XLV. CHA P. whose generosity adopted a valliant foe, and whose freedom was incompatible with cool and deliberate tyranny. One moiety of the spoil introduced into the camp of Alboin more wealth than a Barbarian could readily compute. The fair Rosamond was persuaded, or compelled, to acknow.. ledge the rights of her victorious lover; and the daughter of Cunimund appeared to forgive those crimes which might be imputed to her own irresistible charms. Alboin the con- The destruction of a mighty kingdom established the fame of Alboin. In the days of Charlemagne, the Bavarians, the Saxons, and the other tribes of the Teutonic language, still repeated the songs which described the heroic virtues, the valour, liberallity, and fortune of the king of the Lombards *. But his ambition was yet unsatisfied, and the conqueror of the Gepidae turned his eyes from the Danube to the richer banks of the Po and the Tyber. Fifteen years had not elapsed since his subjects, the confederates of Narses, had visited the pleasant climate of Italy: the mountains, the rivers, the highways, were familiar to their memory: the report of their success, perhaps the view of their spoils, had kindled in the rising Ut hactenus etiam tam apud Bajoariorum gentem, quam et Saxonum sed et alios ejusdem linguæ homines.... in eorum carminibus celebretur. Paul. 1 i. c. 27. He died A. D. 799 (Muratori, in Præfat. tom. i. p. 397.). These German songs, some of which might be as old as Tacitus (de Moribus Germ. c. 2.) were compiled and transcribed by Charlemagne. Barbara et antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella canebantur scripsit memoriæque mandavit (Eginard, in Vit. Carol. Magn. c. 29. p. 130, 131.). The poems, which Goldast commends (Animadvers. ad Eginard, p. 207.), appear to be recent and contemptible romances. rising generation the flame of emulation and enter- CHA P. prise. Their hopes were encouraged by the spirit XLV. and eloquence of Alboin; and it is affirmed, that he spoke to their senses, by producing, at the royal feast, the fairest and most exquisite fruits that grew spontaneously in the garden of the world. No sooner had he erected his standard, than the native strength of the Lombards was multiplied by the adventurous youth of Germany and Scythia. The robust peasantry of Noricum and Pannonia had resumed the manners of Barbarians; and the names of the Gepida, Bulgarians, Sarmatians, and Bavarians, may be distinctly traced in the provinces of Italy *. Of the Saxons, the old allies of the Lombards, twenty thousand warriors, with their wives and children, accepted the invitation of Alboin. Their bravery contributed to his success; but the accession or the absence of their numbers was not sensibly felt in the magnitude of his host. Every mode of religion was freely practised by its respective votaries. The king of the Lombards had been educated in the Arian heresy; but the Catholics, in their public worship, were allowed to pray for his conversion; while the more stubborn Barbarians sacrificed a she goat, or perhaps a captive, to the gods of their fathers †. The Lombards, and their confederates, were united The other nations are rehearsed by Paul (1. ii. c. 6. 26.) Muratori (Antichita Italiane, tom. i. dissert. i. p. 4) has dis covered the village of the Bavarians, three miles from Modena. + Gregory the Roman (Dialog. 1. iii. c. 27, 28. apud Baron. Annal. Eccles. A. D. 579, No. 10.), supposes that they like. wise adored this she goat. I know but of one religion in which the god and the victim are the same. XLV. CHA P. united by their common attachment to a chief, who excelled in all the virtues and vices of a savage hero; and the vigilance of Alboin provided an ample magazine of offensive and defensive arms for the use of the expedition. The portable wealth of the Lombards attended the march; their lands they cheerfuly relinquished to the Avars, on the solemn promise, which was made and accepted without a smile, that if they failed in the conquest of Italy, these voluntary exiles should be reinstated in their former possessions. Disaffec tion and death of Narses. They might have failed, if Narses had been the antagonist of the Lombards; and the veteran warriors, the associates of his Gothic victory, would have encountered with reluctance an enemy whom they dreaded and esteemed. But the weakness of the Byzantine court was subservient to the Barbarian cause; and it was for the ruin of Italy, that the emperor once listened to the complaints of his subjects. The virtues of Narses were stained with avarice; and in his provincial reign of fifteen years he accumulated a treasure of gold and silver which surpassed the modesty of a private fortune. His government was oppressive or unpopular, and the general discontent was expressed with freedom by the deputies of Rome. Before the throne of Justin they boldly declared, that their Gothic servitude had been more tolerable than the despotism of a Greek eunuch; and that, unless their tyrant were instantly removed, they would consult their own happiness in the choice of a master. The ap. prehension of a revolt was urged by the voice of envy and detraction, which had so recently triumph ed ed over the merit of Belisarius. ، A new exarch, CHA P. Longinus, was appointed to supersede the conqueror of Italy, and the base motives of his recall were revealed in the insulting mandate of the empress Sophia, "that he should leave to men the "exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among the maidens of the palace, where a distaff "should be again placed in the hand of the eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread, as "she shall not easily unravel!" is said to have been the reply which indignation and conscious virtue extorted from the hero. Instead of attending, a slave and a victim, at the gate of the Byzantine palace, he retired to Naples, from whence (if any credit is due to the belief of the times) Narses invited the Lombards to chastise the ingratitude of the prince and people *. But the passions of the people are furious and changeable, and the Romans soon recollected the merits, or dreaded the resentment, of their victorious general. By the mediation of the pope, who undertook a special pilgrimage to Naples, their repentance was accepted; and Narses, assuming a milder aspect and a more dutiful language, consented to fix his resi dence XLV. *The charge of the deacon against Narses (1. ii. c. 5.) may be groundless; but the weak apology of the cardinal (Baron. Annal. Eccles, A. D. 567, No. 8-12) is rejected by the best critics-Pagi, tom. ii. p. 639, 640.), Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. v p 160-163.), and the last editors, Horatius Blancus (Script. Rerum Italic. tom. i. p. 427, 428.) and Philip Argelatus (Sigon. Opera, tom. ii. p. 11, 12.). The Narses who assisted at the coronation of Justin (Corippus, 1. iii. 221.) is clearly understood to be a different person. CHAP. dence in the Capitol. His death*, though in XLV the extreme period of old age, was unseasonablę Conquest of a great part of Italy by the Lombards, A. D. 568-570. 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 †. Whatever might he the grounds of his security, Alboin neither expected nor encountered a Roman army in the field. He ascended the Julian Alps, and looked down with contempt and desire on the fruitful plains to which his victory communicated the perpetual appellation of LOMBARDY. A faith ful chieftain, and a select band, were stationed at Forum Julii, the modern Friuli, to guard the passes of the mountains. The Lombards respected the strength of Pavia, and listened to the prayers of the Trevisans: their slow and heavy multitudes proceeded to occupy the palace and city of Verona and * The death of Narses 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. part. i. p. 114. 124. Yet I cannot believe with Agnellus that Narses was ninetyfive years of age. Is it probable that all his exploits were performed at fourscore? + The designs of Narses 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. |