[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. The chastisement which
the author of the romance of Belisaire has inflicted on the
oppressor of Rome is more agreeable to justice than to
history.]