Many days later they again advanced against the wall with the purpose of storming it. But the Romans came out to meet them and joined battle. And by some chance the man who was bearing the standard of Totila received a mortal wound and not only fell from his horse himself, but also threw the standard to the ground. Whereupon those of the Romans who were fighting at the front made a rush with the intention of seizing the standard and the corpse. But the most courageous of the barbarians got there first, seized the standard, and also cut off the left hand of the corpse and took it with them. For the fallen man was wearing upon this hand a notable bracelet of gold, over which they were quite unwilling that their opponents should exult, and they sought thus to avoid the disgrace which its loss would involve. Then the barbarian army was turned to retreat in complete disorder, while the Romans despoiled what was left of the corpse, and in pursuing the enemy to a great distance killed many of them, and then returned to the city without the slightest loss.
Then all the notable Goths came to Totila and inveighed against him and reproached him mercilessly for his lack of wisdom; after capturing Rome, they said, he had neither levelled the whole city to the ground so that it might be no longer possible for the enemy to take possession of it, nor had himself held it, but that which they had accomplished by a great expenditure of both labour and time, this he himself had undone in an altogether unreasonable manner. Thus it is by nature inbred in men to accommodate their judgment in every case to the outcome of events and to allow their mind to be dominated by the current of fortune, and to make their changes of opinion instantly as a result of this. It was indeed for this reason that while Totila was succeeding in his undertakings, the Goths had reverenced him equally with God, calling him an unvanquished and invincible leader, at the time when he allowed them to destroy only a portion of the defences of captured cities, but when he met with the reverse above mentioned, they did not feel it improper to inveigh against him, unmindful of what they had recently said about him, and going contrary to these declarations without the least hesitation. But these errors of judgment and others like them must inevitably be constantly committed by men, since they are due to human nature.
So Totila and his barbarians broke up the siege and went to the city of Tibur, having torn down practically all the bridges over the Tiber, that it might not be easy for the Romans to make an attack upon them. One bridge, however, which bears the name of Mulvius, they were quite unable to destroy, since it was very close to the city. And they decided to rebuild the fortress in Tibur with all their might; for they had dismantled it previously; and they deposited there all their possessions and remained quiet. As for Belisarius, having now less cause for fear, he fitted gates to the circuit-wall of Rome on every side, bound them with iron, and once more sent the keys to the emperor. And the winter drew to a close, and the twelfth year ended in this war, the history of which Procopius has written. [547 A.D.]
XXV
LONG before this Totila had, as it happened, sent an army against Perusia, and they had encamped about the circuit-wall of the city and were maintaining a close siege of the Romans there. And since they perceived that the city was scantily supplied with provisions, they sent to Totila and begged him to come there with his whole army, thinking that they would thus capture Perusia and the Romans in it with less difficulty and labour.
Now Totila saw that the barbarians were not very eager to carry out his orders, and so he desired to deliver an exhortation to them. With this in view, he called them all together and spoke as follows.
“I have observed, fellow-soldiers, that you are cherishing toward me an unjustified anger, and at the same time that you bitterly resent that adversity of fortune which has befallen us; for this reason I have decided to bring you together on the present occasion, in order that I may be able to remove from your minds an impression which is absolutely wrong and bring you back to a better judgment, and also that you may appear neither to shew me an ingratitude which ill befits you, nor to be led by base motives to assume a thankless attitude toward the Deity. For it is of the very nature of human affairs that failure must come at times, and when any man, forgetting that he is human, shews himself rebellious against that which befalls him, he will himself naturally acquire a reputation for stupidity, and yet in no wise escape the necessity which fate has laid upon him. Now I wish to remind you of previous events, not so much in order to absolve myself from the blame for what has happened, as to demonstrate that this may with more justice be laid upon yourselves. For when Vittigis was entering upon this war at the very beginning, he did indeed tear down the walls of the coast towns Fanum and Pisan rum, but Rome and the other cities of Italy without exception he exempted, not damaging them in the least. Consequently, while no trouble has come to the Goths from Fanum and Pisaurum, it was because of the circuit-walls of Rome and the other fortified places that trouble came to the Gauls and Vittigis after the manner that is well-known to you.
“Accordingly, when I accepted the royal power offered by you, I formed the reasonable purpose of emulating those deeds which had come to be regarded as better for us rather than to damage our cause by doing those things which had harmed us. For while men do not seem to differ greatly one from the other as far as nature is concerned, still some have had the advantage of experience, which, like a teacher, makes him who has learned her lesson superior in every respect to those who have not received such instruction. Accordingly, when we captured Beneventum, we razed its walls and straightway captured the other towns, whose circuit-walls we decided to raze in the same way, in order that the enemy’s army might not be able, by having any strong base, to carry on the war by stratagem, but should at once be compelled to come down to the plain and engage with us there. So while the enemy, for their part, were in flight, I was giving orders to raze such of the cities as were captured. And you, marvelling at my good judgment, aided and abetted this decision, and so, it would seem, made my actions your own. For he who praises the man who has done a deed becomes himself the agent of the deed no less than the other. But now you have reversed your position, my dearest Goths, simply because it has come about that Belisarius, by adopting a course of unreasonable daring, has unexpectedly attained the object for which he strove, and in consequence of this you have come to be astounded at the man as a marvel of courage. For men of daring are called courageous more readily than men of foresight are called safe. And the reason is that, while he who displays daring beyond the established bounds of conduct is honoured with the name and fame of a strenuous man, he who refrains from danger with careful judgment and meets with ill success draws upon him the responsibility for what happens, and even if he achieves the success he planned, he still seems, to foolish men at any rate, to have accomplished nothing by himself.
“And apart from this, you do not consider that you are angry with me for the things which, in reality, cause you resentment just now. Or do you really believe that Belisarius has won a glorious success against you — you who, though reduced to the condition of prisoners of war and runaway slaves, took up arms under me as your general and have proved yourselves able many a time to overcome him in battle? And yet if it was through my merit that you succeeded in accomplishing such things, out of respect for that merit you ought to be silent, remembering in the hour of men’s reverses that nothing can remain fixed; and if, on the other hand, it was some fortune which bestowed that victory upon you, it will profit you more to shew reverence toward her rather than vexation, so that you may not be compelled through failure to learn the true meaning of her favour. Indeed, how could it fail to appear inconsistent with a well-tempered spirit that men who have achieved for themselves many great successes not long ago and have now met with a slight reverse should allow their pride to be thus humbled? For such an attitude means purely and simply this, that you obstinately refuse to acknowledge that you are human. For never to make mistakes could be predicated only of God. Consequently I say that you must abandon this attitude and with all enthusiasm grappl
e with the enemy in Perusia. For if you prove able to capture them, Fortune will again smile upon you. For while that which has happened could never be undone by all eternity, still when fresh successes fall to the lot of those who have met with reverse, it comes about that the memory of evil days is made lighter.
“And you will achieve the mastery of Perusia without any trouble. For Cyprian, who was commander of the Romans there, has been put out of the way by fortune, coupled with our planning, and an ungoverned multitude, particularly when scantily supplied with the necessities of life, is quite incapable of offering a brave resistance. Nor indeed will anyone harm us from the rear; for not only have I seen fit to destroy the bridges over the river, with this purpose, that we might suffer no loss from unexpected assaults, but it is also true that Belisarius and John are regarding each other with suspicion, a fact which can be seen from previous events. For the conflict of men’s judgments, one with the other, is clearly detected by their actions. This indeed is the reason why they have not even been able to join forces with each other up to this time. For their mutual suspicion disconcerts each of them; and those who admit this feeling are bound to harbour envy and hostility besides. And when these passions assault men, no needful thing can be done.” After this speech Totila led forth his army against Perusia, and, upon their arrival at that city, they made camp hard by the circuit-wall and established themselves for a siege.
XXVI
WHILE these events were taking place in the manner described, John was meanwhile besieging the fortress of Acherontis; and since he was not making any progress, he conceived a daring plan, which not only effected the rescue of the Roman senate, but also caused him to win for himself an extraordinarily great renown among all men. For upon hearing that Totila and the Gothic army were engaged in assaulting the fortifications of Rome, he chose out the most illustrious of his horsemen, and, without announcing his plan to anyone at all, he rode with them into Campania (for Totila had, as it happened, left the members of the senate there), resting neither day nor night, in order that by making an unexpected attack he might be able to seize and rescue the senators, seeing that the towns there were entirely without defences.
Now it so happened that Totila at that very time began to be alarmed lest some of the enemy should, as in fact they did, come with the intention of striking a blow to rescue the prisoners, and he had accordingly sent an army of cavalry to Campania. Now when this force reached the city of Minturnae, it was decided that the better course for them was for the main body to remain quietly there and care for their horses (for they had become greatly fatigued on this journey), while they sent a few scouts to investigate the situation at Capua and the adjoining towns. Now the distance between the two places is not more than three hundred stades. They accordingly sent forward as scouts four hundred men whose horses were unwearied and whose strength was still unimpaired. And it so fell out by some chance that on that very day at the same time both John and his army and these same four hundred barbarians reached Capua, neither having heard anything previously of their opponents. Thereupon a fierce battle ensued on the spur of the moment; for no sooner did they see each other than they began fighting; but the Romans won a decisive victory and killed most of the enemy immediately. Only a few of the barbarians were able to escape, and these reached Minturnae in rapid flight. But when the others saw these men, some dripping with blood, some still actually carrying the missiles in their bodies, and others refusing to speak a word or give any account of what had happened, but still persisting in their retreat and openly displaying the terror which was in them, they leaped upon their horses immediately and joined in the flight. And when they came before Totila, they reported that there was an innumerable host of the enemy, seeking in this way to remove the shame of their flight.
Now it so happened that not less than seventy Roman soldiers of those who had previously deserted to the Goths were on their way into the towns of Campania, and these men decided to go over to John. And John found there only a few of the members of the senate, but practically all their wives. For during the capture of Rome many of the men followed the soldiers in flight and reached Portus, but the women were all captured. Clementinus, however, a patrician, took refuge in one of the sanctuaries there and refused absolutely to follow the Roman army, for he had previously handed over to Totila and the Goths a stronghold which is close to Naples, and in all probability dreaded the wrath of the emperor for this reason. On the other hand, Orestes, who had been consul of the Romans, though he chanced to be near at hand, was obliged to remain, altogether against his will, owing to a scarcity of horses. John then immediately sent to Sicily the members of the senate together with the seventy soldiers who had come over to him.
Totila, upon hearing this, was sorely grieved, and eagerly sought an opportunity to inflict vengeance upon John for the deed. With this in view, he marched against him with the main body of his army, leaving a small part of his troops behind in order to keep guard. Now it so happened that John and his men, a thousand in number, had made camp in Lucania, having previously sent out scouts who were watching all the roads closely and keeping guard that no hostile army should approach to do them harm. But Totila had in mind that such would be the case, believing it impossible that John’s force should settle in their camp without sending out scouts, and so he abandoned the customary roads and marched against them through the mountains, many of which in that region are precipitous and rise to a very great height — a feat which no one would have been able to suspect, for these mountains are considered in fact impassable. Meanwhile, the men thus sent out as scouts by John did indeed observe that a hostile army had got into that region, but they secured no definite information about it; however they feared what actually did take place, and so they too marched toward the Roman camp. And it so turned out that they arrived there at night together with the barbarians. But Totila, being now overmastered by violent passion and not weighing the consequences with careful judgment, reaped the fruits of his fatuous fury. For though he had under him an army ten times as large as that of his opponents, and though it was plain to be seen that for a stronger army it was of course advantageous to fight the decisive battle in broad daylight, and he should rather have engaged with his enemy at dawn in order that they might not be able to escape in the darkness, still he did not observe this precaution at all; for, in fact, he could have stretched a cordon about his opponents and immediately captured every man of them as in a net; but instead he gave way to his anger and fell upon the hostile army at an advanced hour of the night. And although not one of them thought of offering the least resistance, since the most were in fact still sleeping, none the less the Goths did not find themselves able to slay many, but they got up, and the majority, thanks to the darkness, succeeded in slipping away. And once outside the camp they ran up into the mountains, many of which rise close by, and thus were saved. Among these was John himself and Arufus, the leader of the Eruli. Of the Romans about a hundred perished.
Now there had been with John a certain Gilacius of the Armenian race, commander of a small force of Armenians. This Gilacius did not know how to speak either Greek or Latin or Gothic or any other language except Armenian alone. When some of the Goths happened upon this man, they enquired who he might be. For they were quite averse to killing every man who came in their way, lest they be compelled to destroy each other in fighting at night, as might easily happen. But he was able to make them no answer except indeed that he was Gilacius, a general; for his title which he had received from the emperor he had heard many times and so had been able to learn it by heart. The barbarians, accordingly, perceiving by this that he was an enemy, made him a prisoner for the moment, but not long afterwards put the man to death. So John and Arufus fled with their followers as fast as they could go and made for Dryus, which they reached on the run, and the Goths plundered the Roman camp and then retired.
XXVII
THUS were the armies in Italy engaged. And the Emperor Justinian decided to se
nd another army against the Goths and Totila, being led to do so by the dispatches of Belisarius, who kept urging him to take this action, having indicated many times the situation in which the Romans found themselves. Accordingly, he first sent Pacurius, the son of Peranius, and Sergius, the nephew of Solomon, with a few men. And they arrived in Italy and immediately united with the rest of the army. Later on he sent Verus with three hundred Eruli, and Varazes, an Armenian by birth, with eight hundred Armenians, and he recalled from his post Valerian, the General of Armenia, and ordered him to go to Italy with his attendant spearmen and guards, who numbered more than a thousand. Now Verus was the first to put in at Dryus, and he left his ships there, being quite unwilling to remain in that place, where John’s army was, and went forward on horseback with his command. For this man was not of a serious temper, but was utterly addicted to the disease of drunkenness, and consequently he was always possessed by a spirit of reckless daring. And when they had come close to the city of Brundisium, they made camp and remained there.
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