4 (return) [ Now Tibesh, in the kingdom _The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)

by a river, the Sujerass, which falls into the Mejerda,

(Bagradas.) Tibesh is still remarkable for its walls of large

stones, (like the Coliseum of Rome,) a fountain, and a grove of

walnut-trees: the country is fruitful, and the neighboring

Bereberes are warlike. It appears from an inscription, that,

under the reign of Adrian, the road from Carthage to Tebeste was

constructed by the third legion, (Marmol, Description de

l’Afrique, tom. ii. p. 442, 443. Shaw’s Travels, p. 64, 65, 66.)]

411 (return) [ Corripus (Johannidos lib. iii. 417—441) describes

the defeat and death of Solomon.—M.]

5 (return) [ Procopius, Anecdot. c. 18. The series of the African

history attests this melancholy truth.]

The jealousy of the Byzantine court had not permitted Belisarius

to achieve the conquest of Italy; and his abrupt departure

revived the courage of the Goths, 6 who respected his genius, his

virtue, and even the laudable motive which had urged the servant

of Justinian to deceive and reject them. They had lost their king

(an inconsiderable loss,) their capital, their treasures, the

provinces from Sicily to the Alps, and the military force of two

hundred thousand Barbarians, magnificently equipped with horses

and arms. Yet all was not lost, as long as Pavia was defended by

one thousand Goths, inspired by a sense of honor, the love of

freedom, and the memory of their past greatness. The supreme

command was unanimously offered to the brave Uraias; and it was

in his eyes alone that the disgrace of his uncle Vitiges could

appear as a reason of exclusion. His voice inclined the election

in favor of Hildibald, whose personal merit was recommended by

the vain hope that his kinsman Theudes, the Spanish monarch,

would support the common interest of the Gothic nation. The

success of his arms in Liguria and Venetia seemed to justify

their choice; but he soon declared to the world that he was

incapable of forgiving or commanding his benefactor. The consort

of Hildibald was deeply wounded by the beauty, the riches, and

the pride, of the wife of Uraias; and the death of that virtuous

patriot excited the indignation of a free people. A bold assassin

executed their sentence by striking off the head of Hildibald in

the midst of a banquet; the Rugians, a foreign tribe, assumed the

privilege of election: and Totila, 611 the nephew of the late

king, was tempted, by revenge, to deliver himself and the

garrison of Trevigo into the hands of the Romans.

But the gallant and accomplished youth was easily persuaded to

prefer the Gothic throne before the service of Justinian; and as

soon as the palace of Pavia had been purified from the Rugian

usurper, he reviewed the national force of five thousand

soldiers, and generously undertook the restoration of the kingdom

of Italy.

6 (return) [ In the second (c. 30) and third books, (c. 1—40,)

Procopius continues the history of the Gothic war from the fifth

to the fifteenth year of Justinian. As the events are less

interesting than in the former period, he allots only half the

space to double the time. Jornandes, and the Chronicle of

Marcellinus, afford some collateral hints Sigonius, Pagi,

Muratori, Mascou, and De Buat, are useful, and have been used.]

611 (return) [ His real name, as appears by medals, was Baduilla,

or Badiula. Totila signifies immortal: tod (in German) is death.

Todilas, deathless. Compare St Martin, vol. ix. p. 37.—M.]

The successors of Belisarius, eleven generals of equal rank,

neglected to crush the feeble and disunited Goths, till they were

roused to action by the progress of Totila and the reproaches of

Justinian. The gates of Verona were secretly opened to Artabazus,

at the head of one hundred Persians in the service of the empire.

The Goths fled from the city. At the distance of sixty furlongs

the Roman generals halted to regulate the division of the spoil.

While they disputed, the enemy discovered the real number of the

victors: the Persians were instantly overpowered, and it was by

leaping from the wall that Artabazus preserved a life which he

lost in a few days by the lance of a Barbarian, who had defied

him to single combat. Twenty thousand Romans encountered the

forces of Totila, near Faenza, and on the hills of Mugello, of

the Florentine territory. The ardor of freedmen, who fought to

regain their country, was opposed to the languid temper of

mercenary troops, who were even destitute of the merits of strong

and well-disciplined servitude. On the first attack, they

abandoned their ensigns, threw down their arms, and dispersed on

all sides with an active speed, which abated the loss, whilst it

aggravated the shame, of their defeat. The king of the Goths, who

blushed for the baseness of his enemies, pursued with rapid steps

the path of honor and victory. Totila passed the Po, 6112

traversed the Apennine, suspended the important conquest of

Ravenna, Florence, and Rome, and marched through the heart of

Italy, to form the siege or rather the blockade, of Naples. The

Roman chiefs, imprisoned in their respective cities, and accusing

each other of the common disgrace, did not presume to disturb his

enterprise. But the emperor, alarmed by the distress and danger

of his Italian conquests, despatched to the relief of Naples a

fleet of galleys and a body of Thracian and Armenian soldiers.

They landed in Sicily, which yielded its copious stores of

provisions; but the delays of the new commander, an unwarlike

magistrate, protracted the sufferings of the besieged; and the

succors, which he dropped with a timid and tardy hand, were

successively intercepted by the armed vessels stationed by Totila

in the Bay of Naples. The principal officer of the Romans was

dragged, with a rope round his neck, to the foot of the wall,

from whence, with a trembling voice, he exhorted the citizens to

implore, like himself, the mercy of the conqueror. They requested

a truce, with a promise of surrendering the city, if no effectual

relief should appear at the end of thirty days. Instead of one

month, the audacious Barbarian granted them three, in the just

confidence that famine would anticipate the term of their

capitulation. After the reduction of Naples and Cumae, the

provinces of Lucania, Apulia, and Calabria, submitted to the king

of the Goths. Totila led his army to the gates of Rome, pitched

his camp at Tibur, or Tivoli, within twenty miles of the capital,

and calmly exhorted the senate and people to compare the tyranny

of the Greeks with the blessings of the Gothic reign.

6112 (return) [ This is not quite correct: he had crossed the Po

before the battle of Faenza.—M.]

The rapid success of Totila may be partly ascribed to the

revolution which three years’ experience had produced in the

sentiments of the Italians. At the command, or at least in the

name, of a Catholic emperor, the pope, 7 their spiritual father,

had been torn from the Roman church, and either starved or

murdered on a desolate island. 8 The virtues of Belisarius were

replaced by the various or uniform vices of eleven chiefs, at

Rome, Ravenna, Florence, Perugia, Spoleto, &c., who abused their

authority for the indulgence of lust or avarice. The improvement

of the revenue was committed to Alexander, a subtle scribe, long

practised in the fraud and oppression of the Byzantine schools,

and whose name of Psalliction, the scissors, 9 was drawn from the

dexterous artifice with which he reduced the size without

defacing the figure, of the gold coin. Instead of expecting the

restoration of peace and industry, he imposed a heavy assessment

on the fortunes of the Italians. Yet his present or future

demands were less odious than a prosecution of arbitrary rigor

against the persons and property of all those who, under the

Gothic kings, had been concerned in the receipt and expenditure

of the public money. The subjects of Justinian, who escaped these

partial vexations, were oppressed by the irregular maintenance of

the soldiers, whom Alexander defrauded and despised; and their

hasty sallies in quest of wealth, or subsistence, provoked the

inhabitants of the country to await or implore their deliverance

from the virtues of a Barbarian. Totila 10 was chaste and

temperate; and none were deceived, either friends or enemies, who

depended on his faith or his clemency. To the husbandmen of Italy

the Gothic king issued a welcome proclamation, enjoining them to

pursue their important labors, and to rest assured, that, on the

payment of the ordinary taxes, they should be defended by his

valor and discipline from the injuries of war. The strong towns

he successively attacked; and as soon as they had yielded to his

arms, he demolished the fortifications, to save the people from

the calamities of a future siege, to deprive the Romans of the

arts of defence, and to decide the tedious quarrel of the two

nations, by an equal and honorable conflict in the field of

battle. The Roman captives and deserters were tempted to enlist

in the service of a liberal and courteous adversary; the slaves

were attracted by the firm and faithful promise, that they should

never be delivered to their masters; and from the thousand

warriors of Pavia, a new people, under the same appellation of

Goths, was insensibly formed in the camp of Totila. He sincerely

accomplished the articles of capitulation, without seeking or

accepting any sinister advantage from ambiguous expressions or

unforeseen events: the garrison of Naples had stipulated that

they should be transported by sea; the obstinacy of the winds

prevented their voyage, but they were generously supplied with

horses, provisions, and a safe-conduct to the gates of Rome. The

wives of the senators, who had been surprised in the villas of

Campania, were restored, without a ransom, to their husbands; the

violation of female chastity was inexorably chastised with death;

and in the salutary regulation of the edict of the famished

Neapolitans, the conqueror assumed the office of a humane and

attentive physician. The virtues of Totila are equally laudable,

whether they proceeded from true policy, religious principle, or

the instinct of humanity: he often harangued his troops; and it

was his constant theme, that national vice and ruin are

inseparably connected; that victory is the fruit of moral as well

as military virtue; and that the prince, and even the people, are

responsible for the crimes which they neglect to punish.

7 (return) [Sylverius, bishop of Rome, was first transported to

Patara, in Lycia, and at length starved (sub eorum custodia

inedia confectus) in the Isle of Palmaria, A.D. 538, June 20,

(Liberat. in Breviar. c. 22. Anastasius, in Sylverio. Baronius,

A.D. 540, No. 2, 3. Pagi, in Vit. Pont. tom. i. p. 285, 286.)

Procopius (Anecdot. c. 1) accuses only the empress and Antonina.]

8 (return) [ Palmaria, a small island, opposite to Terracina and

the coast of the Volsci, (Cluver. Ital. Antiq. l. iii. c. 7, p.

1014.)]

9 (return) [ As the Logothete Alexander, and most of his civil

and military colleagues, were either disgraced or despised, the

ink of the Anecdotes (c. 4, 5, 18) is scarcely blacker than that

of the Gothic History (l. iii. c. 1, 3, 4, 9, 20, 21, &c.)]

10 (return) [ Procopius (l. iii. c. 2, 8, &c.,) does ample and

willing justice to the merit of Totila. The Roman historians,

from Sallust and Tacitus were happy to forget the vices of their

countrymen in the contemplation of Barbaric virtue.]

The return of Belisarius to save the country which he had

subdued, was pressed with equal vehemence by his friends and

enemies; and the Gothic war was imposed as a trust or an exile on

the veteran commander. A hero on the banks of the Euphrates, a

slave in the palace of Constantinople, he accepted with

reluctance the painful task of supporting his own reputation, and

retrieving the faults of his successors. The sea was open to the

Romans: the ships and soldiers were assembled at Salona, near the

palace of Diocletian: he refreshed and reviewed his troops at

Pola in Istria, coasted round the head of the Adriatic, entered

the port of Ravenna, and despatched orders rather than supplies

to the subordinate cities. His first public oration was addressed

to the Goths and Romans, in the name of the emperor, who had

suspended for a while the conquest of Persia, and listened to the

prayers of his Italian subjects. He gently touched on the causes

and the authors of the recent disasters; striving to remove the

fear of punishment for the past, and the hope of impunity for the

future, and laboring, with more zeal than success, to unite all

the members of his government in a firm league of affection and

obedience. Justinian, his gracious master, was inclined to pardon

and reward; and it was their interest, as well as duty, to

reclaim their deluded brethren, who had been seduced by the arts

of the usurper. Not a man was tempted to desert the standard of

the Gothic king. Belisarius soon discovered, that he was sent to

remain the idle and impotent spectator of the glory of a young

Barbarian; and his own epistle exhibits a genuine and lively

picture of the distress of a noble mind. “Most excellent prince,

we are arrived in Italy, destitute of all the necessary

implements of war, men, horses, arms, and money. In our late

circuit through the villages of Thrace and Illyricum, we have

collected, with extreme difficulty, about four thousand recruits,

naked, and unskilled in the use of weapons and the exercises of

the camp. The soldiers already stationed in the province are

discontented, fearful, and dismayed; at the sound of an enemy,

they dismiss their horses, and cast their arms on the ground. No

taxes can be raised, since Italy is in the hands of the

Barbarians; the failure of payment has deprived us of the right

of command, or even of admonition. Be assured, dread Sir, that

the greater part of your troops have already deserted to the

Goths. If the war could be achieved by the presence of Belisarius

alone, your wishes are satisfied; Belisarius is in the midst of

Italy. But if you desire to conquer, far other preparations are

requisite: without a military force, the title of general is an

empty name. It would be expedient to restore to my service my own

veteran and domestic guards. Before I can take the field, I must

receive an adequate supply of light and heavy armed troops; and

it is only with ready money that you can procure the

indispensable aid of a powerful body of the cavalry of the Huns.”

11 An officer in whom Belisarius confided was sent from Ravenna

to hasten and conduct the succors; but the message was neglected,

and the messenger was detained at Constantinople by an

advantageous marriage. After his patience had been exhausted by

delay and disappointment, the Roman general repassed the

Adriatic, and expected at Dyrrachium the arrival of the troops,

which were slowly assembled among the subjects and allies of the

empire. His powers were still inadequate to the deliverance of

Rome, which was closely besieged by the Gothic king. The Appian

way, a march of forty days, was covered by the Barbarians; and as

the prudence of Belisarius declined a battle, he preferred the

safe and speedy navigation of five days from the coast of Epirus

to the mouth of the Tyber.

11 (return) [ Procopius, l. iii. c. 12. The soul of a hero is

deeply impressed on the letter; nor can we confound such genuine

and original acts with the elaborate and often empty speeches of

the Byzantine historians]

After reducing, by force, or treaty, the towns of inferior note

in the midland provinces of Italy, Totila proceeded, not to

assault, but to encompass and starve, the ancient capital. Rome

was afflicted by the avarice, and guarded by the valor, of

Bessas, a veteran chief of Gothic extraction, who filled, with a

garrison of three thousand soldiers, the spacious circle of her

venerable walls. From the distress of the people he extracted a

profitable trade, and secretly rejoiced in the continuance of the

siege. It was for his use that the granaries had been

replenished: the charity of Pope Vigilius had purchased and

embarked an ample supply of Sicilian corn; but the vessels which

escaped the Barbarians were seized by a rapacious governor, who

imparted a scanty sustenance to the soldiers, and sold the

remainder to the wealthy Romans. The medimnus, or fifth part of

the quarter of wheat, was exchanged for seven pieces of gold;

fifty pieces were given for an ox, a rare and accidental prize;

the progress of famine enhanced this exorbitant value, and the

mercenaries were tempted to deprive themselves of the allowance

which was scarcely sufficient for the support of life. A

tasteless and unwholesome mixture, in which the bran thrice

exceeded the quantity of flour, appeased the hunger of the poor;

they were gradually reduced to feed on dead horses, dogs, cats,

and mice, and eagerly to snatch the grass, and even the nettles,

which grew among the ruins of the city. A crowd of spectres, pale

and emaciated, their bodies oppressed with disease, and their

minds with despair, surrounded the palace of the governor, urged,

with unavailing truth, that it was the duty of a master to

maintain his slaves, and humbly requested that he would provide

for their subsistence, to permit their flight, or command their

immediate execution. Bessas replied, with unfeeling tranquillity,

that it was impossible to feed, unsafe to dismiss, and unlawful

to kill, the subjects of the emperor. Yet the example of a

private citizen might have shown his countrymen that a tyrant

cannot withhold the privilege of death. Pierced by the cries of

five children, who vainly called on their father for bread, he

ordered them to follow his steps, advanced with calm and silent

despair to one of the bridges of the Tyber, and, covering his

face, threw himself headlong into the stream, in the presence of

his family and the Roman people. To the rich and pusillammous,

Bessas 12 sold the permission of departure; but the greatest part

of the fugitives expired on the public highways, or were

intercepted by the flying parties of Barbarians. In the mean

while, the artful governor soothed the discontent, and revived

the hopes of the Romans, by the vague reports of the fleets and

armies which were hastening to their relief from the extremities

of the East. They derived more rational comfort from the

assurance that Belisarius had landed at the port; and, without

numbering his forces, they firmly relied on the humanity, the

courage, and the skill of their great deliverer.

12 (return) [ The avarice of Bessas is not dissembled by

Procopius, (l. iii. c. 17, 20.) He expiated the loss of Rome by

the glorious conquest of Petraea, (Goth. l. iv. c. 12;) but the

same vices followed him from the Tyber to the Phasis, (c. 13;)

and the historian is equally true to the merits and defects of

his character. The chastisement which the author of the romance

of Belisaire has inflicted on the oppressor of Rome is more

agreeable to justice than to history.]

Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death OF

Justinian.—Part II.

The foresight of Totila had raised obstacles worthy of such an

antagonist. Ninety furlongs below the city, in the narrowest part

of the river, he joined the two banks by strong and solid timbers

in the form of a bridge, on which he erected two lofty towers,

manned by the bravest of his Goths, and profusely stored with

missile weapons and engines of offence. The approach of the

bridge and towers was covered by a strong and massy chain of

iron; and the chain, at either end, on the opposite sides of the

Tyber, was defended by a numerous and chosen detachment of

archers. But the enterprise of forcing these barriers, and

relieving the capital, displays a shining example of the boldness

and conduct of Belisarius. His cavalry advanced from the port

along the public road, to awe the motions, and distract the

attention of the enemy. His infantry and provisions were

distributed in two hundred large boats; and each boat was

shielded by a high rampart of thick planks, pierced with many

small holes for the discharge of missile weapons. In the front,

two large vessels were linked together to sustain a floating

castle, which commanded the towers of the bridge, and contained a

magazine of fire, sulphur, and bitumen. The whole fleet, which

the general led in person, was laboriously moved against the

current of the river. The chain yielded to their weight, and the

enemies who guarded the banks were either slain or scattered. As

soon as they touched the principal barrier, the fire-ship was

instantly grappled to the bridge; one of the towers, with two

hundred Goths, was consumed by the flames; the assailants shouted

victory; and Rome was saved, if the wisdom of Belisarius had not

been defeated by the misconduct of his officers. He had

previously sent orders to Bessas to second his operations by a

timely sally from the town; and he had fixed his lieutenant,

Isaac, by a peremptory command, to the station of the port. But

avarice rendered Bessas immovable; while the youthful ardor of

Isaac delivered him into the hands of a superior enemy. The

exaggerated rumor of his defeat was hastily carried to the ears

of Belisarius: he paused; betrayed in that single moment of his

life some emotions of surprise and perplexity; and reluctantly

sounded a retreat to save his wife Antonina, his treasures, and

the only harbor which he possessed on the Tuscan coast. The

vexation of his mind produced an ardent and almost mortal fever;

and Rome was left without protection to the mercy or indignation

of Totila. The continuance of hostilities had imbittered the

national hatred: the Arian clergy was ignominiously driven from

Rome; Pelagius, the archdeacon, returned without success from an

embassy to the Gothic camp; and a Sicilian bishop, the envoy or

nuncio of the pope, was deprived of both his hands, for daring to

utter falsehoods in the service of the church and state.

Famine had relaxed the strength and discipline of the garrison of

Rome. They could derive no effectual service from a dying people;

and the inhuman avarice of the merchant at length absorbed the

vigilance of the governor. Four Isaurian sentinels, while their

companions slept, and their officers were absent, descended by a

rope from the wall, and secretly proposed to the Gothic king to

introduce his troops into the city. The offer was entertained

with coldness and suspicion; they returned in safety; they twice

repeated their visit; the place was twice examined; the

conspiracy was known and disregarded; and no sooner had Totila

consented to the attempt, than they unbarred the Asinarian gate,

and gave admittance to the Goths. Till the dawn of day, they

halted in order of battle, apprehensive of treachery or ambush;

but the troops of Bessas, with their leader, had already escaped;

and when the king was pressed to disturb their retreat, he

prudently replied, that no sight could be more grateful than that

of a flying enemy. The patricians, who were still possessed of

horses, Decius, Basilius, &c. accompanied the governor; their

brethren, among whom Olybrius, Orestes, and Maximus, are named by

the historian, took refuge in the church of St. Peter: but the

assertion, that only five hundred persons remained in the

capital, inspires some doubt of the fidelity either of his

narrative or of his text. As soon as daylight had displayed the

entire victory of the Goths, their monarch devoutly visited the

tomb of the prince of the apostles; but while he prayed at the

altar, twenty-five soldiers, and sixty citizens, were put to the

sword in the vestibule of the temple. The archdeacon Pelagius 13

stood before him, with the Gospels in his hand. “O Lord, be

merciful to your servant.” “Pelagius,” said Totila, with an

insulting smile, “your pride now condescends to become a

suppliant.” “I am a suppliant,” replied the prudent archdeacon;

“God has now made us your subjects, and as your subjects, we are

entitled to your clemency.” At his humble prayer, the lives of

the Romans were spared; and the chastity of the maids and matrons

was preserved inviolate from the passions of the hungry soldiers.

But they were rewarded by the freedom of pillage, after the most

precious spoils had been reserved for the royal treasury. The

houses of the senators were plentifully stored with gold and

silver; and the avarice of Bessas had labored with so much guilt

and shame for the benefit of the conqueror. In this revolution,

the sons and daughters of Roman consuls tasted the misery which

they had spurned or relieved, wandered in tattered garments

through the streets of the city and begged their bread, perhaps

without success, before the gates of their hereditary mansions.

The riches of Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus and widow of

Boethius, had been generously devoted to alleviate the calamities

of famine. But the Barbarians were exasperated by the report,

that she had prompted the people to overthrow the statues of the

great Theodoric; and the life of that venerable matron would have

been sacrificed to his memory, if Totila had not respected her

birth, her virtues, and even the pious motive of her revenge. The

next day he pronounced two orations, to congratulate and admonish

his victorious Goths, and to reproach the senate, as the vilest

of slaves, with their perjury, folly, and ingratitude; sternly

declaring, that their estates and honors were justly forfeited to

the companions of his arms. Yet he consented to forgive their

revolt; and the senators repaid his clemency by despatching

circular letters to their tenants and vassals in the provinces of

Italy, strictly to enjoin them to desert the standard of the

Greeks, to cultivate their lands in peace, and to learn from

their masters the duty of obedience to a Gothic sovereign.

Against the city which had so long delayed the course of his

victories, he appeared inexorable: one third of the walls, in

different parts, were demolished by his command; fire and engines

prepared to consume or subvert the most stately works of

antiquity; and the world was astonished by the fatal decree, that

Rome should be changed into a pasture for cattle. The firm and

temperate remonstrance of Belisarius suspended the execution; he

warned the Barbarian not to sully his fame by the destruction of

those monuments which were the glory of the dead, and the delight

of the living; and Totila was persuaded, by the advice of an

enemy, to preserve Rome as the ornament of his kingdom, or the

fairest pledge of peace and reconciliation. When he had signified

to the ambassadors of Belisarius his intention of sparing the

city, he stationed an army at the distance of one hundred and

twenty furlongs, to observe the motions of the Roman general.

With the remainder of his forces he marched into Lucania and

Apulia, and occupied on the summit of Mount Garganus 14 one of

the camps of Hannibal. 15 The senators were dragged in his train,

and afterwards confined in the fortresses of Campania: the

citizens, with their wives and children, were dispersed in exile;

and during forty days Rome was abandoned to desolate and dreary

solitude. 16

13 (return) [ During the long exile, and after the death of

Vigilius, the Roman church was governed, at first by the

archdeacon, and at length (A. D 655) by the pope Pelagius, who

was not thought guiltless of the sufferings of his predecessor.

See the original lives of the popes under the name of Anastasius,

(Muratori, Script. Rer. Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i. p. 130, 131,)

who relates several curious incidents of the sieges of Rome and

the wars of Italy.]

14 (return) [ Mount Garganus, now Monte St. Angelo, in the

kingdom of Naples, runs three hundred stadia into the Adriatic

Sea, (Strab.—vi. p. 436,) and in the darker ages was illustrated

by the apparition, miracles, and church, of St. Michael the

archangel. Horace, a native of Apulia or Lucania, had seen the

elms and oaks of Garganus laboring and bellowing with the north

wind that blew on that lofty coast, (Carm. ii. 9, Epist. ii. i.

201.)]

15 (return) [ I cannot ascertain this particular camp of

Hannibal; but the Punic quarters were long and often in the

neighborhood of Arpi, (T. Liv. xxii. 9, 12, xxiv. 3, &c.)]

16 (return) [ Totila.... Romam ingreditur.... ac evertit muros,

domos aliquantas igni comburens, ac omnes Romanorum res in

praedam ac cepit, hos ipsos Romanos in Campaniam captivos

abduxit. Post quam devastationem, xl. autamp lius dies, Roma fuit

ita desolata, ut nemo ibi hominum, nisi (nulloe?) bestiae

morarentur, (Marcellin. in Chron. p. 54.)]

The loss of Rome was speedily retrieved by an action, to which,

according to the event, the public opinion would apply the names

of rashness or heroism. After the departure of Totila, the Roman

general sallied from the port at the head of a thousand horse,

cut in pieces the enemy who opposed his progress, and visited

with pity and reverence the vacant space of the eternal city.

Resolved to maintain a station so conspicuous in the eyes of

mankind, he summoned the greatest part of his troops to the

standard which he erected on the Capitol: the old inhabitants

were recalled by the love of their country and the hopes of food;

and the keys of Rome were sent a second time to the emperor

Justinian. The walls, as far as they had been demolished by the

Goths, were repaired with rude and dissimilar materials; the

ditch was restored; iron spikes 17 were profusely scattered in

the highways to annoy the feet of the horses; and as new gates

could not suddenly be procured, the entrance was guarded by a

Spartan rampart of his bravest soldiers. At the expiration of

twenty-five days, Totila returned by hasty marches from Apulia to

avenge the injury and disgrace. Belisarius expected his approach.

The Goths were thrice repulsed in three general assaults; they

lost the flower of their troops; the royal standard had almost

fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the fame of Totila sunk,

as it had risen, with the fortune of his arms. Whatever skill and

courage could achieve, had been performed by the Roman general:

it remained only that Justinian should terminate, by a strong and

seasonable effort, the war which he had ambitiously undertaken.

The indolence, perhaps the impotence, of a prince who despised

his enemies, and envied his servants, protracted the calamities

of Italy. After a long silence, Belisarius was commanded to leave

a sufficient garrison at Rome, and to transport himself into the

province of Lucania, whose inhabitants, inflamed by Catholic

zeal, had cast away the yoke of their Arian conquerors. In this

ignoble warfare, the hero, invincible against the power of the

Barbarians, was basely vanquished by the delay, the disobedience,

and the cowardice of his own officers. He reposed in his winter

quarters of Crotona, in the full assurance, that the two passes

of the Lucanian hills were guarded by his cavalry. They were

betrayed by treachery or weakness; and the rapid march of the

Goths scarcely allowed time for the escape of Belisarius to the

coast of Sicily. At length a fleet and army were assembled for

the relief of Ruscianum, or Rossano, 18 a fortress sixty furlongs

from the ruins of Sybaris, where the nobles of Lucania had taken

refuge. In the first attempt, the Roman forces were dissipated by

a storm. In the second, they approached the shore; but they saw

the hills covered with archers, the landing-place defended by a

line of spears, and the king of the Goths impatient for battle.

The conqueror of Italy retired with a sigh, and continued to

languish, inglorious and inactive, till Antonina, who had been

sent to Constantinople to solicit succors, obtained, after the

death of the empress, the permission of his return.

17 (return) [ The tribuli are small engines with four spikes, one

fixed in the ground, the three others erect or adverse,

(Procopius, Gothic. l. iii. c. 24. Just. Lipsius, Poliorcetwv, l.

v. c. 3.) The metaphor was borrowed from the tribuli,

(land-caltrops,) an herb with a prickly fruit, commex in Italy.

(Martin, ad Virgil. Georgic. i. 153 vol. ii. p. 33.)]

18 (return) [ Ruscia, the navale Thuriorum, was transferred to

the distance of sixty stadia to Ruscianum, Rossano, an

archbishopric without suffragans. The republic of Sybaris is now

the estate of the duke of Corigliano. (Riedesel, Travels into

Magna Graecia and Sicily, p. 166—171.)]

The five last campaigns of Belisarius might abate the envy of his

competitors, whose eyes had been dazzled and wounded by the blaze

of his former glory. Instead of delivering Italy from the Goths,

he had wandered like a fugitive along the coast, without daring

to march into the country, or to accept the bold and repeated

challenge of Totila. Yet, in the judgment of the few who could

discriminate counsels from events, and compare the instruments

with the execution, he appeared a more consummate master of the

art of war, than in the season of his prosperity, when he

presented two captive kings before the throne of Justinian. The

valor of Belisarius was not chilled by age: his prudence was

matured by experience; but the moral virtues of humanity and

justice seem to have yielded to the hard necessity of the times.

The parsimony or poverty of the emperor compelled him to deviate

from the rule of conduct which had deserved the love and

confidence of the Italians. The war was maintained by the

oppression of Ravenna, Sicily, and all the faithful subjects of

the empire; and the rigorous prosecution of Herodian provoked

that injured or guilty officer to deliver Spoleto into the hands

of the enemy. The avarice of Antonina, which had been some times

diverted by love, now reigned without a rival in her breast.

Belisarius himself had always understood, that riches, in a

corrupt age, are the support and ornament of personal merit. And

it cannot be presumed that he should stain his honor for the

public service, without applying a part of the spoil to his

private emolument. The hero had escaped the sword of the

Barbarians. But the dagger of conspiracy 19 awaited his return.

In the midst of wealth and honors, Artaban, who had chastised the

African tyrant, complained of the ingratitude of courts. He

aspired to Praejecta, the emperor’s niece, who wished to reward

her deliverer; but the impediment of his previous marriage was

asserted by the piety of Theodora. The pride of royal descent was

irritated by flattery; and the service in which he gloried had

proved him capable of bold and sanguinary deeds. The death of

Justinian was resolved, but the conspirators delayed the

execution till they could surprise Belisarius disarmed, and

naked, in the palace of Constantinople. Not a hope could be

entertained of shaking his long-tried fidelity; and they justly

dreaded the revenge, or rather the justice, of the veteran

general, who might speedily assemble an army in Thrace to punish

the assassins, and perhaps to enjoy the fruits of their crime.

Delay afforded time for rash communications and honest

confessions: Artaban and his accomplices were condemned by the

senate, but the extreme clemency of Justinian detained them in

the gentle confinement of the palace, till he pardoned their

flagitious attempt against his throne and life. If the emperor

forgave his enemies, he must cordially embrace a friend whose

victories were alone remembered, and who was endeared to his

prince by the recent circumstances of their common danger.

Belisarius reposed from his toils, in the high station of general

of the East and count of the domestics; and the older consuls and

patricians respectfully yielded the precedency of rank to the

peerless merit of the first of the Romans. 20 The first of the

Romans still submitted to be the slave of his wife; but the

servitude of habit and affection became less disgraceful when the

death of Theodora had removed the baser influence of fear.

Joannina, their daughter, and the sole heiress of their fortunes,

was betrothed to Anastasius, the grandson, or rather the nephew,

of the empress, 21 whose kind interposition forwarded the

consummation of their youthful loves. But the power of Theodora

expired, the parents of Joannina returned, and her honor, perhaps

her happiness, were sacrificed to the revenge of an unfeeling

mother, who dissolved the imperfect nuptials before they had been

ratified by the ceremonies of the church. 22

19 (return) [ This conspiracy is related by Procopius (Gothic. l.

iii. c. 31, 32) with such freedom and candor, that the liberty of

the Anecdotes gives him nothing to add.]

20 (return) [ The honors of Belisarius are gladly commemorated by

his secretary, (Procop. Goth. l. iii. c. 35, l. iv. c. 21.) This

title is ill translated, at least in this instance, by præfectus

praetorio; and to a military character, magister militum is more

proper and applicable, (Ducange, Gloss. Graec. p. 1458, 1459.)]

21 (return) [ Alemannus, (ad Hist. Arcanum, p. 68,) Ducange,

(Familiae Byzant. p. 98,) and Heineccius, (Hist. Juris Civilis,

p. 434,) all three represent Anastasius as the son of the

daughter of Theodora; and their opinion firmly reposes on the

unambiguous testimony of Procopius, (Anecdot. c. 4, 5,—twice

repeated.) And yet I will remark, 1. That in the year 547,

Theodora could sarcely have a grandson of the age of puberty; 2.

That we are totally ignorant of this daughter and her husband;

and, 3. That Theodora concealed her bastards, and that her

grandson by Justinian would have been heir apparent of the

empire.]

22 (return) [ The sins of the hero in Italy and after his return,

are manifested, and most probably swelled, by the author of the

Anecdotes, (c. 4, 5.) The designs of Antonina were favored by the

fluctuating jurisprudence of Justinian. On the law of marriage

and divorce, that emperor was trocho versatilior, (Heineccius,

Element Juris Civil. ad Ordinem Pandect. P. iv. No. 233.)]

Before the departure of Belisarius, Perusia was besieged, and few

cities were impregnable to the Gothic arms. Ravenna, Ancona, and

Crotona, still resisted the Barbarians; and when Totila asked in

marriage one of the daughters of France, he was stung by the just

reproach that the king of Italy was unworthy of his title till it

was acknowledged by the Roman people. Three thousand of the

bravest soldiers had been left to defend the capital. On the

suspicion of a monopoly, they massacred the governor, and

announced to Justinian, by a deputation of the clergy, that

unless their offence was pardoned, and their arrears were

satisfied, they should instantly accept the tempting offers of

Totila. But the officer who succeeded to the command (his name

was Diogenes) deserved their esteem and confidence; and the

Goths, instead of finding an easy conquest, encountered a

vigorous resistance from the soldiers and people, who patiently

endured the loss of the port and of all maritime supplies. The

siege of Rome would perhaps have been raised, if the liberality

of Totila to the Isaurians had not encouraged some of their venal

countrymen to copy the example of treason. In a dark night, while

the Gothic trumpets sounded on another side, they silently opened

the gate of St. Paul: the Barbarians rushed into the city; and

the flying garrison was intercepted before they could reach the

harbor of Centumcellae. A soldier trained in the school of

Belisarius, Paul of Cilicia, retired with four hundred men to the

mole of Hadrian. They repelled the Goths; but they felt the

approach of famine; and their aversion to the taste of

horse-flesh confirmed their resolution to risk the event of a

desperate and decisive sally. But their spirit insensibly stooped

to the offers of capitulation; they retrieved their arrears of

pay, and preserved their arms and horses, by enlisting in the

service of Totila; their chiefs, who pleaded a laudable

attachment to their wives and children in the East, were

dismissed with honor; and above four hundred enemies, who had

taken refuge in the sanctuaries, were saved by the clemency of

the victor. He no longer entertained a wish of destroying the

edifices of Rome, 23 which he now respected as the seat of the

Gothic kingdom: the senate and people were restored to their

country; the means of subsistence were liberally provided; and

Totila, in the robe of peace, exhibited the equestrian games of

the circus. Whilst he amused the eyes of the multitude, four

hundred vessels were prepared for the embarkation of his troops.

The cities of Rhegium and Tarentum were reduced: he passed into

Sicily, the object of his implacable resentment; and the island

was stripped of its gold and silver, of the fruits of the earth,

and of an infinite number of horses, sheep, and oxen. Sardinia

and Corsica obeyed the fortune of Italy; and the sea-coast of

Greece was visited by a fleet of three hundred galleys. 24 The

Goths were landed in Corcyra and the ancient continent of Epirus;

they advanced as far as Nicopolis, the trophy of Augustus, and

Dodona, 25 once famous by the oracle of Jove. In every step of

his victories, the wise Barbarian repeated to Justinian the

desire of peace, applauded the concord of their predecessors, and

offered to employ the Gothic arms in the service of the empire.

23 (return) [ The Romans were still attached to the monuments of

their ancestors; and according to Procopius, (Goth. l. iv. c.

22,) the gallery of Aeneas, of a single rank of oars, 25 feet in

breadth, 120 in length, was preserved entire in the navalia, near

Monte Testaceo, at the foot of the Aventine, (Nardini, Roma

Antica, l. vii. c. 9, p. 466. Donatus, Rom Antiqua, l. iv. c. 13,

p. 334) But all antiquity is ignorant of relic.]

24 (return) [ In these seas Procopius searched without success

for the Isle of Calypso. He was shown, at Phaeacia, or Cocyra,

the petrified ship of Ulysses, (Odyss. xiii. 163;) but he found

it a recent fabric of many stones, dedicated by a merchant to

Jupiter Cassius, (l. iv. c. 22.) Eustathius had supposed it to be

the fanciful likeness of a rock.]

25 (return) [ M. D’Anville (Memoires de l’Acad. tom. xxxii. p.

513—528) illustrates the Gulf of Ambracia; but he cannot

ascertain the situation of Dodona. A country in sight of Italy is

less known than the wilds of America. Note: On the site of Dodona

compare Walpole’s Travels in the East, vol. ii. p. 473; Col.

Leake’s Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 163; and a dissertation by

the present bishop of Lichfield (Dr. Butler) in the appendix to

Hughes’s Travels, vol. i. p. 511.—M.]

Justinian was deaf to the voice of peace: but he neglected the

prosecution of war; and the indolence of his temper disappointed,

in some degree, the obstinacy of his passions. From this salutary

slumber the emperor was awakened by the pope Vigilius and the

patrician Cethegus, who appeared before his throne, and adjured

him, in the name of God and the people, to resume the conquest

and deliverance of Italy. In the choice of the generals, caprice,

as well as judgment, was shown. A fleet and army sailed for the

relief of Sicily, under the conduct of Liberius; but his youth

2511 and want of experience were afterwards discovered, and

before he touched the shores of the island he was overtaken by

his successor. In the place of Liberius, the conspirator Artaban

was raised from a prison to military honors; in the pious

presumption, that gratitude would animate his valor and fortify

his allegiance. Belisarius reposed in the shade of his laurels,

but the command of the principal army was reserved for Germanus,

26 the emperor’s nephew, whose rank and merit had been long

depressed by the jealousy of the court. Theodora had injured him

in the rights of a private citizen, the marriage of his children,

and the testament of his brother; and although his conduct was

pure and blameless, Justinian was displeased that he should be

thought worthy of the confidence of the malcontents. The life of

Germanus was a lesson of implicit obedience: he nobly refused to

prostitute his name and character in the factions of the circus:

the gravity of his manners was tempered by innocent cheerfulness;

and his riches were lent without interest to indigent or

deserving friends. His valor had formerly triumphed over the

Sclavonians of the Danube and the rebels of Africa: the first

report of his promotion revived the hopes of the Italians; and he

was privately assured, that a crowd of Roman deserters would

abandon, on his approach, the standard of Totila. His second

marriage with Malasontha, the granddaughter of Theodoric endeared

Germanus to the Goths themselves; and they marched with

reluctance against the father of a royal infant the last

offspring of the line of Amali. 27 A splendid allowance was

assigned by the emperor: the general contributed his private

fortune: his two sons were popular and active and he surpassed,

in the promptitude and success of his levies the expectation of

mankind. He was permitted to select some squadrons of Thracian

cavalry: the veterans, as well as the youth of Constantinople and

Europe, engaged their voluntary service; and as far as the heart

of Germany, his fame and liberality attracted the aid of the

Barbarians. 2711 The Romans advanced to Sardica; an army of

Sclavonians fled before their march; but within two days of their

final departure, the designs of Germanus were terminated by his

malady and death. Yet the impulse which he had given to the

Italian war still continued to act with energy and effect. The

maritime towns Ancona, Crotona, Centumcellae, resisted the

assaults of Totila. Sicily was reduced by the zeal of Artaban,

and the Gothic navy was defeated near the coast of the Adriatic.

The two fleets were almost equal, forty-seven to fifty galleys:

the victory was decided by the knowledge and dexterity of the

Greeks; but the ships were so closely grappled, that only twelve

of the Goths escaped from this unfortunate conflict. They

affected to depreciate an element in which they were unskilled;

but their own experience confirmed the truth of a maxim, that the

master of the sea will always acquire the dominion of the land.

2511 (return) [ This is a singular mistake. Gibbon must have

hastily caught at his inexperience, and concluded that it must

have been from youth. Lord Mahon has pointed out this error, p.

401. I should add that in the last 4to. edition, corrected by

Gibbon, it stands “want of youth and experience;”—but Gibbon can

scarcely have intended such a phrase.—M.]

26 (return) [ See the acts of Germanus in the public (Vandal. l.

ii, c. 16, 17, 18 Goth. l. iii. c. 31, 32) and private history,

(Anecdot. c. 5,) and those of his son Justin, in Agathias, (l.

iv. p. 130, 131.) Notwithstanding an ambiguous expression of

Jornandes, fratri suo, Alemannus has proved that he was the son

of the emperor’s brother.]

27 (return) [ Conjuncta Aniciorum gens cum Amala stirpe spem

adhuc utii usque generis promittit, (Jornandes, c. 60, p. 703.)

He wrote at Ravenna before the death of Totila]

2711 (return) [ See note 31, p. 268.—M.]

28 (return) [ The third book of Procopius is terminated by the

death of Germanus, (Add. l. iv. c. 23, 24, 25, 26.)]

After the loss of Germanus, the nations were provoked to smile,

by the strange intelligence, that the command of the Roman armies

was given to a eunuch. But the eunuch Narses 29 is ranked among

the few who have rescued that unhappy name from the contempt and

hatred of mankind. A feeble, diminutive body concealed the soul

of a statesman and a warrior. His youth had been employed in the

management of the loom and distaff, in the cares of the

household, and the service of female luxury; but while his hands

were busy, he secretly exercised the faculties of a vigorous and

discerning mind. A stranger to the schools and the camp, he

studied in the palace to dissemble, to flatter, and to persuade;

and as soon as he approached the person of the emperor, Justinian

listened with surprise and pleasure to the manly counsels of his

chamberlain and private treasurer. 30 The talents of Narses were

tried and improved in frequent embassies: he led an army into

Italy, acquired a practical knowledge of the war and the country,

and presumed to strive with the genius of Belisarius. Twelve

years after his return, the eunuch was chosen to achieve the

conquest which had been left imperfect by the first of the Roman

generals. Instead of being dazzled by vanity or emulation, he

seriously declared that, unless he were armed with an adequate

force, he would never consent to risk his own glory and that of

his sovereign. Justinian granted to the favorite what he might

have denied to the hero: the Gothic war was rekindled from its

ashes, and the preparations were not unworthy of the ancient

majesty of the empire. The key of the public treasure was put

into his hand, to collect magazines, to levy soldiers, to

purchase arms and horses, to discharge the arrears of pay, and to

tempt the fidelity of the fugitives and deserters. The troops of

Germanus were still in arms; they halted at Salona in the

expectation of a new leader; and legions of subjects and allies

were created by the well-known liberality of the eunuch Narses.

The king of the Lombards 31 satisfied or surpassed the

obligations of a treaty, by lending two thousand two hundred of

his bravest warriors, 3111 who were followed by three thousand of

their martial attendants. Three thousand Heruli fought on

horseback under Philemuth, their native chief; and the noble

Aratus, who adopted the manners and discipline of Rome, conducted

a band of veterans of the same nation. Dagistheus was released

from prison to command the Huns; and Kobad, the grandson and

nephew of the great king, was conspicuous by the regal tiara at

the head of his faithful Persians, who had devoted themselves to

the fortunes of their prince. 32 Absolute in the exercise of his

authority, more absolute in the affection of his troops, Narses

led a numerous and gallant army from Philippopolis to Salona,

from whence he coasted the eastern side of the Adriatic as far as

the confines of Italy. His progress was checked. The East could

not supply vessels capable of transporting such multitudes of men

and horses. The Franks, who, in the general confusion, had

usurped the greater part of the Venetian province, refused a free

passage to the friends of the Lombards. The station of Verona was

occupied by Teias, with the flower of the Gothic forces; and that

skilful commander had overspread the adjacent country with the

fall of woods and the inundation of waters. 33 In this

perplexity, an officer of experience proposed a measure, secure

by the appearance of rashness; that the Roman army should

cautiously advance along the seashore, while the fleet preceded

their march, and successively cast a bridge of boats over the

mouths of the rivers, the Timavus, the Brenta, the Adige, and the

Po, that fall into the Adriatic to the north of Ravenna. Nine

days he reposed in the city, collected the fragments of the

Italian army, and marching towards Rimini to meet the defiance of

an insulting enemy.

29 (return) [ Procopius relates the whole series of this second

Gothic war and the victory of Narses, (l. iv. c. 21, 26—35.) A

splendid scene. Among the six subjects of epic poetry which Tasso

revolved in his mind, he hesitated between the conquests of Italy

by Belisarius and by Narses, (Hayley’s Works, vol. iv. p. 70.)]

30 (return) [ The country of Narses is unknown, since he must not

be confounded with the Persarmenian. Procopius styles him (see

Goth. l. ii. c. 13); Paul Warnefrid, (l. ii. c. 3, p. 776,)

Chartularius: Marcellinus adds the name of Cubicularius. In an

inscription on the Salarian bridge he is entitled Ex-consul,

Ex-praepositus, Cubiculi Patricius, (Mascou, Hist. of the

Germans, (l. xiii. c. 25.) The law of Theodosius against ennuchs

was obsolete or abolished, Annotation xx.,) but the foolish

prophecy of the Romans subsisted in full vigor, (Procop. l. iv.

c. 21.) * Note: Lord Mahon supposes them both to have been

Persarmenians. Note, p. 256.—M.]

31 (return) [ Paul Warnefrid, the Lombard, records with

complacency the succor, service, and honorable dismission of his

countrymen—reipublicae Romanae adversus aemulos adjutores

fuerant, (l. ii. c. i. p. 774, edit. Grot.) I am surprised that

Alboin, their martial king, did not lead his subjects in person.

* Note: The Lombards were still at war with the Gepidae. See

Procop. Goth. lib. iv. p. 25.—M.]

3111 (return) [ Gibbon has blindly followed the translation of

Maltretus: Bis mille ducentos—while the original Greek says

expressly something else, (Goth. lib. iv. c. 26.) In like manner,

(p. 266,) he draws volunteers from Germany, on the authority of

Cousin, who, in one place, has mistaken Germanus for Germania.

Yet only a few pages further we find Gibbon loudly condemning the

French and Latin readers of Procopius. Lord Mahon, p. 403. The

first of these errors remains uncorrected in the new edition of

the Byzantines.—M.]

32 (return) [ He was, if not an impostor, the son of the blind

Zames, saved by compassion, and educated in the Byzantine court

by the various motives of policy, pride, and generosity, (Procop.

Persic. l. i. c. 23.)]

33 (return) [ In the time of Augustus, and in the middle ages,

the whole waste from Aquileia to Ravenna was covered with woods,

lakes, and morasses. Man has subdued nature, and the land has

been cultivated since the waters are confined and embanked. See

the learned researches of Muratori, (Antiquitat. Italiae Medii

Aevi. tom. i. dissert xxi. p. 253, 254,) from Vitruvius, Strabo,

Herodian, old charters, and local knowledge.]

Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death Of

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.)]

Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death Of

Justinian.—Part IV.

About two years after the last victory of Belisarius, the emperor

returned from a Thracian journey of health, or business, or

devotion. Justinian was afflicted by a pain in his head; and his

private entry countenanced the rumor of his death. Before the

third hour of the day, the bakers’ shops were plundered of their

bread, the houses were shut, and every citizen, with hope or

terror, prepared for the impending tumult. The senators

themselves, fearful and suspicious, were convened at the ninth

hour; and the præfect received their commands to visit every

quarter of the city, and proclaim a general illumination for the

recovery of the emperor’s health. The ferment subsided; but every

accident betrayed the impotence of the government, and the

factious temper of the people: the guards were disposed to mutiny

as often as their quarters were changed, or their pay was

withheld: the frequent calamities of fires and earthquakes

afforded the opportunities of disorder; the disputes of the blues

and greens, of the orthodox and heretics, degenerated into bloody

battles; and, in the presence of the Persian ambassador,

Justinian blushed for himself and for his subjects. Capricious

pardon and arbitrary punishment imbittered the irksomeness and

discontent of a long reign: a conspiracy was formed in the

palace; and, unless we are deceived by the names of Marcellus and

Sergius, the most virtuous and the most profligate of the

courtiers were associated in the same designs. They had fixed the

time of the execution; their rank gave them access to the royal

banquet; and their black slaves 65 were stationed in the

vestibule and porticos, to announce the death of the tyrant, and

to excite a sedition in the capital. But the indiscretion of an

accomplice saved the poor remnant of the days of Justinian. The

conspirators were detected and seized, with daggers hidden under

their garments: Marcellus died by his own hand, and Sergius was

dragged from the sanctuary. 66 Pressed by remorse, or tempted by

the hopes of safety, he accused two officers of the household of

Belisarius; and torture forced them to declare that they had

acted according to the secret instructions of their patron. 67

Posterity will not hastily believe that a hero who, in the vigor

of life, had disdained the fairest offers of ambition and

revenge, should stoop to the murder of his prince, whom he could

not long expect to survive. His followers were impatient to fly;

but flight must have been supported by rebellion, and he had

lived enough for nature and for glory. Belisarius appeared before

the council with less fear than indignation: after forty years’

service, the emperor had prejudged his guilt; and injustice was

sanctified by the presence and authority of the patriarch. The

life of Belisarius was graciously spared; but his fortunes were

sequestered, and, from December to July, he was guarded as a

prisoner in his own palace. At length his innocence was

acknowledged; his freedom and honor were restored; and death,

which might be hastened by resentment and grief, removed him from

the world in about eight months after his deliverance. The name

of Belisarius can never die but instead of the funeral, the

monuments, the statues, so justly due to his memory, I only read,

that his treasures, the spoil of the Goths and Vandals, were

immediately confiscated by the emperor. Some decent portion was

reserved, however for the use of his widow: and as Antonina had

much to repent, she devoted the last remains of her life and

fortune to the foundation of a convent. Such is the simple and

genuine narrative of the fall of Belisarius and the ingratitude

of Justinian. 68 That he was deprived of his eyes, and reduced by

envy to beg his bread, 6811 “Give a penny to Belisarius the

general!” is a fiction of later times, 69 which has obtained

credit, or rather favor, as a strange example of the vicissitudes

of fortune. 70

65 (return) [ They could scarcely be real Indians; and the

Aethiopians, sometimes known by that name, were never used by the

ancients as guards or followers: they were the trifling, though

costly objects of female and royal luxury, (Terent. Eunuch. act.

i. scene ii Sueton. in August. c. 83, with a good note of

Casaubon, in Caligula, c. 57.)]

66 (return) [ The Sergius (Vandal. l. ii. c. 21, 22, Anecdot. c.

5) and Marcellus (Goth. l. iii. c. 32) are mentioned by

Procopius. See Theophanes, p. 197, 201. * Note: Some words, “the

acts of,” or “the crimes cf,” appear to have false from the text.

The omission is in all the editions I have consulted.—M.]

67 (return) [ Alemannus, (p. quotes an old Byzantian Ms., which

has been printed in the Imperium Orientale of Banduri.)]

68 (return) [ Of the disgrace and restoration of Belisarius, the

genuine original record is preserved in the Fragment of John

Malala (tom. ii. p. 234—243) and the exact Chronicle of

Theophanes, (p. 194—204.) Cedrenus (Compend. p. 387, 388) and

Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 69) seem to hesitate between the

obsolete truth and the growing falsehood.]

6811 (return) [ Le Beau, following Allemannus, conceives that

Belisarius was confounded with John of Cappadocia, who was thus

reduced to beggary, (vol. ix. p. 58, 449.) Lord Mahon has, with

considerable learning, and on the authority of a yet unquoted

writer of the eleventh century, endeavored to reestablish the old

tradition. I cannot acknowledge that I have been convinced, and

am inclined to subscribe to the theory of Le Beau.—M.]

69 (return) [ The source of this idle fable may be derived from a

miscellaneous work of the xiith century, the Chiliads of John

Tzetzes, a monk, (Basil. 1546, ad calcem Lycophront. Colon.

Allobrog. 1614, in Corp. Poet. Graec.) He relates the blindness

and beggary of Belisarius in ten vulgar or political verses,

(Chiliad iii. No. 88, 339—348, in Corp. Poet. Graec. tom. ii. p.

311.) This moral or romantic tale was imported into Italy with

the language and manuscripts of Greece; repeated before the end

of the xvth century by Crinitus, Pontanus, and Volaterranus,

attacked by Alciat, for the honor of the law; and defended by

Baronius, (A.D. 561, No. 2, &c.,) for the honor of the church.

Yet Tzetzes himself had read in other chronicles, that Belisarius

did not lose his sight, and that he recovered his fame and

fortunes. * Note: I know not where Gibbon found Tzetzes to be a

monk; I suppose he considered his bad verses a proof of his

monachism. Compare to Gerbelius in Kiesling’s edition of

Tzetzes.—M.]

70 (return) [ The statue in the villa Borghese at Rome, in a

sitting posture, with an open hand, which is vulgarly given to

Belisarius, may be ascribed with more dignity to Augustus in the

act of propitiating Nemesis, (Winckelman, Hist. de l’Art, tom.

iii. p. 266.) Ex nocturno visu etiam stipem, quotannis, die

certo, emendicabat a populo, cavana manum asses porrigentibus

praebens, (Sueton. in August. c. 91, with an excellent note of

Casaubon.) * Note: Lord Mahon abandons the statue, as altogether

irreconcilable with the state of the arts at this period, (p.

472.)—M.]

If the emperor could rejoice in the death of Belisarius, he

enjoyed the base satisfaction only eight months, the last period

of a reign of thirty-eight years, and a life of eighty-three

years. It would be difficult to trace the character of a prince

who is not the most conspicuous object of his own times: but the

confessions of an enemy may be received as the safest evidence of

his virtues. The resemblance of Justinian to the bust of

Domitian, is maliciously urged; 71 with the acknowledgment,

however, of a well-proportioned figure, a ruddy complexion, and a

pleasing countenance. The emperor was easy of access, patient of

hearing, courteous and affable in discourse, and a master of the

angry passions which rage with such destructive violence in the

breast of a despot. Procopius praises his temper, to reproach him

with calm and deliberate cruelty: but in the conspiracies which

attacked his authority and person, a more candid judge will

approve the justice, or admire the clemency, of Justinian. He

excelled in the private virtues of chastity and temperance: but

the impartial love of beauty would have been less mischievous

than his conjugal tenderness for Theodora; and his abstemious

diet was regulated, not by the prudence of a philosopher, but the

superstition of a monk. His repasts were short and frugal: on

solemn fasts, he contented himself with water and vegetables; and

such was his strength, as well as fervor, that he frequently

passed two days, and as many nights, without tasting any food.

The measure of his sleep was not less rigorous: after the repose

of a single hour, the body was awakened by the soul, and, to the

astonishment of his chamberlain, Justinian walked or studied till

the morning light. Such restless application prolonged his time

for the acquisition of knowledge 72 and the despatch of business;

and he might seriously deserve the reproach of confounding, by

minute and preposterous diligence, the general order of his

administration. The emperor professed himself a musician and

architect, a poet and philosopher, a lawyer and theologian; and

if he failed in the enterprise of reconciling the Christian

sects, the review of the Roman jurisprudence is a noble monument

of his spirit and industry. In the government of the empire, he

was less wise, or less successful: the age was unfortunate; the

people was oppressed and discontented; Theodora abused her power;

a succession of bad ministers disgraced his judgment; and

Justinian was neither beloved in his life, nor regretted at his

death. The love of fame was deeply implanted in his breast, but

he condescended to the poor ambition of titles, honors, and

contemporary praise; and while he labored to fix the admiration,

he forfeited the esteem and affection, of the Romans.

The design of the African and Italian wars was boldly conceived

and executed; and his penetration discovered the talents of

Belisarius in the camp, of Narses in the palace. But the name of

the emperor is eclipsed by the names of his victorious generals;

and Belisarius still lives, to upbraid the envy and ingratitude

of his sovereign. The partial favor of mankind applauds the

genius of a conqueror, who leads and directs his subjects in the

exercise of arms. The characters of Philip the Second and of

Justinian are distinguished by the cold ambition which delights

in war, and declines the dangers of the field. Yet a colossal

statue of bronze represented the emperor on horseback, preparing

to march against the Persians in the habit and armor of Achilles.

In the great square before the church of St. Sophia, this

monument was raised on a brass column and a stone pedestal of

seven steps; and the pillar of Theodosius, which weighed seven

thousand four hundred pounds of silver, was removed from the same

place by the avarice and vanity of Justinian. Future princes were

more just or indulgent to his memory; the elder Andronicus, in

the beginning of the fourteenth century, repaired and beautified

his equestrian statue: since the fall of the empire it has been

melted into cannon by the victorious Turks. 73

71 (return) [ The rubor of Domitian is stigmatized, quaintly

enough, by the pen of Tacitus, (in Vit. Agricol. c. 45;) and has

been likewise noticed by the younger Pliny, (Panegyr. c. 48,) and

Suetonius, (in Domitian, c. 18, and Casaubon ad locum.) Procopius

(Anecdot. c. 8) foolishly believes that only one bust of Domitian

had reached the vith century.]

72 (return) [ The studies and science of Justinian are attested

by the confession (Anecdot. c. 8, 13) still more than by the

praises (Gothic. l. iii. c. 31, de Edific. l. i. Proem. c. 7) of

Procopius. Consult the copious index of Alemannus, and read the

life of Justinian by Ludewig, (p. 135—142.)]

73 (return) [ See in the C. P. Christiana of Ducange (l. i. c.

24, No. 1) a chain of original testimonies, from Procopius in the

vith, to Gyllius in the xvith century.]

I shall conclude this chapter with the comets, the earthquakes,

and the plague, which astonished or afflicted the age of

Justinian. I. In the fifth year of his reign, and in the month of

September, a comet 74 was seen during twenty days in the western

quarter of the heavens, and which shot its rays into the north.

Eight years afterwards, while the sun was in Capricorn, another

comet appeared to follow in the Sagittary; the size was gradually

increasing; the head was in the east, the tail in the west, and

it remained visible above forty days. The nations, who gazed with

astonishment, expected wars and calamities from their baleful

influence; and these expectations were abundantly fulfilled. The

astronomers dissembled their ignorance of the nature of these

blazing stars, which they affected to represent as the floating

meteors of the air; and few among them embraced the simple notion

of Seneca and the Chaldeans, that they are only planets of a

longer period and more eccentric motion. 75 Time and science have

justified the conjectures and predictions of the Roman sage: the

telescope has opened new worlds to the eyes of astronomers; 76

and, in the narrow space of history and fable, one and the same

comet is already found to have revisited the earth in seven equal

revolutions of five hundred and seventy-five years. The first, 77

which ascends beyond the Christian aera one thousand seven

hundred and sixty-seven years, is coeval with Ogyges, the father

of Grecian antiquity. And this appearance explains the tradition

which Varro has preserved, that under his reign the planet Venus

changed her color, size, figure, and course; a prodigy without

example either in past or succeeding ages. 78 The second visit,

in the year eleven hundred and ninety-three, is darkly implied in

the fable of Electra, the seventh of the Pleiads, who have been

reduced to six since the time of the Trojan war. That nymph, the

wife of Dardanus, was unable to support the ruin of her country:

she abandoned the dances of her sister orbs, fled from the zodiac

to the north pole, and obtained, from her dishevelled locks, the

name of the comet. The third period expires in the year six

hundred and eighteen, a date that exactly agrees with the

tremendous comet of the Sibyl, and perhaps of Pliny, which arose

in the West two generations before the reign of Cyrus. The fourth

apparition, forty-four years before the birth of Christ, is of

all others the most splendid and important. After the death of

Caesar, a long-haired star was conspicuous to Rome and to the

nations, during the games which were exhibited by young Octavian

in honor of Venus and his uncle. The vulgar opinion, that it

conveyed to heaven the divine soul of the dictator, was cherished

and consecrated by the piety of a statesman; while his secret

superstition referred the comet to the glory of his own times. 79

The fifth visit has been already ascribed to the fifth year of

Justinian, which coincides with the five hundred and thirty-first

of the Christian aera. And it may deserve notice, that in this,

as in the preceding instance, the comet was followed, though at a

longer interval, by a remarkable paleness of the sun. The sixth

return, in the year eleven hundred and six, is recorded by the

chronicles of Europe and China: and in the first fervor of the

crusades, the Christians and the Mahometans might surmise, with

equal reason, that it portended the destruction of the Infidels.

The seventh phenomenon, of one thousand six hundred and eighty,

was presented to the eyes of an enlightened age. 80 The

philosophy of Bayle dispelled a prejudice which Milton’s muse had

so recently adorned, that the comet, “from its horrid hair shakes

pestilence and war.” 81 Its road in the heavens was observed with

exquisite skill by Flamstead and Cassini: and the mathematical

science of Bernoulli, Newton 8111, and Halley, investigated the

laws of its revolutions. At the eighth period, in the year two

thousand three hundred and fifty-five, their calculations may

perhaps be verified by the astronomers of some future capital in

the Siberian or American wilderness.

74 (return) [ The first comet is mentioned by John Malala (tom.

ii. p. 190, 219) and Theophanes, (p. 154;) the second by

Procopius, (Persic. l. ii. 4.) Yet I strongly suspect their

identity. The paleness of the sun sum Vandal. (l. ii. c. 14) is

applied by Theophanes (p. 158) to a different year. Note: See

Lydus de Ostentis, particularly c 15, in which the author begins

to show the signification of comets according to the part of the

heavens in which they appear, and what fortunes they

prognosticate to the Roman empire and their Persian enemies. The

chapter, however, is imperfect. (Edit. Neibuhr, p. 290.)—M.]

75 (return) [ Seneca’s viith book of Natural Questions displays,

in the theory of comets, a philosophic mind. Yet should we not

too candidly confound a vague prediction, a venient tempus, &c.,

with the merit of real discoveries.]

76 (return) [ Astronomers may study Newton and Halley. I draw my

humble science from the article Comete, in the French

Encyclopedie, by M. d’Alembert.]

77 (return) [ Whiston, the honest, pious, visionary Whiston, had

fancied for the aera of Noah’s flood (2242 years before Christ) a

prior apparition of the same comet which drowned the earth with

its tail.]

78 (return) [ A Dissertation of Freret (Memoires de l’Academie

des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 357-377) affords a happy union of

philosophy and erudition. The phenomenon in the time of Ogyges

was preserved by Varro, (Apud Augustin. de Civitate Dei, xxi. 8,)

who quotes Castor, Dion of Naples, and Adastrus of

Cyzicus—nobiles mathematici. The two subsequent periods are

preserved by the Greek mythologists and the spurious books of

Sibylline verses.]

79 (return) [ Pliny (Hist. Nat. ii. 23) has transcribed the

original memorial of Augustus. Mairan, in his most ingenious

letters to the P. Parennin, missionary in China, removes the

games and the comet of September, from the year 44 to the year

43, before the Christian aera; but I am not totally subdued by

the criticism of the astronomer, (Opuscules, p. 275 )]

80 (return) [ This last comet was visible in the month of

December, 1680. Bayle, who began his Pensees sur la Comete in

January, 1681, (Oeuvres, tom. iii.,) was forced to argue that a

supernatural comet would have confirmed the ancients in their

idolatry. Bernoulli (see his Eloge, in Fontenelle, tom. v. p. 99)

was forced to allow that the tail though not the head, was a sign

of the wrath of God.]

81 (return) [ Paradise Lost was published in the year 1667; and

the famous lines (l. ii. 708, &c.) which startled the licenser,

may allude to the recent comet of 1664, observed by Cassini at

Rome in the presence of Queen Christina, (Fontenelle, in his

Eloge, tom. v. p. 338.) Had Charles II. betrayed any symptoms of

curiosity or fear?]

8111 (return) [ Compare Pingre, Histoire des Cometes.—M.]

II. The near approach of a comet may injure or destroy the globe

which we inhabit; but the changes on its surface have been

hitherto produced by the action of volcanoes and earthquakes. 82

The nature of the soil may indicate the countries most exposed to

these formidable concussions, since they are caused by

subterraneous fires, and such fires are kindled by the union and

fermentation of iron and sulphur. But their times and effects

appear to lie beyond the reach of human curiosity; and the

philosopher will discreetly abstain from the prediction of

earthquakes, till he has counted the drops of water that silently

filtrate on the inflammable mineral, and measured the caverns

which increase by resistance the explosion of the imprisoned air.

Without assigning the cause, history will distinguish the periods

in which these calamitous events have been rare or frequent, and

will observe, that this fever of the earth raged with uncommon

violence during the reign of Justinian. 83 Each year is marked by

the repetition of earthquakes, of such duration, that

Constantinople has been shaken above forty days; of such extent,

that the shock has been communicated to the whole surface of the

globe, or at least of the Roman empire. An impulsive or vibratory

motion was felt: enormous chasms were opened, huge and heavy

bodies were discharged into the air, the sea alternately advanced

and retreated beyond its ordinary bounds, and a mountain was torn

from Libanus, 84 and cast into the waves, where it protected, as

a mole, the new harbor of Botrys 85 in Phoenicia. The stroke that

agitates an ant-hill may crush the insect-myriads in the dust;

yet truth must extort confession that man has industriously

labored for his own destruction. The institution of great cities,

which include a nation within the limits of a wall, almost

realizes the wish of Caligula, that the Roman people had but one

neck. Two hundred and fifty thousand persons are said to have

perished in the earthquake of Antioch, whose domestic multitudes

were swelled by the conflux of strangers to the festival of the

Ascension. The loss of Berytus 86 was of smaller account, but of

much greater value. That city, on the coast of Phoenicia, was

illustrated by the study of the civil law, which opened the

surest road to wealth and dignity: the schools of Berytus were

filled with the rising spirits of the age, and many a youth was

lost in the earthquake, who might have lived to be the scourge or

the guardian of his country. In these disasters, the architect

becomes the enemy of mankind. The hut of a savage, or the tent of

an Arab, may be thrown down without injury to the inhabitant; and

the Peruvians had reason to deride the folly of their Spanish

conquerors, who with so much cost and labor erected their own

sepulchres. The rich marbles of a patrician are dashed on his own

head: a whole people is buried under the ruins of public and

private edifices, and the conflagration is kindled and propagated

by the innumerable fires which are necessary for the subsistence

and manufactures of a great city. Instead of the mutual sympathy

which might comfort and assist the distressed, they dreadfully

experience the vices and passions which are released from the

fear of punishment: the tottering houses are pillaged by intrepid

avarice; revenge embraces the moment, and selects the victim; and

the earth often swallows the assassin, or the ravisher, in the

consummation of their crimes. Superstition involves the present

danger with invisible terrors; and if the image of death may

sometimes be subservient to the virtue or repentance of

individuals, an affrighted people is more forcibly moved to

expect the end of the world, or to deprecate with servile homage

the wrath of an avenging Deity.

82 (return) [ For the cause of earthquakes, see Buffon, (tom. i.

p. 502—536 Supplement a l’Hist. Naturelle, tom. v. p. 382-390,

edition in 4to., Valmont de Bomare, Dictionnaire d’Histoire

Naturelle, Tremblemen de Terre, Pyrites,) Watson, (Chemical

Essays, tom. i. p. 181—209.)]

83 (return) [ The earthquakes that shook the Roman world in the

reign of Justinian are described or mentioned by Procopius,

(Goth. l. iv. c. 25 Anecdot. c. 18,) Agathias, (l. ii. p. 52, 53,

54, l. v. p. 145-152,) John Malala, (Chron. tom. ii. p. 140-146,

176, 177, 183, 193, 220, 229, 231, 233, 234,) and Theophanes, (p.

151, 183, 189, 191-196.) * Note *: Compare Daubeny on

Earthquakes, and Lyell’s Geology, vol. ii. p. 161 et seq.—M]

84 (return) [ An abrupt height, a perpendicular cape, between

Aradus and Botrys (Polyb. l. v. p. 411. Pompon. Mela, l. i. c.

12, p. 87, cum Isaac. Voss. Observat. Maundrell, Journey, p. 32,

33. Pocock’s Description, vol. ii. p. 99.)]

85 (return) [ Botrys was founded (ann. ante Christ. 935—903) by

Ithobal, king of Tyre, (Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 387, 388.) Its

poor representative, the village of Patrone, is now destitute of

a harbor.]

86 (return) [ The university, splendor, and ruin of Berytus are

celebrated by Heineccius (p. 351—356) as an essential part of the

history of the Roman law. It was overthrown in the xxvth year of

Justinian, A. D 551, July 9, (Theophanes, p. 192;) but Agathias

(l. ii. p. 51, 52) suspends the earthquake till he has achieved

the Italian war.]

III. Aethiopia and Egypt have been stigmatized, in every age, as

the original source and seminary of the plague. 87 In a damp,

hot, stagnating air, this African fever is generated from the

putrefaction of animal substances, and especially from the swarms

of locusts, not less destructive to mankind in their death than

in their lives. The fatal disease which depopulated the earth in

the time of Justinian and his successors, 88 first appeared in

the neighborhood of Pelusium, between the Serbonian bog and the

eastern channel of the Nile. From thence, tracing as it were a

double path, it spread to the East, over Syria, Persia, and the

Indies, and penetrated to the West, along the coast of Africa,

and over the continent of Europe. In the spring of the second

year, Constantinople, during three or four months, was visited by

the pestilence; and Procopius, who observed its progress and

symptoms with the eyes of a physician, 89 has emulated the skill

and diligence of Thucydides in the description of the plague of

Athens. 90 The infection was sometimes announced by the visions

of a distempered fancy, and the victim despaired as soon as he

had heard the menace and felt the stroke of an invisible spectre.

But the greater number, in their beds, in the streets, in their

usual occupation, were surprised by a slight fever; so slight,

indeed, that neither the pulse nor the color of the patient gave

any signs of the approaching danger. The same, the next, or the

succeeding day, it was declared by the swelling of the glands,

particularly those of the groin, of the armpits, and under the

ear; and when these buboes or tumors were opened, they were found

to contain a coal, or black substance, of the size of a lentil.

If they came to a just swelling and suppuration, the patient was

saved by this kind and natural discharge of the morbid humor. But

if they continued hard and dry, a mortification quickly ensued,

and the fifth day was commonly the term of his life. The fever

was often accompanied with lethargy or delirium; the bodies of

the sick were covered with black pustules or carbuncles, the

symptoms of immediate death; and in the constitutions too feeble

to produce an irruption, the vomiting of blood was followed by a

mortification of the bowels. To pregnant women the plague was

generally mortal: yet one infant was drawn alive from his dead

mother, and three mothers survived the loss of their infected

foetus. Youth was the most perilous season; and the female sex

was less susceptible than the male: but every rank and profession

was attacked with indiscriminate rage, and many of those who

escaped were deprived of the use of their speech, without being

secure from a return of the disorder. 91 The physicians of

Constantinople were zealous and skilful; but their art was

baffled by the various symptoms and pertinacious vehemence of the

disease: the same remedies were productive of contrary effects,

and the event capriciously disappointed their prognostics of

death or recovery. The order of funerals, and the right of

sepulchres, were confounded: those who were left without friends

or servants, lay unburied in the streets, or in their desolate

houses; and a magistrate was authorized to collect the

promiscuous heaps of dead bodies, to transport them by land or

water, and to inter them in deep pits beyond the precincts of the

city. Their own danger, and the prospect of public distress,

awakened some remorse in the minds of the most vicious of

mankind: the confidence of health again revived their passions

and habits; but philosophy must disdain the observation of

Procopius, that the lives of such men were guarded by the

peculiar favor of fortune or Providence. He forgot, or perhaps he

secretly recollected, that the plague had touched the person of

Justinian himself; but the abstemious diet of the emperor may

suggest, as in the case of Socrates, a more rational and

honorable cause for his recovery. 92 During his sickness, the

public consternation was expressed in the habits of the citizens;

and their idleness and despondence occasioned a general scarcity

in the capital of the East.

87 (return) [ I have read with pleasure Mead’s short, but

elegant, treatise concerning Pestilential Disorders, the viiith

edition, London, 1722.]

88 (return) [ The great plague which raged in 542 and the

following years (Pagi, Critica, tom. ii. p. 518) must be traced

in Procopius, (Persic. l. ii. c. 22, 23,) Agathias, (l. v. p.

153, 154,) Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 29,) Paul Diaconus, (l. ii. c.

iv. p. 776, 777,) Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. l. iv. c. 5, p

205,) who styles it Lues Inguinaria, and the Chronicles of Victor

Tunnunensis, (p. 9, in Thesaur. Temporum,) of Marcellinus, (p.

54,) and of Theophanes, (p. 153.)]

89 (return) [ Dr. Friend (Hist. Medicin. in Opp. p. 416—420,

Lond. 1733) is satisfied that Procopius must have studied physic,

from his knowledge and use of the technical words. Yet many words

that are now scientific were common and popular in the Greek

idiom.]

90 (return) [ See Thucydides, l. ii. c. 47—54, p. 127—133, edit.

Duker, and the poetical description of the same plague by

Lucretius. (l. vi. 1136—1284.) I was indebted to Dr. Hunter for

an elaborate commentary on this part of Thucydides, a quarto of

600 pages, (Venet. 1603, apud Juntas,) which was pronounced in

St. Mark’s Library by Fabius Paullinus Utinensis, a physician and

philosopher.]

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) · 第 47 / 79 章

4 (return) [ Now Tibesh, in the kingdom of Algiers. It is watered