"Impossible, general! It was not violent enough. And the fleets according to the last reports, lay safe at anchor in the harbour of Brundusium."
"Well, we cannot wait for the ships! Forward, my leaders! We will march at once to the pass. Farewell, Cethegus! Do not let your dismissal disquiet you. I fear that you will be menaced with many a troublesome process when the war is ended. You have many enemies, rightly and wrongly. There are bad omens against you. But I know that from the very beginning you have believed in only one omen--'The only omen'----"
"'Is to die for the fatherland!' Grant me one more favour, Narses. Allow me--for my Isaurians and tribunes are in Rome--to gather round me all the Italians and Romans whom you have divided among your troops, and lead them against the barbarians."
For one moment Narses hesitated. Then he said:
"Well, go; gather them together and lead them--to death," he added in a low voice to Basiliskos. "There are at most fifteen hundred men. I do not grudge him the pleasure of falling at the head of his countrymen. Nor them the pleasure of falling behind him!--Farewell, Cethegus."
Silently greeting Narses with his uplifted spear, Cethegus left the tent.
"H'm!" said Narses to Alboin, "you may well look after him, Longobardian. There goes a remarkable piece of universal history. Do you know who that is marching away?"
"A great enemy to his enemies," said Alboin gravely.
"Yes, wolf, look at him again; there goes to his death--the last Roman!"
When all the leaders, except Basiliskos and Alboin, had left Narses, there hurried into the tent from behind a curtain, Anicius, Scævola, and Albinus, still in the disguise of Longobardians, and with faces full of alarm.