And he hurried out.
Antonina looked after him in dismay.
"Procopius," she asked, "does the Emperor really know it already?"
"Even if he did not, too many are initiated into our secret. In all cases he would learn afterwards that Ravenna and Italy were his, and--that Belisarius strove for the Gothic and the imperial crown. Nothing can justify Belisarius in the Emperor's eyes, except the fact of gaining Ravenna, and delivering it to Justinian."
"Yes," said Belisarius, sighing, "he is right. I have no choice left."
"Then go!" said Antonina, intimidated. "But excuse me from accompanying you. It is no triumph, but a laying of a trap."
The population of Ravenna, although in the dark as to the particular conditions, were still certain that peace was concluded, and the long and terrible suffering they had endured at an end. In their joy at this deliverance, the citizens had cleared away the ruins caused by the earthquake in many of the streets, and had festively decorated the city.
Wreaths, flags, and carpets were hung out; the people crowded the forums, the canals of the lagoons, and the baths and basilicas, curious to see the hero, Belisarius, and the army which had so long threatened their walls, and had, at last, overcome the barbarians.
Already some divisions of the Byzantine army marched proudly through the gates, while the scattered and scanty Gothic patrols beheld, in silence and indignation, the entrance of their hated enemies into the residence of Theodoric.
The Gothic nobles assembled in a hall in the gaily-decorated palace, near the apartment of the King.