CHAPTER VII.
A few days after these occurrences, there were assembled in theapartments of the Byzantine ambassador at Ravenna a number ofdistinguished Romans of worldly and ecclesiastical rank. The BishopsHypatius and Demetrius from the Eastern Empire were also present.
Great excitement, mixed with alarm and anger, was visible on all faces,as Petros, the rhetorician, concluded his address in these words:
"It is for this reason, reverend bishops of the East and West, and you,noble Romans, that I have assembled you here. I protest loudly andsolemnly, in the name of the Emperor, against all secret acts ofcunning or force which may have been practised against the noble lady.Nine days ago she disappeared from Ravenna; most likely taken by forcefrom your midst; she, who has ever been the friend and protector of theItalians! On the same day, the Queen, her bitter enemy, alsodisappeared. I have sent out expresses in all directions, but, untilnow, am without news. But alas! if----"
He could not complete the sentence.
A confused tumult arose from the Forum of Hercules, and very soon hastyfootsteps were heard in the vestibule; the curtain was parted, and oneof the Byzantine slaves of the ambassador hurried into the room,covered with dust.
"Sir," he cried, "she is dead! she is murdered!"
"Murdered!" repeated many voices.
"By whom?" asked Petros.
"By Gothelindis; at the villa in the Lake of Bolsena!"
"Where is the corpse? Where the murderess?"
"Gothelindis pretends that the Princess was drowned in the bath whileplaying with the water-works, with which she was unacquainted. But itis known that the Queen had followed her victim, step by step, eversince she left the city. Romans and Goths have crowded by hundreds tothe villa to bring the corpse here in solemn procession. The Queenescaped the fury of the people and fled to the fortress of Feretri."
"Enough," cried Petros indignantly. "I go to the King, and call uponyou all to follow me. I shall refer to your testimony of what passes inmy report to Emperor Justinian." And he at once hurried out at the headof the assembly to the palace.
In the streets they found a throng of people rushing hither andthither, full of rage and indignation. The news had arrived in thecity, and spread from house to house. On recognising the imperialambassador and the dignitaries of the city, the crowd gave way beforethem, but immediately closed again behind them pressed after them tothe palace, and was with difficulty kept from entering the gates.
Every moment increased the number and excitement of the people. TheRoman citizens crowded together in the Forum of Honorius, and to theirgrief for the fate of their protectress was added the hope that thisoccurrence might cause the downfall of the barbarians. The appearanceof the ambassador encouraged this hope, and the feelings of the masstook a direction which was by no means inimical alone to Theodahad andGothelindis.
Meanwhile Petros, with his companions, hastened to the apartments ofthe helpless King, who, in the absence of his wife, had lost allstrength of resistance. He trembled at the excitement of the crowdbefore the palace, and had already sent for Petros, to ask from himhelp and counsel; for it was Petros himself who had decided upon themurder of the Princess, and arranged with Gothelindis the manner of itsaccomplishment. The King, therefore, now expected him to help to bearthe consequences.
When, then, the Byzantine appeared upon the threshold, Theodahadhurried to him with open arms; but he suddenly stood still inamazement, astonished to see what companions Petros had brought withhim, and still more astonished at his threatening aspect.
"I call you to account, King of the Goths!" cried Petros, even beforehe had crossed the threshold. "In the name of Byzantium, I call you toaccount for the disappearance of the daughter of Theodoric. You knowthat Emperor Justinian had assured her of his particular protection;every hair of her head is therefore sacred, and sacred every drop ofher blood. Where is Amalaswintha?"
The King stared at him in speechless astonishment. He admired thispower of dissimulation; but he did not understand its cause. He made noanswer.
"Where is Amalaswintha?" repeated Petros, advancing threateningly: andhis companions also came a step forward.
"She is dead," said Theodahad, who began to feel extremely anxious.
"She is murdered!" cried Petros. "So says all Italy. Murdered by youand your wife. Justinian, my illustrious Emperor, was the protector ofthis woman, and he will be her avenger. In his name I declare waragainst you--war against you and all your race!"
"War against you and all your race!" repeated the Italians, carriedaway by the excitement of the moment, and giving vent to theirlong-cherished hatred; and they pressed upon the trembling King.
"Petros," he stammered in terror, "you will remember our treaty, andyou will----"
But the ambassador took a roll of papyrus out of his mantle, and toreit in two.
"Thus I tear all bonds between my Emperor and this bloodthirsty house!You yourselves by this cruel deed have forfeited all our formerforbearance, No treaties--war!"
"For God's sake!" cried Theodahad; "no fighting! What do you demand,Petros?"
"Complete subjection. The evacuation of Italy. Yourself and GothelindisI summon to Byzantium, before the throne of Justinian. There----"
But his speech was interrupted by the sounding clang of the Gothicalarum, and into the room hurried a strong troop of Gothic warriors,led by Earl Witichis.
On hearing of Amalaswintha's death, the Gothic leaders had at oncesummoned the most valiant men of the nation in Ravenna to meet beforethe Porta Romana, and there they had agreed upon the best means ofsecurity. They had appeared in the Forum of Honorius just at the rightmoment--when the excitement was becoming dangerous. Here and there adagger flashed, and the cry arose, "Woe to the barbarians!"
These signs and voices ceased at once, as the hated Goths advanced inclose ranks from the Forum of Hercules through the Via Palatina.Without resistance, they marched through the murmuring groups; andwhile Earl Teja and Hildebad guarded the gates and terraces of thepalace, Witichis and Hildebrand arrived in the King's rooms just intime to hear the last words of the ambassador.
Wheeling to the right, they placed their followers near the throne, towhich the King had just retreated; and Witichis, leaning on his longsword, went close up to Petros, and looked keenly into his eyes.
A pause of expectation ensued.
"Who dares," asked Witichis quietly, "to play the master here in theroyal palace of the Goths?"
Recovering from his surprise, Petros answered,
"It does not become you, Earl Witichis, to interfere for the protectionof a murderer. I have summoned the King before the court at Byzantium."
"And for this insult thou hast no reply, Amelung?" cried old Hildebrandangrily.
But his bad conscience tied the King's tongue.
"Then we must speak for him," said Witichis "Know, Greek, andunderstand it well, you false and ungrateful Ravennites, the nation ofthe Goths is free and acknowledges no foreign master or judge orearth."
"Not even for murder?"
"If evil deeds occur amongst us, we ourselves will judge and punishthem. It does not concern strangers; least of all our enemy, theEmperor of Byzantium."
"My Emperor will revenge this woman, whom he could not save. Deliver upthe murderers to Byzantium."
"We would not deliver up a Gothic hind, much less our King!"
"Then you share his guilt and his punishment, and I declare war againstyou in the name of my master. Tremble before Justinian and Belisarius!"
A movement of joy amongst the Gothic warriors was the only answer.
Old Hildebrand went to the window, and cried to the Goths, who crowdedbelow:
"News! joyful news! War with Byzantium!"
At this a tumult broke loose below, as if the sea had burst its dams;weapons clashed, and a thousand voices shouted:
"War! war with Byzantium!"
This repetition of his words was not without effect upon Petros or
theItalians. The fierceness of this enthusiasm alarmed them; they weresilent, and cast down their eyes.
While the Goths, shaking hands, congratulated each other, Witichis wentup to Petros with an earnest mien, and said solemnly:
"Then it is war! We do not shun it; that you have heard. Better openwar than this lurking, undermining enmity. War is good; but woe to himwho kindles it without reason and without a just cause! I seebeforehand years of blood and murder and conflagration; I see trampledcorn-fields, smoking towns, and numberless corpses swimming down therivers! Listen to our words. Upon your heads be this blood, thismisery! You have irritated and excited us for years; we bore itquietly. And now you have declared war against us, judging where youhad no right to judge, and mixing yourselves in the affairs of a nationwhich is as free as your own. On your heads be the responsibility! Thisis our answer to Byzantium."
Silently Petros listened to these words; silently he turned and wentout, followed by his companions.
Some of them accompanied him to his residence, amongst them the Bishopof Florentia.
"Reverend friend," Petros said to the latter at parting, "the lettersof Theodahad about the matter you know of, which you entrusted to mefor perusal, you must leave entirely at my disposal. I need them, andthey are no longer necessary to you."
"The process is long since decided," answered the Bishop, "and theproperty irrevocably acquired. The documents are yours."
The ambassador then dismissed his friends, who hoped soon to see himagain in Ravenna with the imperial army, and went to his chamber, wherehe at once despatched a messenger to Belisarius, ordering him to invadethe country. Then he wrote a detailed report to the Emperor, whichconcluded in the following words:
"And so, my Emperor, you seem to have just reason to be contented withthe services of your most faithful messenger, and the situation ofaffairs. The barbarian nation split into parties; a hated Prince,incapable and faithless, upon the throne; the enemy surprised,unprepared and unarmed; the Italian population everywhere in yourfavour. We cannot fail! If no miracle occur, the barbarians mustsuccumb almost without resistance; and, as often before, my greatEmperor appears as the protector of the weak and the avenger of wrongs.It is a witty coincidence that the trireme which brought me here bearsthe name of _Nemesis_. Only one thing afflicts me much, that, with allmy efforts, I have not succeeded in saving the unhappy daughter ofTheodoric. I beg you, at least, to assure my mistress, the Empress, whowas never very graciously disposed to me, that I tried most faithfullyto obey all her injunctions concerning the Princess, whose fate sheentrusted to me as her principal anxiety during our last interview. Asto the question about Theodahad and Gothelindis, by whose assistancethe Gothic Kingdom has been delivered into our hands, I will venture torecall to the Empress's memory the first rule of prudence: it is toodangerous to have the sharers of our profoundest secrets at court."
This letter Petros sent on in advance with the two bishops, Hypatiusand Demetrius, who were to go immediately to Brundusium, and thencethrough Epidamnos by land to Byzantium.
He himself intended to follow in a few days, sailing slowly along theGothic coasts of the Ionian Gulf, in order to prove the temper andexcite the rebellion of the inhabitants of the harbour towns.
He would afterwards sail round the Peloponnesus and Eub[oe]a toByzantium, for the Empress had ordered him to travel by sea, and hadgiven him commissions for Athens and Lampsacus.
Before his departure from Ravenna, he already calculated the rewards heexpected to receive at Byzantium for his successful operations inItaly.
He would return twice as rich as he had come, for he had neverconfessed to the Queen, Gothelindis, that he had come into the countrywith the order to overthrow Amalaswintha.
He had rather, for some time, met her with representations of the angerof the Empress and Emperor, and had, with great show of repugnance,allowed himself to be bribed with large sums to connive at her plans,when, actually, he but used her as his tool.
He looked forward with certainty to the proud rank of patrician inByzantium, and already rejoiced that he would be able to meet hishaughty cousin, Narses--who had never used his influence to advancehim--on equal terms.
"So everything has succeeded better than I could wish," he said tohimself with great complacency, as he set his papers in order beforeleaving Ravenna, "and this time, my proud friend Cethegus, cunning hasproved truly excellent. The little rhetorician from Thessalonica, withhis small and stealthy steps, has advanced farther than you with yourproud strides. Of one thing I must be careful: that Theodahad andGothelindis do not escape to Byzantium; it would be too dangerous.Perhaps the question of the astute Empress was intended as a warning.This royal couple must be put out of our way."
Having completed his arrangements, Petros sent for the friend with whomhe lodged, and took leave of him. At the same time he delivered to hima dark-coloured narrow vase, such as those which were used for thepreservation of documents; he sealed the cover with his ring, which wasfinely engraved with a scorpion, and wrote a name upon the wax-tabletappended to it.
"Seek this man," he said to his host, "at the next assembly of theGoths at Regeta, and give him the vase; the contents are his. Farewell.You shall soon see me again in Ravenna."
He left the house with his slaves, and was soon on board theambassador's ship; filled with proud expectations, he was borne away bythe _Nemesis_.
As his ship, many weeks after, neared the harbour of Byzantium--he had,at the Empress's wish, announced his speedy arrival at Lampsacus, bymeans of an imperial swift-sailer which was just leaving--Petros lookedat the handsome country houses on the shore, which shone whitely fromout of the evergreen shade of the surrounding gardens.
"Here you will live in future, amongst the senators of the Empire," hethought with great contentment.
Before they ran into the harbour, the _Thetis_, the splendidpleasure-boat of the Empress, flew towards them, and, as soon as sherecognised the galley of the ambassador, hoisted the purple standard,as a sign to lay to.
Very soon a messenger from the Empress came on board the galley. It wasAlexandros, the former ambassador to the court of Ravenna. He showed tothe captain of the galley a writing from the Emperor, at which thecaptain appeared to be much startled; then he turned to Petros.
"In the name of the Emperor Justinian! You are condemned for life,convicted of long-practised forgery and embezzlement of the taxes, tothe metal-works in the mines of Cherson, with the Ultra-Ziagirian Huns.You have delivered the daughter of Theodoric into the hands of herenemies. The Emperor thought you excused when he read your letter; butthe Empress, inconsolable for the death of her royal sister, revealedyour former guilt to the Emperor, and a letter from the Prefect of Romeproved that you had secretly planned the murder of the Princess withGothelindis. Your fortune is confiscated, and the Empress wishes you torecollect--" here he whispered into the ear of Petros, who wascompletely stunned and broken by this terrible blow--"that youyourself, in your letter, advised her to get rid of all the sharers ofher secrets."
With this, Alexandros returned to the _Thetis_, but the _Nemesis_turned her stern to Byzantium, and bore the criminal away for ever fromall civilised community with mankind.