A Struggle for Rome, v. 3

by Felix Dahn

  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 didhe send two small detachments, under his generals, Vitalianus andWilmuth, to take such forts as still resisted, and, after them, Lucca,in Annonarian Tuscany. Valerianus, who had meanwhile conquered PetraPertusa, which place blocked the Flaminian Way beyond Helvillum, wassent still farther north against Verona, the obstinate defence of whichhad enabled many Goths to escape up the valley of the Athesis to thePassara.

  With these exceptions, Narses hurried south with the whole of his army.He himself passed Rome on the Flaminian Way; while Johannes, on thecoast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Herulian Vulkaris on that of theIonian Gulf, were to drive the Goths before them.

  But Johannes and Vulkaris found but little work to do; for in the norththe Gothic families had already been received, in passing, into themass 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 Rometo 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 withthe main body.

  Cethegus gladly accepted the commander's invitation to remain with himin 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. Hequietly marched his army past Rome. And he called upon Cethegus to bewitness to his interview with Pope Pelagius and the other governingbodies of Rome, which interview took place below the walls at the PortaBelisaria (Pinceana), between the Flaminian and Salarian Gates.

  Once more the Pope and the Romans assured Narses--swearing by the holyremains of Cosma and Damian (according to legend, Arabian physicianswho were martyred under Diocletian), which were brought in silver andivory caskets to the walls--that they would unhesitatingly, after theannihilation of the Goths in the Moles Hadriani, open their gates tothe Prefect of Rome, but firmly resist any attempt on the part of theByzantines to enter the city by force; for they would not exposethemselves to any possible struggle which might yet take place.

  The offer of Narses to leave them at once a few thousand armed men, inorder 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 saidto Lucius Licinius, as they rode away at the termination of theinterview--"to keep the Romani at a distance, and to connect Cetheguswith the well-being of Rome. That is already a great deal."

  "I regret, my general," said Lucius Licinius, "that I cannot share yourjoy and confidence."

  "I neither," cried Salvius Julianus. "I fear Narses; I mistrust him."

  "Oho! what wise men!" laughed Piso. "One should exaggerate nothing; noteven prudence. Has not everything turned out better than we dared tohope since the night when a shepherd-boy struck the greatest Roman poetupon his immortal verse-writing hand, and the great Prefect of Romeswam down the Tiber in a granary?--since Massurius Sabinus wasrecognised by Earl Markja, dressed in the garments of his Hetares, inwhich disguise he was about to make his escape?--and since the greatjurist, Salvius Julianus, was rudely fished up, bleeding, from theslime of the river by Duke Guntharis? Who would have thought then thatwe should ever be able to count upon our fingers the day when not asingle Goth would be left to tread Italian soil?"

  "You are right, poet," said Cethegus with a smile; "these two friendsof ours suffer from '_Narses_-fever,' as their hero suffers fromepilepsy. To over-rate one's enemy is also a failing. The holy remainsupon which those priests have sworn, are really sacred to them; theywill not break such an oath."

  "If I had only seen, besides the priests and artisans," repliedLicinius, "any of our friends upon the walls! But there were none butfullers, 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? Ifnow the 'Black Earl' cuts off their heads, it cannot be helped. Becomforted; you see things in too dark a light, all of you. The crushingsuperiority of Narses has made you timid. He is a great general; butthe 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 thathe is harmless as a statesman. Let us but once again breathe the air ofthe Capitol! It does not agree with epileptic subjects."

  And when, the next morning, the young tribunes went to fetch thePrefect from his tent to join the united march against Teja, theirleader received them with sparkling eyes.

  "Well," he cried, "who knows the Romans best, you or the Prefect ofRome? Listen--but be silent. Last night a centurion, one of thenewly-formed city cohorts, named Publius Macer, stole out of Romeand into my tent. The Pope has entrusted to his care the Porta Latina,to that of his brother Marcus, the Capitol. He showed me bothcommissions--I know the handwriting of Pelagius--they are authentic.The Romans are long since tired of the rule of the priesthood. Theywould rejoice once more to see me, and you, and my Isaurians patrollingthe walls. Publius left me his nephew Aulus, at once as a hostage and apledge, who will let us know the night--which will be announced to himin the harmless words of a letter agreed upon beforehand--on which theRomans will open to us their gates and the Capitol. Narses cannotcomplain if the Romans voluntarily admit us--I shall use no force. Now,Licinius! Tell me, Julianus, who best knows Rome and the Romans?"