[598] Ibid., 39.

CHAPTER XIII
THE FINAL CONQUEST OF ITALY AND ITS ANNEXATION TO THE EMPIRE

NOTWITHSTANDING the signal success of Belisarius in his Italian campaign, the Gothic Kingdom was even further from being actually subjugated to the Byzantine power than was Africa after the capture of Gelimer. The first care of Justinian was to appoint Alexander, an eminent Logothete, popularly known as "the Scissors," to supervise the financial administration of the country. His distinguishing sobriquet had been acquired through his remarkable dexterity in clipping round the gold coin according to an ingenious method of his own, which left the margin apparently intact. This noted extortioner descended on the Italians and sacked them mercilessly for suppositious debts, so that in a short time the public allegiance was wholly alienated from the victors. Even the army of occupation was defrauded of its pay to such an extent that the soldiers began to view the hostile operations of the enemy with complete indifference.[599]

After the departure of Belisarius, Ildibad applied himself to revive the spirit of the remnants of the Gothic forces, and to attract to his standard all the malcontents among the Italians. He made Ticinum[600] his headquarters, and soon found himself strong enough to join battle with the only Roman army which was willing to take the field. He defeated these troops with great slaughter, and was on the way to win a reputation in arms, when, as the result of a private feud, he was assassinated at a banquet. To him succeeded Eraric, but his elevation was displeasing to the Goths in general, and in a few months he also was killed insidiously to make room for Totila, a nephew of Ildibad.

Totila, or Baduela,[601] the most illustrious King of the Goths in Italy after the great Theodoric, had already made his submission to Justinian, when the messengers arrived to offer him the crown of his nation. He was in command of Tarvisium, and explained to them candidly his position, but promised that, if they should take off Eraric by a certain day, before his truce expired, he would accept the sovereignty. The distasteful king disappeared; he was already a traitor, and had stated his price to the Emperor, and the election of Totila was unanimously ratified by the Goths (541).

For many years Totila engaged himself in the reconquest of Italy, during which time he traversed the peninsula from north to south, and recovered nearly all the towns which had been lost to the Goths. The Byzantines failed to put an army into the field which could oppose him, and in two minor engagements they were defeated with considerable loss. The first blood was drawn at Faventia, whither Totila, in the year after his accession, hastened to meet the enemy. His whole force amounted to five thousand men, the relics of two hundred thousand whom the Goths had at their command eight years previously at the outset of the war. The Romans were twice as numerous, and the battle was begun by a single combat between Artabazes, an Armenian general of the Persian contingent transported from Sisauranum, and a strenuous Goth who proposed himself as a champion. The Armenian was the victor, but received a fortuitous wound, which ultimately proved fatal. A general collision followed, when a skilfully posted ambush created a panic among the Byzantines, who were dispersed with great carnage and the loss of all their ensigns.

The year after this success, to which was added the capture of several towns and districts, Totila laid siege to Naples. In general he adopted a policy of clemency towards those communities which fell into his hands, a disposition which disarmed resistance, and often much facilitated his progress. Thus he approached the Neapolitans with liberal promises, but they were influenced by the Roman garrison to decline a surrender. A blockade was established, therefore, in regular form. After some time, when the inhabitants began to be severely pressed by famine, an attempt to raise the siege was made by Demetrius, a Master of Soldiers who had just arrived from Constantinople. A few hundred infantry constituted his sole force, but he endeavoured to make the most of his slight resources by putting into Sicily, and, while there, loading a large number of freight vessels with provisions. Having given this fleet the semblance of conveying numerous troops, he set sail for Naples, whereupon the small Gothic army were thrown into consternation, believing that he was advancing against them with an overwhelming force. Hence they were on the point of breaking up their camp, when he, not being resolute enough to push the enterprise to a practical issue, declined from his course and steered for the port of Rome. There he essayed to transform the semblance into a reality by enlisting soldiers from among those who had crowded to the capital, where John, nephew of Vitalian, was in command. Their experience of the Goths, however, had lately been discouraging, wherefore they refused to associate themselves to his expedition. He was obliged, therefore, to proceed to the relief of Naples without any increment of force. But in the meantime, Totila, having become enlightened in the matter, posted a number of war-galleys in hiding, and attacked the provision ships as soon as a landing was attempted. All the vessels were taken, the crews were mostly captured or slain, whilst the residue, including Demetrius, managed to escape in small boats. Later on, another effort was made, which was even more disastrous. A newly-created Praetorian Praefect, in command of a considerable war fleet, manned by Thracians and Armenians, was despatched by Justinian to regulate the affairs of Italy. As a purely civil official he was incapable of maturing any plan of campaign, and, after wasting much time on the voyage, at length arrived at Sicily. Here he yielded to urgent pressure, and entrusted his forces to Demetrius, who again made sail for Naples. A storm arose, however, and all the vessels were cast ashore in confusion in the vicinity of the Gothic camp, where they at once became the prey of the enemy. The general himself was taken prisoner, and immediately utilized by Totila to bring about a surrender of the town. With a rope round his neck he was led before the walls and compelled to proclaim to the citizens that all hope of relief for them was at an end. Shortly afterwards the Gothic King himself came up and harangued a meeting of the Neapolitans to induce them to desist from their futile resistance. He represented to them that on account of their determined defence against Belisarius he not only regarded them with no animosity, but was even grateful for the loyalty they had shown on that occasion. He besought them, therefore, to let him take peaceful possession, and to receive him as a friend whose intentions were wholly amicable. They asked for thirty days; he replied by granting them three months; but in a short time they surrendered voluntarily, glad to be relieved from the intolerable state of destitution to which they had been reduced. Totila then acted with the greatest benignancy. The small Byzantine garrison were dismissed safe and sound, and even assisted with horses and supplies to enable them to make their way to Rome. As for the inhabitants, he was so solicitous about their health that he posted guards at the gates to see that foodstuffs were at first introduced sparingly, lest a sudden surfeit of the long-famished stomachs should engender a fatal illness throughout the city. His last procedure was to level the greater part of the walls to the ground, a method of treatment he applied to all other strongholds when captured, in order to deprive the Byzantines of places of shelter from which they could safely carry on the warfare.

In those cases, however, where Totila considered severity to be expedient he showed himself to be as relentless as the most tyrannical monarch. Thus, among his prisoners was one Demetrius, the commissary of Naples, who during the siege had thought fit to provoke him by the most unlicensed insults if he came within earshot of the walls. This man he punished by excising his tongue and amputating both his hands, after which infliction he set him at liberty. In another instance an Italian complained to the King that his daughter had been ravished by a Gothic guard, who happened to be a soldier of distinguished prowess. He was at once committed to custody, but his companions pleaded earnestly on his behalf. Thereupon Totila made them a speech in which he dwelt on the necessity for the Goths to adhere to the principles of rectitude and to maintain an honourable reputation among the people of the country. He also referred to the case of Theodahad, who by his iniquities had become the prime cause of the present war. Having persuaded his hearers by these arguments, he had the culprit executed, and assigned his possessions to the girl who had been outraged.

Totila now began to turn his attention to the recovery of the capital, and his first move towards that object was to address a letter to the Roman Senate with the view of pre-disposing their minds in his favour. He reproached them gently with having forgotten the generous treatment they had received at the hands of Theodoric and his successors, and contrasted the behaviour of the Byzantines since they had gained a footing in Italy with that of the Goths. At the moment, indeed, he was able to use as an object-lesson, not only the reinstituted financial oppression, but the conduct of the army of occupation, who were leading a dissolute life in the fortresses among prostitutes, whilst they pillaged the people of the neighbourhood without compunction for the supply of their wants. The King followed up this missive by causing agents who were in collusion with him in the city to post up notices full of liberal promises to the Roman citizens should they return to the Gothic allegiance. Whatever effect these overtures may have had on the minds of the Romans, they were not immediately fruitful to Totila, and the Byzantine garrison continued to retain a firm hold on the capital.