BELISARIUS, general of the emperor Justinian's

army, who overthrew the Persians in the east, the
Vandals in Africa, and the Goths in Italy. See Roma.
But after all his great exploits, he was falsely accused
of a conspiracy against the emperor. The real conspi-
rators had been detected and seized, with daggers hid-
den under their garments. One of them died by his
own hand, and the other was dragged from the sanc-
tuary. Pressed by remorse, or tempted by the hopes
of safety, he accused two officers of the household of
Belisarius; and torture forced them to declare that
they had acted according to the secret instructions of
their patron. Posterity will not hastily believe, that a
hero who in the vigour of life had disdained the fairest
offers of ambition and revenge, should stoop to the
murder of his prince, whom he could not long expect
to survive. His followers were impatient to fly; but
flight must have been supported by rebellion, and he
had lived enough for nature and for glory. Belisarius
appeared before the council with less fear than indig-
nation; after 40 years service, the emperor had pre-
judged his guilt; and injustice was sanctified by the
presence and authority of the patriarch. The life of
Belisarius was graciously spared: but his fortunes were
sequestered; and, from December to July, he was
guarded as a prisoner in his own palace. At length
his innocence was acknowledged; his freedom and ho-
nours were restored; and death, which might be ha-
stened by resentment and grief, removed him from the
world about eight months after his deliverance. That
he was deprived of his eyes, and reduced by envy to
beg his bread, "Give a penny to Belisarius the gen-
eral!" is a fiction of later times; which has obtained
credit, or rather favour, as a strange example of the
vicissitudes of fortune.—The source of this idle fable
may be derived from a miscellaneous work of the 12th
century, the Chiliads of John Tzetzes, a monk. He
relates the blindness and beggary of Belisarius in ten
vulgar or political verses (Chiliad iii. No 88. 339—348.
in Corp. Poet. Grec. tom. ii. p. 311.

Ἐκπονησάμενοι κενεταί ἔσμεν τὸ μὲν
Βελισαρίου ἔσμεν ἔστι τὸ σφραγιστάτε
ὅτι τοῦτα μὲν ἰδομενία, ἀποτυφλῶν δὲ φθίς.

This moral or romantic tale was imported into Italy
with the language and manuscripts of Greece; repeated
before the end of the 15th century by Crinitus,
Pontanus, and Volaterranus; attacked by Alciat for
the honour of the law, and defended by Baronius
(A. D. 561, No 2, &c.) for the honour of the church,
Yet Tzetzes himself had read in other chronicles, that
Belisarius did not lose his sight, and that he recovered
his fame and fortunes.—The statue in the Villa Borg-
hese at Rome, in a sitting posture, with an open hand,
which is vulgarly given to Belisarius, may be ascribed
with more propriety to Augustus in the act of propiti-
ating Nemesis (Winckleman, Hist. de l'Art. tom. iii. p.
266). "Ex nocturno visu etiam supem, quotannis,
die certo, emendicabat a populo, cavam manum asses
porrigitibus prebentis." (Sueton. in Aug. c. 91.)