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hisowuopiniotlsorr thesq Drlllcrs, rrrl now I lerrlly nlustr I'eturtr

to my llrcvious nafrtive.
8 \X/lrcn Leutharis and llutilinus rst set or,rt to marclr gainsr the Romans
they were filled with exaltecl expectations and were no longer able to live
a normal life. They thought that Narses wotrld not withstand even rheir first
onset, that all Italy would be tleirs for tlre taking and that they would
occupy Sicily into the bargain. They said rhey were surprised at the Gorhs
being so terrified of a puny little man, a eunudr of the bedchamber, used to
a soft and sedentary exisrence, and bith nothing masculine about him.
9 So, pufied up with such notions anc{ regarding the confrontation with
rrogant disdain they raised an army of seventy-five thousand v/arriors from
among the Alamanni and the Franks and made preparations for war with
the idea of invading Italy immecliately.
8. The Roman general Narses, although he had not received precise
intelligence of these moves, being extremely far-sighted and always anxious
to forestall the attacl<s of the enemy, resolved to take by storm such towns
in Tuscany as uTere still held by the Goths. z He did nor ler victory go to
his head or indulge in vulgar bragging, whidr is how a difierenr person would
have reacted, nor did he give himself over, once his labours .w.ere accomplished, to a life of luxury and ease; on the contrary he immediately moved
his forces with all possible speed and advanced on Cumae. Cumae is a very
heavily fortified town in lta7y, and it is no easy matter for an enemy ro
capture it. 3 Situated on a steep hill which is difiicult to climb, ir corrrmands a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The hill rises up over the shore, so
that the u/aves surge and dash against its base while its top is encompassed
with a ring o{ massive tovrers and battlements. 4 The {orrner Gothic kings
Totila and Teas had all their valuables and treasures guariled in this srronghold, since they considered it to be secure. 5 As soon as Narses got there
he decided it was imperative to capture the place as quicJdy as possible and
gain possession of its treasures, in order to deprive the Goths of a safe base
for future operations and srtract the maximum advantage from his victory.

6 Aligern, the youngest brother of Teas the late king of the Goths, was
inside the fortifications and had gathered about him as large an army as
possible. His intentions were far from peaceful. Presumably he had abeady
received n accurate feport of the death in battle of Teias and of how the
fortunes of the Goths lay in ruins, but even so he did not give up, rlor was
he dismayed by the disaster which had occurred. R.lyrng on his position and
plentiful store of provisions he retained his confidence, arrogance and capacity to repel attack.

9. Meanwhile Narses gave the word of command and instantly ted his
troops forward. Toiling painfully up the hill they approadred the fort, and
immediately began to hurl their javelins at tlose who could be seen manning

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tlrc llrttlctrtt.trts,'l'lre bows twungcrl us vollcy upou, vollcy of arrpws was

into the air from slings and all the
rt1'rpnllrrirrtc siege-cngincs wcfe set in motion. z Aligern and his men, who
were rnassccl. along thc stretc}es of wall between the towers, were not slow
to rcply with javelins, arro\rrs, huge stones, logs, axes and anything that
seemcd to serve their ptrrpose. They had their war-engines too, and used
tlrem in an all-out efiort to beat ofi the attad<ers.
3 The ltomans had no difiiculty in recognizing the arrows from Aligern's
bow. They whistled through the air with sudr incredible speed thar, if they
lrrrppened to strike against a stone or some other hard object, they smashed
it to pieces with the sheer force of their trajectory. 4 When Aligern caught
sight of no less a person than Palladius, (he was a man especially esteemed
by Narses, one of the most high-ranking ofiicers on his stafi and a leading
figure in the Roman army) clad in an iron breastplate and attacl<ing the wall
with great courage he shot down an arrow ar him, which ran right through

tlisclurrgcrl, $tonc$ wcrc hulle.cl high up

the man's shield, breastplate and body. Such was the extraordinary strengrh
his powerful rms put into drawing the bow!
5 This sort of inconclusive skirmishing continued for several days. The
Romans thought it shameful to withdraw without first carrying the place
by force and it was clear that the Goths had no intention of surrendering to
the besiegers.
10. Narses was greatly tisffessed and angered at the thought of the
Romans having to uraste so much time on an insignificant fortress. After
pondering and debating the various possibilities he concluded that he ought
to make an attempt on the fortress in the following manner. z In the
eastem corner of the hill there is a cavern whidr is thoroughly hollowed out
and completely roofed in so as to form a natutal sanctuary of massive and
vault-like proportions. They say that in olden times the famous Italian Sibyl
lived there ad that possessed by Apollo and inspired she would foretell
future events to those who consulted her. The story goes also that Aeneas
the son of Anchises once came there and that the Sibyl totrd him all about
the future. 3 Now Narses noticed that part of the fort had been built orr
top o{ this cave, a fact he thought he might turn to his own advantage. So
he sent as many men as possible down into the hollow recesses of the cave,

with tools for quarrying and tunnelling. In this way he gradually dripped
and cut out d:at section of the roof of the cave on whicl the wall had been
constructed, removing thereby so much of the ground the building sfood on
as actually to lay bare the start of the foundations. 4 He then had upright
wooden beams placed as pfops at regular intervals in order to support the
weigtrt of the structure, lest a series of falls should cause it to collapse and
thus have the effect of quickly in-forming the Goths of what was going on.
In which case they would have come to the rescue as soon as the trouble