in her
guilt, and as, besides, she apprehended compulsion, she consented to
return with him to Ravenna. But first, on board the _Sophia_, she wrote
this letter to you, and sends you this present from her treasury."

"Of that later. Tell me further, how do things, stand now in Italy?"

"Well for you, O great Emperor! An exaggerated account of the rebellion
of the Goths at Ravenna and of the flight of the Queen to Byzantium,
has flown through the whole country. Already many encounters have taken
place between Romans and barbarians. In Rome itself the patriots wished
to strike a blow at once; to choose a Dictator in the Senate, and call
for your assistance. But this step would have been premature, for the
Queen was in the hands of the Goths, and only the firmness of the
clever man who heads the conspiracy of the Catacombs prevented it."

"The Prefect of Rome?" asked Justinian.

"Cethegus. He mistrusted the reports. The conspirators wished to
surprise the Goths, proclaim you Emperor of the West, and choose him,
meanwhile, for Dictator. But he literally allowed them to put the
dagger to his throat in the Curia, and said, No."

"A courageous man!" said Belisarius.

"A dangerous man!" said Narses.

"An hour after," continued the ambassador, "news, arrived of
Amalaswintha's return, and things remained as they were. That gloomy
warrior, Teja, had sworn to render Rome a pasture for cattle, if a drop
of Gothic blood were shed. I learned all this on my intentionally slow
coast voyage to Brundusium. But I have something still better to
announce. I have found zealous friends of Byzantium, not only among the
Romans, but also among the Goths, and even in the members of the Royal
Family."

"Whom mean you?"

"In Tuscany there lives a rich proprietor, Prince Theodahad, the cousin
of Amalaswintha."

"To be sure! he is the last male of the Amelung family, is he not?"

"The last. He and, still more, Gothelindis, his clever but wicked
wife, the proud daughter of the Balthe, mortally hate the Queen. He,
because she opposed the measureless avarice with which he sought to
appropriate the property of all his neighbours; she, from reasons which
I could not discover, but which, I believe, originated during the
girlhood of the two Princesses; enough, her hate is deadly. Now, these
two have promised me to help you in every possible way to win Italy
back. She will be satisfied, it seems, with the destruction of the
object of her hatred;