340 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xli and slaughtered, with impunity, the backs of their flying enemies. His sanies Belisarius instantly sallied from the gates ; and, while the soldiers chaunted his name and victory, the hostile engines of war were reduced to ashes. Such was the loss and consternation of the Goths that, from this day, the siege of Rome degenerated into a tedious and indolent blockade ; and they were incessantly harassed by the Roman general, who in frequent skirmishes destroyed above five thousand of their bravest troops. Their cavalry was unpractised in the use of the bow ; their archers served on foot ; and this divided force was incapable of contend- ing with their adversaries, whose lances and arrows, at a dis- tance or at hand, were alike formidable. The consummate skill of Belisarius embraced the favourable opportunities ; and, as he chose the ground and the moment, as he pressed the charge or sounded the retreat, 97 the squadrons which he detached were seldom unsuccessful. These partial advantages diffused an impatient ardour among the soldiers and people, who began to feel the hardships of a siege, and to disregard the dangers of a general engagement. Each plebeian conceived himself to be an hero, and the infantry, who, since the decay of discipline, were rejected from the line of battle, aspired to the ancient honours of the Roman legion. Belisarius praised the spirit of his troops, condemned their presumption, yielded to their clam- ours, and prepared the remedies of a defeat, the possibility of which he alone had courage to suspect. In the quarter of the Vatican, the Romans prevailed ; and, if the irreparable moments had not been wasted in the pillage of the camp, they might have occupied the Milvian bridge, and charged in the rear of the Gothic host. On the other side of the Tiber, Belisarius advanced from the Pincian 98 and Salarian gates. But his army, four thousand soldiers perhaps, was lost in a spacious plain ; they were encompassed and oppressed by fresh multitudes, who con- tinually relieved the broken ranks of the Barbarians. The valiant leaders of the infantry were unskilled to conquer; they died; the retreat (an hasty retreat) was covered by the 97 For the Roman trumpet and its various notes, consult Lipsius, de Militia Romana (Opp. torn. iii. 1. iv. Dialog, x. p. 125-129). A mode of distinguishing the charge by the horse-trumpet of solid brass, and the retreat by the foot-trumpet of leather and light wood, was recommended by Procopius, and adopted by Belisarius (Goth. 1. ii. c. 23). 98 [The Pincian was a small gate between the Flaminian and Salarian Gates ; it is almost always spoken of by Procopius as a nvls or postern.]
