Jack Ludlow: Triumph

Isaac was not of the stamp needed to take advantage of this minor success; his men lacked the discipline required and he the commanding presence to stop them resorting to the plunder of a camp full of the possessions of an army that had enjoyed several years of success, men unaware that what had driven the Goths back was a degree of panic. Those busy ransacking for spoils were in a serious minority and as soon as the Goths re-formed they took back their camp with ease and great slaughter, Isaac being taken prisoner, a fact relayed to Flavius without any detail as to how it had come about.

Fearful that Totila had taken Portus and fearing for the consequences for Rome and the whole campaign – there would be the need to pay ransom for Antonina too – Flavius immediately set out to confront them, hoping to come on them while they would be in a state of some disorder. This meant, partly also due to the fact that Bessas had not obeyed his orders, abandoning the attempt at resupply.

That it was a mistake only became apparent when he knew Portus was still in Byzantine hands, though that provided small compensation for what had been a highly unsuccessful manoeuvre on the Tiber. When he heard that Totila, in retribution for the death of the leader wounded in Isaac’s attack, had the Armenian beheaded, he could not summon up even a pinch of sympathy. He was even heard to say that if the Goth King wanted to remove the head of Bessas, then he would be happy to hand him over.

Rarely cast down for long by reverses, Flavius was now, and a health that had always been robust failed him too, rendering him unable to initiate further actions. All he knew was that if Rome had been at risk before, it was doubly so now.

If the behaviour of Bessas had been well short of that required up till now, the failure of the attempt to resupply Rome did nothing to improve it. From denying food to the citizens he extended that to his soldiers, who now found they were required to acquire their rations from rich senators who had bought them from their commanding general. Needless to say the prices Bessas charged his middlemen was high – he was having new coffers made to hold his burgeoning fortune – and so ever higher was that paid by the desperate.

Badly fed soldiers no longer bothered to carry out their responsibilities and it was a brave officer, himself forced to barter for his supplies, who even hinted at any punishment for a dereliction of duty. The mass of the citizens of Rome, becoming skeletal, cared nothing for who ruled the city only for who might feed them. Only the corpses that began to fill the streets were indifferent.

The Isaurians had ever been a bane to Flavius Belisarius: numerous and usually infantry, rarely cavalry, they were badly led and with leaders averse to doing any training to alter such deficiencies, only ever effective when he had taken a personal hand in how they were led. The story emerged, as so many did in this troubled campaign, long after the events themselves. Four junior Isaurian officers had lowered themselves from the walls and gone to Totila to offer him a way into the city by the Asinarian Gate, for which they were responsible.

The Goth King had seen the hand of wily Flavius in this – a trap that would cost lives, diminish his standing and dent the morale of his army – so he declined to accept. Undeterred, those same Isaurians had returned to him twice more to renew their offer until he finally accepted they might be telling the truth. Even then he took the precaution of sending two of his own trusted bodyguards to ensure the traitors were telling the truth. They reported back that the walls were barely manned.

In darkness and silence Totila deployed his army, but it fell to no more than a handful of his axe-bearing Goths to climb the ropes let down by the Isaurians and be the first to breach the defences. The axes were employed to smash the bars holding shut the great gate, and that opened, allowed Totila to lead his men into a city where there was no will to mount an internal defence.

Those who did not seek sanctuary in one of the dozens of churches fled out of every gate the city possessed that provided a chance of escape. Bessas was to the fore of that, leaving so hurriedly that his dozens of bulging coffers were left behind for Totila, who was to reward the Isaurian defectors not only with much of the gold but with offices rich in spoils to run the city of Rome.

Totila punished the wealthy and powerful who had traded with Bessas by giving his men a free hand to plunder their villas and warehouses, but he showed a better appreciation of his priorities by feeding the needy citizens. The Goths were afforded another advantage: Rome fell to Totila in December and he would thus winter within its walls and not in the camps surrounding the city, rapidly becoming fetid. His next act was to despatch a body of Roman divines to offer Justinian peace.

Bessas, at present nowhere to be seen, was not the only insubordinate inferior Flavius had to deal with. All his attempts to oblige John Vitalianus to march north and combine with him failed. John could claim that he faced his own threats – Totila had sent a token force south to contain him – but it was insufficient in number to justify the excuse.

Now holding the capital, Totila could release more men to take back control of the fertile south of the peninsula. That they failed brought on an unexpected response: he decided to raze the walls of Rome and render it indefensible. In addition he set out a plan to fire all the important buildings, including structures that dated from the time of Augustus Caesar, an act that would diminish Rome’s importance.

The desperate appeal from Flavius Belisarius to desist bore fruit; the sender pleaded for preservation of ancient glories and also pointed out that Totila, holding the city, would be fouling the value of his own possessions. Added to that Justinian would be unlikely to grant peace to such a despoiler. The Goth relented but with a good third of the defences torn down he felt he could leave Rome without even a token garrison for, even if the Byzantines retook the city, they would be unable to hold it.

Sending a strong force south to contest Apulia, Calabria and Lucania with John Vitalianus, and that included many senatorial hostages from Rome, he left a robust force camped at Tibur five leagues to the east of the city – a day’s forced march – this to deter the Byzantines holding Portus, while personally retiring on Ravenna.

Betrayal was not confined to the likes of Bessas; the loyalties of the Italian Peninsula had become so fractured that treachery had become a commonplace and Totila was as subject to that as Flavius. Spoletum and Perusia were brought back to Byzantium by treachery but it was really the capital city that mattered, both for its size and emotional appeal.

Sure Totila was gone, Flavius set forth at the head of a much diminished comitatus , men he had recruited on his being given the Italian command and now numbering no more than a thousand effectives, to reconnoitre what had been left behind. Betrayed by an informer they rode straight into an ambush by the Tibur Goths, who had marched from the east to confront him. The Byzantines were outnumbered and it was only the generalship of Flavius added to the discipline of his personal troops that saved what should have been a rout.

The Goths attacked expecting panic but as had happened before they found their enemies quick to form up for battle, with a speed that reversed the prospects of an easy victory. Flavius led his fighters into the melee with no care for his person, slashing to left and right at mounted opponents and ignoring the blows that got past his shield and were landed on his armour. As had also happened in previous engagements, he needed to be rescued by his bodyguards but not before he was the victim of several minor wounds.