DESCENT INTO ITALY OF BARBARIAN HORDES UNDER BUCELIN AND LEUTHARIS AND THEIR OVERTHROW—TRIUMPH OF NARSES IN ROME—THE GOTHS CAPITULATE IN COMPSA—CONDITION OF ROME AND ITALY AFTER THE WAR—JUSTINIAN'S PRAGMATIC SANCTION—INCREASED IMPORTANCE OF THE ROMAN BISHOP—THE SENATE—PUBLIC BUILDINGS—DEATH OF VIGILIUS—PELAGIUS POPE, 555—OATH OF PURGATION

Invasion of Leutharis and Bucelin

The victory of Narses was not yet complete. A frightful horde of barbarians suddenly descended upon the unhappy country and threatened to overwhelm Rome. Tejas had already sought, by promises of booty and of the treasures of Totila, to induce the Franks to invade Italy, and the Goths of Upper Italy had sent them a still more urgent summons. The overthrow of the well-ordered kingdom of the Goths again set in motion the current of wandering barbarism which had been held in check by the vigilance of Theodoric. Italy, torn asunder by long wars and a thousand ills, appeared defenceless and an easy prey. More than 70,000 Alemanni and Franks crossed the Alps under the leadership of two brothers, Leutharis and Bucelin, and advancing through the northern provinces spread devastation indescribable. The feeble Greek garrisons made but trifling resistance. The general himself hastened from Ravenna to Rome, where he spent the winter of 553–4, and it was owing to the threatening attitude which he there assumed that the barbarians did not attack the city. Avoiding Roman territory, they entered Samnium, and there separated into two divisions.