ere excellent, and that no better terms could
be obtained from the Barbarians". This, however, was by no means the
secret thought of Belisarius, who had set his heart on taking Witigis as
a captive to Constantinople, and laying the keys of Ravenna at his
master's feet. A strange proposition which came from the beleaguered
city seemed to open the way to the accomplishment of his purpose. The
Gothic nobles suggested that he, the great Captain, whose might in war
they had experienced, should become their leader, should mount the
throne of Theodoric, and should be crowned "King of the Italians and
Goths", the change in the order of the names indicating the subordinate
position which the humbled barbarians were willing to assume. Belisarius
seemed to acquiesce in the proposal (though his secretary assures us
that he never harboured a thought of disloyalty to his master), and
received the oath of the Gothic envoys for the surrender of the city,
postponing his own coronation-oath to his new subjects till he could
swear it in the presence of Witigis and all his nobles, for Witigis,
too, was a consenting, nay, an eager, party to the transaction. Thus,
by an act of dissimulation, which brought some stain on his knightly
honour (we are tempted to use the language of chivalry in speaking of
these events), but which left no stain on his loyalty to the Emperor of
Rome, did Belisarius obtain possession of the impregnable Ravenna. He
marched in, he and his veterans, into the famine-stricken city. When the
Gothic women saw the little dark men filing past them through the
streets, and contrasted them with their own long-limbed, flaxen-haired
giants, they spat in the faces of their husbands, and said: "Are you
men, to have allowed yourselves to be beaten by such manikins as these?"

Before the triumphal entry was finished the Goths had no doubt
discovered that they were duped. No coronation oath was sworn.
Belisarius, still the humble servant of Justinianus Augustus, did not
allow himself to be raised on the shield and saluted as King of the
Italians and Goths. The Gothic warriors were kindly treated, but
dismissed to their farms between the Apennines and the Adriatic. Ravenna
was again an Imperial city, and destined to remain so for two centuries.
Witigis, with his wife and children, were carried captives to
Constantinople where, before many years were over, the dethroned monarch
died. His widow, Matasuentha, was soon remarried to Germanu