Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/516

 452 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliii waters of the Vulturnus, or by the hands of the enraged peasants; but it may seem incredible that a victory, 87 which no more than five of the Alamanni survived, could be purchased with the loss of fourscore Komans. Seven thousand Goths, the relics of the war, defended the fortress of Campsa till the ensuing spring; and every messenger of Narses announced the reduction of the Italian cities, whose names were corrupted by the ignorance or vanity of the Greeks. 88 After the battle of Casilinum, Narses entered the capital ; the arms and treasures of the Goths, the Franks, and the Alamanni, were displayed ; his soldiers, with garlands in their hands, chanted the praises of the conqueror; and Rome, for the last time, beheld the semblance of a triumph. settlement After a reign of sixty years, the throne of the Gothic kings a.d. 554-568 was filled by the Exarchs of Ravenna, the representatives in peace and war of the emperor of the Romans. Their juris- diction was soon reduced to the limits of a narrow province ; but Narses himself, the first and most powerful of the Exarchs, 89 administered above fifteen years the entire kingdom of Italy. Like Belisarius, he had deserved the honours of envy, calumny, and disgrace ; but the favourite eunuch still enjoyed the con- fidence of Justinian, or the leader of a victorious army awed and repressed the ingratitude of a timid court. Yet it was not by weak and mischievous indulgence that Narses secured the attachment of his troops. Forgetful of the past and regardless of the future, they abused the present hour of prosperity and peace. The cities of Italy resounded with the noise of drinking and dancing; the spoils of victory were wasted in sensual pleasures ; and nothing (says Agathias) remained, unless to exchange their shields and helmets for the soft lute and the capacious hogshead. 90 In a manly oration not unworthy of a 87 Agathias (1. ii. p. 47 [c. 10]) has produced a Greek epigram of six lines on this victory of Narses, which is favourably compared to the battles of Marathon and Platsea. The ohief difference is indeed in their consequences — so trivial in the former instance — so permanent and glorious in the latter. 88 The Beroia and Brincas of Theophanes or his transcriber (p. 201) must be read or understood Verona and Brixia. [This notice of Theophanes is taken from Malalas, p. 492, ed. Bonn. The news reached Constantinople in November, a.d. 562.] 89 [The title of Narses was merely Patricius. Smaragdus was (so far as our evidenoe shows) the first governor who bore the name exaroh. See below, Appendix 20.] 90 'EfineTo yap olfiai, auroh virb afieXreptas ras aairtSas rvx^v Ka to Kpdur] afupopeooi oXvov *) Kai PapPim ano$<l<r8at (Agathias, 1. ii. p. 48 [c. 11]). In the first soene of