tter, pulled
him by his gold-brocaded mantle.

Indignant at this very irreverent interruption, Silverius turned his
face with a severe frown; but the Goth, unabashed, repeated the pull,
and said:

"Come, priest, thou must go up to the King!"

Silverius thought it would have been more becoming if the King had come
down to him, and Hildebad seemed to read something of this feeling on
his features, for he cried:

"It cannot be helped! Stoop, priest!"

And herewith he pressed his hand upon the shoulder of one of the
priests who carried the litter. The bearers now set the litter down;
Silverius left it with a sigh, and followed Hildebad up the steps.

When the priest reached Witichis, the latter took his hand, advanced
with him to the edge of the steps, and said:

"Roman citizens, your priest has been chosen for your Bishop; I ratify
the choice; he shall become Pope, as soon as he has sworn the oath of
allegiance, and has taken for me your oaths of fealty. Swear, priest!"

For one moment Silverius was confounded.

But immediately recovering himself, he turned with an unctuous smile to
Witichis.

"You command?" he asked.

"Swear," said Witichis, "that in our absence you will do all that you
can to keep this city of Rome faithful to the Goths, to whom you owe so
much, to further us in all things, and to hinder the progress of our
enemies. Swear fidelity to the Goths!"

"I swear," said Silverius, turning to the people. "And thus I, who have
power to bind and to loose, call upon you, Romans, surrounded as you
are by Gothic weapons, to swear in the same spirit in which I myself
have taken the oath."

The priests and some of the nobility appeared to have understood, and
lifted their hands to swear without delay.

Then the mass hesitated no longer, and the place echoed with the loud
shout: "We swear fidelity to the Goths!"

"It is well, Bishop of Rome," said the King, "we count upon your oath.
Farewell, Romans! We shall soon meet again."

And he descended the broad flight of steps. Teja and Hildebad followed
him.

"Now I am only curious--" said Earl Teja.

"Whether they will keep their oath?" interposed Hildebad.

"No; not at all. But how they will break it. Well, the priest will find
out the way."

With flying standards the Goths marched out of the Porta Flaminia,
leaving the city to its Pope and the Prefect. Meanwhile Belisarius
approached by forced marches upon the Via Latina.