Belisarius: The Last Roman General (37 page)

Meanwhile, Belisarius with the bulk of the army, numbering some 11,000 men, advanced and laid siege to Auximus. The date was either April or May 539. The city was strongly fortified and well sited on the top of a hill. As it controlled the approaches to Ravenna from the south, Witigis had left a strong garrison of proven troops to hold the city and thus act as an advance guard to protect Ravenna itself. Upon their arrival, Belisarius sent his troops to make a circle of camps around the city. Seeing that the Byzantines had become widely spread during the process of building their camps, the Goths sallied from the city and attacked the troops around Belisarius late in the afternoon. Defeated, they retreated to the city and prepared to resist the Byzantine assault.

On the previous day a group of Goths had been sent out of the city to organise provisions. Unaware of the Byzantine approach, these now returned and were caught outside the city. Some managed to sneak into the city, but the rest were destroyed by the Byzantine troops. Belisarius now assessed the defences of the city and decided that it was impossible to take it by assault. Therefore, he decided to put the city under a close siege and so starve the defenders into submission.

As the Byzantines settled down to the siege, they observed that there was an area of lush grass growing near the walls and that the Goths were in the habit of leaving the city to harvest the grass as food for their horses. Consequently, every day there was a small battle between the Byzantines and Goths as the Goths attempted to gather the forage for their mounts and the Byzantines attempted to stop them. Eventually, the Goths decided to ambush the Byzantines. Noting that the hillside around the grass was cut by ravines, they hid men in the depressions and then sent out their foragers as usual. When the Byzantines attacked and were fully engaged, the troops in the ravines leapt out and took the Byzantines by surprise, driving them off with heavy losses and so allowing the forage party to finish their work in peace.

The Goths repeated this tactic several times: although nearby Byzantine troops could see the ambush, their cries were drowned out by the noise that the Goths made during the fighting. Procopius now suggested to Belisarius that the trumpets of the cavalry could be used to sound the attack, and the trumpets of the infantry the retreat. The two trumpets made very different sounds, since those of the cavalry were made of leather and thin wood whilst those of the infantry were made of brass. On the next occasion that the Goths gathered grass, they were attacked by the Byzantines as usual but when they sprang their ambush, the infantry trumpets were blown and the Byzantines retired in safety.

With the siege now laid ever closer, the Goths in the city began to suffer from famine. As supplies ran low they sent an emissary to Witigis to ask for aid. Witigis agreed to send troops, but then remained in Ravenna. Procopius (
Wars
, VI.xxiv.l4) notes that this was due to there being a shortage of supplies everywhere due to the widespread crop failures in Italy; Witigis would have had none to spare for the defenders, and if he had moved with his entire army they would likely also have run out of food as they approached the city.

As the siege of Auximus progressed, Cyprian and Justinus laid siege to Fisula, although, due to the topography, this could not be a close siege. Consequently, the Goths mounted many sorties against the Byzantines, but, being defeated, were gradually restricted to the city and the siege here, too, began to take effect. Eventually, these men also sent a message to Witigis asking for help. Since the city was not far from Milan, Witigis sent an order to Uraias commanding him to raise the siege. Uraias moved his army out of Milan and advanced to Dorthon, where he made camp opposite Martinus and John. However, he did not attack them, believing that his defeat would mean that the Gothic cause in Italy would be lost. Since they were effectively pinning Uraias in place, the Byzantines were also happy to remain in their camp.

The Franks invade Italy

At this vital juncture the Franks, who were in theory allied to both the Byzantines and the Goths, decided to abandon their treaty with both and make an attempt to take at least part of Italy for themselves. Theudibert, king of the Franks, reasoned that, with both the Goths and the Byzantines tired by their long war, conquest of at least part of the peninsula was now feasible.

Leading a force of 100,000 men, according to Procopius, the Franks crossed the Alps into that part of Italy north of the Po. The Franks differed from the Goths and the Byzantines in that, again according to Procopius, they only had a small mounted bodyguard that protected the king. The remainder of the army was composed entirely of foot warriors armed with sword, shield and a throwing axe – the
famed francisca.
Although possibly a little simplistic, since at least some of the infantry would have carried long-range missile weapons such as bows, the description illustrates the main strength of the Frankish army.

The Franks marched through the north of Italy, welcomed by the Goths who believed that they had come as allies. Only when they had secured the bridge across the Po at Ticinum did the Franks show their true colours, attacking the neighbouring Goths, taking much spoil and many captives, before launching an attack on Uraias’ camp. The Goths quickly broke and fled past the Byzantine camp. Assuming that Belisarius had arrived unannounced and attacked Uraias, Martinus and John led their troops out of their camp and rode to his assistance. Upon reaching the Gothic camp they were attacked by the Franks and also quickly fled, retiring to the relative safety of Tuscany.

However, Theudibert now halted his large army in an area where the Goths and Byzantines had been camped for quite a while. Supplies were low and, due to their poor diet, the Frankish troops began to suffer from diarrhoea and dysentery. With a large part of the army ill, the Franks were forced to remain stationary, which added to the numbers suffering from disease.

Hearing of the Frankish attack, Belisarius became increasingly worried about the troops besieging Fisula, since they were now vulnerable should the Franks march in their direction. In order to buy time, he sent an envoy to Theudibert, warning him of the consequences should he maintain his aggressive behaviour and remain in Italy. Worried by the possibility of a counterattack, and even more so since possibly up to a third of his army had died of disease, Theudibert decided not to remain in Italy. Instead, he led the remainder of his forces back home over the Alps. Once he had gone, Martinus and John moved their forces back to Dorthon so that they could give an advanced warning to the troops besieging Fisula should the Franks return, as well as guarding them from the Goths in Milan.

Affairs in the empire

It was only due to the relative peace on his other fronts that Justinian had been able to free troops to attempt the conquest of Africa and Italy. The peace was to be shattered by two events. The nearest of these to Italy, and so the one that could be expected to affect the progress of that war, was the Hunnic invasion of the Balkans. With most of the troops from the area already involved in the Gothic war (at the time of the Hunnic invasion Vitalius was advancing with a large body of troops from Dalmatia towards the north of Italy) the Huns advanced as far as the walls of Constantinople before returning to their homeland with a large number of captives and a vast amount of booty. A second wave invaded Greece, bypassing Thermopylae – which was stoutly defended -and ravaged the whole of Greece except for the Peleponnese.

Affairs in the east also began to affect the situation in Italy. Khusrow had been viewing the conquests of Belisarius with alarm, and he had asked his ally Al-Mundhir of the Lakhmids to give him a pretext for declaring war. Accordingly, Al-Mundhir accused Arethas, the Ghassanid ally of the Byzantines, of violating his territory. He then invaded the Ghassanid kingdom, declaring that he was not in breach of the treaty, since he had not been named in it. However, Procopius claims that traditionally the various ‘Saracens’ allied to Rome and Persia were automatically included in treaties made between those two empires.

Both the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids claimed suzerainty over an area known as Strata, south of Palmyra, and this is where Al-Mundhir attacked. Justinian sent Strategius, the administrator of the royal treasuries, as an envoy, who advised Justinian that he should relinquish claims to the area and so not provide Khusrow with a pretext for war.

However, Khusrow now claimed that the envoys to Al-Mundhir had been sent in an attempt to detach Al-Mundhir from his alliance to the Persians. He also claimed that Justinian had sent a letter to the Huns asking them to invade Persia. Although Justinian denied the claims, it now appeared to be only a matter of time before war was declared.

At this point the two ‘Roman’ envoys from Italy reached Khusrow. Whether he would have declared war upon hearing their pleas is unknown, since events in Armenia tipped the balance. An individual called Symeon had betrayed the city of Pharangium to the Byzantines during the Persian war, and had been given several villages in Armenia as a reward. Unfortunately, the previous owners did not appreciate the gift and had killed Symeon before fleeing to Persia. Justinian now gave the villages to Amazaspes, Symeon’s nephew, but he was denounced by a man named Acacius for both abusing the native Armenians and for planning to betray Theodosiopolis and other fortresses to the Persians. Following the accusation, Acacius killed Amazaspes and took his place. He then treated the natives badly and they killed him before fleeing to Pharangium. In frustration, Justinian ordered Sittas to invade Armenia. After trying to negotiate a peace, Sittas entered Armenia but was killed in a skirmish. Justinian sent Buzes as a replacement, who also attempted to negotiate, asking for representatives to meet him. Only a single noble named John, who knew Buzes, agreed, taking a few men to the meeting place. On seeing that they were almost surrounded by the Byzantines, his followers fled, but this John stayed and was killed by Buzes. In response, the Armenian nobles now sent envoys to Khusrow to solicit his help.

With the Hunnic invasion and the threat of war in the east, Justinian sent emissaries to Khusrow, admitting writing letters to the Huns, but stating that they were not attempting to provoke the Huns to invade Persia. They also noted the aggressive acts of Al-Mundhir, but it was to no avail. Believing that his moment had come, Khusrow cancelled the treaty and prepared for war. The Persians were always a far greater threat than the Goths, so Justinian decided to end the war in Italy and recall Belisarius to take charge of the war in the east. He determined to send Domnicus and Maximinus as envoys to the Goths with the message that the Goths could have peace if they agreed that Witigis would retain half of the Gothic treasure plus Italy north of the Po, whilst the emperor would gain the other half of the treasure and all of Italy south of the Po.

The Fall of Auximus and Fisula

The Gothic garrison of Auximus did not know of the Frankish invasion and could not understand why Witigis had not sent help. As they were restricted to the city, they decided to bribe one of the Byzantine troops to carry a message to Witigis in Ravenna. Burcentius, a man in the command of Narses, accepted the bribe and took the message to Witigis. Witigis sent a reply outlining the attack of the Franks and stating that he would arrive shortly with the army, once the Franks had definitely retreated from Italy.

Burcentius returned and gave the message to the Goths, replying to his companions’ queries as to his whereabouts that he had been ill in a nearby sanctuary. Shortly thereafter, the Goths became frustrated and sent Burcentius to Ravenna again, this time with a message saying that they would be forced to surrender in five days unless help arrived. Again Burcentius returned with an excuse for his absence and passed a message to the Goths saying that help would soon be arriving.

Belisarius was baffled by the defenders’ refusal to surrender and decided to find out why they were being so stubborn. He set Valerian the task of catching a Goth for questioning. A Goth was duly caught as he tried to gather grass from the usual source. When questioned he told the whole story of the messages, including the bribe to Burcentius. Belisarius arrested Burcentius, but then gave him to his comrades, telling them that the punishment was in their hands. His army colleagues decided to burn him alive as a warning to others.

Becoming impatient, Belisarius attempted to cut the supply of water to the city. The main source of water was a spring that arose on the side of the hill, just outside the city walls. From there, the spring ran in to a cistern from which most of the water for the city was drawn. Ordering his troops to draw up their battle lines as if to attack the city, Belisarius then sent five Isaurians with tools to break the cistern. Advancing under a cover of shields provided by their fellow troops, the men advanced to the cistern, which was covered from sight of the walls by a vault over the top, and jumped into the water. The Goths, believing that the attackers were going to attempt to weaken the walls, at first made no response, waiting for the wall of shields to advance to a closer range. Then, when they realised the purpose of the attack, they showered the area with missiles. At this, the shield carriers fled back down the hill, but the Isaurians, covered by the vault, began to attack the walls of the cistern.

In desperation, the defenders mounted a sortie in an attempt to stop the work. As they appeared, Belisarius ordered his troops to attack and a battle took place on the side of the hill. Many Byzantines fell, since the Goths had the advantage of the higher ground, until seven Armenians from the command of Narses and Aratius – possibly eager to wipe out the shame of Burcentius accepting Gothic bribes – routed a section of the defenders. The Byzantines advanced through the gap and the defenders retired to the walls. The attackers also withdrew. Unfortunately, the cistern was undamaged, partly because of the superior building methods used in ancient times making the task extremely difficult, and partly because the Isaurians had retreated along with the troops after the skirmish.