To the rich and pusillammous, Bessas [12] sold the permission of departure; but the greatest part of the fugitives expired on the public highways, or were intercepted by the flying parties of Barbarians.

In the mean while, the artful governor soothed the discontent, and revived the hopes of the Romans, by the vague reports of the fleets and armies which were hastening to their relief from the extremities of the East.

They derived more rational comfort from the assurance that Belisarius had landed at the port; and, without numbering his forces, they firmly relied on the humanity, the courage, and the skill of their great deliverer.
[Footnote 12: The avarice of Bessas is not dissembled by Procopius, (l.
iii.c.17, 20.) He expiated the loss of Rome by the glorious conquest of Petraea, (Goth.l.iv.c.

12;) but the same vices followed him from the Tyber to the Phasis, (c.

13;) and the historian is equally true to the merits and defects of his character.