t come into the power of the
victors."

When they had finished speaking, Pastor and Asclepiodotus brought
forward the Jews, who promised that the city should be in want of none
of the necessities, and the Goths on their part promised that they would
guard the circuit-wall safely. And the Neapolitans, moved by these
arguments, bade Belisarius depart thence with all speed. He, however,
began the siege. And he made many attempts upon the circuit-wall, but
was always repulsed, losing many of his soldiers, and especially those
who laid some claim to valour. For the wall of Naples was inaccessible,
on one side by reason of the sea, and on the other because of some
difficult country, and those who planned to attack it could gain
entrance at no point, not only because of its general situation, but
also because the ground sloped steeply. However, Belisarius cut the
aqueduct which brought water into the city; but he did not in this way
seriously disturb the Neapolitans, since there were wells inside the
circuit-wall which sufficed for their needs and kept them from feeling
too keenly the loss of the aqueduct.

FOOTNOTE:

[35] _i.e._ the Goths; cf. Sec. 5 above.

IX

So the besieged, without the knowledge of the enemy, sent to Theodatus
in Rome begging him to come to their help with all speed. But Theodatus
was not making the least preparation for war, being by nature unmanly,
as has been said before.[36] And they say that something else happened
to him, which terrified him exceedingly and reduced him to still greater
anxiety. I, for my part, do not credit this report, but even so it shall
be told. Theodatus even before this time had been prone to make
enquiries of those who professed to foretell the future, and on the
present occasion he was at a loss what to do in the situation which
confronted him--a state which more than anything else is accustomed to
drive men to seek prophecies; so he enquired of one of the Hebrews, who
had a great reputation for prophecy, what sort of an outcome the present
war would have. The Hebrew commanded him to confine three groups of ten
swine each in three huts, and after giving them respectively the names
of Goths, Romans, and the soldiers of the emperor, to wait quietly for
a certain number of days. And Theodatus did as he was told. And when the
appointed day had come, they both went into the huts and looked at the
swine; and they found that of those which had been given the name of