for
Totila.

Amid a shower of flowers he made his entry into Neapolis through Porta
Nolana.

Before Aratius, the admiral of the Byzantine fleets could raise the
anchors of his war-ships, their crews were overpowered by the sailors
of the many merchant vessels which lay near in the harbour, the masters
of which were old admirers and thankful _proteges_ of Totila.

Without shedding a drop of blood, the King had gained a fleet and the
third city of importance in the kingdom.

In the evenings during the banquet which the rejoicing inhabitants had
prepared for him, Totila stole softly away.

With surprise the Gothic sentinels saw their King, all alone, disappear
into an old half-fallen tower, close to an ancient olive-tree by the
Porta Capuana.

The next day there appeared a decree of Totila which dispensed the
women and girls of the Jews of Neapolis from a pole-tax which had,
until now, been laid upon them; and which--they being forbidden to
carry jewels in public--permitted them to wear a golden heart upon the
bosom of their dress as a mark of distinction.

In the neglected garden, where a tall stone cross and a deep-sunk grave
were completely overgrown with wild ivy and moss, there presently arose
a monument of the most beautiful black marble, with the simple
inscription: "_Miriam from Valeria._"

But there was no one living in Neapolis who understood its meaning.

CHAPTER VI.

There now streamed into Neapolis ambassadors from Campania and Samnium,
Bruttia and Lucania, Apulia and Calabria, who came to invite the Gothic
King to enter their cities as a liberator.

Even the important and strong fortress of Beneventum and the
neighbouring forts of Asculum, Canusia, and Acheruntia surrendered at
discretion.

In these districts thousands of cases occurred in which the peasants
were settled upon the lands of their former masters, who had fallen in
battle, or had fled to Byzantium or to Rome.

Besides Rome and Ravenna, there were now in the hands of the
Byzantines, only Florentia, held by Justinus; Spoletium, whose joint
governors were Bonus and Herodianus; and Perusia, under the Hun,
Uldugant.

In a few days the King, reinforced by many Italians from the south of
the Peninsula, had new manned his conquered fleet, and left the harbour
in full sail, while his horsemen marched by land on the Via Appia to
the north.

Rome was the goal of both ships and horse; while Teja, ha