onstantinus refused to do so; nay, he would more gladly
throw them into the waters of the Tiber than give them to Presidius. And
Belisarius, being by now mastered by anger, enquired whether
Constantinus did not think that he was subject to his orders. And he
agreed to obey him in all other things, for this was the emperor's will;
this command, however, which at the present time he was laying upon him,
he would never obey. Belisarius then commanded his guards to enter,
whereupon Constantinus said: "In order, plainly, to have them kill me."
"By no means," said Belisarius, "but to have them compel your bodyguard
Maxentiolus, who forcibly carried away the daggers for you, to restore
to the man what he took from him by violence." But Constantinus,
thinking that he was to die that very instant, wished to do some great
deed before he should suffer anything himself. He accordingly drew the
dagger which hung by his thigh and suddenly thrust it at the belly of
Belisarius. And he in consternation stepped back, and by throwing his
arms around Bessas, who was standing near, succeeded in escaping the
blow. Then Constantinus, still boiling with anger, made after him; but
Ildiger and Valerian, seeing what was being done, laid hold of his
hands, one of the right and the other of the left, and dragged him back.
And at this point the guards entered whom Belisarius had summoned a
moment before, snatched the dagger of Constantinus from his hand with
great violence, and seized him amid a great uproar. At the moment they
did him no harm, out of respect, I suppose, to the officers present, but
led him away to another room at the command of Belisarius, and at a
somewhat later time put him to death. This was the only unholy deed done
by Belisarius, and it was in no way worthy of the character of the man;
for he always shewed great gentleness in his treatment of all others.
But it had to be, as I have said, that evil should befall Constantinus.

FOOTNOTE:

[164] Cf. Book V. xvi. 1 ff.

IX

And the Goths not long after this wished to strike a blow at the
fortifications of Rome. And first they sent some men by night into one
of the aqueducts, from which they themselves had taken out the water at
the beginning of this war.[165] And with lamps and torches in their
hands they explored the entrance into the city by this way. Now it
happened that not far from the small Pincian Gate an arch of this
aqueduct[166] had a sort of crevice in it, a