[599] Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 1 (whence the narrative proceeds as below). Cf. Anecd., 24, 26.
[600] Afterwards and now Pavia.
[601] Baduela on coins, but the Greeks always call him "Tõtilas," perhaps phonetically.
[602] He had delayed at CP. to celebrate his nuptials with the daughter of Germanus; Procopius, loc. cit., 12.
[603] Now Otranto, the nearest point to the opposite coast of Greece.
[604] He was really afraid to be in the vicinity of Antonina, says Procopius (Anecd., 5), as he believed that she had a mandate from Theodora to make away with him, the latter having an inveterate enmity against Germanus and his family.
[605] See p. 546.
[606] In a later part of his work, however, Procopius says (loc. cit., iv, 33) that Totila also burnt many of the buildings at this time. Marcellinus Com. (an. 547) corroborates, and says that for forty days there was neither man nor beast within the city.
[607] Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 35; Anecd., 5. He left Italy this time as in surreptitious flight, glad to abandon his task. In this year (548), Procopius tells us (De Bel. Goth., iii, 29), the great whale Porphyrio (see p. 368) was found stranded near the mouth of the Euxine. It had got into shallow water, too eager in its pursuit of dolphins. The measurements were 45 by 15 feet, but some doubted it to be the same animal as had been known in the Propontis for fifty years. Procopius does not, however, mention the "wonderful dog," who visited CP. in 530, and runs through all the Chroniclers from Jn. Malala to Zonaras. Rings and coins placed in a heap on the ground he restored to their owners, or fetched according to their value correctly. He also indicated to order among the bystanders pregnant women, brothel-keepers, bawds, adulterers, misers, and benevolent persons.
[608] Perhaps this is the origin of a statement by Paul Diac. (Hist. Miscel., xvii) that on capturing Rome T. kept his trumpets sounding all night to warn the citizens to take sanctuary from his turbulent soldiery. "He lived among the Romans," says that historian, "like a father with his sons." (The same passage occurs in Lib. Pontif., Vigilius.) "The teaching of St. Benedict," he adds, "had moulded his character to this clemency."
[609] Altogether, however, Totila had equipped a war fleet of three hundred first class ships (Procopius, loc. cit., 22); with these he made some successful descents on the opposite coast of the Adriatic.
[610] These Italian campaigns had evidently caused the Byzantines to develop their naval power, and caused a reversal of the state of things which prevailed at the beginning of the Vandal war. See p. 503.
[611] Just previously he had built a church and monastery in Cappadocia, to which he intended to retire for the rest of his days (John Ephes., Hist. (Smith), p. 75).
[612] Agathias, i, 16.
[613] See p. 415.
[614] This campaign of Narses occupies the latter part of the fourth book of the Gothic War of Procopius. More than the first half of that book is devoted to Persian affairs, and would properly be called the third book of the Persian War.
[615] It will be observed that Ravenna was never captured unless by stratagem. Both Theodoric (p. 545) and Belisarius (p. 581) entered by a pretended treaty with the occupants.
[616] "Taginae lies just below the central watershed of the Apennines, near the modern Gubbio" (Oman, op. cit., p. 32).
[617] Founding on Theophanes, an. 6044, and Cedrenus, i, p. 659, this battle must have been fought in July, or at latest the beginning of August.
[618] Procopius (loc. cit., iv. 32) gives both stories of his death, the first vaguely, the second, which he appears to believe, circumstantially.
[619] Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 486; Theophanes, loc. cit.
[620] Procopius (De Bel. Goth., iv. 33) notes a curious parallel between the careers of Dagisthaeus and Bessas. The latter, as we have seen, disgraced himself at Rome, and subsequently distinguished himself by the capture of Petra (p. 601). But just before Dagisthaeus had been deported under arrest from Lazica, where he had held the command, on the charge of accepting bribes from the Persians. He now retrieved his disgrace by the capture of Rome.
[621] This is the last scene in the historical work of Procopius. Agathias now takes up the narrative and begins with an epitome of his predecessor. In his first and second books he treats of the further warfare of Narses.
[622] Modern Capua, the ancient town, retaining its name, having been moved to this site.
[623] Apparently a town near the Aufidus, on the northern border of Lucania.
[624] The Pragmatic Sanction is found at the end of all editions of the Corpus Juris Civilis. In the affix Narses is named as the Praepositus of the Sacred Cubicle, that is Grand Chamberlain, or Chief Eunuch, the title under which he became military governor of Italy. He was provided with a Praetorian Praefect. There is a fragment of a later Act in which J. legalises a composition pro rata between debtors and creditors, having regard to the losses caused by the Frankish invasion.