A Struggle for Rome, v. 1

  CHAPTER X.

  Cethegus was obliged to be more prudent in the execution of a secondplan, not less necessary for the success of his projects. In order tobe able to defy the Goths, and, if needful, the Greeks, from within_his_ Rome, as he loved to call it, he was in want--not only of walls,but of soldiers to defend them.

  At first he thought of mercenaries, of a body-guard such as had beenoften kept by high officials, statesmen and generals in those times,such as Belisarius and Narses possessed in Byzantium.

  It would have been very easy for him, by means of his riches and theconnections he had formed during his travels in Asia, to hire bravetroops of the savage Isaurian mountain people, who then played the partof the Swiss of the sixteenth century; but this procedure had two verystraitened limits. On the one side he could not, without exhausting themeans that were indispensable for other purposes, keep more than acomparatively small band, the kernel of an army, not an army itself. Onthe other side it was impossible to bring these mercenaries in largernumbers to Italy or Rome, without arousing suspicion. He was obliged tosmuggle them over with much cunning--by pairs, singly, or in smallgroups, to his scattered villas and estates, as his slaves, freedmen,clients, or guests; and to employ them as sailors and ship-officials inthe harbour of Ostia, or as workmen in Rome.

  Lastly, the Romans themselves would, after all, have to save and defendRome, and all his plans urged him to re-accustom his fellow-citizens tothe use of arms. But Theodoric had wisely excluded the Italians fromthe army--exceptions were only made in favour of persons who wereconsidered as particularly reliable and in the late unquiet times ofhis reign, during the process against Boethius, he had issued ordersfor the general disarming of all Romans. This measure had certainlynever been strictly carried out, but still Cethegus dared not hope thatthe Queen-Regent would allow him, against the expressed will of heraugust father and the evident interests of the Goths, to form anyconsiderable forces of Italians.

  He contented himself with representing to her, that, by means of a veryinnocent concession, she could procure for herself the merit of havingcancelled Theodoric's hateful measure by a noble trust; proposing toher that she should allow him to drill and keep under arms only twothousand Roman citizens as a guard for the city; the Romans would befor ever grateful to her that the city did not appear to be solelyprotected by barbarians.

  Amalaswintha, who was enthusiastic about Rome, and whose dearest wishwas to gain the love of the Romans, gave her consent, and Cethegusbegan to form his militia, as we should call it. In a proclamation,which sounded like a trumpet-call, he "bid the sons of Scipio take uptheir old weapons." He promised to double the pay fixed upon by thePrincess from his own pocket, to any Roman who voluntarily presentedhimself. From the thousands who pressed forward he chose the most able.He armed the poor; gave to those who distinguished themselves in theservice, Gallic helmets and Spanish swords from his own collections;and, as the most important step, he regularly discharged those who weresufficiently drilled as soon as possible, leaving them their weapons,and enlisted new recruits, so that although at no time more were on theservice than the number allowed by Amalaswintha, yet, in an incrediblyshort space of time, many thousands of armed and practised Romans wereat the disposal of their adored leader.

  While Cethegus added in this manner to the strength of his futurecapital and formed his future pretorians, he put off hisco-conspirators, who constantly urged him to strike, and comforted themwith the hope that the proper moment would soon arrive, which, however,he alone could determine. At the same time he kept up constantcommunication with Byzantium. He wanted to make sure of assistancethence, which could appear upon the scene of action at any hour inwhich he might desire it, but which would not come without a call, orin such force that it could not easily be again removed. He wished fora good general from Byzantium, who, however, must not be a greatstatesman; bringing an army sufficiently powerful to support theItalians, but not strong enough to gain the victory without them, or toremain in the country against their will.

  We shall see later how, with regard to this, much occurred inaccordance with the Prefect's wishes, but just as much against them.

  As to the Goths--who at this time were in undisturbed possession of thebooty for which Cethegus already mentally quarrelled with the Emperor--all his endeavour was to rock them into unsuspicious security, tosplit them into parties, and to uphold a weak government at their head.

  The first task was not difficult; for that strong Teutonic racedespised, with barbarian pride, all open and secret foes--we havealready seen how difficult it was to convince such a youth as Totila,who was otherwise sharp-sighted and clear-headed, of the approach ofdanger--and the stubborn trust of Hildebrand fully expressed thegeneral disposition of the Goths.

  Party spirit was also not wanting in this people.

  There were the proud race of the Balthe, with their widely-spreadkindred; at their head the three Dukes, Thulun, Ibba, and Pitza. Therich Woelfungs, under the two brothers, Duke Guntharis and Earl Arahad;and many others, who were not much inferior to the Amelungs in thesplendour of their ancestry, and jealously guarded their position nearthe throne. There were also many who endured the guardianship of awoman and the rule of a boy with strong dislike, and who would gladly,according to the ancient rights of the nation, have passed over theroyal line, and chosen one of the tried heroes of the nation for theirKing, But the Amelungs counted many blindly-devoted adherents, whoabhorred such sentiments as treasonable.

  And, lastly, the whole nation was divided into two parties, one ofwhich, long discontented with the clemency shown to the Italians byTheodoric and his daughter, would gladly have retrieved the mistakewhich, as they thought, had been made when the country was conquered,and punished the Italians for their secret hate with open violence. Thenumber of those who held milder and nobler opinions--who, likeTheodoric himself, were more susceptible to the higher culture of thesubjected Italians, and desirous to raise themselves and their peopleto the same level--was naturally much smaller. At the head of thisparty stood the Queen.

  This woman Cethegus now sought to uphold in the possession of power;for her feminine, weak, and divided government was calculated toundermine the strength of the nation, to excite party spirit anddiscontent, and to exclude all augmentation of national feeling.

  Cethegus trembled at the thought that he might see an energetic manunite the strength of the whole nation. And often the traits ofsublimity which occasionally were to be seen in Amalaswintha, and,still more, the fiery sparks of repressed feeling which sometimesblazed out in Athalaric's soul, caused him serious uneasiness. Shouldmother and son betray such feelings more frequently, then, certainly,he would be compelled to overthrow their government as zealously as hehad hitherto upheld it.

  Meanwhile he rejoiced in the unlimited command which he possessed overthe mind of Amalaswintha. It had been easy for him to gain it; not onlybecause he, with great subtlety, took advantage of her predilection forlearned discussions--in which he was so often vanquished by theseemingly superior knowledge of the Princess that Cassiodorus, who wasa witness of their arguments, could not refrain from regretting thatthe genius of Cethegus, once so brilliant, had rusted for want ofpractice--but he had touched the proud woman on a much more sensitivesubject.

  Her great father had been blessed with no son; only this one daughterhad been born unto him. The wish for a male heir had been often heardin the mouths of the King and of his people, and had penetrated to thedaughter's ears in her childish years. It outraged the feelings of thehighly-gifted girl that, merely on account of her sex, she should beput lower than a possible brother, who, as a matter of course, would bemore capable and more worthy of governing. So, when a child, she oftenwept bitter tears because she was not a boy. Of course, as she grew up,she only heard the offensive wish from the lips of her father; everyother mouth praised the wonderful talent, the manly spirit and courageof the brilliant Princess. And these praises were not flattery;Amalaswintha w
as, indeed, a wonderful creature. The strength of herwill, the power of her intellect, her love of authority, and coldabruptness of manner, far exceeded the limits which generally bound thesphere of feminine grace. The consciousness that when her hand wasbestowed, the highest position in the kingdom, and perhaps the crownitself, would be given with it, did not contribute to render her moremodest; and her deepest, strongest sentiment was no longer the wish tobe a man, but the conviction that, even as a woman, she was as capableof performing all the duties of life and of government as the mostgifted man--much more capable than most men--and that she was fated torefute the general prejudice, and to prove the equality of her sex.

  The married life of this cold woman with Eutharic, a member of anotherbranch of the family, a man of a genial temperament and high intellect,was of short duration--in a few years Eutharic fell a victim todisease--and not at all happy. She had unwillingly obeyed her husband,and, as a widow, gloried in her freedom. She burnt with the desire toverify her favourite theory in her position as Queen-regent andguardian of her son. She would govern in such a manner, that theproudest man must acknowledge her superiority. We have seen how theanticipation of ruling had enabled her to bear the death of her greatfather with considerable equanimity. She assumed her high office withthe greatest zeal and the most untiring activity. She wished to doeverything alone. She thrust aside the aged Cassiodorus, for he wasunable to keep pace with the eagerness of her spirit. She would endureno man's advice, and jealously watched over her absolute monarchy.

  To none but one of her servants did she willingly and frequently lendher ear: to him who often and loudly praised the manly independence ofher mind, and still more often seemed to admire it in secret, and whoappeared incapable of conceiving the desire to govern any of heractions: she trusted Cethegus alone.

  For he constantly evinced only _one_ ambition--that of carrying out allthe ideas and plans of the Queen with the most zealous care. He neveropposed her favourite endeavours, like Cassiodorus and the heads of theGothic parties, but supported her therein. He helped her to surroundherself with Greeks and Romans; to exclude the young king, as far aspossible, from all share in the government; gradually to remove fromthe court the old Gothic friends of her father, who, in theconsciousness of their services and according to old custom, often tookupon themselves to speak a word of open blame; to use the money whichwas intended for men-of-war, horses, and the armament of the Gothicforces, for art and science, or for the embellishment, preservation,and security of Rome; in short, he aided her in every act that wouldestrange her from her people, or render her government an object ofhatred, and her kingdom defenceless.

  And if he himself had a plan he always knew how to give histransactions with the Queen such a turn, that she considered herselfthe promoter of every scheme, and ordered him to execute his mostsecret wishes as _her_ commands.