History Of The Decline And Fall Of The
Edward Gibbon, Esq.
With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
Vol. 4
1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)
Chapter XXXIX:
Part I.
Zeno And
Anastasius, Emperors Of The East. - Birth,
Education, And First Exploits Of Theodoric The Ostrogoth.
- His
Invasion And Conquest Of
State Of The West. - Military And Civil Government. - The
Senator
Boethius. - Last Acts And Death Of Theodoric.
After the fall
of the
of fifty years, till the memorable reign of Justinian, is
faintly
marked by the obscure names and imperfect annals of Zeno,
Anastasius, and Justin, who successively ascended to the
throne
of
flourished under the government of a Gothic king, who
might have
deserved a statue among the best and bravest of the ancient
Romans.
Theodoric the
Ostrogoth, the fourteenth in lineal descent of
the royal line of the Amali, ^1 was born in the
neighborhood of
victory had restored the independence of the Ostrogoths;
and the
three brothers, Walamir, Theodemir, and Widimir, who
ruled that
warlike nation with united counsels, had separately
pitched their
habitations in the fertile though desolate
The Huns still threatened their revolted subjects, but
their
hasty attack was repelled by the single forces of
Walamir, and
the news of his victory reached the distant camp of his
brother
in the same auspicious moment that the favorite concubine
of
Theodemir was delivered of a son and heir. In the eighth year of
his age, Theodoric was reluctantly yielded by his father
to the
public interest, as the pledge of an alliance which Leo,
emperor
of the East, had consented to purchase by an annual
subsidy of
three hundred pounds of gold. The royal hostage was educated at
all the exercises of war, his mind was expanded by the
habits of
liberal conversation; he frequented the schools of the
most
skilful masters; but he disdained or neglected the arts
of
elements of science, that a rude mark was contrived to
represent
the signature of the illiterate king of
had attained the age of eighteen, he was restored to the
wishes
of the Ostrogoths, whom the emperor aspired to gain by
liberality
and confidence.
Walamir had fallen in battle; the youngest of
the brothers, Widimir, had led away into
of Barbarians, and the whole nation acknowledged for
their king
the father of Theodoric.
His ferocious subjects admired the
strength and stature of their young prince; ^4 and he
soon
convinced them that he had not degenerated from the valor
of his
ancestors. At the
head of six thousand volunteers, he secretly
left the camp in quest of adventures, descended the
as Singidunum, or
the spoils of a Sarmatian king whom he had vanquished and
slain.
Such triumphs, however, were productive only of fame, and
the
invincible Ostrogoths were reduced to extreme distress by
the
want of clothing and food. They unanimously resolved to desert
their Pannonian encampments, and boldly to advance into
the warm
and wealthy neighborhood of the Byzantine court, which
already
maintained in pride and luxury so many bands of
confederate
Goths. After
proving, by some acts of hostility, that they could
be dangerous, or at least troublesome, enemies, the
Ostrogoths
sold at a high price their reconciliation and fidelity,
accepted
a donative of lands and money, and were intrusted with
the
defence of the
succeeded after his father's death to the hereditary
throne of
the Amali. ^5
[Footnote 1: Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 13, 14, p.
629, 630,
edit. Grot.) has drawn the pedigree of Theodoric from
Gapt, one
of the Anses or Demigods, who lived about the time of
Domitian.
Cassiodorus, the first who celebrates the royal race of
the
Amali, (Viriar. viii. 5, ix. 25, x. 2, xi. 1,) reckons
the
grandson of Theodoric as the xviith in descent. Peringsciold
(the Swedish commentator of Cochloeus, Vit. Theodoric. p.
271,
&c., Stockholm, 1699) labors to connect this
genealogy with the
legends or traditions of his native country.
Note: Amala
was a name of hereditary sanctity and honor
among the Visigoths.
It enters into the names of Amalaberga,
Amala suintha, (swinther means strength,) Amalafred,
Amalarich.
In the poem of the Nibelungen written three hundred years
later,
the Ostrogoths are called the Amilungen. According to
Wachter it
means, unstained, from the privative a, and malo a
stain. It is
pure Sanscrit, Amala, immaculatus. Schlegel. Indische
Bibliothek, 1. p. 233. - M.]
[Footnote 2: More correctly on the banks of the Lake
Pelso,
(Nieusiedler- see,) near Carnuntum, almost on the same
spot where
Marcus Antoninus composed his meditations, (Jornandes, c.
52, p.
659. Severin.
Pannonia Illustrata, p. 22. Cellarius,
Geograph.
Antiq. (tom. i. p. 350.)]
[Footnote !: The date of Theodoric's birth is not
accurately
determined. We can hardly err, observes Manso, in placing
it
between the years 453 and 455, Manso, Geschichte des Ost
Gothischen Reichs, p. 14. - M.]
[Footnote 3: The four first letters of his name were
inscribed on
a gold plate, and when it was fixed on the paper, the
king drew
his pen through the intervals (Anonym. Valesian. ad
calcem Amm.
Marcellin p. 722.) This authentic fact, with the
testimony of
Procopius, or at least of the contemporary Goths,
(Gothic. 1. i.
c. 2, p. 311,) far outweighs the vague praises of
Ennodius
(Sirmond Opera, tom. i. p. 1596) and Theophanes,
(Chronograph. p.
112.)
Note: Le Beau
and his Commentator, M. St. Martin, support,
though with no very satisfactory evidence, the opposite
opinion.
But Lord Mahon (Life of Belisarius, p. 19) urges the much
stronger argument, the Byzantine education of Theodroic.
- M.]
[Footnote 4: Statura est quae resignet proceritate
regnantem,
(Ennodius, p. 1614.) The bishop of Pavia (I mean the
ecclesiastic
who wished to be a bishop) then proceeds to celebrate the
complexion, eyes, hands, &c, of his sovereign.]
[Footnote 5: The state of the Ostrogoths, and the first
years of
Theodoric, are found in Jornandes, (c. 52 - 56, p. 689 -
696) and
Malchus, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 78 - 80,) who erroneously
styles him
the son of Walamir.]
A hero,
descended from a race of kings, must have despised
the base Isaurian who was invested with the Roman purple,
without
any endowment of mind or body, without any advantages of
royal
birth, or superior qualifications. After the failure of
the
Theodosian life, the choice of Pulcheria and of the
senate might
be justified in some measure by the characters of Martin
and Leo,
but the latter of these princes confirmed and dishonored
his
reign by the perfidious murder of Aspar and his sons, who
too
rigorously exacted the debt of gratitude and
obedience. The
inheritance of Leo and of the East was peaceably devolved
on his
infant grandson, the son of his daughter Ariadne; and her
Isaurian husband, the fortunate Trascalisseus, exchanged
that
barbarous sound for the Grecian appellation of Zeno. After the
decease of the elder Leo, he approached with unnatural
respect
the throne of his son, humbly received, as a gift, the
second
rank in the empire, and soon excited the public suspicion
on the
sudden and premature death of his young colleague, whose
life
could no longer promote the success of his ambition. But the
palace of Constantinople was ruled by female influence,
and
agitated by female passions: and Verina, the widow of
Leo,
claiming his empire as her own, pronounced a sentence of
deposition against the worthless and ungrateful servant
on whom
she alone had bestowed the sceptre of the East. ^6 As
soon as she
sounded a revolt in the ears of Zeno, he fled with
precipitation
into the mountains of Isauria, and her brother
Basiliscus,
already infamous by his African expedition, ^7 was
unanimously
proclaimed by the servile senate. But the reign of the usurper
was short and turbulent. Basiliscus presumed to assassinate
the
lover of his sister; he dared to offend the lover of his
wife,
the vain and insolent Harmatius, who, in the midst of
Asiatic
luxury, affected the dress, the demeanor, and the surname
of
Achilles. ^8 By the conspiracy of the malecontents, Zeno
was
recalled from exile; the armies, the capital, the person,
of
Basiliscus, were betrayed; and his whole family was
condemned to
the long agony of cold and hunger by the inhuman
conqueror, who
wanted courage to encounter or to forgive his enemies. ^*
The
haughty spirit of Verina was still incapable of
submission or
repose. She provoked the enmity of a favorite general,
embraced
his cause as soon as he was disgraced, created a new
emperor in
Syria and Egypt, ^* raised an army of seventy thousand
men, and
persisted to the last moment of her life in a fruitless
rebellion, which, according to the fashion of the age,
had been
predicted by Christian hermits and Pagan magicians. While the
East was afflicted by the passions of Verina, her
daughter
Ariadne was distinguished by the female virtues of
mildness and
fidelity; she followed her husband in his exile, and
after his
restoration, she implored his clemency in favor of her
mother.
On the decease of Zeno, Ariadne, the daughter, the
mother, and
the widow of an emperor, gave her hand and the Imperial
title to
Anastasius, an aged domestic of the palace, who survived
his
elevation above twenty-seven years, and whose character
is
attested by the acclamation of the people, "Reign as
you have
lived!" ^9 ^!
[Footnote 6: Theophanes (p. 111) inserts a copy of her
sacred
letters to the provinces.
Such female pretensions would have
astonished the slaves of the first Caesars.]
[Footnote 7: Vol. iii. p. 504 - 508.]
[Footnote 8: Suidas, tom. i. p. 332, 333, edit. Kuster.]
[Footnote *: Joannes Lydus accuses Zeno of timidity, or,
rather,
of cowardice; he purchased an ignominious peace from the
enemies
of the empire, whom he dared not meet in battle; and
employed his
whole time at home in confiscations and executions. Lydus, de
Magist. iii. 45, p. 230. - M.]
[Footnote *: Named Illus. - M.]
[Footnote 9: The contemporary histories of Malchus and
Candidus
are lost; but some extracts or fragments have been saved
by
Photius, (lxxviii. lxxix. p. 100 - 102,) Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, (Excerpt. Leg. p. 78 - 97,) and in
various
articles of the Lexicon of Suidas. The Chronicles of Marcellinus
(Imago Historiae) are originals for the reigns of Zeno
and
Anastasius; and I must acknowledge, almost for the last
time, my
obligations to the large and accurate collections of
Tillemont,
(Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 472 - 652).]
[Footnote !: The Panegyric of Procopius of Gaza, (edited
by
Villoison in his Anecdota Graeca, and reprinted in the
new
edition of the Byzantine historians by Niebuhr, in the
same vol.
with Dexippus and Eunapius, viii. p. 488 516,) was
unknown to
Gibbon. It is
vague and pedantic, and contains few facts.
The
same criticism will apply to the poetical panegyric of
Priscian
edited from the Ms. of Bobbio by Ang. Mai. Priscian, the gram
marian, Niebuhr argues from this work, must have been
born in the
African, not in either of the Asiatic Caesareas. Pref. p. xi. -
M.]
Whatever fear
of affection could bestow, was profusely
lavished by Zeno on the king of the Ostrogoths; the rank
of
patrician and consul, the command of the Palatine troops,
an
equestrian statue, a treasure in gold and silver of many
thousand
pounds, the name of son, and the promise of a rich and
honorable
wife. As long as
Theodoric condescended to serve, he supported
with courage and fidelity the cause of his benefactor;
his rapid
march contributed to the restoration of Zeno; and in the
second
revolt, the Walamirs, as they were called, pursued and
pressed
the Asiatic rebels, till they left an easy victory to the
Imperial troops. ^10 But the faithful servant was
suddenly
converted into a formidable enemy, who spread the flames
of war
from Constantinople to the Adriatic; many flourishing
cities were
reduced to ashes, and the agriculture of Thrace was
almost
extirpated by the wanton cruelty of the Goths, who
deprived their
captive peasants of the right hand that guided the
plough. ^11 On
such occasions, Theodoric sustained the loud and specious
reproach of disloyalty, of ingratitude, and of insatiate
avarice,
which could be only excused by the hard necessity of his
situation. He reigned, not as the monarch, but as the
minister of
a ferocious people, whose spirit was unbroken by slavery,
and
impatient of real or imaginary insults. Their poverty was
incurable; since the most liberal donatives were soon
dissipated
in wasteful luxury, and the most fertile estates became
barren in
their hands; they despised, but they envied, the
laborious
provincials; and when their subsistence had failed, the
Ostrogoths embraced the familiar resources of war and
rapine. It
had been the wish of Theodoric (such at least was his
declaration) to lead a peaceful, obscure, obedient life
on the
confines of Scythia, till the Byzantine court, by
splendid and
fallacious promises, seduced him to attack a confederate
tribe of
Goths, who had been engaged in the party of
Basiliscus. He
marched from his station in Maesia, on the solemn
assurance that
before he reached Adrianople, he should meet a plentiful
convoy
of provisions, and a reenforcement of eight thousand
horse and
thirty thousand foot, while the legions of Asia were
encamped at
Heraclea to second his operations. These measures were
disappointed by mutual jealousy. As he advanced into Thrace, the
son of Theodemir found an inhospitable solitude, and his
Gothic
followers, with a heavy train of horses, of mules, and of
wagons,
were betrayed by their guides among the rocks and
precipices of
Mount Sondis, where he was assaulted by the arms and
invectives
of Theodoric the son of Triarius. From a neighboring height, his
artful rival harangued the camp of the Walamirs, and
branded
their leader with the opprobrious names of child, of
madman, of
perjured traitor, the enemy of his blood and nation. "Are you
ignorant," exclaimed the son of Triarius, "that
it is the
constant policy of the Romans to destroy the Goths by
each
other's swords?
Are you insensible that the victor in this
unnatural contest will be exposed, and justly exposed, to
their
implacable revenge?
Where are those warriors, my kinsmen and thy
own, whose widows now lament that their lives were
sacrificed to
thy rash ambition?
Where is the wealth which thy soldiers
possessed when they were first allured from their native
homes to
enlist under thy standard? Each of them was then master of three
or four horses; they now follow thee on foot, like
slaves,
through the deserts of Thrace; those men who were tempted
by the
hope of measuring gold with a bushel, those brave men who
are as
free and as noble as thyself." A language so well
suited to the
temper of the Goths excited clamor and discontent; and
the son of
Theodemir, apprehensive of being left alone, was
compelled to
embrace his brethren, and to imitate the example of Roman
perfidy. ^12 ^*
[Footnote 10: In ipsis congressionis tuae foribus cessit
invasor,
cum profugo per te sceptra redderentur de salute
dubitanti.
Ennodius then proceeds (p. 1596, 1597, tom. i. Sirmond.)
to
transport his hero (on a flying dragon?) into Aethiopia,
beyond
the tropic of Cancer.
The evidence of the Valesian Fragment, (p.
717,) Liberatus, (Brev. Eutych. c. 25 p. 118,) and
Theophanes,
(p. 112,) is more sober and rational.]
[Footnote 11: This cruel practice is specially imputed to
the
Triarian Goths, less barbarous, as it should seem, than
the
Walamirs; but the son of Theodemir is charged with the
ruin of
many Roman cities, (Malchus, Excerpt. Leg. p. 95.)]
[Footnote 12: Jornandes (c. 56, 57, p. 696) displays the
services
of Theodoric, confesses his rewards, but dissembles his
revolt,
of which such curious details have been preserved by
Malchus,
(Excerpt. Legat. p. 78 - 97.) Marcellinus, a domestic of
Justinian, under whose ivth consulship (A.D. 534) he
composed his
Chronicle, (Scaliger, Thesaurus Temporum, P. ii, p. 34 -
57,)
betrays his prejudice and passion: in Graeciam
debacchantem
...Zenonis munificentia pene pacatus ...beneficiis
nunquam
satiatus, &c.]
[Footnote *: Gibbon has omitted much of the complicated
intrigues
of the Byzantine court with the two Theodorics. The weak emperor
attempted to play them one against the other, and was
himself in
turn insulted, and the empire ravaged, by both. The details of
the successive alliance and revolt, of hostility and of
union,
between the two Gothic chieftains, to dictate terms to
the
emperor, may be found in Malchus. - M.]
In every state
of his fortune, the prudence and firmness of
Theodoric were equally conspicuous; whether he threatened
Constantinople at the head of the confederate Goths, or
retreated
with a faithful band to the mountains and sea-coast of Epirus.
At length the accidental death of the son of Triarius ^13
destroyed the balance which the Romans had been so
anxious to
preserve, the whole nation acknowledged the supremacy of
the
Amali, and the Byzantine court subscribed an ignominious
and
oppressive treaty. ^14 The senate had already declared,
that it
was necessary to choose a party among the Goths, since
the public
was unequal to the support of their united forces; a
subsidy of
two thousand pounds of gold, with the ample pay of
thirteen
thousand men, were required for the least considerable of
their
armies; ^15 and the Isaurians, who guarded not the empire
but the
emperor, enjoyed, besides the privilege of rapine, an
annual
pension of five thousand pounds. The sagacious mind of Theodoric
soon perceived that he was odious to the Romans, and
suspected by
the Barbarians: he understood the popular murmur, that
his
subjects were exposed in their frozen huts to intolerable
hardships, while their king was dissolved in the luxury
of
Greece, and he prevented the painful alternative of
encountering
the Goths, as the champion, or of leading them to the
field, as
the enemy, of Zeno.
Embracing an enterprise worthy of his
courage and ambition, Theodoric addressed the emperor in
the
following words: "Although your servant is
maintained in
affluence by your liberality, graciously listen to the
wishes of
my heart! Italy,
the inheritance of your predecessors, and Rome
itself, the head and mistress of the world, now fluctuate
under
the violence and oppression of Odoacer the
mercenary. Direct me,
with my national troops, to march against the
tyrant. If I fall,
you will be relieved from an expensive and troublesome
friend:
if, with the divine permission, I succeed, I shall govern
in your
name, and to your glory, the Roman senate, and the part
of the
republic delivered from slavery by my victorious
arms." The
proposal of Theodoric was accepted, and perhaps had been
suggested, by the Byzantine court. But the forms of the
commission, or grant, appear to have been expressed with
a
prudent ambiguity, which might be explained by the event;
and it
was left doubtful, whether the conqueror of Italy should
reign as
the lieutenant, the vassal, or the ally, of the emperor
of the
East. ^16
[Footnote 13: As he was riding in his own camp, an unruly
horse
threw him against the point of a spear which hung before
a tent,
or was fixed on a wagon, (Marcellin. in Chron. Evagrius,
l. iii.
c. 25.)]
[Footnote 14: See Malchus (p. 91) and Evagrius, (l. iii.
c. 35.)]
[Footnote 15: Malchus, p. 85. In a single action, which was
decided by the skill and discipline of Sabinian,
Theodoric could
lose 5000 men.]
[Footnote 16: Jornandes (c. 57, p. 696, 697) has abridged
the
great history of Cassiodorus. See, compare, and reconcile
Procopius, (Gothic. l. i. c. i.,) the Valesian Fragment,
(p.
718,) Theophanes, (p. 113,) and Marcellinus, (in Chron.)]
The reputation
both of the leader and of the war diffused a
universal ardor; the Walamirs were multiplied by the
Gothic
swarms already engaged in the service, or seated in the
provinces, of the empire; and each bold Barbarian, who
had heard
of the wealth and beauty of Italy, was impatient to seek,
through
the most perilous adventures, the possession of such
enchanting
objects. The march
of Theodoric must be considered as the
emigration of an entire people; the wives and children of
the
Goths, their aged parents, and most precious effects,
were
carefully transported; and some idea may be formed of the
heavy
baggage that now followed the camp, by the loss of two
thousand
wagons, which had been sustained in a single action in
the war of
Epirus. For their
subsistence, the Goths depended on the
magazines of corn which was ground in portable mills by
the hands
of their women; on the milk and flesh of their flocks and
herds;
on the casual produce of the chase, and upon the
contributions
which they might impose on all who should presume to
dispute the
passage, or to refuse their friendly assistance. Notwithstanding
these precautions, they were exposed to the danger, and
almost to
the distress, of famine, in a march of seven hundred
miles, which
had been undertaken in the depth of a rigorous
winter. Since the
fall of the Roman power, Dacia and Pannonia no longer
exhibited
the rich prospect of populous cities, well-cultivated
fields, and
convenient highways: the reign of barbarism and
desolation was
restored, and the tribes of Bulgarians, Gepidae, and
Sarmatians,
who had occupied the vacant province, were prompted by
their
native fierceness, or the solicitations of Odoacer, to
resist the
progress of his enemy.
In many obscure though bloody battles,
Theodoric fought and vanquished; till at length,
surmounting
every obstacle by skilful conduct and persevering
courage, he
descended from the Julian Alps, and displayed his
invincible
banners on the confines of Italy. ^17
[Footnote 17: Theodoric's march is supplied and
illustrated by
Ennodius, (p. 1598 - 1602,) when the bombast of the
oration is
translated into the language of common sense.]
Odoacer, a
rival not unworthy of his arms, had already
occupied the advantageous and well-known post of the
River
Sontius, near the ruins of Aquileia, at the head of a
powerful
host, whose independent kings ^18 or leaders disdained
the duties
of subordination and the prudence of delays. No sooner had
Theodoric gained a short repose and refreshment to his
wearied
cavalry, than he boldly attacked the fortifications of
the enemy;
the Ostrogoths showed more ardor to acquire, than the
mercenaries
to defend, the lands of Italy; and the reward of the
first
victory was the possession of the Venetian province as
far as the
walls of Verona. In the neighborhood of that city, on the
steep
banks of the rapid Adige, he was opposed by a new army,
reenforced in its numbers, and not impaired in its
courage: the
contest was more obstinate, but the event was still more
decisive; Odoacer fled to Ravenna, Theodoric advanced to
Milan,
and the vanquished troops saluted their conqueror with
loud
acclamations of respect and fidelity. But their want either of
constancy or of faith soon exposed him to the most
imminent
danger; his vanguard, with several Gothic counts, which
had been
rashly intrusted to a deserter, was betrayed and
destroyed near
Faenza by his double treachery; Odoacer again appeared
master of
the field, and the invader, strongly intrenched in his
camp of
Pavia, was reduced to solicit the aid of a kindred
nation, the
Visigoths of Gaul.
In the course of this History, the most
voracious appetite for war will be abundantly satiated;
nor can I
much lament that our dark and imperfect materials do not
afford a
more ample narrative of the distress of Italy, and of the
fierce
conflict, which was finally decided by the abilities,
experience,
and valor of the Gothic king. Immediately before the battle of
Verona, he visited the tent of his mother ^19 and sister,
and
requested, that on a day, the most illustrious festival
of his
life, they would adorn him with the rich garments which
they had
worked with their own hands. "Our glory," said he, "is mutual
and inseparable.
You are known to the world as the mother of
Theodoric; and it becomes me to prove, that I am the
genuine
offspring of those heroes from whom I claim my
descent." The wife
or concubine of Theodemir was inspired with the spirit of
the
German matrons, who esteemed their sons' honor far above
their
safety; and it is reported, that in a desperate action,
when
Theodoric himself was hurried along by the torrent of a
flying
crowd, she boldly met them at the entrance of the camp,
and, by
her generous reproaches, drove them back on the swords of
the
enemy. ^20
[Footnote 18: Tot reges, &c., (Ennodius, p. 1602.) We
must
recollect how much the royal title was multiplied and
degraded,
and that the mercenaries of Italy were the fragments of
many
tribes and nations.]
[Footnote 19: See Ennodius, p. 1603, 1604. Since the orator, in
the king's presence, could mention and praise his mother,
we may
conclude that the magnanimity of Theodoric was not hurt
by the
vulgar reproaches of concubine and bastard.
Note: Gibbon
here assumes that the mother of Theodoric was
the concubine of Theodemir, which he leaves doubtful in
the text.
- M.]
[Footnote 20: This anecdote is related on the modern but
respectable authority of Sigonius, (Op. tom. i. p.
580. De
Occident. Impl. l. xv.:) his words are curious:
"Would you
return?" &c.
She presented and almost displayed the original
recess.
Note: The
authority of Sigonius would scarcely have weighed
with Gibboa except for an indecent anecdote. I have a
recollection of a similar story in some of the Italian
wars. -
M.]]
From the Alps
to the extremity of Calabria, Theodoric
reigned by the right of conquest; the Vandal ambassadors
surrendered the Island of Sicily, as a lawful appendage
of his
kingdom; and he was accepted as the deliverer of Rome by
the
senate and people, who had shut their gates against the
flying
usurper. ^21 Ravenna alone, secure in the fortifications
of art
and nature, still sustained a siege of almost three
years; and
the daring sallies of Odoacer carried slaughter and
dismay into
the Gothic camp.
At length, destitute of provisions and hopeless
of relief, that unfortunate monarch yielded to the groans
of his
subjects and the clamors of his soldiers. A treaty of peace was
negotiated by the bishop of Ravenna; the Ostrogoths were
admitted
into the city, and the hostile kings consented, under the
sanction of an oath, to rule with equal and undivided
authority
the provinces of Italy. The event of such an agreement
may be
easily foreseen.
After some days had been devoted to the
semblance of joy and friendship, Odoacer, in the midst of
a
solemn banquet, was stabbed by the hand, or at least by
the
command, of his rival.
Secret and effectual orders had been
previously despatched; the faithless and rapacious
mercenaries,
at the same moment, and without resistance, were
universally
massacred; and the royalty of Theodoric was proclaimed by
the
Goths, with the tardy, reluctant, ambiguous consent of
the
emperor of the East.
The design of a conspiracy was imputed,
according to the usual forms, to the prostrate tyrant;
but his
innocence, and the guilt of his conqueror, ^22 are
sufficiently
proved by the advantageous treaty which force would not
sincerely
have granted, nor weakness have rashly infringed. The jealousy
of power, and the mischiefs of discord, may suggest a
more decent
apology, and a sentence less rigorous may be pronounced
against a
crime which was necessary to introduce into Italy a
generation of
public felicity.
The living author of this felicity was
audaciously praised in his own presence by sacred and
profane
orators; ^23 but history (in his time she was mute and
inglorious) has not left any just representation of the
events
which displayed, or of the defects which clouded, the
virtues of
Theodoric. ^24 One record of his fame, the volume of
public
epistles composed by Cassiodorus in the royal name, is
still
extant, and has obtained more implicit credit than it
seems to
deserve. ^25 They exhibit the forms, rather than the
substance,
of his government; and we should vainly search for the
pure and
spontaneous sentiments of the Barbarian amidst the
declamation
and learning of a sophist, the wishes of a Roman senator,
the
precedents of office, and the vague professions, which,
in every
court, and on every occasion, compose the language of
discreet
ministers. The
reputation of Theodoric may repose with more
confidence on the visible peace and prosperity of a reign
of
thirty-three years; the unanimous esteem of his own
times, and
the memory of his wisdom and courage, his justice and
humanity,
which was deeply impressed on the minds of the Goths and
Italians.
[Footnote 21: Hist. Miscell. l. xv., a Roman history from
Janus
to the ixth century, an Epitome of Eutropius, Paulus
Diaconus,
and Theophanes which Muratori has published from a Ms. in
the
Ambrosian library, (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p.
100.)]
[Footnote 22: Procopius (Gothic. l. i. c. i.) approves
himself an
impartial sceptic. Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Ennodius
(p. 1604)
are loyal and credulous, and the testimony of the
Valesian
Fragment (p. 718) may justify their belief. Marcellinus spits
the venom of a Greek subject - perjuriis illectus,
interfectusque
est, (in Chron.)]
[Footnote 23: The sonorous and servile oration of
Ennodius was
pronounced at Milan or Ravenna in the years 507 or 508,
(Sirmond,
tom. i. p. 615.) Two or three years afterwards, the
orator was
rewarded with the bishopric of Pavia, which he held till
his
death in the year 521.
(Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. v. p. 11 -
14. See Saxii
Onomasticon, tom. ii. p. 12.)]
[Footnote 24: Our best materials are occasional hints
from
Procopius and the Valesian Fragment, which was discovered
by
Sirmond, and is published at the end of Ammianus
Marcellinus.
The author's name is unknown, and his style is barbarous;
but in
his various facts he exhibits the knowledge, without the
passions, of a contemporary. The president Montesquieu had
formed the plan of a history of Theodoric, which at a
distance
might appear a rich and interesting subject.]
[Footnote 25: The best edition of the Variarum Libri xii.
is that
of Joh. Garretius, (Rotomagi, 1679, in Opp. Cassiodor. 2
vols. in
fol.;) but they deserved and required such an editor as
the
Marquis Scipio Maffei, who thought of publishing them at
Verona.
The Barbara Eleganza (as it is ingeniously named by
Tiraboschi)
is never simple, and seldom perspicuous]
The partition
of the lands of Italy, of which Theodoric
assigned the third part to his soldiers, is honorably
arraigned
as the sole injustice of his life. ^* And even this act
may be
fairly justified by the example of Odoacer, the rights of
conquest, the true interest of the Italians, and the
sacred duty
of subsisting a whole people, who, on the faith of his
promises,
had transported themselves into a distant land. ^26 Under
the
reign of Theodoric, and in the happy climate of Italy,
the Goths
soon multiplied to a formidable host of two hundred
thousand men,
^27 and the whole amount of their families may be
computed by the
ordinary addition of women and children. Their invasion
of
property, a part of which must have been already vacant,
was
disguised by the generous but improper name of
hospitality; these
unwelcome guests were irregularly dispersed over the face
of
Italy, and the lot of each Barbarian was adequate to his
birth
and office, the number of his followers, and the rustic
wealth
which he possessed in slaves and cattle. The distinction
of noble
and plebeian were acknowledged; ^28 but the lands of
every
freeman were exempt from taxes, ^* and he enjoyed the
inestimable
privilege of being subject only to the laws of his
country. ^29
Fashion, and even convenience, soon persuaded the
conquerors to
assume the more elegant dress of the natives, but they
still
persisted in the use of their mother- tongue; and their
contempt
for the Latin schools was applauded by Theodoric himself,
who
gratified their prejudices, or his own, by declaring,
that the
child who had trembled at a rod, would never dare to look
upon a
sword. ^30 Distress might sometimes provoke the indigent
Roman to
assume the ferocious manners which were insensibly
relinquished
by the rich and luxurious Barbarian; ^31 but these mutual
conversions were not encouraged by the policy of a
monarch who
perpetuated the separation of the Italians and Goths;
reserving
the former for the arts of peace, and the latter for the
service
of war. To
accomplish this design, he studied to protect his
industrious subjects, and to moderate the violence,
without
enervating the valor, of his soldiers, who were
maintained for
the public defence.
They held their lands and benefices as a
military stipend: at the sound of the trumpet, they were
prepared
to march under the conduct of their provincial officers;
and the
whole extent of Italy was distributed into the several
quarters
of a well- regulated camp. The service of the palace and of the
frontiers was performed by choice or by rotation; and
each
extraordinary fatigue was recompensed by an increase of
pay and
occasional donatives.
Theodoric had convinced his brave
companions, that empire must be acquired and defended by
the same
arts. After his example, they strove to excel in the use,
not
only of the lance and sword, the instruments of their
victories,
but of the missile weapons, which they were too much
inclined to
neglect; and the lively image of war was displayed in the
daily
exercise and annual reviews of the Gothic cavalry. A firm though
gentle discipline imposed the habits of modesty,
obedience, and
temperance; and the Goths were instructed to spare the
people, to
reverence the laws, to understand the duties of civil
society,
and to disclaim the barbarous license of judicial combat
and
private revenge. ^32
[Footnote *: Compare Gibbon, ch. xxxvi. vol. iii. p. 459,
&c. -
Manso observes that this division was conducted not in a
violent
and irregular, but in a legal and orderly, manner. The
Barbarian, who could not show a title of grant from the
officers
of Theodoric appointed for the purpose, or a prescriptive
right
of thirty years, in case he had obtained the property
before the
Ostrogothic conquest, was ejected from the estate. He conceives
that estates too small to bear division paid a third of
their
produce. - Geschichte des Os Gothischen Reiches, p. 82. -
M.]
[Footnote 26: Procopius, Gothic, l. i. c. i. Variarum,
ii. Maffei
(Verona Illustrata, P. i. p. 228) exaggerates the
injustice of
the Goths, whom he hated as an Italian noble. The plebeian
Muratori crouches under their oppression.]
[Footnote 27: Procopius, Goth. l. iii. c. 421. Ennodius
describes (p. 1612, 1613) the military arts and
increasing
numbers of the Goths.]
[Footnote 28: When Theodoric gave his sister to the king
of the
Vandals she sailed for Africa with a guard of 1000 noble
Goths,
each of whom was attended by five armed followers,
(Procop.
Vandal. l. i. c. 8.) The Gothic nobility must have been
as
numerous as brave.]
[Footnote *: Manso (p. 100) quotes two passages from
Cassiodorus
to show that the Goths were not exempt from the fiscal
claims. -
Cassiodor, i. 19, iv. 14 - M.]
[Footnote 29: See the acknowledgment of Gothic liberty,
(Var. v.
30.)]
[Footnote 30: Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 2. The Roman boys learnt
the language (Var. viii. 21) of the Goths. Their general
ignorance is not destroyed by the exceptions of
Amalasuntha, a
female, who might study without shame, or of Theodatus,
whose
learning provoked the indignation and contempt of his
countrymen.]
[Footnote 31: A saying of Theodoric was founded on
experience:
"Romanus miser imitatur Gothum; ut utilis (dives)
Gothus imitatur
Romanum." (See the Fragment and Notes of Valesius,
p. 719.)]
[Footnote 32: The view of the military establishment of
the Goths
in Italy is collected from the Epistles of Cassiodorus
(Var. i.
24, 40; iii. 3, 24, 48; iv. 13, 14; v. 26, 27; viii. 3, 4,
25.)
They are illustrated by the learned Mascou, (Hist. of the
Germans, l. xi. 40 - 44, Annotation xiv.)
Note: Compare
Manso, Geschichte des Ost Gothischen Reiches,
p. 114. - M.]
Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.
Part II.
Among the Barbarians
of the West, the victory of Theodoric
had spread a general alarm. But as soon as it appeared that he
was satisfied with conquest and desirous of peace, terror
was
changed into respect, and they submitted to a powerful
mediation,
which was uniformly employed for the best purposes of
reconciling
their quarrels and civilizing their manners. ^33 The
ambassadors
who resorted to Ravenna from the most distant countries
of
Europe, admired his wisdom, magnificence, ^34 and
courtesy; and
if he sometimes accepted either slaves or arms, white
horses or
strange animals, the gift of a sun-dial, a water-clock,
or a
musician, admonished even the princes of Gaul of the
superior art
and industry of his Italian subjects. His domestic
alliances, ^35
a wife, two daughters, a sister, and a niece, united the
family
of Theodoric with the kings of the Franks, the
Burgundians, the
Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Thuringians, and
contributed to
maintain the harmony, or at least the balance, of the
great
republic of the West. ^36 It is difficult in the dark
forests of
Germany and Poland to pursue the emigrations of the
Heruli, a
fierce people who disdained the use of armor, and who
condemned
their widows and aged parents not to survive the loss of
their
husbands, or the decay of their strength. ^37 The king of
these
savage warriors solicited the friendship of Theodoric,
and was
elevated to the rank of his son, according to the
barbaric rites
of a military adoption. ^38 From the shores of the
Baltic, the
Aestians or Livonians laid their offerings of native
amber ^39 at
the feet of a prince, whose fame had excited them to
undertake an
unknown and dangerous journey of fifteen hundred
miles. With the
country ^40 from whence the Gothic nation derived their
origin,
he maintained a frequent and friendly correspondence: the
Italians were clothed in the rich sables ^41 of Sweden;
and one
of its sovereigns, after a voluntary or reluctant
abdication,
found a hospitable retreat in the palace of Ravenna. He had
reigned over one of the thirteen populous tribes who
cultivated a
small portion of the great island or peninsula of
Scandinavia, to
which the vague appellation of Thule has been sometimes
applied.
That northern region was peopled, or had been explored,
as high
as the sixty- eighth degree of latitude, where the
natives of the
polar circle enjoy and lose the presence of the sun at
each
summer and winter solstice during an equal period of
forty days.
^42 The long night of his absence or death was the
mournful
season of distress and anxiety, till the messengers, who
had been
sent to the mountain tops, descried the first rays of
returning
light, and proclaimed to the plain below the festival of
his
resurrection. ^43
[Footnote 33: See the clearness and vigor of his
negotiations in
Ennodius, (p. 1607,) and Cassiodorus, (Var. iii. 1, 2, 3,
4; iv.
13; v. 43, 44,) who gives the different styles of
friendship,
counsel expostulation, &c.]
[Footnote 34: Even of his table (Var. vi. 9) and palace,
(vii.
5.) The admiration of strangers is represented as the
most
rational motive to justify these vain expenses, and to
stimulate
the diligence of the officers to whom these provinces
were
intrusted.]
[Footnote 35: See the public and private alliances of the
Gothic
monarch, with the Burgundians, (Var. i. 45, 46,) with the
Franks,
(ii. 40,) with the Thuringians, (iv. 1,) and with the
Vandals,
(v. 1;) each of these epistles affords some curious
knowledge of
the policy and manners of the Barbarians.]
[Footnote 36: His political system may be observed in
Cassiodorus, (Var. iv. l ix. l,) Jornandes, (c. 58, p.
698, 699,)
and the Valesian Fragment, (p. 720, 721.) Peace,
honorable peace,
was the constant aim of Theodoric.]
[Footnote 37: The curious reader may contemplate the
Heruli of
Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 14,) and the patient reader
may
plunge into the dark and minute researches of M. de Buat,
(Hist.
des Peuples Anciens, tom. ix. p. 348 - 396.)
Note: Compare
Manso, Ost Gothische Reich. Beylage, vi.
Malte- Brun brings them from Scandinavia: their names,
the only
remains of their language, are Gothic. "They fought almost
naked, like the Icelandic Berserkirs their bravery was
like
madness: few in number, they were mostly of royal blood.
What
ferocity, what unrestrained license, sullied their
victories!
The Goth respects the church, the priests, the senate;
the Heruli
mangle all in a general massacre: there is no pity for
age, no
refuge for chastity.
Among themselves there is the same
ferocity: the sick and the aged are put to death. at
their own
request, during a solemn festival; the widow ends her
days by
hanging herself upon the tree which shadows her husband's
tomb.
All these circumstances, so striking to a mind familiar
with
Scandinavian history, lead us to discover among the
Heruli not so
much a nation as a confederacy of princes and nobles,
bound by an
oath to live and die together with their arms in their
hands.
Their name, sometimes written Heruli or Eruli. sometimes
Aeruli,
signified, according to an ancient author, (Isid. Hispal.
in
gloss. p. 24, ad calc. Lex. Philolog. Martini, ll,)
nobles, and
appears to correspond better with the Scandinavian word
iarl or
earl, than with any of those numerous derivations
proposed by
etymologists." Malte- Brun, vol. i. p. 400, (edit.
1831.) Of all
the Barbarians who threw themselves on the ruins of the
Roman
empire, it is most difficult to trace the origin of the
Heruli.
They seem never to have been very powerful as a nation,
and
branches of them are found in countries very remote from
each
other. In my opinion
they belong to the Gothic race, and have a
close affinity with the Scyrri or Hirri. They were, possibly, a
division of that nation.
They are often mingled and confounded
with the Alani.
Though brave and formidable. they were never
numerous. nor did they found any state. - St. Martin,
vol. vi. p.
375. - M. Schafarck considers them descendants of the
Hirri. of
which Heruli is a diminutive, - Slawische Alter thinner -
M.
1845.]
[Footnote 38: Variarum, iv. 2. The spirit and forms of this
martial institution are noticed by Cassiodorus; but he
seems to
have only translated the sentiments of the Gothic king
into the
language of Roman eloquence.]
[Footnote 39: Cassiodorus, who quotes Tacitus to the
Aestians,
the unlettered savages of the Baltic, (Var. v. 2,)
describes the
amber for which their shores have ever been famous, as
the gum of
a tree, hardened by the sun, and purified and wafted by
the
waves. When that
singular substance is analyzed by the chemists,
it yields a vegetable oil and a mineral acid.]
[Footnote 40: Scanzia, or Thule, is described by
Jornandes (c. 3,
p. 610 - 613) and Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 15.)
Neither the
Goth nor the Greek had visited the country: both had
conversed
with the natives in their exile at Ravenna or
Constantinople.]
[Footnote 41: Sapherinas pelles. In the time of Jornandes they
inhabited Suethans, the proper Sweden; but that beautiful
race of
animals has gradually been driven into the eastern parts
of
Siberia. See
Buffon, (Hist. Nat. tom. xiii. p. 309 - 313, quarto
edition;) Pennant, (System of Quadrupeds, vol. i. p. 322
- 328;)
Gmelin, (Hist. Gen des. Voyages, tom. xviii. p. 257,
258;) and
Levesque, (Hist. de Russie, tom. v. p. 165, 166, 514,
515.)]
[Footnote 42: In the system or romance of Mr. Bailly,
(Lettres
sur les Sciences et sur l'Atlantide, tom. i. p. 249 -
256, tom.
ii. p. 114 - 139,) the phoenix of the Edda, and the
annual death
and revival of Adonis and Osiris, are the allegorical
symbols of
the absence and return of the sun in the Arctic
regions. This
ingenious writer is a worthy disciple of the great
Buffon; nor is
it easy for the coldest reason to withstand the magic of
their
philosophy.]
[Footnote 43: Says Procopius. At present a rude Manicheism
(generous enough) prevails among the Samoyedes in Greenland
and
in Lapland, (Hist. des Voyages, tom. xviii. p. 508, 509,
tom.
xix. p. 105, 106, 527, 528;) yet, according to Orotius
Samojutae
coelum atque astra adorant, numina haud aliis iniquiora,
(de
Rebus Belgicis, l. iv. p. 338, folio edition) a sentence
which
Tacitus would not have disowned.]
The life of
Theodoric represents the rare and meritorious
example of a Barbarian, who sheathed his sword in the
pride of
victory and the vigor of his age. A reign of three and thirty
years was consecrated to the duties of civil government,
and the
hostilities, in which he was sometimes involved, were
speedily
terminated by the conduct of his lieutenants, the
discipline of
his troops, the arms of his allies, and even by the
terror of his
name. He reduced,
under a strong and regular government, the
unprofitable countries of Rhaetia, Noricum, Dalmatia, and
Pannonia, from the source of the Danube and the territory
of the
Bavarians, ^44 to the petty kingdom erected by the
Gepidae on the
ruins of Sirmium.
His prudence could not safely intrust the
bulwark of Italy to such feeble and turbulent neighbors;
and his
justice might claim the lands which they oppressed,
either as a
part of his kingdom, or as the inheritance of his
father. The
greatness of a servant, who was named perfidious because
he was
successful, awakened the jealousy of the emperor
Anastasius; and
a war was kindled on the Dacian frontier, by the
protection which
the Gothic king, in the vicissitude of human affairs, had
granted
to one of the descendants of Attila. Sabinian, a general
illustrious by his own and father's merit, advanced at
the head
of ten thousand Romans; and the provisions and arms,
which filled
a long train of wagons, were distributed to the fiercest
of the
Bulgarian tribes.
But in the fields of Margus, the eastern
powers were defeated by the inferior forces of the Goths
and
Huns; the flower and even the hope of the Roman armies
was
irretrievably destroyed; and such was the temperance with
which
Theodoric had inspired his victorious troops, that, as
their
leader had not given the signal of pillage, the rich
spoils of
the enemy lay untouched at their feet. ^45 Exasperated by
this
disgrace, the Byzantine court despatched two hundred
ships and
eight thousand men to plunder the sea-coast of Calabria
and
Apulia: they assaulted the ancient city of Tarentum,
interrupted
the trade and agriculture of a happy country, and sailed
back to
the Hellespont, proud of their piratical victory over a
people
whom they still presumed to consider as their Roman brethren.
^46
Their retreat was possibly hastened by the activity of
Theodoric;
Italy was covered by a fleet of a thousand light vessels,
^47
which he constructed with incredible despatch; and his
firm
moderation was soon rewarded by a solid and honorable peace. He
maintained, with a powerful hand, the balance of the
West, till
it was at length overthrown by the ambition of Clovis;
and
although unable to assist his rash and unfortunate
kinsman, the
king of the Visigoths, he saved the remains of his family
and
people, and checked the Franks in the midst of their
victorious
career. I am not
desirous to prolong or repeat ^48 this
narrative of military events, the least interesting of
the reign
of Theodoric; and shall be content to add, that the
Alemanni were
protected, ^49 that an inroad of the Burgundians was
severely
chastised, and that the conquest of Arles and Marseilles
opened a
free communication with the Visigoths, who revered him as
their
national protector, and as the guardian of his
grandchild, the
infant son of Alaric. Under this respectable character,
the king
of Italy restored the praetorian praefecture of the
Gauls,
reformed some abuses in the civil government of Spain,
and
accepted the annual tribute and apparent submission of
its
military governor, who wisely refused to trust his person
in the
palace of Ravenna. ^50 The Gothic sovereignty was
established
from Sicily to the Danube, from Sirmium or Belgrade to
the
Atlantic Ocean; and the Greeks themselves have
acknowledged that
Theodoric reigned over the fairest portion of the Western
empire.
^51
[Footnote 44: See the Hist. des Peuples Anciens, &c.,
tom. ix. p.
255 - 273, 396 - 501.
The count de Buat was French minister at
the court of Bavaria: a liberal curiosity prompted his
inquiries
into the antiquities of the country, and that curiosity
was the
germ of twelve respectable volumes.]
[Footnote 45: See the Gothic transactions on the Danube
and the
Illyricum, in Jornandes, (c. 58, p. 699;) Ennodius, (p.
1607 -
1610;) Marcellmus (in Chron. p. 44, 47, 48;) and
Cassiodorus, in
(in Chron and Var. iii. 29 50, iv. 13, vii. 4 24, viii.
9, 10,
11, 21, ix. 8, 9.)]
[Footnote 46: I cannot forbear transcribing the liberal
and
classic style of Count Marcellinus: Romanus comes
domesticorum,
et Rusticus comes scholariorum cum centum armatis
navibus,
totidemque dromonibus, octo millia militum armatorum
secum
ferentibus, ad devastanda Italiae littora processerunt,
ut usque
ad Tarentum antiquissimam civitatem aggressi sunt;
remensoque
mari in honestam victoriam quam piratico ausu Romani ex
Romanis
rapuerunt, Anastasio Caesari reportarunt, (in Chron. p.
48.) See
Variar. i. 16, ii. 38.]
[Footnote 47: See the royal orders and instructions,
(Var. iv.
15, v. 16 - 20.) These armed boats should be still
smaller than
the thousand vessels of Agamemnon at the siege of
Troy. (Manso,
p. 121.)]
[Footnote 48: Vol. iii. p. 581 - 585.]
[Footnote 49: Ennodius (p. 1610) and Cassiodorus, in the
royal
name, (Var. ii 41,) record his salutary protection of the
Alemanni.]
[Footnote 50: The Gothic transactions in Gaul and Spain
are
represented with some perplexity in Cassiodorus, (Var.
iii. 32,
38, 41, 43, 44, v. 39.) Jornandes, (c. 58, p. 698, 699,)
and
Procopius, (Goth. l. i. c. 12.) I will neither hear nor
reconcile
the long and contradictory arguments of the Abbe Dubos
and the
Count de Buat, about the wars of Burgundy.]
[Footnote 51: Theophanes, p. 113.]
The union of
the Goths and Romans might have fixed for ages
the transient happiness of Italy; and the first of
nations, a new
people of free subjects and enlightened soldiers, might
have
gradually arisen from the mutual emulation of their
respective
virtues. But the
sublime merit of guiding or seconding such a
revolution was not reserved for the reign of Theodoric:
he wanted
either the genius or the opportunities of a legislator;
^52 and
while he indulged the Goths in the enjoyment of rude
liberty, he
servilely copied the institutions, and even the abuses,
of the
political system which had been framed by Constantine and
his
successors. From a
tender regard to the expiring prejudices of
Rome, the Barbarian declined the name, the purple, and
the
diadem, of the emperors; but he assumed, under the
hereditary
title of king, the whole substance and plenitude of
Imperial
prerogative. ^53 His addresses to the eastern throne were
respectful and ambiguous: he celebrated, in pompous
style, the
harmony of the two republics, applauded his own
government as the
perfect similitude of a sole and undivided empire, and
claimed
above the kings of the earth the same preeminence which
he
modestly allowed to the person or rank of Anastasius. The
alliance of the East and West was annually declared by
the
unanimous choice of two consuls; but it should seem that
the
Italian candidate who was named by Theodoric accepted a
formal
confirmation from the sovereign of Constantinople. ^54
The Gothic
palace of Ravenna reflected the image of the court of
Theodosius
or Valentinian.
The Praetorian praefect, the praefect of Rome,
the quaestor, the master of the offices, with the public
and
patrimonial treasurers, ^* whose functions are painted in
gaudy
colors by the rhetoric of Cassiodorus, still continued to
act as
the ministers of state. And the subordinate care of
justice and
the revenue was delegated to seven consulars, three
correctors,
and five presidents, who governed the fifteen regions of
Italy
according to the principles, and even the forms, of Roman
jurisprudence. ^55 The violence of the conquerors was
abated or
eluded by the slow artifice of judicial proceedings; the
civil
administration, with its honors and emoluments, was
confined to
the Italians; and the people still preserved their dress
and
language, their laws and customs, their personal freedom,
and two
thirds of their landed property. ^! It had been the
object of
Augustus to conceal the introduction of monarchy; it was
the
policy of Theodoric to disguise the reign of a Barbarian.
^56 If
his subjects were sometimes awakened from this pleasing
vision of
a Roman government, they derived more substantial comfort
from
the character of a Gothic prince, who had penetration to
discern,
and firmness to pursue, his own and the public interest.
Theodoric loved the virtues which he possessed, and the
talents
of which he was destitute. Liberius was promoted to the office
of Praetorian praefect for his unshaken fidelity to the
unfortunate cause of Odoacer. The ministers of Theodoric,
Cassiodorus, ^57 and Boethius, have reflected on his
reign the
lustre of their genius and learning. More prudent or more
fortunate than his colleague, Cassiodorus preserved his
own
esteem without forfeiting the royal favor; and after
passing
thirty years in the honors of the world, he was blessed
with an
equal term of repose in the devout and studious solitude
of
Squillace. ^*
[Footnote 52: Procopius affirms that no laws whatsoever
were
promulgated by Theodoric and the succeeding kings of
Italy,
(Goth. l. ii. c. 6.) He must mean in the Gothic
language. A
Latin edict of Theodoric is still extant, in one hundred
and
fifty-four articles.
Note: See
Manso, 92. Savigny, vol. ii. p. 164, et seq. - M.]
[Footnote 53: The image of Theodoric is engraved on his
coins:
his modest successors were satisfied with adding their
own name
to the head of the reigning emperor, (Muratori,
Antiquitat.
Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. ii. dissert. xxvii. p. 577 -
579.
Giannone, Istoria Civile di Napoli tom. i. p. 166.)]
[Footnote 54: The alliance of the emperor and the king of
Italy
are represented by Cassiodorus (Var. i. l, ii. 1, 2, 3,
vi. l)
and Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 6, l. iii. c. 21,) who
celebrate
the friendship of Anastasius and Theodoric; but the
figurative
style of compliment was interpreted in a very different
sense at
Constantinople and Ravenna.]
[Footnote *: All causes between Roman and Roman were
judged by
the old Roman courts.
The comes Gothorum judged between Goth and
Goth; between Goths and Romans, (without considering
which was
the plaintiff.) the comes Gothorum, with a Roman jurist
as his
assessor, making a kind of mixed jurisdiction, but with a
natural
predominance to the side of the Goth Savigny, vol. i. p.
290. -
M.]
[Footnote 55: To the xvii. provinces of the Notitia, Paul
Warnefrid the deacon (De Reb. Longobard. l. ii. c. 14 -
22) has
subjoined an xviiith, the Apennine, (Muratori, Script.
Rerum
Italicarum, tom. i. p. 431 - 443.) But of these Sardinia
and
Corsica were possessed by the Vandals, and the two
Rhaetias, as
well as the Cottian Alps, seem to have been abandoned to
a
military government.
The state of the four provinces that now
form the kingdom of Naples is labored by Giannone (tom.
i. p.
172, 178) with patriotic diligence.]
[Footnote !: Manso enumerates and develops at some length
the
following sources of the royal revenue of Theodoric: 1. A
domain,
either by succession to that of Odoacer, or a part of the
third
of the lands was reserved for the royal patrimony. 1. Regalia,
including mines, unclaimed estates, treasure-trove, and
confiscations. 3.
Land tax. 4. Aurarium, like the
Chrysargyrum,
a tax on certain branches of trade. 5. Grant of Monopolies. 6.
Siliquaticum, a small tax on the sale of all kinds of
commodities. 7.
Portoria, customs Manso, 96, 111.
Savigny (i.
285) supposes that in many cases the property remained in
the
original owner, who paid his tertia, a third of the
produce to
the crown, vol. i. p. 285. - M.]
[Footnote 56: See the Gothic history of Procopius, (l. i.
c. 1,
l. ii. c. 6,) the Epistles of Cassiodorus, (passim, but
especially the vth and vith books, which contain the
formulae, or
patents of offices,) and the Civil History of Giannone,
(tom. i.
l. ii. iii.) The Gothic counts, which he places in every
Italian
city, are annihilated, however, by Maffei, (Verona
Illustrata, P.
i. l. viii. p. 227; for those of Syracuse and Naples (Var
vi. 22,
23) were special and temporary commissions.]
[Footnote 57: Two Italians of the name of Cassiodorus,
the father
(Var. i. 24, 40) and the son, (ix. 24, 25,) were
successively
employed in the administration of Theodoric. The son was born in
the year 479: his various epistles as quaestor, master of
the
offices, and Praetorian praefect, extend from 509 to 539,
and he
lived as a monk about thirty years, (Tiraboschi Storia
della
Letteratura Italiana, tom. iii. p. 7 - 24. Fabricius, Bibliot.
Lat. Med. Aevi, tom. i. p. 357, 358, edit. Mansi.)]
[Footnote *: Cassiodorus was of an ancient and honorable
family;
his grandfather had distinguished himself in the defence
of
Sicily against the ravages of Genseric; his father held a
high
rank at the court of Valentinian III., enjoyed the
friendship of
Aetius, and was one of the ambassadors sent to arrest the
progress of Attila.
Cassiodorus himself was first the treasurer
of the private expenditure to Odoacer, afterwards
"count of the
sacred largesses." Yielding with the rest of the
Romans to the
dominion of Theodoric, he was instrumental in the
peaceable
submission of Sicily; was successively governor of his
native
provinces of Bruttium and Lucania, quaestor, magister,
palatii,
Praetorian praefect, patrician, consul, and private secretary,
and, in fact, first minister of the king. He was five times
Praetorian praefect under different sovereigns, the last
time in
the reign of Vitiges.
This is the theory of Manso, which is not
unencumbered with difficulties. M. Buat had supposed that it was
the father of Cassiodorus who held the office first
named.
Compare Manso, p. 85, &c., and Beylage, vii. It certainly
appears improbable that Cassiodorus should have been
count of the
sacred largesses at twenty years old. - M.]
As the patron
of the republic, it was the interest and duty
of the Gothic king to cultivate the affections of the
senate ^58
and people. The
nobles of Rome were flattered by sonorous
epithets and formal professions of respect, which had
been more
justly applied to the merit and authority of their
ancestors.
The people enjoyed, without fear or danger, the three
blessings
of a capital, order, plenty, and public amusements. A visible
diminution of their numbers may be found even in the
measure of
liberality; ^59 yet Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, poured
their
tribute of corn into the granaries of Rome an allowance
of bread
and meat was distributed to the indigent citizens; and
every
office was deemed honorable which was consecrated to the
care of
their health and happiness. The public games, such as the Greek
ambassador might politely applaud, exhibited a faint and
feeble
copy of the magnificence of the Caesars: yet the musical,
the
gymnastic, and the pantomime arts, had not totally sunk
in
oblivion; the wild beasts of Africa still exercised in
the
amphitheatre the courage and dexterity of the hunters;
and the
indulgent Goth either patiently tolerated or gently
restrained
the blue and green factions, whose contests so often
filled the
circus with clamor and even with blood. ^60 In the
seventh year
of his peaceful reign, Theodoric visited the old capital
of the
world; the senate and people advanced in solemn
procession to
salute a second Trajan, a new Valentinian; and he nobly
supported
that character by the assurance of a just and legal
government,
^61 in a discourse which he was not afraid to pronounce
in
public, and to inscribe on a tablet of brass. Rome, in this
august ceremony, shot a last ray of declining glory; and
a saint,
the spectator of this pompous scene, could only hope, in
his
pious fancy, that it was excelled by the celestial
splendor of
the new Jerusalem. ^62 During a residence of six months,
the
fame, the person, and the courteous demeanor of the
Gothic king,
excited the admiration of the Romans, and he contemplated,
with
equal curiosity and surprise, the monuments that remained
of
their ancient greatness.
He imprinted the footsteps of a
conqueror on the Capitoline hill, and frankly confessed
that each
day he viewed with fresh wonder the forum of Trajan and his
lofty
column. The
theatre of Pompey appeared, even in its decay, as a
huge mountain artificially hollowed, and polished, and
adorned by
human industry; and he vaguely computed, that a river of
gold
must have been drained to erect the colossal amphitheatre
of
Titus. ^63 From the mouths of fourteen aqueducts, a pure
and
copious stream was diffused into every part of the city;
among
these the Claudian water, which arose at the distance of
thirty-eight miles in the Sabine mountains, was conveyed
along a
gentle though constant declivity of solid arches, till it
descended on the summit of the Aventine hill. The long and
spacious vaults which had been constructed for the
purpose of
common sewers, subsisted, after twelve centuries, in
their
pristine strength; and these subterraneous channels have
been
preferred to all the visible wonders of Rome. ^64 The
Gothic
kings, so injuriously accused of the ruin of antiquity,
were
anxious to preserve the monuments of the nation whom they
had
subdued. ^65 The royal edicts were framed to prevent the
abuses,
the neglect, or the depredations of the citizens
themselves; and
a professed architect, the annual sum of two hundred
pounds of
gold, twenty-five thousand tiles, and the receipt of
customs from
the Lucrine port, were assigned for the ordinary repairs
of the
walls and public edifices. A similar care was extended to
the
statues of metal or marble of men or animals. The spirit of the
horses, which have given a modern name to the Quirinal,
was
applauded by the Barbarians; ^66 the brazen elephants of
the Via
sacra were diligently restored; ^67 the famous heifer of
Myron
deceived the cattle, as they were driven through the
forum of
peace; ^68 and an officer was created to protect those
works of
rat, which Theodoric considered as the noblest ornament
of his
kingdom.
[Footnote 58: See his regard for the senate in Cochlaeus,
(Vit.
Theod. viii. p. 72 - 80.)]
[Footnote 59: No more than 120,000 modii, or four
thousand
quarters, (Anonym. Valesian. p. 721, and Var. i. 35, vi.
18, xi.
5, 39.)]
[Footnote 60: See his regard and indulgence for the
spectacles of
the circus, the amphitheatre, and the theatre, in the
Chronicle
and Epistles of Cassiodorus, (Var. i. 20, 27, 30, 31, 32,
iii.
51, iv. 51, illustrated by the xivth Annotation of Mascou's
History), who has contrived to sprinkle the subject with
ostentatious, though agreeable, learning.]
[Footnote 61: Anonym.
Vales. p. 721. Marius
Aventicensis in
Chron. In the
scale of public and personal merit, the Gothic
conqueror is at least as much above Valentinian, as he
may seem
inferior to Trajan.]
[Footnote 62: Vit. Fulgentii in Baron. Annal. Eccles.
A.D. 500,
No. 10.]
[Footnote 63: Cassiodorus describes in his pompous style
the
Forum of Trajan (Var. vii. 6,) the theatre of Marcellus,
(iv.
51,) and the amphitheatre of Titus, (v. 42;) and his
descriptions
are not unworthy of the reader's perusal. According to
the modern
prices, the Abbe Barthelemy computes that the brick work
and
masonry of the Coliseum would now cost twenty millions of
French
livres, (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom.
xxviii. p.
585, 586.) How small a part of that stupendous fabric!]
[Footnote 64: For the aqueducts and cloacae, see Strabo,
(l. v.
p. 360;) Pliny, (Hist. Natur. xxxvi. 24; Cassiodorus,
(Var. iii.
30, 31, vi. 6;) Procopius, (Goth. l. i. c. 19;) and
Nardini,
(Roma Antica, p. 514 - 522.) How such works could be
executed by
a king of Rome, is yet a problem.
Note: See
Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 402. These
stupendous works
are among the most striking confirmations of Niebuhr's
views of
the early Roman history