Volume Ii Part 19 (2/2)
Before he could continue, Totila, Hildebad, Hildebrand, and several other Goths rushed into the tent.
”Does he know!” asked Totila.
”Not yet,” said Teja.
”Rebellion!” cried Hildebad, ”rebellion! Up, King Witichis! Defend thy crown! Off with the boy's head!”
”What has happened?” asked Witichis quietly.
”Earl Arahad of Asta, the vain fool! has rebelled. Immediately after you had been chosen King, he rode off to Florentia, where his elder brother, Guntharis, the proud Duke of Tuscany, lives and rules. There the Wolfungs have found many adherents. Arahad called upon the Goths everywhere to protect the 'Royal Lily,' as they call her, Mataswintha, the true heir to the throne! They have proclaimed her Queen. She was in Florentia at the time, and therefore fell at once into their hands. It is not known if she be the prisoner of Guntharis or the wife of Arahad.
It is only known that they have enlisted Avarian and Gepidian mercenaries, and armed all the adherents of the Amelungs and their kith and kindred, together with the numerous adherents of the Wolfungs. Thee they call the 'Peasant-King;' they intend to take Ravenna!”
”Oh, send me to Florentia, with only three thousand,” cried Hildebad angrily; ”I will bring you this Queen of the Goths, together with her aristocratic lover, imprisoned in a bird-cage!”
But the others looked anxious.
”Things look bad,” said Hildebrand. ”Belisarius with his hundred thousands before us--at our backs the wily Rome--our main forces still fifty miles off--and now civil war and rebellion in the heart of the nation!”
But Witichis was as quiet and composed as ever.
”It is perhaps better so,” he said. ”We have now no choice. We _must_ retreat.”
”Retreat!” asked Hildebad angrily.
”Yes; we dare not leave an enemy at our backs. To-morrow we break up the camp and go----”
”Forward to Neapolis!” asked Hildebad.
”No. Back to Rome. And farther! To Florentia, to Ravenna! The spark of rebellion must be trampled out ere it burst into a flame.”
”What? Thou wilt retreat before Belisarius?”
”Yes, to advance all the more irresistibly, Hildebad. The string of the bow is also stretched backward to hurl the deadly arrow with the greater force.”
”Never,” cried Hildebad; ”thou canst not--thou darest not do that!”
But Witichis stepped quietly up to him and laid his hand upon his shoulder.
”I am thy King. Thou thyself hast chosen me. Loud above all the others sounded _thy_ cry: 'Hail, King Witichis!' Thou knowest--G.o.d knows--that I did not stretch forth my hand for the crown. You yourselves have pressed it upon my brow. Take it off, if you can entrust it to me no longer. But as long as I wear it, trust me and obey. Otherwise you and I are lost!”
”Thou art right,” said st.u.r.dy Hildebad, and bent his head. ”Forgive me; I will make it good in the next fight.”
”Up, my generals,” concluded Witichis, putting on his helmet. ”Thou, Totila, wilt hasten to the Frank Kings in Gaul, on an important emba.s.sy. You others hasten to your troops; break up the camp; at sunrise we march to Rome.”
CHAPTER VI.
A few days later, on the eve of the entry of the Goths into Rome, we find the young ”knights,” Lucius and Marcus Licinius, Piso the poet, Balbus the corpulent, and Julia.n.u.s the young advocate, a.s.sembled in confidential talk at the Prefect's house.
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