A Struggle for Rome, v. 3

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER V.

  Narses now marched to Anagnia. Two days after his arrival, his twowings reached that place according to order. After some days occupiedin resting, mustering, and newly ordering his immense forces, thecommander-in-chief marched to Terracina, where the remainder of thetroops of Armatus and Dorotheos joined him. And now the united armyrolled forward against the Goths, who had taken up a most excellent andsecure position on Vesuvius, on the opposite mountain. Mons Lactarius,and on both shores of the little river Draco, which flowed into the seanorth of Stabiae.

  Since he had left Cumae, marched past Neapolis (the citizens of whichplace shut their strong gates, which had been restored by Totila,overpowered the garrison and declared that, following the example ofRome, they would at present hold their fortress against both parties),and reached his chosen battle-field, King Teja had done all that waspossible to make his naturally strong position still stronger.

  He had caused provisions to be carried from the fertile country aroundup to the mountains, in sufficient quantities to nourish his peopleuntil the light of the last day should dawn upon his nation.

  It has ever been a vain task for learned investigation to attempt tofind on Mons Lactarius or Vesuvius the exact spots which correspond tothe description of Procopius. It is impossible to fix upon any one ofthe innumerable ravines and valleys. And yet the description of theByzantine historian, grounded as it was upon the verbal reports of theleaders 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, gradualand slighter alterations made in the face of the country by streams oflava, landslips, the crumbling of the rocks, and floods which havetaken place upon that never quiet mountain, during the course of morethan thirteen centuries. Even credible accounts of much later Italianauthors, concerning places and positions on Mount Vesuvius, cannotalways 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 hisbarbarian adversary had chosen his last place of defence.

  "He intends to die like the bear in his den," he exclaimed as heobserved the whole of the Gothic defences from his litter at Nuceria."And many of you, my dear wolves," he added, turning with a smile toAlboin, "will fall under the blows of this bear's paws when you try totrot through those narrow entrances."

  "Oho! It is only necessary to let so many run in at once that the beargets both paws full and is not able to strike again."

  "Softly, softly! I know of a pass on Vesuvius--long ago, when I stillnursed my miserable body hoping to restore its strength, I spent weekstogether upon Mons Lactarius, in order to enjoy the pure air, and atthat time I firmly impressed upon my memory the pass I speak of; fromthat 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 sacrificea myriad of imperial troops in order to stamp out these last sparks."

  And so it happened. Very gradually, gaining each forward step only at agreat and bloody loss, did Narses draw his net tighter and more tightlytogether. He surrounded in a semicircle every point of the Gothicposition, 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 aspace undefended, for the enemy had no ships whereon to fly orwherewith to procure provisions.

  The "Tyrrhenian" fleet of Narses was already occupied in carrying thecaptive Goths to Byzantium; the "Ionian" was shortly expected; a fewvessels had been sent to cruise in the Bay of Bajae and oppositeSurrentum. Thus Narses, notwithstanding his great superiority, onlygradually occupied, with obstinate patience and forgetting nothing,Piscinula, Cimiterium, Nola, Summa, Melane, Nuceria, Stabiae, Cumae,Bajae, Misenum, Puteoli, and Nesis. And presently Neapolis also becamealarmed at the power of Narses, and voluntarily opened to him itsgates.

  From all sides the Byzantines advanced concentrically towards theGothic position. After many furious battles the Byzantines succeeded indriving the Goths away from Mons Lactarius and over the river Draco;where the rest of the nation encamped upon a level plain above the passso highly praised by Narses, in the immediate vicinity of one of thenumerous craters which, at that time, surrounded the foot of theprincipal 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, theunarmed people encamped under the open sky, or under the tents andwagons which they had brought with them, in the warm August air.

  "The only access to this encampment," writes Procopius, "could beobtained by a narrow pass, the southern opening of which was so smallthat a man holding a shield could completely block it up."

  This opening was guarded day and night, each man occupying it for anhour, by King Teja himself, Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth, Earl Grippa,Earl Wisand, Aligern, Ragnaris, and Wachis. Behind them the pass wasfilled by a hundred warriors, who relieved each other at intervals.

  And so, in accordance with the system pursued by Narses, the wholeterrible war, the struggle for Rome and Italy, had been dramaticallyreduced to a point; to a battle for a ravine of a foot or two wide onthe southern point of the so dearly-loved, so obstinately-defendedpeninsula. Even in the historical representation of Procopius, the fateof 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 rightJohannes; 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--hadgiven either a proof of great imprudence or of complete inoffensivenessof intention, "for," said Cethegus, "with this position he has leftopen the way to Rome, which he could easily have prevented, by givingme the command of the right wing or of the centre. Hold yourselves inreadiness to start secretly and at night with all the Isaurians, assoon as a sign is made by Rome."

  "And you?" asked Licinius anxiously.

  "I remain here with the dreaded commander. If he had wished to murderme--he could have done so long ago. But it is evident that he has nosuch intention. He will not act against me without just cause. And if Iobey the call of the Romans, I do not break, I fulfil, our agreement."