Volume Ii Part 30 (1/2)
Antonina's quick eye remarked it, and she started; the intelligence between the two men aroused her suspicion.
This did not escape Cethegus.
”No, Procopius,” he said, to the astonishment of Belisarius; ”our friends here will far too soon acknowledge that Cethegus is not a man whose ambition can be satisfied by a smile from Justinian. I have not saved Rome for the Emperor.”
”For whom else!” asked Belisarius gravely.
”First for Rome herself. I am a Roman. I love my Eternal City. She shall not become the servant of the priests, but also not the slave of the Emperor. I am a republican,” he said, tossing his head defiantly.
A smile pa.s.sed across the countenance of Belisarius; the Prefect seemed to him of less importance than before.
Procopius, shrugging his shoulders, said:
”Incomprehensible!”
But this candour pleased Antonina.
”I certainly saw,” continued Cethegus, ”that we could only beat the barbarians by the sword of Belisarius. And also, alas! that the time is not ripe to realise my dreams of republican freedom. The Romans must first again become Catos; this generation must die out; and I acknowledge that, meantime, Rome can only find protection against the barbarians under the s.h.i.+eld of Justinian. Therefore we will bow to this s.h.i.+eld--for the present.”
”Not bad!” thought Procopius; ”the Emperor is to protect them until they are strong enough to run away from him, in proof of grat.i.tude.”
”These are but dreams, my Prefect,” said Belisarius compa.s.sionately.
”What practical results can they have?”
”These: that Rome shall not be delivered up to the caprice of the Emperor with bound hands and without conditions. Belisarius is not the only servant of Justinian. Only think, if the heartless Na.r.s.es were to become your successor!” The hero frowned. ”Therefore I will tell you the conditions under which the city of Caesar will open her gates to you and your army.”
But this was too much for Belisarius.
He sprang up in a rage; his face glowed; his eyes flashed.
”Prefect of Rome,” he cried in his loudest voice, ”you forget yourself and your position! To-morrow I start with my army of seventy thousand men for Rome. Who will hinder me from entering the city without conditions?”
”I,” said Cethegus quietly. ”No, Belisarius, I do not rave. Look at this plan of the city and its fortifications. Your experienced eye will recognise its strength better and more quickly than mine.”
He drew forth a parchment and spread it open upon the table.
Belisarius cast an indifferent look at it, but immediately cried out:
”The plan is incorrect! Procopius, give me our plan out of that casket.--Look here, those moats are now filled up; those towers are ruined; the wall here is broken down, those gates defenceless.--Your plan represents them as of terrible strength. It is obsolete, Prefect of Rome!”
”No, Belisarius, _yours_ is obsolete. These walls, moats, and gates are reconstructed.”
”Since when?”
”A year ago.”
”By whom?”
”By me.”