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Belisarius, the
greatest general the Empire produced in generations,had breezed through North Africa. He had wiped out the
once-mighty Vandal Empire and restored control of the Mediterranean to the Romans. Then he landed in Sicily
and, with the aid of the native Romans, drove the Ostrogoths back to the mainland. Conquering mainland Italy
had been a tougher job, but Belisarius accomplished that, too. Or he almost did.He had the Gothic king and his
court besieged in Ravenna, their almost impregnable capital. Then the Persians attacked the eastern frontier.
Justinian wanted to end the long Italian war so he could deal with the Persians. He offeredto let the Goths keep
Italy north of the Po. They agreed, but Belisarius refused tolift the siege. He wanted unconditional surrender. In
despair, the Goths offered to recognize Belisarius as Emperor of the West if he would lift the siege. He agreed.
But after he entered Ravenna, Belisarius took the Gothic Icing, Witigis, and his officials prisoner and sent them
to Constantinople. Justinian was outraged. First, Belisarius had disobeyed orders. Second, he hadwon by
breaking his word. Justinian was also troubled by the thought that someday Belisarius might be tempted by an
offer like the one the Goths had made. But right now, he needed him on the Persian front. While the great
general was absent, the Goths elected a new king, a vigorous young man named Totila. Totila began
reconquering lost territory. When Belisarius successfully completed the latest round of fighting with Persia,
Justinian sent him back to Italy.
Totila, though, was a better general than Witigis, and Belisarius was unable to make headway. After much
fruitless fighting, he asked to be relieved of the Italian command. The Romans had a highly trained army, and
they had a number of competent, even dashing, generals. What they didn't have was many soldiers. Conquering
Italy had been many years' work for Belisarius, and everyone agreed that Belisarius was a military genius. With
the resources he had available to reconquer Italy, Justinian now needed another, greater, geniusa big order.
Even more important, he needed a genius he could trusta bigger order yet. He went over the list of officers,
and didn't find anyone who met either requirement. And even if he did find such a genius, he still didn't have
enough soldiers. To solve that problem, Justinian turned to a highly improbable trouble-shooter, his high
chamberlain, Narses. Narses was intelligent, adaptable, and utterly loyal. Further, as he was a eunuch, and well
into his 70s, he could have no thoughtsabout starting a new dynasty. Narses did know something about what an
army required. He had represented Justinian in Italy for a while, but he quarreled with Belisarius andwas
brought back to Constantinople. Back home, Narses had again proved his loyalty by foiling a plot by John of
Cappadocia, the praetorian prefect, to assassinate Justinian.
Narses
The chamberlain was old and frail. He spent almost his whole life in offices, dictating memos and supervising
archives. He was affable, generous, and highly civilized, which made him popular with lesser officials and the
public. But could he recruit an army? Narses had long been a student of military theory. And, as he proved in the
Nika Rebellion (see pg. 16) and in the attempted assassination, he was utterly fearless.But would the crude,
barbarian Germans, Slavs, and Huns the Romans recruited for their army follow such a man? Justinian thought
they would.To find out, he sent the eunuch chamberlain north to recruit soldiers from the Heruls, a German tribe
that had adopted what passed for civilization among the Huns.To the surprise of everybody but Narses, and
probably Justinian, the ancient bureaucrat got on famously with the barbarians. If the Emperor is sending such
an old man to form an army, the Heruls thought, he must be very wise in the ways of war.Narses soon got a
chance to prove his wisdom. A huge army of Slavs had massed on the Danube to invade the Balkans. From
horseback, Narses, the one-time armchair general, directed his Heruls so adroitly the Slavs were routed with
heavy losses. While Narses was recruiting and leading barbarians, Justinian appointed his cousin, Germanus,
supreme commander in Italy. Germanus took his own armed retainers and recruited an army of peasants, paying
them an enlistment bonus from his own pocket. Then he died. Once again, the emperor called on Narses. The
eunuch was now to return to Italy, this time as army commander.In addition to the Heruls, Narses recruited
Huns, Slavs, and Lombards; the lastwere a people almost as uncivilized as the Slavs. He picked up the army
Germanus had recruited, now under the command of the late general's son-in-law, Bloody John. He had Roman
regular regiments, a group of Persian deserters from the eastern front and the personal bodyguards of a number
of Roman magnates, including one called John the Glutton. (Every other Roman officer seems to have been
named John.) It seems likely that Narses had a larger army than Belisarius had taken to Italy. It's also likely that
it was not as much larger as the historian Procopius would have us believe. Procopius was the secretary of
Narses' rival, Belisarius. Certainly, there is no good reason to believe that Narses' troops outnumbered those of
the Goths.
A new war
In 551, at the age of 74, Narses set out for Italy. The Goths supposed that any Roman invasion would come by
sea, as it always had in the past. Narses marched overland. Totila was busy in southern Italy, but he sent one of
his most able officers, Teias, to stop the Romans. Teias knew Narses had a large army, but he also knew he
lacked
enough ships to carry it. He would not be able to march along the coast, the Goth believed, because of all the
bays, lakes, and wide rivers. (Teias had destroyed all the bridges.) So the Gothic commander concentrated at
Verona, in the middle of the Po valley. According to Procopius, "He cut off all possible passage there for the
enemy by making all the area everywhere around the river Po impassable and completely impenetrable by
artificial means, in places making thickets and ditches and ravines, in others deep mud and standing pools." The
Franks had occupied much of northern Italy, having received land from the Goths in return for their neutrality,
and having seized more land while their "allies" were busy fighting the Romans. They refused the Romans
peaceful passage because their army included Lombards, the blood enemies of the Franks. Narses did not want
to add the formidable Franks to his enemies at this time. He decided to take the coastal route. Narses had his
troops build rafts, which the ships towed along beside the marching army. When faced with a body of water,
Narses turned the rafts into floating bridges. In the past, Belisarius and the other Roman commanders had
concentrated on taking cities, turning the war into a snail-paced succession of sieges. The only result had been a
long, drawn-out devastation of Italy. Narses aimed at the Gothic army. After resting in Ravenna for nine days,
the Romans marched out. At Ariminum, the Gothic garrison sallied out to stop Narses' force, but their
commander was killed and the Goths fled back into the city. Narses threw a bridge across the river, but he didn't
stop to besiege Ariminum. Coming to another fortress, he left a few guards at the site and pushed on. Totila had
stationed his forces at the main pass across the Apennines, but Narses took a little-used trail and easily crossed
the range. Totila saw that the only way Narses could be stopped would be with a pitched battle. He collected all
his fighting men and advanced.