@stuka80

2 years ago

In the excellent book "Count Belisarius" the author wrote in very great detail the many incidents regarding the siege of Rome. He writes about how Belisarius's Moorish soldiers who he hired from North Africa would conduct hunts at night to kill Goths that wandered off from their camps. Hiding near latrines or ditches and surprising small groups of Goths. The Goths became so terrified of the Moors that they didnt dare wander off from their camps at night. The book also details a few individual incidents during the many cavalry raids that Belisarius conducted against the Gothic siege lines. A few excerpts; ".....Belisarius conducts a brief skirmish at one of the gates, his Houshold Regiment was heavily engaged and on their return that evening, two of the cuirassiers presented an extraordinary sight. One of them, Arzes, a Persian formerly belonging to the Immortals, came riding back with an arrow sunk to his face close to the nose; and another, a Thracian named Cutilas, came back with a javeline sticking in his head and waving about like a plume. Neither of them paid the least bit attention to these wounds but had continued to fight indefatigably, to the horror and alarm of the Goths who cried "these are not men but demons". The javeline was afterwards removed from Cutilas's head by a surgeon but the wound grew inflamed and he died two days later. Arzes however was examined by the same surgeon who pressed the back of his neck and asked; "does this pressure hurt"? Yes, replied Arzes. Then the surgeon opened the skin at the back of his neck, found the point and began to draw the arrow through, barb and all. Arzes fainted from the pain but his blood was healthy, the wound healed up without any suppuration. He led the next sally and survived the war." on another occasion "upon receiving 1,600 reinforcemets Belisarius did not wish the new arrivals to feel cooped up in the city like prisoners. He staged a demonstration for their benefit. He sent out in broad daylight from the Salarian Gate 200 of his Houshold cuirassiers under an Illyrian named Trajan, a troop commander and a wonderfully cool fellow. These men galloped to a little hill near the walls and formed a ring. Out rushed the indignant Goths from the nearest camp. Snatching up weapons and horses in eagerness to attack them. In short time Trajan's men had shot 4,000 arrows into their disorderly column and killed or wounded 800 horsemen. As soon as the Gothic infantry got near, Trajans men galloped off shooting from the saddle. They accounted for 200 more Goths before they returned without a single casualty. The Goth horsemen were only armed with lance and sword and their archers wore no armor and would go nowhere without the protection of mail clad spearmen which were very slow of foot. Its no wonder Trajans men had it all their way. The following days more of these raids were conducted. In these skirmishes the Goths lost 4,000 men yet the Goth king Wittich did not draw the conclusion as to their inferior equipment believing the Romans success was merely due to daring. He ordered 500 of his own Royal Lancers to make a similar demonstration on a hill near the Asinarian Gate. In response, Belisarius sent out a thousand Thracian cavalry under Bessas. The Goths were shot to pieces hardly a hundred escaped back to their camp." "On another occassion, Trajan, the troop commander whos exploits i have already mentioned, was pierced close above the right eye and above the nose by a long barbed head of an arrow. The shaft had been insecurely fastened to it and fell off at the moment of impact. Trajan continued fighting. For days and months after his comrades expected him to drop dead at any moment. But he lived on and suffered no pain or inconvenience, though the barbed head remained imbedded in his flesh. Five years later it began to slowly emerge again. Twelve years more and he was able to pluck it out like a thorn".

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