ueduct or conduit issued forth and
flowed back into the Arno, the water was seen to be all red and
bloody. Then the people perceived the deceit and treachery; but it was
in vain and too late, seeing that Totila had armed all his followers;
and when he perceived that his cruelty was discovered, he commanded
them to overrun the city and slay both great and small, men and women,
and from this there was no escape, forasmuch as the city was unarmed
and unprepared, and we find that at that time there were in the city
of Florence 22,000 men-at-arms, beside the aged and children. When the
people of the city perceived that they were come to such sorrow and
destruction, they escaped who could, fleeing into the country and
hiding themselves in strongholds, and in woods and in caves; but the
most part of the citizens were slain, or wounded, or taken, and the
city was all despoiled of substance and riches by the said Goths,
Vandals, and Hungarians. And after that Totila had thus wasted it of
inhabitants and of goods, he commanded that it should be destroyed and
burnt, and laid waste, and that there should not remain one stone upon
another, and this was done; save that in the west there remained one
of the towers which Gneus Pompey had built, and on the north and on
the south one of the gates, and within the city near to the gate the
"casa" or "domo," which we take to be the duomo of S. Giovanni, called
of yore the "casa" [house] of Mars. And verily it never was entirely
destroyed, nor shall be destroyed to eternity, save at the day of
judgment, even as is written on the cement of the said duomo. And
there were also left standing certain lofty towers or temples,
indicated in the ancient chronicles by letters of the alphabet, the
which we cannot interpret, to wit S, and casa P, and casa F. The city
had four gates and six posterns, and there were towers marvellous
strong over the gates. And the idol of the god Mars which the
Florentines took from the temple and set upon a pillar, then fell into
the Arno, and abode there as long as the city remained in ruins. And
thus was destroyed the noble city of Florence by the infamous Totila
on the 28th day of June, in the year of Christ 450, to wit 520 years
after its foundation; and in the said city the blessed Maurice, bishop
of Florence, was put to death with great torments by the followers of
Totila, and his body lies in Santa Reparata.

Sec. 2.--_How Totila caused the city of Fiesole to be