thout any trouble he slew many. And a great outcry and
commotion arose throughout the city, as was to be expected, and the
Romans gathered as quickly as possible to all parts of the
fortifications; whereupon the barbarians after a short time retired to
their camp baffled.

But Vittigis resorted again to a plot against the wall. Now there was a
certain part of it that was especially vulnerable, where the bank of the
Tiber is, because at this place the Romans of old, confident in the
protection afforded by the stream, had built the wall carelessly, making
it low and altogether without towers; Vittigis therefore hoped to
capture the city rather easily from that quarter. For indeed there was
not even any garrison there of any consequence, as it happened. He
therefore bribed with money two Romans who lived near the church of
Peter the Apostle to pass along by the guards there at about nightfall
carrying a skin full of wine, and in some way or other, by making a show
of friendship, to give it to them, and then to sit drinking with them
well on into the night; and they were to throw into the cup of each
guard a sleep-producing drug which Vittigis had given them. And he
stealthily got ready some skiffs, which he kept at the other bank; as
soon as the guards should be overcome by sleep, some of the barbarians,
acting in concert, were to cross the river in these, taking ladders with
them, and make the assault on the wall. And he made ready the entire
army with the intention of capturing the whole city by storm. After
these arrangements were all complete, one of the two men who had been
prepared by Vittigis for this service (for it was not fated that Rome
should be captured by this army of the Goths) came of his own accord to
Belisarius and revealed everything, and told who the other man was. So
this man under torture brought to light all that he was about to do and
displayed the drug which Vittigis had given him. And Belisarius first
mutilated his nose and ears and then sent him riding on an ass into the
enemy's camp. And when the barbarians saw him, they realised that God
would not allow their purposes to have free course, and that therefore
the city could never be captured by them.

FOOTNOTES:

[165] Book V. xix. 13.

[166] The _Aqua Virgo_.

[167] Book V. xix. 18.

X

But while these things were happening, Belisarius wrote to John and
commanded him to begin operations. And he with his two thousand horsemen
be