Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/192

172 THE DECLINE AND FALL and Capua : after a vain appeal to the successors of Charlemagne, the Lombards implored the clemency and aid of the Greek emperor.i"^ A fearless citizen dropped from the walls, passed the intrenchments, accomplished his commission, and fell into the hands of the bai-barians, as he was returning with the wel- come news. They commanded him to assist their enterprise, and deceive his countrymen, with the assurance that wealth and honours should be the reward of his falsehood, and that his sincer- ity would be punished with immediate death. He affected to yield, but, as soon as he was conducted within hearing of the Christians on the rampart, " Friends and brethren," he cried with a loud voice, " be bold and patient, maintain the city ; your sovereign is informed of your distress, and your deliverers are at hand. I know my doom, and commit my wife and children to your gratitude." The rage of the Arabs confirmed his evidence ; and the self-devoted patriot was transpierced with an hundred spears. He deserves to live in the memory of the virtuous, but the repeti- tion of the same story in ancient and modern times may sprinkle AD. 930 some doubts on the reality of this genei-ous deed.^^ 3. The re- cital of the third incident may provoke a smile amidst the horrors of Avar. Theobald, marquis of Camerino and Spoleto,^'* supported the rebels of Beneventum ; and his wanton cruelty was not in- compatible in that age with the character of an hero. His cap- tives of the Greek nation or party were castrated without mercy, and the outrage was aggravated by a cruel jest, that he wished to present the emperor with a supply of eunuchs, the most cardinal was deceived by a false title, and we can only quote the anonymous Chronicle of Salerno (Paraliponiena, c. no), composed towards the end of the xth century, and published in the second volume of Muratori's Collection. See the Dissertations of Caniillo Pellegrino (torn. ii. pars i. 231-281, &c. ). 1- Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil, c. 58, p. 183) is the original author of this story. He places it under the reigns of Basil and Lewis II. ; yet the reduc- tion of Beneventum by the Greeks is dated ..D. 891, after' the decease of both of those princes. ^■'In the year 663, the same tragedy is described by Paul the Deacon (de Gestis Langobard. 1. v. c. 7, 8, p. 870, 871, edit. Grot), under the walls of the same city of Beneventum. But the actors are different, and the guilt is imputed to the Greeks themselves, which in the Byzantine edition is applied to the Saracens. In the late war in Germany, M. d'Assas, a French officer of the regiment of Auvergne, is said to have devoted himself in a similar manner. His behaviour is the more heroic, as mere silence was required by the enemy who had made him prisoner (Voltaire, .Sitjcle de Louis XV. c. 33, torn. x. p. 172). 1^ Theobald, who is styled Heros by Liutprand, was properly duke of Spoleto and marquis of Camerino, from the year 926 to 935. The title and office of marquis (commander of the march or frontier) was introduced into Italy by the Frencii emperors (Abr^gi^ Chronologique, torn. ii. p. 645-732, litc. ).