e
of Belisarius in Africa. But the mutineers quailed before the very name
of their late commander. Carthage was delivered from the siege wherewith
they were closely pressing it, a battle was won in the open field, and
the rebellion though not yet finally crushed was sufficiently weakened
for Belisarius to return to Sicily in the late spring of 536. He crossed
the Straits of Messina, landed in Italy, was received by the provincials
of Bruttii and Lucania with open arms, and met with no check to his
progress till, probably in the early days of June, he stood with his
army under the walls of the little town of Neapolis, which in our own
days is represented by a successor ten times as large, the superbly
situated city of Naples. Here a strong Gothic garrison held the place
for Theodahad and prevented the surrender which many of the citizens,
especially those of the poorer class, would gladly have made. An orator,
who was sent by the Neapolitans to plead their cause in the general's
camp, vainly endeavoured to persuade Belisarius to march forward to
Rome, leaving the fate of, Naples to be decided under the walls of the
capital. The Imperial general could not leave so strong a place untaken
in his rear, and though himself anxious enough to meet Theodahad,
commenced the siege of the city. His land army was supported by the
fleet which was anchored in the harbour, yet the operations of the siege
languished, and after twenty days Belisarius seemed to be no nearer
winning the prize of war than on the first day. But just then one of his
soldiers, a brave and active Isaurian mountaineer, reported that he had
found a means of entering the empty aqueduct through which, till
Belisarius severed the communication, water had been supplied to the
city. The passage was narrow, and at one point the rock had to be filed
away to allow the soldiers to pass, but all this was done without
arousing the suspicions of the besieged, and one night Belisarius sent
six hundred soldiers, headed by the Isaurian, into the aqueduct, having
arranged with them the precise portion of the walls to which they were
to rush as soon as they emerged into the city. The daring attempt
succeeded. The soldiers found themselves in a large cavern with a narrow
opening at the top, on the brink of which was a cottage. Some of the
most active among them swarmed up the sides of the cave, found the
cottage inhabited by one old woman who was easily frightened into
silence, and