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 346 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xli were not without effect ; and he obtained one thousand Thracians and Isaurians, to assist the revolt of Liguria against her Arian tyrant. At the same time, John the Sanguinary, 107 the nephew of Vitalian, was detached with two thousand chosen horse, first to Alba on the Fucine lake, and afterwards to the frontiers of Picenum on the Hadriatic sea. "In that province," said Belisarius, " the Goths have deposited their families and treasures, without a guard or the suspicion of danger. Doubtless they will violate the truce : let them feel your presence, before they hear of your motions. Spare the Italians; suffer not any fortified places to remain hostile in your rear; and faithfully reserve the spoil for an equal and common partition. It would not be reasonable," he added with a laugh, "that, whilst we are toiling to the destruction of the drones, our more fortunate brethren should rifle and enjoy the honey." The Goths The whole nation of the Ostrogoths had been assembled for Bieceof the attack, and was almost entirely consumed in the siege of ad. 538. Rome. If any credit be due to an intelligent spectator, one third at least of their enormous host was destroyed, in frequent and bloody combats under the walls of the city. The bad fame and pernicious qualities of the summer air might already be im- puted to the decay of agriculture and population ; and the evils of famine and pestilence were aggravated by their own licen- tiousness and the unfriendly disposition of the country. While Vitiges struggled with his fortune ; while he hesitated between shame and ruin ; his retreat was hastened by domestic alarms. The king of the Goths was informed by trembling messengers, that John the Sanguinary spread the devastations of war from the Apennine to the Hadriatic; that the rich spoils and in- numerable captives of Picenurn were lodged in the fortifications of Rimini ; and that this formidable chief had defeated his uncle, insulted his capital, and seduced, by secret correspondence, the fidelity of his wife, the imperious daughter of Amalasontha. Yet, before he retired, Vitiges made a last effort either to storm or to surprise the city. A secret passage was discovered in one [Aqua of the aqueducts ; two citizens of the Vatican were tempted by bribes to intoxicate the guards of the Aurelian gate ; 108 an attack 107 Anastasius (p. 40) has preserved this epithet of Sanguinarius, which might do honour to a tiger. 108 [By the P. Aurelia is meant not the old P. Aurelia (on the Via Aurelia, in the Transtiberine region) which Procopius knew as the P. Scti Pancratii, but a gate Virgo]