o trouble in
sailing, simply raising the sails of the boats; but where the stream
wound about and took a course athwart the wind, and the sails received
no impulse from it, the sailors had no slight toil in rowing and forcing
the boats against the current. As for the barbarians, they sat in their
camps and had no wish to hinder their enemy, either because they were
terrified at the danger, or because they thought that the Romans would
never by such means succeed in bringing in any provisions, and
considered it contrary to their own interest, when a matter of no
consequence was involved, to frustrate their hope of the armistice which
Belisarius had already promised. Moreover, the Goths who were in Portus,
though they could see their enemy constantly sailing by almost near
enough to touch, made no move against them, but sat there wondering in
amazement at the plan they had hit upon. And when the Romans had made
the voyage up the river many times in the same way, and had thus
conveyed all the cargoes into the city without interference, the sailors
took the ships and withdrew with all speed, for it was already about the
time of the winter solstice; and the rest of the army entered Rome,
except, indeed, that Paulus remained in Ostia with some of the
Isaurians.

And afterwards they gave hostages to one another to secure the keeping
of the armistice, the Romans giving Zeno, and the Goths Ulias, a man of
no mean station, with the understanding that during three months they
should make no attack upon one another, until the envoys should return
from Byzantium and report the will of the emperor. And even if the one
side or the other should initiate offences against their opponents, the
envoys were nevertheless to be returned to their own nation. So the
envoys of the barbarians went to Byzantium escorted by Romans, and
Ildiger, the son-in-law of Antonina, came to Rome from Libya with not a
few horsemen. And the Goths who were holding the stronghold at Portus
abandoned the place by the order of Vittigis because their supplies were
exhausted, and came to the camp in obedience to his summons. Whereupon
Paulus with his Isaurians came from Ostia and took possession of it and
held it. Now the chief reason why these barbarians were without
provisions was that the Romans commanded the sea and did not allow any
of the necessary supplies to be brought in to them. And it was for this
reason that they also abandoned at about the same time a se