Jack Ludlow: Triumph

‘And Pastor?’

‘His heart gave out when he heard he might have to face you.’

‘He struck me as being a fool, perhaps he was not.’ Looking past Stephanus, Flavius now gazed on the line of Goths. ‘These men do not have to die, perhaps that would be better coming from you than me.’

‘What can I offer them, General?’

‘Life, no more. I have no desire to fight them twice, therefore they will, if they disarm, be put aboard a ship for Sicily.’

‘And slavery?’

‘Or they can serve as mercenaries on the eastern frontier of the empire. As I said, life – and if they decline, Stephanus, I bid you look to your own safety and get inside your Senate House, for if fighting breaks out it is never a respecter of persons, however honourable they may be.’

The exchange Stephanus undertook was out of earshot of Flavius or any of his comitatus , men whom he suspected were hoping the Goths would refuse to surrender. Their comrades were spilling blood and lining their purse; they too would want that they should have the chance to do likewise. Stephanus obviously had to use persuasion, nothing happening for what seemed an age, until finally, with a clatter of metal on stone, spears and swords were discarded, the Neapolitan notable retracing his steps as Flavius gave his commands.

‘Solomon, keep the cordon I have set up in place. A party to take the Goths as prisoners, the rest may relieve those who came here for safety of what valuables they carry, that to be shared out equally.’ He then addressed Stephanus again, now standing before him, his face ashen. ‘I require you to take me to the city treasury.’

That lay in a separate building, also once a pagan temple and still guarded by Neapolitan troops, who were quickly disarmed. There Flavius was greeted with the sight of large coffers, which once opened were full of gold and silver coin, so much that it was beyond human ability to carry them any distance. A sturdy cart was ordered up so they could be transported back to his encampment, escorted by Photius, to be given into the care of Procopius.

Such booty would help Solomon to feed the army on its march to Rome and there was more. As well as coin, the sheer quantity of gold and valuables was staggering, evidence of a trading city that had long accumulated wealth, and these too would be removed, the most precious shipped to Constantinople to adorn Justinian’s palace and to underline the success of his army.

The sack of Naples was diminishing as his men tired of their depredations or felt they had taken from the city as much as it would give up, so Flavius sent his own personal troops fanning out to clear the streets of the residue and get the victors out of the city and back to their camp, a messy task that took until well after noon, this while what remained of the council that had defied him was assembled.

That the remaining notables would plead with him Flavius knew. They would ask for the restoration of their treasury and that what had been stolen from the citizens should be returned – both, and they would suspect this, a waste of breath. Yet he also knew he must throw them some crumb of comfort, for an utterly destitute Naples would look for means of redress and he could only leave a small garrison to hold it.

‘I shall give an order that the women and children taken to be sold into slavery be returned to you but you must forfeit your wealth. Let the lesson be sent ahead that any city willing to resist Flavius Belisarius and his army will pay a high price for their arrogance.’

‘Excellence,’ Stephanus pleaded to a restraining hand.

‘The port will once more be open. Resume your trade, repair your losses and understand that from this day on you owe allegiance to the Emperor Justinian. I will leave behind me as well as soldiers the officials necessary to assess what dues you must pay to Constantinople, for the protection of the Eastern Empire will now extend to you.’

Flavius looked past Stephanus to the other members of the Council of Notables, or at least those who had survived. ‘And be grateful for your lives.’

There was a temptation to make an exception for Stephanus, who had been honest in his dealings, to restore to him the value of that which he had forfeited, his house having been stripped of its possessions before being set alight. There was a suspicion the man might refuse, which would be embarrassing, but there was another reason to demur.

Stephanus would now surely be the leading citizen of the city and it would fall to him, especially since his advice regarding submission had proved sound, to take a prominent part in the running of Naples and the rebuilding of its prosperity. To favour him with restitution would be to diminish him in the eyes of those he must lead.

The next task was harder: to persuade his own soldiers that it was a sound idea to surrender their prospective slaves and allow the women and children to go back to their destroyed homes. The march on Rome was paramount; there was simply no time to deal with the disposal of such captures, and anyway the army had its plunder, which they were free to keep.

Two days had to be set aside for both persuasion as well as for sore heads to recover, time for Procopius to appoint those of his clerks who would be left behind to help run Naples, both to tax it and to no doubt enrich themselves in the process, as well as for those women and children now released to filter back to the city.

The time came for the surveyors to go ahead and establish the next place they would camp for the night and soon after the army resumed their progress, followed by the heavily laden carts that carried the supplies Solomon had taken from the Neapolitan storerooms, as well as the now more numerous herd of mounts his domesticus had gathered in from the surrounding countryside.

There was an obvious and palpable increase in the number of camp followers too; not every captured woman had elected to return to Naples. With their menfolk murdered and their homes stripped and destroyed, something they would have witnessed, the means for them and their children to survive lay with the men who had done the despoiling.

Cumae was the only other fortified city south of Rome but the news of what had happened to their southern neighbour ensured that Flavius Belisarius and his army were welcomed with open arms, the small Goth garrison having fled well before their arrival. Flying columns were sent east to secure the cities in the provinces of Apulia, especially the ports on the Adriatic coast, thus shortening communications with both the Army of Illyria and Justinian.

Meeting no resistance the invaders soon had the whole of Southern Italy under their control, though the need to hold such a vast tract of territory and the towns therein seriously diminished the forces set to continue their march. News from the north seemed to confirm that success had brought serious repercussions: the Goth nobles had met and deposed Theodahad for his failure to act against Belisarius, then elected a new leader called Witigis. Theodahad fled to Ravenna where an envoy sent to bring him back avoided any complications by lopping off his head.

Flavius had to surmise he faced a new and more active opponent, now, he was informed, marching on Rome to reinforce possession of the old imperial capital. Yet Witigis was not free to do as he wished; he had to contend with the same difficulties faced by his now dead predecessor. On his northern borders he had the powerful Franks of Southern Gaul, allied to Justinian and in receipt of imperial gold.

Clovis, the Frankish king, was pressing a claim on what Goth possessions remained within what he saw as their territory, while there was still a strong Roman army on the border with Illyricum; if Witigis denuded the north of men, then that made it vulnerable to either one of those threats.