CHAPTER XXIV

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PIETY OF NARSES

PHOCOPIUS also describes the expedition of Narses, who was sent by Justinian into Italy; how he overthrew Totila and afterwards Teia; and how Rome was taken for the fifth time. Those about the person of Narses affirm that he used to propitiate the Deity with prayers and other acts of piety, paying due honour also to the Virgin and mother of God, so that she distinctly announced to him the proper season for action; and that Narses never engaged until he had received the signal from her. He recounts also other distinguished exploits of Narses in the overthrow of Buselinus and Syndualdus, and the acquisition of nearly the whole country as far as the ocean. These transactions have been recounted by Agathias the Rhetorician, but his history has not reached our hands.