chap, xli] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 339 of their commander. As soon as the enemy approached the ditch, Belisarius himself drew the first arrow ; and such was his strength and dexterity that he transfixed the foremost of the Barbarian leaders. A shout of applause and victory was re-echoed along the wall. He drew a second arrow, and the stroke was followed with the same success and the same accla- mation. The Koman general then gave the word that the archers should aim at the teams of oxen ; they were instantly covered with mortal wounds ; the towers which they drew remained useless and immoveable, and a single moment discon- certed the laborious projects of the king of the Goths. After this disappointment, Vitiges still continued, or feigned to con- tinue, the assault of the Salarian gate, that he might divert the attention of his adversary, while his principal forces more strenuously attacked the Praenestine gate and the sepulchre of Hadrian, at the distance of three miles from each other. Near [porta Mag. the former, the double walls of the Vivarium % were low or 810re] broken ; the fortifications of the latter were feebly guarded ; the vigour of the Goths was excited by the hope of victory and spoil; and, if a single post had given way, the Komans, and Eome itself, were irrecoverably lost. This perilous day was the most glorious in the life of Belisarius. Amidst tumult and dismay, the whole plan of the attack and defence was distinctly present to his mind ; he observed the changes of each instant, weighed every possible advantage, transported his person to the scenes of danger, and communicated his spirit in calm and decisive orders. The contest was fiercely maintained from the morning to the evening ; the Goths were repulsed on all sides, and each Eoman might boast that he had vanquished thirty Barbarians, if the strange disproportion of numbers were not counterbalanced by the merit of one man. Thirty thousand Goths, according to the confession of their own chiefs, perished in this bloody action ; and the multitude of the wounded was equal to that of the slain. When they advanced to the assault, their close disorder suffered not a javelin to fall without effect ; and, as they retired, the populace of the city joined the pursuit, 96 Vivarium was an angle in the new wall inclosed for wild beasts (Procopius, Goth. 1. i. c. 23). The spot is still visible in Nardini (1. iv. c. 2, p. 159, 160) and Nolli's great plan of Rome. [The Vivarium was probably between the wall and the Via Labicana, close to the Porta Maggiore.]
