a great general who rose, about the beginning of the sixth century, from the humble position of a slave and eunuch in the household of the Emperor Justinian at Constantinople. Possessing the body of a boy and the voice of a woman, he had yet the soul of a hero, and the large mind and persuasive tongue of a statesman. From a menial office in the palace he rose, in course of time, to be chamberlain and treasurer to the Emperor. His talents were next employed in several embassies. To all these duties he proved himself equal. He was therefore fixed upon by his master as the proper person to counteract the influence which Belisarius was gaining over the army in Italy by his successes against the Goths. Setting out for the scene of war in 538 at the head of 7000 men, he joined Belisarius at Firmium. The purpose of his visit was executed with a vigour and thoroughness that endangered the Roman cause. The army was forthwith divided into two jealous factions. Belisarius found himself hampered and thwarted on all sides both in the council and in the field. In vain he asserted, that he had the imperial authority for exacting absolute obedience. Narset pointed out to him in the commission of the emperor the saving clause, "that the officers should obey him in everything compatible with the welfare of the empire." In vain he drew up his army before the walls of Urbino. Narset decamped with a great part of the soldiers during the night. Meanwhile the Goths, released from every check, had burst forth with fresh vigour, laid Milan in ruins, and inundated the northern provinces of Italy. Justinian then saw that it was time to recall his over-efficient servant.

During the twelve years that followed 539, Narset continued to conduct himself with unfailing tact amid the intrigues and jealousies of the court, and steadily to rise in the estimation of Justinian. In 551 he was chosen to recover those parts of Italy which had been wrested by the Goths after the departure of Belisarius. The empire was astonished at the choice. But the despised eunuch accepted the high office, and began to manifest all the spirit and ability of one born to command. Prevailing upon Justinian to surrender into his power the imperial treasury, he used the money with no niggardly hand in purchasing equipments, conciliating the soldiers, hiring mercenaries, and bribing enemies. In the spring of 552, a completely-accoutred army of 100,000 men was ready to follow him to Italy. He set out from Philippopolis, and reached Salona. He then marched along the shore of the Adriatic, attended by his fleet, until he arrived at Ravenna. Nine days were spent in that city in refreshing his soldiers, and in collecting the fragments of the Italian army. Then hastening by forced marches to meet the enemy, he passed under the walls of Rimini, bent his course over the hills of Urbino, and entered on the Flaminian Way. On an evening of July, the Goths under their valiant King Totila appeared in sight near the town of Tagine. On the following day the battle began; the Romans were completely victorious, and the Goths left their king and 6000 men dead upon the field. The conquerors then took Rome, and proceeded to receive the submission of the neighbouring fortresses. They were still engaged in reducing Southern Italy in 553, when Teias the successor of Totila, setting out from the foot of the Alps, crossed the Po, eluded those who had been sent to intercept his progress, and confronted Narses on the banks of the Sarnus near Naples. Sixty days were spent in skirmishing between the two armies. At length the Goths were compelled by famine to come to an engagement. The battle raged for two days, until King Teias, his bravest chiefs, and the greater part of his army had fallen, and the remainder of the Goths were obliged to surrender. Narses had now given the death-blow to the Gothic power in Italy, and he supposed that the reduction of several towns throughout the country was the only arduous task that now remained. He was mistaken. Before half a year had passed, a horde of 75,000 Franks and Alemanni, under the command of two brothers, the Dukes Leutharis and Buccellinus, poured down from the Rhaetian Alps into the plains of Italy. The vanguard of the Roman army under Fulcaris was overwhelmed before them at Parma. Narses himself retired into the fortress of Rimini, and allowed the living deluge to sweep on towards the south. But he immediately set himself to prepare for taking the field, and the winter was spent in exercising his soldiers in all the evolutions of military discipline. In the spring of 554 he mustered an army of 18,000 in the neighbourhood of Rome. By this time a part of the barbarian invaders under Leutharis had returned northward, and had been destroyed by a pestilence on the banks of Lake Benacus. The rest under Buccellinus were advancing from Lucania towards Capua. They took up a strong position on the banks of the Vulturrus, and there they met the approach of Narses. That general, depriving them by a series of skilful manoeuvres of the advantage of their ground, attacked them, and almost annihilated their entire army. The Gothic cause in Italy was thus ruined for ever.

Narses was now installed in Ravenna as the exarch of Italy; and for the next fifteen years he ruled with a rod of iron. The licentious soldiery were curbed by a severe discipline; several insurrections were crushed with a merciless rigour; and heavy taxes were wrung from the people to satisfy the avarice of the governor. The Romans, groaning under this tyranny, did not dare to complain during the reign of Justinian. But soon after Justin had ascended the throne in 565, they procured the deposition of Narses. The disgraced eunuch retired to Naples, vowing revenge, and, according to the ordinary account, invited the Lombards to invade Italy. The Romans in their hour of danger remembered their old general, and through the mediation