tila had not
respected her birth, her virtues, and even the pious motive of her
revenge. The next day he pronounced two orations, to congratulate and
admonish his victorious Goths, and to reproach the senate, as the
vilest of slaves, with their perjury, folly, and ingratitude; sternly
declaring, that their estates and honors were justly forfeited to the
companions of his arms. Yet he consented to forgive their revolt; and
the senators repaid his clemency by despatching circular letters to
their tenants and vassals in the provinces of Italy, strictly to enjoin
them to desert the standard of the Greeks, to cultivate their lands in
peace, and to learn from their masters the duty of obedience to a Gothic
sovereign. Against the city which had so long delayed the course of his
victories, he appeared inexorable: one third of the walls, in different
parts, were demolished by his command; fire and engines prepared to
consume or subvert the most stately works of antiquity; and the world
was astonished by the fatal decree, that Rome should be changed into a
pasture for cattle. The firm and temperate remonstrance of Belisarius
suspended the execution; he warned the Barbarian not to sully his fame
by the destruction of those monuments which were the glory of the dead,
and the delight of the living; and Totila was persuaded, by the advice
of an enemy, to preserve Rome as the ornament of his kingdom, or the
fairest pledge of peace and reconciliation. When he had signified to
the ambassadors of Belisarius his intention of sparing the city, he
stationed an army at the distance of one hundred and twenty furlongs,
to observe the motions of the Roman general. With the remainder of his
forces he marched into Lucania and Apulia, and occupied on the summit of
Mount Garganus one of the camps of Hannibal. The senators were dragged
in his train, and afterwards confined in the fortresses of Campania: the
citizens, with their wives and children, were dispersed in exile; and
during forty days Rome was abandoned to desolate and dreary solitude.

The loss of Rome was speedily retrieved by an action, to which,
according to the event, the public opinion would apply the names of
rashness or heroism. After the departure of Totila, the Roman general
sallied from the port at the head of a thousand horse, cut in pieces the
enemy who opposed his progress, and visited with pity and reverence the
vacant space of the _eternal_ city. Resolved to maintain a statio