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previous: Book V Chapter 10 This webpage reproduces a section of Italy and Her Invaders by Thomas Hodgkin published by the Clarendon Press Oxford 1896 The text, and illustrations except as noted, are in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: Book V Chapter 11

Vol. IV
p282 Note B

On the March of Belisarius

538 I have endeavoured to construct the most probable theory that I could out of the not very intelligible account given by Procopius (who himself accompanied the General) concerning Belisarius's march to Rimini. That he struck inland to the Apennines and that he passed through Urbs Salvia is clear. This route would lead him to the Flaminian Way, and I cannot think that, having gained it, the road being now clear of obstruction at Petra Pertusa, and time being of such importance to him, he would again depart from it, or continue among the Apennines longer than was absolutely needful. But if so, his route would, from Fanum onwards, coincide with that of Martin, and it must be admitted that the language of Procopius, without precisely denying this, does not easily harmonise with it. Other weak points of my theory are, that the Goths expected Belisarius from the north, and that the soldiers were scattered all over the rocky paths,​1 which does not exactly correspond with the notion of an orderly march along the Via Flaminia. Those who consider these difficulties insurmountable may suppose Belisarius to have crossed the Flaminian Way, entered Tuscany, marched by Perugia and Arezzo, traversed the Apennines in the neighbourhood of Vallombrosa and descended the valley of the Marecchia or one of the parallel streams. But they will have to face the difficulty of the loss of time involved in so circuitous a route, and they must also remember that both Cesena and Mons Feletris were garrisoned by Goths.

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The Author's Note:

1 Ἐς πάσας δυσχωρίας ξυρρέοντας.

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