CHAPTER III.
At the court of Ravenna there ensued a bitter and obstinate strife.
The Gothic patriots, although deeply grieved at the sudden death oftheir youthful King, and, for the moment, overpowered, were very soonre-encouraged by their indefatigable leaders.
The high consideration in which Hildebrand was held, the quiet strengthof Witichis, who had returned, and Teja's watchful zeal, operatedcontinuously.
We have seen that these men had succeeded in inducing Athalaric toshake off the authority of his mother. It was now easy for them to findever new adherents amongst the Goths against a government in which thehated Cethegus would come more than ever to the front.
The feeling in the army and the Germanic population of Ravenna wassufficiently prepared for a decisive stroke. The old master-at-armswith difficulty restrained the discontented, until, strengthened byimportant confederates, they could be more certain of success.
These confederates were the three dukes, Thulun, Ibba, and Pitza, whomAmalaswintha had driven away from court, and whom her son had so latelyrecalled.
Thulun and Ibba were brothers; Pitza was their cousin.
Another brother of the former, Duke Alaric, had been condemned to deathsome years ago on account of a pretended conspiracy, and since hisflight (for he had succeeded in escaping) nothing had been heard ofhim. They were the offspring of the celebrated race of the Balthe, whohad worn the crown of the Visigoths, and were scarcely inferior inancient descent and rank to the Amelungs. Their pedigree, like that ofthe Royal House, descended from the gods. The wealth of theirpossessions in land and dependent colonies, and the fame of theirwarlike deeds, enhanced the power and glory of their house.
It was said amongst the people that Theodoric had, for a while, thoughtof passing over his daughter and her son, and, in the interest of thekingdom, of appointing the powerful Duke Thulun as his successor. And,after the death of Athalaric, the patriots were decided, in case of theworst--that is, if the Queen could not be persuaded to renounce hersystem--once more to entertain this idea.
Cethegus saw the threatening tempest. He saw how Gothic nationalfeeling, awakened by Hildebrand and his friends, grew more opposed tothe Romanising Regency. He indignantly confessed to himself that he hadno real power with which to keep down discontent. Ravenna was not hisRome, where he controlled all proceedings, where he had againaccustomed the citizens to the use of arms, and attached them to hisperson; here all the troops were Goths, and he could only fear thatthey would reply to an order for the arrest of Hildebrand or Witichisby open rebellion. So he took a bold resolution to free himself at onestroke from the net which encompassed him in Ravenna. He decided totake the Queen, if necessary by force, to Rome. There he was mighty,had weapons and adherents; there Amalaswintha would be exclusively inhis power, and the Goths would be frustrated.
To his delight, the Queen entered into his plan with eagerness. Shelonged to be out of these walls, where she appeared to be more aprisoner than a ruler. She longed for Rome, freedom, and power.
Cethegus took his measures with his usual rapidity. He was obliged torenounce the shorter way by land, for upon the broad Via Flaminia, aswell as on the other roads from Ravenna to Rome, escorts of Gothictroops were stationed, and it was therefore to be feared that theirflight by any of these ways would be easily discovered, and perhapsimpeded.
Fortunately the Prefect remembered that the Navarchus, or captain ofthe galleys, Pomponius, one of the conspirators, was cruising about inchase of African pirates on the east coast of the Adriatic, with threetriremes, manned by Romans. To him he sent an order to appear in theharbour of Ravenna on the night of the Feast of Epiphany. He hoped,while the town was occupied with religious festivities, to reach theships with Amalaswintha easily and safely from the gardens of thepalace, when they would be taken by sea past the Gothic positions toTeate. Thence the way to Rome was short and safe.
With this plan in his mind--his messenger had safely gone and returnedwith the promise of Pomponius to appear punctually--the Prefect smiledat the daily increasing hate and insolence of the Goths, who observedhis position of favourite with bitter displeasure.
He warned Amalaswintha to be patient and not, by an outbreak of herroyal wrath against the "rebels," to occasion a collision before theday of deliverance, which might easily render vain all plans of rescue.
The Feast of Epiphany arrived. The people crowded the basilicas andsquares of the city. The jewels of the treasury were ready ordered andpacked, as well as the most important documents of the archives. It wasmid-day.
Amalaswintha and the Prefect had just told their friend Cassiodorus oftheir plan, the boldness of which at first startled him, but he verysoon perceived its prudence.
They were just about to leave the room where they had told him of theirintentions, when suddenly the uproar made by the populace--who werecrowding before the palace--became louder and more violent; threats,cries of exultation, and the clatter of arms arose promiscuously.
Cethegus threw back the curtain of the large bay-window, but he onlysaw the last of the crowd pressing through the open gates of thepalace.
It was not possible to discover the cause of this excitement. Alreadythe uproar was ascending the staircase of the palace. The noise ofaltercations with the attendants was audible; the clash of weapons; andsoon approaching and heavy footsteps.
Amalaswintha did not tremble; she tightly grasped the dragon's headwhich decorated the throne-seat, to which Cassiodorus had again ledher.
Meanwhile Cethegus hurried to meet the intruders.
"Halt!" he called from the threshold of the chamber. "The Queen isvisible for no one."
For one moment there was complete silence.
Then a powerful voice called out: "If for thee, Roman, also for us, forher Gothic brethren. Forwards!"
And again the roar of voices arose, and in a moment Cethegus, withoutthe application of any particular violence, was pushed by the press, asif by an irresistible tide, into the farthest corner of the hall, andthe foremost intruders stood close before the throne.
They were Hildebrand, Witichis, Teja, a gigantic Goth, unknown toCethegus, and near this last--there was no doubt about it--the threedukes, Thulun, Ibba, and Pitza, in full armour--three splendidwarriors.
The intruders bowed before the throne. Then Duke Thulun called to thosebehind him, with the gesture of a born ruler:
"Goths, wait yet a short time without! We will try; in your name, toadjust things with the Queen. If we do not succeed, we will call uponyou to act--you know in what manner."
With a shout of applause, the crowd behind him willingly withdrew, andwere soon lost in the outer passages and halls of the palace.
"Daughter of Theodoric," began Duke Thulun, "we are come because thyson, the King, recalled us. Unfortunately we find he is no more alive.We know that thou hast no delight in seeing us here."
"If you know it," said Amalaswintha with dignity, "how dare you,notwithstanding, appear before our eyes? Who allows you to intrude uponus against our will?"
"Necessity enjoins it, Highness--necessity, which has often forcedstronger bolts than the whims of a woman. We have to announce to theethe demands of thy people, which thou wilt fulfil."
"What language! Knowest thou before whom thou standest, Duke Thulun?"
"Before the daughter of the Amelungs; whose child I honour, even whenshe errs and transgresses!"
"Rebel!" cried Amalaswintha, and rose indignantly from her throne. "Thy_King_ stands before thee!"
But Thulun smiled.
"It would be wiser, Amalaswintha, to be silent upon this point. KingTheodoric charged thee with the guardianship of thy son--thee, a woman!It was against the law; but we Goths did not interfere between him andhis kindred. He wished this boy to be his successor. That was notprudent; but the nobles and people have honoured the race of theAmelungs and the wish of a King, who else was ever wise. But he neverwished, and we should never have allowed, that after th
e death of thatboy a woman should reign over us--the spindle over the spear."
"So you refuse to acknowledge me as your Queen?" she criedindignantly. "And thou, too, Hildebrand, old friend of Theodoric, thoudisownest his daughter?"
"Queen," said the old man, "would that thou wouldst prevent it!"
Thulun continued:
"We do not disown thee--not yet. I only answer thee thus because thouboastest of thy right, and thou must know that thou hast no right. Butas we gladly honour noble birth--in which we honour ourselves--andbecause at this moment it might lead to evil dissensions in the kingdomif we deprived thee of the crown, I will repeat the conditions underwhich thou mayst continue to wear it."
Amalaswintha suffered terribly. How gladly would she have delivered thebold man who spoke such words into the hands of the executioner! Andshe was obliged to listen helplessly! Tears rose to her eyes; sherepressed them, but at the same time sank back exhausted upon thethrone, supported by Cassiodorus.
Meanwhile Cethegus had made his way to her side.
"Concede everything," he whispered; "it is forced and null. Andto-night Pomponius will arrive.
"Speak!" said Cassiodorus; "but spare the woman, barbarians!"
"Ha! ha!" laughed Duke Pitza. "She will not be treated like a woman.She is our _King_!"
"Peace, cousin!" said Duke Thulun reprovingly; "she is of noble blood.First," he continued, "thou must dismiss the Prefect of Rome. He issaid to be an enemy of the Goths; he may not advise the Gothic Queen.Earl Witichis will take his place near thy throne."
"Agreed!" said Cethegus himself, instead of Amalaswintha.
"Secondly, thou wilt declare, in a proclamation, that for the future noorder of thine can be executed which is not signed by Hildebrand orWitichis; and that no law is valid without the ratification of theNational Assembly."
The Queen started up angrily; but Cethegus held her arm.
"Pomponius comes to-night," he whispered. Then he said aloud, "Thisalso is agreed to."
"The third condition," resumed Thulun, "is one which thou wilt aswillingly grant as we ask it. We three Balthes have not learned to bowour heads in a prince's court. The roof here is too low for us. It isbetter that Amelungs and Balthes live as far apart as the eagle and thefalcon. And the realm needs our weapons upon its boundaries. Ourneighbours think that the land is orphaned since thy great father died,Avari, Gepidae, and Sclavonians fearlessly overstep the frontiers. Inorder to punish these three nations, thou wilt equip three armies, eachof thirty thousand; and we three Balthes will lead them, as thygenerals, to the east and to the north."
"The whole military force also in their hands--not bad!" thoughtCethegus. "Accepted!" he cried aloud, smiling.
"And what remains to me," asked Amalaswintha, "when I have granted allthis?"
"A golden crown upon a white forehead," said Duke Ibba.
"Thou canst write like a Greek," re-commenced Thulun. "Such arts arenot learned in vain. This parchment should contain all that we demand;my slave has written it down." He gave it to Witichis to examine. "Isit so? 'Tis well. That thou wilt sign, Princess. Good. We havefinished. Now, Hildebrand, speak with yonder Roman."
But Teja was beforehand. He advanced to the Prefect, trembling withhate, his sword in his hand.
"Prefect of Rome," said he, "blood has been shed--precious, noble,Gothic blood! It consecrates the furious strife which will soon bekindled. Blood, which thou shalt atone----"
His voice was suffocated with rage.
"Bah!" cried Hildebad--for he was the tall Goth--pushing him aside."Make not such a to-do about it! My dear brother can easily part with alittle superfluous blood; and the others lost more than he could spare.There, thou black devil!" he cried, turning to Cethegus, and holding abroad-sword close before his eyes, "knowest thou that?"
"Pomponius's sword!" cried Cethegus, turning pale and staggering back astep.
Amalaswintha and Cassiodorus asked in alarm,
"Pomponius?"
"Aha!" laughed Hildebad. "That is shocking, is it not? Nothing willcome of the water-party!"
"Where is Pomponius--my Navarchus?" asked Amalaswintha vehemently.
"With the sharks, Queen, in deep water."
"Ha! death and destruction!" exclaimed Cethegus, now carried away byhis anger. "How happened that?"
"Merrily enough! My brother Totila--thou surely knowest him?--lay inthe harbour of Ancona with two little ships. Thy friend Pomponius hadhad for some days such an insolent expression of countenance, and hadlet fall such bragging words, that it struck even my unsuspiciousbrother. One morning Pomponius suddenly disappeared from the harbourwith his three triremes. Totila smelt a rat, spread all sail, pursuedhim, overtook him off Pisaurum, stopped him, went on board with me anda few others, and asked him whither he would be going."
"He had no right to do so. Pomponius will have given him no answer."
"He did so, for all that, most excellent Cethegus! When he saw that wewere only ten upon his ship, he laughed, and cried, 'Whither sail I? ToRavenna, thou downy-beard, to save the Queen from your claws, and takeher to. Rome!' And he therewith made a sign to his crew. But we, too,threw our shields before us, and--hurrah! how the swords flew from thesheaths! It was hard work--ten to forty! But happily it did not lastlong. Our comrades in the nearest ship heard the iron rattle, and werequickly alongside with their boats, and climbed the bulwarks like cats.Now we had the upper hand; but the Navarchus--to give the devil hisdue!--would not yield; fought like to madman, and pierced my brother'sarm through his shield, so that the blood spouted. But then my brothergot into a rage too, and ran his spear through the other's body, sothat he fell like an ox. 'Greet the Prefect,' he said, as he lay dying,'give him my sword, his gift, back again, and tell him that no one cancheat Death, else I had kept my word!' I swore to him that I wouldconfirm his words. He was a brave man. Here is the sword."
Cethegus took it in silence.
"The ships yielded, and my brother took them back to Ancona. But Isailed here with the swiftest, and met the three Balthes in theharbour, just at the right moment."
A pause ensued, during which Cethegus and Amalaswintha bitterlycontemplated their desperate position. Cethegus had consented toeverything in the sure hope of flight, which was now frustrated. Hiswell-considered plan was balked; balked by Totila; and hatred of thisname entered deeply into the Prefect's soul. His grim reflections wereinterrupted by the voice of Thulun, asking:
"Well, Amalaswintha, wilt thou sign? or shall we call upon the Goths tochoose a King?"
At these words Cethegus quickly recovered himself. He took the tabletsfrom the hand of the Duke and handed them to the Queen.
"It is necessary, O Queen," he said in a low voice; "you have nochoice."
Cassiodorus gave her the stylus, she wrote her name and Thulun receivedthe tablets.
"'Tis well," said he; "we go to announce to the Goths that theirkingdom is saved. Thou, Cassiodorus, accompany us to bear witness thatall has been done without violence."
At a sign from Amalaswintha the senator obeyed, and followed the Gothicleaders to the Forum before the palace.
When the Queen found herself alone with Cethegus, she started from herseat. She could no longer restrain her tears. She passionately struckher forehead. Her pride was terribly humbled. She felt the shame ofthis hour more deeply than the loss of husband, father, or even of herson.
"Then this," she cried, weeping loudly, "this is man's superiority!Brutal, clumsy force! O, Cethegus, all is lost!"
"Not all, Queen, only a plan. I beg you to keep me in kindlyremembrance," he added coldly. "I go to Rome."
"What? you will leave me at this moment? You, you have made me give allthese promises, which rob me of my throne, and now you forsake me! Oh!it were better that I had resisted, I should then have remained indeeda Queen, even if they had set the crown upon the head of that rebelDuke!"
"Certainly," thought Cethegus, "better for you, worse for me. No, nohero shall ever again wear this Gothic crown."
He had quickly seen thatAmalaswintha could no longer serve him, and just as quickly he gave herup. He was already thinking of a new tool for his plans. Yet he decidedto disclose to her a portion of his thoughts, in order that she mightnot act upon her own account, contradict her promises, and therebycause the crown to obvert to Thulun. "I go, O Queen," he said; "but Ido not therefore forsake you. Here I can no longer serve you. They havebanished me from your side, and will guard you as jealously as a loverhis mistress."
"But what shall I do with these promises? what with the three dukes?"
"Wait, and, at present, submit. And as to the three dukes," he addedhesitatingly, "they go to the wars--perhaps they will never return."
"Perhaps!" sighed the Queen. "Of what use is a 'perhaps?'"
Cethegus came close to her.
"As soon as you wish it--they _shall_ never return."
The woman trembled:
"Murder? Terrible man, of what are you thinking?"
"Of what is necessary. Murder is a wrong expression. It isself-defence. Or a punishment. If you had now the power, you would havea perfect right to kill them. They are rebels. They force your royalwill. They kill your Navarchus; they deserve death."
"And they _shall_ die," whispered Amalaswintha to herself, clenchingher fist; "they shall not live, these brutal men, who force a Queen todo their behest. You are right--they shall die!"
"They must die--they and," he added in a tone of intense hatred,"and--the young hero!"
"Wherefore Totila? He is the handsomest and most valiant youth in thenation!"
"He dies!" growled Cethegus. "Oh that he would die ten times over!" Andsuch bitter hatred flamed from his eyes, that, suddenly seen in a manof such a cold nature, it both startled and terrified Amalaswintha.
"I shall send you from Rome," he continued rapidly in a low tone,"three trusty men, Isaurian mercenaries. These you will send after thethree Balthes, as soon as they have reached their several camps. Youunderstand that _you_, the Queen, send them; for they are executioners,no murderers. The three dukes must fall on the same day--I myself willcare for handsome Totila--the bold stroke will alarm the whole nation.During the first consternation of the Goths I will hurry here fromRome, with troops, to your aid. Farewell."
He departed, and left alone the helpless woman, upon whose ear nowbroke the shouts of the assembled multitude from the Forum in front ofthe palace, extolling the success of their leaders and the submissionof Amalaswintha.
She felt quite forsaken. She suspected that the last promise of thePrefect was little more than an empty word of comfort to palliate hisdeparture. Overcome by sorrow, she rested her cheek upon her beautifulhand, and was lost for some time in futile meditations.
Suddenly the curtain at the entrance rustled. An officer of the palacestood before her.
"Ambassadors from Byzantium desire an audience. Justinus is dead. Hisnephew Justinianus is Emperor. He tenders a brotherly greeting and hisfriendship."
"Justinianus!" This name penetrated the very soul of the unhappywoman. She saw herself robbed of her son, thwarted by her people,forsaken by Cethegus. In her sad musings she had been seeking in vainfor help and support, and, with a sigh of relief, she again repeated,"Justinianus--Byzantium!"