r force and generalship of
Belisarius, had not a fortunate circumstance come to his assistance.
This was the premature return of the Grecian fleet to Byzantium. When,
namely, Belisarius, after having rested his troops and re-ordered his
army in Regium, had given the command for a general advance of the land
and sea forces to Neapolis, his navarchus Konon had showed him an order
from the Emperor, till then kept secret, according to which the fleet
was to sail, immediately after landing the troops, to Nicopolis on the
Grecian coast, under the pretext of fetching reinforcements, but in
reality to fetch Prince Germanus, the nephew of Justinian, with his
imperial lancers, to Italy, where he was to observe, control, and, in
case of need, check the victorious steps of Belisarius, and, as
commander-in-chief, to protect the interests of the suspicious Emperor.

With deep vexation Belisarius saw his fleet set sail just at the moment
when he needed it most, and he only succeeded, after much urgency, in
gaining the promise of the navarchus to send him four war-triremes,
which were still cruising off Sicily. So Belisarius, when he prepared
to besiege Neapolis, was, indeed, able to enclose the city to the
north-east, east, and north-west with his land forces--the western road
to Rome, defended by the castellum Tiberii, was successfully kept by
Earl Uliaris--but he was not able to blockade the harbour nor prevent
free communication by sea.

At first he comforted himself with the fact that the besieged likewise
had no fleet, and could therefore derive little benefit from this
freedom of movement; but now he was, for the first time, baffled by the
talent and temerity of an adversary whom he afterwards learned to fear.

This was Totila, who had scarcely reached Neapolis after the fight at
the pass, had scarcely aided Julius in showing the last honours to the
remains of Valerius, and in drying Valeria's first tears, than he
began, with restless activity, to create a fleet out of nothing. He was
commodore of the squadron at Neapolis, but King Theodahad, as we know,
had, in spite of his remonstrances, ordered the whole fleet out of the
way of Belisarius to Pisa, where it was appointed to guard the mouth of
the Arnus. So, from the very beginning, Totila had nothing under his
command but three small guard-ships, two of which he had later lost off
Sicily; and he had returned to Neapolis despairing of every possibility
of defending the city t