A.D. 478. doric 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 Mæsia, on the solemn assurance that before he reached Adrianople he should meet a plentiful convoy of provisions, and a reinforcement 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 an heavy train of horses, of mules, and of waggons, 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 neighbouring 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 con"test will be exposed, and justly exposed, to their implacable re"venge? 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 66 general Harmatius, and expelled the husbandmen from the country. Gibbon seems to have misconstrued this passage.-S. a The name of this mountain, which is found only in this passage, is probably corrupt. We ought perhaps to read Succi, and seek the mountain near Soneium on the borders of Dacia and Thrace, where the mountain-pass was loftiest. Manso, Geschichte des Ost-Gothischen Reiches, p. 26.-S. "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 clamour 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 15 takes the of Italy, A.D. 481. In every state of his fortune the prudence and firmness of Theodoric were equally conspicuous: whether he threatened He underConstantinople at the head of the confederate Goths, or conquest retreated with a faithful band to the mountains and sea- A.D. 479. 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; 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 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 [p. 244 sqq., ed. Bonn]). 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 [apud] Græciam debacchantem... Zenonis munificentiâ pene pacatus... beneficiis nunquam satiatus, &c. [p. 368, 369, and 370, ed. Sirmond]. 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 waggon (Marcellin. in Chron. Evagrius, 1. iii. c. 25). 14 See Malchus (p. 91 [ed. Par.; p. 268, ed. Bonn]) and Evagrius (1. iii. c. 35). 15 Malchus, p. 85 [p. 256, ed. Bonn]. In a single action, which was decided by the skill and discipline of Sabinian, Theodoric could lose 5000 men. "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 His march. The reputation both of the leader and of the war diffused an universal ardour; 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 waggons 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, Gepida, 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 van 16 Jornandes (c. 57, p. 696, 697) has abridged the great history of Cassiodorus. See, compare, and reconcile, Procopius (Gothic. 1. i. c. i.), the Valesian Fragment (p. 718 [ad calcem Amm. Marc. tom. ii. p. 306, ed. Bip.]), Theophanes (p. 113 [p. 203, ed. Bonn]), and Marcellinus (in Chron.). quished: 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." The three A.D. 489, Aug. 11. 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, defeats of whose independent kings 18 or leaders disdained the duties Odoacer, of subordination and the prudence of delays. No sooner Sept. 27; had Theodoric granted a short repose and refreshment to his wearied cavalry, than he boldly attacked the fortifications of the enemy; the Ostrogoths showed more ardour 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 neighbourhood of that city, on the steep banks of the rapid Adige, he was opposed by a new army, reinforced 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 entrenched 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 valour 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. “glory," said he, "is mutual and inseparable. You are known to "the world as the mother of Theodoric, and it becomes me to prove "Our 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. 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. 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. "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' honour 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 His capitulation and death, A.D. 493, March 5. 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 clamours of his soldiers. A treaty of peace was negociated 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 20 This anecdote is related on the modern but respectable authority of Sigonius (Op. tom. i. p. 580; De Occident. Imp. 1. xv.): his words are curious:-"Would you "return?" &c. She presented and almost displayed the original recess." a 21 Hist. Miscell. 1. 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). 22 Procopius (Gothic. 1. i. c. i.) approves himself an impartial sceptic; pari.... The authority of Sigonius would scarcely have weighed with Gibbon except for an indecent anecdote. I have a recollection of a similar story in some of the Italian wars.-M. b This agreement to rule jointly is mentioned only by Procopius, and is not noticed by Jornandes, Cassiodorus, or the Anonymous. It is rejected by Tillemont. See Manso, ut supra, p. 45.-S. |