Theodoric the Goth: Barbarian Champion of Civilisation

CHAPTER VII.. The Conquest of Italy

THE CONQUEST OF ITALY

Odovacar invades Dalmatia--Conducts a successful campaign against the Rugians--Theodoric accepts from Zeno the commission to overthrow Odovacar--He invades Italy, overthrowing the Gepidæ, who attempt to bar his passage--Battles of the Isonzo and Verona--Odovacar takes refuge in Ravenna--The treachery of Tufa--Gundobad, king of the Burgundians, comes to Italy to oppose Theodoric, while Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, comes as his ally--The battle of the Adda, and further defeat of Odovacar--Surrender of Ravenna--Assassination of Odovacar.

CHAPTER VIII.. Civilitas

CIVILITAS

Transformation in the character of Theodoric--His title--Embassies to Zeno and Anastasius--Theodoric's care for the rebuilding of cities and repair of aqueducts--Encouragement of commerce and manufactures--Revival of agriculture--Anecdotes of Theodoric.

CHAPTER IX.. Roman Officials--Cassiodorus

ROMAN OFFICIALS--CASSIODORUS

The government of Italy still carried on according to Roman precedents--Classification of the officials--The Consulship and the Senate--Cassiodorus, his character and his work--His history of the Goths--His letters and state papers.

CHAPTER X.. The Arian League 175

THE ARIAN LEAGUE 175

Political bearings of the Arianism of the German invaders of the Empire--Vandals, Suevi, Visigoths, Burgundians--Uprise of the power of Clovis--His conversion to Christianity--His wars with Gundobad, king of the Burgundians--With Alaric II, king of the Visigoths--Downfall of the monarchy of Toulouse--Usurpation of Gesalic--Theodoric governs Spain as guardian of his grandson Amalaric.

CHAPTER XI.. Anastasius

ANASTASIUS

Anastasius, the Eastern Emperor--His character--His disputes with his subjects--Theodoric and the king of the Gepidæ--War of Sirmium and its consequences--Raid on the coast of Italy--Reconciliation between the courts of Ravenna and Constantinople--Anastasius confers on Clovis the title of Consul--Clovis removes many of his rivals--Death of Clovis--Death of Anastasius.

CHAPTER XII.. Rome and Ravenna

ROME AND RAVENNA

Theodoric's visit to Rome--Disputed Papal election--Theodoric's speech at the Golden Palm--The monk Fulgentius--Bread distributions--Races in the Circus--Conspiracy of Odoin--Return to Ravenna--Marriage festivities of Amalaberga--Description of Ravenna--Mosaics in the churches--S. Apollinare Dentro--Processions of virgins and martyrs--Arian baptistery--So-called palace of Theodoric--Vanished statues.

CHAPTER XIII.. Boëthius

BOËTHIUS

Clouds in the horizon--Anxiety as to the succession--Death of Eutharic, son-in-law of Theodoric--His son Athalaric proclaimed as Theodoric's heir--Pope and Emperor reconciled--Anti-Jewish riot at Ravenna--Strained relations of Theodoric and his Catholic subjects--- Leaders of the Roman party--Boëthius and Symmachus--Break-down of the Arian leagues--Cyprian accuses Albinus of treason--Boëthius, interposing, is included in the charge--His trial, condemnation and death--The "Consolation of Philosophy".

CHAPTER XIV.. Theodoric's Tomb

THEODORIC'S TOMB

Embassy of Pope John to Constantinople--His imprisonment and death--Execution of Symmachus--Opportune death of Theodoric--Various stories respecting it--His mausoleum--- Ultimate fate of his remains.

CHAPTER XV.. Amalasuentha

AMALASUENTHA

Accession of the Emperor Justinian--His place in history--Overthrow of the Vandal kingdom in Africa by Belisarius--Battles of Ad Decimum and Tricamaron--Belisarius' triumph--Fall of the Burgundian kingdom--Death of Amalaric king of Spain--Amalasuentha's troubles with her subjects as to her son's education--Secret negotiations with Justinian--Death of Athalaric--Theodahad made partner in the throne--Murder of Amalasuentha--Justinian declares war.

CHAPTER XVI.. Belisarius

BELISARIUS

Justinian begins his great Gothic war--Dalmatia recovered for the Empire--Belisarius lands in Sicily--Siege of Palermo--The south of Italy overrun--Naples taken by a stratagem--Theodahad deposed by the Goths--Witigis elected king--The Goths evacuate Rome--Belisarius enters it--The long siege of Rome by the Goths who fail to take it--Belisarius marches northward and captures Ravenna.

CHAPTER XVII.. Totila

TOTILA

Misgovernment of Italy by Justinian's officers--The Gothic cause revives--Accession of Ildibad--Of Eraric--Of Totila--Totila's character and policy--His victorious progress--Belisarius sent again to Italy to oppose him--Siege and capture of Rome by the Goths--The fortifications of the City dismantled--Belisarius reoccupies it and Totila besieges it in vain--General success of the Gothic arms--Belisarius returns to Constantinople--His later fortunes--Never reduced to beggary.

CHAPTER XVIII.. Narses

NARSES

Totila again takes Rome--High-water mark of the success of the Gothic arms--Narses, the Emperor's chamberlain, appointed to command another expedition for the recovery of Italy--His character--His semi-barbarous army--Enters Italy--Battle of the Apennines--Totila slain--End of the Gothic dominion in Italy.

CHAPTER XIX.. The Theodoric of Saga 370

THE THEODORIC OF SAGA 370

The fame of Theodoric attested by the Saga dealing with his name, utterly devoid as they are of historic truth--The Wilkina Saga--Story of Theodoric's ancestors--His own boyhood--His companions, Master Hildebrand, Heime, and Witig--Death of his father and his succession to the throne--Herbart wooes King Arthur's daughter, first for Theodoric and then for himself--Hermanric, his uncle, attacks Theodoric--Flight and exile at the Court of Attila--Attempt to return--Attila's sons slain in battle--The tragedy of the Nibelungs--Theodoric returns to his kingdom--His mysterious end.

INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS.

STATUE OF THEODORIC IN THE CHURCH OF THE FRANCISCANS AT INNSBRUCK--TOMB OF MAXIMILIAN Frontispiece.

MAP OF EUROPE A.D. 493

THE BURNT COLUMN, CONSTANTINOPLE

OBELISK OF THEODOSIUS IN THE HIPPODROME AT CONSTANTINOPLE

PEDESTAL OF THE OBELISK OF THEODOSIUS

MAP OF THRACIA, DACIA, AND MACEDONIA IN THE 5TH CENTURY

GOLDEN SOLIDUS, LEO II., ZENO

HALF-SILIQUA OF SILVER, ODOVACAR

MAP OF ITALY UNDER THE OSTROGOTHS

THE ARENA OF VERONA, PRESENT CONDITION

HALF-SILIQUA OF THEODORIC (SILVER), BEARING THE HEAD OF ANASTASIUS

A PAGE OF THE GOTHIC GOSPELS (CODEX ARGENTEUS), MARK VII., 3-7

MAP OF GAUL A.D. 500-523

COIN OF THE GOTHIC KINGDOM IN ITALY

COPPER COIN OF ANASTASIUS (FORTY NUMMI)

PINE FOREST, RAVENNA

INTERIOR OF BASILICA, IN RAVENNA

MOSAIC IN THE CHURCH OF ST. APOLLINARE NUOVO AT RAVENNA, SHOWING THE PORT OF CLASSIS

PROCESSION OF MARTYRS, MOSAIC FROM ST. APOLLINARE NUOVO IN RAVENNA

PALACE OF THEODORIC, SIDE VIEW

COIN OF THE GOTHIC KINGDOM IN ITALY

VIEW OF MODERN CONSTANTINOPLE

COPPER PIECE OF ATHALARIC, TEN NUMMI (HEAD OF JUSTINIAN?)

THE TOMB OF THEODORIC, RAVENNA

CUIRASS OF THEODORIC (?) IN THE MUSEUM AT RAVENNA

JUSTINIAN AND HIS NOBLES, FROM THE MOSAICS AT RAVENNA

PIECE OF FORTY NUMMI OF THEODAHAD

COPPER SOLIDUS, JUSTIN I. AND JUSTINIAN

COIN OF BADUILA (TOTILA)

COIN OF TEIAS, SUCCESSOR OF TOTILA

VERONA, FROM PONTE VECCHIO, SITE OF PALACE OF THEODORIC IN THE DISTANCE

COIN OF WITIGIS, WITH HEAD OF ANASTASIUS

THEODORIC THE GOTH.

INTRODUCTION.

Theodoric the Ostrogoth is one of those men who did great deeds and filled a large space in the eyes of their contemporaries, but who, not through their own fault, but from the fact that the stage of the world was not yet ready for their appearance, have failed to occupy the very first rank among the founders of empires and the moulders of the fortunes of the human race.

He was born into the world at the time when the Roman Empire in the West was staggering blindly to ruin, under the crushing blows inflicted upon it by two generations of barbarian conquerors. That Empire had been for more than six centuries indisputably the strongest power in Europe, and had gathered into its bosom all that was best in the civilisation of the nations that were settled round the Mediterranean Sea. Rome had given her laws to all these peoples, had, at any rate in the West, made their roads, fostered the growth of their cities, taught them her language, administered justice, kept back the barbarians of the frontier, and for great spaces of time preserved "the Roman peace" throughout their habitations. Doubtless there was another side to this picture: heavy taxation, corrupt judges, national aspirations repressed, free peasants sinking down into hopeless bondage. Still it cannot be denied that during a considerable part of its existence the Roman Empire brought, at least to the western half of Europe, material prosperity and enjoyment of life which it had not known before, and which it often looked back to with vain regrets when the great Empire had fallen into ruins. But now, in the middle of the fifth century, when Theodoric was born amid the rude splendour of an Ostrogothic palace, the unquestioned ascendancy of Rome over the nations of Europe was a thing of the past. There were still two men, one at the Old Rome by the Tiber, and the other at the New Rome by the Bosphorus, who called themselves August, Pious, and Happy, who wore the diadem and the purple shoes of Diocletian, and professed to be joint lords of the universe. Before the Eastern Augustus and his successors there did in truth lie a long future of dominion, and once or twice they were to recover no inconsiderable portion of the broad lands which had formerly been the heritage of the Roman people. But the Roman Empire at Rome was stricken with an incurable malady. The three sieges and the final sack of Rome by Alaric (410) revealed to the world that she was no longer "Roma Invicta", and from that time forward every chief of Teutonic or Sclavonic barbarians who wandered with his tribe over the wasted plains between the Danube and the Adriatic, might cherish the secret hope that he, too, would one day be drawn in triumph up the Capitolian Hill, through the cowed ranks of the slavish citizens of Rome, and that he might be lodged on the Palatine in one of the sumptuous palaces which had been built long ago for "the lords of the world".

Thus there was everywhere unrest and, as it were, a prolonged moral earthquake. The old order of things was destroyed, and none could forecast the shape of the new order of things that would succeed to it. Something similar has been the state of Europe ever since the great French Revolution; only that her barbarians threaten her now from within, not from without. The social state which had been in existence for centuries, and which had come to be accepted as if it were one of the great ordinances of nature, is either menaced or is actually broken up, and how the new democracy will rearrange itself in the seats of the old civilisation the wisest statesman cannot foretell.

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