Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  XXXVI

  [549 A.D.] TOTILA now led his whole army against Rome, and establishing himself there entered upon a siege. But Belisarius had selected three thousand men noted for their valour and appointed them to garrison Rome, placing in command of them Diogenes, one of his own spearmen, a man of unusual discretion and an able warrior. Consequently a long time was consumed in the blockade. For the besieged, on their part, shewed themselves, thanks to their extraordinary valour, a match for the entire Gothic army, while Diogenes was ever keeping a strict watch that no one should approach the wall to damage it; furthermore, he sowed grain in all parts of the city inside the circuit-wall and so brought it about that they had not the least shortage of food. Many times indeed the barbarians attempted to storm the fortifications and make trial of the circuit-wall, but they were always repulsed, being driven back from the wall by the valour of the Romans.

  They did, however, capture Portus, and thereafter held Rome under close siege. Such was the course of these events.

  As soon as the emperor saw Belisarius returned to Byzantium, he began to make plans for sending another commander with an army against the Goths and Totila. And if he had actually carried out this idea, I believe that, with Rome still under his power, and the soldiers in the city saved for him and enabled to unite with the relieving force from Byzantium, he would have overcome his opponents in the war. But in fact, after first selecting Liberius, one of the patricians from Rome, and ordering him to make himself ready, he later, perhaps because some other business claimed his attention, lost interest in the matter.

  After the siege of Rome had continued for a long time, some of the Isaurians who were keeping guard at the gate which bears the name of Paul the Apostle — men nursing a grievance because for many years nothing had been paid them by the emperor, and observing, at the same time, that those Isaurians who had previously surrendered Rome to the Goths had become the proud possessors of vast sums of money — very secretly opened negotiations with Totila and agreed to hand over the city, and a definite day was appointed for the transaction. So when the appointed day was come, Totila contrived the following plan. He launched in the Tiber River during the first watch of the night two long boats, placing on them men who understood the use of the trumpet. These he commanded to row straight across the Tiber, and when they came close to the circuit-wall to sound the trumpets there with all their might. Meanwhile he himself was holding the Gothic army in readiness close to the above-mentioned gate which bears the name of the Apostle Paul, unobserved by his enemy. And reasoning that, if any of the Roman army should succeed in escaping from the city, as they well might under cover of darkness, they would go to Centumcellae, for no other fortress was left to them anywhere among the towns of that region, he decided to guard the road leading thither by means of some ambuscades of warlike men, to whom he gave instructions to destroy the fugitives. So the men in the boats, upon getting near the city, immediately made use of their trumpets, as they had been instructed to do. Thereupon the Romans were thunderstruck, and falling into great fear and confusion suddenly abandoned for no sufficient reason their several posts and hastened on the run to give assistance at that point, supposing that the attempt was directed against that part of the wall. Thus the Isaurians who were betraying the city remained alone at their post, and they opened the gates at their leisure and received the enemy into the city. And there was great slaughter of those who fell into the hands of the enemy there, though many made off in flight through other gates, but those who went toward Centumcellae got into the ambuscades and perished. However, a few of them did escape with difficulty, Diogenes too, they say, being among them and securing his safety though wounded.

  Now there was in the Roman army one named Paulus, a Cilician by birth, who at first had been in charge of the household of Belisarius, but later went with the army to Italy in command of a cavalry troop, and had been appointed with Diogenes to command the garrison of Rome. This Paulus, during the capture of the city at that time, rushed with four hundred horsemen into the Tomb of Hadrian and seized the bridge leading to the church of the Apostle Peter. And while it was still dawn and a little daylight was about to appear, the Gothic army assailed these men, but they withstood their enemy most vigorously where they were and gained the upper hand; indeed they slew large numbers of the barbarians, seeing they were in a great throng and huddled together. When Totila saw this, he stopped the fighting immediately, and commanded the Goths quietly to blockade their enemy, thinking that he would capture the men by starvation. Consequently Paulus and the four hundred passed that day without food, and bivouacked during the night in the same condition. On the following day, however, they resolved to use some of the horses for food, but a feeling of reluctance owing to the unusual nature of this food prevented them until late afternoon, although exceedingly hard pressed by hunger. At that time, after long deliberation among themselves, and after exhorting one another to boldness, they came to the conclusion that the better course for them was to end their lives then and there by a glorious death. In fact their decision was to make a sudden rush upon their enemy, to kill as many of them as each man could, and thus each and every one of them to meet his death valiantly. Accordingly they rushed suddenly into each other’s arms, and kissing one another’s cheeks held their friends in a last embrace on the point of death, intending one and all to perish forthwith.

  But Totila, observing this, began to fear that men who were setting their faces toward death, having now no further hope as regards safety, would inflict irreparable harm upon the Goths. He therefore sent to them and offered them a choice of two alternatives, either to leave their horses and arms there, take an oath not again to fight against the Goths, and thus to depart for Byzantium without experiencing any harm, or, on the other hand, to keep their own possessions and fight thereafter in the Gothic army, enjoying full and complete equality with the Goths. These proposals were heard gladly by the Romans. And at first, to be sure, all were for choosing to go to Byzantium, but later, being ashamed to make their withdrawal on foot and without arms, and dreading also that they would fall into some ambuscades on the homeward journey and thus be destroyed, and bearing a grudge, furthermore, because the Roman State owed them pay for a long period, they all mingled voluntarily with the Gothic army, except indeed that Paulus and one of the Isaurians, Mindes by name, came before Totila and prayed him to send them to Byzantium. For they stated that they had children and wives in their native land, and apart from these they were unable to live. And Totila received the request of these men with favour, believing that they were speaking the truth, and he released them after presenting them with travelling money and sending an escort with them. There were others also of the Roman army, those, namely, who had chanced to take refuge in the sanctuaries of the city, about three hundred in number, who received pledges and went over to Totila. As for Rome itself, Totila was unwilling thereafter either to dismantle or to abandon it; instead he decided to establish in residence there both Goths and Romans, not only members of the senate, but also all the others, for the following reason.

  XXXVII

  Not long before this Totila had sent to the ruler of the Franks and requested him to give his daughter in marriage. But the Frankish king spurned the request, declaring that Totila neither was nor ever would be king of Italy, seeing that after capturing Rome he had been utterly unable to hold it, but after tearing down a portion of it had let it fall again into the hands of his enemy. Consequently he made haste on the present occasion to convey supplies into the city, and gave orders to rebuild as quickly as possible everything which he himself had pulled down and destroyed by fire when he captured Rome at the previous time; then he summoned the members of the Roman senate and all the others whom he had under guard in Campania. And after witnessing the horse-races there, he made ready his whole army, intending to make an expedition against Sicily. At the same time too he put his four hundred war-ships in readiness for sea-fighting, as well as a very considerable fleet o
f large ships which had been sent thither from the East by the emperor, and which he, during all this time, had had the fortune to capture with both crews and cargoes. He also sent a Roman named Stephanus as an envoy to the emperor, requesting him to put an end to this war and make a treaty with the Goths, with the understanding that they should fight as his allies when he should go against his other enemies. But the Emperor Justinian would not permit the envoy even to come into his presence, nor did he pay the least attention to anything he said.

  When Totila heard this, he again set about making preparations for the war. And it seemed to him advisable first to make trial of Centumcellae and then to proceed against Sicily. Now the garrison there was at that time commanded by Diogenes, the guardsman of Belisarius, and he had a sufficient force under him. So the Gothic army, upon reaching Centumcellae, made camp close to the circuit-wall and commenced a siege. And Totila sent envoys to Diogenes and challenged him and his soldiers, if it was their wish to reach a decision by battle with the Goths, to fall to with all speed. He also advised them to entertain no hope whatever that further reinforcements from the emperor would reach them; for Justinian, he said, was unable longer to carry on this war against the Goths, if anyone could base a reasonable judgment upon those things which had taken place at Rome for such a long period. He accordingly offered them the privilege of choosing whichever of two alternatives they wished, either to mingle with the Gothic army on terms of complete equality, or to depart from the city without suffering harm and betake themselves to Byzantium. But the Romans and Diogenes declared that it was not their wish either to fight a decisive battle or, on the other hand, to mingle with the Gothic army, because they would find it impossible to live apart from their children and their wives. And as for the city over which they were keeping guard, they were quite unable for the present to surrender it with any plausible excuse, since they had, in fact, not even a pretext for doing so at that time, particularly if they wished to present themselves before the emperor; they did, however, beg him to defer the matter for a time, in order that they might during that interval report the situation to the emperor, and in case no relief should come to them from him in the meantime, that then finally they might quit the city; thus they would surrender the city to the Goths, while they, for their part, would not be without justification in leaving it. This was approved by Totila, and a definite day was agreed upon; then thirty men were given as hostages by each side to make this agreement binding, and the Goths broke up the siege and proceeded on the way to Sicily.

  But when they came to Rhegium, they did not cross the strait there until they had made trial of the fortress of that city. Now the garrison there was commanded by Thurimuth and Himerius, whom Belisarius had appointed to that post. And since they had under them a large force of excellent men, they not only repulsed the enemy when he attacked the wall, but also made a sally and gained the advantage in combat. Later, however, since they were far outnumbered by their opponents, they were shut up inside the circuit-wall and remained quiet. So Totila left a portion of the Gothic army there to guard the place, expecting that at a later time they would capture the Roman garrison through failure of the food supply; meanwhile he sent an army against Tarentum and took over the fortress there with no difficulty; likewise the Goths whom he had left in the land of Picenum also took the city of Ariminum at that time; for it was betrayed to them.

  When the Emperor Justinian heard this, he formed the purpose of appointing his nephew Germanus commander-in-chief to carry on the war against the Goths and Totila, and he directed him to make ready. Now when the report of this reached Italy, the Goths became very deeply concerned; for the reputation of Germanus happened to be a favourable one among all men. The Romans, on the other hand, straightway became confident one and all, and the soldiers of the emperor’s army began to meet danger and hardship much more courageously. But the emperor for some unknown reason changed his mind and decided to appoint to the post Liberius, a Roman whom I have mentioned in the preceding narrative, in place of Germanus. And Liberius did in fact make preparations with all possible speed, and it was expected that he would sail away immediately with an army. But again the emperor changed his mind, and consequently he too remained quiet. It was at this time that Verus with a band of excellent warriors whom he had gathered about him came to an engagement not far from the city of Ravenna with the Goths who were in Picenum, and he not only lost many of his followers but was also killed himself after shewing himself a brave man in the encounter.

  XXXVIII

  At about this time an army of Sclaveni amounting to not more than three thousand crossed the Ister River without encountering any opposition, advanced immediately to the Hebrus River, which they crossed with no difficulty, and then split into two parts. Now the one section of them contained eighteen hundred men, while the other comprised the remainder. And although the two sections were thus separated from each other, the commanders of the Roman army, upon engaging with them, both in Illyricum and in Thrace, were defeated unexpectedly, and some of them were killed on the field of battle, while others saved themselves by a disorderly flight.

  Now after all the generals had fared thus at the hands of the two barbarian armies, though they were far inferior to the Roman forces in number, one section of the enemy engaged with Asbadus. This man was a guard of the Emperor Justinian, since he served among the candidati, as they are called, and he was also commander of the cavalry cohorts which from ancient times have been stationed at Tzurullum, the fortress in Thrace, a numerous body of the best troops. These too the Sclaveni routed with no trouble, and they slew the most of them in a most disgraceful flight; they also captured Asbadus and for the moment made him a prisoner, but afterwards they burned him by casting him into a fire, having first flayed strips from the man’s back. Having accomplished these things, they turned to plunder all the towns, both of Thrace and of Illyricum, in comparative security; and both armies captured many fortresses by siege, though they neither had any previous experience in attacking city walls, nor had they dared to come down to the open plain, since these barbarians had never, in tact, even attempted to overrun the land of the Romans. Indeed it appears that they have never in all time crossed the Ister River with an army before the occasion which I have mentioned above.

  Then those who had defeated Asbadus plundered everything in order as far as the sea and captured by storm a city on the coast named Topirus, though it had a garrison of soldiers; this is the first of the coast towns of Thrace and is twelve days’ journey distant from Byzantium. And they captured it in the following manner. The most of them concealed themselves in the rough ground which lay before the fortifications, while some few went near the gate which is toward the east and began to harass the Romans at the battlements. Then the soldiers keeping guard there, supposing that they were no more than those who were seen, immediately seized their arms and one and all sallied forth against them. Whereupon the barbarians began to withdraw to the rear, making it appear to their assailants that they were moving off in retreat because they were thoroughly frightened by them; and the Romans, being drawn into the pursuit, found themselves at a considerable distance from the fortifications. Then the men in ambush rose from their hiding-places and, placing themselves behind the pursuers, made it no longer possible for them to enter the city. Furthermore, those who had seemed to be in flight turned about, and thus the Romans now came to be exposed to attack on two sides. Then the barbarians, after destroying these to the last man, assaulted the fortifications. But the inhabitants of the city, deprived as they were of the support of the soldiers, found themselves in a very difficult situation, yet even so they warded off the assailants as well as the circumstances permitted. And at first they resisted successfully by heating oil and pitch till it was very hot and pouring it down on those who were attacking the wall, and the whole population joined in hurling stones upon them and thus came not very far from repelling the danger. But finally the barbarians overwhelmed them by the multitude of their
missiles and forced them to abandon the battlements, whereupon they placed ladders against the fortifications and so captured the city by storm. Then they slew all the men immediately, to the number of fifteen thousand, took all the valuables as plunder, and reduced the children and women to slavery. Before this, however, they had spared no age, but both these and the other group, since the time when they fell upon the land of the Romans, had been killing all who fell in their way, young and old alike, so that the whole land inhabited by the Illyrians and Thracians came to be everywhere filled with unburied corpses.

  Now’ they killed their victims, not with sword nor spear, nor in any other accustomed manner, but by planting very firmly in the earth stakes which they had made exceedingly sharp, and seating the poor wretches upon these with great violence, driving the point of the stake between the buttocks and forcing it up into the intestines; thus did they see fit to destroy them. These barbarians also had a way of planting four thick stakes very deep in the ground, and after binding the feet and hands of the captives to these they would then assiduously beat them over the head with clubs, killing them like dogs or snakes or any other animal. Others again they would imprison in their huts together with their cattle and sheep — those, of course, which they were utterly unable to take with them to their native haunts — and then they would set fire to the huts without mercy. Thus did the Sclaveni consistently destroy those who fell in their way. But from this time onward both these and those of the other group, being as it were drunk with the great quantity of blood they had shed, saw fit to make prisoners of some who fell into their hands, and consequently they were taking with them countless thousands of prisoners when they all departed on the homeward way.