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 John was in chief command on the side of the Romans, Indulfus, a renegade officer of Belisarius, on that of the Goths. The fight was begun with great ardour on both sides, and conducted as nearly as possible in the form of a battle on land. A cloud of arrows was interchanged by the hostile crews, and then the ships were impelled against each other in order to facilitate the use of swords and spears. The Byzantine fleet, however, was manned by sailors who were skilful in manœuvring their vessels, but the barbarians, not being a maritime nation, could not dispose of crews who were versed in nautical evolutions. On the one side the ships were navigated methodically and kept in just array, while on the other they were urged indiscriminately to the attack. Certain groups of the Gothic fleet were marshalled with an excessive interspace, and among these the Romans drove in, isolating the vessels, and easily sinking them by their combined action. In other positions the ships of the barbarians were packed together so closely that they hampered each other's progress and checked the use of the oars; and in such cases their efforts were perverted into a contest to regain their freedom of movement. Hence the battle resulted in thirty-six vessels being destroyed by the Byzantines, whilst the remaining eleven escaped to the shore, where they were burnt to save them from the enemy. The preservation of Ancona for the Empire was the immediate result of this victory.

After the death of Germanus the Emperor decided to appoint Narses to the command of the war in Italy, although the eunuch was now a very old man, and, according to