Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/505

 chap, xliii] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 441 have denied to the hero: the Gothic war was rekindled from its ashes, and the preparations were not unworthy of the ancient majesty of the empire. The key of the public treasure was put into his hand, to collect magazines, to levy soldiers, to purchase arms and horses, to discharge the arrears of pay, and to tempt the fidelity of the fugitives and deserters. The troops of Ger- manus were still in arms ; they halted at Salona in the expec- tation of a new leader; and legions of subjects and allies were created by the well-known liberality of the eunuch Narses. The king of the Lombards M satisfied or surpassed the obligations of a treaty, by lending two thousand two hundred 57 of his bravest warriors, who were followed by three thousand of their martial attendants. Three thousand Heruli fought on horse- back under Philemuth, their native chief; and the noble Aratus, who adopted the manners and discipline of Eome, conducted a band of veterans of the same nation. Dagistheus was released from prison to command the Huns ; and Kobad, the grandson and nephew of the Great King, was conspicuous by the regal tiara at the head of his faithful Persians, who had devoted themselves to the fortunes of their prince. 58 Absolute in the exercise of his authority, more absolute in the affection of his troops, Narses led a numerous and gallant army from Philip- popolis to Salona, from whence he coasted the eastern side of the Hadriatic as far as the confines of Italy. His progress was checked. The East could not supply vessels capable of trans- porting such multitudes of men and horses. The Franks, who in the general confusion had usurped the greater part of the Venetian province, refused a free passage to the friends of the Lombards. The station of Verona was occupied by Teias, with the flower of the Gothic forces ; and that skilful commander had overspread the adjacent country with the fall of woods and the inundation of waters. 59 In this perplexity, an officer of 56 Paul Warnefrid, the Lombard, records with complacency the succour, service, and honourable dismission of his countrymen — reipublicaB Romanse [Rom. rei p.] adversus asmulos adjutores fuerant [fuerunt] (1. ii. o. 1, p. 774, edit. Grot.). I am surprised that Alboin, their martial king, did not lead his subjects in person. [Audoin, father of Alboin, was king at this time ; Procop. B. G. iv. 26.] 57 [Read, two thousand five hundred.] 58 He was, if not an impostor, the son of the blind Zames, saved by compas- sion, and educated in the Byzantine court by the various motives of polioy, pride, and generosity (Procop. Persic. 1. i. c. 23). 69 In the time of Augustus, and in the middle ages, the whole waste from Aquileia to Ravenna was covered with woods, lakes, and morasses. Man has