A Struggle for Rome, v. 2

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER XI.

  Just then Syphax appeared upon the wall.

  His master had strictly forbidden him to take part in the fight. Hecould not spare him.

  "Woe--woe!" cried Syphax, so loudly, that it struck Cethegus--who knewthe Moor's usual self-control--strangely.

  "What has happened?"

  "A great misfortune! Constantinus is severely wounded. He led a sortiefrom the Salarian Gate, and at once stumbled upon the Gothic ranks. Astone from a sling hit him on the brow. With difficulty his peoplesaved him, and bore him back within the walls. There I received thefainting man--he named you, the Prefect, as his successor. Here is hisgeneral's staff."

  "That is not possible!" shouted Bessas, who had followed at Syphax'sheels. He had come in person to demand reinforcements from the Prefect,and arrived just in time to hear this news. "That is not possible," herepeated, "or Constantinus was raving when he said it."

  "If he had appointed you he might have been so," said Cethegus quietly,taking the staff, and thanking the cunning slave with a rapid motion ofhis hand.

  With a furious look Bessas left the ramparts and hurried away.

  "Follow him, and watch him carefully, Syphax," whispered the Prefect.

  An Isaurian mercenary hastily approached.

  "Reinforcements, Prefect, for the Porta Portuensis! Duke Guntharis hasstormed the wall!"

  He was followed by Cabao, the leader of the Moorish mounted archers,who cried:

  "Constantinus is dead! You must represent him."

  "I represent Belisarius," said Cethegus proudly. "Take five hundredArmenians from the Appian Gate, and send them to the Porta Portuensis."

  "Help--help for the Appian Gate! All the men on the ramparts are shotdead!" cried a Persian horseman, galloping up. "The farthest outwork isnearly lost; it may yet be saved, but with difficulty. It would beimpossible to retake it!"

  Cethegus called his young jurisconsult, Salvius Julianus, now hiswar-tribune.

  "Up, my jurist! '_Beati possidentes!_' Take a hundred legionaries andkeep the outwork at all costs until further assistance arrive." Andagain he looked over the breastwork.

  Under his feet the fight raged; the battering-rams thundered. But hewas more troubled by the mysterious inaction which the King preservedin the background than by the turmoil close at hand.

  "Of what can he be thinking?"

  Just then a fearful crash and a loud shout of joy from the barbarianssounded from below. Cethegus had no need to ask what it was; in amoment he had reached the gate.

  "The gate is broken!" cried his people.

  "I know it. _We_ now must be the bolts of Rome!"

  And pressing his shield more firmly to his side, he went up to theright wing of the gate, in which yawned a broad fissure. And again thebattering-ram struck the shattered planks near the crevice.

  "Another such stroke and the gate will fall!" said Gregorius, theByzantine.

  "Quite right; therefore we must not let it be repeated. Here--tome--Gregorius and Lucius! Form, milites! Spears lowered! Torches andfirebrands! Make ready to sally. When I raise my sword, open the gate,and cast ram and penthouse and all into the trench."

  "You are very daring, my general!" cried Lucius Licinius, taking hisstand close to Cethegus with delight.

  "Yes, now there is cause to be daring, my friend."

  The column was formed; the Prefect was just about to give the sign,when, from behind, there arose a noise still greater than that made bythe storming Goths; screams of pain and the tramp of horses. Bessascame up in great agitation; he caught the Prefect's arm--his voicefailed him.

  "Why do you hinder me at this moment?" asked. Cethegus, pushing himaside.

  "Belisarius's troops," at last panted the Thracian, "stand sorelywounded outside the Tiburtinian Gate they beg for admittance--furiousGoths are at their heels--Belisarius has fallen into an ambush--he isdead."

  "Belisarius is taken!" cried a gate-keeper, who hurried up breathless.

  "The Goths--the Goths are upon us! at the Nomentanian and TiburtinianGates!" was shouted from the streets.

  "Belisarius's flag is taken! Procopius is defending the corpse ofBelisarius!"

  "Give orders for the Tiburtinian Gate to be opened," persisted Bessas."Your Isaurians are there. Who sent them?"

  "I," answered Cethegus reflectively.

  "They will not open without your orders. Save at least the corpse ofour noble commander!"

  Cethegus lingered--he held his hand half raised--he hesitated.

  "I would gladly save his _corpse_!" he thought.

  Just then Syphax rushed up to him, and whispered:

  "No, he still lives! I saw him from the ramparts. He moves; but he willbe taken prisoner directly. The Gothic horsemen are close upon him.Totila and Teja will be up with him immediately!"

  "Give the order; let the Tiburtinian Gate be opened," insisted Bessas.

  But the Prefect's eyes flashed; over his countenance spread anexpression of proud and bold decision, and illumined it with demoniacbeauty. He struck his sword against the shattered wing of the gatebefore him and cried:

  "Sally! First Rome; then Belisarius! Rome and triumph!"

  The gate flew open. The storming Goths, already sure of victory, hadexpected anything rather than such a bold attack from the Byzantines,whom they believed to be completely cowed. They were crowded about thegate without order. They were completely taken by surprise, and weresoon pushed into the yawning ditch behind them by the sudden andirresistible attack.

  Old Hildebrand would not leave his battering-ram. Raising himself tohis full height, he shattered Gregorius's tall helmet with hisstone-axe. But almost at the same moment Lucius Licinius pushed himinto the trench with the spike of his shield. Cethegus cut the ropeswhich held the battering-ram, and it fell crashing down over the oldman.

  "Now fire all the wooden machines!" cried Cethegus.

  Quickly the flames caught the beams.

  The victorious Romans immediately retired within the walls.

  But then Syphax, meeting the Prefect, cried:

  "Mutiny, master! Mutiny and rebellion! The Byzantines will no longerobey you! Bessas calls upon them to open the Tiburtinian Gate by force.His body-guard threaten to attack Marcus Licinius, and the Huns toslaughter your legionaries and Isaurians!"

  "They shall repent it!" cried Cethegus furiously. "Woe to Bessas! Iwill remember this! Up, Lucius Licinius! take half the remainingIsaurians. No take them all--_all_! You know where they stand. Attackthe body-guard of the Thracian from behind, and if they will not yield,strike them down without mercy. Help your brother! I will followimmediately."

  Lucius Licinius lingered.

  "And the Tiburtinian Gate?"

  "Must remain closed."

  "And Belisarius?"

  "Must remain outside."

  "Teja and Totila have almost reached him!"

  "So much the less dare we open! First Rome; then the rest! Obey,tribune!"

  Cethegus remained behind to order the reparation of the damaged gate.It took a considerable time.

  "How was it, Syphax!" he asked his slave. "Was he really alive?"

  "He still lives."

  "How stupid these Goths are!"

  A messenger arrived from Lucius.

  "Your tribune sends word that Bessas will not yield. The blood of yourlegionaries has already been shed at the Tiburtinian Gate. And Asgaresand the Isaurians hesitate to strike; they doubt that you are inearnest."

  "I will show them that I am in earnest!" cried Cethegus, as he mountedhis horse and galloped away like the wind.

  He had to go a long way. Over the bridge of the Janiculum, past theCapitol, across the Forum Romanum, through the Via Sacra and the Archof Titus, leaving the Baths of Titus to the right; out over theEsquiline Hill, and, lastly, through the Esquiline Gate to the outerTiburtinian Gate--a distance which extended from the extreme western tothe extreme eastern limit of the immense city.

  When he reached t
he gate, he found the bodyguard of Bessas andBelisarius showing a double front.

  One line prepared to overpower the legionaries and Isaurians underMarcus Licinius at the gate, and to open the latter by force; while thesecond line stood opposed to the rest of the Isaurians, to whom Luciusgave the order to advance in vain.

  "Mercenaries!" cried Cethegus, checking his foaming horse close beforethem; "to whom have you sworn obedience--to me or to Belisarius?"

  "To you, general," said Asgares, the leader, stepping forward; "but Ithought----"

  The sword of the Prefect flashed; and, struck to the heart, the manfell.

  "Your duty is to obey, stupid rascal, and not to think!"

  The Isaurians were horrified.

  But Cethegus quickly gave the word of command.

  "Lower your spears! Follow me! Charge!"

  And the Isaurians now obeyed him. Another moment, and a fight wouldhave commenced in the city itself.

  But just then, from the west, in the direction of the Aurelian Gate,was heard a terrible, all-overpowering cry.

  "Woe! woe! all is lost! The Goths are upon us! The city is taken!"

  Cethegus turned pale, and looked behind him.

  Kallistratos galloped up, blood flowing from his face and neck.

  "Cethegus," he cried, "all is over! The barbarians are in Rome! Thewall is forced!"

  "Where?" asked the Prefect, in a hollow voice.

  "At the Mausoleum!"

  "Oh, my general!" cried Lucius, "I warned you!"

  "That is Witichis!" said Cethegus, closing his eyes as if in pain.

  "How do you know it?" asked Kallistratos, astonished.

  "Enough! I do know it."

  It was a fearful moment for the Prefect. He was obliged to confess tohimself that, recklessly following his plan for the ruin of Belisarius,he had for a short period neglected Rome.

  He ground his teeth.

  "Cethegus has exposed the Mausoleum! Cethegus has ruined Rome!" criedBessas, at the head of the body-guard.

  "And Cethegus will save Rome!" cried the Prefect, raising himself inhis saddle. "Follow me, Isaurians and legionaries!"

  "And Belisarius?" whispered Syphax.

  "He may enter. First Rome; then the rest! Follow me!"

  And Cethegus galloped off the same way that he had come.

  Only a few mounted men could keep up with him; his foot-soldiers andIsaurians followed at a run.