The Goths felt severely the loss of their fleet, which had been damaged on the coast of Dalmatia.
The first to recover from his wounds was the Prefect.
When carried away insensible from the door which he had closed with his body, he had lain for a day and a half in a state which was half sleep, half swoon.
When, on the evening of the second day, he again opened his eyes, his first glance fell upon the faithful Moor, who was crouched at the foot of the bed, and who had never ceased to watch him. The snake was twined round his arm.
"The wooden door!" was the first scarcely audible word of the Prefect. "The wooden door must be replaced by--marble blocks----"
"Thanks, thanks, O Snake-god!" cried the slave; "now he is saved and thou too! And I, my master, have saved you." And he threw himself upon the ground and kissed his master's bedstead; his feet he did not dare to kiss.
"You have saved me? how?"
"When I laid you, as pale as death, upon this bed, I fetched my Snake-god and showed you to him; and I said, 'Thou seest, O Snake-god, that my master's eyes are closed. Make them open. Until thou dost so, thou shalt not receive one drop of milk or crumb of bread. And if he never open his eyes again--then, on the day when they burn his corpse, Syphax will burn by his side, and thou, O great Snake-god, also. Thou hast the power to heal him, then do so--or burn!' Thus I spoke, and he has healed you."
"The city is safe--I feel it. Else I had never slept! Is Belisarius alive? Where is Procopius?"
"In the library with your tribunes. According to the physician's sentence, they expected to-day either your recovery, or your----"