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

As soon as Belisarius was delivered from his foreign and domestic
enemies, he seriously applied his forces to the final reduction
of Italy. In the siege of Osimo, the general was nearly
transpierced with an arrow, if the mortal stroke had not been
intercepted by one of his guards, who lost, in that pious office,
the use of his hand. The Goths of Osimo, 1041 four thousand
warriors, with those of Faesulae and the Cottian Alps, were among
the last who maintained their independence; and their gallant
resistance, which almost tired the patience, deserved the esteem,
of the conqueror. His prudence refused to subscribe the safe
conduct which they asked, to join their brethren of Ravenna; but
they saved, by an honorable capitulation, one moiety at least of
their wealth, with the free alternative of retiring peaceably to
their estates, or enlisting to serve the emperor in his Persian
wars. The multitudes which yet adhered to the standard of Vitiges
far surpassed the number of the Roman troops; but neither prayers
nor defiance, nor the extreme danger of his most faithful
subjects, could tempt the Gothic king beyond the fortifications
of Ravenna. These fortifications were, indeed, impregnable to the
assaults of art or violence; and when Belisarius invested the
capital, he was soon convinced that famine only could tame the
stubborn spirit of the Barbarians. The sea, the land, and the
channels of the Po, were guarded by the vigilance of the Roman
general; and his morality extended the rights of war to the
practice of poisoning the waters, 105 and secretly firing the
granaries 106 of a besieged city. 107 While he pressed the
blockade of Ravenna, he was surprised by the arrival of two
ambassadors from Constantinople, with a treaty of peace, which
Justinian had imprudently signed, without deigning to consult the
author of his victory. By this disgraceful and precarious
agreement, Italy and the Gothic treasure were divided, and the
provinces beyond the Po were left with the regal title to the
successor of Theodoric. The ambassadors were eager to accomplish
their salutary commission; the captive Vitiges accepted, with
transport, the unexpected offer of a crown; honor was less
prevalent among the Goths, than the want and appetite of food;
and the Roman chiefs, who murmured at the continuance of the war,
professed implicit submission to the commands of the emperor. If
Belisarius had possessed only the courage of a soldier, the
laurel would have been snatched from his hand by timid and
envious counsels; but in this decisive moment, he resolved, with
the magnanimity of a statesman, to sustain alone the danger and
merit of generous disobedience. Each of his officers gave a
written opinion that the siege of Ravenna was impracticable and
hopeless: the general then rejected the treaty of partition, and
declared his own resolution of leading Vitiges in chains to the
feet of Justinian. The Goths retired with doubt and dismay: this
peremptory refusal deprived them of the only signature which they
could trust, and filled their minds with a just apprehension,
that a sagacious enemy had discovered the full extent of their
deplorable state. They compared the fame and fortune of
Belisarius with the weakness of their ill-fated king; and the
comparison suggested an extraordinary project, to which Vitiges,
with apparent resignation, was compelled to acquiesce. Partition
would ruin the strength, exile would disgrace the honor, of the
nation; but they offered their arms, their treasures, and the
fortifications of Ravenna, if Belisarius would disclaim the
authority of a master, accept the choice of the Goths, and
assume, as he had deserved, the kingdom of Italy. If the false
lustre of a diadem could have tempted the loyalty of a faithful
subject, his prudence must have foreseen the inconstancy of the
Barbarians, and his rational ambition would prefer the safe and
honorable station of a Roman general. Even the patience and
seeming satisfaction with which he entertained a proposal of
treason, might be susceptible of a malignant interpretation. But
the lieutenant of Justinian was conscious of his own rectitude;
he entered into a dark and crooked path, as it might lead to the
voluntary submission of the Goths; and his dexterous policy
persuaded them that he was disposed to comply with their wishes,
without engaging an oath or a promise for the performance of a
treaty which he secretly abhorred. The day of the surrender of
Ravenna was stipulated by the Gothic ambassadors: a fleet, laden
with provisions, sailed as a welcome guest into the deepest
recess of the harbor: the gates were opened to the fancied king
of Italy; and Belisarius, without meeting an enemy, triumphantly
marched through the streets of an impregnable city. 108 The
Romans were astonished by their success; the multitudes of tall
and robust Barbarians were confounded by the image of their own
patience and the masculine females, spitting in the faces of
their sons and husbands, most bitterly reproached them for
betraying their dominion and freedom to these pygmies of the
south, contemptible in their numbers, diminutive in their
stature. Before the Goths could recover from the first surprise,
and claim the accomplishment of their doubtful hopes, the victor
established his power in Ravenna, beyond the danger of repentance
and revolt.

1041 (return) [ Auximum, p. 175.—M.]

105 (return) [ In the siege of Auximum, he first labored to
demolish an old aqueduct, and then cast into the stream, 1. dead
bodies; 2. mischievous herbs; and 3. quicklime. (says Procopius,
l. ii. c. 27) Yet both words are used as synonymous in Galen,
Dioscorides, and Lucian, (Hen. Steph. Thesaur. Ling. Graec. tom.
iii. p. 748.)]

106 (return) [ The Goths suspected Mathasuintha as an accomplice
in the mischief, which perhaps was occasioned by accidental
lightning.]

107 (return) [ In strict philosophy, a limitation of the rights
of war seems to imply nonsense and contradiction. Grotius himself
is lost in an idle distinction between the jus naturae and the
jus gentium, between poison and infection. He balances in one
scale the passages of Homer (Odyss. A 259, &c.) and Florus, (l.
ii. c. 20, No. 7, ult.;) and in the other, the examples of Solon
(Pausanias, l. x. c. 37) and Belisarius. See his great work De
Jure Belli et Pacis, (l. iii. c. 4, s. 15, 16, 17, and in
Barbeyrac’s version, tom. ii. p. 257, &c.) Yet I can understand
the benefit and validity of an agreement, tacit or express,
mutually to abstain from certain modes of hostility. See the
Amphictyonic oath in Aeschines, de falsa Legatione.]

108 (return) [ Ravenna was taken, not in the year 540, but in the
latter end of 539; and Pagi (tom. ii. p. 569) is rectified by
Muratori. (Annali d’Italia, tom. v. p. 62,) who proves from an
original act on papyrus, (Antiquit. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. ii.
dissert. xxxii. p. 999—1007,) Maffei, (Istoria Diplomat. p.
155-160,) that before the third of January, 540, peace and free
correspondence were restored between Ravenna and Faenza.]
Vitiges, who perhaps had attempted to escape, was honorably
guarded in his palace; 109 the flower of the Gothic youth was
selected for the service of the emperor; the remainder of the
people was dismissed to their peaceful habitations in the
southern provinces; and a colony of Italians was invited to
replenish the depopulated city. The submission of the capital was
imitated in the towns and villages of Italy, which had not been
subdued, or even visited, by the Romans; and the independent
Goths, who remained in arms at Pavia and Verona, were ambitious
only to become the subjects of Belisarius. But his inflexible
loyalty rejected, except as the substitute of Justinian, their
oaths of allegiance; and he was not offended by the reproach of
their deputies, that he rather chose to be a slave than a king.

109 (return) [ He was seized by John the Sanguinary, but an oath
or sacrament was pledged for his safety in the Basilica Julii,
(Hist. Miscell. l. xvii. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 107.) Anastasius
(in Vit. Pont. p. 40) gives a dark but probable account.
Montfaucon is quoted by Mascou (Hist. of the Germans, xii. 21)
for a votive shield representing the captivity of Vitiges and now
in the collection of Signor Landi at Rome.]

After the second victory of Belisarius, envy again whispered,
Justinian listened, and the hero was recalled. “The remnant of
the Gothic war was no longer worthy of his presence: a gracious
sovereign was impatient to reward his services, and to consult
his wisdom; and he alone was capable of defending the East
against the innumerable armies of Persia.” Belisarius understood
the suspicion, accepted the excuse, embarked at Ravenna his
spoils and trophies; and proved, by his ready obedience, that
such an abrupt removal from the government of Italy was not less
unjust than it might have been indiscreet. The emperor received
with honorable courtesy both Vitiges and his more noble consort;
and as the king of the Goths conformed to the Athanasian faith,
he obtained, with a rich inheritance of land in Asia, the rank of
senator and patrician.110 Every spectator admired, without peril,
the strength and stature of the young Barbarians: they adored the
majesty of the throne, and promised to shed their blood in the
service of their benefactor. Justinian deposited in the Byzantine
palace the treasures of the Gothic monarchy. A flattering senate
was sometime admitted to gaze on the magnificent spectacle; but
it was enviously secluded from the public view: and the conqueror
of Italy renounced, without a murmur, perhaps without a sigh, the
well-earned honors of a second triumph. His glory was indeed
exalted above all external pomp; and the faint and hollow praises
of the court were supplied, even in a servile age, by the respect
and admiration of his country. Whenever he appeared in the
streets and public places of Constantinople, Belisarius attracted
and satisfied the eyes of the people. His lofty stature and
majestic countenance fulfilled their expectations of a hero; the
meanest of his fellow-citizens were emboldened by his gentle and
gracious demeanor; and the martial train which attended his
footsteps left his person more accessible than in a day of
battle. Seven thousand horsemen, matchless for beauty and valor,
were maintained in the service, and at the private expense, of
the general. 111 Their prowess was always conspicuous in single
combats, or in the foremost ranks; and both parties confessed
that in the siege of Rome, the guards of Belisarius had alone
vanquished the Barbarian host. Their numbers were continually
augmented by the bravest and most faithful of the enemy; and his
fortunate captives, the Vandals, the Moors, and the Goths,
emulated the attachment of his domestic followers. By the union
of liberality and justice, he acquired the love of the soldiers,
without alienating the affections of the people. The sick and
wounded were relieved with medicines and money; and still more
efficaciously, by the healing visits and smiles of their
commander. The loss of a weapon or a horse was instantly
repaired, and each deed of valor was rewarded by the rich and
honorable gifts of a bracelet or a collar, which were rendered
more precious by the judgment of Belisarius. He was endeared to
the husbandmen by the peace and plenty which they enjoyed under
the shadow of his standard. Instead of being injured, the country
was enriched by the march of the Roman armies; and such was the
rigid discipline of their camp, that not an apple was gathered
from the tree, not a path could be traced in the fields of corn.
Belisarius was chaste and sober. In the license of a military
life, none could boast that they had seen him intoxicated with
wine: the most beautiful captives of Gothic or Vandal race were
offered to his embraces; but he turned aside from their charms,
and the husband of Antonina was never suspected of violating the
laws of conjugal fidelity. The spectator and historian of his
exploits has observed, that amidst the perils of war, he was
daring without rashness, prudent without fear, slow or rapid
according to the exigencies of the moment; that in the deepest
distress he was animated by real or apparent hope, but that he
was modest and humble in the most prosperous fortune. By these
virtues, he equalled or excelled the ancient masters of the
military art. Victory, by sea and land, attended his arms. He
subdued Africa, Italy, and the adjacent islands; led away
captives the successors of Genseric and Theodoric; filled
Constantinople with the spoils of their palaces; and in the space
of six years recovered half the provinces of the Western empire.
In his fame and merit, in wealth and power, he remained without a
rival, the first of the Roman subjects; the voice of envy could
only magnify his dangerous importance; and the emperor might
applaud his own discerning spirit, which had discovered and
raised the genius of Belisarius.

110 (return) [ Vitiges lived two years at Constantinople, and
imperatoris in affectû _convictus_ (or conjunctus) rebus excessit
humanis. His widow _Mathasuenta_, the wife and mother of the
patricians, the elder and younger Germanus, united the streams of
Anician and Amali blood, (Jornandes, c. 60, p. 221, in Muratori,
tom. i.)]

111 (return) [ Procopius, Goth. l. iii. c. 1. Aimoin, a French
monk of the xith century, who had obtained, and has disfigured,
some authentic information of Belisarius, mentions, in his name,
12,000, _pueri_ or slaves—quos propriis alimus stipendiis—besides
18,000 soldiers, (Historians of France, tom. iii. De Gestis
Franc. l. ii. c. 6, p. 48.)]

It was the custom of the Roman triumphs, that a slave should be
placed behind the chariot to remind the conqueror of the
instability of fortune, and the infirmities of human nature.
Procopius, in his Anecdotes, has assumed that servile and
ungrateful office. The generous reader may cast away the libel,
but the evidence of facts will adhere to his memory; and he will
reluctantly confess, that the fame, and even the virtue, of
Belisarius, were polluted by the lust and cruelty of his wife;
and that hero deserved an appellation which may not drop from the
pen of the decent historian. The mother of Antonina 112 was a
theatrical prostitute, and both her father and grandfather
exercised, at Thessalonica and Constantinople, the vile, though
lucrative, profession of charioteers. In the various situations
of their fortune she became the companion, the enemy, the
servant, and the favorite of the empress Theodora: these loose
and ambitious females had been connected by similar pleasures;
they were separated by the jealousy of vice, and at length
reconciled by the partnership of guilt. Before her marriage with
Belisarius, Antonina had one husband and many lovers: Photius,
the son of her former nuptials, was of an age to distinguish
himself at the siege of Naples; and it was not till the autumn of
her age and beauty 113 that she indulged a scandalous attachment
to a Thracian youth. Theodosius had been educated in the Eunomian
heresy; the African voyage was consecrated by the baptism and
auspicious name of the first soldier who embarked; and the
proselyte was adopted into the family of his spiritual parents,
114 Belisarius and Antonina. Before they touched the shores of
Africa, this holy kindred degenerated into sensual love: and as
Antonina soon overleaped the bounds of modesty and caution, the
Roman general was alone ignorant of his own dishonor. During
their residence at Carthage, he surprised the two lovers in a
subterraneous chamber, solitary, warm, and almost naked. Anger
flashed from his eyes. “With the help of this young man,” said
the unblushing Antonina, “I was secreting our most precious
effects from the knowledge of Justinian.” The youth resumed his
garments, and the pious husband consented to disbelieve the
evidence of his own senses. From this pleasing and perhaps
voluntary delusion, Belisarius was awakened at Syracuse, by the
officious information of Macedonia; and that female attendant,
after requiring an oath for her security, produced two
chamberlains, who, like herself, had often beheld the adulteries
of Antonina. A hasty flight into Asia saved Theodosius from the
justice of an injured husband, who had signified to one of his
guards the order of his death; but the tears of Antonina, and her
artful seductions, assured the credulous hero of her innocence:
and he stooped, against his faith and judgment, to abandon those
imprudent friends, who had presumed to accuse or doubt the
chastity of his wife. The revenge of a guilty woman is implacable
and bloody: the unfortunate Macedonia, with the two witnesses,
were secretly arrested by the minister of her cruelty; their
tongues were cut out, their bodies were hacked into small pieces,
and their remains were cast into the Sea of Syracuse. A rash
though judicious saying of Constantine, “I would sooner have
punished the adulteress than the boy,” was deeply remembered by
Antonina; and two years afterwards, when despair had armed that
officer against his general, her sanguinary advice decided and
hastened his execution. Even the indignation of Photius was not
forgiven by his mother; the exile of her son prepared the recall
of her lover; and Theodosius condescended to accept the pressing
and humble invitation of the conqueror of Italy. In the absolute
direction of his household, and in the important commissions of
peace and war, 115 the favorite youth most rapidly acquired a
fortune of four hundred thousand pounds sterling; and after their
return to Constantinople, the passion of Antonina, at least,
continued ardent and unabated. But fear, devotion, and lassitude
perhaps, inspired Theodosius with more serious thoughts. He
dreaded the busy scandal of the capital, and the indiscreet
fondness of the wife of Belisarius; escaped from her embraces,
and retiring to Ephesus, shaved his head, and took refuge in the
sanctuary of a monastic life. The despair of the new Ariadne
could scarcely have been excused by the death of her husband. She
wept, she tore her hair, she filled the palace with her cries;
“she had lost the dearest of friends, a tender, a faithful, a
laborious friend!” But her warm entreaties, fortified by the
prayers of Belisarius, were insufficient to draw the holy monk
from the solitude of Ephesus. It was not till the general moved
forward for the Persian war, that Theodosius could be tempted to
return to Constantinople; and the short interval before the
departure of Antonina herself was boldly devoted to love and
pleasure.

112 (return) [The diligence of Alemannus could add but little to
the four first and most curious chapters of the Anecdotes. Of
these strange Anecdotes, a part may be true, because probable—and
a part true, because improbable. Procopius must have known the
former, and the latter he could scarcely invent. Note: The malice
of court scandal is proverbially inventive; and of such scandal
the “Anecdota” may be an embellished record.—M.]

113 (return) [ Procopius intimates (Anecdot. c. 4) that when
Belisarius returned to Italy, (A.D. 543,) Antonina was sixty
years of age. A forced, but more polite construction, which
refers that date to the moment when he was writing, (A.D. 559,)
would be compatible with the manhood of Photius, (Gothic. l. i.
c. 10) in 536.]

114 (return) [ Gompare the Vandalic War (l. i. c. 12) with the
Anecdotes (c. i.) and Alemannus, (p. 2, 3.) This mode of
baptismal adoption was revived by Leo the philosopher.]

115 (return) [ In November, 537, Photius arrested the pope,
(Liberat. Brev. c. 22. Pagi, tom. ii. p. 562) About the end of
539, Belisarius sent Theodosius on an important and lucrative
commission to Ravenna, (Goth. l. ii. c. 18.)]

A philosopher may pity and forgive the infirmities of female
nature, from which he receives no real injury: but contemptible
is the husband who feels, and yet endures, his own infamy in that
of his wife. Antonina pursued her son with implacable hatred; and
the gallant Photius 116 was exposed to her secret persecutions in
the camp beyond the Tigris. Enraged by his own wrongs, and by the
dishonor of his blood, he cast away in his turn the sentiments of
nature, and revealed to Belisarius the turpitude of a woman who
had violated all the duties of a mother and a wife. From the
surprise and indignation of the Roman general, his former
credulity appears to have been sincere: he embraced the knees of
the son of Antonina, adjured him to remember his obligations
rather than his birth, and confirmed at the altar their holy vows
of revenge and mutual defence. The dominion of Antonina was
impaired by absence; and when she met her husband, on his return
from the Persian confines, Belisarius, in his first and transient
emotions, confined her person, and threatened her life. Photius
was more resolved to punish, and less prompt to pardon: he flew
to Ephesus; extorted from a trusty eunuch of his mother the full
confession of her guilt; arrested Theodosius and his treasures in
the church of St. John the Apostle, and concealed his captives,
whose execution was only delayed, in a secure and sequestered
fortress of Cilicia. Such a daring outrage against public justice
could not pass with impunity; and the cause of Antonina was
espoused by the empress, whose favor she had deserved by the
recent services of the disgrace of a præfect, and the exile and
murder of a pope. At the end of the campaign, Belisarius was
recalled; he complied, as usual, with the Imperial mandate. His
mind was not prepared for rebellion: his obedience, however
adverse to the dictates of honor, was consonant to the wishes of
his heart; and when he embraced his wife, at the command, and
perhaps in the presence, of the empress, the tender husband was
disposed to forgive or to be forgiven. The bounty of Theodora
reserved for her companion a more precious favor. “I have found,”
she said, “my dearest patrician, a pearl of inestimable value; it
has not yet been viewed by any mortal eye; but the sight and the
possession of this jewel are destined for my friend.” 1161 As
soon as the curiosity and impatience of Antonina were kindled,
the door of a bed-chamber was thrown open, and she beheld her
lover, whom the diligence of the eunuchs had discovered in his
secret prison. Her silent wonder burst into passionate
exclamations of gratitude and joy, and she named Theodora her
queen, her benefactress, and her savior. The monk of Ephesus was
nourished in the palace with luxury and ambition; but instead of
assuming, as he was promised, the command of the Roman armies,
Theodosius expired in the first fatigues of an amorous interview.
1162 The grief of Antonina could only be assuaged by the
sufferings of her son. A youth of consular rank, and a sickly
constitution, was punished, without a trial, like a malefactor
and a slave: yet such was the constancy of his mind, that Photius
sustained the tortures of the scourge and the rack, 1163 without
violating the faith which he had sworn to Belisarius. After this
fruitless cruelty, the son of Antonina, while his mother feasted
with the empress, was buried in her subterraneous prisons, which
admitted not the distinction of night and day. He twice escaped
to the most venerable sanctuaries of Constantinople, the churches
of St. Sophia, and of the Virgin: but his tyrants were insensible
of religion as of pity; and the helpless youth, amidst the
clamors of the clergy and people, was twice dragged from the
altar to the dungeon. His third attempt was more successful. At
the end of three years, the prophet Zachariah, or some mortal
friend, indicated the means of an escape: he eluded the spies and
guards of the empress, reached the holy sepulchre of Jerusalem,
embraced the profession of a monk; and the abbot Photius was
employed, after the death of Justinian, to reconcile and regulate
the churches of Egypt. The son of Antonina suffered all that an
enemy can inflict: her patient husband imposed on himself the
more exquisite misery of violating his promise and deserting his
friend.

116 (return) [ Theophanes (Chronograph. p. 204) styles him
Photinus, the son-in-law of Belisarius; and he is copied by the
Historia Miscella and Anastasius.]

1161 (return) [ This and much of the private scandal in the
“Anecdota” is liable to serious doubt. Who reported all these
private conversations, and how did they reach the ears of
Procopius?—M.]

1162 (return) [ This is a strange misrepresentation—he died of a
dysentery; nor does it appear that it was immediately after this
scene. Antonina proposed to raise him to the generalship of the
army. Procop. Anecd. p. 14. The sudden change from the abstemious
diet of a monk to the luxury of the court is a much more probable
cause of his death.—M.]

1163 (return) [ The expression of Procopius does not appear to me
to mean this kind of torture. Ibid.—M.]

In the succeeding campaign, Belisarius was again sent against the
Persians: he saved the East, but he offended Theodora, and
perhaps the emperor himself. The malady of Justinian had
countenanced the rumor of his death; and the Roman general, on
the supposition of that probable event spoke the free language of
a citizen and a soldier. His colleague Buzes, who concurred in
the same sentiments, lost his rank, his liberty, and his health,
by the persecution of the empress: but the disgrace of Belisarius
was alleviated by the dignity of his own character, and the
influence of his wife, who might wish to humble, but could not
desire to ruin, the partner of her fortunes. Even his removal was
colored by the assurance, that the sinking state of Italy would
be retrieved by the single presence of its conqueror.

But no sooner had he returned, alone and defenceless, than a
hostile commission was sent to the East, to seize his treasures
and criminate his actions; the guards and veterans, who followed
his private banner, were distributed among the chiefs of the
army, and even the eunuchs presumed to cast lots for the
partition of his martial domestics. When he passed with a small
and sordid retinue through the streets of Constantinople, his
forlorn appearance excited the amazement and compassion of the
people. Justinian and Theodora received him with cold
ingratitude; the servile crowd, with insolence and contempt; and
in the evening he retired with trembling steps to his deserted
palace. An indisposition, feigned or real, had confined Antonina
to her apartment; and she walked disdainfully silent in the
adjacent portico, while Belisarius threw himself on his bed, and
expected, in an agony of grief and terror, the death which he had
so often braved under the walls of Rome. Long after sunset a
messenger was announced from the empress: he opened, with anxious
curiosity, the letter which contained the sentence of his fate.
“You cannot be ignorant how much you have deserved my
displeasure. I am not insensible of the services of Antonina. To
her merits and intercession I have granted your life, and permit
you to retain a part of your treasures, which might be justly
forfeited to the state. Let your gratitude, where it is due, be
displayed, not in words, but in your future behavior.” I know not
how to believe or to relate the transports with which the hero is
said to have received this ignominious pardon. He fell prostrate
before his wife, he kissed the feet of his savior, and he
devoutly promised to live the grateful and submissive slave of
Antonina. A fine of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds
sterling was levied on the fortunes of Belisarius; and with the
office of count, or master of the royal stables, he accepted the
conduct of the Italian war. At his departure from Constantinople,
his friends, and even the public, were persuaded that as soon as
he regained his freedom, he would renounce his dissimulation, and
that his wife, Theodora, and perhaps the emperor himself, would
be sacrificed to the just revenge of a virtuous rebel. Their
hopes were deceived; and the unconquerable patience and loyalty
of Belisarius appear either below or above the character of a
man. 117

117 (return) [ The continuator of the Chronicle of Marcellinus
gives, in a few decent words, the substance of the Anecdotes:
Belisarius de Oriente evocatus, in offensam periculumque
incurrens grave, et invidiae subeacens rursus remittitur in
Italiam, (p. 54.)]