es. Sky and sea shone to
each other in perfect calm; the softly breathing air mingled its
morning freshness with a scent of fallen flower and leaf. A rosy vapour
from Vesuvius floated gently inland; and this the eye of Maximus marked
with contentment, as it signified a favourable wind for a boat crossing
hither from the far side of the bay. For the loveliness of the scene
before him, its noble lines, its jewelled colouring, he had little
care; but the infinite sadness of its suggestion, the decay and the
desolation uttered by all he saw, sank deep into his heart. If his look
turned to the gleaming spot which was the city of Neapolis, there came
into his mind the sack and massacre of a few years ago, when Belisarius
so terribly avenged upon the Neapolitans their stubborn resistance to
his siege. Faithful to the traditions of his house, of his order,
Maximus had welcomed the invasion which promised to restore Italy to
the Empire; now that the restoration was effected, he saw with
bitterness the evils resulting from it, and all but hoped that this new
king of the Goths, this fortune-favoured Totila, might sweep the land
of its Greek oppressors. He looked back upon his own life, on the
placid dignity of his career under the rule of Theodoric, the offices
by which he had risen, until he sat in the chair of the Consul. Yet in
that time, which now seemed so full of peaceful glories, he had never
at heart been loyal to the great king; in his view, as in that of the
nobles generally, Theodoric was but a usurper, who had abused the
mandate intrusted to him by the Emperor Zeno, to deliver Italy from the
barbarians. When his own kinsmen, Boethius and Symmachus, were put to
death on a charge of treachery, Maximus burned with hatred of the Goth.
He regarded with disdain the principles of Cassiodorus, who devoted his
life to the Gothic cause, and who held that only as an independent
kingdom could there be hope for Italy. Having for a moment the ear of
Theodoric's daughter, Amalasuntha, when she ruled for her son, Maximus
urged her to yield her kingdom to the Emperor, and all but saw his
counsel acted upon. After all, was not Cassiodorus right? Were not the
senators who had ceaselessly intrigued with Byzantium in truth traitors
to Rome? It was a bitter thought for the dying man that all his life he
had not only failed in service to his country, but had obstinately
wrought for her ruin.

Attendants placed food beside him. He mingled win