And they did rise. Among the remnant of the race was left a hero,
Totila by name;--a Teuton of the ancient stamp. Totilas, 'free from
death'--'the deathless one,' they say his name means. Under him the
nation rose once more as out of the ground.

A Teuton of the ancient stamp he was, just and merciful exceedingly.
Take but two instances of him, and know the man by them. He retook
Naples. The Romans within were starving. He fed them; but lest they
should die of the sudden repletion, he kept them in by guards at each
gate, and fed them up more and more each day, till it was safe to let
them out, to find food for themselves in the country. A Roman came
to complain that a Goth had violated his daughter. He shall die,
said Totila. He shall not die, said the Goths. He is a valiant
hero. They came clamouring to the king. He answered them quietly
and firmly. They may choose to-day, whether to let this man go
unpunished, or to save the Gothic nation and win the victory. Do
they not recollect how at the beginning of the war, they had brave
soldiers, famous generals, countless treasures, horses, weapons, and
all the forts of Italy? And yet under Theodatus, a man who loved
gold better than justice, they had so angered God by their
unrighteous lives, that--what had happened they knew but too well.
Now God had seemed to have avenged himself on them enough. He had
begun a new course with them. They must begin a new course with him;
and justice was the only path. As for the man's being a valiant
hero: let them know that the unjust and the ravisher were never
brave in fight; but that according to a man's life, such was his luck
in battle.

His noble words came all but true. The feeble generals who were
filling Belisarius's place were beaten one by one, and almost all