A Struggle For Rome Volume Ii Part 30

Antonina's quick eye remarked it, and she started; the intelligence between the two men aroused her suspicion.

This did not escape Cethegus.

"No, Procopius," he said, to the astonishment of Belisarius; "our friends here will far too soon acknowledge that Cethegus is not a man whose ambition can be satisfied by a smile from Justinian. I have not saved Rome for the Emperor."

"For whom else!" asked Belisarius gravely.

"First for Rome herself. I am a Roman. I love my Eternal City. She shall not become the servant of the priests, but also not the slave of the Emperor. I am a republican," he said, tossing his head defiantly.

A smile pa.s.sed across the countenance of Belisarius; the Prefect seemed to him of less importance than before.

Procopius, shrugging his shoulders, said:

"Incomprehensible!"

But this candour pleased Antonina.

"I certainly saw," continued Cethegus, "that we could only beat the barbarians by the sword of Belisarius. And also, alas! that the time is not ripe to realise my dreams of republican freedom. The Romans must first again become Catos; this generation must die out; and I acknowledge that, meantime, Rome can only find protection against the barbarians under the shield of Justinian. Therefore we will bow to this shield--for the present."

"Not bad!" thought Procopius; "the Emperor is to protect them until they are strong enough to run away from him, in proof of grat.i.tude."

"These are but dreams, my Prefect," said Belisarius compa.s.sionately.

"What practical results can they have?"

"These: that Rome shall not be delivered up to the caprice of the Emperor with bound hands and without conditions. Belisarius is not the only servant of Justinian. Only think, if the heartless Na.r.s.es were to become your successor!" The hero frowned. "Therefore I will tell you the conditions under which the city of Caesar will open her gates to you and your army."

But this was too much for Belisarius.

He sprang up in a rage; his face glowed; his eyes flashed.

"Prefect of Rome," he cried in his loudest voice, "you forget yourself and your position! To-morrow I start with my army of seventy thousand men for Rome. Who will hinder me from entering the city without conditions?"

"I," said Cethegus quietly. "No, Belisarius, I do not rave. Look at this plan of the city and its fortifications. Your experienced eye will recognise its strength better and more quickly than mine."

He drew forth a parchment and spread it open upon the table.

Belisarius cast an indifferent look at it, but immediately cried out:

"The plan is incorrect! Procopius, give me our plan out of that casket.--Look here, those moats are now filled up; those towers are ruined; the wall here is broken down, those gates defenceless.--Your plan represents them as of terrible strength. It is obsolete, Prefect of Rome!"

"No, Belisarius, _yours_ is obsolete. These walls, moats, and gates are reconstructed."

"Since when?"

"A year ago."

"By whom?"

"By me."

Belisarius looked at the plan in perplexity.

Antonina's eyes rested anxiously on the features of her husband.

"Prefect," he said at last, "if this be so, you understand warfare well--the warfare of fortresses. But to wage war there must be an army, and your empty walls will not arrest my progress."

"You will not find them empty. You must acknowledge that a force of more than twenty thousand men is capable of holding Rome--namely, this my Rome upon the plan--for days and years, even against Belisarius.

Good. Then, know that these fortifications are held by thirty-five thousand armed men."

"Have the Goths returned?" asked Belisarius.

Procopius drew nearer, astonished.

"No; these thirty-five thousand men are under my command. For some years I have recalled the long enervated Romans to arms, and have unceasingly practised them in the use of their weapons. So at present I have thirty cohorts ready for battle, each consisting of almost a thousand men."

Belisarius struggled to repress his vexation, and shrugged his shoulders contemptuously.

"I acknowledge," continued Cethegus, "that these troops could not oppose the army of Belisarius in the open field. But I a.s.sure you that they will fight famously behind these walls. Besides that, I have, out of my private means, enrolled seven thousand picked Isaurian and Abasgian mercenaries, and have brought them, gradually and un.o.bserved, in small divisions to Ostia, Rome, and the neighbourhood. You doubt it?

Here are the lists of the thirty cohorts, and the contract with the Isaurians. You now see distinctly how matters stand. Either you accept my conditions--and then these thirty-five thousands are yours: yours is Rome, my Rome, this Rome on the plan, of which you say that it is of fearful strength, and yours is Cethegus--or you refuse my conditions.--Then your victorious march, whose success depends on the rapidity of your movements, is arrested. You will be obliged to besiege Rome for many months. The Goths will have plenty of time to re-collect their forces. We ourselves will call them back. They will come to relieve the city in threefold superiority, and nothing can save you from destruction but a miracle!"

"Or your death at this moment! thou devil!" thundered Belisarius, and, no longer master of himself, he drew his sword.

"Up, Procopius, in the Emperor's name! Take the traitor! He dies in this hour!"

Horrified and undecided, Procopius rushed between the two men, while Antonina caught her husband's arm, and tried to take his right hand.

"Are you his allies!" cried Belisarius furiously.

"Guards! guards! here!"

From each of the two doors two lancers entered the tent.

But Belisarius had already torn himself from Antonina's hold, and had hurled Procopius to one side as if he were a child. Raising his sword, he rushed at the Prefect. But he suddenly stopped short and lowered his weapon, the point of which already touched the breast of Cethegus; for, immovable, like a statue, without the least change of countenance, and fixing his cold eyes penetratingly upon his furious a.s.sailer, Cethegus had remained standing, a smile of unspeakable contempt upon his lips.

"What means this look and smile?" asked Belisarius.

Procopius quietly signed to the guards to leave the tent.

"Pity for your reputation, which a moment of rage might destroy for ever. If you had killed me, you would have been lost!"

"I!" laughed Belisarius; "I should think _you_ would have been lost."

"And you with me. Do you believe that I put my head into the lion's mouth like a fool? It was not difficult to foresee that a hero of your sort would first of all try to put an end to his embarra.s.sment with his sword. Against this I have protected myself. Know that since this morning, in consequence of a sealed order which I left behind me, Rome is in the hands of my blindly-devoted friends. The Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Capitol, and all the gates and towers of the ramparts, are garrisoned by Isaurians and legionaries. I left the order with my war-tribunes, who are youths fearless of death, in case of your reaching Rome before me."

He handed a roll of papyrus to Procopius.