h of
Germanus, (Add. l. iv. c. 23, 24, 25, 26.)]

After the loss of Germanus, the nations were provoked to smile, by the
strange intelligence, that the command of the Roman armies was given to
a eunuch. But the eunuch Narses [29] is ranked among the few who have
rescued that unhappy name from the contempt and hatred of mankind. A
feeble, diminutive body concealed the soul of a statesman and a warrior.
His youth had been employed in the management of the loom and distaff,
in the cares of the household, and the service of female luxury; but
while his hands were busy, he secretly exercised the faculties of a
vigorous and discerning mind. A stranger to the schools and the camp, he
studied in the palace to dissemble, to flatter, and to persuade; and as
soon as he approached the person of the emperor, Justinian listened
with surprise and pleasure to the manly counsels of his chamberlain and
private treasurer. [30] The talents of Narses were tried and improved
in frequent embassies: he led an army into Italy acquired a practical
knowledge of the war and the country, and presumed to strive with the
genius of Belisarius. Twelve years after his return, the eunuch was
chosen to achieve the conquest which had been left imperfect by the
first of the Roman generals. Instead of being dazzled by vanity or
emulation, he seriously declared that, unless he were armed with an
adequate force, he would never consent to risk his own glory and that
of his sovereign. Justinian granted to the favorite what he might have
denied to the hero: the Gothic war was rekindled from its ashes, and the
preparations were not unworthy of the ancient majesty of the empire. The
key of the public treasure was put into his hand, to collect magazines,
to levy soldiers, to purchase arms and horses, to discharge the arrears
of pay, and to tempt the fidelity of the fugitives and deserters. The
troops of Germanus were still in arms; they halted at Salona in the
expectation of a new leader; and legions of subjects and allies were
created by the well-known liberality of the eunuch Narses. The king of
the Lombards [31] satisfied or surpassed the obligations of a treaty, by
lending two thousand two hundred of his bravest warriors, [3111] who were
followed by three thousand of their martial attendants. Three thousand
Heruli fought on horseback under Philemuth, their native chief; and the
noble Aratus, who adopted the manners and discipline of Rome, conducted
a band of vet