25.

XI

Now Vittigis with the remainder of his army marched toward Ravenna; and
he strengthened the fortified places with a great number of guards,
leaving in Clusium,[173] the city of Tuscany, one thousand men and
Gibimer as commander, and in Urviventus[174] an equal number, over whom
he set Albilas, a Goth, as commander. And he left Uligisalus in
Tudera[175] with four hundred men. And in the land of Picenum he left in
the fortress of Petra four hundred men who had lived there previously,
and in Auximus, which is the largest of all the cities of that country,
he left four thousand Goths selected for their valour and a very
energetic commander, Visandus by name, and two thousand men with Moras
in the city of Urbinus. There are also two other fortresses, Caesena and
Monteferetra,[176] in each of which he established a garrison of not
less than five hundred men. Then he himself with the rest of the army
moved straight for Ariminum with the purpose of laying siege to it.

But it happened that Belisarius, as soon as the Goths had broken up the
siege of Rome, had sent Ildiger and Martinus with a thousand horsemen,
in order that by travelling more quickly by another road they might
arrive at Ariminum first, and he directed them promptly to remove John
from the city and all those with him, and to put in their place fully
enough men to guard the city, taking them from the fortress which is on
the Ionian Gulf, Ancon by name, two days' journey distant from Ariminum.
For he had already taken possession of it not long before, having sent
Conon with no small force of Isaurians and Thracians. It was his hope
that if unsupported infantry under commanders of no great note should
hold Ariminum, the Gothic forces would never undertake its siege, but
would regard it with contempt and so go at once to Ravenna, and that if
they should decide to besiege Ariminum, the provisions there would
suffice for the infantry for a somewhat longer time; and he thought also
that two thousand horsemen,[177] attacking from outside with the rest of
the army, would in all probability do the enemy great harm and drive
them more easily to abandon the siege. It was with this purpose that
Belisarius gave such orders to Martinus and Ildiger and their men. And
they, by travelling over the Flaminian Way, arrived long before the
barbarians. For since the Goths were moving in a great throng, they
proceeded in a more leisurely manner, and they were compell