Cethegus looked at him with astonishment, and quoted Homer's words: "'Truly thou hast spoken a terrible word, thou mighty one!' You never-to-be-satisfied man! Is it so hard for you to leave a battle-field without victory? No, Belisarius. There beckon the ramparts of Rome. Thither lead your harassed men. I will keep the pass until you have reached the city; and I shall be glad if I can succeed in doing so." And so it was arranged. Under such circumstances Belisarius was less than ever able to oppose the will of the Prefect. So he yielded, and led his army back to Rome, where he arrived at nightfall. For a long time he was refused admittance; for, covered with dust and blood, it was difficult to recognise him, and many fugitives had brought word from the field of battle that the commander had fallen, and that all was lost. At last Antonina, who waited anxiously upon the walls, recognised her husband. He was admitted at the Pincian Gate, which was afterwards named Porta Belisaria. Beacons on the walls, between the Flaminian and Pincian Grates, announced his entrance to Cethegus, who then, under cover of night, accomplished his retreat in good order, scarcely followed by the wearied victors. Teja alone, with a few of his horsemen, pressed forward to the hilly country, where the Villa Borghese is now situated, and as far as the Aqua Acetosa. CHAPTER VII. The following day the immense army of the Goths appeared before the walls of the Eternal City, which it surrounded in seven camps. And now began that memorable siege, which was to develop the military talent and inventive genius of Belisarius no less than the courage of the besiegers. The citizens of Rome had with consternation beheld from the walls the interminable march of the Goths. "Look, Prefect, they outflank all your walls." "Yes, in breadth! but in height? They cannot get over them without wings." Witichis had left only two thousand men behind in Ravenna; eight thousand he had sent, under Earl Uligis of Urbssalvia, and Earl Ansa of Asculum, to Dalmatia, to wrest that province and Liburnia from the Byzantines, and to reconquer the strong fortress of Salona. These troops were to be reinforced by mercenaries recruited in Savia. The Gothic fleet--against Teja's advice--was also to repair thither, and not to Portus, the harbour of Rome. But the King now surrounded, with a hundred and fifty thousand warriors, the city of Rome and its far-stretching ramparts, the walls of Aurelian and the Prefect. Rome had at that time fifteen principal gates and a few smaller ones.