Count Belisarius

Great crowds of them hircd boats and fled across the Bosphorus into Asia Minor, 50,000 persons crossing in a single day.

The Emperor Justinian spent the greater part of these days kneeling in his private chapel. He repeated again and again: 'The Lord is strong. He will deliver us.' The only step of a practical nature that he took was to order that all churches in the suburbs, and all his villas too, should be immediately stripped of their treasures, and these conveyed to the Imperial private port, to be loaded on barges.

At last he sent for Belisarius, and asked: 'How is it. Illustrious Belisarius, Count of our Stables and Commander of our Guards, that you have sent no soldiers to repel these heathen savages?'

Belisarius replied: 'Your Sacred Majesty gave me titles of honour but not the authority that customarily goes with them; and forbade me to mention the unprepared and undisciplined condition of your forces. Three times, on my return from Italy, I presented the same report to you: pointing out that your ministers sold commissions in the Guards to untrained civilians, that no military drill was practised by the soldiers nor any weapons provided, that your stables were empty of cavalry-horses. You ordered me to have no fear for the safety of this city.'

'You lie, you lie,' yelled Justinian. 'If ever by the grace of God we survive this trial of our faith, you shall be made to suffer dreadful things for your neglect of our armies and fortifications, and not all your boasted victories will save you from the rope.'

Belisarius asked:' But my order meanwhile, Your Majesty?'

'Go and the like a brave man, though you have lived a coward. Gather together what forces you can and meet the Bulgars in the field, thus imitating my gallant Narses – not skulking behind walls as your custom is. Only in this way can you atone for your follies.'

Belisarius made his obeisance, and left the Sacred Presence. But Justinian called his admiral and asked him secretly: 'Is my fleet well provisioned? What weather can we expect in the Mediterranean if we are obliged to sail?'

Belisarius sent a crier through the streets to shout as follows:' Count Belisarius, by order of his Sacred Majesty the Emperor, will lead an army against the Hunnish invaders. The city militia will take their stations upon the wall of Theodosius according to their Colours, and will provide themselves with what arms they can find. The Imperial Guards will parade under their officers, whose duty it is to sec that they are horsed and fully armed, and march down to the Golden Gate, there to await further orders. All veteran soldiers present in this city who have ever served as cuirassiers with the said Count Belisarius in the wan are desired to gather forthwith on the Parade Ground; he will put himself at their head and provide them with arms and horses.'

Belisarius went to the Dancing Masters of the Green and Blue factions. 'In the Emperor's name, I commandeer all the shirts of mail and spears and shields that are worn in the Hippodrome spectacles and in the stage-plays.' He also went to the Race Masters of the Green and Blue factions.' In the Emperor's name, I commandeer all the horses in the Hippodrome stables.' Of bows and arrows he found sufficient at the Palace and a number of carriage-horses in the Imperial stables, and a few chargers. Thus he found equipment for his veterans.

The Parade Ground is famous in history as the place where Alexander the Great reviewed his troops before setting out for the conquest of the East. There Belisarius’s veterans came crowding from every part of the city – men on whom the years had bestowed most dissimilar fortunes. Some were well-clothed and stout, some in rags and pale, some limped, some strutted. But the light of valour shone in every face, and they cried one to another: 'Greetings, comrade! It is good when old soldiers meet together.'

There were many reunions between former comrades-in-arms who had not met for a number of years, the city being so large. It was: 'You still alive, old Sisifried? I had thought you died with Diogenes on the retreat from Rome', and 'Why, comrade Unigatus, I saw you last at the siege of Osiino, when the javelin pierced your hand', and 'Hey, comrade, do you not know me? We bivouacked together in the Paradise of Grasse under a quincunx of fruit-trees, four and twenty years ago, a few days before the Battle of the Tenth Milestone.' I was there with my mistress Antonina, and had many affectionate greetings from old associates, which warmed my heart.

But there were some who had even longer campaigning memories than myself. There were two men who had raided with Belisarius against the Gepids and these same Bulgarians when he was a beardless young officer.