more probable cause of his death.--M.]

[Footnote 1163: The expression of Procopius does not appear to me to
mean this kind of torture. Ibid.--M.]

In the succeeding campaign, Belisarius was again sent against the
Persians: he saved the East, but he offended Theodora, and perhaps the
emperor himself. The malady of Justinian had countenanced the rumor of
his death; and the Roman general, on the supposition of that probable
event spoke the free language of a citizen and a soldier. His colleague
Buzes, who concurred in the same sentiments, lost his rank, his liberty,
and his health, by the persecution of the empress: but the disgrace of
Belisarius was alleviated by the dignity of his own character, and the
influence of his wife, who might wish to humble, but could not desire to
ruin, the partner of her fortunes. Even his removal was colored by the
assurance, that the sinking state of Italy would be retrieved by the
single presence of its conqueror.

But no sooner had he returned, alone and defenceless, than a hostile
commission was sent to the East, to seize his treasures and criminate
his actions; the guards and veterans, who followed his private banner,
were distributed among the chiefs of the army, and even the eunuchs
presumed to cast lots for the partition of his martial domestics.
When he passed with a small and sordid retinue through the streets
of Constantinople, his forlorn appearance excited the amazement and
compassion of the people. Justinian and Theodora received him with cold
ingratitude; the servile crowd, with insolence and contempt; and in
the evening he retired with trembling steps to his deserted palace. An
indisposition, feigned or real, had confined Antonina to her apartment;
and she walked disdainfully silent in the adjacent portico, while
Belisarius threw himself on his bed, and expected, in an agony of grief
and terror, the death which he had so often braved under the walls of
Rome. Long after sunset a messenger was announced from the empress: he
opened, with anxious curiosity, the letter which contained the sentence
of his fate. "You cannot be ignorant how much you have deserved my
displeasure. I am not insensible of the services of Antonina. To her
merits and intercession I have granted your life, and permit you to
retain a part of your treasures, which might be justly forfeited to the
state. Let your gratitude, where it is due, be displayed, not in words,
but in your future behavior." I know no