"Then I beg the favour of being allowed to propose a second general.--Narses," she continued, before Justinian could speak, "will you be the other?"
She wished to make it impossible for him to go.
"No, I thank you," Narses answered bitterly. "You know that I am a stubborn and ill-tempered horse; I cannot endure to draw together with another. A marshal's staff and a wife, Justinian, should be kept on the same condition."
"How?"
"Alone, or not at all."
"Then you not at all," answered Justinian with vexation. "You must not imagine that you are indispensable, magister militum."
"No one on earth is so, Justinian. With all my heart! Send great Belisarius again! He may try his luck for the third time in that country, where laurels grow so thickly. My turn will come later. I am no doubt unnecessary here as a witness of your domestic felicity, and at home, opposite to my sickbed, stands a map of the Italian roads. Allow me to continue my study of it. It is more interesting than the map of our Persian frontier. One piece of advice. You will ultimately be obliged to send Narses to Italy. The sooner you send him the more you will spare yourself defeat, vexation, and money. And if gout or that wretched epilepsy should carry Narses off before King Totila lies upon his shield, who then will conquer Italy for you? You believe in prophecy. In Italy there runs a saying: 'T beats B, N beats T.'"
"Does that mean, perhaps, that Theodora beat Belisarius, and Narses beats Theodora?" asked the Empress mockingly.
"That is not my interpretation of the riddle; it is yours. But I accept it. Do you know which was the wisest of your many laws, O Justinian?"
"Well?"