Triumph

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It was fanciful to think that his secretary would stay silent; no great depth of perception was required to recognise that he had a hand deep in the whole approach. Those Goth noblemen had come to Flavius through him and there was a nagging doubt as to who had initiated the notion. Had Procopius sought them out or was it, as had been implied, the other way round? The former was the most troubling and a restless night did nothing to help settle the mind.

Despite their fraught relationship, Flavius still breakfasted and dined with Antonina – appearances had to be maintained and they did share a villa. Over that meal she began to question him as to what was to happen next, which also served to make her husband uncomfortable. How much did she know? His wife was a very acute observer of both mood and movement, who was not beyond listening at doors. She had spent time with Domnicus and would know in detail what were his instructions from Justinian and how they had been overborne.

Hints that refusing to bend to the imperial will was a dangerous game were mixed with sly enquiries as to what he might hope to gain from such an attitude. Did they hint at knowledge and if so where could it have come from? Procopius would never give her any information, but Antonina was well able to browbeat servants into indiscretions and very often that was unnecessary.

As a group they were numerous and ever the enemy of secrecy, being all around, silent and often having their presence ignored, a point made to Procopius when he and his master were once more alone. For the sake of security this took place in the open air, walking through lines in which the tents were empty, the soldiers being at their daily exercises.

‘Nothing was said that would be overheard by my servants and I ensured none of your own, or those of your wife, were able to witness the arrival of that embassy.’

‘Embassy?’ asked Flavius, it being an odd word to use, implying that he was already a ruler. ‘Do I qualify for such a thing?’

Procopius let that pointed observation go by. ‘As long as you maintain the fiction I presented, that these envoys are Romans, that should keep matters secure. As you will have observed, their leader spoke excellent Latin and the others, who have heavy Goth accents, did not utter a word from their arrival to their departure.’

‘Present, I assume, only to ensure their spokesman did not betray their cause?’

‘Probably.’

‘What a polity they wish me to oversee.’

‘Perhaps it is one that in the right hands could be improved and I doubt it is any worse than pertains in the imperial court. The men who came to see you have certain fears that would be laid to rest by acceptance of what they offer.’ The look that got was an instruction to be specific. ‘What will they lose if they merely surrender? Their wealth, certainly, both individually and as a tribe, just as did the Vandals when you took their treasure.’

‘What else?’

‘They fear to be sent to the east as captives, with no chance of ever being able to return. They would thus be split from everything they hold as precious.’ The pause that followed, covering several paces and accompanied by a studied countenance, had an overdramatic quality. ‘I am bound to enquire, Magister, which way your mind is working?’

‘As of this moment, Procopius, it is not working at all.’

As an attempt to deflect further question that was a complete failure, and now Procopius adopted a grave expression as he made what had to be to him a point of some importance. ‘Am I at liberty to say that whatever you decide has some bearing on my station?’

‘I have never known you shirk such a liberty.’

The laugh that accompanied those words, again an attempt at deflection, also fell flat. Procopius had to swiftly adjust what had become an angry expression brought on by the way his concerns were being dismissed.

‘Then I ask to be allowed to outline the options you face.’

‘Which makes it sound to me as if you are in favour of acceptance.’

‘There are arguments on both sides. All I ask is that I be allowed to express matters as I see them in order to aid you, which is a function I have previously enjoyed and one I hope you have found useful.’

‘It is unlike you to go fishing for praise.’

His secretary took that as permission to proceed, which if it annoyed Flavius, left him unable to stop the flow of words that followed.

‘It would be impossible to deny that you deserve the offer made to you. Recall with what numbers we arrived in Italy. How many gave the force under your command any chance of success? Few, and perhaps with myself as one of them.’ That engendered a dismissive and slightly embarrassed wave. ‘I hope you do not doubt my loyalty to you personally.’

‘How could I, since it is daily demonstrated? If I have campaigned successfully, Procopius, I have done so only because of men like you. It takes more than soldiers to win a war and you have matched my very best fighters.’

‘I have seen it as an honour, Magister, though your kind words encourage me to continue to air my thoughts.’

If Procopius noted the weary quality of the response it had no bearing on the way he spoke; he was earnest, occasionally passionate, and not beyond insults aimed at the imperial couple.

‘Theodora hates you and is jealous. No matter how well you behave she will see in your every action betrayal – and does Justinian, whom you call a friend, put a stop to this? No! He allows his wife to traduce the man who helped to save both their lives and their thrones.’

‘I was not alone in that.’

‘But if you had not acted, would others have been so keen to protect them from the Nika mob?’

‘It is a mistake to underestimate Theodora, Procopius. Justinian was all for flight, a ship was waiting in the palace harbour. It was she who was prepared to stay and die rather than run away.’

‘And you admire her for that?’

‘How could I not?’

‘Did you also have reason to admire Justinian?’ Flavius had stopped at the horse lines and, having brought with him a small sack of carrots, the next part of the conversation was accompanied by the crunching of equine teeth. ‘I have never made a secret of my opinion of our emperor, have I, Magister?’

‘No.’

‘And you have served him faithfully.’

‘I have done my duty as a soldier of the empire.’

‘Not without frustrations.’

The last carrot gone, Flavius turned to face Procopius. ‘I tire of this, so please come to the point. You know I value your advice and it is obvious to me you want to give it to me. So no more hints, Procopius, speak out.’

‘Even if what I say might be treason?’

‘We are alone, no one can overhear you and I will never use against you anything you now say, on that you have my word.’

‘Do I detect from that you are minded to consider the offer the Goths have made?’

It was now the turn of Flavius to be irritated and his response was severe. ‘That is a question I have already answered!’

Another long pause followed as Procopius marshalled his thoughts, and he even, again Flavius thought dramatically, took a deep breath before continuing.

‘If I was to make a case for acceptance it would be on these points and I ask for your indulgence beforehand if in talking I stray into areas of a personal nature. First, it is my opinion that you serve an emperor who does not know your worth and that is made worse by the suspicions of a woman whose opinion should count for nothing.’

‘But they do.’

‘Theodora has reason in her own mind to fear you. The success you have enjoyed leading our armies, the way you are popular with the people and your patent honesty make you a candidate to succeed Justinian should the Emperor die, and where would the power of Theodora be then?’

‘I am glad you say “succeed”.’

‘I know you too well to suggest otherwise, even if I find your loyalty to that throne misplaced, yet that is not the subject on which I wish to pronounce. What do you gain by accepting the offer made to you? Equality with the Emperor instead of subservience to a man so fickle no person can know his mood from one moment to the next, as well as a ruler so weak in his bedchamber he will allow his spouse to conspire against the most upright of his generals.’

‘It is probably wise to leave bedchambers out of this.’

‘And what of his public behaviour? When you were given the consulship it was done in a manner designed to say that if you had enjoyed great victories, then it was under his hand and his guidance.’

‘It was still a great honour, Procopius.’

‘It was shabbily given and how much was Theodora’s hand in that, a woman who has trapped you into marriage that has within it more misery than regard and will do all in her power to keep it so.’

‘Photius thinks I should kill them both.’

‘Without pausing to consider what would happen to you?’

‘That is not the reason I do not act upon his counsel.’

‘Honour again?’

‘Sacrilege!’ came the near shouted reply. ‘How could I face my maker with such an act on my conscience, as if I do not have enough already?’

‘Would you not, as a ruler in your own right, be able to put Antonina aside? Perhaps you could find a warmer bed mate, for it aids a man to be so comforted.’

‘But not you?’

‘There are needs I do not require, as other men do, inclinations that render them weak.’ That got a snort from Flavius. ‘In ploughing my own furrow I am free to act effectively.’

‘And advise me to accept the kingship of the Goths.’ There was no response so Flavius was obliged to ask the next obvious question. ‘And what about Emperor of the West?’

‘It would be impolitic to assume such a title immediately, but if you ruled Italy, Justinian would be obliged to treat with you.’

‘Or send an army to defeat me.’

‘One he would struggle to raise with trouble brewing on the Persian border.’

‘So there I am treating with Justinian, for what?’

‘Peace, security, recognition of the kind once enjoyed by Theodoric the Great.’

‘And if it came to war?’

‘You command the best army the empire can field and you are its best general. How many of the citizens love Justinian? Even fewer have any regard for Theodora. If he does not grant you peace he risks that you march on Constantinople, and I would wager that if you were to do that the citizens of the city would overthrow Justinian in favour of you.’

‘I marched on Constantinople once before, Procopius, and was full of hope till I saw its walls.’

‘While I maintain it would fall from within if you were the man to besiege it. Recall when you walked or rode unescorted through the streets how people hailed you. Neither Justinian nor Theodora dare move without a large number of guards. I would also add, Magister, that the object of unification of the twin parts of the empire, to which both you and Justinian are wedded, would be just as valid, perhaps even more so, under an Emperor Flavius Belisarius.’

‘How many necks would I have to sever to realise that vision?’

‘How many deserve to have their heads removed?’

‘You and I perhaps, Procopius, for even discussing this.’

Seeing the secretary about to speak Flavius held up a hand to stop him, not least because their promenade had brought them full circle to where they were now approaching the building that acted as the Byzantine headquarters. Within the walls would be assembled his senior officers for the conference that took place every day, and those men would be eager to hear what was to happen regarding the capture of Ravenna.

‘I have enough to consider, perhaps too much, but I have one question to pose to you. If this dream of yours came to fruition, where would you see yourself?’

‘In your service, as I am now.’

‘But richer?’

‘A matter in which I have little interest.’

That was true, as far as Flavius knew. Procopius was not one to turn away a chance to make money. He never sought to hide the bribes he was offered to open doors to an audience with his master, who, ever since he began campaigning in North Africa, had a horde of folk pleading for him to intercede and solve their problems. Much of that sort of problem never even reached his ears; Procopius had dealt with them and in the nature of things had been given many presents for his actions, all of these declared and shared.

‘More powerful?’

‘When I look at the empire, Magister, I see many things that I would be desirous of changing. So the power to effect such would be satisfying, yes.’

During the conference Flavius made no mention of the Goth offer. Instead he and his fellow leaders discussed how Ravenna might be taken by assault, though no one thought it to be easy. The city had been chosen as the capital by the Emperor Honorius for several reasons, not least that being on the Adriatic favoured communication with Constantinople and made imperial rule less arduous.

Yet the main motivation, in a time of barbarian incursions into the north of Italy, was its natural defensibility. Ravenna was surrounded by marshes, which made it impossible to truly invest. The city, with such watery barriers had no need of high walls and it would even now be impossible to overcome if the Goths had enjoyed access to the sea, presently denied to them by a Byzantine fleet.

Flavius found it difficult to concentrate as he listened to the various proposals, some of them sound in purpose if difficult in conclusion, as well as one or two bordering on a mad desire for personal glory. The words he had exchanged with Procopius as well as the points made by his secretary rattled around in his head, made troubling by the fact that much of what had been said was nothing but the plain truth.

Those same envoys would come again tonight and he had to provide them with an answer, but he resolved to do more; to draw out from them what other concerns they had so they could be dealt with. He brought the conference to a conclusion by suggesting that if no word came from Witigis by the following day, a message should be sent inviting him to surrender.

‘And in case you think it is only that, surrender will mean the impoverishment of the nobles as well as the citizens of Ravenna.’

That satisfied the most gory-minded of his commanders; blood they loved to spill but what might accrue to their coffers was just as important, even if it had to be paraded through the streets of Constantinople to be gawped at by the mob. As had happened with the treasure of the Vandals, a hoard plundered from the whole of Roman Europe over two centuries, the Emperor was obliged, once the crowd had been afforded their glimpse of such fabulous wealth, to share the spoils of war with those who fought and won his battles.

The prospect of the forthcoming meeting was not aided by the information that Antonina was planning one of her entertainments and her refusal to put it off. She had invited dozens of officers, many of them young and junior, as well as some of the more refined women who had become camp followers: Roman and Goth war widows, often from places taken by Flavius Belisarius and his armies, who traded their bodies for food, comfort and, it had to be admitted, sometimes for love.

‘You are a dullard,’ was her response when Flavius declined to attend, even for a short while.

‘You dazzle enough for both of us,’ was the diplomatic reply as his wife flounced out in a huff.

The sounds of that entertainment lay in the background as Procopius led the trio of Goth nobles into his private chamber once more, this a more bustling entrance than hitherto. The first words imparted told Flavius that Witigis was in full agreement to the proposal and would relinquish his power in favour of his enemy as long as certain conditions were met.

Flavius allowed them to be stated, the primary condition germane as to whether he accepted the kingship or not and that related to their treasury. How could he take that from them when it would be partly his own? Likewise, if he left the service of Justinian he would be a fool indeed to surrender to the Emperor any of the men he might need to hold on to his claim.

That stated, the time had come for an answer to the most important question of all. Would he agree to become King of the Goths? The eyes of four men were upon him, unblinking, and Flavius had the impression he was the only person breathing.

‘I am minded to accept, but not here and not in this room. Such a commitment can only be made when Witigis is present and able to formally announce, before his nobles, that he is standing aside. It is to that same body I must make my pledges.’

‘On the treasure and us and our fellow nobles retaining our freedom?’

‘Those would naturally be granted at the same time.’

For a man who could address a whole army, that last remark was so softly pronounced as to risk the need for repetition. The faces of the Goths, once their Latin speaker had repeated them, relaxed enough to allow them to nod, while Procopius could not stop the slight smile which adorned his face.

‘I bid you return to Ravenna and convey this to those to whom you must report. I must myself go to join my wife who is, as you can no doubt hear, entertaining our guests. It would be impolitic to stay away too long and perhaps set minds thinking when we still have a need for concealment.’

The envoys seemed to understand and accept this; they had limited knowledge of his private life. It was Procopius who had the strange expression, no longer smiling, he was looking at his master with troubled curiosity.

‘A word, Magister, after I have seen these men safely out of our lines?’

‘In the morning, Procopius, unless you would care to join Antonina and I.’