10 THE DECLINE AND FALL furious and changeable, and the Romans soon recollected the merits, or dreaded the resentment, of their victorious general. By the mediation of the pope, Avho undertook a special pilgrim- age to Naples, their repentance was accepted ; and Narses, assuming a milder aspect and a more dutiful language, consented to fix his residence in the Capitol. His death,-'! though in the c. AD. 572] extreme period of old age, was unseasonable and premature, since his genius alone could have repaired the last and fatal error of his life. The reality, or the suspicion, of a conspiracy disarmed and disunited the Italians. The soldiers resented the disgrace, and bewailed the loss, of their general. They were ignorant of their new exarch ; and Longinus was himself ignorant of the state of the army and the province. In the preceding years Italy had been desolated by pestilence and famine, and a disaffected people ascribed the calamities of nature to the guilt or folly of their rulers."- Conquest of a Whatever might be the grounds of his security, Alboin neither Italy by the expcctcd nor encountered a Roman army in the field. He as- A.D. 568-570 cendcd the Julian Aljis, and looked down with contempt and desire on the fruitful plains to which his victory communicated the perpetual appellation of Lombardv. A faithful chieftain and a select band were stationed at Forum Julii, the modern Friuli, to guard the j)asses of the mountains. The Lombards rejected by the best critics — Pagi (torn. ii. p. 639, 640), Muratori (Annali d'ltalia, torn. V. p. 160-163), and thr last editors, Horatius Blancus (Script. Rerum Italic, torn. i. p. 427, 428) and Philip Argelalus (Sigon. Opera, torn. ii. p. ii, 12). The Xarses who assisted at the coronation of Justin (Corippus, 1. iii. 221) is clearly understood to be a different person. [The only evidence, deserving consideration, for the charge against Narses consists in : («) the statement of the biographer of Pope John III. (Lib. Pontif. Ixiii.), who wrote, as the .Abb6 Duchesne has estab- lished, c. 580-590, A.D. ; the statement of Paul the Deacon, cited above, is copied from this biography ; (g) the statement of Isidore of Seville (Chron. 402, ed. Mommsen in Chron. Min. ii. p. 476). This evidence does not establish a presump- tion of his guilt, but shows that very soon after the event it was generally believed that he was in collusion with the invaders. The story of the distaff appears in an earlier writer than Paul, namely " Fredegarius " (3, 65), who makes Sophia send Xarses a golden distaff. .So Euelthon, king of Cyprian Salamis, gave a distaff and wool to Pheretime of Cyrene, when she asked him for an army ( Herodotus. 4, 162). And we shall presently see the same symbol used for insult by a Persian prince (below, p. 46).] -' The death of Xarses is mentioned by Paul, 1. ii. c. 11 ; Anastas. in Vit. Johan. iii. p. 43 ; Agnellus, Liber Pontifical. Raven, in Script. Rer. Italicarum, tom. ii. pan I, p. 114. 124. Yet I cannot believe with Agnellus that Narses was ninety- ^ve years of age. Is it probable that all his exploits were performed at four- score ? '■'^ The designs of Xarses and of the Lombards for the invasion of Italy are exposed in the last chapter of the first book, and the seven first chapters of the second book, of Paul the Deacon.
