Then it was that Basil, representing his father in the Imperial
mission, came face to face with Belisarius, and conceived a
boundless enthusiasm for the great commander, whose personal
qualities--the large courtesy, the ready kindliness, the frequent
laugh--made intimate appeal to one of his disposition. He stayed
in the camp before Ravenna until the city surrendered, and no one
listened with more ardent approval to the suggestion which began as
a whisper between Italians and Goths that Belisarius should accept
the purple of the Western Empire. This, to be sure, would have been
treachery, but treachery against Justinian seemed a small thing to
Basil, and a thing of no moment at all when one thought of Rome as
once more an Imperial city, and Italy with such a ruler as the
laurelled Patricius. Treachery the general did commit, but not
against Byzantium. Having made pretence of accepting the crown which
the Goths offered him, he entered into Ravenna, took possession in
Justinian's name, and presently sailed for the East, carrying with
him the King Vitiges and his wife Matasuntha, grand-daughter of
Theodoric.
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