LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON.
1878.
[All Rights Reserved.]
A STRUGGLE FOR ROME.
BOOK IV.--Continued.
WITICHIS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Thanks to the precautions taken by Procopius, the trick had succeeded completely.
At the moment in which the flag of the Goths fell and their King was taken prisoner, they were everywhere surprised and overpowered. In the courts of the palace, in the streets and canals of the city and in the camp, they were surrounded by far superior numbers. A palisade of lances met their sight on all sides. Almost without an exception the paralysed Goths laid down their arms. The few who offered resistance--the nearest associates of the King--were struck down.
Witichis himself, Duke Guntharis, Earl Wisand, Earl Markja, and the leaders of the army who were taken prisoners with them, were placed in separate confinement; the King imprisoned in the "prison of Theodoric," a strong and deep dungeon in the palace itself.