as the situation, of Aligern prompted him to imitate
rather than to bewail his brother: a strong and dexterous archer, he
transpierced with a single arrow the armor and breast of his antagonist;
and his military conduct defended Cumae [45] above a year against the
forces of the Romans.

Their industry had scooped the Sibyl's cave [46] into a prodigious mine;
combustible materials were introduced to consume the temporary props:
the wall and the gate of Cumae sunk into the cavern, but the ruins
formed a deep and inaccessible precipice. On the fragment of a rock
Aligern stood alone and unshaken, till he calmly surveyed the hopeless
condition of his country, and judged it more honorable to be the friend
of Narses, than the slave of the Franks. After the death of Teias, the
Roman general separated his troops to reduce the cities of Italy; Lucca
sustained a long and vigorous siege: and such was the humanity or the
prudence of Narses, that the repeated perfidy of the inhabitants could
not provoke him to exact the forfeit lives of their hostages. These
hostages were dismissed in safety; and their grateful zeal at length
subdued the obstinacy of their countrymen. [47]

[Footnote 42: The item of Procopius (Goth. l. iv. c. 35) is evidently
the Sarnus. The text is accused or altered by the rash violence of
Cluverius (l. iv. c. 3. p. 1156:) but Camillo Pellegrini of Naples
(Discorsi sopra la Campania Felice, p. 330, 331) has proved from
old records, that as early as the year 822 that river was called the
Dracontio, or Draconcello.]

[Footnote 43: Galen (de Method. Medendi, l. v. apud Cluver. l. iv. c.
3, p. 1159, 1160) describes the lofty site, pure air, and rich milk, of
Mount Lactarius, whose medicinal benefits were equally known and sought
in the time of Symmachus (l. vi. epist. 18) and Cassiodorus, (Var. xi.
10.) Nothing is now left except the name of the town of Lettere.]

[Footnote 44: Buat (tom. xi. p. 2, &c.) conveys to his favorite Bavaria
this remnant of Goths, who by others are buried in the mountains of Uri,
or restored to their native isle of Gothland, (Mascou, Annot. xxi.)]

[Footnote 45: I leave Scaliger (Animadvers. in Euseb. p. 59) and
Salmasius (Exercitat. Plinian. p. 51, 52) to quarrel about the origin of
Cumae, the oldest of the Greek colonies in Italy, (Strab. l. v. p. 372,
Velleius Paterculus, l. i. c. 4,) already vacant in Juvenal's time,
(Satir. iii.,) and now in ruins.]

[Footnote 46: Agathias (l. i.