pt of death, to the
projectiles of the besieged, and had fallen by thousands at the
Pancratian Gate and before the Mausoleum of Hadrian.

And as, on the sixty-eight earlier attacks, the besiegers had always
suffered much more than the besieged, sheltered as were these last
behind walls and towers, the great army which, a few months before,
Witichis had led against the Eternal City had been fearfully reduced.

Besides all this, hunger and pestilence had raged in their tents for a
considerable period.

In consequence of this discouragement and the decimation of his troops,
Witichis was obliged to renounce the idea of taking the city by storm,
and his last hope--he did not conceal from himself its weakness--lay in
the possibility that famine would force the enemy to capitulate.

The country round Rome was completely exhausted, and all seemed now to
depend upon which party would be longest able to bear privation, or
which could first procure provisions from a distance.

The Goths felt severely the loss of their fleet, which had been damaged
on the coast of Dalmatia.

The first to recover from his wounds was the Prefect.

When carried away insensible from the door which he had closed with his
body, he had lain for a day and a half in a state which was half sleep,
half swoon.

When, on the evening of the second day, he again opened his eyes, his
first glance fell upon the faithful Moor, who was crouched at the foot
of the bed, and who had never ceased to watch him. The snake was twined
round his arm.

"The wooden door!" was the first scarcely audible word of the Prefect.
"The wooden door must be replaced by--marble blocks----"

"Thanks, thanks, O Snake-god!" cried the slave; "now he is saved and
thou too! And I, my master, have saved you." And he threw himself upon
the ground and kissed his master's bedstead; his feet he did not dare
to kiss.

"You have saved me? how?"

"When I laid you, as pale as death, upon this bed, I fetched my
Snake-god and showed you to him; and I said, 'Thou seest, O Snake-god,
that my master's eyes are closed. Make them open. Until thou dost so,
thou shalt not receive one drop of milk or crumb of bread. And if he
never open his eyes again--then, on the day when they burn his corpse,
Syphax will burn by his side, and thou, O great Snake-god, also. Thou
hast the power to heal him, then do so--or burn!' Thus I spoke, and he
has healed you."

"The city is safe--I feel it. Else I had neve