Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/214

 can be accepted as delineating society in the capital as it was when entered by the Byzantines.

After the departure of Vitigis, Belisarius sent his lieutenants Bessas and Constantine into Tuscany to test the attitude of the inhabitants, and they soon had the good fortune to receive several submissions, among them the towns of Varnia, Perusia, and Spoleto. During this period he himself was busy in repairing the walls and replenishing the granaries of Rome. In the meantime the Gothic king had established himself at the court of Ravenna, where he took active measures to consolidate the affairs of his nation. The Franks, who had already given pledges to Justinian, were won over to a secret alliance by the cession of Gallia; and he repaired his defect of birth by coercing Matasuentha, a maiden in her teens, the daughter of the late queen, into a hasty marriage with him. He now infused all his energies into the war, and, having despatched a fleet with reinforcements to Dalmatia, marched on Rome at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand men. As the forces under Belisarius were reported not to exceed a tithe of that number, he advanced with great confidence, his only fear being that before his arrival the Byzantine general should have saved himself by flight. While he was on his way, Bessas and Constantine, at the call of their chief, returned to Rome with their brigades, having left a small garrison in each of the captured towns.

The first collision with the enemy was brought about by Belisarius himself, who went out to reconnoitre their approach accompanied by a thousand horse. Having blocked