The student spoke again.
'Basil, leave Rome.'
'It is forbidden,' answered the other dully, his face averted.
'Many things are forbidden which none the less are done. Did you
learn that Veranilda awaited you at Asculum, how long would it be
before you set forth?'
'Not one hour, good Decius.'
'Even. so. You would pass the gates disguised as a peasant or as a
woman--no matter how. Will you do less to save all that makes life
dear to an honourable man? Be gone, be gone, I entreat you.'
'Whither?'
'To Picenum, which is not yet subject to the Goths. There gather
your capable men and arm them, and send to the King Totila, offering
to serve him where he will, and how he will. You know,' pursued
Decius earnestly, 'that I speak this something against my
conscience, but, alas! we can only choose between evils, and I think
Totila is less of a tyrant than Justinian. You will not go to
Constantinople, nor would I bid you, for there, assuredly, is
nothing to be done worthy of a man; but you must act, or you perish.
For me, a weakling and a dreamer, there is solace in the _vita
umbratilis_; to you, it is naught.
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