ueen could not be persuaded to renounce her
system--once more to entertain this idea.

Cethegus saw the threatening tempest. He saw how Gothic national
feeling, awakened by Hildebrand and his friends, grew more opposed to
the Romanising Regency. He indignantly confessed to himself that he had
no real power with which to keep down discontent. Ravenna was not his
Rome, where he controlled all proceedings, where he had again
accustomed the citizens to the use of arms, and attached them to his
person; here all the troops were Goths, and he could only fear that
they would reply to an order for the arrest of Hildebrand or Witichis
by open rebellion. So he took a bold resolution to free himself at one
stroke from the net which encompassed him in Ravenna. He decided to
take the Queen, if necessary by force, to Rome. There he was mighty,
had weapons and adherents; there Amalaswintha would be exclusively in
his power, and the Goths would be frustrated.

To his delight, the Queen entered into his plan with eagerness. She
longed to be out of these walls, where she appeared to be more a
prisoner than a ruler. She longed for Rome, freedom, and power.

Cethegus took his measures with his usual rapidity. He was obliged to
renounce the shorter way by land, for upon the broad Via Flaminia, as
well as on the other roads from Ravenna to Rome, escorts of Gothic
troops were stationed, and it was therefore to be feared that their
flight by any of these ways would be easily discovered, and perhaps
impeded.

Fortunately the Prefect remembered that the Navarchus, or captain of
the galleys, Pomponius, one of the conspirators, was cruising about in
chase of African pirates on the east coast of the Adriatic, with three
triremes, manned by Romans. To him he sent an order to appear in the
harbour of Ravenna on the night of the Feast of Epiphany. He hoped,
while the town was occupied with religious festivities, to reach the
ships with Amalaswintha easily and safely from the gardens of the
palace, when they would be taken by sea past the Gothic positions to
Teate. Thence the way to Rome was short and safe.

With this plan in his mind--his messenger had safely gone and returned
with the promise of Pomponius to appear punctually--the Prefect smiled
at the daily increasing hate and insolence of the Goths, who observed
his position of favourite with bitter displeasure.

He warned Amalaswintha to be patient and not, by an outbreak of her
royal wrath