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 It is obsolete, Prefect of Rome!"
"No, Belisarius, yours is obsolete.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."