Belisarius: The Last Roman General (45 page)

In the meantime, Belisarius moved to Ravenna and attempted to persuade the Byzantines and Goths in the region to accept service with him. The appeal failed: not a single man was willing to reenlist in the army under Belisarius. There was a single major reason for their refusal to reenlist. Although they may have retained their loyalty to and respect for Belisarius, they knew that he would at some time be sent elsewhere again and they would be left with the same generals in Italy that they had previously abandoned. Alongside a reversion to the poor policies of lesser generals, there also remained the possibility of punishment for their desertion by generals other than Belisarius.

Unwilling to remain inactive, although he did not have enough troops to mount significant expeditions, Belisarius sent his bodyguard Thurimuth and some
bucellarii,
along with Vitalius and some Illyrians, into Aemilia. Camping near to Bononia (Bologne), they exerted pressure upon the surrounding area, inducing some fortresses to surrender. Before they could secure their gains, one night the Illyrians decided to return home, claiming that they were owed back-pay. In reality, it is more likely that they were worried about a Hunnic invasion that was currently devastating their homeland.

Totila learned of their departure and sent an army to attack Vitalius. Vitalius and Thurimuth were informed of the Goths’ approach and set up a series of devastating ambushes. The Goths were either destroyed or routed and, once the outcome was certain, Thurimuth returned to Ravenna to report to Belisarius. Although the loss of the Illyrians was a serious blow, overall the venture had been a success, so Belisarius now sent Thurimuth, Ricilas, and Sabinianus with 1,000 troops to help the garrison of Auximus, which was under the command of Magnus. The town was still under siege, but the reinforcements managed to enter the town by night completely unobserved.

Once inside, it was decided to send out some scouts to discover the strength and position of the besiegers before mounting a series of sorties. Unfortunately, Ricilas became drunk and personally went out on reconnaissance. He was killed, and although an attack by Thurimuth’s men routed the Goths and retrieved the body, it was decided in a conference that there were too few men available to defeat the enemy, but too many to act as a garrison; the extra men would simply use up the supplies faster and so hasten the capitulation of the town. Thurimuth and Sabinianus decided to leave the town by night, but a deserter informed Totila of the plan. He put in place an ambush of 2,000 men, which killed 200 Byzantines and captured the pack animals, servants, weapons and clothes of the troops. The remainder of the Byzantine force, including Thurimuth and Sabinianus, fled to Ariminum.

Still desiring to retain some of the initiative, Belisarius decided to restore one of two fortresses that had previously been dismantled by Witigis. Pisaurus (Pesaro) and Fanus (Fano) had both had their houses destroyed and the walls reduced to half their original height. As Pisaurus was in a region which was good for the pasturing of horses, Belisarius had the entrances measured and gates made in secret. Once complete, he ordered Thurimuth and Sabinianus with a force of men to retake the fortress and rebuild it. Totila heard of the attempt and led an army to assault the fortress. The attack failed and Totila withdrew to his camp near Auximus.

As a final move, Belisarius sent two of his personal guards to Rome with instructions for Bessas to remain within the walls and not attempt any sallies or forays outside. With the refortification of Pisaurus, Belisarius had used all of his available men; he could not do anything now other than wait. Totila had the initiative.

Totila became aware that all Byzantine movements had ceased, so, although winter had arrived, he decided to test the strength of the strongest towns, secure in the knowledge that they would receive no outside help. The first two towns he laid siege to were Firmum (Fermo) and Asculum (Ascoli) in Picenum.

Belisarius did not have spare forces with which to send help to the two towns. In desperation, he sent John the nephew of Vitalianus to Constantinople with instructions to act as swiftly as possible. John carried a message to Justinian begging for a large army and also for money to cover the arrears in pay for the troops, as many were now unwilling to fight. He further requested a supply of fresh horses and other equipment, as much had been lost in the various defeats that had been inflicted on the Byzantines by the Goths. Finally, he requested the return of his
comitatus
plus the recruitment of a large force of Huns and other mercenaries. He was aware that the Goths had yet to discover a counter to the use of massed horse archers, and wanted to take advantage of their inabilities.

John did not fulfil his task. Although when in Constantinople he married the daughter of Germanus, the emperor’s nephew, he failed to convince Justinian of the need for speed in dispatching the reinforcements to Belisarius. Despite Procopius’ castigation of his failure, it is not surprising. As we saw earlier, the Huns had only recently invaded Illyricum, the war was continuing against Persia, and there was a major rebellion in Africa. As a further –and major – factor, there had recently been a recurrence of the plague in Constantinople. The empire’s resources were stretched to the limit.

These arguments would have done nothing to help the citizens of Firmum and Asculum, since both cities surrendered. Totila moved on and now laid siege to Spoletium and Asise. Neither of these cities were to fare any better. Spoletium was held by Herodian, who made an agreement with the Goths that if no help came within thirty days he would surrender the city. Procopius states that Herodian may have surrendered very easily, since he was worried about facing prosecution for his earlier failure to act against the Goths. Given the treatment of Belisarius after his actions in the east, such a worry is understandable. Naturally, the overstretched Byzantines could not help the city and Herodian surrendered as agreed. Asise was held by Sisifridus, himself a Goth. When he was killed in a sally against the besiegers the heart went out of the city’s defenders. They immediately surrendered to the Goths.

In contrast to these two cities, following their surrender a message was sent to Cyprian in Perusia, demanding that he surrender the city and offering a large sum of money as a reward. When Cyprian refused, Totila bribed one of his bodyguards, Ulifus, to kill Cyprian. Yet, when Ulifus succeeded both in killing Cyprian and in escaping, the troops and citizens still held firm and Totila retired from the city. Lifting the siege, Totila marched on Rome.

The Second Siege of Rome

Like his predecessor Witigis, Totila fortified a number of camps around the city with which to control movement both to and from it. When a number of Goths approached the city walls, Artasires and Barbation sallied against them – against Bessas’ wishes – and routed them. However, they pursued the Goths into an ambush from which Artasires and Barbation escaped with only a few men, the rest being killed. Following this defeat, no more sorties would be allowed by Bessas. With Totila cutting the land routes and the navy stationed in Naples cutting the sea routes, severe famine quickly set in at Rome.

With Rome confined under siege, Totila sent a contingent of troops to Placentia, the only city in Aemilia in Byzantine hands, to either take the city by storm or to starve it into submission. Upon its arrival, the army’s leaders offered terms to the Byzantine defenders, but these were refused and so the Goths began a siege. Again, due to the lack of supplies in much of Italy, the city was quickly reduced to starvation rations since they were already low on supplies.

Belisarius realised that he did not have the troops needed to effect the relief of Rome. Leaving Justinus to command the garrison in Ravenna, Belisarius, accompanied by ‘a few men’ (Proc,
Wars,
VH.xiii.19), travelled across the Adriatic and through Dalmatia to Epidamnus (Durazzo), from where he sent a message to Justinian requesting that reinforcements be sent to him. By this time Justinian had troops to spare for Italy, so sent a force of Byzantines and barbarians, under the command of John nephew of Vitalianus and Isaac the Armenian, brother of Aratus and Narses, to Epidamnus.

To help alleviate his manpower problems, Justinian sent Narses the Eunuch to the Heruls in order to persuade them to send an army to Italy to help Belisarius. The Heruls agreed and a large force set out led by Philemuth, amongst others. The intention was to winter in Thrace before joining Belisarius in spring. The move was to prove extremely fortunate. Accompanied by John the Glutton, the Heruls moved towards Thrace and, by chance, encountered an army of Sclaveni which had been plundering Byzantine territory. The Heruls defeated the Sclaveni and released all of their captives, who were allowed to return home.

In another attempt to wrest the initiative from the Goths, Belisarius now sent Valentinus and Phocas, his bodyguard, to join Innocentius in Portus with orders to harry the Gothic camps. Upon their arrival, they sent a message to Bessas informing him that they would be launching an attack on the main Gothic camp and requesting that he make a sortie and join the attack.

With 500 men, Valentinus and Phocas rode to the Gothic camp and began to fire arrows into it. They killed a few men, and the uproar the attack caused was heard by the people in Rome. However, Bessas made no attempt to leave the city and the Byzantines withdrew to Portus.

Valentinus and Phocas now sent a second message to Bessas, informing him that they were going to repeat the attack and again requesting that he send forces out of the city to join them. The attack never took place. A deserter informed Totila of the Byzantine plans and he ambushed Valentinus and Phocas as they were en route to the Gothic camp. Valentinus, Phocas and the majority of their men were killed in the ambush.

At this time Pope Vigilius (537–555) was in Sicily. Determined to help the Byzantine citizens, he loaded ships with grain and sent them to Portus. Unfortunately, the Goths controlled the actual harbour. The ships were taken by surprise and all of their provisions taken by the Goths. Shortly afterwards, Vigilius was summoned to Constantinople by Justinian to take part in the ‘Three Chapters’ controversy.

Totila in the ascendant

As winter began, the Byzantines in Placentia began to suffer from the worst effects of famine – so much so that some of them turned to cannibalism in order to survive. It was not enough. The garrison finally surrendered and the last city in Aemilia fell to Totila.

In the city of Rome the situation was becoming desperate. Pelagius the Deacon (Pope Vigilius was in Constantinople) was sent to Totila to negotiate a set period of truce, after which the city would surrender if no help came. Confident in his victory, Totila refused the offer.

The citizens asked Bessas for food, knowing that he had a large store set by for the troops. Bessas refused, and the troops made money selling their extra food to the citizens at hugely-inflated prices. Things now became so desperate that rich Romans began to run out of money and were reduced to bartering with the troops to exchange their possessions for food. When the troops’ food also began to run out, many citizens left the city, either bribing the guards to let them out of the gates or escaping over the walls. The majority died in the attempt.

Belisarius reacts

At the beginning of the new campaign season, Belisarius – who had remained in Epidamnus over winter – was joined by John the nephew of Vitalianus and Isaac the Armenian. John advised that they should sail across the Adriatic before marching across land to Rome. Belisarius disagreed with the idea, instead sending John to southern Italy to secure the region of Calabria before marching on Rome. Belisarius and the rest of the army would sail directly to Rome.

John set sail first, but met a gale and was forced to take refuge in the harbour at Dryus. A force of Goths had been sent to lay siege to the city, but when they saw the fleet arrive they raised the siege and fled north to Brundisium. Assuming that the Byzantines were sailing further south, they sent messengers to Totila to advise him of their assumptions. Totila set his army on alert and ordered his commanders in Calabria to maintain control of the passes across the Apennines. Shortly afterwards, Belisarius set sail, intent on sailing directly to Portus.

The Goths in Calabria managed to overcome their initial fright and slowly began to relax, so they were completely oblivious when John ferried his troops across to that region. Recognising that Rome was likely to be the target for Belisarius’ campaign, Totila remained on his guard and took measures to prevent any help arriving in the city. About 90
stades
south of the city, the River Tiber became narrow. At this point Totila placed long timbers across the river and constructed a tower on either side to obstruct passage up the river. Leaving garrisons in the towers, Totila withdrew to his camp. Not long afterwards, Belisarius landed at Portus.

John the nephew of Vitalianus

After his landing in Calabria, John captured two Goths. He executed one of the Goths, and, unsurprisingly, the second Goth cooperated. He showed the Byzantines where the Goths at Brundisium pastured their horses. The Byzantine infantry immediately mounted the horses and the whole force attacked the Gothic camp. The majority of the Goths were killed, the remainder fled to Totila’s camp near Rome. Having secured the area, John acted with restraint in an attempt to secure the locals’ loyalty.

With his reputation growing, John advanced to Canusium, which he took. Tullianus, the leader of the Brutii and Lucani, agreed to hand over Bruttium and Lucanium if, this time, the Byzantines behaved in a proper manner. John agreed to the terms, a deal was struck and Tullianus accompanied the army on their travels.