"Triumph!" he cried. "Freedom! freedom!"
"What news?" asked the priest.
"War! deliverance! Byzantium has declared war against the Goths!"
"Freedom! war!" shouted the Romans.
"It is impossible!" said Cethegus.
"It is certain!" cried another voice from the entrance--it was Calpurnius, who had followed close upon Albinus. "And, more than this, the war has commenced. Belisarius has landed in Sicily, at Catana; Syracusæ and Messana have surrendered; Panormus he has taken with the fleet. He has crossed to Italy, from Messana to Regium; he is upon Italian soil!"
"Freedom!" cried Marcus Licinius.
"Everywhere the population joins him. The Goths, taken by surprise, fly from Apulia and Calabria. Belisarius presses on without pause, through Bruttia and Lucania, to Neapolis."
"It is all lies--lies!" cried Cethegus, more to himself than to the others.
"You do not seem pleased at the success of the good cause! But the messenger rode three horses to death. Belisarius has landed with thirty thousand men."