St Anthony's Church. Then, darting forward from among the crowd, Praesidius caught hold of Balan's bridle and called out in a loud voice: 'Do the laws of his Sacred Majesty Justinian permit an Italian refugee to be robbed of his family heirlooms by Greek soldiers?'
Belisarius's attendants threatened Praesidius and told him to be off; but he shouted and screamed, and would not release his hold on the bridle until Belisarius had undertaken to inquire personally into the matter on the very next day. Constantine, knowing nothing of all this, arrived at the Palace wearing in his belt the very daggers that were in dispute and of which he had disclaimed knowledge.
The charge was read out. Belisarius first examined the documents in the case, including Constantine's letter of denial. Then he heard Praesidius's own evidence, and then the evidence of his friends. It appeared that the daggers had been forcibly taken from Praesidius's person by Constantine's servant Maxentiolus; that Constantine then wore them himself and persistently refused to return them, alleging that he had bought them, from Maxentiolus, who had found them on a Gothic corpse.
'Is it true that you made this statement, noble Constantine?'
'Yes, my lord Belisarius, and I hold to it. This impudent fellow Praesidius is quite mistaken in thinking them his.'
'Praesidius, do you see anyone in this court now wearing your daggers?'
Praesidius replied: 'Those are they, Illustrious Belisarius, that the general is as usual wearing.'
'Can you prove that they are yours?'
'I can. My father's name, Marcus Praesidius, is damascened in gold on the blade of each.'
'Noble Constantine, do any such names appear on the daggers you are wearing?' Belisarius asked.
Constantine flew into a rage. 'What if they do? The daggers are mine by purchase. I would rather throw them into the Tiber than give them to a man who has publicly insulted me as a thief.'
'I desire you to hand me the daggers for examination, my Lord.'
'I refuse.'
Belisarius clapped his hands. In marched ten troopers of the bodyguard, lining up beside the door. Out of respect for Constantine's rank nobody had hitherto been admitted to the court-room (besides the two witnesses) but Hildiger, Bessas, and three other generals of equal rank with him.
Constantine cried: 'You intend to murder me, do you?' His conscience was troubling him in the matter of the letter to Justinian.
'By no means. But I intend to sec that your man Maxentiolus returns to this Italian gentleman the daggers that he stole from him — if those are they.'
Constantine seized one of the daggers and with a great roar rushed at Belisarius, who was wearing no armour. He would have slit his belly open, but Belisarius side-stepped like a boxer and dodged behind Bessas, who was wearing a coat of mail. Constantine pushed Bessas aside furiously and made a second rush at Belisarius. Then Hildiger and Valerian, another general, caught Constantine from behind and disarmed him. He was led off to confinement.
Later, this same Maxentiolus, examined by my mistress Antonina, told her that on the previous day he had seen Constantine hand a letter to the master of the packet, and heard him say that it came from Belisarius. Since the weather was unfavourable for sailing, the packet was still at its moorings; and the letter was soon in her hands. She read it, and made up her mind that Constantine was too dangerous an enemy to be allowed to live. Without a word to Belisarius, she sent one of my fellow-domestics to kill Constantine in his prison-chamber, of which she had the key. She was then for giving out that it had been a suicide; but Belisarius, who was both vexed and relieved at Constantine's death, would not tell lies of that sort. He preferred to take full responsibility for Constantine's execution and to justify it, in his report to Justinian, as a military necessity. Bessas, Hildiger, and Valerian countersigned this report, testifying to Constantine's mutinous words and murderous attack. Then Hildiger, at my mistress's suggestion, added (truly enough) that Constantine had lately been airing views on the nature of the Son which were not only highly heretical but attributable to the teachings of no reputable sect — too illogical, indeed, to be anything but the product of his own wild brain, notoriously unhinged since his sunstroke in Africa. So Justinian approved the sentence. But it was a great shame to Belisarius to leant, from the secret commission that was found on Constantine's dead body, that Justinian doubted his faith and employed agents to spy on him. He agreed with Antonina that, brave fighter though he had proved, Constantine's death was a public benefit.
On the twenty-first of March the armistice came to an end. At dawn of the same day King Wittich- having received by way of reply from Justinian no more than a curt: 'I have received your letter and am considering what action to adopt' — raised the siege and marched back across the Mulvian Bridge with the remains of his army. He had given Belisarius warning of his intention by setting fire to all the huts, siege-engines, palisades, and other wooden material in his camps. It was Belisarius's principle not to press a retreating enemy with too great rigour, but these bonfires were lighted in defiance, and the Gothic divisions still preserved good military discipline. It would not be right to let them escape without one last blow. But Belisarius's forces had lately become so reduced by the detachment of garrisons and raiding parties to various parts of Italy that he dared not risk a battle on equal terms. What he did was to call all his best remaining troops and hold them in readiness at the Pincian Gate until the lookouts on the walls reported that nearly half the Gothic army had now crossed the bridge. Then he led them out quickly and made a strong attack on the Goths drawn up near the bridge, waiting their turn to cross. Many men fell on both sides, for the fighting was hand to hand, until a charge of the Household Regiment broke the Gothic line. At this the whole disheartened mass streamed towards the bridge, with no thought in any man's mind but to get across it somehow. The confusion and slaughter in their ranks cannot easily be described, so fearful it was. Their cavalry rode down their infantry, and any man who slipped and fell was likely to be trampled to death. Moreover, our archers' fire was now concentrated upon the bridge, which was soon heaped high with corpses, and a great number of mail-clad men fell or were pushed over the arches into the water, where they were drowned by the weight of their armour. Ten thousand Goths died that morning at the Mulvian Bridge.
So ended the defence of Rome which Belisarius had first begun, contrary to all advice, in the December of the year before the last. I do not think that all history can show so large a city held for so long a time by a garrison so grossly outnumbered.
King Wittich retreated sullenly towards Ravenna, detaching large garrisons as he went for the defence of Osino, Urbino, and other smaller fortresses. Belisarius felt the need of Bloody John and his 2,000 cavalry, and sent Hildiger hurrying to Rimini by another route to order his withdrawal. Rimini could more profitably be held by a detachment of infantry which had just landed from Dalmatia at Ancona, a port not far off. (Dalmatia was now ours again, Wittich having withdrawn to Italy the forces that were besieging Spalato; and troops could therefore be spared.) But Bloody John refused to withdraw.
This time he was not justified in disobeying orders. The fact was, he had a great deal of Gothic treasure collected in the city which he wished to retain for his own use instead of sharing it with the rest of the army. Hildiger therefore left at Rimini the infantry that he had brought from Ancona; but persuaded the 800 men of the Household Regiment, whom Belisarius had lent to Bloody John, to withdraw with him. King Wittich, determined to win here the success that had eluded him at Rome, settled down to besiege the city; and soon
Bloody John began to repent of having disobeyed orders, for there was great scarcity of provisions in Rimini, and Wittich was attacking with great resolution.
Now, it is not my purpose to write a history of the wars, but to tell the story of Belisarius. I forbear therefore to give a detailed account of this siege, yet I will say that Wittich attacked with scaling-towers propelled by hand from inside, not drawn by oxen; that Bloody John prevented their advance by hurried trenching; and that Wittich then decided to starve him out.
The situation at Rimini was soon more desperate than Belisarius realized. Nor was he in any position to march to the relief of his disobedient lieutenant, having sent a considerable part of his forces to Northern Italy, with the licet, to capture Pavia and Milan; besides, the fortified towns of Todi and Chiusi, which lay between him and Rimini, must first be reduced. Nevertheless, the news that Wittich was besieging Rimini caused him such anxiety that, leaving only the Roman levies to garrison the city, he marched northward to its relief; and presently Todi and Chiusi surrendered to the terror of his name. Me sent the Gothic garrison under escort to Naples and Sicily and continued forward. But our total forces did not now amount to 3,000 men, whereas King Wittich had increased his strength to 100,000 with new forces from Dalmatia.
Fortunately the letter addressed by my mistress to Theodora had taken effect at last. We had the welcome news that 7,000 further reinforcements had landed at Fermo in Piccnum, on the eastern coast. Who should be in
