d a
promise from Alboin, the Longobardian chief, that he would come to the
help of Cethegus with twenty thousand men (a number which the latter,
always jealous, found almost too great), but that he had succeeded in
engaging other warlike troops of mercenaries.

Cethegus, on his side, informed Lucius that, although he had been able
to relieve Ravenna, he had met with much hindrance on the part of his
own countrymen, who were slow to rise in revolt against the Goths; and
that only with the Byzantines under his command, it would be impossible
to beat Totila. He complained bitterly of the delay of Areobindos in
bringing up the "second army," and regretted that he had been unable to
reach Taginae before Earl Teja, who had beaten the Saracens there posted
with great loss, and had taken up a strong position in the expectation
of being speedily joined by King Totila with the army.

"And Taginae is the key of the position," concluded Cethegus. "Earl Teja
must have flown from Rome on the wings of the wind! I have tried to-day
to ascertain the strength of his garrison, but I could not penetrate
beyond Caprae. The barbarian King is already on the march, and where,
oh! where tarries my 'second army?'"

CHAPTER XVI.

The next day Totila reached Taginae, accompanied by Valeria and Julius.
He had hastened forward to join Teja with a portion of his troops,
while Wisand and Guntharis reached him later with the main army. Only
after their arrival could any attack be made upon the very strong
position of the Prefect.

Cethegus, too, attempted no assault, but while thus inactive, awaiting
his "second army," he once more, and in vain, endeavoured to regain the
lost affection of Julius. He went to Taginae to meet him at a spot
between the outposts of the opposing forces. He tried all possible
means to induce him to return to his allegiance, even unveiling the
history of his past life. The mother of Julius had once been betrothed
to Cethegus, but her father had been persuaded by Duke Alaric to break
off the match, and to give her in marriage to a Gothic noble. On the
day of her wedding, Cethegus, mad with grief, had tried to carry her
off by force, but, overpowered by numbers, had been struck down, and
thrown, seemingly lifeless, on the banks of the Tiber. Many years
after, he had found Julius, a young boy, forsaken, with his dying
mother, in their villa on the banks of the Rhodus, which had been
sac