A Struggle For Rome Volume Iii Part 53

"Horrible poetry!" exclaimed Salvius Julia.n.u.s.

"Who knows," said Piso, laughing, "whether the thirst of the Goths will not become immortal through these verses?"

"But now tell me exactly what Na.r.s.es answered?" said Cethegus.

"First he listened to us with great incredulity," replied Licinius, "He asked suspiciously, 'Is it possible that the prudent Romans can again beg for an Isaurian garrison and the Prefect, whom they have to thank for so much famine and unwilling valour?' But I answered that he under-rated the patriotism of the Romans, and that it was your affair if you had deceived yourself. If the Romans did not voluntarily admit us, your seven thousand men were too weak to storm the city. This seemed to convince him. He only required our promise that, if we were not admitted voluntarily, we would at once return here."

"And we thought we might well venture to promise this in your name,"

concluded Julia.n.u.s.

"You were right," said Cethegus, with a smile.

"Na.r.s.es then said that he would not hinder us if the Romans liked to have us. And he is so completely harmless," Licinius went on, "that he does not seem to wish to detain you, even as a hostage; for he inquired when the Prefect would start. Therefore he must have taken it for granted that you would lead the Isaurians to Rome yourself. And he has nothing to say against that either. He was evidently surprised when I answered that you preferred to witness here the destruction of the Goths."

"Well," said Cethegus, "where, then, is this terrible Na.r.s.es, the great statesman! Even my friend Procopius sadly over-rated him, when he once named him to me as the greatest man of the time."

"The greatest man of the time is--some one else," cried Licinius.

"It was natural that Procopius should give the palm to the superior enemy of his Belisarius. But one almost ought to take advantage of the clumsy blunder made by the 'greatest man,'" continued Cethegus reflectively. "The G.o.ds might be angry if we did not make use of the miracle of infatuation which they have accomplished for us. I alter my resolution; I long to get to the Capitol; I will go with you to Rome.

Syphax, we will start--at once! Saddle my horse!"

But Syphax gave his master a warning look.

"Leave me, tribunes!" said Cethegus, "I will recall you directly."

"O sir!" cried Syphax eagerly, as soon as they were alone, "do not go to-day! Send the others on in advance. To-morrow early I shall fish two great secrets out of the sea. Diving under his boat, I have already spoken to the fisherman I mentioned. He is no fisher, he is a slave, a post-slave belonging to Procopius."

"What do you say?" asked Cethegus hastily and in a low tone.

"We could only exchange a few words in a whisper. The Longobardians stood on the sh.o.r.e watching us. Seven letters from Procopius, sent either openly or secretly, have never reached you. He therefore chose this clever messenger, who will fish to-night by moonlight and give me the letter. He had not brought it with him to-day. And to-morrow early--to-day he was too ill--Na.r.s.es will again bathe in the sea. I have found a hiding-place among the weeds; quite close. And should they chance to see bubbles rising from the water, I can whistle like an otter. I saw the imperial post arrive with well-filled mail-bags.

Basiliskos took them. Do but wait until to-morrow early; Na.r.s.es will be sure to talk over the latest secrets from Byzantium with Basiliskos and Alboin. Or at least leave me here alone----"

"No, that would be at once to betray you as a spy. You are worth more than ten times your weight in gold, Syphax!--I shall remain here till to-morrow," he continued, as the tribunes again entered.

"Oh, come with us!" begged Licinius.

"Away from the oppressive influence of this Na.r.s.es!" added Julia.n.u.s.

But Cethegus frowned.

"Does he still over-top me in your eyes, this fool, who allows Cethegus to escape from his well-guarded camp to Rome; who throws the fish out of his net into the water? Verily, he has too much intimidated you!

To-morrow evening I will follow you. I have still some business to transact here, which no one but myself can complete. Meanwhile, if Rome does not resist, you can occupy it without me. But I shall surely overtake you at Terracina. If not, march into Rome. You, Licinius, will keep the Capitol for me."

With sparkling eyes Licinius exclaimed: "You honour me highly, my general! I will answer for the Capitol with my life! May I venture a pet.i.tion?"

"Well?"

"Do not expose yourself foolhardily to the spear of the Gothic King!

The day before yesterday he hurled two spears at once at you; one in each hand. If I had not caught the one from his left hand upon my shield----"

"Then, Licinius, the Jupiter of the Capitol would have blown it aside before it struck me. For the G.o.d still needs me. But you mean well."

"Do not widow Roma!" persisted Lucius.

Cethegus looked at him with the irresistible look of admiring love which was so winning on _his_ face; and continued, turning to Salvius Julia.n.u.s:

"You, Salvius, will occupy the Mausoleum. And you, Piso, the rest of the city on the left bank of the Tiber. Particularly the Porta Latina; through that gate I shall follow you. You will not open to Na.r.s.es _alone_, any more than you formerly did to Belisarius alone. Farewell; salute my Roma for me. Tell her, that the last contest for her possession, that between Na.r.s.es and Cethegus, has ended with victory for Cethegus. We shall meet again in Rome! Roma eterna!"

"Roma eterna!" repeated the tribunes with enthusiasm, and hurried out.

"Oh, why was not this Licinius the son of Manilia!" cried Cethegus, looking after the young men as they departed. "Folly of my heart, why art thou so obstinate? Licinius, you shall take the place of Julius as my heir! Oh, would that you were indeed Julius!"

CHAPTER X.

The departure of the Prefect for Rome was delayed for many days.

Na.r.s.es, who invited him to his table, did not indeed seek to keep him back. He even expressed his astonishment that the "Ruler of the Capitol" was not more powerfully drawn to the Tiber stream.

"Certainly," he said with a smile, "I can understand that, as you have seen these barbarians rule and conquer so long in your Italy, you desire strongly to see them fall there. But I cannot say how long that event may yet be put off. The pa.s.s cannot be taken by storm as long as it is defended by men like this King Teja. Already more than a thousand of my Longobardians, Alamannians, Burgundians, Herulians, Franks, and Gepidae have fallen before it."

"Send for once," interposed Alboin in a vexed tone of voice--"send for once your brave Romani Against the Goths. The Herulians, Vulkaris and Wilmuth, fell under King Teja's axe almost as soon as they arrived here; the Gepidian Asbad, under the spear of that boy Adalgoth; my cousin Gisulf lies wounded by Duke Guntharis's sword; Wisand, the standard-bearer, has stabbed the Frank count, Butilin, with the point of his flagstaff; the old master-at-arms has dashed out the brains of the Burgundian Gernot with his stone axe; the Alamannian Liuthari was slain by Earl Grippa, and my shield-bearer, Klaffo, by a common Gothic soldier. And for every one of these heroes, a dozen of their followers lie dead also. If, at midnight last night, a block of lava, upon which I was standing, had not most opportunely slipped down just as King Teja, who can see in the dark, was hurling his lance at me, Rosamunda would not be the loveliest woman, but the loveliest widow in the realm of the Longobardians! As it was I got off with some ugly bruises, which will not be extolled in future heroic songs, but which I fancy much more than King Teja's best spear in my stomach. But I think that it is now the turn of other heroes. Let your Macedonians and Illyrians come forward. We have shown them often enough how a man can die in front of that needle's eye."

"No, my little wolf! Diamond cut diamond!" laughed Na.r.s.es. "Always Germans against Germans; there are too many of you in the world!"

"You seem to have the same fatherly opinion about the Isaurians--at least about _mine_!--magister militum," said Cethegus. "Shortly before their departure for Rome, you ordered my Isaurians to storm the pa.s.s in ma.s.s--the first storming-party in ma.s.s that you had ever ordered! Seven hundred of my seven thousand remained dead upon those rocks, and Sandil, my tried and faithful chief, at last found this Black Earl's axe too sharp for his helmet. He was very valuable to me."

"Well, the rest are safe in Rome. But nothing except fire can drive these Goths out of their last hole; unless indeed the earth would do me the favour to quake, as it did at Ravenna when Belisarius----"

"Is there still no news of the result of the process against Belisarius?" asked Cethegus. "Letters came lately from Byzantium, did they not?"

"I have not yet read them all.--Or, if not fire--then hunger. And if they then sally forth for a last battle, many a brave man would rather hear the murmur of the Ganges than the murmur of the Draco. Not you, Prefect! I know that you can look boldly into the eye of death."

"I will still wait here a little and see how things turn out. It is bad travelling weather. It storms and rains unceasingly. On the first or second warm sunshiny day, I will start for Rome."

It was true. On the night of the departure of the Isaurians, the weather had suddenly changed. The fisherman, who dwelt in a village near Stabiae, could not venture out upon the sea; less on account of the storm than because of the Longobardians, who had long been watching him with suspicion, and who had once arrested him. Only when his old father came forward and proved that Agnellus was really his, the old fisherman's son, did they hesitatingly let him go free. But he did not dare to pretend to fish, when no other fisher threw out his nets; and only far out upon the water could Syphax, who was also closely watched, venture to communicate with him.

The exits of all the camps, even of the half-deserted camp of Cethegus--Na.r.s.es had placed only three thousand Thracians and Persians in the tents deserted by the Isaurians--were guarded night and day by the Longobardians. And Na.r.s.es was also obliged to postpone his baths for some days. But for the secrets, namely, the letter from Procopius and the conversation held by Na.r.s.es in his bath-house, Cethegus fully intended to wait.

CHAPTER XI.