and remember, I neither am nor fhall be unacquainted with your conduct to her.' On receiving this news, his joy was no less extravagant than his fear had been contemptible. He immediately proftrated himself before Antonina, embraced her knees, and kiffed her feet. He feemed refolved to give even the messenger a proof of his obedience and converfion, for he called Antonina his protectress, and defired that he would confider him for the future not as her friend but as her fervant. After this, part of the treasures which he had amaffed from the fpoils of Gilimer and Vitigius, and which were, probably, through the avarice of Juftinian and Theodora, the principal caufe of his difgrace, was restored to him. Being once more advanced to the rank of General, it was propofed that he should return to the Perfian war. But Antonina protesting in high terms that the would return no more to a country where fhe had been so illtreated, Belifarius was declared grand Armour-bearer to the Emperor, (the title of Patrician, which he had before, being poffibly given to another) and he was fent once more into Italy. It is faid, and not without foundation, that the Emperor, in his terms of reconciliation with Belifarius, infifted that he fhould carry on the war against the Goths at his own expence. It is certain that he was very ill provided with men and arms; and this has been generally attributed to the avarice of Juftinian, to the great expence he was at in the Perfian war, and to his rage for building, and fpending his money in theatres, mufic, and fuch kind of entertainments. The writer we follow makes one reflection here which must not be paffed over. Fortune, fays he, fo totally abandoned Belifarius in his fecond expedition into Italy, that though by his better knowledge of the country, he conducted all his measures with greater skill than he had done in the firft, yet every thing went wrong; whereas, before, the rafheft fteps he took were fuccessful.' Now fetting afide the agency of a fuperior caufe, which the vulgar, and the writers of antiquity idly call fortune, I am of opinion that a moral and natural reafon may be affigned, why the fecond expedition of Belifarius, though better conducted than the first, was lefs fuccefsful. The difgrace and difcredit he had fuffered between the two expeditions, naturally rendered himn timid and diftruftful. Every one knows that the warm and adventurous will gain, what the cold and dilatery will fcarcely be able to keep; and from the numberlefs teftimonies of this, came that proverb fo common in every country, that Fortune favours the bold. true, Belifarius was ill fupported in this campaign from the firft, and all the fupplies he could get from Conftantinople were hardly fufficient to guard a fingle fortrefs, much lefs to defend Italy and the islands that belonged to it. Who can read without aftonishment or contempt, that, to befiege fo many ftrong places

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places as the Goths ftill had in Italy, and to defend fo many more that were in the imperial hand, reinforcements were fent fometimes of three hundred men, fometimes of eighty, and that a thousand were looked upon as an army. Upon the whole, Belifarius, partly from his own indolence, and partly from the wretchednels of his fupplies, could do little more than go from fhore to fhore, and guard the coafts of the Ionian and Sicilian feas. Nevertheless, he did two things, which, together, perhaps, were the caufe, why the power of the Goths was not abfolutely re-established in Italy.

Though Belifarius did not arrive time enough to the relief of Rome, he contributed more than any other perfon, to prevent Totila, after he had taken the city, from dismantling and destroying it, of which he had declared his intention to the Deacon Pelagius, when he went to treat with him before he took it. Belifarius, by means of letters and embaffies, prevailed on him to change his refolution. After representing to him the venerable dignity of that ancient city, the ruin of which would entail eternal infamy on its deftroyer, he concluded with the following argument: Should the event of this war leave you victorious, by deftroying Rome, you facrifice a city of your own, whereas by preferving it, the importance of your victories will be heightened by the value of your acquifitions. On the other hand, fhould fortune be unfavourable to you, your sparing Rome will promote your intereft with the conqueror, but your demolishing it would leave you no hopes of clemency.' Prevailed upon by thefe arguments, and by his natural humanity, Totila left Rome her walls entire. The confequence of the war, however, gave him reafon to repent his clemency, and expofed him to the cenfure of the Goths and their allies: for Belifarius foon after found means to retake the city, and fortified it in the ftrongest manner. After the Greeks had retaken Rome, Totila fent ambaffadors to the King of the Franks on a treaty of marriage and clofe alliance. Had this been concluded, the flightest fuccours from that quarter would have left the King of the Goths nothing to fear from the Romans. But the Franks answered, with great haughtiness, that, the man. who could not defend the capital of his kingdom, was unworthy of their alliance.

In the mean time, Belifarius left Italy; and though the imperial party was very weak, yet the Goths had been fo thinned and haraffed by repeated loffes, that they had not much confidence in their fortunes. Juftinian, though he had formed repeated refolutions to put the finifhing hand to the Italian expedition, and now appointed one General, now another to that bufinefs, yet his refolutions were loft while his mind was diffipated by the anxieties of the Perfian war on one hand, and the mazes of polemical divinity on the other. At laft a chamber

lain of the palace, an eunuch, gave the world a fresh teftimony that, as the most glorious actions of Princes are frequently effected through their favourites, it can never be more fortunate for the people, than when the Prince is attached to a perfon of magnanimity and noble fentiments. Narfetes, who entered with other eunuchs into the fervice of the court, was foon appointed firft Gentleman of the bed-chamber, to attend the perfon of the Emperor. In the variety of converfation that neceffarily occurred, Narfetes gave his mafter so many specimens of his talents for war and government, that he fent him into Italy at the head of a few regiments of Barbarian troops. His conduct to Belifarius, who was Commander in chief in this expedition, would incline one to believe that he had a private commiffion to act as he pleased, and to counteract the measures of his fuperior officer; but probably the confcioufnefs of his intereft at court made him haughty and regardless of fubordination. Certain it is, that by the obftacles he threw in the way of Belifarius, he loft no favour with Juftinian.

When Belifarius was recalled a fecond time from Italy, and the projects of fending the Emperor's nephew, and afterwards of appointing John, the fon of Vitellian, to the expedition, were wholly difperfed and vanifhed, the Emperor, either of his own accord, or through the ufual means of court manœuvres, after the death of Theodora, began to think of fending Narfetes Commander in chief into Italy. He was already acquainted with the affairs of that kingdom, having made a campaign there, and he moreover continued to give proofs of a fuperior genius. Narfetes, however, either from his native greatness of foul, or from the confidence he repofed in the affection of his mafter, protefted ftrongly against embarking in this expedition, unless he were fufficiently fupplied with troops, money, and every thing elfe neceffary to bring it to an honourable iffue. Juftinian acquiefced in every thing he defired, and Narfetes, having felected the flower of the imperial troops, and amply fupplied himself with provifions, fet off, attended by a train of volunteers, who wanted either to pay their court to the favourite, or to learn, under his aufpices, the art of war.

From the account which the contemporary hiftorians, Procopius and Agathias, have left us of this expedition, we may conclude that no war in Italy was ever conducted with fo much regularity, and that no General was ever more efteemed, revered and obeyed; an indubitable proof either of his peculiar abilities in gaining the affection of the fubalterns, or of the high credit he had at court, in confequence of which, none would venture to oppofe, but all fupported his meafures. If any Italian wit thought of applying to Narfetes Claudian's keen fatire on Eutropius, he was foon obliged to change his style,

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ftyle, and to pay the wifdom, the dexterity and virtue of the eunuch the highest encomiums. Even the enemy, who at first made a jeft of a caftrated warrior, as of fome unheard of monfter, very foon had occafion to blush at their fcorn. For Totila being defeated, and, afterwards, Teia, who fucceeded him, the only General they had left was Aligern, who had retired with the principal part of their treasures and forces into the ftrong city of Cuma.

But as fo much was done towards refcuing Italy from the dominion of a barbarous nation, that when the Goths were reduced to the last extremity, hardly any thing was left undone; it will be neceflary to go a little higher in this account, to enquire into the fate of the Franks at this time, and their fecond attempt to make themselves mafters of Italy. Muratori, whom we do not quote on this occafion, but only mention as the great luminary of the Italian hiftory, has touched but flightly on the origin of this war, and, confining himself to the order of time, has left us but a fcattered and unconnected account of the great progrefs and ftill greater defigns of those Kings of the Franks, who flourished in the time of Juftinian.

Theodebert, the fon of that Theodoric who was the firft born though illegitimate fon of Clodoveus, at the fame time that he fhared, with the other three fons of that famous King, the dominion of the Franks, which was founded on the ruins of Gaul, not only fucceeded to that portion of the kingdom poffeffed by his father against the attempts of his uncles, Clotharius and Childebert, but was, on account of his valour and reputation, the moft diftinguished Potentate of that nation. Befide the parts that bordered on the kingdom of Burgundy, which their united arms had entirely destroyed, he had made confiderable conquefts in Germany. The Emperor Juftinian, and the Kings of the Goths were competitors for his friendfhip; and he flattered each by turns, while his aim was to rise on the ruin of both. We have already obferved that he once fent a reinforcement of ten thousand men to the Goths after they had fuffered an overthrow, giving out, in order to deceive the court of Conftantinople, that thefe were Burgundian volunteers and adventurers: we have mentioned likewife that he once put himself at the head of a very numerous army, of which, through the malignant influence of the climate, and, for want of proper provifions, he loft the greatest part. Far, however, from being repreffed by this misfortune, his ambition was ftill more excited to give new privileges and acquifitions to his dominion; and he was the first of all the powers that rofe upon the ruins of Rome, who, either through the conceffion or connivance of the Emperor, coined gold in his own name. From the fame Emperor, moreover, he obtained an exprefs

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prefs grant, or rather inveftiture, of thofe provinces, which he and his ancestors had taken from the empire.

Not fatisfied, however, with these terms, because Juftinian, in his titles, announced himself Emperor of the Franks, Germans and Longobards, he occafioned a violent infurrection among the barbarians who were fettled in Illyricum, and went near to carry on war against the Emperor under the walls of Conftantinople. In the firft ardours of this audacious attempt Theodebert finished his life, and was fucceeded by his fon Theodebald, a youth of fixteen, of a flender conftitution, and no extraordinary parts. Indeed, the prudence of his father, in placing the ableft ministers and officers about him, had in fome measure left a remedy for the weakness and inexperience of the young King.

To this Theodebald, as his dominions lay nearer to Italy than those of the other Potentates, the Goths had recourse for affiftance; when after the death of Totila and Teia, their affairs were become defperate. The embaffy, however, was not made in the name, or by the decree of the whole nation, but only of those who lived beyond the Alps and the Po. The reft, who were at a greater diftance from the Alps, either chofe to wait till they faw what turn the Greek affairs would take, and what the event of the fiege of Cuma might be; or, in fact, were afraid that by calling in the Franks, they should lay themselves open to a new enemy.

However, when the Gothic Ambaffadors had an audience of Theodebald, they endeavoured to perfuade the King and his council, that if the Goths fhould be totally routed and deftroyed, the Franks would by no means be fecure from the pretenfions of the Emperor; that theirs was the common cause, and that, therefore, the Franks ought, for their own fakes, to march to the affiftance of the Goths. To this they received for answer, in the name of Theodebald, that the youth, and ill health of the King, and the state of the nation, rendered it improper for them at that time to take part in the dangers of others. But Lutharius and Bucellinus, two brothers, who were Germans by birth, and the principal Generals of Theodebald's army, when the Ambassadors took their leave, encouraged them to keep up their fpirits, affuring them that, notwithstanding the different fentiments of the King, they would, of their own proper authority, come with a powerful army to the relief of the Goths. A celebrated writer, in his hiftory of the Franks, makes a reflection here which feems to be very well grounded, namely that this difference in the answer of the King and his Generals was nothing more than a concerted artifice; and, indeed, it ferves to confirm what Procopius writes, that whatever appearances the Franks might affect in