"I will
not relinquish the siege," he cried, "until I have delivered to me all
the gold and silver in the city, all the household goods in it, and all
the slaves from the northern countries." "What then, O King, will you
leave us?" asked our amazed ambassadors. "YOUR LIVES!" answered the
implacable Goth. Hearing this, even the resolute Basilius and the wise
Johannes despaired. They asked time to communicate with the Senate, and
left the camp of the enemy without further delay. Such was the end of
the embassy; such the arrogant ferocity of the barbarian foe!'
Here the Prefect paused, from sheer weakness and want of breath. His
oration, however, was not concluded. He had disheartened the people by
his narrative of what had occurred to the ambassadors; he now proceeded
to console them by his relation of what had occurred to himself, when,
after an interval, he thus resumed:--
'But even yet, O citizens of Rome, it is not time to despair! There is
another chance of deliverance still left to us, and that chance has been
discovered by me.
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