"So you see," continued Cethegus, "that my death will not open to you the gates of Rome, but shut them upon you for ever. You must besiege the city, or agree with me."
Belisarius cast a look of anger, not unmixed with admiration, at the bold man who put conditions to him in the midst of his thousands.
Then he sheathed his sword, threw himself impatiently upon his stool, and asked:
"What are your conditions for the surrender?"
"Only two. First, you will give me the command of a small part of your army. I must be no stranger to your Byzantines."
"Granted. You will have under your command two thousand Illyrian footmen and one thousand Saracen and Moorish horsemen. Is that sufficient?"
"Perfectly. Secondly, my independence rests entirely upon my dominion of Rome. This must not cease during your presence. Therefore, the whole right shore of the Tiber, with the Mausoleum of Hadrian; and on the left the Capitol, including the walls on the south as far as the Gate of St. Peter, must remain, until the end of the war, in the hands of my Romans and Isaurians. The rest of the city on the left shore of the Tiber, from the Flavian Amphitheatre in the north to the Appian Gate in the south, will be occupied by you."
"Not badly arranged! From those points you can at any moment drive me out of the city or blockade the river. That will not do!"
"Then prepare for a fight with the Goths and Cethegus together before the walls of Rome!"
"Go! leave me alone with Procopius, Cethegus. Wait for my decision."
"Till to-morrow!" cried Cethegus. "At sunrise I return to Rome, either with your army or--alone."
A few days later Belisarius, with his army, entered the Eternal City through the Asinarian Gate.
Endless acclamation greeted the liberator; a rain of flowers covered him and his wife, who rode at his left hand on a beautiful palfrey.
All the houses were decorated with gay draperies and wreaths. Bat the object of these rejoicings did not appear happy; he gloomily bent his head, and cast dark looks at the walls and the Capitol, from which floated, not the dragon flags of Byzantium, but the banners and ensigns of the municipal legions, formed after the model of the Roman eagles and standards.
At the Asinarian Gate young Lucius Licinius had sent back the vanguard of the imperial army, and the heavy portcullis did not rise until, at the side of Belisarius on his bay horse, appeared Cethegus the Prefect, mounted on his splendid charger.
