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 Prætorian præfect for his unshaken fidelity to the unfortunate cause of Odoacer. The ministers of Theodoric, Cassiodorus 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 favour; and after passing thirty years in the honours of the world, he was blessed with an equal term of repose in the devout and studious solitude of Squillace."

As the patron of the republic, it was the interest and duty of the Gothic king to cultivate the affections of the senate and Prosperity of people. The nobles of Rome were flattered by sonorous epithets and formal professions of respect, which had been more

Rome.

possessed by the Vandals, and the two Rhætias, 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 laboured by Giannone (tom. i. p. 172, 178) with patriotic diligence.

56 See the Gothic history of Procopius (1. i. c. 1, 1. ii. c. 6), the Epistles of Cassiodorus (passim, but especially the vth and vith books [vi. and vii.], which contain the formula, or patents of offices), and the Civil History of Giannone (tom. i. 1. ii. iii.). The Gothic counts, which he places in every Italian city, are annihilated, however, by Maffei (Verona Illustrata, P. i. 1. viii. p. 227); for those of Syracuse and Naples (Var. vi. 22, 23) were special and temporary commissions.

57 Two Italians of the name of Cassiodorus, the father (Var. i. 24 [4], 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 quæstor, master of the offices, and Prætorian præfect, 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, Biblioth. Lat. Med. Ævi, tom. i. p. 357, 358, edit. Mansi.)

58 See his regard for the senate in Cochlous (Vit. Theod. viii. p. 72-80).

"Cassiodorus was of an ancient and honourable 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 the Third, enjoyed the friend ship of Aëtius, 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,

quæstor, magister palatii, Prætorian præfect, patrician, consul, private secretary, and, in fact, first minister of the king. He was five times Prætorian præfect 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 20 years old.-M. Cassiodorus died 575, at the age of 95. Clinton, Fast. Rom. vol. i. p. 837.-S.

Visit of

A.D. 500.

59

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; 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 honourable which was consecrated to the care of their health and happiness. The public games, such as a Greek ambassador might politely applaud, exhibited a faint and feeble copy of the magnificence of the Cæsars 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 clamour, and even with blood.60 In the seventh year of his Theodoric, 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, 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 splendour of the New Jerusalem.62 During a residence of six months, the fame, the person, and the courteous demeanour 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

61

59 No more than 120,000 modii, or four thousand quarters (Anonym. Valesian, p. 721 [Amm. ii. p. 310, ed. Bip.], and Var. i. 35, vi. 18, xi. 5, 39).

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.

61 Anonym. Vales. p. 721 [1. c. ed. Bip.]. 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.

62 Vit. Fulgentii in Baron. Annal. Eccles. A.D. 500, No. 10.

63 Cassiodorus describes in his pompous style the Forum of Trajan (Var. vii. 6),

64

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. 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 art, which Theodoric considered as the noblest ornament of his kingdom.

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 Abbé Barthelemy computes that the brickwork and masonry of the Coliseum would now cost twenty millions of French livres (Mém. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 585, 586). How small a part of that stupendous fabric!

For the aqueducts and cloaca see Strabo (1. v. p. 360 [p. 235, ed. Casaub.]), Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 24 [§ 3]), Cassiodorus (Var. iii. 30, 31, vi. 6), Procopius (Goth. 1. 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.a

65 For the Gothic care of the buildings and statues, see Cassiodorus (Var. i. 21, 25, ii. 34, iv. 30, vii. 6, 13, 15), and the Valesian Fragment (p. 721 [Amm. tom. ii. ed. Bip.]).

P. 310,

66 Var. vii. 15. These horses of Monte Cavallo had been transported from. Alexandria to the baths of Constantine (Nardini, p. 188). Their sculpture is disdained by the Abbé Dubos (Réflexions sur la Poésie et sur la Peinture, tom. i. section 39), and admired by Winckelman (Hist. de l'Art, tom. ii. p. 159).

67 Var. x. 30. They were probably a fragment of some triumphal car (Cuper de Elephantis, ii. 10).

68 Procopius (Goth. 1. iv. c. 21 [tom. ii. p. 571, ed. Bonn]) relates a foolish story of Myron's cow, which is celebrated by the false wit of thirty-six Greek epigrams (Antholog. 1. iv. p. 302-306, edit. Hen. Steph.; Auson. Epigram. lviii.-lxviii.).

See Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 402. These stupendous works are among the most striking confirmations of Niebuhr's views of the early Roman history; at least they appear to justify his strong sentence:

"These works and the building of the Capitol attest with unquestionable evidence that the Rome of the later kings was the chief city of a great state."Page 410.-M.

Flourishing

Italy.

After the example of the last emperors, Theodoric preferred the residence of Ravenna, where he cultivated an orchard with state of his own hands.69 As often as the peace of his kingdom was threatened (for it was never invaded) by the barbarians, he removed his court to Verona70 on the northern frontier, and the image of his palace, still extant on a coin, represents the oldest and most authentic model of Gothic architecture. These two capitals, as well as Pavia, Spoleto, Naples, and the rest of the Italian cities, acquired under his reign the useful or splendid decorations of churches, aqueducts, baths, porticoes, and palaces." But the happiness of the subject was more truly conspicuous in the busy scene of labour and luxury, in the rapid increase and bold enjoyment of national wealth. From the shades of Tibur and Præneste, the Roman senators still retired in the winter season to the warm sun and salubrious springs of Baiæ; and their villas, which advanced on solid moles into the bay of Naples, commanded the various prospect of the sky, the earth, and the water. On the eastern side of the Adriatic a new Campania was formed in the fair and fruitful province of Istria, which communicated with the palace of Ravenna by an easy navigation of one hundred miles. The rich productions of Lucania and the adjacent provinces were exchanged at the Marcilian fountain, in a populous fair annually dedicated to trade, intemperance, and superstition. In the solitude of Comum, which had once been animated by the mild genius of Pliny, a transparent basin above sixty miles in length still reflected the rural seats which encompassed the margin of the Larian lake; and the gradual ascent of the hills was covered by a triple plantation of olives, of vines, and of chestnut

6 See an epigram of Ennodius (ii. 3, p. 1893, 1894) on this garden and the royal gardener.

70 His affection for that city is proved by the epithet of "Verona tua,” and the legend of the hero; under the barbarous name of Dietrich of Bern (Peringsciold ad Cochlocum, p. 240), Maffei traces him with knowledge and pleasure in his native country (1. ix. p. 230-236).

71 See Maffei (Verona Illustrata, Part i. p. 231, 232, 308, &c.) He imputes Gothic architecture, like the corruption of language, writing, &c., not to the barbarians, but to the Italians themselves. Compare his sentiments with those of Tiraboschi (tom. iii. p. 61).a

"Mr. Hallam (vol. iii. p. 432) observes that "the image of Theodoric's palace" is represented in Maffei, not from a coin, but from a seal. Compare D'Agincourt (Storia dell' Arte, Italian Transl., Architettura, Plate xvii. No. 2, and Pittura, Plate xvi. No. 15), where there is likewise an engraving from a mosaic in the church of St. Apollinaris in Ravenna, representing a building ascribed to Theodoric in that city. Neither of these, as Mr. Hallam

justly observes, in the least approximates to what is called the Gothic style. They are evidently the degenerate Roman architecture, and more resemble the early attempts of our architects to get back from our national Gothic into a classical Greek style. One of them calls to mind Inigo Jones's inner quadrangle in St. John's College, Oxford. Compare Hallam and D'Agincourt, vol. i. p. 140-145. -M.

trees.72 Agriculture revived under the shadow of peace, and the number of husbandmen was multiplied by the redemption of captives.73 The iron-mines of Dalmatia, a gold-mine in Bruttium, were carefully explored, and the Pomptine marshes, as well as those of Spoleto, were drained and cultivated by private undertakers, whose distant reward must depend on the continuance of the public prosperity.74 Whenever the seasons were less propitious, the doubtful precautions of forming magazines of corn, fixing the price, and prohibiting the exportation, attested at least the benevolence of the state; but such was the extraordinary plenty which an industrious people produced from a grateful soil, that a gallon of wine was sometimes sold in Italy for less than three farthings, and a quarter of wheat at about five shillings and sixpence.75 A country possessed of so many valuable objects of exchange soon attracted the merchants of the world, whose beneficial traffic was encouraged and protected by the liberal spirit of Theodoric. The free intercourse of the provinces by land and water was restored and extended; the city gates were never shut either by day or by night; and the common saying, that a purse of gold might be safely left in the fields, was expressive of the conscious security of the inhabitants.

A difference of religion is always pernicious and often fatal to the harmony of the prince and people: the Gothic conqueror Theodoric an had been educated in the profession of Arianism, and Italy Arian. was devoutly attached to the Nicene faith. But the persuasion of Theodoric was not infected by zeal: and he piously adhered to the heresy of his fathers, without condescending to balance the subtile arguments of theological metaphysics. Satisfied with the private toleration of his Arian sectaries, he justly conceived himself to be the guardian of the public worship, and his external reverence for a

72 The villas, climate, and landscape of Baia (Var. ix. 6; see Cluver. Italia Antiq. 1. iv. c. 2, p. 1119, &c.), Istria (Var. xii. 22, 26), and Comum (Var. xi. 14, compare with Pliny's two villas, ix. 7), are agreeably painted in the epistles of Cassiodorus.

73 In Liguria numerosa agricolarum progenies (Ennodius, p. 1678, 1679, 1680). St. Epiphanius of Pavia redeemed by prayer or ransom 6000 captives from the Burgundians of Lyons and Savoy. Such deeds are the best of miracles.

74 The political economy of Theodoric (see Anonym. Vales. p. 721 [Amm. tom. ii. p. 311, ed. Bip.] and Cassiodorus, in Chron.) may be distinctly traced under the following heads: iron-mine (Var. iii. 25); gold-mine (ix. 3); Pomptine marshes (ii. 32, 33); Spoleto (ii. 21); corn (i. 34, x. 27, 28, xi. 11, 12); trade (vi. 7, vii. 9, 23); fair of Leucothoe or St. Cyprian in Lucania (viii. 33); plenty (xii. 4); the cursus, or public post (i. 29, ii. 31, iv. 47, v. 5, vi. 6, vii. 33); the Flaminian way (xii. 18).a

75 LX modii tritici in solidum ipsius tempore fuerunt, et vinum xxx amphoras in solidum (Fragment. Vales. [p. 311, ed. Bip.]). Corn was distributed from the granaries at xv or xxv modii for a piece of gold, and the price was still moderate.

a The inscription commemorative of the draining the Pomptine marshes may be found in many works: in Gruter Inscript. Ant. Heidelberg, p. 152, No. 8; with

variations, in Nicolai De' Bonificamenti delle Terre Pontine, p. 103; in Sartorius, in his prize essay on the reign of Theodoric; and Manso, Beylage, xi.-M.