Volume Ii Part 52 (1/2)

And now began that memorable siege, which was to develop the military talent and inventive genius of Belisarius no less than the courage of the besiegers.

The citizens of Rome had with consternation beheld from the walls the interminable march of the Goths.

”Look, Prefect, they outflank all your walls.”

”Yes, in breadth! but in height? They cannot get over them without wings.”

Witichis had left only two thousand men behind in Ravenna; eight thousand he had sent, under Earl Uligis of Urbssalvia, and Earl Ansa of Asculum, to Dalmatia, to wrest that province and Liburnia from the Byzantines, and to reconquer the strong fortress of Salona. These troops were to be reinforced by mercenaries recruited in Savia.

The Gothic fleet--against Teja's advice--was also to repair thither, and not to Portus, the harbour of Rome.

But the King now surrounded, with a hundred and fifty thousand warriors, the city of Rome and its far-stretching ramparts, the walls of Aurelian and the Prefect.

Rome had at that time fifteen princ.i.p.al gates and a few smaller ones.

The weaker part of the ramparts--the s.p.a.ce between the Flaminian Gate in the north (on the east of the present Porta del Popolo) to the Praenestinian Gate--was completely surrounded by six camps, thus: the walls from the Flaminian Gate eastwards as far as the Pincian and Salarian Gates; then to the Nomentanian Gate (south-east of Porta Pia); farther towards the ”closed gate,” or Porta Clausa; and finally southwards, the Tiburtinian (now Porta San Lorenzo), the Asinarian, Metronian, and Latin Gates (on the Via Latina), the Appian Gate (on the Via Appia), and the St. Paul's Gate, which lay close to the Tiber.

These six camps were erected on the left bank of the river.

But in order to prevent the besieged from destroying the Milvian Bridge, and thus cutting off the way across the river and the whole district from the right bank as far as the sea, the Goths erected a seventh camp upon the right bank of the Tiber, on the ”field of Nero,”

which reached from the Vatican Hill nearly to the Milvian Bridge (under Monte Mario).

So this bridge was dominated, and that of Hadrian threatened, by a Gothic camp, as well as the road to the city through the ”Porta Sancti Petri,” as the inner Aurelian Gate, according to Procopius, was already called at that time.

It was the entrance nearest to the Mausoleum of Hadrian.

But also the gate of St. Pancratius, on the right bank of the river, was especially watched by the Goths.

This camp upon the field of Nero, between the Pancratian and Peter's Gates, had been a.s.signed to Earl Markja of Mediolanum, who had been recalled from the Cottian Alps. But the King himself often repaired thither in order to examine the Mausoleum. He had undertaken the command of no particular camp, reserving to himself the general supervision; and he had divided the other six camps between Hildebrand, Totila, Hildebad, Teja, Guntharis, and Grippa.

He caused each of the seven camps to be surrounded with a deep moat, throwing up the excavated earth in high banks between the moat and camp, and strengthening them with stout palisades, as a protection against sallies from the city.

Belisarius and Cethegus also divided their generals and their men according to the sections and gates of Rome.

Belisarius confided the defence of the Praenestinian Gate in the eastern quarter (now Porta Maggiore) to Bessas, and the important Flaminian Gate, close to which lay the camp of Totila, to Constantinus, who caused it to be almost closed with blocks of marble, taken from ancient temples and palaces.

The Prefect jealously kept the western and southern quarters of the city under his own strict surveillance, but in the north Belisarius settled down between the Flaminian and Pincian--or now ”Belisarian”--Gates (the weakest part of the ramparts), and formed plans of sallies against the barbarians.

The remaining gates were entrusted to the leaders of the foot-soldiers: Piranius, Magnus, Ennes, Artabanes, Azarethas, and Chilbudius.

The Prefect had undertaken the defence of all the gates on the right bank of the Tiber; the new Porta Aurelia on the aelisian Bridge near the Mausoleum, the Porta Septimiana, the old Aurelian Gate, which was now named the Pancratian; and on the left bank, that of St. Paul.

The next gate to the east, the Ardeatinian, was again under the protection of a Byzantine garrison, commanded by Chilbudius.

The besiegers and the besieged proved themselves equally indefatigable and equally inventive in plans of attack and defence.

For a long time the only thing the Goths could attempt was to hara.s.s the Romans before storming the walls. On their side, the Romans prepared to defend them when attacked. The Goths--lords and masters in the Campagna--sought to distress the besieged by cutting off all the fourteen splendid aqueducts which supplied the city with water.

As soon as Belisarius learned this fact, he hastened to block the mouths of the aqueducts within the city.