The Romans were astonished by their success; the multitudes of tall and robust barbarians 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 the East against the innumerable armies of Persia." 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 of his exploits has observed that amidst the maintained in the service and at the private perils of war he was daring without rashexpense of the general. Their prowess was ness, prudent without fear, slow or rapid acalways conspicuous in single combats or in cording to the exigences of the moment, that the foremost ranks, and both parties confessed in the deepest distress he was animated by that in the siege of Rome the guards of Bel- real or apparent hope, but that he was modisarius had alone vanquished the barbarian est and humble in the most prosperous forhost. Their numbers were continually aug- tune. By these virtues he equalled or exmented by the bravest and most faithful of celled the ancient masters of the military the enemy, and his fortunate captives-the art. Victory by sea and land attended his Vandals, the Moors and the Goths-emuarms. He subdued Africa, Italy and the lated the attachment of his domestic fol- adjacent islands, led away captives the suclowers. By the union of liberality and jus- cessors of Genseric and Theodoric, filled tice he acquired the love of the soldiers with- Constantinople with the spoils of their palout alienating the affections of the people. aces, and in the space of six years recovered The sick and wounded were relieved by half the provinces of the Western empire. medicine and money, and still more effica- In his fame and merit, in wealth and power, ciously by the healing visits and smiles of he remained without a rival, the first of the their commander. The loss of a weapon or Roman subjects; the voice of envy could a horse was instantly repaired, and each deed only magnify his dangerous importance, and of yalor was rewarded by the rich and hon- the emperor might applaud his own discernorable gifts of a bracelet or a collar, which ing spirit, which had discovered and raised were rendered more precious by the judgment the genius of Belisarius. 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 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 was colored by the assurance that the sinking state of Italy would be retrieved by the single presence of its conqueror. But no sooner had he returned, alone and defenceless, than a hostile commission was sent to the East to seize his treasures and criminate his actions; the guards and veterans who followed his private banner were distributed among the chiefs of the army, and even the eunuchs presumed to cast lots for the partition of his martial domestics. When he passed with a small and sordid retinue through the streets of Constantinople, his forlorn appearance excited the amazement and compassion of the people. Justinian and Theodora received him with cold ingratitude; the servile crowd, with insolence and contempt; and in the evening he retired with trembling steps to his deserted palace. An indisposition, feigned or real, had confined Antonina. to her apartment, and she walked, disdainfully silent, in the adjacent portico, while Belisarius threw himself on his bed and expected in an agony of grief and terror the death which he had so often braved under the walls of Rome. Long after sunset a messenger was announced from the empress; he opened with anxious curiosity the letter which contained the sentence of his fate: "You cannot be ignorant how much you have deserved my displeasure. I am not insensible of the services of Antonina. To her merits and intercession I have granted your life and permit you to retain a part of your treasures, which might be justly forfeited to the state. Let your gratitude, where it is due, be displayed, not in words, but in your future behavior." I know not how to believe or to relate the transports with which the hero is said to have received 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 character of a MAN. 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-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. 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 quake 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, 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 abandoned newborn infants to the dog 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, on the banks of a small river which encircles Melanthias and afterward falls into the Propontis. 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. pelled 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 But the eyes of the prince and people were his return to the city, the people, still condirected to a feeble veteran who was com-scious of their danger, accompanied his tri umph 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. DISGRACE AND DEATH (A. D. 561-565). 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 prefect 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 embittered 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 were stationed in the vestibule and porticoes 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. 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. 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. length his innocence was acknowledged; his freedom and honors were restored; and death, which might be hastened by resentment and grief, removed him from the world about eight months after his deliverance.. At |