e Ravenna, Italy, and your whole army to a whim of your wife!
Then see if Justinian would ever forgive you! On Antonina's soul the
guilt! Hark! the trumpets sound! Arm yourself! There is no choice!"

And he hurried out.

Antonina looked after him in dismay.

"Procopius," she asked, "does the Emperor really know it already?"

"Even if he did not, too many are initiated into our secret. In all
cases he would learn afterwards that Ravenna and Italy were his,
and--that Belisarius strove for the Gothic and the imperial crown.
Nothing can justify Belisarius in the Emperor's eyes, except the fact
of gaining Ravenna, and delivering it to Justinian."

"Yes," said Belisarius, sighing, "he is right. I have no choice left."

"Then go!" said Antonina, intimidated. "But excuse me from accompanying
you. It is no triumph, but a laying of a trap."

The population of Ravenna, although in the dark as to the particular
conditions, were still certain that peace was concluded, and the long
and terrible suffering they had endured at an end. In their joy at this
deliverance, the citizens had cleared away the ruins caused by the
earthquake in many of the streets, and had festively decorated the
city.

Wreaths, flags, and carpets were hung out; the people crowded the
forums, the canals of the lagoons, and the baths and basilicas, curious
to see the hero, Belisarius, and the army which had so long threatened
their walls, and had, at last, overcome the barbarians.

Already some divisions of the Byzantine army marched proudly through
the gates, while the scattered and scanty Gothic patrols beheld, in
silence and indignation, the entrance of their hated enemies into the
residence of Theodoric.

The Gothic nobles assembled in a hall in the gaily-decorated palace,
near the apartment of the King.

The latter, as the hour for the entrance of Belisarius approached,
prepared to don his royal garments--with great contentment, for it was
the last time that he would ever wear the signs of a dignity which had
brought him nothing but pain and wretchedness.

"Go, Duke Guntharis," he said to the Woelfung, "Hildebad, my faithless
chamberlain, has left me; thou, therefore, must take his place. The
attendant will show thee the golden chest which contains the crown,
helm, and purple mantle, the sword and shield of Theodoric. To-day, for
the first and last time, I will array myself in them, in order to
deliver them to a hero who will wear them not unw