ur fair friendship. I shall
accompany Belisarius and Antonina, and I will try, in the contemplation
of their complete reconciliation and happiness, to forget the disgust,
doubt, and vexation with which all human affairs have filled me."

CHAPTER XII.

Cethegus sprang from his seat, tossed the letter down, and hastily
paced his tent.

"Feeble creature! and weak-minded Cethegus! to vex yourself that
another soul is lost to you! Had you not lost Julius long before you
killed him? And yet you still live and strive! And this Narses, whom
all fear as if he were God and devil in one--is he, then, really so
dangerous? Impossible! He has blindly entrusted Rome to me and mine. It
is not his fault that I do not defy him at this moment from the
Capitol. Bah! I cannot learn to be afraid in my old days. I trust in my
star! Is it foolhardiness? Is it the calmest wisdom? I do not know; but
it seems to me that confidence like this led Caesar from victory to
victory! However, I can scarcely learn more from the secret council of
Narses in his bath-house than I have learned from this letter." And he
tore the papyrus roll into small pieces. "I will start this very day,
even if Syphax has overheard nothing at this moment, for I think it is
the hour of the bath."

Just then Johannes was announced, and, at a sign from Cethegus, was
admitted.

"Prefect of Rome," said Johannes, "I am come to beg pardon for an old
injury. The pain I felt at the loss of my brother Perseus made me
suspicious."

"Let that rest," said Cethegus; "it is forgotten."

"But I have not forgotten," continued Johannes, "your heroic valour. In
order at once to honour it and profit by it, I come to you with a
proposal. I and my comrades, used to Belisarius's straightforward
attacks, find the caution of the great Narses very tiresome. We have
now been lying for nearly two months before this cursed pass; we lose
men and win no renown. The commander-in-chief will starve the
barbarians out. Who knows how long that may last? And there will be a
fine butchery if, at last driven by despair, the barbarians break out
and sell dearly every drop of their blood! It is clear that if we only
had the mouth of that confounded pass----"

"Yes, _if_!" said Cethegus, smiling. "It is not ill-defended by this
Teja."

"Just on that account he must fall! He, the King, is evidently the only
one who holds together the whole loose bundle of spears. Th