Belisarius and Cethegus also divided their generals and their men according to the sections and gates of Rome.
Belisarius confided the defence of the Prænestinian Gate in the eastern quarter (now Porta Maggiore) to Bessas, and the important Flaminian Gate, close to which lay the camp of Totila, to Constantinus, who caused it to be almost closed with blocks of marble, taken from ancient temples and palaces.
The Prefect jealously kept the western and southern quarters of the city under his own strict surveillance, but in the north Belisarius settled down between the Flaminian and Pincian--or now "Belisarian"--Gates (the weakest part of the ramparts), and formed plans of sallies against the barbarians.
The remaining gates were entrusted to the leaders of the foot-soldiers: Piranius, Magnus, Ennes, Artabanes, Azarethas, and Chilbudius.
The Prefect had undertaken the defence of all the gates on the right bank of the Tiber; the new Porta Aurelia on the Ælisian Bridge near the Mausoleum, the Porta Septimiana, the old Aurelian Gate, which was now named the Pancratian; and on the left bank, that of St. Paul.
The next gate to the east, the Ardeatinian, was again under the protection of a Byzantine garrison, commanded by Chilbudius.
The besiegers and the besieged proved themselves equally indefatigable and equally inventive in plans of attack and defence.
For a long time the only thing the Goths could attempt was to harass the Romans before storming the walls. On their side, the Romans prepared to defend them when attacked. The Goths--lords and masters in the Campagna--sought to distress the besieged by cutting off all the fourteen splendid aqueducts which supplied the city with water.
As soon as Belisarius learned this fact, he hastened to block the mouths of the aqueducts within the city.
"For," Procopius had said to him, "since you, O great hero, Belisarius, have crept into Neapolis through such a water-runnel, the same idea might occur to the barbarians, and they would scarcely think it a shame to crawl into Rome by a similar hero-path."