chap, xliii] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 431 The offer was entertained with coldness and suspicion ; they returned in safety ; they twice repeated their visit ; the place was twice examined ; the conspiracy was known and disre- garded ; and no sooner had Totila consented to the attempt, than they unbarred the Asinarian gate and gave admittance to the Goths. Till the dawn of day they halted in order of battle, apprehensive of treachery or ambush ; but the troops of Bessas, with their leader, had already escaped ; and, when the king was pressed to disturb their retreat, he prudently replied that no sight could be more grateful than that of a flying enemy. The patricians who were still possessed of horses, Decius, Basilius, 33 &c, accompanied the governor; their brethren, among whom Olybrius, Orestes, and Maximus are named by the historian, took refuge in the church of St. Peter ; but the assertion that only five hundred persons remained in the capital inspires some doubt of the fidelity either of his narrative or of his text. As soon as daylight had displayed the entire victory of the Goths, their monarch devoutly visited the tomb of the prince of the apostles ; but, while he prayed at the altar, twenty-five soldiers and sixty citizens were put to the sword in the vestibule of the temple. The archdeacon Pelagius 34 stood before him with the gospels in his hand. « O Lord, be merciful to your servant." "Pelagius," said Totila with an insulting smile, "your pride now condescends to become a suppliant." " I am a suppliant," replied the prudent archdeacon ; « God has now made us your subjects, and, as your subjects, we are entitled to your clemency." At his humble prayer, the lives of the Eomans were spared ; and the chastity of the maids and matrons was preserved in- violate from the passions of the hungry soldiers. But they were rewarded by the freedom of pillage, after the most preci- ous spoils had been reserved for the royal treasury. The houses of the senators were plentifully stored with gold and silver ; and the avarice of Bessas had laboured with so much guilt and shame for the benefit of the conqueror. In this revolution the sons and daughters of Eoman consuls tasted the misery which 33 [Perhaps the same as the Basil who was the last Eoman consul.] 34 During the long exile, and after the death, of Vigilius, the Roman church was governed, at first by the archdeacon, and at length (a.d. 555) by the pope, Pelagius, who was not thought guiltless of the sufferings of his predecessor. See the originai lives of the popes under the name of Anastasius (Muratori, Script. Rer. Italicarum, torn. iii. P. i. p. 130, 131), who relates several curious incidents of the sieges of Rome and the wars of Italy.
