XLL As foon as Belifarius was delivered from his CHA P. foreign and domeftic enemies, he seriously applied his forces to the final reduction of Italy. In the Belifarius befieges fiege of Ofimo, the general was nearly tranfpierced Ravenna: with an arrow, if the mortal stroke had not been intercepted by one of his guards, who loft, in that pious office, the use of his hand. The Goths of Ofimo, four thousand warriors, with those of Fæfulæ and the Cottian Alps, were among the last who maintained their independence; and their gallant resistance, which almoft tired the patience, deferved the esteem, of the conqueror. His prudence refused to fubfcribe the fafe conduct which they asked, to join their brethren of Ravenna; but they faved, by an honourable capitulation, one moiety at least of their wealth, with the free alternative of retiring peaceably to their eftates, or enlifting to ferve the emperor in his Persian wars. The multitudes which yet adhered to the standard of Vitiges, far furpaffed the number of the Roman troops; but neither prayers, nor defiance, nor the extreme danger of his moft faithful fubjects, could tempt the Gothic king beyond the fortifications of Ravenna. Thefe fortifications were, indeed, impregnable to the affaults of art or violence; and when Belifarius invested the capital, he was foon convinced that famine only could tame. the stubborn spirit of the Barbarians. The fea, the land, and the channels of the Po, were guarded the aurochs, urus, bifons, bubalus, bonafus, buffalo, &c. (Buffon, Hift. Nat. tom. xi. and Supplement, tom. iii. vi.), it is certain, that in the fixth century a large wild fpecies of horned cattle was hunted in the great forests of the Vofges in Lorraine, and the Ardennes (Greg. Turon. tom. ii. 1, x. c. 10, p. 369.). by XLI. 166 CHAP. by the vigilance of the Roman general; and his morality extended the rights of war to the practice of poifoning the waters 10, and fecretly firing the granaries of a befieged city 107. While he preffed the blockade of Ravenna, he was furprised by the arrival of two ambaffadors from Conftantinople, with a treaty of peace, which Juftinian had imprudently figned, without deigning to confult the author of his victory. By this difgraceful and precarious agreement, Italy and the Gothic treafure were divided, and the provinces beyond the Po were left with the regal title to the fucceffor of Theodoric. The ambaffadors were eager to accomplish their falutary commiffion; the captive Vitiges accepted, with transport, the unexpected offer of a crown; honour was lefs prevalent among the Goths, than the want and appetite of food; and the Roman chiefs, who murmured at the con 105 In the fiege of Auximum, he first laboured to demolish an old aqueduct, and then caft into the stream, 1. dead bodies; 2. mischievous herbs; and, 3. quick lime, which is named (fays Procopius, I. ii. c. 29.) TITAN by the ancients; by the moderns arßeç. Yet both words are used as fynonymous in Galen, Diofcorides, and Lucian (Hen. Steph. Thefaur. Ling. Græc. tom, iii. p. 748.).. 1c6 The Goths suspected Mathasuintha as an accomplice in the mifchief, which perhaps was occafioned by accidental lightning. 107 In ftrict philosophy, a limitation of the rights of war feems to imply nonfenfe and contradiction. Grotius himself is loft in an idle distinction between the jus naturæ and the jus gentium, between poifon and infection. He balances in one scale the paffages of Homer (Odyff. A. 259, &c.) and Florus (l. ii. c. 20. No 7. ult.) ;* and in the other, the examples of Solon (Paufanias, 1. x. ¢. 37-) and Belifarius. See his great work De Jure Belli et Pacis, 1. iii. c. 4. f. 15, 16, 17. and in Barbeyrac's verfion, tom. ii. p. 257, &c.). Yet I can understand the benefit and validity of an agreement, tacit or express, mutually to abstain from certain modes of hoftility. See the Amphi&yonic oath in Efchines, de Falsâ Legatione, tinuance XLI. tinuance of the war, profeffed implicit fubmiffion CHAP. to the commands of the emperor. If Belifarius had poffeffed only the courage of a soldier, the laurel would have been fnatched from his hand by timid and envious counfels; but in this decifive 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 fiege of Ravenna was impracticable and hopeless: the general then rejected the treaty of partition, and declared his own refolution of leading Vitiges in chains to the feet of Juftinian. The Goths retired with doubt and difmay this peremptory refufal deprived them of the only fignature which they could truft, and filled their minds with a juft apprehenfion, that a fagacious enemy had difcovered the full extent of their deplorable state. They compared the fame and fortune of Belifarius with the weakness of their illfated king; and the comparifon fuggefted an extraordinary project, to which Vitiges, with apparent refignation, was compelled to acquiefce. Partition would ruin the ftrength, exile would difgrace the honour, of the nation; but they offered their arms, their treasures, and the fortifications of Ravenna, if Belifarius would difclaim the authority of a master, accept the choice of the Goths, and affume, as he had deferved, the kingdom of Italy. If the false luftre of a diadem could have tempted the loyalty of a faithful subject, his prudence must have foreseen the inconftancy of the Barbarians, and his rational ambition would prefer the fafe and honourable station of a Roman general. Even XLI. CHAP. Even the patience and feeming fatisfaction with which he entertained a propofal of treafon, might be fufceptible of a malignant interpretation. But the lieutenant of Juftinian was confcious of his own rectitude: he entered into a dark and crooked path, as it might lead to the voluntary fubmiffion of the Goths; and his dextrous policy perfuaded them that he was difpofed to comply with their wishes, without engaging an oath or a promife for the performance of a treaty which he fecretly abhorred. The day of the furrender of Ravenna was ftipulated by the Gothic ambaffadors: a fleet, laden with provifions, failed as a welcome guest into the deepest recefs of the harbour: the gates were opened to the fancied king of Italy; and Belifarius, without meeting an enemy, triumphantly marched through the ftreets of an impregnable city. The Romans were astonished by their fuccefs; the multitude of tall and robuft Barbarians were confounded by the image of their own patience; and the mafculine females, fpitting in the faces of their fons and hufbands, moft bitterly reproached them for betraying their dominion and freedom to these pygmies of the fouth, contemptible in their numbers, diminutive in their stature. Before the Goths could recover from the firft furprife, and claim the accomplishment of their Subdues the Gothic kingdom of Italy, A.D. 539, December 108 Ravenna was taken, not in the year 540, but in the latter end of 539; and Pagi (tom. ii. p. 569 ) is rectified by Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. v. p. 62.), who proves, from an original act on papyrus (Antiquit. Italiæ Medii Ævi, tom. ii. differt. xxxii. p. 999 1007. Maffei, Iftoria Diplomat. p. 155-169), that before the 3d of January 540, peace and free correspondence were reftored be. tween Ravenna and Faenza, CHAP. Captivity of Vitiges. doubtful hopes, the victor established his power XLI. in Ravenna, beyond the danger of repentance and revolt. Vitiges, who perhaps had attempted to efcape, was honourably guarded in his palace *°" ; the flower of the Gothic youth was felected for the service of the emperor; the remainder of the people was difmiffed to their peaceful habitations in the fouthern provinces; and a colony of Italians was invited to replenish the depopulated city. The fubmiffion of the capital was imitated in the towns and villages of Italy, which had not been fubdued, or even vifited, by the Romans; and the independent Goths who remained in arms at Pavia and Verona, were ambitious only to become the subjects of Belifarius. But his inflexible loyalty rejected, except as the fubftitute of Juftinian, their oaths of allegiance; and he was not offended by the reproach of their deputies, that he rather chose to be a flave than a king. and glory of Belifa rius. After the second victory of Belifarius, envy again Return whispered, Juftinian liftened, and the hero was recalled. "The remnant of the Gothic war was "no longer worthy of his prefence: a gracious fovereign was impatient to reward his fervices, " and to confult his wifdom; and he alone was capable of defending the East against the innu"merable armies of Perfia." Belifarius under 109 He was feifed by John the Sanguinary, but an oath or facrament was pledged for his fafety in the Bafilica Julii (Hift. Miscell. 1. xvii. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 107.). Anaftafius (in Vit. Pont. p. 40.) gives a dark but probable account. Montfaucon is quoted by Mascou (Hift. of the Germans, xii. 21.) for a votive shield representing the captivity of Vitiges, and now in the collection of fignor -Landi at Rome. VOL. VII. S ftood |