with death any attempt at escape.

  Notwithstanding, when the army marched northwards, a number of theseprisoners made an attempt to free themselves by force. Very many werekilled in the struggle that ensued, and the King ordered that all therest, together with Orestes and the whole of the officers, should bethrown into the Aternus with their hands bound; where they diedmiserably by drowning.

  When Adalgoth begged Teja to revoke his cruel sentence, the latterreplied:

  "Did they not fall upon our defenceless women and children in theirpeaceful homes, and slay them? This is no longer a war betweenwarriors; it is nation murdering nation. Let us do our part."

  From Samnium the King, leaving his unarmed people to follow slowlyunder scanty escort--for they were threatened by no pursuit--hurriedforward with his best troops to Campania. His arrival in those partswas so unexpected, that he not only surprised Duke Guntharis and EarlGrippa, whose small army had melted still more in consequence offrequent battles with superior forces, but, shortly after, the enemyalso, who now had thought themselves sure of victory.

  He had found Duke Guntharis and Earl Grippa occupying a secure positionbetween Neapolis and Beneventum. He learned that the Romani werethreatening Cumae from Capua.

  "They shall not reach that city before me," he cried; "I have tocomplete there an important work."

  And, his army being now reinforced by the garrison of his own countytown of Tarentum, under the command of brave Ragnaris, he surprised thesuperior force of the Byzantines, which was about to march upon Cumae,and defeated them with great loss. He himself slew the Archon Armatuswith his battle-axe, and at his side young Adalgoth ran Dorotheosthrough with his spear. The Byzantines were routed, and fled northwardsto Terracina.

  It was the last ray of sunshine cast by the God of Victory upon theblue banner of the Goths.

  The next day King Teja entered Cumae. Totila, upon his last fatal marchfrom Rome, had decided, at the instance of Teja, and contrary to hiscustom, to take with him hostages from that city. No one knew what hadbecome of them.

  On the evening of his entry into Cumae, King Teja ordered the walled-upgarden of the Castle of Cumae to be broken open. There were hidden thehostages from Rome: patricians and senators--among them Maximus,Cyprianus, Opilio, Rusticus, and Fidelius, the most distinguished menof the Senate--in all they numbered three hundred. All were members ofthe old league against the Goths.

  Teja ordered the Goths who had lately escaped from Rome to tell thesehostages how the Romans, persuaded by envoys sent by Narses, had onenight risen in revolt, had murdered all the Goths upon whom they couldlay hands, even the women and children, and had driven the rest intothe _Moles Hadriani_.

  The King fastened such a terrible look upon the trembling hostages, asthey listened to this news, that two of them could not endure to waittill the end, but then and there killed themselves by dashing theirheads against the stony walls which surrounded them.

  When the Goths from Rome had sworn to the truth of their story, theKing silently turned away and left the garden. An hour after, the headsof the three hundred hostages stared ghastly down from the summit ofthe 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 andjoyless midnight banquet. When the sad feast was over, the King made asign to old Hildebrand, who nodded, and took a dimly burning torch fromthe iron ring into which it was stuck on the centre column of thevaulted hall, saying:

  "Follow me, children of these latter days, and take your shields withyou."

  It was the third hour of the July night; the stars glittered in thesky. Out of the hall, silently following the King and the agedmaster-at-arms, there stepped Guntharis and Adalgoth, Aligern, Grippa,Ragnaris, and Wisand the standard-bearer. Wachis, the King'sshield-bearer, closed the procession, carrying a second torch.

  Opposite the castle garden rose an ancient round tower, named the Towerof Theodoric, because that great King had restored it. Old Hildebrandwas the first to enter this tower with his torch, but instead ofleaving the ground-floor, which contained only the empty tower-room,the old man halted, knelt down, and carefully measured fifteen spans ofhis large hand from the door, which he had closed behind them, to thecentre of the room. The whole floor seemed to be composed of threecolossal slabs of granite. When Hildebrand had measured the fifteenspans, he held his thumb upon the spot at which he had arrived, andstruck his battle-axe against the floor; it sounded hollow. Boring thepoint of his axe into a scarcely-visible crack in the stone, he signedto his companions to stand aside on his left; when they had done so, hepushed a portion of the slab to the right. A chasm, as deep as thetower was high above them, revealed itself to the astonished eyes ofthose present.

  The opening was only large enough to admit one man at a time. It led toa narrow flight of more than two hundred steps, hewn in the livingrock.

  Silently, at a sign from Hildebrand, the men descended. When theyarrived at the bottom, they found that the circular space was dividedin the middle by a stone wall. The semicircle into which they hadentered was empty.

  And now King Teja measured ten spans on the wall to the centre, andpressing his hand upon a stone, a small door opened inwards. Hildebrandentered with his torch, and kindled two others which were fixed uponthe wall.

  The observers started back dazzled, and covered their eyes with theirhands. When they again looked up, they recognised--at once guessing thesecret--the whole rich treasure of Dietrich of Berne.

  There lay, partly heaped up symmetrically, partly thrown in disorderone upon another, weapons, vessels, and ornaments of all kinds. StrongEtruscan steel-caps of ancient times, brought by the commerce of theGoths as far as the Baltic, or to the Pruth and Dniester, and nowbrought back to the south by the migration of the nations, probablynear to the very spot where they had been fashioned. Near these layflat wooden head-pieces, over which was stretched the skin of the seal,or the jaws of the ice-bear; pointed Celtic helmets; high-crested helmsfrom Rome or Byzantium; neck-rings of bronze and iron, of silver andgold. Shields--from the clumsy wooden shield, as tall as a man, whichwas set up like a wall to hide the archer, to the small round andornamented horseman's shield of the Parthians, studded with pearls andprecious stones. Ancient ring-mail of crushing weight, and light-paddedclothing of purple-coloured linen, besides scimitars, swords anddaggers, of stone, bronze, and steel. Axes and clubs of all kinds--fromthose rudely made from the bones of the mammoth and tied to the antlerof a stag with bast, to the Frankish _franciska_, and the smallperforated and gilded axe with which the Roman circus-riders used tosplit an apple while at full gallop. Spears, lances, and darts of allsorts--from the roughly carved tusk of the narwal, to the ebony shaft,inlaid with gold, of the Asdingian Vandal Kings in Carthage, and themassive 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 theNumidian lion, and the costliest purple of Sidon. Shoes--fromthe long shovel-shaped snowshoes of the Skrito Fins, to the goldensandals of Byzantium. Doublets of Frisian wool, and tunics of Chinesesilk. Innumerable vessels and table utensils
--tall vases, flat salvers,cups, and round-bellied urns, of amber, of gold, of silver, oftortoise-shell. Arm-rings and shoulder-clasps, necklaces of pearls andof 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 bloodbrethren--the master-at-arms caused it to be hewn in the rock when hewas Earl of Cumae, forty years ago--was the vault in which was hiddenthe treasure of the Goths. This is the reason why Belisarius found solittle, when he ransacked the treasure-house at Ravenna. The mostcostly pieces of booty, the gifts, the collection of Amelung trophiesin war and peace, which existed long before Theodoric, in the time ofWinithar, Ermanarich, Athal, Ostrogotho, Isarna, Amala, and Gaut--allthese have we concealed here. We left nothing in Ravenna but the mintedgold, and such things as seemed richer in intrinsic value than inhonour. For months our enemies have walked above these treasures; butthe faithful abyss kept the secret. But now we will carry all away withus. Take the treasures on your shields, and hand them from one toanother up the steps. We will take it to the last battle-field uponwhich an Ostrogothic army will ever fight. No, do not be anxious, youngAdalgoth; even when I have fallen, and all is lost, the enemy shall notbear away the sacred treasure to Byzantium. For wonderful is the lastbattle-field which I have chosen; it shall conceal and swallow up thelast of the Goths, their treasure and their fame!"

  "Yes, and their greatest treasure and noblest renown," said oldHildebrand; "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 thetreasure-cave, and pushed the curtain to one side. As he did so, allpresent fell upon their knees. For they recognised the great dead, whosat, erect and clothed in purple, upon a golden throne, the spear stillgrasped in his right hand.

  It was the great Theodoric.

  The art which had been introduced to the Romans by the Egyptians--theart of embalming the dead--had preserved the body of the hero-King withterrible perfection.

  All present were struck dumb with emotion.

  "Many years ago," at last Hildebrand began, "Teja and I mistrusted thegood fortune of the Goths. And I, who, before the breaking out of thewar, had the command of the guard-of-honour at the Mausoleum ofRavenna, in which Amalaswintha had interred her dead father--I likedthe building but little, and still less the incense-scented priests whoso often prayed there for the soul of my good and great King--I thoughtthat if ever all trace of my nation were rooted out of this southernland, no Italian or Greekling should mock at the remains of our belovedhero. No! even as the first great conqueror of the Roman fortress,Alaric the Visigoth, found his unknown and never to be dishonoured tombin the sacred bed of the stream, so also should my great King bedelivered from the curiosity of posterity. And, with Teja's help, Itook the noble corpse away by night, from its marble house, and fromthe vicinity of the whining priests, and we brought it hither, as partof the royal treasure. Here it was safe. And if, after the lapse ofcenturies, some accident should betray its resting-place, who couldthen recognise the King with the eagle-eye? And so the sarcophagus atRavenna is empty, and the monks sing and pray in vain. Here, near histreasures and his trophies, in hero splendour, erect upon his throne,he rests; it is more pleasing to his soul, which looks down fromWalhalla, than to see his mortal remains stretched out, weighed down byheavy stones, and surrounded with clouds of incense."

  "But now," concluded Teja, "the hour has come for him once more to risefrom the abyss. When you have raised the treasure, we will carefullylift up this beloved form. Early to-morrow we will march out of thiscity. The approach of Narses and the Prefect has already beenannounced. We will go, with royal corpse and royal treasure, to thelast battle-field of the Goths, whither I have already sent the womenand children. The battle-field--long ago I saw it in the visions of mysleepless nights--the battle-field whereon we and our nation willgloriously perish; the battlefield which, even when the last spear isbroken, can save and hide all who do not fear to die in its glowingbosom; the battle-field which Teja has chosen for you and for himself!"

  "I guess thy meaning," whispered Adalgoth; "this last battle-fieldis----"

  "Mons Vesuvius!" said Teja. "To work!"