The next day Totila reached Taginae, accompanied by Valeria and Julius.
He had hastened forward to join Teja with a portion of his troops,
while Wisand and Guntharis reached him later with the main army. Only
after their arrival could any attack be made upon the very strong
position of the Prefect.
Cethegus, too, attempted no assault, but while thus inactive, awaiting
his "second army," he once more, and in vain, endeavoured to regain the
lost affection of Julius. He went to Taginae to meet him at a spot
between the outposts of the opposing forces. He tried all possible
means to induce him to return to his allegiance, even unveiling the
history of his past life. The mother of Julius had once been betrothed
to Cethegus, but her father had been persuaded by Duke Alaric to break
off the match, and to give her in marriage to a Gothic noble. On the
day of her wedding, Cethegus, mad with grief, had tried to carry her
off by force, but, overpowered by numbers, had been struck down, and
thrown, seemingly lifeless, on the banks of the Tiber. Many years
after, he had found Julius, a young boy, forsaken, with his dying
mother, in their villa on the banks of the Rhodus, which had been
sacked by bands of marauders. From that moment Cethegus had adopted the
son of his lost bride.--But in vain he now appealed to the gratitude of
his adopted son. Julius not only recoiled with horror from any further
connection with a man whose ruthless hands were stained with blood, but
his deepening religious feeling separated him entirely from the avowed
atheist.
And, blow upon blow, Cethegus was disappointed in another matter. The
"second army" was at last reported as approaching. Syphax brought the
news; he had ridden night and day in order to reach the Prefect
before this army should arrive, for at its head was, not Areobindos,
but--_Narses_.
Vexed and alarmed, Cethegus left his camp, and rode forward to meet
Narses, with whom he found Alboin, the Longobardian chief. Narses
received him with marked coolness, and at once explained to him that he
could suffer no rival in his camp; that Cethegus must either serve
under him as one of his generals, or remain inactive as his _guest_.
Clearly seeing that he must either submit or be a prisoner, Cethegus at
once affirmed that he considered it an honour to serve under Narses,
and together the generals reached a favourable position between
Helvillum and Taginae.
And a mighty army was that of Narses, with which he had advanced from
the north and east in terrible strides, driving before him the Goths
from position to position, making no prisoners, but inexorably
annihilating all who stood in his way.
Totila had but a small force to oppose to these numbers, for his army
had been fearfully diminished; and now, when the Italians foresaw the
probable consequences of the renewed war, and that the Goths were being
slowly but surely overcome, they ceased to rally round Totila's flag,
and even, where they felt themselves safe, betrayed the hiding-places
of the Gothic people to the Byzantines. The persecuted Gothic families
fled, and sought protection in the camp of Totila, who, fearing the
famine sure to be caused by the accumulation of helpless masses, sent
them still farther south to those parts of the peninsula yet uninvaded
by Narses.
Surrounded by his Earls, Totila now formed a plan by which he intended
to entice the centre of the army of Narses (which was held by the
Longobardians) into an ambush between Caprae and Taginae. Reckoning upon
the headlong valour of the Longobardians, Totila determined to place
the full half of his troops in the town of Caprae, leaving the other
half in Taginae. Totila himself, with his small troop of horsemen, would
advance beyond Caprae against the Longobardians; and at the moment of
attack, would turn, feigning a sudden panic; would gallop back through
the gates of Caprae (the troops there remaining concealed in the
houses), and thus draw on the Longobardians to pursue him into the
narrow road, between low hills, which lay between Caprae and Taginae. At
this spot Totila would place in ambush a troop of Persian horsemen,
which had been unexpectedly brought to him by his old friend and rival,
Furius Ahalla, who had orders, when the Longobardians were fairly taken
in the trap, to issue from their ambush, and annihilate them. Totila
counted upon the fidelity of Ahalla, who was bound to him by strong
ties of gratitude in spite of the defeat he had suffered in his suit of
Valeria. This plan of Totila was highly approved of by Hildebrand, and
all the warriors who shared his counsels.
The evening before the day of its execution all was in readiness.
Furius Ahalla and his horsemen were posted in the narrow road, the
"Flaminian Way." Earl Thorismuth himself went out to make sure that
they had punctually obeyed orders. When he returned to Totila's camp,
he brought word that Furius Ahalla begged Totila to delay his attack
and feigned flight on the morrow, until three hundred of his best men,
who had been delayed on the march, should have joined him; of which
event he would immediately apprise Totila outside the gates of Caprae.
"Well," said Totila, smiling, "I will await the proper moment, and
meantime entertain the Longobardians by my feats of horsemanship.
To-morrow, Teja, God will decide the right. Thou sayest there is no God
but necessity. I say there is a living God--my victory to-morrow shall
prove it."
"Stay," cried Julius, who was present, "ye shall not tempt the Lord!"
"Seest thou," cried Teja, as he rose and took up his shield, "Julius
fears for his God!"