CHAPTER III.
While Italians and Goths feasted and drank together in the halls on theground-floor of the palace at Ravenna, they little suspected that abovetheir heads, in the King's apartments, a negotiation was going on whichwas to determine the fate of the kingdom.
The King had left the banquet early, and had retired to his rooms withthe Byzantine ambassador, and, for a long time, the two were occupiedin writing and consulting together.
At last they seemed to have come to an agreement, and Petros was aboutonce more to read what he had written, when the King interrupted him:
"Stop," said the little man, who seemed almost lost in his royal robes,"stop--there is yet another thing."
And he rose from his seat, softly crossed the room, and looked behindthe curtain at the entrance to see if any were listening.
Having reassured himself, he returned, and gently pulled the sleeve ofthe Byzantine. The light of the bronze lamp flickered in the draught,and fell upon the withered yellow cheeks of his ugly face, as hecunningly screwed up his already small eyes.
"Yet another thing. If these wholesome changes are to be made, it wouldbe well, indeed it is necessary, that some of the most daring of mybarbarian subjects should be rendered incapable of opposition."
"I have already thought of that," answered Petros. "There is that oldhalf heathen, Hildebrand, that coarse Hildebad, and wise Witichis."
"You seem to know men well," said Theodahad, "you have looked sharplyabout you. But," he added, "there is one whom you have not mentioned,one who must be got rid of more than any other."
"And he?"
"Is Earl Teja, the son of Tagila."
"Is the melancholy dreamer so dangerous?"
"More so than any of the others. Besides, he is my personal enemy, aswas his father before him."
"How so?"
"His father was my neighbour at Florentia, I wanted his acres. In vainI pressed him to give them up. Ha, ha!" and Theodahad laughed, "theybecame mine at last! The holy Church dissolved his criminal marriage,confiscated his property, and let me have it cheap. I had deserved wellof the Church during the process--your friend, the Bishop of Florentia;can tell you the particulars."
"I understand," said Petros. "Why did not the barbarian give his acresup with a good will? Does Teja know?"
"He knows nothing. But he hates me merely because I bought hisinheritance. He looks black at me, and the gloomy dreamer is just theman to strangle an enemy at the very feet of God Himself."
"Indeed?" said Petros, suddenly becoming very thoughtful. "Well, enoughof him! He shall not hurt us. Let me read the treaty once more, pointby point; afterwards you can sign it. 'First: King Theodahad resignsthe sovereignty of Italy, and the subject islands and provinces of theGothic kingdom, namely: Dalmatia, Liburnia, Istria, the secondPannonia, Savia, Noricum, Rhaetia, and the Gothic provinces in Gaul, infavour of Emperor Justinian, and of his successors. He promises todeliver Ravenna, Rome, Neapolis, and all the fortresses in the kingdom,into the hands of the Emperor.'"
Theodahad nodded.
"'Secondly: King Theodahad will use all the means in his power to theend that the Gothic army shall be disarmed and led away, in smallparties, over the Alps. The women and children will follow the army, orbe taken as slaves to Byzantium, according to the decision of theimperial generals. The King will take care that any resistance on thepart of the Goths shall be without result. Thirdly: in return, theEmperor Justinian leaves the titles and honours of royalty to KingTheodahad and his spouse for their lifetime. And fourthly----'"
"I will read this paragraph myself," interrupted Theodahad, and heldout his hand for the document.
"'Fourthly: the Emperor leaves to the King of the Goths not only allthe lands and treasures which the latter possesses as private property,but the whole of the royal Gothic treasury, which alone is valued atforty thousand pounds of minted gold. Further, the Emperor assigns toTheodahad, as his property and inheritance, the whole of Tuscany, fromPistoria to Caere, from Populonia to Clusium; and lastly, he makes overto him for life the half of all the public revenues of the kingdom thusrestored to its rightful sovereign.' Tell me, Petros, do not you thinkthat I might demand three-fourths?"
"You might certainly ask it, but I doubt exceedingly that Justinianwould grant it. I have already overstepped the utmost limits of mypower."
"We will demand it, at all events," said the King, altering thefigures, "then Justinian must either bargain for less, or grantadditional privileges."
A false smile played over the thin lips of the ambassador.
"You are a clever negotiator, O King," he said. "But in this case youreckon wrongly," he added to himself.
Just at this moment the rustle of trailing garments was heard in themarble corridor, and Amalaswintha entered, dressed in a long blackmantle and a black veil sowed with silver stars. She was deadly pale,but composed and dignified; a Queen in spite of having lost her crown.Intense sorrow ennobled the expression of her countenance.
"King of the Goths," she began, "forgive if a dark shadow suddenlyrises from the realm of the dead to dim your joyous feast. It is forthe last time."
Both the men were struck by her appearance.
"Queen," stammered Theodahad.
"'Queen!' oh, would that I had never borne the name. I come, cousin,from the grave of my noble son, where I have acknowledged myinfatuation, and repented of all my sins. I come to you, King of theGoths, to warn you against similar infatuation and similar guilt."
Theodahad's unsteady eyes avoided her grave and searching looks.
"It is an evil guest," she continued, "that I find here as yourconfidant at the hour of midnight. There is no safety for a princeexcept in his people. Too late I have found this out; too late formyself; not too late, I hope, for my people. Do not trust Byzantium; itis a shield that crushes him whom it should protect."
"You are unjust," said Petros, "and ungrateful."
"I beg you, my royal cousin," continued Amalaswintha, unheeding theremark, "not to consent to what this man demands. Do not grant him thatwhich I refused. We were to surrender Sicily, and furnish threethousand warriors to the Emperor for each of his wars. I rejected theshameful proposal. I see," she went on, pointing to the document on thetable, "that you have already concluded your business. Retreat beforeit is too late; they will deceive you always."
Theodahad uneasily drew the document towards him, and cast a suspiciouslook at Petros. The latter went up to Amalaswintha.
"What do you want here, you queen of yesterday? Would you control theruler of this realm? Your time is past and your power at an end."
"Leave us," said Theodahad, taking courage. "I will do what I thinkgood. You shall not succeed in parting me from my friends at Byzantium.Look here, before your very eyes our treaty shall be concluded," And hesigned his name.
"Well," said Petros with a smile, "the Princess comes just at the rightmoment to sign as a witness."
"No!" cried Amalaswintha, "I have come at the right moment to frustrateyour plan. I will go straightway to the army, to the National Assembly,which will soon take place at Regeta. There, before all the nation, Iwill expose your proposals, the plans of the Emperor, and the treacheryof this feeble man."
"That will do no good," said Petros quietly, "unless you accuseyourself."
"I _will_ accuse myself. I will confess all my folly, all my guilt, andgladly suffer the death I have deserved. But my self-accusation shallwarn and alarm the whole nation from Etna to the Alps. A world in armsshall be opposed to you, and I will save my Goths by my death, from thedangers to which my life has exposed them!" And, filled with nobleenthusiasm, she hurried out of the room.
Theodahad looked with dismay at the ambassador. For some time he couldnot find a word to say.
"Advise me, help--" he stammered out at last.
"Advise? At this moment there is but one advice to give. That insanewoman will ruin herself and us if we let her alone. She must not beallowed to fu
lfil her threat. _You_ must take care of that."
"I?" cried Theodahad, alarmed. "I know nothings about such things!Where is Gothelindis? She, and she alone, can help us."
"And the Prefect," added Petros; "send for both of them."
Gothelindis and Cethegus were summoned from the banquet. Petros toldthem what the Princess had said, but without mentioning the treaty asthe cause of her outburst. He had scarcely finished speaking, whenGothelindis cried, "Enough! She must not go. Her every step must bewatched. She must speak neither to Goth nor Roman; she must not leavethe palace. That least of all!" And she hurried away to placeconfidential slaves at the doors of Amalaswintha's apartments.Presently she returned.
"She is praying aloud in her cabinet," she cried contemptuously. "Rouseyourself, Cethegus, and let us thwart her prayers."
Cethegus, leaning against the wall, had observed all these proceedings,and listened to all that was said in thoughtful silence. He saw hownecessary it was that he should once more take the reins into his ownhands, and hold them more firmly. He saw Byzantium pressing more andmore into the foreground--and that he could not suffer.
"Speak, Cethegus," Gothelindis repeated. "What is most necessary?"
"Clearness of purpose," he answered, standing erect. "In everycontract, the particular aim of each of the contracting parties must beplain. If not, they will continually hinder each other by mistrust. Youhave your aims, I have mine. Yours are evident--I have already told youwhat they are. You, Petros, wish that Emperor Justinian should rule inItaly in place of the Goths. You, Gothelindis and Theodahad, wish soalso, on condition that you receive a rich recompense in revenge, gold,and honours. But I--I too, have my private aim. What is the use ofdenying it? My sly Petros, you would not long believe that I was onlyambitious of serving as your tool, and of being a senator in Byzantium.I, too, have my aim, and all your threefold cunning would never be ableto discover it, because it lies too close to your eyes. I must betrayit to you myself. My petrified heart still cherishes one ideal: Italy!and I, like you, wish the Goths well out of this country. But I do not,like you, wish that the Emperor should step unconditionally into theirshoes. I do not want the deluge instead of the shower. I, theinveterate Republican, would like best--you know, Petros, that we wereboth Republicans at eighteen years of age, and I have remained so; butyou need not tell it to your master, the Emperor; I have told himmyself long since--to cast out the barbarians, bag and baggage, butwithout letting you in. Unfortunately, that is not now possible; wecannot do without your help. But I will limit it to the unavoidable.No Byzantine army shall enter this country, except--at the lastextremity--to receive it at the hands of the Italians. Italy must bemore a gift from the Italians than a conquest of the Emperor. Theblessing of generals and tax-gatherers, which Byzantium would bringupon the land, must be spared us; we want your protection, but not yourtyranny."
Over the face of Petros crept a sly smile, which Cethegus seemed not toobserve. He continued:
"Hear my conditions. I know that Belisarius lies off Sicily with hisfleet. He must not land. He must return home. I cannot do with him inItaly; at least, not until I call him myself. And if you, Petros, donot at once send him the order to return to Byzantium, our waysseparate. I know Belisarius and Narses, and their military government,and I know what mild masters these Goths make. I am sorry forAmalaswintha; she was a mother to my people. Therefore choose--choosebetween Belisarius and Cethegus. If Belisarius lands, Cethegus and allItaly will stand by Amalaswintha and the Goths, and then we will seewhether you can wrest from us a single foot of this soil. If you chooseCethegus, he will break the power of the barbarians, and Italy willsubject herself to the Emperor, not as his slave, but as his consort.Choose, Petros."
"You proud man!" cried Gothelindis. "You dare to make conditions to me,your Queen?" And she lifted her hand with a threatening gesture.
But Cethegus caught the hand in his iron grasp, and drew it quietlydown.
"Leave such antics, you Queen of a day! Here only Italy and Byzantiumnegotiate. If you forget your want of power, you must be reminded ofit. You reign only so long as we uphold you."
He stood before the angry woman in an attitude of such quiet majesty,that she was silenced, but her eyes flashed with inextinguishablehatred.
"Cethegus," said Petros, who had meanwhile made up his mind, "you areright. For the moment, Byzantium can gain nothing better than yourhelp; for without it she can gain nothing. If Belisarius returns toByzantium, will you be for us unconditionally?"
"Unconditionally."
"And Amalaswintha?"
"I abandon her."
"Well, then," said the Byzantine, "we are agreed."
He wrote upon a waxen tablet a briefly-expressed order for the returnof Belisarius to Byzantium, and gave it to the Prefect.
"You may send the message yourself."
Cethegus read it carefully.
"It is well," said he, putting the tablet into the bosom of his dress."We are Agreed."
"When will Italy proceed against the barbarians?" asked Petros.
"In the first days of the next month. I shall now go to Rome.Farewell."
"You are going? Will you not help us to get rid of Amalaswintha? Youwill take pity on her again?" asked the Queen, in a reproachful voice.
"She is condemned," said Cethegus, turning as he reached the door. "Thejudge goes; the executioner will perform his duty." And he left themwith a proud mien.
Theodahad, who had listened to all that had passed in speechlessastonishment, now caught the hand of Petros in great alarm.
"Petros," he cried, "for God's sake, what have you done? Our contract,and everything else, depends upon Belisarius; and you send him away?"
"And allow that insolent man to triumph?" added Gothelindisindignantly.
But Petros laughed; his whole face beamed with the ecstasy ofvictorious cunning.
"Be quiet," he said. "This time the invincible Cethegus is conquered byPetros, at whom he has always scoffed."
He took Theodahad and Gothelindis each by the hand, drew them close tohim, looked round, and then whispered:
"At the commencement of the message to Belisarius I have placed a smallspot, which means: 'All that I have written is not meant in earnest,and is null.' Yes, yes; one learns the art of writing at the court ofByzantium!"