We are not yet done with the story of this distinguished warrior.  Bertarit had taken the field against him, and civil war desolated Lombardy, an unhappy state of affairs which was soon taken advantage of by the foes of the distracted kingdom.  The enemy who now appeared in the field was Constans, the Greek emperor, who laid siege to Benevento, hoping to capture it while Grimoald was engaged in hostilities with Bertarit in the north.

Grimoald had left his son, Romuald, in charge of the city.  On learning of the siege he despatched a trusty friend and officer, Sesuald by name, with some troops, to the relief of the beleaguered stronghold, proposing to follow quickly himself with the main body of his army.

And now occurred an event nobly worthy of being recorded in the annals of human probity and faithfulness, one little known, but deserving to be classed with those that have become famous in history.  When men erect monuments to courage and virtue, the noble Sesuald should not be forgotten.

This brave man fell into the hands of the emperor, who sought to use him in a stratagem to obtain possession of Benevento.  He promised him an abundance of wealth and honors if he would tell Romuald that his father had died in battle, and persuade him to surrender the city.  Sesuald seems to have agreed, for he was led to the walls of the city that he might hold the desired conference with Romuald.  Instead, however, of carrying out the emperor’s design, he cried out to the young chief, “Be firm, Grimoald approaches”; then, hastily telling him that he had forfeited his life by those words, he begged him in return to protect his wife and children, as the last service he could render him.

Sesuald was right.  Constans, furious at his words, had his head instantly struck off; and then, with a barbarism worthy of the times, had it flung from a catapult into the heart of the city.  The ghastly trophy was brought to Romuald, who pressed it to his lips, and deeply deplored the death of his father’s faithful friend.

This was the last effort of the emperor.  Fearing to await the arrival of Grimoald, he raised the siege and retreated towards Naples, hotly pursued by the Lombards.  The army of Grimoald came up with the retreating Greeks, and a battle was imminent, when a Lombard warrior of giant size, Amalong by name, spurring upon a Greek, lifted him from the saddle with his lance, and rode on holding him poised in the air.  The sight of this feat filled the remaining Greeks with such terror that they broke and fled, and their hasty retreat did not cease till they had found shelter in Sicily.

After this event Bertarit, finding it useless to contend longer against his powerful and able opponent, submitted to Grimoald.  Yet this did not end their hostile relations.  The Lombard king, distrusting his late foe, of whose treacherous disposition he already had abundant evidence, laid a plan to get rid of him by murdering him in his bed.  This plot was discovered by a servant of the imperilled prince, who aided his master to escape, and, the better to secure his retreat, placed himself in his bed, being willing to risk death in his lord’s service.