a new western empire. Vitiges, whether he trusted
him or not, came to terms with him. Belisarius proclaimed Justinian
emperor. The German realm seemed broken to pieces: only Verona, Pavia, and
a portion of Liguria held out. A small part only of the army still carried
the national banner. Then the conqueror, in 539, was recalled to Byzantium,
to conduct the war against Persia. He left Italy almost subdued, and
carried with him the captive king of the Goths, Vitiges, as in former years
he had carried Gelimer, the captive king of the Vandals. This was in 539,
thirteen years after Theodorick's death.

The first act of that fearful drama, the Gothic war, was over. But as soon
as Belisarius disappeared, the Goths began to recover themselves. The
generals of Justinian lived on plunder. In Totila arose a new Gothic
leader, the bravest of the brave. At the end of the year 541 he marched out
of Verona with only five thousand men, defeated the incapable and disunited
Grecian captains, took city after city, passed the Apennines, passed near
Rome, without assailing it. In this career of victory the Gothic king once
approached that Campanian hill on which the great benefactor of the West,
St. Benedict, was laying the foundations of the coenobitic life. In the
first instance, Totila tried to deceive the Saint. He dressed up a high
officer as king, and sent him, with three of his chief counts in
attendance, to personate himself. When Benedict saw the Gothic train
approaching he was seated, and as soon as they were within earshot, he
cried out to the warrior pretending to be king: "Son, lay aside that dress
which is not thine". The Goth fell to the ground in dismay, and returned to
report his discomfiture to Totila, who then came himself. But when he saw
Benedict seated at a distance he prostrated himself, and though Benedict
thrice bade him arise, he continued prostrate. The Saint then came to him,
raised him up, upbraided him with the acts which he had committed, and
revealed to him the future concerning himself: "Many evils thou doest; many
hast thou done. Put a curb at length on thine iniquity. Rome, indeed, thou
shalt enter; the sea thou shalt pass. Nine years thou shalt reign; in the
tenth thou shalt die."[136] The king was awe-struck. The savage in him
was quelled by the speaker's sanctity. From this time forth he altered
his conduct, and became more humane. In the capture of Naples shortly
afterwards he showed by his merciful trea