by force; for they would not expose
themselves to any possible struggle which might yet take place.

The offer of Narses to leave them at once a few thousand armed men, in
order to enable them the more speedily to reduce the Moles Hadriani,
was civilly but decidedly refused, to the great joy of the Prefect.

"They have learned two things during the last few years," he said
to Lucius Licinius, as they rode away at the termination of the
interview--"to keep the Romani at a distance, and to connect Cethegus
with the well-being of Rome. That is already a great deal."

"I regret, my general," said Lucius Licinius, "that I cannot share your
joy and confidence."

"I neither," cried Salvius Julianus. "I fear Narses; I mistrust him."

"Oho! what wise men!" laughed Piso. "One should exaggerate nothing; not
even prudence. Has not everything turned out better than we dared to
hope since the night when a shepherd-boy struck the greatest Roman poet
upon his immortal verse-writing hand, and the great Prefect of Rome
swam down the Tiber in a granary?--since Massurius Sabinus was
recognised by Earl Markja, dressed in the garments of his Hetares, in
which disguise he was about to make his escape?--and since the great
jurist, Salvius Julianus, was rudely fished up, bleeding, from the
slime of the river by Duke Guntharis? Who would have thought then that
we should ever be able to count upon our fingers the day when not a
single Goth would be left to tread Italian soil?"

"You are right, poet," said Cethegus with a smile; "these two friends
of ours suffer from '_Narses_-fever,' as their hero suffers from
epilepsy. To over-rate one's enemy is also a failing. The holy remains
upon which those priests have sworn, are really sacred to them; they
will not break such an oath."

"If I had only seen, besides the priests and artisans," replied
Licinius, "any of our friends upon the walls! But there were none but
fullers, butchers, and carpenters! Where is the aristocracy of Rome?
Where are the men of the Catacombs?"

"Taken away as hostages," said Cethegus. "And they were rightly served?
Did they not return to Rome, and do homage to the fair-haired Goth? If
now the 'Black Earl' cuts off their heads, it cannot be helped. Be
comforted; you see things in too dark a light, all of you. The crushing
superiority of Narses has made you timid. He is a great general; but
the fact that he has made this treaty with Rome--this agreement that I,
and no o