essing piracy.

Cethegus certainly foresaw that it would yet come to a landing of the
Greeks in Italy; he could not do without their help. But it was
material to his plans that the Emperor's assistance should be of
secondary importance, and, to insure this, he must take care that,
before a single Byzantine had set foot in Italy, a rebellion of the
Italians should have taken place spontaneously, and have been already
carried to such a point, that the later co-operation of the Greeks
would appear to be a mere incident, and could be easily repaid by the
acknowledgment of a light supremacy of the Emperor.

To this end he had prepared his plans with great nicety.

As soon as the last tower on the Roman walls was under roof, the Goths
were to be attacked on one and the same day all over Italy, and, at one
stroke, all the fortresses, castles, and towns--Rome, Ravenna, and
Neapolis foremost--were to be overpowered and taken.

If the barbarians were once driven into the open country, there was no
fear--considering their complete ignorance of the art of siege, and the
number and strength of the Italian fortresses--that they would be able
to take these last, and thereby again become masters of the peninsula.

Then an allied army from Byzantium might aid in finally driving the
Goths over the Alps; and Cethegus was resolved to prevent these allies
from entering the most important fortresses, so that, later, they also
might be got rid of without difficulty.

To ensure the success of this plan, it was necessary that the Goths
should be taken by surprise. If war with Byzantium were in prospect,
or, still worse, already broken out, it naturally followed that the
barbarians would not allow their fortified places to be wrested from
them by a mere stroke of the hand.

Now as Cethegus--since he had penetrated the motives of the embassy of
Petros--fully expected that Justinian would come forward at the first
opportunity, and as he had barely succeeded in preventing the landing
of Belisarius, he was resolved not to lose a moment's time.

He had arranged that a general meeting of the conspirators should take
place in the Catacombs on the day of the completion of the Roman
fortifications, when their successful termination should be celebrated,
the moment of the attack on the Goths decided, and Cethegus himself
designated as the leader of this purely Italian movement.

He hoped to overcome the opposition of the timorous or the bribed--w