all here is broken down, those gates defenceless.--Your
plan represents them as of terrible strength. It is obsolete, Prefect
of Rome!"

"No, Belisarius, _yours_ is obsolete. These walls, moats, and gates are
reconstructed."

"Since when?"

"A year ago."

"By whom?"

"By me."

Belisarius looked at the plan in perplexity.

Antonina's eyes rested anxiously on the features of her husband.

"Prefect," he said at last, "if this be so, you understand warfare
well--the warfare of fortresses. But to wage war there must be an army,
and your empty walls will not arrest my progress."

"You will not find them empty. You must acknowledge that a force of
more than twenty thousand men is capable of holding Rome--namely, this
my Rome upon the plan--for days and years, even against Belisarius.
Good. Then, know that these fortifications are held by thirty-five
thousand armed men."

"Have the Goths returned?" asked Belisarius.

Procopius drew nearer, astonished.

"No; these thirty-five thousand men are under my command. For some
years I have recalled the long enervated Romans to arms, and have
unceasingly practised them in the use of their weapons. So at present I
have thirty cohorts ready for battle, each consisting of almost a
thousand men."

Belisarius struggled to repress his vexation, and shrugged his
shoulders contemptuously.

"I acknowledge," continued Cethegus, "that these troops could not
oppose the army of Belisarius in the open field. But I assure you that
they will fight famously behind these walls. Besides that, I have, out
of my private means, enrolled seven thousand picked Isaurian and
Abasgian mercenaries, and have brought them, gradually and unobserved,
in small divisions to Ostia, Rome, and the neighbourhood. You doubt it?
Here are the lists of the thirty cohorts, and the contract with the
Isaurians. You now see distinctly how matters stand. Either you
accept my conditions--and then these thirty-five thousands are yours:
yours is Rome, my Rome, this Rome on the plan, of which you say that it
is of fearful strength, and yours is Cethegus--or you refuse my
conditions.--Then your victorious march, whose success depends on the
rapidity of your movements, is arrested. You will be obliged to besiege
Rome for many months. The Goths will have plenty of time to re-collect
their forces. We ourselves will call them back. They will come to
relieve the city in threefold superiority, and nothing can save you
fro