A Struggle For Rome Volume I Part 36

Belisarius drew himself up to his full height, and angrily grasped his sword. He looked as if he would have gladly crushed the cripple near him.

The Emperor defended him. "Belisarius no great general! Envy blinds you, Na.r.s.es."

"I envy Belisarius nothing, not even," answered Na.r.s.es, slightly sighing, "his health. He would h& a great general if he were not so great a hero. Every battle which he has lost, he has lost through too great heroism."

"That can not be said of you, Na.r.s.es," retorted Belisarius.

"No, Belisarius, for I have never yet lost a battle."

An angry retort from Belisarius was cut short by the entrance of a slave, who, lifting the curtain, announced:

"Alexandros, sire, who was sent to Ravenna, has landed an hour ago, and asks----"

"Bring him in! Here!" cried the Emperor, hastily starting from his seat. He impatiently signed to the amba.s.sador, who entered at once, to rise from his obeisance.

"Well, Alexandros, you came back alone?"

The amba.s.sador--a handsome and still young man--repeated: "Alone."

"But your last report said--In what condition have you left the Gothic kingdom?"

"In great confusion. I wrote in my last report that the Queen had decided to rid herself of her three most haughty enemies. Should the attempt fail, she would be no longer safe in Italy, and she begged to be allowed, in that case, to go in my ship to Epid.a.m.nus, and from thence to escape to Byzantium."

"And I accepted the proposal readily. Well, and the attempt?"

"Succeeded. The three dukes are no more. But the rumour had reached Ravenna that the most dangerous of them, Duke Thulun, was only wounded.

This induced the Queen--as, besides, the Goths threateningly surrounded the palace--to escape to my ship. We weighed anchor, but soon after we had left the harbour, off Ariminum, Earl Witichis overtook us with superior numbers, boarded us, and demanded that Amalaswintha should return, guaranteeing her safety until a solemn examination had taken place before the National a.s.sembly. When she learnt from him that Duke Thulun had succ.u.mbed to his wounds, and saw from the proposal of Witichis that he and his powerful friends did not yet believe in her guilt, and as, besides, she apprehended compulsion, she consented to return with him to Ravenna. But first, on board the _Sophia_, she wrote this letter to you, and sends you this present from her treasury."

"Of that later. Tell me further, how do things, stand now in Italy?"

"Well for you, O great Emperor! An exaggerated account of the rebellion of the Goths at Ravenna and of the flight of the Queen to Byzantium, has flown through the whole country. Already many encounters have taken place between Romans and barbarians. In Rome itself the patriots wished to strike a blow at once; to choose a Dictator in the Senate, and call for your a.s.sistance. But this step would have been premature, for the Queen was in the hands of the Goths, and only the firmness of the clever man who heads the conspiracy of the Catacombs prevented it."

"The Prefect of Rome?" asked Justinian.

"Cethegus. He mistrusted the reports. The conspirators wished to surprise the Goths, proclaim you Emperor of the West, and choose him, meanwhile, for Dictator. But he literally allowed them to put the dagger to his throat in the Curia, and said, No."

"A courageous man!" said Belisarius.

"A dangerous man!" said Na.r.s.es.

"An hour after," continued the amba.s.sador, "news, arrived of Amalaswintha's return, and things remained as they were. That gloomy warrior, Teja, had sworn to render Rome a pasture for cattle, if a drop of Gothic blood were shed. I learned all this on my intentionally slow coast voyage to Brundusium. But I have something still better to announce. I have found zealous friends of Byzantium, not only among the Romans, but also among the Goths, and even in the members of the Royal Family."

"Whom mean you?"

"In Tuscany there lives a rich proprietor, Prince Theodahad, the cousin of Amalaswintha."

"To be sure! he is the last male of the Amelung family, is he not?"

"The last. He and, still more, Gothelindis, his clever but wicked wife, the proud daughter of the Balthe, mortally hate the Queen. He, because she opposed the measureless avarice with which he sought to appropriate the property of all his neighbours; she, from reasons which I could not discover, but which, I believe, originated during the girlhood of the two Princesses; enough, her hate is deadly. Now, these two have promised me to help you in every possible way to win Italy back. She will be satisfied, it seems, with the destruction of the object of her hatred; he, however, demands a rich reward."

"He shall have it."

"His support is important, for he already possesses half Tuscany--the n.o.ble family of the Wolfungs owns the other half--and can easily bring it into our power; and also because he expects, if Amalaswintha falls, to seat himself upon her throne. Here are letters from him and Gothelindis. But, first of all, read the writing from the Queen---- I believe it is very important."

CHAPTER XIV.

The Emperor opened the tablets, and read:

"To Justinian, Emperor of the Romans, Amalaswintha, Queen of the Goths and the Italians."

"Queen of the Italians!" laughed Justinian; "what an insane t.i.tle!"

"From Alexandros you will learn how Eris and Ate haunt this land. I am like a lonely palm-tree which is tossed by opposing winds. Each day increases the barbarians' enmity to me, and daily I become more estranged from them; and the Romans, however much I try to conciliate them, can never forget that I am of Germanic origin. Till now I have defied all danger with a firm spirit; but I can do so no longer, if my palace and my person are not in security. I cannot rely upon any party in this country. Therefore I appeal to you, as my royal brother.

It is the dignity of all rulers, and the peace of Italy, which you will protect. Send me, I beseech you, a trustworthy troop, a life-guard"--the Emperor cast a significant look at Belisarius--"a troop of some thousand men, with a leader who will be unconditionally devoted to me. They shall occupy the palace; it is a fortress in itself. As to Rome, these troops must, above all things, keep from me the Prefect Cethegus, who is as full of duplicity as he is powerful, and who deserted me in the danger into which he himself had led me. If necessary, they must ruin him. When I have overthrown my enemies, and secured my kingdom, as I trust in Heaven and my own strength that I shall, I will send back troops and leader richly laden with gifts, and still more with warm thanks.--_Vale_."

Justinian clasped the wax-tablets tightly in his hand; his eyes shone; his plain features were enn.o.bled by an expression of high intellectual power; and the present moment showed, that together with many weaknesses and littlenesses, he possessed strength and greatness: the greatness of diplomatic genius.

"In this letter," he cried at last, with sparkling eyes, "I hold Italy and the Gothic kingdom!"

And, much agitated, he paced the room with long strides, even forgetting to bow before the Cross.

"A life-guard! that she shall have! But not a few thousand men; many thousands--more than she will like; and you, Belisarias, shall lead them."

"Deign to look at the presents," said Alexandros, pointing to a costly shrine of cypress-wood, inlaid with gold, which a slave had set down behind him. "Here is the key."

And he held out a little box of tortoise-sh.e.l.l, which was closed with the Queen's seal.

"Her picture is there too," he said, raising his voice as if by accident.

At the moment in which Alexandros raised his voice, the head of a woman was protruded gently and unnoticed through the curtain, and two sparkling black eyes looked keenly at the Emperor.

Justinian opened the shrine, quickly pushed aside its costly contents, and hastily caught up a simple tablet of polished box-wood, with a small golden frame.

A cry of astonishment involuntarily burst from his lips, his eyes sparkled, and he showed the picture to Belisarius.

"A splendid woman! What majesty on her brow! One sees that she is a born ruler--a king's daughter!" and he gazed admiringly at the n.o.ble features.

The curtain rustled, and the listener entered.

It was Theodora, the Empress. A seductive apparition.

All the arts of woman's inventive genius in a time of refined luxury, and all the means of an empire, were daily called into requisition, in order to keep the beauty of this woman--who had impaired it only too much by a life of unbridled sensuality--fresh and dazzling. Gold-dust gave to her blue-black hair a metallic brilliancy; it was carefully combed up from the nape of her neck, in order to show the beautiful shape of her head, and its fine set upon her shoulders. Her eyebrows and eye-lashes were dyed black with Arabian antimony; and so carefully was the red of her lips put on, that even Justinian, who kissed those lips, never suspected an aid to Nature by means of Ph[oe]nician scarlet. Every tiny hair on her alabaster arm had been carefully destroyed: and the delicate rose-colour of her finger-nails was the daily care of a specially-appointed slave.

And yet, without all these arts, Theodora, who was not yet forty years of age, would have pa.s.sed for an extremely lovely woman. Her countenance was certainly not n.o.ble; no n.o.ble, or even proud spirit, spoke from her fatigued and weirdly shining eyes; round her lips played an habitual smile, the dimples of which indicated the place of the first future wrinkle; and her cheeks, beneath the eyes, showed traces of exhaustion.