Produced by Charles Aldarondo  HTML version by Al HainesVeranildaByGeorge GissingCONTENTS       I  THE VANQUISHED ROMAN      II  BASILS VISION     III  THE DEACON LEANDER      IV  TO CUMAE       V  BASIL AND VERANILDA      VI  THE EMPERORS COMMAND     VII  HERESY    VIII  THE SNARE      IX  CHORSOMAN       X  THE ANICIANS      XI  SEEKING     XII  HELIODORA    XIII  THE SOUL OF ROME     XIV  SILVIAS DREAM      XV  YOUNG ROME     XVI  WHISPERS    XVII  LEANDER THE POLITIC   XVIII  PELAGIUS     XIX  THE PRISONER OF PRAENESTE      XX  THE ISLAND IN THE LIRIS     XXI  THE BETRAYER BETRAYED    XXII  DOOM   XXIII  THE RED HAND    XXIV  THE MOUNT OF THE MONK     XXV  THE ABBOTS TOWER    XXVI  VIVAS IN DEO   XXVII  THE KING OF THE GOTHS  XXVIII  AT HADRIANS VILLA    XXIX  ROME BELEAGUERED     XXX     CHAPTER ITHE VANQUISHED ROMANSeven years long had the armies of Justinian warred against the Gothsin Italy Victor from Rhegium to Ravenna the great commanderBelisarius had returned to the East Carrying captive a Gothic kingThe cities of the conquered land were garrisoned by barbarians of manytongues who bore the name of Roman soldiers the Italian peoplebrought low by slaughter dearth and plague crouched under therapacious tyranny of governors from ByzantiumThough children born when King Theodoric still reigned had yet scarcegrown to manhood that golden age seemed already a legend of the pastAthalaric Amalasuntha Theodahad last of the Amal blood had held thethrone in brief succession and were gone warriors chosen at will bythe Gothic host mere kings of the battlefield had risen and perishedreduced to a wandering tribe the nation which alone of her invadershad given peace and hope to Italy which alone had reverenced andupheld the laws polity culture of Rome would soon it was thoughtbe utterly destroyed or vanish in flight beyond the Alps Yet war didnot come to an end In the plain of the great river there was once morea chieftain whom the Goths had raised upon their shields a king mensaid glorious in youth and strength and able even yet to worst theEmperors generals His fame increased Ere long he was known to bemoving southward to have crossed the Apennines to have won a battlein Etruria The name of this young hero was TotilaIn these days the senators of Rome heirs to a title whose ancientpower and dignity were halfforgotten abode within the City underconstraint disguised as honour the conquerors hostages One amongthem of noblest name Flavius Anicius Maximus broken in health by thetroubles of the time and by private sorrow languishing all but untodeath in the heavy air of the Tiber was permitted to seek relief in avisit to which he would of his domains in Italy His birth his reputegave warrant of loyalty to the empire and his coffers furnished theprice put upon such a favour by Byzantine greed Maximus chose forrefuge his villa by the Campanian shore vast beautiful half in ruinwhich had been enjoyed by generations of the Anician family situatedabove the little town of Surrentum it caught the cooler breeze and onits mountainous promontory lay apart from the tramp of armies Here assummer burned into autumn the sick man lived in brooding silencefeeling his strength waste and holding to the world only by one desireThe household comprised his unwedded sister Petronilla a lady inmiddle age his nephew Basil and another kinsman Decius a studentand an invalid together with a physician certain freedmen whorendered services of trust a eunuch at the Command of Petronilla andthe usual body of male and female slaves Some score of glebeboundpeasants cultivated the large estate for their lords behoofNotwithstanding the distress that had fallen upon the Roman nobilitymany of whom were sunk into indigence the chief of the Anicii stillcontrolled large means and the disposal of these possessions at hisdeath was matter of interest to many personsnot least to the clergyof Rome who found in the dying mans sister a piously tenaciousadvocate Children had been born to Maximus but the only son whoreached mature years fell a victim to pestilence when Vitiges wascamped about the City There survived one daughter Aurelia Her thefather had not seen for years her he longed to see and to pardon erehe died For Aurelia widowed of her first husband in early youth hadused her liberty to love and wed a flaxenhaired barbarian a lord ofthe Goths and worse still had renounced the Catholic faith for thereligion of the Gothic people that heresy of Arianism condemned andabhorred by Rome In Consequence she became an outcast from her kithand kin Her husband commanded in the city of Cumae hard by NeapolisWhen this stronghold fell before the advance of Belisarius the Gothescaped soon after to die in battle Aurelia a captive of theConquerors remained at Cumae and still was living there though nolonger under restraint Because of its strength this ancient citybecame the retreat of many ladies who fled from Rome before thehardships and perils of the siege from them the proud and unhappywoman ever held apart yet she refused to quit the town when she wouldhave been permitted to do so From his terrace above the Surrentineshore Maximus gazed across the broad gulf to the hills that concealedCumae yearning for the last of his children When at length