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 with disastrous results, but the main army continued its march unopposed, crossed the Po, and pitched their camp at Ceneta, in Venetia. Here they bewailed the loss of much of their booty on the long route, and gave themselves up to a life of indolence and relaxation in compensation for their protracted predatory exertions. Soon, however, a pestilence invaded the camp, emanating doubtless from an ill-ordered commissariat and defective sanitation, by which most of them perished, including Leuthar himself.

As for Butilin and the moiety of the host which remained with him, they also succumbed to disease in considerable numbers. The plenteous supply of grapes in Campania induced them to indulge too freely in a raw wine of their own concoction, and hence many of them fell victims to a fatal flux from the bowels. Since Butilin hoped to obtain a permanent seat in the country, he decided to fortify himself in a strong position, and await the development of events. At Casilinum, on the river Vulturnus, he found a suitable spot, and there he fixed his camp within an enclosure strongly fenced by wagons and stakes. Their front was defended by the river, and wooden towers which they built at the foot of an adjoining bridge. His army amounted to about thirty thousand men, and he was also expecting reinforcements which had been promised by his brother as soon as he had deposited his treasures in a place of safety.

Narses now thought himself strong enough to meet the diminished host of Franks in the field; and he therefore came down from the north and encamped on the other side of the river, almost in sight of the enemy. His whole force,