436 



BELISARIUS. 



Bclisarius. attempted to recover their capital ; and completely 

 ""reduced the remains of their power by taking the 

 city of Ravenna in 539. During the whole of this 

 war, his army never amounted to 20,000, and seldom 

 to more than 10,000 or 12,000 men ; but by his de- 

 termined courage and consummate skill, he rendered 

 this little baud victorious over a brave and numerous 

 people. The Goths themselves, admiring the vir- 

 tues and talents of their conqueror, entreated him to 

 desert his master, and to become their king ; but he 

 made use of their proposal only to hasten their sub- 

 jection, and remained faithful to his sovereign. Nei- 

 ther his eminent services, however, nor unshaken fide- 

 lity, could preserve him from the venomed shafts of 

 envy, and the base suspicions of jealousy. Justinian, 

 influenced by the representations of his enemies, but 

 pretending, that he required his assistance against the 

 Persians, recalled him from his command, received 

 him with coldness, and refused him a triumph. But 

 his actions were too conspicuous for their merit to 

 be obscured; and the ingratitude of the emperor ser- 

 ved only to increase the admiration of the people. 

 The glory of Bclisarius wa3 now at its height ; and 

 he was confessedly the first subject in the empire of 

 the East. He had returned to Constantinople crown- 

 ed with victories, loaded with treasures, surrounded 

 by captive princes ; and his fellow citizens were 

 neither insensible to his merits, nor parsimonious of 

 their applause. Whenever he appeared in public, his 

 lofty stature and majestic countenance attracted the 

 notice and respect of every spectator ; while his easy 

 access and gracious demeanour engaged the esteem 

 and affection of his countrymen. Seven thousand 

 horsemen, of the most distinguished valour and manly 

 forms, maintained at his own expense, and who had 

 eminently contributed to his conquests by their 

 prowess in the field, now supported the splendour of 

 his name, by their faithful attachment and constant 

 attendance upon his person. Thus honoured by the 

 soldiery, and beloved by the people, Belisarius de- 

 parted from Constantinople in the year 541, to take 

 the command in Persia ; and, having 6oon restored 

 the sinking state of affairs in that quarter, was be- 

 ginning to add fresh laurels to his fame, when his 

 career of glory was arrested by the infuriated in- 

 trigues of a licentious female. The conqueror of the 

 Goths and Vandals was the slave of his wife Anto- 

 nina, a woman originally of the lowest extraction 

 and most worthless character; but whose fatal in- 

 fluence over her husband, and whose favour with the 

 Empress Theodora, rendered her the arbitress of his 

 fortune. Belisarius, at length made acquainted with 

 her secret amours, of which he alone had never enter- 

 tained the smallest suspicion, had charged her with 

 her infidelity, and left her behind him in the metro- 

 polis. In consequence of her powerful machinations, 

 he was recalled in disgrace, insulted upon his arrival 

 even by the attendants of the court, deprived of his 

 honours, condemned to a state of privacy, and placed 

 even in momentary expectation of receiving the man- 

 date of his execution. In this reverse of fortune the 

 renowned Belisarius conducted himself with the most 

 unbecoming pusillanimity; and having been at length 

 relieved from his abject state of terror, by a letter 

 from the empress, announcing his restoration to fa- 



vour, representing Antonina as his generous inter- 

 cessor, and recommending her as worthy of his most 

 respectful treatment, he threw himself at the feet of 

 the infamous partner of his bed, acknowledged her 

 as his honoured protectoress, and vowed to conduct 

 himself thenceforth as the most submissive of her ser- 

 vants. Thus reinstated in his rank and possessions, 

 he was again chosen to oppose the Goths in Italy, 

 who had now become more formidable than ever, un- 

 der the conduct of the celebrated Totila. Though 

 he was now better acquainted with the scene of ac- 

 tion, and directed his movements with greater skill, 

 than in his former expedition to that country ; yet 

 he made little progress against the enemy, and gain- 

 ed no great additions to his military fame. His want 

 of success may justly be attributed to the insuf- 

 ficiency of the reinforcements, with which he was 

 supplied ; and to the effects of his recent disgrace, 

 which had rendered him more timid in his measures, 

 as well as more distrustful of his soldiers. At length 

 in 548, by the influence of Antonina, he procured 

 permission to return to Constantinople ; where, about 

 ten years afterwards, his military talents were again 

 called into notice by a sudden incursion of the Bul- 

 garians, who had rapidly advanced to the walls of 

 the capital. Though weakened by age, and scarcely 

 able to hold a shield, the veteran general readily 

 obeyed the demand for his services, put himself at 

 the head of a tumultuary band, arrested the progress 

 of the enemy, and delivered the metropolis from its 

 alarm. This was the last exploit of Belisarius ; and 

 it was not more gratefully requited than any of the 

 former. Through the increasing jealousy of the 

 emperor, he was suspected of a conspiracy, hastily 

 condemned, and put under a guard of soldiers in his 

 own house. His innocence, indeed, was speedily 

 acknowledged, his freedom, possessions, and honours 

 restored ; but, within a few months after this acquit- 

 tal, his misfortunes were terminated by death in the 

 year 565. That he was deprived of his sight, and 

 reduced to beg his bread in the streets of Constanti- 

 nople, is a fiction of later times, which originated in 

 a poem of John Tzetzes, a monk, who wrote in the 

 12th century. Making every allowance for the par- 

 tialities of Procopius, who was the witness and his- 

 torian of many of the actions of Belisarius, he must 

 be admitted to have been one of the greatest com- 

 manders, who had appeared in the Roman empire for 

 many years. He was prudent without fear, bold 

 without rashness, and remarkably fertile in expe- 

 dients ; liberal to his soldiers, humanely attentive to 

 their comfort when sick or wounded, and, at the 

 same time, careful to preserve them under the most 

 rigid discipline. During the march of his armies, the 

 husbandmen enjoyed the utmost peace and protec- 

 tion ; so that not an apple was gathered from a tree, 

 nor was a path to be traced in the fields of corn. He 

 was equally careful to preserve the vanquished from 

 the fury of his troops, in the moment of victory; and 

 when they entered the city of Naples by assault, he 

 was seen standing in the streets, repeatedly exclaim- 

 ing to his soldiers, " the gold and silver are the just 

 rewards of your valour ; but spare the inhabitants : 

 they are Christians ; they are supplicants ; they are 

 now your fellow subjects." He was humble iu pros- 



Bclisariu*. 



