flight, even though it bring safety. For while
it is impossible for a man who has seen the light not
also to die, for one who has been an emperor it is
unendurable to be a fugitive. May I never be
separated from this purple, and may I not live that
day on which those who meet me shall not address me
as mistress. If, now, it is your wish to save
yourself, O Emperor, there is no difficulty. For
we have much money, and there is the sea, here the
boats. However consider whether it will not come
about after you have been saved that you would gladly
exchange that safety for death. For as for myself,
I approve a certain ancient saying that royalty is
a good burial-shroud.” When the queen had
spoken thus, all were filled with boldness, and, turning
their thoughts towards resistance, they began to consider
how they might be able to defend themselves if any
hostile force should come against them. Now the
soldiers as a body, including those who were stationed
about the emperor’s court, were neither well
disposed to the emperor nor willing openly to take
an active part in fighting, but were waiting for what
the future would bring forth. All the hopes of
the emperor were centred upon Belisarius and Mundus,
of whom the former, Belisarius, had recently returned
from the Persian war bringing with him a following
which was both powerful and imposing, and in particular
he had a great number of spearmen and guards who had
received their training in battles and the perils
of warfare. Mundus had been appointed general
of the Illyrians, and by mere chance had happened
to come under summons to Byzantium on some necessary
errand, bringing with him Erulian barbarians.
When Hypatius reached the hippodrome, he went up immediately
to where the emperor is accustomed to take his place
and seated himself on the royal throne from which
the emperor was always accustomed to view the equestrian
and athletic contests. And from the palace Mundus
went out through the gate which, from the circling
descent, has been given the name of the Snail.
Belisarius meanwhile began at first to go straight
up toward Hypatius himself and the royal throne, and
when he came to the adjoining structure where there
has been a guard of soldiers from of old, he cried
out to the soldiers commanding them to open the door
for him as quickly as possible, in order that he might
go against the tyrant. But since the soldiers
had decided to support neither side, until one of
them should be manifestly victorious, they pretended
not to hear at all and thus put him off. So Belisarius
returned to the emperor and declared that the day
was lost for them, for the soldiers who guarded the
palace were rebelling against him. The emperor
therefore commanded him to go to the so-called Bronze
Gate and the propylaea there. So Belisarius,
with difficulty and not without danger and great exertion,
made his way over ground covered by ruins and half-burned
buildings, and ascended to the stadium. And when