Volume Iii Part 58 (1/2)
”Even Justinian cannot blind and crucify a dead man. When Cethegus Caesarius has fallen, I cannot wake him up again to please the Emperor's cruelty. And of his money, you, Albinus, shall not receive a single solidus, nor you, Scaevola, one drop of his blood. His gold is for the Emperor, his blood for the Goths, and his name for immortality.”
”Do you wish the death of a hero for that wretch?” now asked Anicius angrily.
”Yes, son of Boethius; for he has deserved it! But you have a veritable right to revenge yourself on him--you shall behead the fallen man, and take his head to the Emperor at Byzantium. Do you not hear the tuba?
The fight has commenced!”
CHAPTER XIV.
When King Teja saw the whole of Na.r.s.es' forces advancing towards the mouth of the pa.s.s, he said to his heroes:
”It seems that instead of the stars, the mid-day sun is to s.h.i.+ne upon the last battle of the Goths! That is the only change in our plan.”
He then placed a number of warriors in front of the hollow in the lava, showed them the royal treasure and the corpse of Theodoric, raised upon a purple throne, and ordered them to pay attention while the fight for the pa.s.s was raging, and, on receiving a sign from Adalgoth--to whom and Wachis he had confided the last defence of the pa.s.s--at once to throw the throne and the coffers into the crater. The unarmed people pressed together round the lava cave--not a tear was seen, not a sigh was heard.
Teja arranged his men into hundreds, and these hundreds into families, so that father and sons, brothers and cousins, fought at each other's side; an order of battle the terrible obstinacy of which the Romans had often experienced since the days of the Cimbrians and Teutons, of Ariovist and Armin. The natural construction of the last battlefield of the Goths necessitated of itself the old order of battle inherited from Odin--the wedge.
The deep and close columns of the Byzantines now stood in orderly ranks from the sh.o.r.e of the sea to within a spear's throw from the mouth of the pa.s.s: a magnificent but fearful spectacle. The sun shone brightly upon their weapons, while the Goths still stood in the deep shadow of the rocks. Far away over the spears and standards of the enemy, the Goths beheld the lovely blue sea, the surface of which flashed with a silvery light.
King Teja stood near Adalgoth, who carried the banner of Theodoric, at the mouth of the pa.s.s. All the poet was roused in the Hero-King.
”Look!” he said to his favourite, ”what more lovely place could a man have to die in? It cannot be more beautiful in the heaven of the Christian, nor in Master Hildebrand's Asgard or Breidablick. Up, Adalgoth! Let us die here, worthy of our nation and of this beauteous death-place.”
He threw back the purple mantle which he wore over his black steel armour, took the little harp upon his left arm, and sang in a low, restrained voice:
”From farthest North till Rome--Byzant-- The Goths to battle call!
In glory rose the Goths' bright star-- In glory shall it fall!
Our swords raised high, we fight for fame; Heroes with heroes vie; Farewell, thou n.o.ble hero-race-- Up, Goths, and let us die!”
And he shattered the still vibrating harp upon the rocks at his feet.
”And now, Adalgoth, farewell! Would that I could have saved the rest of my people! Not here; but by an un.o.bstructed retreat to the north. It was not to be. Na.r.s.es would never grant it, and the last of the Goths cannot _beg_. Now let us go--to death!”
And raising his dreaded weapon, the mighty battleaxe with its lance-like shaft, he stepped to the head of the ”wedge,” Behind him Aligern, his cousin, and old Hildebrand. Behind them Duke Guntharis of Tuscany, the Wolfung, Earl Grippa of Ravenna, and Earl Wisand of Volsinii, the standard-bearer. Behind them again, Wisand's brother, Ragnaris of Tarentum, and four earls, his kinsmen. Then, in ever-broadening front, first six, then ten Goths. The rear was formed of close ranks, arranged by tens.
Wachis, halting in the pa.s.s near Adalgoth, blew, at a sign from the King, a signal on the Gothic war-horn, and the a.s.saulting force marched out of the ravine.
The heroes in league with Johannes stood upon the first level place close before the pa.s.s; only Alboin, Gisulf, and Cethegus were still missing. Next behind the ten leaders stood Longobardians and Herulians, who at once greeted the advancing Goths with a hail of spears.
The first to rush upon the King, who was easily recognisable by the crown upon his helmet, was Althias the Armenian. He fell dead at once, his skull split to the ears.
The second was the Herulian, Rodulf. Holding his spear at his left side with both hands, he rushed at Teja. Teja stood firm, and, receiving the stroke upon his narrow s.h.i.+eld, pierced his adversary through the body with the lance-like point of his battle-axe. Rodulf staggered back at the shock, then fell dead.
Before Teja could disengage his weapon from the scales of his enemy's mail-coat, Suartua, the nephew of the fallen Herulian, the Persian Kabades, and the Bajuvar Garizo, all attacked him at once.
Teja thrust back the last--the nearest and boldest--with such vigour, that he fell in the narrow and slippery lava path, and over a declivity on the right.
”Now help, O holy virgin of Neapolis!” cried the tall man as he flew downwards. ”Help me, as you have done during all these years of war!”