CHAPTER XIII
THE FINAL CONQUEST OF ITALY AND ITS ANNEXATION TO THE EMPIRE
Notwithstanding the signal success of Belisarius
in his Italian campaign, the Gothic Kingdom
was even further from being actually subjugated to the
Byzantine power than was Africa after the capture of
Gelimer. The first care of Justinian was to appoint
Alexander, an eminent Logothete, popularly known as "the
Scissors," to supervise the financial administration of the
country. His distinguishing sobriquet had been acquired
through his remarkable dexterity in clipping round the gold
coin according to an ingenious method of his own, which
left the margin apparently intact. This noted extortioner
descended on the Italians and sacked them mercilessly for
suppositious debts, so that in a short time the public allegiance
was wholly alienated from the victors. Even the army
of occupation was defrauded of its pay to such an extent
that the soldiers began to view the hostile operations of the
enemy with complete indifference.[1]
After the departure of Belisarius, Ildibad applied himself to revive the spirit of the remnants of the Gothic forces, and
- ↑ Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 1 (whence the narrative proceeds as below). Cf. Anecd., 24, 26.
