nutes the corn-laden
vessels would be sailing up the Tiber, bringing glad relief to the
starving citizens. But just at that moment a horseman galloped up to
Belisarius with the unwelcome tidings--"Isaac is taken prisoner". Isaac
the Armenian was Belisarius' second in command, whom he had left at
Portus in charge of his stores, his munitions of war, and most important
of all, the now reconciled Antonina. In spite of Belisarius' strict
injunction to act solely on the defensive, Isaac, watching from afar the
successful movements of his chief, had sallied forth to attack the
Gothic garrison at Ostia on the opposite bank of the river. His defeat
and consequent capture were events of little moment in themselves, but
all-important as arresting the victorious career of Belisarius. For to
the anxious soul of the general the capture of Isaac seemed to mean the
capture of Portus, the cutting off of his army from their base of
operations, the captivity of his beloved Antonina. He gave the signal
for retreat; the attempt to provision Rome had failed; the Imperial army
returned to Portus. When he found what it was that had really happened,
and by what a combination of folly and ill luck he had been prevented
from winning a splendid victory, his annoyance was so great that
combined with the unwholesome air of the Campagna it threw him into a
fever which brought him near to death and prevented him for some months
from taking any part in the war.

Meanwhile dire famine bore sway in the beleaguered city. Wheat was sold
for L22 a quarter, and the greater part of the citizens were thankful
to live on coarse bread made of bran, which was doled out to them by
Bessas at a quarter of the price of wheat. Before long even this bran
became a luxury beyond their power to purchase. Dogs and mice provided
them with their only meals of flesh, but the staple article of food was
nettles. With blackened skin and drawn faces, mere ghosts of their
former selves, the once proud and prosperous citizens of Rome wandered
about the waste places where these nettles grew, and often one of them
would be found dead with hunger, his strength having suddenly failed him
while attempting to gather his wretched meal.

At length this misery was suddenly ended. Some Isaurian soldiers who
were guarding the Asinarian Gate in the south-east of the City made
overtures to the Gothic soldiers for the betrayal of their post. These
Isaurians were probably part of the former gar