On the other hand, Justinian's clever but slightly warped mind was unreasonably jealous of Belisarius' success and his somewhat stuffy virtue. When he learned that Belisarius had stayed behind in Rome rather than give a parole that he'd be expected to break, the emperor might be sufficiently annoyed to do something interesting.
Padway wrote:
King Thiudahad to the Emperor Justinian, Greetings. Your serene highness: We send you with this letter the persons of your generals Constantianus, Perianus, and Bessas, under parole not to bear arms against us again. A similar parole was offered your general Belisarius, but he declined to accept it on grounds of his personal honor. As continuation of this war seems unlikely to achieve any constructive result, we take the opportunity of stating the terms that we should consider reasonable for the establishment of enduring peace between us. 1. Imperial troops shall evacuate Sicily and Dalmatia forthwith. 2. An indemnity of one hundred thousand solidi in gold shall be paid us for damages done by your invading armies. 3 We shall agree never again to make war, one upon the other, without mutual consultation in advance. Details can be settled in due course. 4 We shall agree not to assist any third parties, by men, money, or munitions, which hereafter shall make war upon either of us. 5 We shall agree upon a commercial treaty to facilitate the exchange of goods between our respective realms. This is of course a very rough outline, details of which would have to be settled by conference between our representatives. We think you will agree that these terms, or others very similar in intent, are the least that we could reasonably ask under the circumstances. We shall anticipate the gracious favor of a reply at your serenity's earliest convenience. by martinus paduei, Quaestor
When he saw who his visitor was, Thomasus got up with a grunt and waddled toward him, good eye sparkling and hand outstretched. "Martinus! It's good to see you again. How does it feel to be important?"
"Wearisome," said Padway, shaking hands vigorously. "What's the news?"
"News? News? Listen to that! He's been making most of the news in Italy for the past two months, and he wants to know what the news is!"
"I mean about our little bird in a cage."
"Huh? Oh, you mean"—Thomasus looked around cautiously—"ex-King Wittigis? He was doing fine at last reports, though nobody's been able to get a civil word out of him. Listen, Martinus, of all the lousy tricks I ever heard of, springing the job of hiding him on me without warning was the worst. I'm sure God agrees with me, too. Those soldiers dragged me out of bed, and then I had them and their prisoner around the house for several days."
"I'm sorry, Thomasus. But you were the only man in Rome I felt I could trust absolutely."
"Oh, well, if you put it that way. But Wittigis was the worst grouch I ever saw. Nothing suited him."