Belisarius’ unexpected progress alarmed the Ostrogoths, most of whom blamed it on the vacillating leadership of their king, Theodatus, a corpulent Goth who had become Romanized and more interested in riches and comfort than in defending his realm. Sensing trouble, Theodatus tried to flee but was attacked and killed by his own people on the road to Ravenna, after which the Ostrogoths elected a warrior named Vittigis as their new king.

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Vittigis fully realized the Byzantine threat but pulled his troops north to first settle a dispute with the neighboring Franks before dealing with the invader. In doing so he left the Gothic garrison of Rome to its fate. The Ostrogoths had treated the Romans fairly well, but the populace was unwilling to risk incurring the wrath of the imperial soldiers by resisting them as Naples had done. When it became clear to the garrison that the Roman populace would open the gates to the Byzantines, the Goths prepared to abandon the city. Only their commander, Leuderis, felt honor-bound not to leave his post and awaited Belisarius. Upon securing the city, Belisarius sent Leuderis to Constantinople with the keys to the city gates.

Criticized for allowing the city to fall into Byzantine hands without a fight, Vittigis pointed out that Rome had never before successfully withstood a siege. Recent history had borne him out. Alaric and his Visigoths had first taken the city in 410, and the shock of that conquest caused Augustine of Hippo to write The City of God as a consolation to Christians everywhere, suggesting that whatever might happen to Rome, the kingdom of heaven, at least, was inviolate. Alaric’s feat was repeated by the Vandals in 455.

Furthermore, while Byzantine descriptions of Vittigis’ army as numbering 150,000 are undoubtedly exaggerated, he could sustain a siege force of some 50,000 men at a time against Belisarius’ 5,000 soldiers, 2,000 of whom the imperial general had had to leave to garrison other towns he had taken on the way to Rome. He had hardly enough soldiers to man the walls. If Rome had fallen easily to Belisarius, Vittigis was confident that he would retake it with even greater ease.

The Romans themselves shared Vittigis’ view and became dismayed when they realized that the Byzantines meant to withstand a siege. Thus Belisarius faced not only a Gothic military threat but also tepid support from the Romans themselves, who in adversity might turn against him. He quickly wrote to Justinian requesting reinforcements.

Vittigis, by contrast, had no problem marshaling his forces, which soon began to move south from Ravenna, ready to lay siege to Rome for a year, if necessary. Belisarius did not wait for their arrival before preparing to defend the city. There were more gates than he could hope to guard successfully, and there was always the danger that the townsmen might open the gates to the Goths as they had done for him, so he walled up several of the gates.

Rome was too large for the Goths to encircle. Instead, upon arriving at Rome on March 2, 537, they established a series of six camps facing several of the main gates. The camps were located across from those parts of the city to the east of the Tiber River. The Tiber formed part of Rome’s western defenses, and a wall ran down to the water. Spanning the river stood the Mulvian Bridge, where, 140 years before, the armies of the contending emperors Constantine and Maxentius had fought, and after which the winner Constantine had established Christianity as the state religion. Belisarius saw something more than historical significance in the bridge. Because of the topography, he reckoned that the Goths would need at least an additional 20 days to build another bridge to move their troops across the river. Without a camp there, the city would not be completely ringed by the Goths. Belisarius also wanted a clear avenue of entry for the reinforcements he had requested.

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