kingdom fell in this long and fatal war, and, by its fall, consummated the ruin of Italy, and of the countries south of the Danube

The Ostrogoths had maintained the peace of Italy by closing the passes of the Alps against the restless and warlike barbarians who were established in the Alpine and Trans-Alpine parts of the empire; and they protected the Illyrian provinces by securing the Danube against the torrents of savage hordes, that were perpetually rushing from the north and east to the warm and fertile regions of the south. But, when the war broke out, the barrier of the Danube was neglected, so that the provinces were again exposed to desolating hordes of savages; and the passes of the Alps being left unguarded, Italy was devastated by Franks, Burgundians, and Alemanni; her cities, which had escaped in former wars, or had been since restored, were taken, razed or dismantled, and her population was consumed by famine, disease and the sword.

The ruin of cities or towns, being a distinctive characteristic of the trumpet, it must be proved that this ruin is likewise a characteristic of the Gothic war.

The history of Roman towns, particularly in Italy, is a most important part of the history of the Roman empire. The importance of the Italian cities has been noticed by M. Guizot as follows:

"First of all," says he, "we must represent to ourselves the nature of the Roman Empire, and how it was formed. Rome was, in its origin, only a municipality, a corporation. The government of Rome was merely the aggregate of the institutions, which were suited to a population confined within the walls of a city; these were municipal institutions, that is their distinctive character. This was not the case with

Rome only. If we turn our attention to Italy, we find around Rome nothing but towns. That which was then called a people, was nothing but a confederation of towns. The Latin people was a confederation of Latin towns. The Tuscans, the Samnites, the Sabines, the people of Græcia Magna, may be described in the same terms. There was at this time no country, that is to say, the country was wholly unlike that which at present exists; it was cultivated as was necessary, but it was uninhabited. The proprietors of lands were the inhabitants of towns. They went forth to superintend their country properties. When Rome extended

herself, what did she do? Follow history, and you will see that she conquered and founded towns. In the east the extension of Roman dominion does not carry altogether this aspect: the population was otherwise distributed than in the west, it was much less concentred in towns."1

If you trace the outlines of the Gothic war, which began A. D. 534, and ended A. D. 554, you will find it a history of towns that were taken and retaken-that during the first 18 years, not one pitched battle was fought in the open field-that every town in Italy was alternately occupied or taken either by the Goths or Romans-and that Totila, the Gothic king, in order to bring the war to a speedy termination, demolished the fortifications of the cities.

In the year 536, Belisarius surprised Naples. He spared the city and the lives of the inhabitants; but his troops, many of whom were Huns and distinguished for their cruelty, were allowed to plunder it. Having fortified Naples and Cumæ, he advanced to Rome, which the Goths evacuated on his approach.

Rome was besieged in 537, by the Goths, with an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, and successfully defended by Belisarius. The sufferings of its inhabitants were very great, but they were light in comparison with their subsequent miseries.

"Anxious to relieve himself from the useless and devouring multitude, Belisarius issued his peremptory orders for the instant departure of the women, the children, and the slaves. . His foresight was justified

by the increase of the public distress, as soon as the Goths had occupied two important positions in the neighbourhood of Rome. In the last months of the siege, the people were exposed to the miseries of scarcity, unwholesome food, and contagious disorders. The whole nation of the Ostrogoths assembled for the attack, and was almost entirely consumed in the siege of Rome. If any credit be due to an intelligent spectator, one third, at least, of their enormous host was destroyed in frequent and bloody combats, under the walls of the city."2

The towns of Italy were almost all recovered by the Romans.

Amongst those which they besieged, Urbino, Ravenna, Fæsulæ, Orvietto, Auximum are mentioned.

In the year 538, Milan, which had revolted to the Romans, was besieged and taken by the Goths and Burgundians. It was reduced by famine, and no capitulation could be obtained except for the safe retreat of the Roman garrison. "Three hundred thousand males," Gibbon says, "were reported to be slain; the female sex and the more precious spoils were resigned to the Burgundians; the houses, or, at least, the walls of Milan, were levelled with the ground. The Goths, in their last moment, were revenged by the destruction of a city second only to Rome in the size and opulence, in the splendour of its buildings, and the number of its inhabitants."

In the following year, the Franks, encouraged and invited by the Goths, invaded Italy.

"The fertile, though desert, provinces of Liguria and Emilia were abandoned," Gibbon writes, "to a licentious host of barbarians, whose rage was not mitigated by any thought of settlement or of conquest. Among the cities which they ruined, Genoa, not yet constructed of marble, is particularly enumerated; and the death of thousands, according to the regular practice of war, appears to have excited less horror than some idolatrous sacrifices of women and children, which were performed in the camp of the most Christian king. If it were not a melancholy truth that the first and most cruel sufferings may be the lot of the innocent and helpless, history might exult in the misery of the conquerors, who, in the midst of riches, were left destitute of bread or wine, reduced to drink the waters of the Po, and to feed on the flesh of distempered cattle, the dysentery swept away one third of their army."

In 539, Ravenna was taken by the Romans; the Gothic was then supposed to be ended; and Belisarius was

war

recalled.

"The Goths," says Gibbon, "had lost their king, (an inconsiderable loss), their capital, their treasures, their provinces from Sicily to the Alps, and a military force of two hundred thousand barbarians, magnificently equipped with horses and arms. Yet all was not lost, as long as Pavia was defended by one thousand Goths. From the thousand warriors of Pavia, a new

people, under the same appellation of Goths, was formed in the camp of Totila."

The war was renewed in 540.

'Twenty thousand Romans encountered the forces of Totila, near Faenza, and on the hills of Mugello of the Florentine territory. On the first attack they abandoned their ensigns, threw down their arms, and dispersed on all sides with an active speed, which abated the loss, whilst it aggravated the shame of defeat. The king of the Goths, who blushed for the baseness of his enemies, pursued with rapid steps the path of honor and victory. Totila passed the Po, traversed the Apennine, suspended the important conquest of Ravenna, Florence and Rome, and marched through the heart of Italy, to form the siege, or rather blockade, of Naples. After the reduction of Naples and Cumæ, the provinces of Lucania, Apulia, and Calabria, submitted to the king of the Goths. . The strong towns he successively attacked; and as soon as they had yielded, he demolished the fortifications; to save the people from the calamities of a future siege, and to decide the tedious quarrel of the two nations by an equal and honorable conflict in the field of battle." "After reducing by force or treaty the towns of inferior note in the midland provinces of Italy, Totila proceeded, not to assault, but to encompass and starve the ancient capital. Rome was afflicted by the avarice and guarded by the valour of Bessas, a veteran chief of Gothic extraction."

The sufferings and miseries of the inhabitants soon became intolerable.

"The medimnus, or fifth part of the quarter of wheat, was exchanged for seven2 pieces of gold: fifty pieces were given for an ox, a rare and accidental prize; the progress of famine enhanced this exorbitant value. . A tasteless and unwholesome mixture, in which the bran thrice exceeded the quantity of flour, appeased the hunger of the poor; they were gradually reduced to feed on dead horses, dogs, cats, and mice, and eagerly to snatch the grass, and even the nettles which grew among the ruins of the city. A crowd of spectres, pale and emaciated, their bodies oppressed with disease, and their minds with despair, surrounded the palace of the governor, urged with unavailing truth, that it was the duty of a master to maintain his slaves, and humbly requested that he would provide for their subsistence, permit their flight, or command their imme

1 Gibbon, c. xliii.

2 Each piece of gold was equal to eleven shillings sterling.

diate execution. Bessas replied with unfeeling tranquillity, that it was impossible to feed, unsafe to dismiss, and unlawful to kill the subjects of the emperor.. To the rich and pusillanimous, Bessas sold the permission of departure; but the greatest part of the fugitives expired on the public highways, or were intercepted by the flying parties of the barbarians."

Rome was taken in December, 546. The lives of the inhabitants were spared; but the Gothic troops "were rewarded by the freedom of pillage, after the most precious spoils had been reserved for the royal treasury."

"In this revolution the sons and daughters of Roman consuls tasted the misery which they had spurned or relieved, wandered in tattered garments through the streets of the city, and begged their bread, perhaps without success, before the gates of their hereditary mansions. Against the cities which had so long delayed the course of his victories, Totila appeared inexorable. And the world was astonished by the fatal decree that Rome should be changed into a pasture for cattle. The firm and temperate remonstrance of Belisarius suspended the execution. When Totila had signified to the ambassadors of Belisarius his intention of sparing the city, he stationed an army at the distance of one hundred and twenty furlongs to observe the motions of the Roman general. With the remainder of his forces he marched into Lucania and Apulia, and occupied, on the summit of Mount Gorganus, one of the camps of Hannibal. The senators were dragged in his train, and afterward confined in the fortresses of Campania: the citizens, with their wives and children, were dispersed in exile; and, during forty days, Rome was abandoned to desolate and dreary solitude."

Rome was again recovered by Belisarius in February, 547; retaken in 549 by the Goths, who reduced Rhegium, Tarentum, &c. Totila was defeated and slain in a great battle in 552, by Narses, the Roman general; and the war, A.D. 554, was brought to a conclusion by the total ruin of the Ostrogoths.

But before its termination seventy-five thousand Franks and Alemanni, excited, most probably, by the Goths, descended in the autumn of the year 553, from the Rhætian Alps into the plain of Milan.

'Gibbon, c. xliii.