or it was late in the day, about
sunset. Moreover, the Romans had no reason to suppose that the general
survived; for those who had come in flight from the rout which had taken
place earlier reported that Belisarius had died fighting bravely in the
front ranks. So the throng of the enemy, which had rushed up in strength
and possessed with great fury, were purposing to cross the moat
straightway and attack the fugitives there; and the Romans, finding
themselves massed along the wall, after they had come inside the moat,
and so close together that they touched one another, were being crowded
into a small space. Those inside the fortifications, however, since they
were without a general and altogether unprepared, and being in a panic
of fear for themselves and for the city, were quite unable to defend
their own men, although these were now in so perilous a situation.

Then a daring thought came to Belisarius, which unexpectedly saved the
day for the Romans. For urging on all his men he suddenly fell upon the
enemy. And they, even before this, had been in great disorder because
of the darkness and the fact that they were making a pursuit, and now
when, much to their surprise, they saw the fugitives attacking them,
they supposed that another army also had come to their assistance from
the city, and so were thrown into a great panic and all fled immediately
at top speed. But Belisarius by no means rushed out to pursue them, but
returned straightway to the wall. And at this the Romans took courage
and received him and all his men into the city. So narrowly did
Belisarius and the emperor's cause escape peril; and the battle which
had begun early in the morning did not end until night. And those who
distinguished themselves above all others by their valour in this battle
were, among the Romans, Belisarius, and among the Goths, Visandus
Vandalarius, who had fallen upon Belisarius at the first when the battle
took place about him, and did not desist until he had received thirteen
wounds on his body and fell. And since he was supposed to have died
immediately, he was not cared for by his companions, although they were
victorious, and he lay there with the dead. But on the third day, when
the barbarians had made camp hard by the circuit-wall of Rome and had
sent some men in order to bury their dead and to perform the customary
rites of burial, those who were searching out the bodies of the fallen
found Visandus Vandalarius with life