At this period the Gothic King again attempted to compose a peace with Justinian, but his overtures were treated with unconcern. It is probable that at this juncture the Emperor would have been willing to ratify a treaty, but he had at his side an adviser who urged him persistently not to abandon Italy to the dominion of the Arian heretics. Pope Vigilius had been for a couple of years resident at the Byzantine Court, and, as the representative of Orthodox Italy, he could by no means endure that the Papal seat should be under the control of the Goths. Germanus was, therefore, appointed to be commander-in-chief, but he died on his way through Illyricum, and for the next two years the war continued to be waged by land and sea on the same indecisive lines. The principal exploit of Totila was the reconquest of Sicily, but he left it incomplete; and shortly afterwards Artabanes virtually recovered the island for the Empire.
In the autumn of the year 551, a naval battle off Ancona, disastrous to the Goths, again induced Totila to approach the Emperor with peace proposals, but Justinian remained obdurate, and seemed to be possessed with a rooted prejudice against entering into any convention with the Goths. The name had become odious to him, and, after so many years of quasi-occupation of Italy, he doubtless looked on that nation merely as heretic rebels who disturbed the peace in an integral part of his dominions.
In this naval engagement, the only express conflict on the water in this century, the Romans were provided with fifty warships of the utmost capacity, the Goths with forty-seven.[609] John was in chief command on the side of the Romans, Indulfus, a renegade officer of Belisarius, on that of the Goths. The fight was begun with great ardour on both sides, and conducted as nearly as possible in the form of a battle on land. A cloud of arrows was interchanged by the hostile crews, and then the ships were impelled against each other in order to facilitate the use of swords and spears. The Byzantine fleet, however, was manned by sailors who were skilful in manœuvring their vessels, but the barbarians, not being a maritime nation, could not dispose of crews who were versed in nautical evolutions. On the one side the ships were navigated methodically and kept in just array, while on the other they were urged indiscriminately to the attack. Certain groups of the Gothic fleet were marshalled with an excessive interspace, and among these the Romans drove in, isolating the vessels, and easily sinking them by their combined action. In other positions the ships of the barbarians were packed together so closely that they hampered each other's progress and checked the use of the oars; and in such cases their efforts were perverted into a contest to regain their freedom of movement. Hence the battle resulted in thirty-six vessels being destroyed by the Byzantines, whilst the remaining eleven escaped to the shore, where they were burnt to save them from the enemy. The preservation of Ancona for the Empire was the immediate result of this victory.[610]
After the death of Germanus the Emperor decided to appoint Narses to the command of the war in Italy, although the eunuch was now a very old man, and, according to evidence which cannot be ignored, probably almost an octogenarian.[611] We are also told that he was short of stature and slightly built, but mentally strenuous and decisive in character to a remarkable degree.[612] As soon as the question was broached of ordaining him to the conduct of the Gothic war, he declared frankly that he would not accept the commission unless he were granted resources adequate to the magnitude of the enterprise. Justinian yielded, with the result that an invasion of Italy was planned by the eunuch on a scale which was a revelation to those habituated to the fitful and partial efforts of the last dozen years. Not only did he levy an army commensurate with the undertaking, but he insisted on being provided with funds to liquidate the arrears due to the half-hearted troops who had languished in the country for so long without receiving their pay.
Narses set out for Italy in 551, but he was delayed on his route by an eruption of the Huns, which it was no part of his duty to arrest. He established a camp, therefore, at Philippopolis, and waited calmly until the barbarians had divided into two streams, one of which bore destruction to Thessalonica, and the other in the direction of the metropolis. The Illyrian frontier, was, indeed, the training school of Byzantine generals, and the eunuch himself was one of those who had often been engaged in the task of resisting barbarian raids by which the Danubian provinces were continually pillaged and depopulated. His progress was also impeded somewhat by a deficiency in the commissariat, which arose from a convoy of provision ships having been captured in the Adriatic, previous to the battle of Ancona, by Totila's fleet. Early in 552, however, he was able to concentrate all his forces at Salona, where the vital problem of transit into Italy began to be discussed. Besides a numerous Byzantine army of the conventional type, he had been joined by fully ten thousand barbarian auxiliaries from tribes not regularly drawn upon, as Foederati for the Imperial Service. Lombards, Herules, Huns, and Gepaeds crowded to his standard, and he even disposed of a considerable Persian contingent led by Cavades, the real or reputed grandson of the late Shahinshah.[613] All those who made a profession of arms among the Byzantines or their allies, both officers of rank and private soldiers, were eager to take part in this expedition; the one class attracted by the illustrious dignity held by Narses at Court, the other by the munificence displayed by him towards the armies he had commanded, and because of the benignancy of his personal bearing among the troops.[614]
Totila, on his side, had not been idle, but had made himself well acquainted with the extent of the hostile preparations which were impending against him, and he, therefore, employed every means that foresight could devise to render the invasion of his kingdom difficult and dangerous. He knew that the prime objective of the Byzantine general would be Ravenna, but he had ascertained that he did not possess such a fleet of transports as could convey the whole army at once across the Ionic Gulf. Should the troops, however, sail by detachments, he expected to be able to cut off the separate brigades when they were in the act of disembarking. On the other hand, should Narses elect to march by land, it was necessary for him to round the head of the Adriatic Sea and pursue his route along the foot of the Alps through the plains which stretched past the city of Verona. To the latter district, therefore, he sent his most able general Teïas, instructing him to render the passage arduous and impracticable by every art known to the military engineer. Thus Teïas obstructed and broke up the ground in the vicinity of the Po in all conceivable ways. Over a width of several miles trees were felled and strewn in the paths of access, broad and deep trenches were excavated, precipitous gulches were delved, and extensive areas were hollowed out, into which water and mud were allowed to run from adjacent streams. On the proximate side of this rudely diversified barrier the Gothic general awaited the Byzantine army, to attack them with his troops should they venture to pass.
Having determined to march overland, Narses advanced with his army from Salona to the north of Istria, where he halted on the border of the Venetian territory. Under the semblance of a friendly pact with the Goths, the Franks, still cherishing the design of extending their dominions, were in occupation of Transpadane Italy in its whole breadth. A recent legation from the Emperor to win them over as allies against Totila had failed; and, if the Byzantines were to pass by the route of Verona without being harassed by the Franks, it was obligatory to have some prior understanding with them. The emissaries, however, sent by Narses to the generals of that nation returned with a specious refusal, but at the same time informants arrived who made him aware that the permission, if granted, would have been futile owing to the obstructive dispositions of Teïas. A military council was now held; there was still a third way of entering the peninsula, which Totila had left unguarded, beset as it was by obstacles which seemed to preclude the passage of an army. By proceeding along the coast they would be secure from hostile interruption, but the land line was irregular, marshy, and broken by numerous estuaries of navigable rivers. By the advice of John, however, whose experience of a decade in the country qualified him to act as guide, this seemingly impassable route was undertaken and successfully accomplished. All the available ships and boats followed the army close to the shore; and by means of them, as often as the mouth of a river was reached, a floating bridge was improvised, over which the troops passed in safety.
After Narses arrived at Ravenna he gave the whole army a nine days' rest, during which time he received a further accession of strength through being joined by all the Byzantine detachments remaining in that region.[615] Just as the work of recuperation was completed the Gothic governor of Ariminum, Usdrilas by name, taking umbrage at his apparent inactivity, addressed him a sharp, provocative letter. "After filling all Italy with rumours of the terrible host of barbarians, which you are bringing against us," said he, "you now stay loitering behind the walls of Ravenna. Come out at once and show your spirit to the Goths; no longer tantalize us, who are eager to meet you in the field." The eunuch smiled at the bravado of the Goth, and shortly afterwards resumed his march with all his forces. The first skirmish with the enemy occurred at the crossing of a small stream near Ariminum, from whence Usdrilas came out at the head of a troop of horse; and the Romans were elated by the happy omen, as they considered it, of the boastful Goth being slain in this encounter. Narses now pushed onwards with all speed, having the Flaminian Way on his left, and began to move through the Apennines towards the fields of Tuscany.
In the meantime Totila, having effected a junction with Teïas in the vicinity of Rome, pressed forward to meet the invaders at a distance as far as possible from the capital. As soon, however, as news was brought in of their rapid progress, he called a halt and pitched his camp near the village of Taginae, among the western slopes of the Apennines.[616] Before long the approach of the Byzantine army was signalled; and when Narses found himself within a dozen miles of the enemy's camp he sent forward his legates with an invitation to the Gothic king to surrender peacefully, representing to him that he could not hope to resist the whole force of the Roman Empire. As an ulterior proposal, should they find him resolved to fight, he was to be asked to name a day of battle. Being admitted to an audience they submitted the prescribed offer, to which Totila replied angrily that he would accept no terms, but that they must prepare for a conflict. Thereupon the legates at once propounded the request: "Appoint a time then, good lord, to decide the matter by arms." "On the eighth day from the present," said the King, and dismissed his interrogators.
On receiving this response Narses immediately began to instruct his line of battle, anticipating that Totila would advance to the attack without delay, in the hope of finding him unprepared. Nor was he deceived, for on the following day the whole Gothic army poured into the neighbourhood and drew themselves up not farther than a couple of bowshots from his own position. The site of hostilities was a small plain surrounded by eminences, which were popularly supposed to be the sepulchral mounds of a Gallic host who had been slaughtered here by Camillus in the early years of the Republic. Hence the place was named the "Graves of the Gauls." Close to the Roman army on the left was a low hill, which protected them from being assailed directly on that flank, but which, if held by the enemy, might become the source of a deadly play of darts. The night was tempestuous, and, while it was yet dark, the eunuch sent a squad of fifty infantry to occupy this elevation. Directly day broke Totila saw the advantage which had been gained, and determined to dislodge the occupants. A troop of cavalry were sent against them, but what with the adverse slope, the discharge of arrows, the spear thrusts, and the clashing of shields, which terrified the horses, the Goths could make no headway, and had to retire discomfited. A second, and a third time, Totila urged a similar attack, but nothing could overcome the strenuous resistance offered by the Byzantines, and at length he had to desist from his efforts.