Justinian.—Part III.
The prudence of Narses impelled him to speedy and decisive
action. His powers were the last effort of the state; the cost of
each day accumulated the enormous account; and the nations,
untrained to discipline or fatigue, might be rashly provoked to
turn their arms against each other, or against their benefactor.
The same considerations might have tempered the ardor of Totila.
But he was conscious that the clergy and people of Italy aspired
to a second revolution: he felt or suspected the rapid progress
of treason; and he resolved to risk the Gothic kingdom on the
chance of a day, in which the valiant would be animated by
instant danger and the disaffected might be awed by mutual
ignorance. In his march from Ravenna, the Roman general chastised
the garrison of Rimini, traversed in a direct line the hills of
Urbino, and reentered the Flaminian way, nine miles beyond the
perforated rock, an obstacle of art and nature which might have
stopped or retarded his progress. 34 The Goths were assembled in
the neighborhood of Rome, they advanced without delay to seek a
superior enemy, and the two armies approached each other at the
distance of one hundred furlongs, between Tagina 35 and the
sepulchres of the Gauls. 36 The haughty message of Narses was an
offer, not of peace, but of pardon. The answer of the Gothic king
declared his resolution to die or conquer. “What day,” said the
messenger, “will you fix for the combat?” “The eighth day,”
replied Totila; but early the next morning he attempted to
surprise a foe, suspicious of deceit, and prepared for battle.
Ten thousand Heruli and Lombards, of approved valor and doubtful
faith, were placed in the centre. Each of the wings was composed
of eight thousand Romans; the right was guarded by the cavalry of
the Huns, the left was covered by fifteen hundred chosen horse,
destined, according to the emergencies of action, to sustain the
retreat of their friends, or to encompass the flank of the enemy.
From his proper station at the head of the right wing, the eunuch
rode along the line, expressing by his voice and countenance the
assurance of victory; exciting the soldiers of the emperor to
punish the guilt and madness of a band of robbers; and exposing
to their view gold chains, collars, and bracelets, the rewards of
military virtue. From the event of a single combat they drew an
omen of success; and they beheld with pleasure the courage of
fifty archers, who maintained a small eminence against three
successive attacks of the Gothic cavalry. At the distance only of
two bow-shots, the armies spent the morning in dreadful suspense,
and the Romans tasted some necessary food, without unloosing the
cuirass from their breast, or the bridle from their horses.
Narses awaited the charge; and it was delayed by Totila till he
had received his last succors of two thousand Goths. While he
consumed the hours in fruitless treaty, the king exhibited in a
narrow space the strength and agility of a warrior. His armor was
enchased with gold; his purple banner floated with the wind: he
cast his lance into the air; caught it with the right hand;
shifted it to the left; threw himself backwards; recovered his
seat; and managed a fiery steed in all the paces and evolutions
of the equestrian school. As soon as the succors had arrived, he
retired to his tent, assumed the dress and arms of a private
soldier, and gave the signal of a battle. The first line of
cavalry advanced with more courage than discretion, and left
behind them the infantry of the second line. They were soon
engaged between the horns of a crescent, into which the adverse
wings had been insensibly curved, and were saluted from either
side by the volleys of four thousand archers. Their ardor, and
even their distress, drove them forwards to a close and unequal
conflict, in which they could only use their lances against an
enemy equally skilled in all the instruments of war. A generous
emulation inspired the Romans and their Barbarian allies; and
Narses, who calmly viewed and directed their efforts, doubted to
whom he should adjudge the prize of superior bravery. The Gothic
cavalry was astonished and disordered, pressed and broken; and
the line of infantry, instead of presenting their spears, or
opening their intervals, were trampled under the feet of the
flying horse. Six thousand of the Goths were slaughtered without
mercy in the field of Tagina. Their prince, with five attendants,
was overtaken by Asbad, of the race of the Gepidae. “Spare the
king of Italy,” 3611 cried a loyal voice, and Asbad struck his
lance through the body of Totila. The blow was instantly revenged
by the faithful Goths: they transported their dying monarch seven
miles beyond the scene of his disgrace; and his last moments were
not imbittered by the presence of an enemy. Compassion afforded
him the shelter of an obscure tomb; but the Romans were not
satisfied of their victory, till they beheld the corpse of the
Gothic king. His hat, enriched with gems, and his bloody robe,
were presented to Justinian by the messengers of triumph. 37
34 (return) [ The Flaminian way, as it is corrected from the
Itineraries, and the best modern maps, by D’Anville, (Analyse de
l’Italie, p. 147—162,) may be thus stated: Rome to Narni, 51
Roman miles; Terni, 57; Spoleto, 75; Foligno, 88; Nocera, 103;
Cagli, 142; Intercisa, 157; Fossombrone, 160; Fano, 176; Pesaro,
184; Rimini, 208—about 189 English miles. He takes no notice of
the death of Totila; but West selling (Itinerar. p. 614)
exchanges, for the field of Taginas, the unknown appellation of
Ptanias, eight miles from Nocera.]
35 (return) [ Taginae, or rather Tadinae, is mentioned by Pliny;
but the bishopric of that obscure town, a mile from Gualdo, in
the plain, was united, in the year 1007, with that of Nocera. The
signs of antiquity are preserved in the local appellations,
Fossato, the camp; Capraia, Caprea; Bastia, Busta Gallorum. See
Cluverius, (Italia Antiqua, l. ii. c. 6, p. 615, 616, 617,) Lucas
Holstenius, (Annotat. ad Cluver. p. 85, 86,) Guazzesi,
(Dissertat. p. 177—217, a professed inquiry,) and the maps of the
ecclesiastical state and the march of Ancona, by Le Maire and
Magini.]
36 (return) [ The battle was fought in the year of Rome 458; and
the consul Decius, by devoting his own life, assured the triumph
of his country and his colleague Fabius, (T. Liv. x. 28, 29.)
Procopius ascribes to Camillus the victory of the Busta Gallorum;
and his error is branded by Cluverius with the national reproach
of Graecorum nugamenta.]
3611 (return) [ “Dog, wilt thou strike thy Lord?” was the more
characteristic exclamation of the Gothic youth. Procop. lib. iv.
p. 32.—M.]
37 (return) [ Theophanes, Chron. p. 193. Hist. Miscell. l. xvi.
p. 108.]
As soon as Narses had paid his devotions to the Author of
victory, and the blessed Virgin, his peculiar patroness, 38 he
praised, rewarded, and dismissed the Lombards. The villages had
been reduced to ashes by these valiant savages; they ravished
matrons and virgins on the altar; their retreat was diligently
watched by a strong detachment of regular forces, who prevented a
repetition of the like disorders. The victorious eunuch pursued
his march through Tuscany, accepted the submission of the Goths,
heard the acclamations, and often the complaints, of the
Italians, and encompassed the walls of Rome with the remainder of
his formidable host. Round the wide circumference, Narses
assigned to himself, and to each of his lieutenants, a real or a
feigned attack, while he silently marked the place of easy and
unguarded entrance. Neither the fortifications of Hadrian’s mole,
nor of the port, could long delay the progress of the conqueror;
and Justinian once more received the keys of Rome, which, under
his reign, had been five times taken and recovered. 39 But the
deliverance of Rome was the last calamity of the Roman people.
The Barbarian allies of Narses too frequently confounded the
privileges of peace and war. The despair of the flying Goths
found some consolation in sanguinary revenge; and three hundred
youths of the noblest families, who had been sent as hostages
beyond the Po, were inhumanly slain by the successor of Totila.
The fate of the senate suggests an awful lesson of the
vicissitude of human affairs. Of the senators whom Totila had
banished from their country, some were rescued by an officer of
Belisarius, and transported from Campania to Sicily; while others
were too guilty to confide in the clemency of Justinian, or too
poor to provide horses for their escape to the sea-shore. Their
brethren languished five years in a state of indigence and exile:
the victory of Narses revived their hopes; but their premature
return to the metropolis was prevented by the furious Goths; and
all the fortresses of Campania were stained with patrician 40
blood. After a period of thirteen centuries, the institution of
Romulus expired; and if the nobles of Rome still assumed the
title of senators, few subsequent traces can be discovered of a
public council, or constitutional order. Ascend six hundred
years, and contemplate the kings of the earth soliciting an
audience, as the slaves or freedmen of the Roman senate! 41
38 (return) [ Evagrius, l. iv. c. 24. The inspiration of the
Virgin revealed to Narses the day, and the word, of battle, (Paul
Diacon. l. ii. c. 3, p. 776)]
39 (return) [ (Procop. Goth. lib. iv. p. 33.) In the year 536 by
Belisarius, in 546 by Totila, in 547 by Belisarius, in 549 by
Totila, and in 552 by Narses. Maltretus had inadvertently
translated sextum; a mistake which he afterwards retracts; out
the mischief was done; and Cousin, with a train of French and
Latin readers, have fallen into the snare.]
40 (return) [ Compare two passages of Procopius, (l. iii. c. 26,
l. iv. c. 24,) which, with some collateral hints from Marcellinus
and Jornandes, illustrate the state of the expiring senate.]
41 (return) [ See, in the example of Prusias, as it is delivered
in the fragments of Polybius, (Excerpt. Legat. xcvii. p. 927,
928,) a curious picture of a royal slave.]
The Gothic war was yet alive. The bravest of the nation retired
beyond the Po; and Teias was unanimously chosen to succeed and
revenge their departed hero. The new king immediately sent
ambassadors to implore, or rather to purchase, the aid of the
Franks, and nobly lavished, for the public safety, the riches
which had been deposited in the palace of Pavia. The residue of
the royal treasure was guarded by his brother Aligern, at Cumaea,
in Campania; but the strong castle which Totila had fortified was
closely besieged by the arms of Narses. From the Alps to the foot
of Mount Vesuvius, the Gothic king, by rapid and secret marches,
advanced to the relief of his brother, eluded the vigilance of
the Roman chiefs, and pitched his camp on the banks of the Sarnus
or Draco, 42 which flows from Nuceria into the Bay of Naples. The
river separated the two armies: sixty days were consumed in
distant and fruitless combats, and Teias maintained this
important post till he was deserted by his fleet and the hope of
subsistence. With reluctant steps he ascended the Lactarian
mount, where the physicians of Rome, since the time of Galen, had
sent their patients for the benefit of the air and the milk. 43
But the Goths soon embraced a more generous resolution: to
descend the hill, to dismiss their horses, and to die in arms,
and in the possession of freedom. The king marched at their head,
bearing in his right hand a lance, and an ample buckler in his
left: with the one he struck dead the foremost of the assailants;
with the other he received the weapons which every hand was
ambitious to aim against his life. After a combat of many hours,
his left arm was fatigued by the weight of twelve javelins which
hung from his shield. Without moving from his ground, or
suspending his blows, the hero called aloud on his attendants for
a fresh buckler; but in the moment while his side was uncovered,
it was pierced by a mortal dart. He fell; and his head, exalted
on a spear, proclaimed to the nations that the Gothic kingdom was
no more. But the example of his death served only to animate the
companions who had sworn to perish with their leader. They fought
till darkness descended on the earth. They reposed on their arms.
The combat was renewed with the return of light, and maintained
with unabated vigor till the evening of the second day. The
repose of a second night, the want of water, and the loss of
their bravest champions, determined the surviving Goths to accept
the fair capitulation which the prudence of Narses was inclined
to propose. They embraced the alternative of residing in Italy,
as the subjects and soldiers of Justinian, or departing with a
portion of their private wealth, in search of some independent
country. 44 Yet the oath of fidelity or exile was alike rejected
by one thousand Goths, who broke away before the treaty was
signed, and boldly effected their retreat to the walls of Pavia.
The spirit, as well as the situation, of Aligern prompted him to
imitate rather than to bewail his brother: a strong and dexterous
archer, he transpierced with a single arrow the armor and breast
of his antagonist; and his military conduct defended Cumae 45
above a year against the forces of the Romans.
Their industry had scooped the Sibyl’s cave 46 into a prodigious
mine; combustible materials were introduced to consume the
temporary props: the wall and the gate of Cumae sunk into the
cavern, but the ruins formed a deep and inaccessible precipice.
On the fragment of a rock Aligern stood alone and unshaken, till
he calmly surveyed the hopeless condition of his country, and
judged it more honorable to be the friend of Narses, than the
slave of the Franks. After the death of Teias, the Roman general
separated his troops to reduce the cities of Italy; Lucca
sustained a long and vigorous siege: and such was the humanity or
the prudence of Narses, that the repeated perfidy of the
inhabitants could not provoke him to exact the forfeit lives of
their hostages. These hostages were dismissed in safety; and
their grateful zeal at length subdued the obstinacy of their
countrymen. 47
42 (return) [ The item of Procopius (Goth. l. iv. c. 35) is
evidently the Sarnus. The text is accused or altered by the rash
violence of Cluverius (l. iv. c. 3. p. 1156:) but Camillo
Pellegrini of Naples (Discorsi sopra la Campania Felice, p. 330,
331) has proved from old records, that as early as the year 822
that river was called the Dracontio, or Draconcello.]
43 (return) [ Galen (de Method. Medendi, l. v. apud Cluver. l.
iv. c. 3, p. 1159, 1160) describes the lofty site, pure air, and
rich milk, of Mount Lactarius, whose medicinal benefits were
equally known and sought in the time of Symmachus (l. vi. epist.
18) and Cassiodorus, (Var. xi. 10.) Nothing is now left except
the name of the town of Lettere.]
44 (return) [ Buat (tom. xi. p. 2, &c.) conveys to his favorite
Bavaria this remnant of Goths, who by others are buried in the
mountains of Uri, or restored to their native isle of Gothland,
(Mascou, Annot. xxi.)]
45 (return) [ I leave Scaliger (Animadvers. in Euseb. p. 59) and
Salmasius (Exercitat. Plinian. p. 51, 52) to quarrel about the
origin of Cumae, the oldest of the Greek colonies in Italy,
(Strab. l. v. p. 372, Velleius Paterculus, l. i. c. 4,) already
vacant in Juvenal’s time, (Satir. iii.,) and now in ruins.]
46 (return) [ Agathias (l. i. c. 21) settles the Sibyl’s cave
under the wall of Cumae: he agrees with Servius, (ad. l. vi.
Aeneid.;) nor can I perceive why their opinion should be rejected
by Heyne, the excellent editor of Virgil, (tom. ii. p. 650, 651.)
In urbe media secreta religio! But Cumae was not yet built; and
the lines (l. vi. 96, 97) would become ridiculous, if Aeneas were
actually in a Greek city.]
47 (return) [ There is some difficulty in connecting the 35th
chapter of the fourth book of the Gothic war of Procopius with
the first book of the history of Agathias. We must now relinquish
the statesman and soldier, to attend the footsteps of a poet and
rhetorician, (l. i. p. 11, l. ii. p. 51, edit. Lonvre.)]
Before Lucca had surrendered, Italy was overwhelmed by a new
deluge of Barbarians. A feeble youth, the grandson of Clovis,
reigned over the Austrasians or oriental Franks. The guardians of
Theodebald entertained with coldness and reluctance the
magnificent promises of the Gothic ambassadors. But the spirit of
a martial people outstripped the timid counsels of the court: two
brothers, Lothaire and Buccelin, 48 the dukes of the Alemanni,
stood forth as the leaders of the Italian war; and seventy-five
thousand Germans descended in the autumn from the Rhaetian Alps
into the plain of Milan. The vanguard of the Roman army was
stationed near the Po, under the conduct of Fulcaris, a bold
Herulian, who rashly conceived that personal bravery was the sole
duty and merit of a commander. As he marched without order or
precaution along the Aemilian way, an ambuscade of Franks
suddenly rose from the amphitheatre of Parma; his troops were
surprised and routed; but their leader refused to fly; declaring
to the last moment, that death was less terrible than the angry
countenance of Narses. 4811 The death of Fulcaris, and the
retreat of the surviving chiefs, decided the fluctuating and
rebellious temper of the Goths; they flew to the standard of
their deliverers, and admitted them into the cities which still
resisted the arms of the Roman general. The conqueror of Italy
opened a free passage to the irresistible torrent of Barbarians.
They passed under the walls of Cesena, and answered by threats
and reproaches the advice of Aligern, 4812 that the Gothic
treasures could no longer repay the labor of an invasion. Two
thousand Franks were destroyed by the skill and valor of Narses
himself, who sailed from Rimini at the head of three hundred
horse, to chastise the licentious rapine of their march. On the
confines of Samnium the two brothers divided their forces. With
the right wing, Buccelin assumed the spoil of Campania, Lucania,
and Bruttium; with the left, Lothaire accepted the plunder of
Apulia and Calabria. They followed the coast of the Mediterranean
and the Adriatic, as far as Rhegium and Otranto, and the extreme
lands of Italy were the term of their destructive progress. The
Franks, who were Christians and Catholics, contented themselves
with simple pillage and occasional murder. But the churches which
their piety had spared, were stripped by the sacrilegious hands
of the Alamanni, who sacrificed horses’ heads to their native
deities of the woods and rivers; 49 they melted or profaned the
consecrated vessels, and the ruins of shrines and altars were
stained with the blood of the faithful. Buccelin was actuated by
ambition, and Lothaire by avarice. The former aspired to restore
the Gothic kingdom; the latter, after a promise to his brother of
speedy succors, returned by the same road to deposit his treasure
beyond the Alps. The strength of their armies was already wasted
by the change of climate and contagion of disease: the Germans
revelled in the vintage of Italy; and their own intemperance
avenged, in some degree, the miseries of a defenceless people.
4911
48 (return) [ Among the fabulous exploits of Buccelin, he
discomfited and slew Belisarius, subdued Italy and Sicily, &c.
See in the Historians of France, Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. l.
iii. c. 32, p. 203,) and Aimoin, (tom. iii. l. ii. de Gestis
Francorum, c. 23, p. 59.)]
4811 (return) [.... Agathius.]
4812 (return) [ Aligern, after the surrender of Cumae, had been
sent to Cesent by Narses. Agathias.—M.]
49 (return) [ Agathias notices their superstition in a
philosophic tone, (l. i. p. 18.) At Zug, in Switzerland, idolatry
still prevailed in the year 613: St. Columban and St. Gaul were
the apostles of that rude country; and the latter founded a
hermitage, which has swelled into an ecclesiastical principality
and a populous city, the seat of freedom and commerce.]
4911 (return) [ A body of Lothaire’s troops was defeated near
Fano, some were driven down precipices into the sea, others fled
to the camp; many prisoners seized the opportunity of making
their escape; and the Barbarians lost most of their booty in
their precipitate retreat. Agathias.—M.]
At the entrance of the spring, the Imperial troops, who had
guarded the cities, assembled, to the number of eighteen thousand
men, in the neighborhood of Rome. Their winter hours had not been
consumed in idleness. By the command, and after the example, of
Narses, they repeated each day their military exercise on foot
and on horseback, accustomed their ear to obey the sound of the
trumpet, and practised the steps and evolutions of the Pyrrhic
dance. From the Straits of Sicily, Buccelin, with thirty thousand
Franks and Alamanni, slowly moved towards Capua, occupied with a
wooden tower the bridge of Casilinum, covered his right by the
stream of the Vulturnus, and secured the rest of his encampment
by a rampart of sharp stakes, and a circle of wagons, whose
wheels were buried in the earth. He impatiently expected the
return of Lothaire; ignorant, alas! that his brother could never
return, and that the chief and his army had been swept away by a
strange disease 50 on the banks of the Lake Benacus, between
Trent and Verona. The banners of Narses soon approached the
Vulturnus, and the eyes of Italy were anxiously fixed on the
event of this final contest. Perhaps the talents of the Roman
general were most conspicuous in the calm operations which
precede the tumult of a battle. His skilful movements intercepted
the subsistence of the Barbarian, deprived him of the advantage
of the bridge and river, and in the choice of the ground and
moment of action reduced him to comply with the inclination of
his enemy. On the morning of the important day, when the ranks
were already formed, a servant, for some trivial fault, was
killed by his master, one of the leaders of the Heruli. The
justice or passion of Narses was awakened: he summoned the
offender to his presence, and without listening to his excuses,
gave the signal to the minister of death. If the cruel master had
not infringed the laws of his nation, this arbitrary execution
was not less unjust than it appears to have been imprudent. The
Heruli felt the indignity; they halted: but the Roman general,
without soothing their rage, or expecting their resolution,
called aloud, as the trumpets sounded, that unless they hastened
to occupy their place, they would lose the honor of the victory.
His troops were disposed 51 in a long front, the cavalry on the
wings; in the centre, the heavy-armed foot; the archers and
slingers in the rear. The Germans advanced in a sharp-pointed
column, of the form of a triangle or solid wedge. They pierced
the feeble centre of Narses, who received them with a smile into
the fatal snare, and directed his wings of cavalry insensibly to
wheel on their flanks and encompass their rear. The host of the
Franks and Alamanni consisted of infantry: a sword and buckler
hung by their side; and they used, as their weapons of offence, a
weighty hatchet and a hooked javelin, which were only formidable
in close combat, or at a short distance. The flower of the Roman
archers, on horseback, and in complete armor, skirmished without
peril round this immovable phalanx; supplied by active speed the
deficiency of number; and aimed their arrows against a crowd of
Barbarians, who, instead of a cuirass and helmet, were covered by
a loose garment of fur or linen. They paused, they trembled,
their ranks were confounded, and in the decisive moment the
Heruli, preferring glory to revenge, charged with rapid violence
the head of the column. Their leader, Sinbal, and Aligern, the
Gothic prince, deserved the prize of superior valor; and their
example excited the victorious troops to achieve with swords and
spears the destruction of the enemy. Buccelin, and the greatest
part of his army, perished on the field of battle, in the waters
of the Vulturnus, or by the hands of the enraged peasants: but it
may seem incredible, that a victory, 52 which no more than five
of the Alamanni survived, could be purchased with the loss of
fourscore Romans. Seven thousand Goths, the relics of the war,
defended the fortress of Campsa till the ensuing spring; and
every messenger of Narses announced the reduction of the Italian
cities, whose names were corrupted by the ignorance or vanity of
the Greeks. 53 After the battle of Casilinum, Narses entered the
capital; the arms and treasures of the Goths, the Franks, and the
Alamanni, were displayed; his soldiers, with garlands in their
hands, chanted the praises of the conqueror; and Rome, for the
last time, beheld the semblance of a triumph.
50 (return) [ See the death of Lothaire in Agathias (l. ii. p.
38) and Paul Warnefrid, surnamed Diaconus, (l. ii. c. 3, 775.)
The Greek makes him rave and tear his flesh. He had plundered
churches.]
51 (return) [ Pere Daniel (Hist. de la Milice Francoise, tom. i.
p. 17—21) has exhibited a fanciful representation of this battle,
somewhat in the manner of the Chevalier Folard, the once famous
editor of Polybius, who fashioned to his own habits and opinions
all the military operations of antiquity.]
52 (return) [ Agathias (l. ii. p. 47) has produced a Greek
epigram of six lines on this victory of Narses, which a favorably
compared to the battles of Marathon and Plataea. The chief
difference is indeed in their consequences—so trivial in the
former instance—so permanent and glorious in the latter. Note:
Not in the epigram, but in the previous observations—M.]
53 (return) [ The Beroia and Brincas of Theophanes or his
transcriber (p. 201) must be read or understood Verona and
Brixia.]
After a reign of sixty years, the throne of the Gothic kings was
filled by the exarchs of Ravenna, the representatives in peace
and war of the emperor of the Romans. Their jurisdiction was soon
reduced to the limits of a narrow province: but Narses himself,
the first and most powerful of the exarchs, administered above
fifteen years the entire kingdom of Italy. Like Belisarius, he
had deserved the honors of envy, calumny, and disgrace: but the
favorite eunuch still enjoyed the confidence of Justinian; or the
leader of a victorious army awed and repressed the ingratitude of
a timid court. Yet it was not by weak and mischievous indulgence
that Narses secured the attachment of his troops. Forgetful of
the past, and regardless of the future, they abused the present
hour of prosperity and peace. The cities of Italy resounded with
the noise of drinking and dancing; the spoils of victory were
wasted in sensual pleasures; and nothing (says Agathias) remained
unless to exchange their shields and helmets for the soft lute
and the capacious hogshead. 54 In a manly oration, not unworthy
of a Roman censor, the eunuch reproved these disorderly vices,
which sullied their fame, and endangered their safety. The
soldiers blushed and obeyed; discipline was confirmed; the
fortifications were restored; a duke was stationed for the
defence and military command of each of the principal cities; 55
and the eye of Narses pervaded the ample prospect from Calabria
to the Alps. The remains of the Gothic nation evacuated the
country, or mingled with the people; the Franks, instead of
revenging the death of Buccelin, abandoned, without a struggle,
their Italian conquests; and the rebellious Sinbal, chief of the
Heruli, was subdued, taken and hung on a lofty gallows by the
inflexible justice of the exarch. 56 The civil state of Italy,
after the agitation of a long tempest, was fixed by a pragmatic
sanction, which the emperor promulgated at the request of the
pope. Justinian introduced his own jurisprudence into the schools
and tribunals of the West; he ratified the acts of Theodoric and
his immediate successors, but every deed was rescinded and
abolished which force had extorted, or fear had subscribed, under
the usurpation of Totila. A moderate theory was framed to
reconcile the rights of property with the safety of prescription,
the claims of the state with the poverty of the people, and the
pardon of offences with the interest of virtue and order of
society. Under the exarchs of Ravenna, Rome was degraded to the
second rank. Yet the senators were gratified by the permission of
visiting their estates in Italy, and of approaching, without
obstacle, the throne of Constantinople: the regulation of weights
and measures was delegated to the pope and senate; and the
salaries of lawyers and physicians, of orators and grammarians,
were destined to preserve, or rekindle, the light of science in
the ancient capital. Justinian might dictate benevolent edicts,
57 and Narses might second his wishes by the restoration of
cities, and more especially of churches. But the power of kings
is most effectual to destroy; and the twenty years of the Gothic
war had consummated the distress and depopulation of Italy. As
early as the fourth campaign, under the discipline of Belisarius
himself, fifty thousand laborers died of hunger 58 in the narrow
region of Picenum; 59 and a strict interpretation of the evidence
of Procopius would swell the loss of Italy above the total sum of
her present inhabitants. 60
54 (return) [ (Agathias, l. ii. p. 48.) In the first scene of
Richard III. our English poet has beautifully enlarged on this
idea, for which, however, he was not indebted to the Byzantine
historian.]
55 (return) [ Maffei has proved, (Verona Illustrata. P. i. l. x.
p. 257, 289,) against the common opinion, that the dukes of Italy
were instituted before the conquest of the Lombards, by Narses
himself. In the Pragmatic Sanction, (No. 23,) Justinian restrains
the judices militares.]
56 (return) [ See Paulus Diaconus, liii. c. 2, p. 776. Menander
in (Excerp Legat. p. 133) mentions some risings in Italy by the
Franks, and Theophanes (p. 201) hints at some Gothic rebellions.]
57 (return) [ The Pragmatic Sanction of Justinian, which restores
and regulates the civil state of Italy, consists of xxvii.
articles: it is dated August 15, A.D. 554; is addressed to
Narses, V. J. Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi, and to Antiochus,
Præfectus Praetorio Italiae; and has been preserved by Julian
Antecessor, and in the Corpus Juris Civilis, after the novels and
edicts of Justinian, Justin, and Tiberius.]
58 (return) [ A still greater number was consumed by famine in
the southern provinces, without the Ionian Gulf. Acorns were used
in the place of bread. Procopius had seen a deserted orphan
suckled by a she-goat. Seventeen passengers were lodged,
murdered, and eaten, by two women, who were detected and slain by
the eighteenth, &c. * Note: Denina considers that greater evil
was inflicted upon Italy by the Urocian conquest than by any
other invasion. Reveluz. d’ Italia, t. i. l. v. p. 247.—M.]
59 (return) [ Quinta regio Piceni est; quondam uberrimae
multitudinis, ccclx. millia Picentium in fidem P. R. venere,
(Plin. Hist. Natur. iii. 18.) In the time of Vespasian, this
ancient population was already diminished.]
60 (return) [ Perhaps fifteen or sixteen millions. Procopius
(Anecdot. c. 18) computes that Africa lost five millions, that
Italy was thrice as extensive, and that the depopulation was in a
larger proportion. But his reckoning is inflamed by passion, and
clouded with uncertainty.]
I desire to believe, but I dare not affirm, that Belisarius
sincerely rejoiced in the triumph of Narses. Yet the
consciousness of his own exploits might teach him to esteem
without jealousy the merit of a rival; and the repose of the aged
warrior was crowned by a last victory, which saved the emperor
and the capital. The Barbarians, who annually visited the
provinces of Europe, were less discouraged by some accidental
defeats, than they were excited by the double hope of spoil and
of subsidy. In the thirty-second winter of Justinian’s reign, the
Danube was deeply frozen: Zabergan led the cavalry of the
Bulgarians, and his standard was followed by a promiscuous
multitude of Sclavonians. 6011 The savage chief passed, without
opposition, the river and the mountains, spread his troops over
Macedonia and Thrace, and advanced with no more than seven
thousand horse to the long wall, which should have defended the
territory of Constantinople. But the works of man are impotent
against the assaults of nature: a recent earthquake had shaken
the foundations of the wall; and the forces of the empire were
employed on the distant frontiers of Italy, Africa, and Persia.
The seven schools, 61 or companies of the guards or domestic
troops, had been augmented to the number of five thousand five
hundred men, whose ordinary station was in the peaceful cities of
Asia. But the places of the brave Armenians were insensibly
supplied by lazy citizens, who purchased an exemption from the
duties of civil life, without being exposed to the dangers of
military service. Of such soldiers, few could be tempted to sally
from the gates; and none could be persuaded to remain in the
field, unless they wanted strength and speed to escape from the
Bulgarians. The report of the fugitives exaggerated the numbers
and fierceness of an enemy, who had polluted holy virgins, and
abandoned new-born infants to the dogs and vultures; a crowd of
rustics, imploring food and protection, increased the
consternation of the city, and the tents of Zabergan were pitched
at the distance of twenty miles, 62 on the banks of a small
river, which encircles Melanthias, and afterwards falls into the
Propontis. 63 Justinian trembled: and those who had only seen the
emperor in his old age, were pleased to suppose, that he had lost
the alacrity and vigor of his youth. By his command the vessels
of gold and silver were removed from the churches in the
neighborhood, and even the suburbs, of Constantinople; the
ramparts were lined with trembling spectators; the golden gate
was crowded with useless generals and tribunes, and the senate
shared the fatigues and the apprehensions of the populace.
6011 (return) [ Zabergan was king of the Cutrigours, a tribe of
Huns, who were neither Bulgarians nor Sclavonians. St. Martin,
vol. ix. p. 408—420.—M]
61 (return) [ In the decay of these military schools, the satire
of Procopius (Anecdot. c. 24, Aleman. p. 102, 103) is confirmed
and illustrated by Agathias, (l. v. p. 159,) who cannot be
rejected as a hostile witness.]
62 (return) [ The distance from Constantinople to Melanthias,
Villa Caesariana, (Ammian. Marcellin. xxx. 11,) is variously
fixed at 102 or 140 stadia, (Suidas, tom. ii. p. 522, 523.
Agathias, l. v. p. 158,) or xviii. or xix. miles, (Itineraria, p.
138, 230, 323, 332, and Wesseling’s Observations.) The first xii.
miles, as far as Rhegium, were paved by Justinian, who built a
bridge over a morass or gullet between a lake and the sea,
(Procop. de Edif. l. iv. c. 8.)]
63 (return) [ The Atyras, (Pompon. Mela, l. ii. c. 2, p. 169,
edit. Voss.) At the river’s mouth, a town or castle of the same
name was fortified by Justinian, (Procop. de Edif. l. iv. c. 2.
Itinerar. p. 570, and Wesseling.)]
But the eyes of the prince and people were directed to a feeble
veteran, who was compelled by the public danger to resume the
armor in which he had entered Carthage and defended Rome. The
horses of the royal stables, of private citizens, and even of the
circus, were hastily collected; the emulation of the old and
young was roused by the name of Belisarius, and his first
encampment was in the presence of a victorious enemy. His
prudence, and the labor of the friendly peasants, secured, with a
ditch and rampart, the repose of the night; innumerable fires,
and clouds of dust, were artfully contrived to magnify the
opinion of his strength; his soldiers suddenly passed from
despondency to presumption; and, while ten thousand voices
demanded the battle, Belisarius dissembled his knowledge, that in
the hour of trial he must depend on the firmness of three hundred
veterans. The next morning the Bulgarian cavalry advanced to the
charge. But they heard the shouts of multitudes, they beheld the
arms and discipline of the front; they were assaulted on the
flanks by two ambuscades which rose from the woods; their
foremost warriors fell by the hand of the aged hero and his
guards; and the swiftness of their evolutions was rendered
useless by the close attack and rapid pursuit of the Romans. In
this action (so speedy was their flight) the Bulgarians lost only
four hundred horse; but Constantinople was saved; and Zabergan,
who felt the hand of a master, withdrew to a respectful distance.
But his friends were numerous in the councils of the emperor, and
Belisarius obeyed with reluctance the commands of envy and
Justinian, which forbade him to achieve the deliverance of his
country. On his return to the city, the people, still conscious
of their danger, accompanied his triumph with acclamations of joy
and gratitude, which were imputed as a crime to the victorious
general. But when he entered the palace, the courtiers were
silent, and the emperor, after a cold and thankless embrace,
dismissed him to mingle with the train of slaves. Yet so deep was
the impression of his glory on the minds of men, that Justinian,
in the seventy-seventh year of his age, was encouraged to advance
near forty miles from the capital, and to inspect in person the
restoration of the long wall. The Bulgarians wasted the summer in
the plains of Thrace; but they were inclined to peace by the
failure of their rash attempts on Greece and the Chersonesus. A
menace of killing their prisoners quickened the payment of heavy
ransoms; and the departure of Zabergan was hastened by the
report, that double-prowed vessels were built on the Danube to
intercept his passage. The danger was soon forgotten; and a vain
question, whether their sovereign had shown more wisdom or
weakness, amused the idleness of the city. 64
64 (return) [ The Bulgarian war, and the last victory of
Belisarius, are imperfectly represented in the prolix declamation
of Agathias. (l. 5, p. 154-174,) and the dry Chronicle of
Theophanes, (p. 197 198.)]