Belisarius has accomplished the heretofore impossible, with a small force of his handpicked and trained elite troops he has defeated the Vandals and returned Africa to the Romans after a hundred years. After receiving the greatest honor in the ancient Roman world, a proper triumph, the first in five hundred years, the Emperor Justinian sends his favorite general back to the West with the most audacious objective of all, bringing Italy itself back into the Empire. But instead of endless legions, Belisarius hits the road with 7,000 troops - what could possibly go wrong?