The Goth King had adopted the Belisarian policy with the natives; even in Naples, which by the laws of war he had the right to sack, Totila had avoided punishing them for holding out against him. He did the very opposite to a population near to starvation, bringing in food with which to feed them and even controlling the distribution to avoid the kind of sudden overeating which could kill. He had shown clemency to the Byzantine garrison by allowing them to march out with their equipment for Rome, and given many were now locally recruited this spread the word to the Italians of a wise and temperate ruler.
By the time Flavius reached Salona on the coast of Illyria, recruitment by bounty in that province had quadrupled his forces but that counted for little in a situation in which matters had deteriorated. If he was to be successful, it rested on the men he had been appointed to command and they, even those who had served with him previously, were no longer the homogeneous body he required.
Declining to cross the Adriatic by sea he decided to take the land route to Ravenna but before he moved pressure on several Italian garrisons obliged him to send supplies to avoid unnecessary surrenders. That did not stop the rot; certain places were not only opening their gates, they were going over to an enemy who seemed to gain in strength as Flavius struggled.
On reaching Ravenna he found it hard to persuade the non-Totila Goths to take service under his banner, and even worse the Byzantine soldiers stationed there also declined, a blow that no amount of reassurance from his domesticus could soften.
‘You are still held in high regard.’
‘Am I, Solomon?’
‘The men here who once served under you remember your care for their welfare and they are more than willing to attest to it for those who did not, Goths included.’
‘Yet not a single man saw fit to attach themselves to my standard,’ Flavius muttered.
‘It is their present leaders they do not trust. They are certain that at some time in the future you will be recalled and they will once more fall under the command of generals who do not act as you do. These are men whom they have also refused to serve. It is not you alone.’
‘Then,’ Flavius sighed, ‘we must show to them that there is gain in fighting with me.’
That was an aim easier enunciated than achieved and really it was as much an answer to inactivity as any desire to impress. All that could be despatched were small parties of troops, never more than a thousand at a time, to seek to apply pressure on Totila that would have him move to counter it, thus relieving stress on strongholds like Rome.
Even if he was not personally present, some of the magic which had attached to his name seemed still to prevail. Vitalius, the magister who had aided him in raising troops in Illyricum, was sent with those levies into the province of Amelia to tie down the garrison in Bononia, which allowed him to exert control over the surrounding, supremely fertile area. This forced Totila to send a superior force to dislodge them.
Appraised of the Goth approach, Vitalius set up a series of ambushes that nullified their numbers, which led to repeated encounters in which the Goths were decimated, till over time their strength was utterly diminished. Just at the moment of ultimate success, the levies from Illyricum decided to go home, being in receipt of news that the Huns were ravaging their homelands. Vitalius had no choice but to withdraw in haste.
The next move saw a thousand men sent out under the command of Thurimuth, the leader of Flavius’s bodyguards. They were despatched to the hilltop town of Auximus, under siege by Totila and held by Flavius’s old comrade Magnus. Having succeeded in getting into the town it was decided to mount a series of sorties to assess the full strength of the enemy. Enjoying mixed success, such raids did establish that even reinforced Magnus had insufficient numbers to break the siege.
Those same reinforcements imposed a strain on the supplies needed to hold out and avoid surrender due to starvation, so it was decided they would be of more use outside the walls. Unware that some spy had told the Goths of the plan, they left by night and ran straight into an ambush in which they lost a full tenth of their effectives as well as all their supplies, the survivors forced to flee for Arminium.
Flavius, meanwhile, had been restoring two fortresses long ago destroyed by Witigis, rebuilding the walls and installing new and stout gates. This again was a ploy Totila could not ignore and he set out to reverse the move by an all-out assault, only to be repulsed and obliged to pull back. If that was a positive there was another side to the coin: Flavius had used up all his men and was now in a position to do no more.
His only act was to send to Rome and order Bessas, in command there, to remain entirely on the defensive and to avoid entanglements outside the walls, but it was plain to the simplest eye that he was stymied. Totila held the initiative and until Flavius was reinforced that would remain the case.
John Vitalianus was still in Italy. He might be prone to insubordination but he had strong connections at court, especially with Narses, so he was despatched back to Constantinople to beg for men and weapons. That took time and in the interim, despite the fact that it was right on the cusp of winter, the pendulum swum decisively against Byzantium.
The fortresses so carefully restored by Flavius could not be supplied and were, when besieged a second time, forced to surrender, Flavius lacking the manpower to intervene. These losses were closely followed by two more with only Perusia holding out and that despite the death of the man in command; yet there was even worse news to follow: Totila was marching on Rome.
Aware he did not have the means to counter this, Flavius recrossed the Adriatic in order to both recruit and seek his requested reinforcements from Constantinople. There he was informed that Vitalianus, too long about the task set for him, had taken time to marry the daughter of one of Justinian’s nephews, his anger only assuaged when it became plain that with trouble on every border the men just did not exist to aid his cause.
When the time came to return to Italy, with most of the campaigning season already gone, that had eased enough to bring him soldiers, if not enough. Flavius knew he must somehow succour Rome and keep it in imperial control, yet the same applied to Apulia and Calabria. Much as he did not want to split his limited forces he had no choice but to send a substantial body under John Vitalianus, who was at least an enterprising and active officer, to secure the southern provinces.
The tactics used by Witigis, Totila had replicated. Camps were built opposite the eastern gates of Rome, the Milvian Bridge was strongly held and once more there was a Goth presence on the Plains of Nero. Like his predecessor, but with more alacrity, he took control of the route to Portus, as well as taking other steps to cut Rome off from any chance of supply, which would eventually mean starvation for the densely populated city.
Before long, within the walls, the citizenry were pleading with Bessas to release the massive amount of food he had stockpiled for his troops. This he declined to do but he did nothing to stop his soldiers selling part of their rations at inflated prices to those in dire need, creating an atmosphere of distrust that could only have one outcome, a crisis made worse by the approach, once more, of winter.
Flavius had possession of Portus itself, but there was that bar across the route, known to be lightly held and needing to be broken. He despatched a body of men, five hundred in number, led by Phocas, another member of his bodyguard, to join troops already holding the town. Word was sent to Bessas of their intention to attack the Goth camp and when, with a request that he sally out to combine with them.