marvelled greatly, but in private his friends asked him on what he had
based his judgment on that day when he had escaped from the enemy after
being so completely defeated,[136] and why he had been confident that he
would overcome them decisively in the war. And he said that in engaging
with them at the first with only a few men he had noticed just what the
difference was between the two armies, so that if he should fight his
battles with them with a force which was in strength proportionate to
theirs,[137] the multitudes of the enemy could inflict no injury upon
the Romans by reason of the smallness of their numbers. And the
difference was this, that practically all the Romans and their allies,
the Huns, are good mounted bowmen, but not a man among the Goths has had
practice in this branch, for their horsemen are accustomed to use only
spears and swords, while their bowmen enter battle on foot and under
cover of the heavy-armed men. So the horsemen, unless the engagement is
at close quarters, have no means of defending themselves against
opponents who use the bow, and therefore can easily be reached by the
arrows and destroyed; and as for the foot-soldiers, they can never be
strong enough to make sallies against men on horseback. It was for these
reasons, Belisarius declared, that the barbarians had been defeated by
the Romans in these last engagements. And the Goths, remembering the
unexpected outcome of their own experiences, desisted thereafter from
assaulting the fortifications of Rome in small numbers and also from
pursuing the enemy when harassed by them, except only so far as to drive
them back from their own camps.

FOOTNOTES:

[134] _i.e._ Slavonians, described in Book VI. xxvi. and Book VII. xiv.
ff.

[135] A Slavic people, described in Book VII. xiv.

[136] Referring to the battle described in chap. xviii.

[137] _i.e._ smaller, but equal in strength.

XXVIII

But later on the Romans, elated by the good fortune they had already
enjoyed, were with one accord eager to do battle with the whole Gothic
army and thought that they should make war in the open field.
Belisarius, however, considering that the difference in size of the two
armies was still very great, continued to be reluctant to risk a
decisive battle with his whole army; and so he busied himself still more
with his sallies and kept planning them against the enemy. But when at
last he yielded his point because of the abuse heaped upo