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.]
Ἐτύγχανε δὲ πολλῷ πρότερον στράτευμα ἐπὶ Περυσίαν ὁ Τουτίλας στείλας, οἵπερ ἀμφὶ τὸν τῆς πόλεως περίβολον ἐνστρατοπεδευσάμενοι ἐπολιόρκουν ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τοὺς ταύτῃ Ῥωμαίους. [2] καὶ ἐπεὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων αὐτοὺς σπανίζοντας ᾔσθοντο ἤδη, πέμψαντες παρὰ Τουτίλαν ἐδέοντο παντὶ τῷ στρατῷ ἐνταῦθα ἰέναι, ῥᾷον ἂν οὕτω καὶ ἀπονώτερον ἐξελεῖν Περυσίαν τε καὶ τοὺς ἐνταῦθα Ῥωμαίους οἰόμενοι. [3] Τουτίλας δὲ οὐ λίαν ἐς τὰ ἐπαγγελλόμενα προθυμουμένους τοὺς βαρβάρους ὁρῶν παραίνεσίν τινα ποιεῖσθαι ἐς αὐτοὺς ἤθελε. [4] διὸ δὴ ξυγκαλέσας ἅπαντας ἔλεξε τοιάδε: ‘Ὁρῶν ὑμᾶς, ἄνδρες ξυστρατιῶται, ἐμὲ μὲν οὐκ ὀρθῶς δἰ ὀργῆς ἔχοντας, ἀγανακτοῦντας δὲ πρὸς τὸ τῆς τύχης ξυμπεπτωκὸς ἐναντίωμα, ξυναγαγεῖν τανῦν ἔγνωκα, ὅπως ὑμῶν δόξαν ὡς ἥκιστα ὀρθὴν ἀφελὼν ἀντικαθιστάναι τὴν γνώμην ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίω δυνήσωμαι, καὶ μήτε ἀχαριστεῖν οὐδὲν ὑμῖν προσῆκον ἐς ἐμὲ δόξητε μήτε ἀγνωμοσύνῃ εἰς τὸ θεῖον ὑπὸ ἀβελτερίας χρῆσθαι. [5] τὰ γὰρ ἀνθρώπεια καὶ σφάλλεσθαί ποτε πέφυκεν, ὅστις τε ἄνθρωπος ὢν εἶτα δυσχερῶς ἔχων ἐς τὰ προσπίπτοντα φαίνεται, αὐτὸς μὲν ἀμαθίας, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, ἀποίσεται δόξαν, οὐδὲν δὲ ὑπεκστήσεται τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τύχης ἀνάγκην. [6] βούλομαι δὲ τῶν πρότερον πεπραγμένων ὑμᾶς ὑπομνῆσαι, οὐχ ὅσον ἕνεκα τοῦ τὰς αἰτίας τῶν ξυμβεβηκότων ἐκλύσασθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ δικαιότερον ἂν ταύτας ὑμῖν προσήκειν ἐνδείκνυσθαι. [7] Οὐίττιγις γὰρ τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καθιστάμενος ἐς πόλεμον τόνδε Φανοῦ μὲν καὶ Πισαύρου τῶν ἐπιθαλασσίων πόλεων τὰ τείχη καθεῖλε, Ῥώμην δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας Ἰταλίας πόλεις ἁπάσας ἀφῆκεν οὐδ̓ ὁτιοῦν λυμηνάμενος. [8] ἐκ μὲν οὖν Φανοῦ καὶ Πισαύρου φλαῦρον οὐδὲν Γότθοις ξυμβέβηκεν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Ῥώμης περιβόλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὀχυρωμάτων ταύτῃ, ᾗπερ ὑμεῖς ἴστε, Γότθοις καὶ Οὐιττίγιδι ἐκεχωρήκει τὰ πράγματα. [9] Ἐγὼ τοίνυν ἐπειδὴ διδόντων ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβον, ἐλογισάμην τῶν ἔργων τοῖς ἀμείνοσι δόξασιν εἶναι μᾶλλον ἕπεσθαι ἢ ἐκ τῶν λυμηναμένων τοῖς πράγμασι διδόναι βλάβος. [10] φύσει μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωποι οὐδέν τι μέγα διαφέρειν ἀλλήλων δοκοῦσιν, ἡ δὲ πεῖρά τισι γινομένη διδάσκαλος κρείσσω τὸν ἐκμαθόντα τῶν οὐ τετυχηκότων τῆς διδασκαλίας τῷ παντὶ τίθησιν. [11] ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν Βενεβεντὸν εἵλομεν, τὰ τείχη καθελόντες τῶν ἄλλων εὐθὺς ἐκρατοῦμεν, ὧνπερ ὁμοίως τοὺς περιβόλους καθελεῖν ἔγνωμεν, ὅπως μὴ ἐξ ἐχυροῦ τινος ὁρμώμενος ὁ τῶν πολεμίων στρατὸς σοφίζεσθαι τὸν πόλεμον δυνατὸς εἴη, ἀλλ̓ ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος ἀναγκάζηται ἡμῖν ἐς πεδίον κατιὼν ἐς χεῖρας ἰέναι. [12] καὶ οἱ μὲν ἔφευγον, ἐγὼ δὲ καθαιρεῖν τῶν πόλεων τὰς ἁλισκομένας ἐκέλευον. [13] ὑμεῖς δὲ τὴν εὐβουλίαν θαυμάζοντες ὑπουργεῖτε τῇ γνώμῃ ταύτῃ, τὸ ἔργον, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, οἰκειούμενοι. ὁ γὰρ ἐπαινέσας τὸν δράσαντα οὐδέν τι ἧσσον τῶν πεπραγμένων αὐτουργὸς γίνεται. [14] νῦν δὲ μεταβέβλησθε, ὦ φίλτατοι Γότθοι, ἐπειδὴ ξυνέβη Βελισάριον κρεῖσσον λόγου θράσος ἑλόμενον τῶν ἐγκεχειρημένων αὐτῷ παρὰ δόξαν κρατεῖν, καὶ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ καταπεπλῆχθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἅτε ἀνδρεῖον ὑμῖν ξυμβαίνει. [15] ῥᾷον γὰρ οἱ θρασεῖς εὔτολμοι κέκληνται ἢ οἱ προμηθεῖς ἀσφαλεῖς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τὰ καθεστῶτα τολμήσας ἐννοίᾳ τοῦ �
�οκοῦντος δραστηρίου τετίμηται, ὁ δὲ προμηθεῖ γνώμῃ ἀποκνήσας τὸν κίνδυνον ἀποτυχών τε τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπισπᾶται τῶν ξυμπιπτόντων καὶ πράξας κατὰ νοῦν οὐδὲν αὐτὸς τοῖς γε ἀμαθέσιν ἐργάσασθαι δοκεῖ. [16] Χωρὶς δὲ τούτων οὐκ ἐκλογίζεσθε ὅτι ἐμοὶ χαλεπαίνετε, δἰ ὧν ὑμῖν ἀγανακτεῖν ξυμβαίνει τανῦν. Ἢ Βελισάριον εὐδοκιμηκέναι καθ̓ ὑμῶν οἴεσθε, οἵπερ δορυάλωτοι ὄντες καὶ δραπέται γεγενημένοι ὑπ̓ ἐμοί τε στρατηγοῦντι ὅπλα ἀντάραντες ὑπερβαλέσθαι πολλάκις αὐτὸν τῷ πολέμῳ δεδύνησθε; [17] καίτοι εἰ μὲν ἐμῇ ἀρετῇ ἐκεῖνα ὑμᾶς εἰργάσθαι ξυνέβη, ταύτην ὑμᾶς αἰσχυνομένους χρὴ σιωπᾶν, ἐν τοῖς πταίσμασι δὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐνθυμουμένους ὡς οὐδὲν πέφυκεν ἐφ̓ ἑαυτοῦ μένειν: εἰ δέ τις ὑμῖν τύχη ἐκεῖνο τὸ κράτος ἐβράβευσε, σέβειν μᾶλλον ἢ δυσκόλως πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔχειν ὑμῖν ξυνοίσει, ὡς μὴ προσκεκρουκότες τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην μεταμαθεῖν βιάζησθε. [18] καίτοι πῶς οὐκ ἂν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώφρονος τρόπου φανείη τοὺς πολλά τε καὶ μεγάλα περιβεβλημένους εὐτυχήματα οὐ πολλῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἐν βραχεῖ τε τανῦν πταίσαντας οὕτω δεδουλῶσθαι τὸ φρόνημα; οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὸ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἢ ἀπαξιοῦν τε καὶ ἀπαρνεῖσθαι ἀνθρώπους εἶναι. [19] τὸ γὰρ ἐν οὐδενὶ σφάλλεσθαι χρόνῳ θεοῦ ἂν ἴδιον γένοιτο. τούτων τοίνυν φημὶ χρῆναι ἀφεμένους ὑμᾶς προθυμίᾳ τῇ πάσῃ ὁμόσε τοῖς ἐν Περυσίᾳ πολεμίοις ἰέναι. ἢν γὰρ ἐκείνους ἐξελεῖν δυνήσησθε, αὖθις ὑμῖν τὰ τῆς τύχης ἐν καλῷ κείσεται. [20] τὸ μὲν γὰρ ξυμπεσὸν οὐδ̓ ἂν ὁ πᾶς αἰὼν ἀποίητον τίθεσθαι δύναιτο, εὐτυχημάτων δὲ ἄλλων ἐπιγινομένων τοῖς ἐπταικόσι λελωφηκέναι ξυμβαίνει τὴν τῶν κακῶν μνήμην. [21] Ἔσται δὲ ὑμῖν ἡ Περυσίας ἐπικράτησις οὐδενὶ πόνῳ. Κυπριανὸς γὰρ ὃς τῶν ἐνταῦθα Ῥωμαίων ἦρχε, τύχῃ τε καὶ βουλαῖς ἡμετέραις ἐκποδὼν γέγονε, πλῆθος δὲ ἄναρχον ἄλλως τε καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ὑποσπανίζον ἀνδραγαθίζεσθαι ἥκιστα πέφυκεν. [22] οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ὄπισθέν τις ἐς ἡμᾶς κακουργήσει: τάς τε γὰρ τοῦ ποταμοῦ γεφύρας τούτου ἕνεκα καθελεῖν ἔγνωκα, ὡς μή τι πάθοιμεν ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἀπροσδόκητον, καὶ ὑπόπτους ξυμβαίνει Βελισάριόν τε καὶ Ἰωάννην ἀλλήλοις εἶναι, ὅπερ διὰ τῶν πεπραγμένων ὁρᾶν πάρεστι. [23] γνῶμαι γὰρ ἀλλήλαις μαχόμεναι διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐλέγχονται. οὐκοῦν οὐδέ πη ἀλλήλοις ἐπιμίγνυσθαι ἐς τόδε τοῦ χρόνου δεδύνηνται. ἀναχαιτίζει γὰρ ἑκάτερον ἡ ἐς ἀλλήλους ἀμφοῖν ὑποψία. οἷς δ̓ ἂν αὕτη ἐγγένηται, φθόνον τε καὶ ἔχθος ἐπάναγκες ξυνοικίζεσθαι. [24] ὧν δὴ μεταξὺ ἐπιπεσόντων γενέσθαι τι τῶν δεόντων ἀδύνατον.’ τοσαῦτα ὁ Τουτίλας εἰπὼν ἐπὶ Περυσίαν ἐξῆγε τὸ στράτευμα, ἐνταῦθά τε ἀφικόμενοι ἄγχιστα τοῦ περιβόλου ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο καὶ ἐγκαθεζόμενοι ἐς πολιορκίαν καθίσταντο.
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 grapple 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.
Delphi Complete Works of Procopius Page 490