both Catholic and Arian,
to be restored; everywhere the landed property was settled, the taxes
newly-laid and diminished.

The beneficial results of all this care were not long in making
themselves felt.

Even when Totila had first assumed the crown and issued his manifesto,
had the Italians resumed the long-neglected cultivation of the land.
The Gothic soldiers were directed to refrain from disturbing this
important work, and to do all in their power to prevent any such
disturbance on the part of the Byzantines.

And a wonderful fertility of the soil, a harvest of grain, wine, and
oil, such as had not been seen for ages, seemed to prove that the
blessing of Heaven had fallen upon the young King.

The news of the taking of Neapolis and Rome spread rapidly through the
Eastern Empire, where it was received with great astonishment, for all
there had long since considered the Gothic kingdom to be extinct.

Merchants who had been tempted by the strong and just government, the
security of the high-roads and of the sea--which were severally
protected by patrols of soldiers and watchful squadrons of Gothic
ships--to revisit the deserted towns and harbours of the peninsula,
praised the justice and benevolence of the royal youth, and told of the
flourishing state of his kingdom, and of the brilliancy of his court at
Rome, where he gathered about him the senators who had repented of
their rebellion, and gave to the populace liberal alms and splendid
games in the Circus.

The Kings of the Franks acknowledged this change of circumstances. They
sent presents--Totila rejected them; they sent ambassadors--Totila
would not receive them.

The King of the Ostrogoths frankly offered an alliance against
Byzantium and the hand of his daughter. The Avarian and Slavonian
marauders on the eastern frontier were punished. With the exception of
the few fortresses which were still in a state of siege--Ravenna,
Perusium, and a few small castles--the whole country enjoyed as perfect
peace as in Theodoric's most glorious days.

At the same time, the King was wise enough to be moderate. He
acknowledged, in spite of his victories, the danger-fraught superiority
of the East, and earnestly sought to make peace with the Emperor.

He resolved to send an embassy to Byzantium, to offer peace on the
basis of a full acknowledgment of the Gothic rule in Italy. He would
renounce all claim to Sicily--where not a Goth was now dwelling (the
Gothic settle