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

From the moment that Belisarius had determined to sustain a
siege, his assiduous care provided Rome against the danger of
famine, more dreadful than the Gothic arms. An extraordinary
supply of corn was imported from Sicily: the harvests of Campania
and Tuscany were forcibly swept for the use of the city; and the
rights of private property were infringed by the strong plea of
the public safety. It might easily be foreseen that the enemy
would intercept the aqueducts; and the cessation of the
water-mills was the first inconvenience, which was speedily
removed by mooring large vessels, and fixing mill-stones in the
current of the river. The stream was soon embarrassed by the
trunks of trees, and polluted with dead bodies; yet so effectual
were the precautions of the Roman general, that the waters of the
Tyber still continued to give motion to the mills and drink to
the inhabitants: the more distant quarters were supplied from
domestic wells; and a besieged city might support, without
impatience, the privation of her public baths. A large portion of
Rome, from the Praenestine gate to the church of St. Paul, was
never invested by the Goths; their excursions were restrained by
the activity of the Moorish troops: the navigation of the Tyber,
and the Latin, Appian, and Ostian ways, were left free and
unmolested for the introduction of corn and cattle, or the
retreat of the inhabitants, who sought refuge in Campania or
Sicily. Anxious to relieve himself from a useless and devouring
multitude, Belisarius issued his peremptory orders for the
instant departure of the women, the children, and slaves;
required his soldiers to dismiss their male and female
attendants, and regulated their allowance that one moiety should
be given in provisions, and the other in money. His foresight was
justified by the increase of the public distress, as soon as the
Goths had occupied two important posts in the neighborhood of
Rome. By the loss of the port, or, as it is now called, the city
of Porto, he was deprived of the country on the right of the
Tyber, and the best communication with the sea; and he reflected,
with grief and anger, that three hundred men, could he have
spared such a feeble band, might have defended its impregnable
works. Seven miles from the capital, between the Appian and the
Latin ways, two principal aqueducts crossing, and again crossing
each other: enclosed within their solid and lofty arches a
fortified space, 87 where Vitiges established a camp of seven
thousand Goths to intercept the convoy of Sicily and Campania.
The granaries of Rome were insensibly exhausted, the adjacent
country had been wasted with fire and sword; such scanty supplies
as might yet be obtained by hasty excursions were the reward of
valor, and the purchase of wealth: the forage of the horses, and
the bread of the soldiers, never failed: but in the last months
of the siege, the people were exposed to the miseries of
scarcity, unwholesome food, 88 and contagious disorders.
Belisarius saw and pitied their sufferings; but he had foreseen,
and he watched the decay of their loyalty, and the progress of
their discontent. Adversity had awakened the Romans from the
dreams of grandeur and freedom, and taught them the humiliating
lesson, that it was of small moment to their real happiness,
whether the name of their master was derived from the Gothic or
the Latin language. The lieutenant of Justinian listened to their
just complaints, but he rejected with disdain the idea of flight
or capitulation; repressed their clamorous impatience for battle;
amused them with the prospect of a sure and speedy relief; and
secured himself and the city from the effects of their despair or
treachery. Twice in each month he changed the station of the
officers to whom the custody of the gates was committed: the
various precautions of patroles, watch words, lights, and music,
were repeatedly employed to discover whatever passed on the
ramparts; out-guards were posted beyond the ditch, and the trusty
vigilance of dogs supplied the more doubtful fidelity of mankind.
A letter was intercepted, which assured the king of the Goths
that the Asinarian gate, adjoining to the Lateran church, should
be secretly opened to his troops. On the proof or suspicion of
treason, several senators were banished, and the pope Sylverius
was summoned to attend the representative of his sovereign, at
his head-quarters in the Pincian palace. 89 The ecclesiastics,
who followed their bishop, were detained in the first or second
apartment, 90 and he alone was admitted to the presence of
Belisarius. The conqueror of Rome and Carthage was modestly
seated at the feet of Antonina, who reclined on a stately couch:
the general was silent, but the voice of reproach and menace
issued from the mouth of his imperious wife. Accused by credible
witnesses, and the evidence of his own subscription, the
successor of St. Peter was despoiled of his pontifical ornaments,
clad in the mean habit of a monk, and embarked, without delay,
for a distant exile in the East. 9011 At the emperor’s command,
the clergy of Rome proceeded to the choice of a new bishop; and
after a solemn invocation of the Holy Ghost, elected the deacon
Vigilius, who had purchased the papal throne by a bribe of two
hundred pounds of gold. The profit, and consequently the guilt,
of this simony, was imputed to Belisarius: but the hero obeyed
the orders of his wife; Antonina served the passions of the
empress; and Theodora lavished her treasures, in the vain hope of
obtaining a pontiff hostile or indifferent to the council of
Chalcedon. 91

87 (return) [ Procopius (Goth. l. ii. c. 3) has forgot to name
these aqueducts nor can such a double intersection, at such a
distance from Rome, be clearly ascertained from the writings of
Frontinus, Fabretti, and Eschinard, de Aquis and de Agro Romano,
or from the local maps of Lameti and Cingolani. Seven or eight
miles from the city, (50 stadia,) on the road to Albano, between
the Latin and Appian ways, I discern the remains of an aqueduct,
(probably the Septimian,) a series (630 paces) of arches
twenty-five feet high.]

88 (return) [ They made sausages of mule’s flesh; unwholesome, if
the animals had died of the plague. Otherwise, the famous Bologna
sausages are said to be made of ass flesh, (Voyages de Labat,
tom. ii. p. 218.)]

89 (return) [ The name of the palace, the hill, and the adjoining
gate, were all derived from the senator Pincius. Some recent
vestiges of temples and churches are now smoothed in the garden
of the Minims of the Trinita del Monte, (Nardini, l. iv. c. 7, p.
196. Eschinard, p. 209, 210, the old plan of Buffalino, and the
great plan of Nolli.) Belisarius had fixed his station between
the Pincian and Salarian gates, (Procop. Goth. l. i. c. 15.)]

90 (return) [ From the mention of the primum et secundum velum,
it should seem that Belisarius, even in a siege, represented the
emperor, and maintained the proud ceremonial of the Byzantine
palace.]

9011 (return) [ De Beau, as a good Catholic, makes the Pope the
victim of a dark intrigue. Lord Mahon, (p. 225.) with whom I
concur, summed up against him.—M.]

91 (return) [ Of this act of sacrilege, Procopius (Goth. l. i. c.
25) is a dry and reluctant witness. The narratives of Liberatus
(Breviarium, c. 22) and Anastasius (de Vit. Pont. p. 39) are
characteristic, but passionate. Hear the execrations of Cardinal
Baronius, (A.D. 536, No. 123 A.D. 538, No. 4—20:) portentum,
facinus omni execratione dignum.]

The epistle of Belisarius to the emperor announced his victory,
his danger, and his resolution. “According to your commands, we
have entered the dominions of the Goths, and reduced to your
obedience Sicily, Campania, and the city of Rome; but the loss of
these conquests will be more disgraceful than their acquisition
was glorious. Hitherto we have successfully fought against the
multitudes of the Barbarians, but their multitudes may finally
prevail. Victory is the gift of Providence, but the reputation of
kings and generals depends on the success or the failure of their
designs. Permit me to speak with freedom: if you wish that we
should live, send us subsistence; if you desire that we should
conquer, send us arms, horses, and men. The Romans have received
us as friends and deliverers: but in our present distress, they
will be either betrayed by their confidence, or we shall be
oppressed by their treachery and hatred. For myself, my life is
consecrated to your service: it is yours to reflect, whether my
death in this situation will contribute to the glory and
prosperity of your reign.” Perhaps that reign would have been
equally prosperous if the peaceful master of the East had
abstained from the conquest of Africa and Italy: but as Justinian
was ambitious of fame, he made some efforts (they were feeble and
languid) to support and rescue his victorious general. A
reenforcement of sixteen hundred Sclavonians and Huns was led by
Martin and Valerian; and as they reposed during the winter season
in the harbors of Greece, the strength of the men and horses was
not impaired by the fatigues of a sea-voyage; and they
distinguished their valor in the first sally against the
besiegers. About the time of the summer solstice, Euthalius
landed at Terracina with large sums of money for the payment of
the troops: he cautiously proceeded along the Appian way, and
this convoy entered Rome through the gate Capena, 92 while
Belisarius, on the other side, diverted the attention of the
Goths by a vigorous and successful skirmish. These seasonable
aids, the use and reputation of which were dexterously managed by
the Roman general, revived the courage, or at least the hopes, of
the soldiers and people. The historian Procopius was despatched
with an important commission to collect the troops and provisions
which Campania could furnish, or Constantinople had sent; and the
secretary of Belisarius was soon followed by Antonina herself, 93
who boldly traversed the posts of the enemy, and returned with
the Oriental succors to the relief of her husband and the
besieged city. A fleet of three thousand Isaurians cast anchor in
the Bay of Naples and afterwards at Ostia. Above two thousand
horse, of whom a part were Thracians, landed at Tarentum; and,
after the junction of five hundred soldiers of Campania, and a
train of wagons laden with wine and flour, they directed their
march on the Appian way, from Capua to the neighborhood of Rome.
The forces that arrived by land and sea were united at the mouth
of the Tyber. Antonina convened a council of war: it was resolved
to surmount, with sails and oars, the adverse stream of the
river; and the Goths were apprehensive of disturbing, by any rash
hostilities, the negotiation to which Belisarius had craftily
listened. They credulously believed that they saw no more than
the vanguard of a fleet and army, which already covered the
Ionian Sea and the plains of Campania; and the illusion was
supported by the haughty language of the Roman general, when he
gave audience to the ambassadors of Vitiges. After a specious
discourse to vindicate the justice of his cause, they declared,
that, for the sake of peace, they were disposed to renounce the
possession of Sicily. “The emperor is not less generous,” replied
his lieutenant, with a disdainful smile, “in return for a gift
which you no longer possess: he presents you with an ancient
province of the empire; he resigns to the Goths the sovereignty
of the British island.” Belisarius rejected with equal firmness
and contempt the offer of a tribute; but he allowed the Gothic
ambassadors to seek their fate from the mouth of Justinian
himself; and consented, with seeming reluctance, to a truce of
three months, from the winter solstice to the equinox of spring.
Prudence might not safely trust either the oaths or hostages of
the Barbarians, and the conscious superiority of the Roman chief
was expressed in the distribution of his troops. As soon as fear
or hunger compelled the Goths to evacuate Alba, Porto, and
Centumcellae, their place was instantly supplied; the garrisons
of Narni, Spoleto, and Perusia, were reenforced, and the seven
camps of the besiegers were gradually encompassed with the
calamities of a siege. The prayers and pilgrimage of Datius,
bishop of Milan, were not without effect; and he obtained one
thousand Thracians and Isaurians, to assist the revolt of Liguria
against her Arian tyrant. At the same time, John the Sanguinary,
94 the nephew of Vitalian, was detached with two thousand chosen
horse, first to Alba, on the Fucine Lake, and afterwards to the
frontiers of Picenum, on the Hadriatic Sea. “In the province,”
said Belisarius, “the Goths have deposited their families and
treasures, without a guard or the suspicion of danger. Doubtless
they will violate the truce: let them feel your presence, before
they hear of your motions. Spare the Italians; suffer not any
fortified places to remain hostile in your rear; and faithfully
reserve the spoil for an equal and common partition. It would not
be reasonable,” he added with a laugh, “that whilst we are
toiling to the destruction of the drones, our more fortunate
brethren should rifle and enjoy the honey.”

92 (return) [ The old Capena was removed by Aurelian to, or near,
the modern gate of St. Sebastian, (see Nolli’s plan.) That
memorable spot has been consecrated by the Egerian grove, the
memory of Numa two umphal arches, the sepulchres of the Scipios,
Metelli, &c.]

93 (return) [ The expression of Procopius has an invidious cast,
(Goth. l. ii. c. 4.) Yet he is speaking of a woman.]

94 (return) [ Anastasius (p. 40) has preserved this epithet of
Sanguinarius which might do honor to a tiger.]

The whole nation of the Ostrogoths had been assembled for the
attack, and was almost entirely consumed in the siege of Rome. If
any credit be due to an intelligent spectator, one third at least
of their enormous host was destroyed, in frequent and bloody
combats under the walls of the city. The bad fame and pernicious
qualities of the summer air might already be imputed to the decay
of agriculture and population; and the evils of famine and
pestilence were aggravated by their own licentiousness, and the
unfriendly disposition of the country. While Vitiges struggled
with his fortune, while he hesitated between shame and ruin, his
retreat was hastened by domestic alarms. The king of the Goths
was informed by trembling messengers, that John the Sanguinary
spread the devastations of war from the Apennine to the
Hadriatic; that the rich spoils and innumerable captives of
Picenum were lodged in the fortifications of Rimini; and that
this formidable chief had defeated his uncle, insulted his
capital, and seduced, by secret correspondence, the fidelity of
his wife, the imperious daughter of Amalasontha. Yet, before he
retired, Vitiges made a last effort, either to storm or to
surprise the city. A secret passage was discovered in one of the
aqueducts; two citizens of the Vatican were tempted by bribes to
intoxicate the guards of the Aurelian gate; an attack was
meditated on the walls beyond the Tyber, in a place which was not
fortified with towers; and the Barbarians advanced, with torches
and scaling-ladders, to the assault of the Pincian gate. But
every attempt was defeated by the intrepid vigilance of
Belisarius and his band of veterans, who, in the most perilous
moments, did not regret the absence of their companions; and the
Goths, alike destitute of hope and subsistence, clamorously urged
their departure before the truce should expire, and the Roman
cavalry should again be united. One year and nine days after the
commencement of the siege, an army, so lately strong and
triumphant, burnt their tents, and tumultuously repassed the
Milvian bridge. They repassed not with impunity: their thronging
multitudes, oppressed in a narrow passage, were driven headlong
into the Tyber, by their own fears and the pursuit of the enemy;
and the Roman general, sallying from the Pincian gate, inflicted
a severe and disgraceful wound on their retreat. The slow length
of a sickly and desponding host was heavily dragged along the
Flaminian way; from whence the Barbarians were sometimes
compelled to deviate, lest they should encounter the hostile
garrisons that guarded the high road to Rimini and Ravenna. Yet
so powerful was this flying army, that Vitiges spared ten
thousand men for the defence of the cities which he was most
solicitous to preserve, and detached his nephew Uraias, with an
adequate force, for the chastisement of rebellious Milan. At the
head of his principal army, he besieged Rimini, only thirty-three
miles distant from the Gothic capital. A feeble rampart, and a
shallow ditch, were maintained by the skill and valor of John the
Sanguinary, who shared the danger and fatigue of the meanest
soldier, and emulated, on a theatre less illustrious, the
military virtues of his great commander. The towers and
battering-engines of the Barbarians were rendered useless; their
attacks were repulsed; and the tedious blockade, which reduced
the garrison to the last extremity of hunger, afforded time for
the union and march of the Roman forces. A fleet, which had
surprised Ancona, sailed along the coast of the Hadriatic, to the
relief of the besieged city. The eunuch Narses landed in Picenum
with two thousand Heruli and five thousand of the bravest troops
of the East. The rock of the Apennine was forced; ten thousand
veterans moved round the foot of the mountains, under the command
of Belisarius himself; and a new army, whose encampment blazed
with innumerable lights, appeared to advance along the Flaminian
way. Overwhelmed with astonishment and despair, the Goths
abandoned the siege of Rimini, their tents, their standards, and
their leaders; and Vitiges, who gave or followed the example of
flight, never halted till he found a shelter within the walls and
morasses of Ravenna. To these walls, and to some fortresses
destitute of any mutual support, the Gothic monarchy was now
reduced. The provinces of Italy had embraced the party of the
emperor and his army, gradually recruited to the number of twenty
thousand men, must have achieved an easy and rapid conquest, if
their invincible powers had not been weakened by the discord of
the Roman chiefs. Before the end of the siege, an act of blood,
ambiguous and indiscreet, sullied the fair fame of Belisarius.
Presidius, a loyal Italian, as he fled from Ravenna to Rome, was
rudely stopped by Constantine, the military governor of Spoleto,
and despoiled, even in a church, of two daggers richly inlaid
with gold and precious stones. As soon as the public danger had
subsided, Presidius complained of the loss and injury: his
complaint was heard, but the order of restitution was disobeyed
by the pride and avarice of the offender. Exasperated by the
delay, Presidius boldly arrested the general’s horse as he passed
through the forum; and, with the spirit of a citizen, demanded
the common benefit of the Roman laws. The honor of Belisarius was
engaged; he summoned a council; claimed the obedience of his
subordinate officer; and was provoked, by an insolent reply, to
call hastily for the presence of his guards. Constantine, viewing
their entrance as the signal of death, drew his sword, and rushed
on the general, who nimbly eluded the stroke, and was protected
by his friends; while the desperate assassin was disarmed,
dragged into a neighboring chamber, and executed, or rather
murdered, by the guards, at the arbitrary command of Belisarius.
95 In this hasty act of violence, the guilt of Constantine was no
longer remembered; the despair and death of that valiant officer
were secretly imputed to the revenge of Antonina; and each of his
colleagues, conscious of the same rapine, was apprehensive of the
same fate. The fear of a common enemy suspended the effects of
their envy and discontent; but in the confidence of approaching
victory, they instigated a powerful rival to oppose the conqueror
of Rome and Africa. From the domestic service of the palace, and
the administration of the private revenue, Narses the eunuch was
suddenly exalted to the head of an army; and the spirit of a
hero, who afterwards equalled the merit and glory of Belisarius,
served only to perplex the operations of the Gothic war. To his
prudent counsels, the relief of Rimini was ascribed by the
leaders of the discontented faction, who exhorted Narses to
assume an independent and separate command. The epistle of
Justinian had indeed enjoined his obedience to the general; but
the dangerous exception, “as far as may be advantageous to the
public service,” reserved some freedom of judgment to the
discreet favorite, who had so lately departed from the sacred and
familiar conversation of his sovereign. In the exercise of this
doubtful right, the eunuch perpetually dissented from the
opinions of Belisarius; and, after yielding with reluctance to
the siege of Urbino, he deserted his colleague in the night, and
marched away to the conquest of the Aemilian province. The fierce
and formidable bands of the Heruli were attached to the person of
Narses; 96 ten thousand Romans and confederates were persuaded to
march under his banners; every malcontent embraced the fair
opportunity of revenging his private or imaginary wrongs; and the
remaining troops of Belisarius were divided and dispersed from
the garrisons of Sicily to the shores of the Hadriatic. His skill
and perseverance overcame every obstacle: Urbino was taken, the
sieges of Faesulae Orvieto, and Auximum, were undertaken and
vigorously prosecuted; and the eunuch Narses was at length
recalled to the domestic cares of the palace. All dissensions
were healed, and all opposition was subdued, by the temperate
authority of the Roman general, to whom his enemies could not
refuse their esteem; and Belisarius inculcated the salutary
lesson that the forces of the state should compose one body, and
be animated by one soul. But in the interval of discord, the
Goths were permitted to breathe; an important season was lost,
Milan was destroyed, and the northern provinces of Italy were
afflicted by an inundation of the Franks.

95 (return) [ This transaction is related in the public history
(Goth. l. ii. c. 8) with candor or caution; in the Anecdotes (c.
7) with malevolence or freedom; but Marcellinus, or rather his
continuator, (in Chron.,) casts a shade of premeditated
assassination over the death of Constantine. He had performed
good service at Rome and Spoleto, (Procop. Goth l. i. c. 7, 14;)
but Alemannus confounds him with a Constantianus comes stabuli.]

96 (return) [ They refused to serve after his departure; sold
their captives and cattle to the Goths; and swore never to fight
against them. Procopius introduces a curious digression on the
manners and adventures of this wandering nation, a part of whom
finally emigrated to Thule or Scandinavia. (Goth. l. ii. c. 14,
15.)]

When Justinian first meditated the conquest of Italy, he sent
ambassadors to the kings of the Franks, and adjured them, by the
common ties of alliance and religion, to join in the holy
enterprise against the Arians. The Goths, as their wants were
more urgent, employed a more effectual mode of persuasion, and
vainly strove, by the gift of lands and money, to purchase the
friendship, or at least the neutrality, of a light and perfidious
nation.97 But the arms of Belisarius, and the revolt of the
Italians, had no sooner shaken the Gothic monarchy, than
Theodebert of Austrasia, the most powerful and warlike of the
Merovingian kings, was persuaded to succor their distress by an
indirect and seasonable aid. Without expecting the consent of
their sovereign, ten thousand Burgundians, his recent subjects,
descended from the Alps, and joined the troops which Vitiges had
sent to chastise the revolt of Milan. After an obstinate siege,
the capital of Liguria was reduced by famine; but no capitulation
could be obtained, except for the safe retreat of the Roman
garrison. Datius, the orthodox bishop, who had seduced his
countrymen to rebellion 98 and ruin, escaped to the luxury and
honors of the Byzantine court; 99 but the clergy, perhaps the
Arian clergy, were slaughtered at the foot of their own altars by
the defenders of the Catholic faith. Three hundred thousand males
were reported to be slain; 100 the female sex, and the more
precious spoil, was resigned to the Burgundians; and the houses,
or at least the walls, of Milan, were levelled with the ground.
The Goths, in their last moments, were revenged by the
destruction of a city, second only to Rome in size and opulence,
in the splendor of its buildings, or the number of its
inhabitants; and Belisarius sympathized alone in the fate of his
deserted and devoted friends. Encouraged by this successful
inroad, Theodebert himself, in the ensuing spring, invaded the
plains of Italy with an army of one hundred thousand Barbarians.
101 The king, and some chosen followers, were mounted on
horseback, and armed with lances; the infantry, without bows or
spears, were satisfied with a shield, a sword, and a double-edged
battle-axe, which, in their hands, became a deadly and unerring
weapon. Italy trembled at the march of the Franks; and both the
Gothic prince and the Roman general, alike ignorant of their
designs, solicited, with hope and terror, the friendship of these
dangerous allies. Till he had secured the passage of the Po on
the bridge of Pavia, the grandson of Clovis dissembled his
intentions, which he at length declared, by assaulting, almost at
the same instant, the hostile camps of the Romans and Goths.
Instead of uniting their arms, they fled with equal
precipitation; and the fertile, though desolate provinces of
Liguria and Aemilia, were abandoned to a licentious host of
Barbarians, whose rage was not mitigated by any thoughts of
settlement or conquest. Among the cities which they ruined,
Genoa, not yet constructed of marble, is particularly enumerated;
and the deaths of thousands, according to the regular practice of
war, appear to have excited less horror than some idolatrous
sacrifices of women and children, which were performed with
impunity in the camp of the most Christian king. If it were not a
melancholy truth, that the first and most cruel sufferings must
be the lot of the innocent and helpless, history might exult in
the misery of the conquerors, who, in the midst of riches, were
left destitute of bread or wine, reduced to drink the waters of
the Po, and to feed on the flesh of distempered cattle. The
dysentery swept away one third of their army; and the clamors of
his subjects, who were impatient to pass the Alps, disposed
Theodebert to listen with respect to the mild exhortations of
Belisarius. The memory of this inglorious and destructive warfare
was perpetuated on the medals of Gaul; and Justinian, without
unsheathing his sword, assumed the title of conqueror of the
Franks. The Merovingian prince was offended by the vanity of the
emperor; he affected to pity the fallen fortunes of the Goths;
and his insidious offer of a federal union was fortified by the
promise or menace of descending from the Alps at the head of five
hundred thousand men. His plans of conquest were boundless, and
perhaps chimerical. The king of Austrasia threatened to chastise
Justinian, and to march to the gates of Constantinople: 102 he
was overthrown and slain 103 by a wild bull, 104 as he hunted in
the Belgic or German forests.

97 (return) [ This national reproach of perfidy (Procop. Goth. l.
ii. c. 25) offends the ear of La Mothe le Vayer, (tom. viii. p.
163—165,) who criticizes, as if he had not read, the Greek
historian.]

98 (return) [ Baronius applauds his treason, and justifies the
Catholic bishops—qui ne sub heretico principe degant omnem
lapidem movent—a useful caution. The more rational Muratori
(Annali d’Italia, tom. v. p. 54) hints at the guilt of perjury,
and blames at least the imprudence of Datius.]

99 (return) [ St. Datius was more successful against devils than
against Barbarians. He travelled with a numerons retinue, and
occupied at Corinth a large house. (Baronius, A.D. 538, No. 89,
A.D. 539, No. 20.)]

100 (return) [ (Compare Procopius, Goth. l. ii. c. 7, 21.) Yet
such population is incredible; and the second or third city of
Italy need not repine if we only decimate the numbers of the
present text Both Milan and Genoa revived in less than thirty
years, (Paul Diacon de Gestis Langobard. l. ii. c. 38.) Note:
Procopius says distinctly that Milan was the second city of the
West. Which did Gibbon suppose could compete with it, Ravenna or
Naples; the next page he calls it the second.—M.]

101 (return) [ Besides Procopius, perhaps too Roman, see the
Chronicles of Marius and Marcellinus, Jornandes, (in Success.
Regn. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 241,) and Gregory of Tours, (l.
iii. c. 32, in tom. ii. of the Historians of France.) Gregory
supposes a defeat of Belisarius, who, in Aimoin, (de Gestis
Franc. l. ii. c. 23, in tom. iii. p. 59,) is slain by the
Franks.]

102 (return) [ Agathias, l. i. p. 14, 15. Could he have seduced
or subdued the Gepidae or Lombards of Pannonia, the Greek
historian is confident that he must have been destroyed in
Thrace.]

103 (return) [ The king pointed his spear—the bull overturned a
tree on his head—he expired the same day. Such is the story of
Agathias; but the original historians of France (tom. ii. p. 202,
403, 558, 667) impute his death to a fever.]

104 (return) [ Without losing myself in a labyrinth of species
and names—the aurochs, urus, bisons, bubalus, bonasus, buffalo,
&c., (Buffon. Hist. Nat. tom. xi., and Supplement, tom. iii.
vi.,) it is certain, that in the sixth century a large wild
species of horned cattle was hunted in the great forests of the
Vosges in Lorraine, and the Ardennes, (Greg. Turon. tom. ii. l.
x. c. 10, p. 369.)]