message of Narses was an offer, not of peace, but of pardon. The answer of the Gothic king declared his resolution to die or conquer. "What day," said the messenger, "will you fix for the combat? The eighth day," replied Totila: but early the next morning he attempted to surprise a foe, suspicious of deceit and prepared for battle. Ten thousand Heruli and Lombards, of approved valour and doubtful faith, were placed in the centre. Each of the wings was composed of eight thousand Romans; the right was guarded by the cavalry of the Huns, the left was covered by fifteen hundred chosen horse,[1] destined, according to the emergencies of action, to sustain the retreat of their friends or to encompass the flank of the enemy. From his proper station at the head of the right wing,[2] the eunuch rode along the line, expressing by his voice and countenance the assurance of victory ; exciting the soldiers of the emperor to punish the guilt and madness of a band of robbers ; and exposing to their view gold chains, collars, and bracelets, the rewards of military virtue. From the event of a single combat they drew an omen of success; and they beheld with pleasure the courage of fifty archers, who maintained a small eminence against three suc-
(Italia Antiqua, 1. ii. c. 6, p. 615, 616, 617), Lucas Holstenius (Annotat. ad Cluver. p. 85, 86), Guazze6i (Dissertat. p. 177-217, a professed inquiry), and the maps of the ecclesiastical state and the march of Ancona, by Le Maire and Magini. [See a memoir on the site of the battle by Hodgkin in the "Atti e memorie della R. Deputazione di Storia Patria per le provincie di Romagna," 1884 (p. 35 sqq.), and Italy and her Invaders, iv. p. 710 sqq. The site has not been determined with cer- tainty. (1) The mention of the Busta Gallorum (see next note) has been used as an argument for Sassoferrato near Sentinum. Procopius is mistaken in naming Camillus, who fought no battles in Umbria; but it is supposed that he may have been thinking of the Battle of Sentinum (B.C. 295). Sassoferrato is east of the Flaminian road, and is separated from Tadinum by a high pass. (2) Hodgkin argues for Ad Ensem, or Scheggia, where the Flaminian road reaches the top of the pass. His view is that Narses, having turned the fortress of Petra Pertusa by taking a southern route, reached the Flaminian Way at Callis and marched up to Ad Ensem. This site suits the words of Procopius, ἐν χωρίῳ ὁμαλῷ, " at a level place," but it has been objected that there is hardly room for a battle on such a 6cale. Procopius states that the distance between the camps of Narses and Totila was at first 100 stadia, and the distance between Scheggia and Tadino, 15 miles, nearly corre- sponds.]
- ↑ The battle [of Sentinum] was fought in the year of Rome 458 [b.c. 295]; and the consul Decius, by devoting his own life, assured the triumph of his country and his colleague Fabius (T. Lav. x. 28, 29). Procopius ascribes to Camillus the victory of the Busta Gallorum; and his error was branded by Cluverius with the national reproach of Greecorum nugamenta.
- ↑ [They were drawn up at an angle to the left wing and in front of the eminence which is mentioned below ; 500 were to sustain the retreat, if necessary; 1000 to attack the enemy in the rear.]
