apart an estate for him to live upon, and the conquered king passed
the rest of his life in peaceful retirement.

After conquering the Vandals Justinian resolved to conquer Italy,
which was then held by the Ostrogoths. A large army was got
together and put under the command of Belisarius and Narses, who
immediately set out for Italy. When they arrived there they marched
straight to Rome, and after some fighting took possession of the
city. But in a few months, Vitiges (vit'-i-ges), king of the Goths,
appeared with an army before the gates and challenged Belisarius
and Narses to come out and fight.

The Roman generals, however, were not then ready to fight, and so
the Ostrogoth king laid siege to the city, thinking that he would
compel the Romans to surrender.

But instead of having any thought of surrender, Belisarius was
preparing his men for fight, and when they were ready he attacked
Vitiges and defeated him. Vitiges retired to Ravenna, and
Belisarius quickly followed, and made such an assault on the city
that it was compelled to surrender. The Ostrogoth army was captured,
and Vitiges was taken to Constantinople a prisoner.

Belisarius and Narses then went to Northern Italy, and, after a long
war, conquered all the tribes there. Thus the power of Justinian
was established throughout the whole country, and the city of Rome
was again under the dominion of a Roman emperor.

While his brave generals were winning these victories for the Empire,
Justinian himself was busy in making improvements of various kinds