Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Character Of Balisarius.—Part III

Although Theodatus descended from a race of heroes, he was
ignorant of the art, and averse to the dangers, of war. Although
he had studied the writings of Plato and Tully, philosophy was
incapable of purifying his mind from the basest passions, avarice
and fear. He had purchased a sceptre by ingratitude and murder:
at the first menace of an enemy, he degraded his own majesty and
that of a nation, which already disdained their unworthy
sovereign. Astonished by the recent example of Gelimer, he saw
himself dragged in chains through the streets of Constantinople:
the terrors which Belisarius inspired were heightened by the
eloquence of Peter, the Byzantine ambassador; and that bold and
subtle advocate persuaded him to sign a treaty, too ignominious
to become the foundation of a lasting peace. It was stipulated,
that in the acclamations of the Roman people, the name of the
emperor should be always proclaimed before that of the Gothic
king; and that as often as the statue of Theodatus was erected in
brass on marble, the divine image of Justinian should be placed
on its right hand. Instead of conferring, the king of Italy was
reduced to solicit, the honors of the senate; and the consent of
the emperor was made indispensable before he could execute,
against a priest or senator, the sentence either of death or
confiscation. The feeble monarch resigned the possession of
Sicily; offered, as the annual mark of his dependence, a crown of
gold of the weight of three hundred pounds; and promised to
supply, at the requisition of his sovereign, three thousand
Gothic auxiliaries, for the service of the empire. Satisfied with
these extraordinary concessions, the successful agent of
Justinian hastened his journey to Constantinople; but no sooner
had he reached the Alban villa, 60 than he was recalled by the
anxiety of Theodatus; and the dialogue which passed between the
king and the ambassador deserves to be represented in its
original simplicity. “Are you of opinion that the emperor will
ratify this treaty? Perhaps. If he refuses, what consequence will
ensue? War. Will such a war, be just or reasonable? Most
assuredly: every to his character. What is your meaning? You are
a philosopher—Justinian is emperor of the Romans: it would all
become the disciple of Plato to shed the blood of thousands in
his private quarrel: the successor of Augustus should vindicate
his rights, and recover by arms the ancient provinces of his
empire.” This reasoning might not convince, but it was sufficient
to alarm and subdue the weakness of Theodatus; and he soon
descended to his last offer, that for the poor equivalent of a
pension of forty-eight thousand pounds sterling, he would resign
the kingdom of the Goths and Italians, and spend the remainder of
his days in the innocent pleasures of philosophy and agriculture.

Both treaties were intrusted to the hands of the ambassador, on
the frail security of an oath not to produce the second till the
first had been positively rejected. The event may be easily
foreseen: Justinian required and accepted the abdication of the
Gothic king. His indefatigable agent returned from Constantinople
to Ravenna, with ample instructions; and a fair epistle, which
praised the wisdom and generosity of the royal philosopher,
granted his pension, with the assurance of such honors as a
subject and a Catholic might enjoy; and wisely referred the final
execution of the treaty to the presence and authority of
Belisarius. But in the interval of suspense, two Roman generals,
who had entered the province of Dalmatia, were defeated and slain
by the Gothic troops. From blind and abject despair, Theodatus
capriciously rose to groundless and fatal presumption, 61 and
dared to receive, with menace and contempt, the ambassador of
Justinian; who claimed his promise, solicited the allegiance of
his subjects, and boldly asserted the inviolable privilege of his
own character. The march of Belisarius dispelled this visionary
pride; and as the first campaign 62 was employed in the reduction
of Sicily, the invasion of Italy is applied by Procopius to the
second year of the Gothic war. 63

60 (return) [ The ancient Alba was ruined in the first age of
Rome. On the same spot, or at least in the neighborhood,
successively arose. 1. The villa of Pompey, &c.; 2. A camp of the
Praetorian cohorts; 3. The modern episcopal city of Albanum or
Albano. (Procop. Goth. l. ii. c. 4 Oluver. Ital. Antiq tom. ii.
p. 914.)]

61 (return) [ A Sibylline oracle was ready to pronounce—Africa
capta munitus cum nato peribit; a sentence of portentous
ambiguity, (Gothic. l. i. c. 7,) which has been published in
unknown characters by Opsopaeus, an editor of the oracles. The
Pere Maltret has promised a commentary; but all his promises have
been vain and fruitless.]

62 (return) [ In his chronology, imitated, in some degree, from
Thucydides, Procopius begins each spring the years of Justinian
and of the Gothic war; and his first aera coincides with the
first of April, 535, and not 536, according to the Annals of
Baronius, (Pagi, Crit. tom. ii. p. 555, who is followed by
Muratori and the editors of Sigonius.) Yet, in some passages, we
are at a loss to reconcile the dates of Procopius with himself,
and with the Chronicle of Marcellinus.]

63 (return) [ The series of the first Gothic war is represented
by Procopius (l. i. c. 5—29, l. ii. c. l—30, l. iii. c. l) till
the captivity of Vitigas. With the aid of Sigonius (Opp. tom. i.
de Imp. Occident. l. xvii. xviii.) and Muratori, (Annali d’Itaia,
tom. v.,) I have gleaned some few additional facts.]

After Belisarius had left sufficient garrisons in Palermo and
Syracuse, he embarked his troops at Messina, and landed them,
without resistance, on the opposite shores of Rhegium. A Gothic
prince, who had married the daughter of Theodatus, was stationed
with an army to guard the entrance of Italy; but he imitated,
without scruple, the example of a sovereign faithless to his
public and private duties. The perfidious Ebermor deserted with
his followers to the Roman camp, and was dismissed to enjoy the
servile honors of the Byzantine court. 64 From Rhegium to Naples,
the fleet and army of Belisarius, almost always in view of each
other, advanced near three hundred miles along the sea-coast. The
people of Bruttium, Lucania, and Campania, who abhorred the name
and religion of the Goths, embraced the specious excuse, that
their ruined walls were incapable of defence: the soldiers paid a
just equivalent for a plentiful market; and curiosity alone
interrupted the peaceful occupations of the husbandman or
artificer. Naples, which has swelled to a great and populous
capital, long cherished the language and manners of a Grecian
colony; 65 and the choice of Virgil had ennobled this elegant
retreat, which attracted the lovers of repose and study, from the
noise, the smoke, and the laborious opulence of Rome.66 As soon
as the place was invested by sea and land, Belisarius gave
audience to the deputies of the people, who exhorted him to
disregard a conquest unworthy of his arms, to seek the Gothic
king in a field of battle, and, after his victory, to claim, as
the sovereign of Rome, the allegiance of the dependent cities.
“When I treat with my enemies,” replied the Roman chief, with a
haughty smile, “I am more accustomed to give than to receive
counsel; but I hold in one hand inevitable ruin, and in the other
peace and freedom, such as Sicily now enjoys.” The impatience of
delay urged him to grant the most liberal terms; his honor
secured their performance: but Naples was divided into two
factions; and the Greek democracy was inflamed by their orators,
who, with much spirit and some truth, represented to the
multitude that the Goths would punish their defection, and that
Belisarius himself must esteem their loyalty and valor. Their
deliberations, however, were not perfectly free: the city was
commanded by eight hundred Barbarians, whose wives and children
were detained at Ravenna as the pledge of their fidelity; and
even the Jews, who were rich and numerous, resisted, with
desperate enthusiasm, the intolerant laws of Justinian. In a much
later period, the circumference of Naples 67 measured only two
thousand three hundred and sixty three paces: 68 the
fortifications were defended by precipices or the sea; when the
aqueducts were intercepted, a supply of water might be drawn from
wells and fountains; and the stock of provisions was sufficient
to consume the patience of the besiegers. At the end of twenty
days, that of Belisarius was almost exhausted, and he had
reconciled himself to the disgrace of abandoning the siege, that
he might march, before the winter season, against Rome and the
Gothic king. But his anxiety was relieved by the bold curiosity
of an Isaurian, who explored the dry channel of an aqueduct, and
secretly reported, that a passage might be perforated to
introduce a file of armed soldiers into the heart of the city.
When the work had been silently executed, the humane general
risked the discovery of his secret by a last and fruitless
admonition of the impending danger. In the darkness of the night,
four hundred Romans entered the aqueduct, raised themselves by a
rope, which they fastened to an olive-tree, into the house or
garden of a solitary matron, sounded their trumpets, surprised
the sentinels, and gave admittance to their companions, who on
all sides scaled the walls, and burst open the gates of the city.
Every crime which is punished by social justice was practised as
the rights of war; the Huns were distinguished by cruelty and
sacrilege, and Belisarius alone appeared in the streets and
churches of Naples to moderate the calamities which he predicted.
“The gold and silver,” he repeatedly exclaimed, “are the just
rewards of your valor. But spare the inhabitants; they are
Christians, they are suppliants, they are now your
fellow-subjects. Restore the children to their parents, the wives
to their husbands; and show them by your generosity of what
friends they have obstinately deprived themselves.” The city was
saved by the virtue and authority of its conqueror; 69 and when
the Neapolitans returned to their houses, they found some
consolation in the secret enjoyment of their hidden treasures.
The Barbarian garrison enlisted in the service of the emperor;
Apulia and Calabria, delivered from the odious presence of the
Goths, acknowledged his dominion; and the tusks of the Calydonian
boar, which were still shown at Beneventum, are curiously
described by the historian of Belisarius. 70

64 (return) [ Jornandes, de Rebus Geticis, c. 60, p. 702, edit.
Grot., and tom. i. p. 221. Muratori, de Success, Regn. p. 241.]

65 (return) [ Nero (says Tacitus, Annal. xv. 35) Neapolim quasi
Graecam urbem delegit. One hundred and fifty years afterwards, in
the time of Septimius Severus, the Hellenism of the Neapolitans
is praised by Philostratus. (Icon. l. i. p. 763, edit. Olear.)]

66 (return) [ The otium of Naples is praised by the Roman poets,
by Virgil, Horace, Silius Italicus, and Statius, (Cluver. Ital.
Ant. l. iv. p. 1149, 1150.) In an elegant epistles, (Sylv. l.
iii. 5, p. 94—98, edit. Markland,) Statius undertakes the
difficult task of drawing his wife from the pleasures of Rome to
that calm retreat.]

67 (return) [ This measure was taken by Roger l., after the
conquest of Naples, (A.D. 1139,) which he made the capital of his
new kingdom, (Giannone, Istoria Civile, tom. ii. p. 169.) That
city, the third in Christian Europe, is now at least twelve miles
in circumference, (Jul. Caesar. Capaccii Hist. Neapol. l. i. p.
47,) and contains more inhabitants (350,000) in a given space,
than any other spot in the known world.]

68 (return) [ Not geometrical, but common, paces or steps, of 22
French inches, (D’ Anville, Mesures Itineraires, p. 7, 8.) The
2363 do not take an English mile.]

69 (return) [ Belisarius was reproved by Pope Silverius for the
massacre. He repeopled Naples, and imported colonies of African
captives into Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia, (Hist. Miscell. l.
xvi. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 106, 107.)]

70 (return) [ Beneventum was built by Diomede, the nephew of
Meleager (Cluver. tom. ii. p. 1195, 1196.) The Calydonian hunt is
a picture of savage life, (Ovid, Metamorph. l. viii.) Thirty or
forty heroes were leagued against a hog: the brutes (not the hog)
quarrelled with lady for the head.]

The faithful soldiers and citizens of Naples had expected their
deliverance from a prince, who remained the inactive and almost
indifferent spectator of their ruin. Theodatus secured his person
within the walls of Rome, whilst his cavalry advanced forty miles
on the Appian way, and encamped in the Pomptine marshes; which,
by a canal of nineteen miles in length, had been recently drained
and converted into excellent pastures. 71 But the principal
forces of the Goths were dispersed in Dalmatia, Venetia, and
Gaul; and the feeble mind of their king was confounded by the
unsuccessful event of a divination, which seemed to presage the
downfall of his empire. 72 The most abject slaves have arraigned
the guilt or weakness of an unfortunate master. The character of
Theodatus was rigorously scrutinized by a free and idle camp of
Barbarians, conscious of their privilege and power: he was
declared unworthy of his race, his nation, and his throne; and
their general Vitiges, whose valor had been signalized in the
Illyrian war, was raised with unanimous applause on the bucklers
of his companions. On the first rumor, the abdicated monarch fled
from the justice of his country; but he was pursued by private
revenge. A Goth, whom he had injured in his love, overtook
Theodatus on the Flaminian way, and, regardless of his unmanly
cries, slaughtered him, as he lay, prostrate on the ground, like
a victim (says the historian) at the foot of the altar. The
choice of the people is the best and purest title to reign over
them; yet such is the prejudice of every age, that Vitiges
impatiently wished to return to Ravenna, where he might seize,
with the reluctant hand of the daughter of Amalasontha, some
faint shadow of hereditary right. A national council was
immediately held, and the new monarch reconciled the impatient
spirit of the Barbarians to a measure of disgrace, which the
misconduct of his predecessor rendered wise and indispensable.
The Goths consented to retreat in the presence of a victorious
enemy; to delay till the next spring the operations of offensive
war; to summon their scattered forces; to relinquish their
distant possessions, and to trust even Rome itself to the faith
of its inhabitants. Leuderis, an ancient warrior, was left in the
capital with four thousand soldiers; a feeble garrison, which
might have seconded the zeal, though it was incapable of opposing
the wishes, of the Romans. But a momentary enthusiasm of religion
and patriotism was kindled in their minds. They furiously
exclaimed, that the apostolic throne should no longer be profaned
by the triumph or toleration of Arianism; that the tombs of the
Caesars should no longer be trampled by the savages of the North;
and, without reflecting, that Italy must sink into a province of
Constantinople, they fondly hailed the restoration of a Roman
emperor as a new aera of freedom and prosperity. The deputies of
the pope and clergy, of the senate and people, invited the
lieutenant of Justinian to accept their voluntary allegiance, and
to enter the city, whose gates would be thrown open for his
reception. As soon as Belisarius had fortified his new conquests,
Naples and Cumae, he advanced about twenty miles to the banks of
the Vulturnus, contemplated the decayed grandeur of Capua, and
halted at the separation of the Latin and Appian ways. The work
of the censor, after the incessant use of nine centuries, still
preserved its primaeval beauty, and not a flaw could be
discovered in the large polished stones, of which that solid,
though narrow road, was so firmly compacted. 73 Belisarius,
however, preferred the Latin way, which, at a distance from the
sea and the marshes, skirted in a space of one hundred and twenty
miles along the foot of the mountains. His enemies had
disappeared: when he made his entrance through the Asinarian
gate, the garrison departed without molestation along the
Flaminian way; and the city, after sixty years’ servitude, was
delivered from the yoke of the Barbarians. Leuderis alone, from a
motive of pride or discontent, refused to accompany the
fugitives; and the Gothic chief, himself a trophy of the victory,
was sent with the keys of Rome to the throne of the emperor
Justinian. 74

71 (return) [ The Decennovium is strangely confounded by
Cluverius (tom. ii. p. 1007) with the River Ufens. It was in
truth a canal of nineteen miles, from Forum Appii to Terracina,
on which Horace embarked in the night. The Decennovium, which is
mentioned by Lucan, Dion Cassius, and Cassiodorus, has been
sufficiently ruined, restored, and obliterated, (D’Anville,
Anayse de l’Italie, p. 185, &c.)]

72 (return) [ A Jew, gratified his contempt and hatred for all
the Christians, by enclosing three bands, each of ten hogs, and
discriminated by the names of Goths, Greeks, and Romans. Of the
first, almost all were found dead; almost all the second were
alive: of the third, half died, and the rest lost their bristles.
No unsuitable emblem of the event]

73 (return) [ Bergier (Hist. des Grands Chemins des Romains, tom.
i. p. 221-228, 440-444) examines the structure and materials,
while D’Anville (Analyse d’Italie, p. 200—123) defines the
geographical line.]

74 (return) [ Of the first recovery of Rome, the year (536) is
certain, from the series of events, rather than from the corrupt,
or interpolated, text of Procopius. The month (December) is
ascertained by Evagrius, (l. iv. v. 19;) and the day (the tenth)
may be admitted on the slight evidence of Nicephorus Callistus,
(l. xvii. c. 13.) For this accurate chronology, we are indebted
to the diligence and judgment of Pagi, (tom, ii. p. 659, 560.)
Note: Compare Maltret’s note, in the edition of Dindorf the ninth
is the day, according to his reading,—M.]

The first days, which coincided with the old Saturnalia, were
devoted to mutual congratulation and the public joy; and the
Catholics prepared to celebrate, without a rival, the approaching
festival of the nativity of Christ. In the familiar conversation
of a hero, the Romans acquired some notion of the virtues which
history ascribed to their ancestors; they were edified by the
apparent respect of Belisarius for the successor of St. Peter,
and his rigid discipline secured in the midst of war the
blessings of tranquillity and justice. They applauded the rapid
success of his arms, which overran the adjacent country, as far
as Narni, Perusia, and Spoleto; but they trembled, the senate,
the clergy, and the unwarlike people, as soon as they understood
that he had resolved, and would speedily be reduced, to sustain a
siege against the powers of the Gothic monarchy. The designs of
Vitiges were executed, during the winter season, with diligence
and effect. From their rustic habitations, from their distant
garrisons, the Goths assembled at Ravenna for the defence of
their country; and such were their numbers, that, after an army
had been detached for the relief of Dalmatia, one hundred and
fifty thousand fighting men marched under the royal standard.
According to the degrees of rank or merit, the Gothic king
distributed arms and horses, rich gifts, and liberal promises; he
moved along the Flaminian way, declined the useless sieges of
Perusia and Spoleto, respected he impregnable rock of Narni, and
arrived within two miles of Rome at the foot of the Milvian
bridge. The narrow passage was fortified with a tower, and
Belisarius had computed the value of the twenty days which must
be lost in the construction of another bridge. But the
consternation of the soldiers of the tower, who either fled or
deserted, disappointed his hopes, and betrayed his person into
the most imminent danger. At the head of one thousand horse, the
Roman general sallied from the Flaminian gate to mark the ground
of an advantageous position, and to survey the camp of the
Barbarians; but while he still believed them on the other side of
the Tyber, he was suddenly encompassed and assaulted by their
numerous squadrons. The fate of Italy depended on his life; and
the deserters pointed to the conspicuous horse a bay, 75 with a
white face, which he rode on that memorable day. “Aim at the bay
horse,” was the universal cry. Every bow was bent, every javelin
was directed, against that fatal object, and the command was
repeated and obeyed by thousands who were ignorant of its real
motive. The bolder Barbarians advanced to the more honorable
combat of swords and spears; and the praise of an enemy has
graced the fall of Visandus, the standard-bearer, 76 who
maintained his foremost station, till he was pierced with
thirteen wounds, perhaps by the hand of Belisarius himself. The
Roman general was strong, active, and dexterous; on every side he
discharged his weighty and mortal strokes: his faithful guards
imitated his valor, and defended his person; and the Goths, after
the loss of a thousand men, fled before the arms of a hero. They
were rashly pursued to their camp; and the Romans, oppressed by
multitudes, made a gradual, and at length a precipitate retreat
to the gates of the city: the gates were shut against the
fugitives; and the public terror was increased, by the report
that Belisarius was slain. His countenance was indeed disfigured
by sweat, dust, and blood; his voice was hoarse, his strength was
almost exhausted; but his unconquerable spirit still remained; he
imparted that spirit to his desponding companions; and their last
desperate charge was felt by the flying Barbarians, as if a new
army, vigorous and entire, had been poured from the city. The
Flaminian gate was thrown open to a real triumph; but it was not
before Belisarius had visited every post, and provided for the
public safety, that he could be persuaded, by his wife and
friends, to taste the needful refreshments of food and sleep. In
the more improved state of the art of war, a general is seldom
required, or even permitted to display the personal prowess of a
soldier; and the example of Belisarius may be added to the rare
examples of Henry IV., of Pyrrhus, and of Alexander.

75 (return) [ A horse of a bay or red color was styled by the
Greeks, balan by the Barbarians, and spadix by the Romans.
Honesti spadices, says Virgil, (Georgic. l. iii. 72, with the
Observations of Martin and Heyne.) It signifies a branch of the
palm-tree, whose name is synonymous to red, (Aulus Gellius, ii.
26.)]

76 (return) [ I interpret it, not as a proper, name, but an
office, standard-bearer, from bandum, (vexillum,) a Barbaric word
adopted by the Greeks and Romans, (Paul Diacon. l. i. c. 20, p.
760. Grot. Nomina Hethica, p. 575. Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. i.
p. 539, 540.)]

After this first and unsuccessful trial of their enemies, the
whole army of the Goths passed the Tyber, and formed the siege of
the city, which continued above a year, till their final
departure. Whatever fancy may conceive, the severe compass of the
geographer defines the circumference of Rome within a line of
twelve miles and three hundred and forty-five paces; and that
circumference, except in the Vatican, has invariably been the
same from the triumph of Aurelian to the peaceful but obscure
reign of the modern popes. 77 But in the day of her greatness,
the space within her walls was crowded with habitations and
inhabitants; and the populous suburbs, that stretched along the
public roads, were darted like so many rays from one common
centre. Adversity swept away these extraneous ornaments, and left
naked and desolate a considerable part even of the seven hills.
Yet Rome in its present state could send into the field about
thirty thousand males of a military age; 78 and, notwithstanding
the want of discipline and exercise, the far greater part, inured
to the hardships of poverty, might be capable of bearing arms for
the defence of their country and religion. The prudence of
Belisarius did not neglect this important resource. His soldiers
were relieved by the zeal and diligence of the people, who
watched while they slept, and labored while they reposed: he
accepted the voluntary service of the bravest and most indigent
of the Roman youth; and the companies of townsmen sometimes
represented, in a vacant post, the presence of the troops which
had been drawn away to more essential duties. But his just
confidence was placed in the veterans who had fought under his
banner in the Persian and African wars; and although that gallant
band was reduced to five thousand men, he undertook, with such
contemptible numbers, to defend a circle of twelve miles, against
an army of one hundred and fifty thousand Barbarians. In the
walls of Rome, which Belisarius constructed or restored, the
materials of ancient architecture may be discerned; 79 and the
whole fortification was completed, except in a chasm still extant
between the Pincian and Flaminian gates, which the prejudices of
the Goths and Romans left under the effectual guard of St. Peter
the apostle. 80

77 (return) [ M. D’Anville has given, in the Memoirs of the
Academy for the year 1756, (tom. xxx. p. 198—236,) a plan of Rome
on a smaller scale, but far more accurate than that which he had
delineated in 1738 for Rollin’s history. Experience had improved
his knowledge and instead of Rossi’s topography, he used the new
and excellent map of Nolli. Pliny’s old measure of thirteen must
be reduced to eight miles. It is easier to alter a text, than to
remove hills or buildings. * Note: Compare Gibbon, ch. xi. note
43, and xxxi. 67, and ch. lxxi. “It is quite clear,” observes Sir
J. Hobhouse, “that all these measurements differ, (in the first
and second it is 21, in the text 12 and 345 paces, in the last
10,) yet it is equally clear that the historian avers that they
are all the same.” The present extent, 12 3/4 nearly agrees with
the second statement of Gibbon. Sir. J. Hobhouse also observes
that the walls were enlarged by Constantine; but there can be no
doubt that the circuit has been much changed. Illust. of Ch.
Harold, p. 180.—M.]

78 (return) [ In the year 1709, Labat (Voyages en Italie, tom.
iii. p. 218) reckoned 138,568 Christian souls, besides 8000 or
10,000 Jews—without souls? In the year 1763, the numbers exceeded
160,000.]

79 (return) [ The accurate eye of Nardini (Roma Antica, l. i. c.
viii. p. 31) could distinguish the tumultuarie opere di
Belisario.]

80 (return) [ The fissure and leaning in the upper part of the
wall, which Procopius observed, (Goth. l. i. c. 13,) is visible
to the present hour, (Douat. Roma Vetus, l. i. c. 17, p. 53,
54.)]

The battlements or bastions were shaped in sharp angles; a ditch,
broad and deep, protected the foot of the rampart; and the
archers on the rampart were assisted by military engines; the
balistri, a powerful cross-bow, which darted short but massy
arrows; the onagri, or wild asses, which, on the principle of a
sling, threw stones and bullets of an enormous size. 81 A chain
was drawn across the Tyber; the arches of the aqueducts were made
impervious, and the mole or sepulchre of Hadrian 82 was
converted, for the first time, to the uses of a citadel. That
venerable structure, which contained the ashes of the Antonines,
was a circular turret rising from a quadrangular basis; it was
covered with the white marble of Paros, and decorated by the
statues of gods and heroes; and the lover of the arts must read
with a sigh, that the works of Praxiteles or Lysippus were torn
from their lofty pedestals, and hurled into the ditch on the
heads of the besiegers. 83 To each of his lieutenants Belisarius
assigned the defence of a gate, with the wise and peremptory
instruction, that, whatever might be the alarm, they should
steadily adhere to their respective posts, and trust their
general for the safety of Rome. The formidable host of the Goths
was insufficient to embrace the ample measure of the city, of the
fourteen gates, seven only were invested from the Proenestine to
the Flaminian way; and Vitiges divided his troops into six camps,
each of which was fortified with a ditch and rampart. On the
Tuscan side of the river, a seventh encampment was formed in the
field or circus of the Vatican, for the important purpose of
commanding the Milvian bridge and the course of the Tyber; but
they approached with devotion the adjacent church of St. Peter;
and the threshold of the holy apostles was respected during the
siege by a Christian enemy. In the ages of victory, as often as
the senate decreed some distant conquest, the consul denounced
hostilities, by unbarring, in solemn pomp, the gates of the
temple of Janus. 84 Domestic war now rendered the admonition
superfluous, and the ceremony was superseded by the establishment
of a new religion. But the brazen temple of Janus was left
standing in the forum; of a size sufficient only to contain the
statue of the god, five cubits in height, of a human form, but
with two faces directed to the east and west. The double gates
were likewise of brass; and a fruitless effort to turn them on
their rusty hinges revealed the scandalous secret that some
Romans were still attached to the superstition of their
ancestors.

81 (return) [ Lipsius (Opp. tom. iii. Poliorcet, l. iii.) was
ignorant of this clear and conspicuous passage of Procopius,
(Goth. l. i. c. 21.) The engine was named the wild ass, a
calcitrando, (Hen. Steph. Thesaur. Linguae Graec. tom. ii. p.
1340, 1341, tom. iii. p. 877.) I have seen an ingenious model,
contrived and executed by General Melville, which imitates or
surpasses the art of antiquity.]

82 (return) [ The description of this mausoleum, or mole, in
Procopius, (l. i. c. 25.) is the first and best. The height above
the walls. On Nolli’s great plan, the sides measure 260 English
feet. * Note: Donatus and Nardini suppose that Hadrian’s tomb was
fortified by Honorius; it was united to the wall by men of old,
(Procop in loc.) Gibbon has mistaken the breadth for the height
above the walls Hobhouse, Illust. of Childe Harold, p. 302.—M.]

83 (return) [ Praxiteles excelled in Fauns, and that of Athens
was his own masterpiece. Rome now contains about thirty of the
same character. When the ditch of St. Angelo was cleansed under
Urban VIII., the workmen found the sleeping Faun of the Barberini
palace; but a leg, a thigh, and the right arm, had been broken
from that beautiful statue, (Winkelman, Hist. de l’Art, tom. ii.
p. 52, 53, tom iii. p. 265.)]

84 (return) [ Procopius has given the best description of the
temple of Janus a national deity of Latium, (Heyne, Excurs. v. ad
l. vii. Aeneid.) It was once a gate in the primitive city of
Romulus and Numa, (Nardini, p. 13, 256, 329.) Virgil has
described the ancient rite like a poet and an antiquarian.]

Eighteen days were employed by the besiegers, to provide all the
instruments of attack which antiquity had invented. Fascines were
prepared to fill the ditches, scaling-ladders to ascend the
walls. The largest trees of the forest supplied the timbers of
four battering-rams: their heads were armed with iron; they were
suspended by ropes, and each of them was worked by the labor of
fifty men. The lofty wooden turrets moved on wheels or rollers,
and formed a spacious platform of the level of the rampart. On
the morning of the nineteenth day, a general attack was made from
the Praenestine gate to the Vatican: seven Gothic columns, with
their military engines, advanced to the assault; and the Romans,
who lined the ramparts, listened with doubt and anxiety to the
cheerful assurances of their commander. As soon as the enemy
approached the ditch, Belisarius himself drew the first arrow;
and such was his strength and dexterity, that he transfixed the
foremost of the Barbarian leaders.

A shout of applause and victory was reechoed along the wall. He
drew a second arrow, and the stroke was followed with the same
success and the same acclamation. The Roman general then gave the
word, that the archers should aim at the teams of oxen; they were
instantly covered with mortal wounds; the towers which they drew
remained useless and immovable, and a single moment disconcerted
the laborious projects of the king of the Goths. After this
disappointment, Vitiges still continued, or feigned to continue,
the assault of the Salarian gate, that he might divert the
attention of his adversary, while his principal forces more
strenuously attacked the Praenestine gate and the sepulchre of
Hadrian, at the distance of three miles from each other. Near the
former, the double walls of the Vivarium 85 were low or broken;
the fortifications of the latter were feebly guarded: the vigor
of the Goths was excited by the hope of victory and spoil; and if
a single post had given way, the Romans, and Rome itself, were
irrecoverably lost. This perilous day was the most glorious in
the life of Belisarius. Amidst tumult and dismay, the whole plan
of the attack and defence was distinctly present to his mind; he
observed the changes of each instant, weighed every possible
advantage, transported his person to the scenes of danger, and
communicated his spirit in calm and decisive orders. The contest
was fiercely maintained from the morning to the evening; the
Goths were repulsed on all sides; and each Roman might boast that
he had vanquished thirty Barbarians, if the strange disproportion
of numbers were not counterbalanced by the merit of one man.
Thirty thousand Goths, according to the confession of their own
chiefs, perished in this bloody action; and the multitude of the
wounded was equal to that of the slain. When they advanced to the
assault, their close disorder suffered not a javelin to fall
without effect; and as they retired, the populace of the city
joined the pursuit, and slaughtered, with impunity, the backs of
their flying enemies. Belisarius instantly sallied from the
gates; and while the soldiers chanted his name and victory, the
hostile engines of war were reduced to ashes. Such was the loss
and consternation of the Goths, that, from this day, the siege of
Rome degenerated into a tedious and indolent blockade; and they
were incessantly harassed by the Roman general, who, in frequent
skirmishes, destroyed above five thousand of their bravest
troops. Their cavalry was unpractised in the use of the bow;
their archers served on foot; and this divided force was
incapable of contending with their adversaries, whose lances and
arrows, at a distance, or at hand, were alike formidable. The
consummate skill of Belisarius embraced the favorable
opportunities; and as he chose the ground and the moment, as he
pressed the charge or sounded the retreat, 86 the squadrons which
he detached were seldom unsuccessful. These partial advantages
diffused an impatient ardor among the soldiers and people, who
began to feel the hardships of a siege, and to disregard the
dangers of a general engagement. Each plebeian conceived himself
to be a hero, and the infantry, who, since the decay of
discipline, were rejected from the line of battle, aspired to the
ancient honors of the Roman legion. Belisarius praised the spirit
of his troops, condemned their presumption, yielded to their
clamors, and prepared the remedies of a defeat, the possibility
of which he alone had courage to suspect. In the quarter of the
Vatican, the Romans prevailed; and if the irreparable moments had
not been wasted in the pillage of the camp, they might have
occupied the Milvian bridge, and charged in the rear of the
Gothic host. On the other side of the Tyber, Belisarius advanced
from the Pincian and Salarian gates. But his army, four thousand
soldiers perhaps, was lost in a spacious plain; they were
encompassed and oppressed by fresh multitudes, who continually
relieved the broken ranks of the Barbarians. The valiant leaders
of the infantry were unskilled to conquer; they died: the retreat
(a hasty retreat) was covered by the prudence of the general, and
the victors started back with affright from the formidable aspect
of an armed rampart. The reputation of Belisarius was unsullied
by a defeat; and the vain confidence of the Goths was not less
serviceable to his designs than the repentance and modesty of the
Roman troops.

85 (return) [ Vivarium was an angle in the new wall enclosed for
wild beasts, (Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 23.) The spot is still
visible in Nardini (l iv. c. 2, p. 159, 160,) and Nolli’s great
plan of Rome.]

86 (return) [ For the Roman trumpet, and its various notes,
consult Lipsius de Militia Romana, (Opp. tom. iii. l. iv. Dialog.
x. p. 125-129.) A mode of distinguishing the charge by the
horse-trumpet of solid brass, and the retreat by the foot-trumpet
of leather and light wood, was recommended by Procopius, and
adopted by Belisarius.]