n so
conspicuous in the eyes of mankind, he summoned the greatest part of
his troops to the standard which he erected on the Capitol: the old
inhabitants were recalled by the love of their country and the hopes
of food; and the keys of Rome were sent a second time to the emperor
Justinian. The walls, as far as they had been demolished by the
Goths, were repaired with rude and dissimilar materials; the ditch was
restored; iron spikes were profusely scattered in the highways to annoy
the feet of the horses; and as new gates could not suddenly be procured,
the entrance was guarded by a Spartan rampart of his bravest soldiers.
At the expiration of twenty-five days, Totila returned by hasty marches
from Apulia to avenge the injury and disgrace. Belisarius expected his
approach. The Goths were thrice repulsed in three general assaults; they
lost the flower of their troops; the royal standard had almost fallen
into the hands of the enemy, and the fame of Totila sunk, as it had
risen, with the fortune of his arms. Whatever skill and courage could
achieve, had been performed by the Roman general: it remained only that
Justinian should terminate, by a strong and seasonable effort, the
war which he had ambitiously undertaken. The indolence, perhaps
the impotence, of a prince who despised his enemies, and envied his
servants, protracted the calamities of Italy. After a long silence,
Belisarius was commanded to leave a sufficient garrison at Rome, and
to transport himself into the province of Lucania, whose inhabitants,
inflamed by Catholic zeal, had cast away the yoke of their Arian
conquerors. In this ignoble warfare, the hero, invincible against
the power of the Barbarians, was basely vanquished by the delay, the
disobedience, and the cowardice of his own officers. He reposed in his
winter quarters of Crotona, in the full assurance, that the two passes
of the Lucanian hills were guarded by his cavalry. They were betrayed by
treachery or weakness; and the rapid march of the Goths scarcely allowed
time for the escape of Belisarius to the coast of Sicily. At length a
fleet and army were assembled for the relief of Ruscianum, or Rossano,
a fortress sixty furlongs from the ruins of Sybaris, where the nobles
of Lucania had taken refuge. In the first attempt, the Roman forces were
dissipated by a storm. In the second, they approached the shore; but
they saw the hills covered with archers, the landing-place defended by
a line of spears, a