History of the Wars, Books V and VI | Page 9

waging this war, which
is rendered yours as well as ours not only by the orthodox faith, which

rejects the opinion of the Arians, but also by the enmity we both feel
toward the Goths." Such was the emperor's letter; and making a gift of
money to them, he agreed to give more as soon as they should take an
active part. And they with all zeal promised to fight in alliance with
him.
Now Mundus and the army under his command entered Dalmatia, and
engaging with the Goths who encountered them there, defeated them in
the battle and took possession of Salones. As for Belisarius, he put in at
Sicily and took Catana. And making that place his base of operations,
he took over Syracuse and the other cities by surrender without any
trouble; except, indeed, that the Goths who were keeping guard in
Panormus,[22] having confidence in the fortifications of the place,
which was a strong one, were quite unwilling to yield to Belisarius and
ordered him to lead his army away from there with all speed. But
Belisarius, considering that it was impossible to capture the place from
the landward side, ordered the fleet to sail into the harbour, which
extended right up to the wall. For it was outside the circuit-wall and
entirely without defenders. Now when the ships had anchored there, it
was seen that the masts were higher than the parapet. Straightway,
therefore, he filled all the small boats of the ships with bowmen and
hoisted them to the tops of the masts. And when from these boats the
enemy were shot at from above, they fell into such an irresistible fear
that they immediately delivered Panormus to Belisarius by surrender.
As a result of this the emperor held all Sicily subject and tributary to
himself. And at that time it so happened that there fell to Belisarius a
piece of good fortune beyond the power of words to describe. For,
having received the dignity of the consulship because of his victory
over the Vandals, while he was still holding this honour, and after he
had won the whole of Sicily, on the last day of his consulship,[K] he
marched into Syracuse, loudly applauded by the army and by the
Sicilians and throwing golden coins to all. This coincidence, however,
was not intentionally arranged by him, but it was a happy chance which
befell the man, that after having recovered the whole of the island for
the Romans he marched into Syracuse on that particular day; and so it
was not in the senate house in Byzantium, as was customary, but there
that he laid down the office of the consuls and so became an ex-consul.

Thus, then, did good fortune attend Belisarius.
DATE: [K]Dec. 31, 535 A.D.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] Or Salona, near modern Spalato.
[20] Auxiliaries; see Book III. xi. 3, 4, and note.
[21] Corresponding roughly to modern Georgia, just south of the
Caucasus.
[22] Modern Palermo.

VI
And when Peter learned of the conquest of Sicily, he was still more
insistent in his efforts to frighten Theodatus and would not let him go.
But he, turning coward and reduced to speechlessness no less than if he
himself had become a captive with Gelimer,[23] entered into
negotiations with Peter without the knowledge of any others, and
between them they formed an agreement, providing that Theodatus
should retire from all Sicily in favour of the Emperor Justinian, and
should send him also a golden crown every year weighing three
hundred litrae,[24] and Gothic warriors to the number of three thousand
whenever he should wish; and that Theodatus himself should have no
authority to kill any priest or senator, or to confiscate his property for
the public treasury except by the decision of the emperor; and that if
Theodatus wished to advance any of his subjects to the patrician or
some other senatorial rank this honour should not be bestowed by him,
but he should ask the emperor to bestow it; and that the Roman
populace, in acclaiming their sovereign, should always shout the name
of the emperor first, and afterward that of Theodatus, both in the
theatres and in the hippodromes and wherever else it should be
necessary for such a thing to be done; furthermore, that no statue of
bronze nor of any other material should ever be set up to Theodatus

alone, but statues must always be made for both, and they must stand
thus: on the right that of the emperor, and on the other side that of
Theodatus. And after Theodatus had written in confirmation of this
agreement he dismissed the ambassador.
But, a little later, terror laid hold upon the man's soul and brought him
into fears which knew no bound and tortured his mind, filling him with
dread at