XXXIX. of art and nature, still sustained a siege of almost CHAP. 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 clamours 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, are sufficiently proved by the advantageous treaty which force would not sincerely have granted, nor weakness have rashly infringed. The jealousy of and the mischiefs of discord, may suggest power, 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 V V Procopius (Gothic. 1. i. c. i.) approves himself an impartial sceptic; a . . . δολερῷ τρόπῳ εκτείνε. Cassiodorius (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.). XXXIX. Reign of Mar. 5. CHAP. profane orators; " 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. One reA.D. 493, cord of his fame, the volume of public epistles comA.D. 526, posed by Cassiodorius in the royal name, is still Aug. 30. extant, and has obtained more implicit credit than it seems to deserve. 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. Partition of lands. The partition of the lands of Italy, of which Theodoric assigned the third part to his soldiers, is honourably arraigned as the sole injustice of his life. And even this act may be fairly justified by the example The sonorous and servile oration of Ennodius was pronounced at Milan or Ravenna in the years 507 or 508 (Sirmond, tom. i. p. 1615). 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). * 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. y The best edition of the Variarum Libri xii. is that of Joh. Garretius (Rotomagi, 1679, in Opp. Cassiodor. 2 vol. 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. XXXIX. of Odoacer, the rights of conquest, the true interest CHAP. 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." 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,a 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 eattle. The distinctions of noble and plebeian were acknowledged; 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. 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.d Distress b Procopius, Gothic. 1. 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. Procopius, Goth. 1. iii. c. 4. 21. Ennodius describes (p. 1612, 1613) the military arts and increasing numbers of the Goths. b When Theodoric gave his sister to the king of the Vandals, she sailed for Africa with a guard of 1,000 noble Goths, each of whom was attended by five armed followers (Procop. Vandal. 1. i. c. 8). The Gothic nobility must have been as numerous as brave. • See the acknowledgment of Gothic liberty (Var. v. 30). d Procopius, Goth. 1. i. c. 2. The Roman boys learnt the language (Var. viii. XXXIX. of the Goths e CHAP might sometimes provoke the indigent Roman to assume the ferocious manners which were insensibly relinquished by the rich and luxurious barbarian : but these mutual conversions were not encouraged by the policy of a monarch who perpetuated the Separation separation of the Italians and Goths; reserving the and Italians. 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 valour 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 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. e A saying of Theodoric was founded on experience: "Romanus miser imitatur Gothum; et utilis (dives) Gothus imitatur Romanum." (See the Fragment and Notes of Valesius, p. 719.) disclaim the barbarous licence of judicial combat and CHAP. private revenge.f ners.g XXXIX. policy of Among the barbarians of the West, the victory of Foreign Theodoric had spread a general alarm. But as soon Theodoric. 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 manThe ambassadors who resorted to Ravenna from the most distant countries of Europe admired his wisdom, magnificence," 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,' 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. It is difficult in the dark forests of Germany and Poland to pursue the emigrations of the Heruli, a fierce f The view of the military establishment of the Goths in Italy is collected from the Epistles of Cassiodorius (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, 1. xi. 40–44. Annotation xiv). See the clearness and vigour of his negotiations in Ennodius (p. 1607), and Cassiodorius (Var. iii. 1, 2, 3, 4. iv. 13. v. 43, 44), who gives the different styles of friendship, counsel, expostulation, &c. h 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 those provinces were intrusted. i 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. i), and with the Vandals (v. i). Each of these epistles affords some curious knowledge of the policy and manners of the barbarians. j His political system may be observed in Cassiodorius (Var. iv. 1. ix. 1), Jornandes (c. 58. p. 698, 699), and the Valesian Fragment (p. 720, 721). Peace, honourable peace, was the constant aim of Theodoric. VOL. V. C |