Mutta nyt muuttuivat asiat. "Hyva", sanoi Hildebrand-vanhus, "me olemme kokoontuneet langettamaan tuomion kahdessa jutussa. Kuningatar Gotelindista syytetaan murhasta ja kuningastamme Teodahadia pelkuruudesta ja laiminlyonneista suuren vaaran aikana. Mina kysyn -" "I must not turn my back upon danger, I must face it," he said as he prepared for the distasteful assembly. Scarcely forty years of age, this woman showed traces of a rare--and rather manly--beauty, which had suffered less from time than from violent passions. Here and there her raven-black braids were streaked with white, not grey, and strong lines lay round the mobile corners of her mouth. "Niin kasvoin mina tuntematta elamaa meita ymparoivien metsain toisella puolen. Olin aina kotosalla ajatusteni hiljaisessa maailmassa ja elin vaatimatonta talonpoikaiselamaani. Cethegus kohautti olkapaitaan: "Monihan sita epailee." "Vuosien vieriessa nain hanen kuihtuvan rinnallasi sorrettuna ja ilman rakkautta. Sydanjuuria myoten oli kylmyytesi hanet jaatanyt. Merkillisena vastakohtana naille oli kuninkaan puutteellisen yksinkertainen vuode. Mit Staunen sah Prokop, der im Zelt zuruckgeblieben, diesen Vorgang: Mein Odysseus uberzaubert die Zauberin Circe, dachte er. "Hanelta!" kuiskasi han keisarinnalle. Petroksen silmat valahtivat. "No!" cried Totila vehemently; "that I could never do. I can, and will, live only for my nation. My nationality is the air in which alone my soul can breathe. Why should we not endure eternally, or as long as this earth endures? Persians and Greeks? We are of better stuff! Need we fall because they have decayed? We are still in the strength of our youth. Ah, no! If the day should ever come when the Goths fall, may I not live to see it! Oh, ye gods! let us not linger like these sickly Greeks, who cannot live and cannot die. No; if it must be, send a fearful tempest, and let us perish suddenly and gloriously all, all! and I the foremost!" Da spurte Witichis an dem Windzug, da? die Pforte geoffnet worden. Er hob das Haupt. Aber er sah nicht um. Cethegus kumarsi hiukan paataan.