All the day long he showed these messengers his army and fleet.
The night following the messengers had disappeared.
They were Thorismuth and Aligern, who had been sent by King Totila, and now furnished him with the much-desired particulars.
So, from the very beginning, fate was against Belisarius, and the whole course of this campaign was unworthy of the fame of that great general.
It is true that he succeeded in running into the harbour of Ravenna, and providing that city with provisions.
But, the very day that he arrived. Prince Germanus was attacked by a fatal malady while visiting the tomb of Mataswintha.
She had been buried in the vault of the palace, near the graves of her brother and the young King Athalaric.
Germanus died, and, according to his last wish, was buried beside the woman he had loved so truly.
In a little niche in the same vault there reposed a heart which had ever beat warmly for Queen "Beautiful-hair."
Aspa, the Numidian slave, would not outlive her beloved mistress.