k in shame for
ever. It must have a master, who, when, like a lazy horse, it threatens
to sink into the quagmire, pulls it up by the rein; a strong master
with bridle, whip, and spurs!"

At this moment a little crooked man, leaning on a crutch, forced his
way into the hall, and limped up to the steps of the throne.

"Emperor of the Romani," he began, when he rose from his obeisance, "a
report reached me on my bed of pain of all that the barbarians had
dared, and of what was going on here. I gathered all my strength and
dragged myself here with difficulty, for, by one word from you, I must
learn whether I have been a fool from the beginning in holding you to
be a great ruler in spite of many weaknesses; whether I shall throw
your marshal's staff into the deepest well, or still carry it with
pride! Speak only one word: war or peace?"

"War! war!" cried Justinian, and his countenance beamed.

"Victory! Justinian!" cried the general. "Oh, let me kiss your hand,
great Emperor!" and he limped up the steps of the throne.

"But how is this, patrician, you have all at once become a man!" mocked
the Empress. "You were always against the war with the Goths. Have you
suddenly become endowed with a sense of honour?"

"Honour!" cried Narses, "after that gay soap-bubble Belisarius, that
great child, may run! Not honour but the Empire is at stake. As long as
danger threatened from the east, I advised the Persian war. Nothing was
to be feared from the Goths. But now your piety, O Empress, and
Belisarius's hero-sword, have stirred up the hornets' nest so long,
that at last the whole swarm flies dangerously into our faces. Now the
danger threatens from that side, and I advise a Gothic war. The Goths
are nearer to Byzantium than Chosroes to the eastern frontier. He who,
like this Totila, can raise a kingdom from an abyss, can much more
easily hurl another kingdom into an abyss. This young King is a worker
of miracles, and must be stopped in time."

"For this once," said Justinian, "I have the rare pleasure of finding
my Empress and Narses of one mind."

He was on the point of dismissing the assembly, when the Empress caught
his arm.

"Stay, my husband," she said. "To-day, for the second time, I have the
honour to be proved your best adviser! Is it not so? Then listen to me
and follow my further advice. Keep this wise assembly--all except
Narses--confined in this hall.--Do not tremble, Illustrissimi; this
time your lives are not