their envy and discontent, but in the confidence of approaching victory they instigated a powerful rival to oppose the conqueror of Rome and Africa. From the domestic service of the palace and the administration of the private revenue Narses the eunuch was suddenly exalted to the head of an army, and the spirit of a hero who afterward equalled the merit and glory of Belisarius served only to perplex the operations of the Gothic war. To his prudent counsels the relief of Rimini was ascribed by the leaders of the discontented faction, who exhorted Narses to assume an independent and separate command. The epistle of Justinian had indeed enjoined his obedience to the general, but the dangerous exception, "as far as may be advantageous to the public service," reserved some freedom of judgment to the discreet favorite, who had so lately departed from the sacred and familiar conversation of his sovereign. In the exercise of this doubtful right the eunuch perpetually dissented from the opinions of Belisarius, and after yielding with reluctance to the siege of Urbino he deserted his colleague in the night and marched away to the conquest of the Æmilian province. The fierce and formidable bands of the Heruli were attached to the person of Narses; ten thousand Romans and confederates were persuaded to march under his banners; every malcontent embraced the fair opportunity of revenging his private or imaginary wrongs; and the remaining troops of Belisarius were divided and dispersed from the garrisons of Sicily to the shores of the Hadriatic. His skill and perseverance overcame every obstacle. Urbino was taken; the sieges of Fæsulæ, Orvieto and Auximum were undertaken and vigorously prosecuted, and the eunuch Narses was at length recalled to the domestic cares of the palace. All dissensions were healed and all opposition was subdued by the temperate authority of the Roman general, to whom his enemies could not refuse their esteem; and Belisarius inculcated the salutary lesson that the forces of the state should compose one body and be animated by one soul. As soon as Belisarius was delivered from his foreign and domestic enemies he seriously applied his forces to the final reduction of Italy. In the siege of Osimo the general was nearly transpierced with an arrow, if the mortal stroke had not been intercepted by one of his guards, who lost in that pious office the use of his hand. The Goths of Osimo, four thousand warriors, with those of Fæsula and the Cottian Alps, were among the last who maintained their independence, and their gallant resistance, which almost tired the patience, deserved the esteem, of the conqueror. His prudence refused to subscribe the safe-conduct which they asked to join their brethren of Ravenna, but they saved by an honorable capitulation one moiety at least of their wealth, with the free alternative of retiring peaceably to their estates or enlisting to serve the emperor in his Persian wars. The multitudes which yet adhered to the standard of Vitiges far surpassed the number of the Roman troops, but neither prayers nor defiance nor the extreme danger of his most faithful subjects could tempt the Gothic king beyond the fortifications of Ravenna. These fortifications were indeed impregnable to the assaults of art or violence; and when Belisarius invested the capital, he was soon convinced that famine only could tame the stubborn spirit of the barbarians. The sea, the land and the channels of the Po were guarded by the vigilance of the Roman general, and his morality extended the rights of war to the practice of poisoning the waters and secretly firing the granaries of a besieged city. While he pressed the blockade of Ravenna he was surprised by the arrival of two ambassadors from Constantinople with a treaty of peace, which Justinian had imprudently signed without deigning to consult the author of his victory. By this disgraceful and precarious agreement Italy and the Gothic treasure were divided, and the provinces beyond the Po were left with the regal title to the successor of Theodoric. The ambassadors were eager to accomplish their salutary commission; the captive Vitiges accepted with transport the unexpected offer of a crown: honor was less prevalent among the Goths than the want and appetite of food; and the Roman chiefs who murmured at the continuance of the war professed implicit submission to the commands of the emperor. age If Belisarius had possessed only the courof a soldier, the laurel would have been snatched from his hand by timid and envious counsels, but in this decisive moment he resolved, with the magnanimity of a statesman, to sustain alone the danger and merit of generous disobedience. Each of his officers gave a written opinion that the siege of Ravenna was impracticable and hopeless. The general then rejected the treaty of partition and declared his own resolution of leading Vitiges in chains to the feet of Justinian. The Goths retired with doubt and dismay this peremptory refusal deprived them of the only signature which they could trust, and filled their minds with a just apprehension that a sagacious enemy had discovered the full extent of their deplorable state. They compared the fame and fortune of Belisarius with the weakness of their ill-fated king, and the comparison suggested an extraordinary project, to which Vitiges, with apparent resignation, was compelled to acquiesce. Partition would ruin the strength, exile would disgrace the honor, of the nation, but they offered their arms, their treasures and the fortifications of Ravenna if Belisarius would disclaim the authority of a master, accept the choice of the Goths and assume, as he had deserved, the kingdom of Italy. If the false lustre of a diadem could have tempted the loyalty of a faithful subject, his prudence must have foreseen the inconstancy of the barbarians, and his rational ambition would prefer the safe and honorable station of a Roman general. Even the patience and seeming satisfaction with which he entertained a proposal of treason might be susceptible of a malignant interpretation. But the lieutenant of Justinian was conscious of his own rectitude; he entered into a dark and crooked path, as it might lead to the voluntary submission of the Goths, and his dextrous policy persuaded them that he was disposed to comply with their wishes without engaging an oath or a promise for the performance of a treaty which he secretly abhorred. The day of the surrender of Ravenna was stipulated by the Gothic ambassadors; a fleet laden with provisions sailed as a welcome guest into the deepest recess of the harbor; the gates were opened to the fancied king of Italy; and Belisarius, without meeting an enemy, triumphantly marched through the streets of an impregnable city. The Romans were astonished by their suc- | the East against the innumerable armies of cess; the multitudes of tall and robust bar- Persia." barians were confounded by the image of their own patience, and the masculine females, spitting in the faces of their sons and husbands, most bitterly reproached them for betraying their dominion and freedom to these pigmies of the South, contemptible in their numbers, diminutive in their stature. Before the Goths could recover from the first surprise and claim the accomplishment of their doubtful hopes the victor established his power in Ravenna beyond the danger of repentance and revolt. Vitiges, who perhaps had attempted to escape, was honorably guarded in his palace; the flower of the Gothic youth was selected for the service of the emperor; the remainder of the people was dismissed to their peaceful habitations in the southern provinces; and a colony of Italians was invited to replenish the depopulated city. The submission of the capital was imitated in the towns and villages of Italy which had not been subdued, or even visited, by the Romans, and the independent Goths, who remained in arms at Pavia and Verona, were ambitious only to become the subjects of Belisarius, But his inflexible loyalty rejected, except as the substitute of Justinian, their oaths of allegiance, and he was not offended by the reproach of their deputies that he rather chose to be a slave than a king. After the second victory of Belisarius envy again whispered; Justinian listened, and the hero was recalled: "The remnant of the Gothic war was no longer worthy of his presence; a gracious sovereign was impatient to reward his services and to consult his wisdom; and he alone was capable of defending Belisarius understood the suspicion, accepted the excuse, embarked at Ravenna his spoils and trophies, and proved by his ready obedience that such an abrupt removal from the government of Italy was not less unjust than it might have been indiscreet. The emperor received with honorable courtesy both Vitiges and his more noble consort; and, as the king of the Goths conformed to the Athanasian faith, he obtained, with a rich inheritance of lands in Asia, the rank of senator and patrician. Every spectator admired without peril the strength and stature of the young barbarians; they adored the majesty of the throne and promised to shed their blood in the service of their benefactor. Justinian deposited in the Byzantine palace the treasures of the Gothic monarchy. A flattering Senate was sometimes admitted to gaze on the magnificent spectacle, but it was enviously secluded from the public view; and the conqueror of Italy renounced without a murmur, perhaps without a sigh, the wellearned honors of a second triumph. glory was indeed exalted above all external pomp, and the faint and hollow praises of the court were supplied, even in a servile age, by the respect and admiration of his country. His Whenever he appeared in the streets and public places of Constantinople, Belisarius attracted and satisfied the eyes of the people. His lofty stature and majestic countenance fulfilled their expectations of a hero; the meanest of his fellow-citizens were emboldened by his gentle and gracious demeanor, and the martial train which attended his footsteps left his person more accessible than in a day of battle. Seven thousand horse- | jugal fidelity. The spectator and historian men. matchless for beauty and valor were maintained in the service and at the private expense of the general. Their prowess was always conspicuous in single combats or in the foremost ranks, and both parties confessed that in the siege of Rome the guards of Belisarius had alone vanquished the barbarian host. Their numbers were continually augmented by the bravest and most faithful of the enemy, and his fortunate captives-the Vandals, the Moors and the Goths-emulated the attachment of his domestic followers. By the union of liberality and justice he acquired the love of the soldiers without alienating the affections of the people. The sick and wounded were relieved by medicine and money, and still more efficaciously by the healing visits and smiles of their commander. The loss of a weapon or a horse was instantly repaired, and each deed of valor was rewarded by the rich and honorable gifts of a bracelet or a collar, which were rendered more precious by the judgment of Belisarius. He was endeared to the husbandmen by the peace and plenty which they enjoyed under the shadow of his standard. Instead of being injured the country was enriched by the march of the Roman armies, and such was the rigid discipline of their camp that not an apple was gathered from the tree, not a path could be traced in the fields of corn. Belisarius was chaste and sober. In the license of a military life none could boast that they had seen him intoxicated with wine; the most beautiful captives of Gothic or Vandal race were offered to his embraces, but he turned aside from their charms, and the husband of Antonina was never suspected of violating the laws of con of his exploits has observed that amidst the perils of war he was daring without rashness, prudent without fear, slow or rapid according to the exigences of the moment, that in the deepest distress he was animated by real or apparent hope, but that he was modest and humble in the most prosperous fortune. By these virtues he equalled or excelled the ancient masters of the military art. Victory by sea and land attended his arms. He subdued Africa, Italy and the adjacent islands, led away captives the successors of Genseric and Theodoric, filled Constantinople with the spoils of their palaces, and in the space of six years recovered half the provinces of the Western empire. In his fame and merit, in wealth and power, he remained without a rival, the first of the Roman subjects; the voice of envy could only magnify his dangerous importance, and the emperor might applaud his own discerning spirit, which had discovered and raised the genius of Belisarius. In the succeeding campaign Belisarius was again sent against the Persians; he saved the East, but he offended Theodora, and perhaps the emperor himself. The malady of Justinian had countenanced the rumor of his death, and the Roman general, on the supposition of that probable event, spoke the free language of a citizen and a soldier. His colleague, Buzes, who concurred in the same sentiments, lost his rank, his liberty and his health by the persecution of the empress; but the disgrace of Belisarius was alleviated by the dignity of his own character and the influence of his wife, who might wish to humble, but could not desire to ruin, the partner of her fortunes. Even his removal this ignominious pardon. He fell prostrate before his wife, he kissed the feet of his saviour and he devoutly promised to live the grateful and submissive slave of Antonina. A fine of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling was levied on the fortunes of Belisarius, and with the office of count or master of the royal stables he accepted the conduct of the Italian war. At his departure from Constantinople his friends, and even the public, were persuaded that as soon as he had regained his freedom he would renounce his dissimulation, and that his wife, Theodora, and perhaps the emperor himself, would be sacrificed to the just revenge of a virtuous rebel. Their hopes were deceived, and the unconquerable patience and loyalty of Belisarius appear either below or above the cha was colored by the assurance that the sink- LAST VICTORY OF BELISARIUS. 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-se ond 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. 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 earth |