Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/245

N A R S E S 233 came to Constantinople, and received costly gifts from the great minister. In the year 532 the celebrated insurrection known as the Nika broke out in Constantinople, when for some hours the throne of Justinian seemed doomed to overthrow. It was saved partly by the courage of his Avife, Theodora, and partly by the timely prodigality of Narses, who stole out into the capital, and with large sums of money bribed the leaders of the "blue" faction (which was aforetime loyal to the emperor) to shout as of old "Justiniane Auguste Tu Vincas." The African and Italian wars followed (533-534, 535- 554; see JUSTINIAN, vol. xiii. p. 797). In the fourth year of the latter war the splendid successes of Belisarius, who with a handful of troops had conquered the better part of Italy, reoccupied Rome, and held it against 150,000 Goths, vainly besieging it for 374 days, had awakened both joy and fear in the heart of his master. Reinforcements amounting to 10,000 men were sent into Italy, and Narses the eunuch was placed at their head. Belisarius understood that Narses came to serve under him like any other officer of distinguished but subordinate rank, and he received a letter from Justinian which seemed to support this conclu sion. But the friends of Narses continually plied him with suggestions that he, a great officer of the household, in the secrets of the emperor, had been sent to Italy, not to serve as a subaltern, but to hold independent command and win military glory for himself. The truth probably lay between the two. Justinian could not deprive his great general of the supreme command, yet he wished to have a very powerful emissary of the court constantly at his side. He would have him watched but not hampered. The two generals met (538 A.D.) at Fermo on the Adriatic coast. The first interference of Narses with the plans of Belisarius was beneficial. John, one of the officers highest in rank under Belisarius, had pressed on to Rimini, contrary to the instructions of his chief, leaving in his rear the difficult fortress of Osimo untaken. His daring march had alarmed the Goths for Ravenna, and induced them to raise the siege of Rome ; but he himself was now shut up in Rimini, and on the point of being forced by famine to surrender. Belisarius and his followers were prepared to let him pay the penalty of his rashness and disobedience. But his friend Narses so insisted on the blow to the reputation of the imperial arms which would be produced by the surrender of Rimini that he carried the council of war with him, and Belisarius had to plan a brilliant march across the mountains, in conjunction with a movement by the fleet, whereby Rimini was relieved while Osimo was still untaken. When Belisarius and John me,t, the latter ostentatiously thanked Narses and Narses alone for his preservation. His next use of his authority was less fortunate. Milan, which was holding out for the Romans, was also hard pressed by famine. The two generals who were sent to relieve it loitered disgracefully over their march, and when Belisarius wished to despatch further reinforcements the commanders of these new troops refused to stir till Narses gave them orders. Belisarius wrote to the eunuch pointing out the necessity of unity of purpose in the imperial army. At length, grudgingly, Narses gave his consent, and issued the required orders ; but it was too late. Milan had been compelled by extremity of famine to surrender, and with it the whole province of Liguria fell into the hands of the enemy. This event forced Justinian to recognize the dangers of even a partially divided command, and he recalled Narses to Constantinople. Twelve years elapsed before Narses returned to Italy. Meanwhile there had been great vicissitudes of fortune both for the Romans and the Goths. Italy, which appeared to have been won by the sword of Belisarius, had been lost again by the exactions and misgovernment of Alexander. The young and gallant Totila had raised up a new army, had more than kept Belisarius at bay in five difficult campaigns (544-548), and now held nearly all the country. Belisarius, however, in this his second series of campaigns, had never been properly seconded by his master. In the spring of 552 Narses set sail from Salona on the Dalmatian coast with a large and well-appointed army. It was a Roman army only in name. Lombards, Heruli, Huns, Gepidae, and even Persians followed the standard of Narses, men equal in physical strength and valour to the Goths, and inspired by the liberal pay which they received and by the hope of plunder. The eunuch seems to have led his army round the head of the Adriatic Gulf. By skilfully co-operating with his fleet he was able to cross the rivers of Venetia without fighting the Gothic general Teias, who intended to dispute their passage. Having mustered all his forces at Ravenna, he marched southward. He refused to be detained before Rimini, being determined to meet the Gothic king as soon as possible with his army undiminished. The occupation of the pass of Furlo (Petra Pertusa) by the Goths prevented his marching by the Via Flaminia, but, taking a short circuit, he rejoined the great road near Cagli. A little further on, upon the crest of the Apennines, he was met by Totila, who had advanced as far as Tadini (which Procopius calls Taginas). Parleys, messages, and harangues by each general followed. At length the line of battle was formed, and the Gothic army (probably greatly inferior in number to the Byzantine) was hopelessly routed, the king receiving a mortal wound as he was hurrying from the battlefield. With Totila fell the last hopes of the Gothic kingdom of Italy. The brave young Teias, who was proclaimed his. successor, protracted for a few months a desperate resistance in the rocky peninsula of Castellamare, overlooking the Bay of Naples. At length want of provisions forced him into the plain, and there by the river Sarno, almost in sight of Pompeii, was fought (553) a battle which is generally named from the overlooking range of Mons Lactorius (Monte Lettere). The actual site of the battle, however, is about half a mile from the little town of Angri, and its memory is still vaguely preserved by the name Pozzo dei Goti (Well of the Goths). In this battle Teias was killed. He was the last king of the Ostrogoths. The task of Narses, however, was not yet ended. By the invitation of the Goths an army of 75,000 warlike Alemanni and Franks, the subjects of King Theudibert, crossed the Alps under the command of two Alemannic nobles, the brothers Leuthar and Butilin (553). The great strategic talents of Narses were shown even more conspicuously in this than in his previous and more brilliant campaigns. Against the small but gallant bands of Totila and Teias he had adopted the policy of rapid marches and imperative challenges to battle. His strategy in dealing with the great host from Gaul was of the Fabian kind. He kept them as long as he could north of the Apennines, while he completed the reduction of the fortresses of Tuscany. At the approach of winter he gathered his troops into the chief cities and declined operations in the field, while the Alemannic brothers marched through Italy killing and plundering. When the spring of 554 appeared, Leuthar with his half of the army insisted on marching back to Gaul, there to deposit in safety the plunder which they had reaped. In an unim portant engagement near Pesaro he was worsted by the Roman generals, and this hastened his northward march. At Ceneda in Venetia he died of a raging fever. Pestilence broke out in his army, which if not absolutely annihilated thereby was so wasted as to be incapable of further opera- XVII. 30