XLI. effect; and he obtained one thousand Thracians CHA P. and Ifaurians, to affift the revolt of Liguria against the Arian tyrant. At the fame time, John the 94 Sanguinary 4, the nephew of Vitalian, was de- faithfully referve the spoil for an equal and com"mon partition. It would not be reasonable," he added with a laugh," that whilft we are toiling "to the deftruction of the drones, our more for"tunate brethren fhould rifle and enjoy the honey." The whole nation of the Oftrogoths had been affembled for the attack, and was almost entirely confumed in the fiege, of Rome. If any credit be due to an intelligent fpectator, one-third at least of their enormous hoft was destroyed, in frequent and bloody combats under the walls of the city. The bad fame and pernicious qualities of the summer air, might already be imputed to the decay of agriculture and population; and the evils of famine and pestilence were aggravated by their own 94 Anaftafius (p. 40.) has preferved this epithet of Sanguinarius, which might do honour to a tyger. The Goths raise the XLI CHAP. licentiousness, and the unfriendly difpofition of the country. While Vitiges ftruggled with his fortune; while he hesitated between fhame and ruin'; his retreat was haftened by domestic alarms. The king of the Goths was informed by trembling meffengers, that John the Sanguinary fpread the devaftations of war from the Appenine to the Hadriatic; that the rich spoils and innumerable captives of Picenum were lodged in the fortifications of Rimini; and that this formidable chief had defeated his uncle, infulted his capital, and feduced, by fecret correfpondence, the fidelity of his wife, the imperious daughter of Amalafontha. Yet, before he retired, Vitiges made a laft effort, either to ftorm or to furprife the city. A fecret paffage was discovered in one of the aqueducts; two citizens of the Vatican were tempted by bribes to intoxicate the guards of the Aurelian gate; an attack was meditated on the walls beyond the Tyber in a place which was not fortified with towers; and the Barbarians advanced, with torches and fcalingladders, to the affault of the Pincian gate. But every attempt was defeated by the intrepid vigilance of Belifarius and his band of veterans, who, in the moft perilous moments, did not regret the abfence of their companions; and the Goths, alike deftitute of hope and fubfiftence, clamorously urged their departure, before the truce fhould expire, and the Roman cavalry fhould again be united. One year and nine days after the commencement of the fiege, an army, fo lately strong and triumphant, burnt their tents, and tumultuCoufly repaffed the Milvian bridge. They repaffed not XLI not with impunity: their thronging multitudes, CHA P. oppreffed in a narrow paffage, were driven headlong into the Tyber, by their own fears and the purfuit of the enemy; and the Roman general, fallying from the Pincian gate, inflicted a severe and difgraceful wound on their retreat. The flow length of a fickly and defponding hoft was heavily dragged along the Flaminian way; from whence the Barbarians were fometimes compelled to deviate, left they fhould encounter the hoftile garrifons that guarded the high road to Rimini and Ravenna. Yet fo powerful was this flying army, that Vitiges fpared ten thoufand men for the defence of the cities which he was most folicitous to preserve, and detached his nephew Uraias, with an adequate force, for the chaftifement of rebellious Milan. At the head of his principal army, he besieged Rimini, only thirty-three miles distant from the Gothic capital. A feeble rampart, and a fhallow ditch, were maintained by the skill and valour of John the Sanguinary, who fhared the danger and fatigue of the meaneft foldier, and emulated, on a theatre lefs illuftrious, the military virtues of his great commander. The towers and Lofe battering engines of the Barbarians were rendered useless; their attacks were repulfed; and the tedious blockade, which reduced the garrifon to the laft extremity of hunger, afforded time for the union and march of the Roman forces. A fleet which had furprised Ancona, failed along the coaft of the Hadriatic, to the relief of the befieged city. The eunuch Narfes landed in Picenum with two thoufand Heruli and five thoufand of the bravest troops R 3 Rimini: XLI. CHAP. troops of the Eaft. The rock of the Appenine was forced; ten thousand veterans moved round the foot of the mountains, under the command of Belifarius himself; and a new army, whofe encampment blazed with innumerable lights, appeared to advance along the Flaminian way. Overwhelmed with astonishment and despair, the Goths abandoned the fiege of Rimini, their tents, their standards, and their leaders; and Vitiges, who gave or followed the example of flight, never halted till he found a fhelter within the walls and moraffes of Ravenna. Retire to Ravenna. Jealoufyof thekoman generals, A. D. 538. To thefe walls, and to fome fortreffes deftitute of any mutual fupport, the Gothic monarchy was now reduced. The provinces of Italy had embraced the party of the emperor; and his army, gradually recruited to the number of twenty thoufand men must have atchieved an eafy and rapid conqueft, if their invincible powers had not been weakened by the discord of the Roman chiefs. Before the end of the fiege, an act of blood, ambiguous and indifcreet, fullied the fair fame of Belifarius. Prefidius, a loyal Italian, as he fled from Ravenna to Rome, was rudely ftopped by Conftantine, the military governor of Spoleto, and defpoiled, even in a church, of two daggers richly inlaid with gold and precious ftones. As foon as the public danger had fubfided, Prefidius complained of the lofs and injury: his complaint was heard, but the order of reftitution was difobeyed by the pride and avarice of the offender. Exafperated by the delay, Prefidius boldly arrested the general's horfe as he paffed through the forum; XLI. Death of and with the spirit of a citizen, demanded the CHAP. common benefit of the Roman laws. The honour of Belifarius was engaged; he fummoned a council; claimed the obedience of his fubordinate officer'; and was provoked by an infolent reply, to call haftily for the prefence of his guards. Conftantine, viewing their entrance as the fignal of death, drew his fword, and rufhed on the general, who nimbly eluded the stroke, and was protected by his friends; while the defperate affaffin was dif armed, dragged into a neighbouring chamber, and executed, or rather murdered, by the guards, at the arbitrary command of Belifarius 25. In this hasty act of violence, the guilt of Conftantine was tine. no longer remembered; the defpair and death of that valiant officer were fecretly imputed to the revenge of Antonina; and each of his colleagues, confcious of the fame rapine, was apprehenfive of the fame fate. The fear of a common enemy fufpended the effects of their envy and discontent; but in the confidence of approaching victory, they inftigated a powerful rival to oppofe the conqueror of Rome and Africa. From the domeftic fervice The eunuch of the palace, and the administration of the private Narfes: revenue, Narfes the eunuch was fuddenly exalted to the head of an army; and the spirit of an hero, 95 This transaction is related in the public hiftory (Goth 1. ii. c. 8.) with candour or caution; in the Anecdotes (c. 7.) with malevolence or freedom; but Marcellinus, or rather his continuator (in Chron.), cafts a shade of premeditated assassination over the death of Conftantine. He had performed good fervice at Rome and Spoleto (Procop. Goth. 1. i. c. 7. 14.); but Alemannus confounds him with a Constantianus comes ftabuli. Conftan |