THE 



T H E 



peror Zeno, wi/hing to lecure the attachment of the young itig powers for the fecurity of Iiis kingdom. He ellabhlhed 



peace with the imperial court at Conftantinoplc, married a 

 daughter of the king of the Franks, and bcttowed his own 

 two daughters by a concubine, one on tlic king of the Vifi- 

 goths, and the other on the fon of the king of the Burgon- 

 dians, and his filler on tlie king of the Vandals. He fe- 

 cured the attachment of his foldiers by afiigning to them a 

 third part of the lands of Italy ; and he reUriftcd the mili- 

 tary pi-ofcflion to his countrymen the Goths, whilil hcencou- 



varicty of events occurred ; but, upon the whole, Theo- raged indulhy and the arts of peace among his Italian fub 



prince, invited him to his court, and conferred upon him the 

 rank of patrician. After having rendered lubftantial fervice 

 to ihe emperor, he was reduced to the ncccfiity of deferting 

 the Roman caufe, and forming an alliance with Theodoric, 

 the fon of Triarius. Having been altogether neglefted by 

 Zeno, he marched in an iioftilc manner into the fertile pro- 

 vinces of Thrace, whicli he laid watte with wanton cruelty. 

 In the war that enfued between the empire and the Goths, a 



doric became more and more formidable, and by the death 

 of the fon of Triarius, he was placed at the head of his na- 

 tion. Such was the power he acquired, tliat the emperor 

 found it neceffary to cede to him part of Lower Moefia 

 and Lower Dacia, and to honour him with the confulate, 

 which office he difcharged at Conftantinoplc. But con- 

 ceiving that he was an objeft of jealoufy, and that his life 

 was in danger, he withdrew into Thrace, and afterwards 

 avowed himfelf an undifguifed enemy to the empire. De- 

 clining to lay fiege to Conftantinople, he determined, as it is 

 faid, at the fuggeftion of Zeno, to turn his forces againft 

 Odoacer, who having depofed Anguftulus, the laft Weftern 

 emperor, had affumed the title of king of Italy. 



In the year 488, Theodoric, having coUefted together all 

 the fwarms of Goths that had fucceffively arrived on the 

 frontiers of the empire, fet out on his Italian expedition ; 

 and after encountering many difficulties in his progrefs, de- 

 Icended from the Italian alps, and rejched the banks of the 

 Sontius near Aquileia. Here, in Auguft 489, he attacked 

 Odoacer's numerous hoft, and forced him to retreat as far as 

 the plains of Verona. The refult of a fecond engagement 

 was a complete vidory on the part of the Goths, which 

 compelled Odoacer and his fugitives to take refuge within the 

 walls of Ravenna, while the conqueror obtained pofFeffion 

 of the cities of Pavia and Milan. But, as the fortune of war 

 is uncertain, one of Odoacer's commanders, having deferted 

 to Theodoric, proved treacherous, and induced feveral of 

 the officers of the Gothic king to join his former mafter. 

 Odoacer, having alfo gained an acceffion of other fugitives 

 from the Gothic fervice, recovered Milan, and obliged 

 Theodoric to immure himfelf in Pavia. Theodoric, how- 

 ever, in this crifis of danger, obtained a powerful reinforce- 

 ment from Alaric II. king of the Vifigoths, fettled in Gaul, 

 and attacking Odoacer on the Addna, totally defeated him. 

 Upon this difafter, Odoacer fted to Ravenna ; where, in the 

 autumn of 492, he was befieged by Theodoric, who had 

 made himfelf mailer of all Italy, except this city. In the 

 following fpring, Odoacer was reduced to the neceffity of 

 propofmg terms of accommodation, with which Theodoric 

 complied ; and the confequence was the furrender of Ra- 

 venna to the Gothic army. It was ftipulated between thefe 

 two fovereigns, that they ffiould govern Italy with equal 

 authority. Such a ftipulation was not hkely to produce any 

 permanent effeft ; and it v^as very foon violated on the part 

 of Theodoric, by an aft which entails on his memory eternal 

 difhonour. Having invited Odoacer to a banquet, he ftabbed 

 him, as it is faid, with his own hand, under a pretext that 

 his dead rival had formed a fimilar defign with regard to him- 

 felf. After this event, Theodoric ailumed the enfigns of 

 royalty, and caufed himfelf to be proclaimed by his army 

 " king of Italy." This affumption was reluftantly con- 

 firmed by Anaftafius, the fucceflor of Zeno. The manner 

 in which he excrcifed the royal authority, however unwar- 

 rantable the means by which he acquired it, placed him far 

 above all the fovereigns of that ag'". Sicily having been 

 united to Italy by a voluntary ccffion, Theodoric fhcathed 

 the fword of war, and cultivated alliances with neighbour- 

 VoL. XXXV. 



jefts. The Goths held their lands and benefices as a mili- 

 tary ftipcnd, in confideration of which they were engaged to 

 march on a fummons under their provincial officers : and the 

 whole extent of Italy was dillributed into the quarters of a 

 well-regulated camp. The civil offices were committed to 

 the native Italians ; and the form of government, and dillri- 

 bution of magiftracies and of provinces, which had pre- 

 vailed under the emperors, were continued ; fo that the tranf- 

 fer of power from the Romans to the Goths was fo.ircely 

 perceived. The taxes remained the fame, and on occafion of 

 any public calamity, were remitted. He fixed his ordinary 

 refidence at Ravenna ; and when he removed his court, it 

 was to Verona. In the year 500 he vifited Rome, and was 

 treated with refpedl. He ifTued edifts for preventing the 

 demolition of ancient monuments, and appropriated reve- 

 nues to the repair of public edifices. He decorated other 

 cities of Italy ; and it has been faid, that, after the flourirti- 

 ing times of Rome, this country was never fo profperous and 

 happy. He provided a fleet for guarding the country againfl 

 maritime attacks : and thofe wars by land in which he en- 

 gaged, were terminated without difturbing the peace and ha- 

 zarding the fecurity of Italy. By his prudent conduft, .iiid 

 military achievements, he maintained the balance of power 

 in the Weft, till it was overthrown by the ambition of Clovis, 

 who defeated and put to death Alaric, the Vifigoth king : 

 neverthelefs he faved the remainder of his family and people, 

 and checked the career of the Franks. 



Theodoric, with regai-d to his religious fentiments and 

 profeffion, was an Arian ; but he manitefted no aident zeal 

 for making profelytes to his own opinions, nor did he moleft 

 others in their profeffion. Such was the government of 

 Theodoric, that it reflefted a fhort-lived luftre on the Gothic 

 name, and eftabliffied an era of public happinefs which it is 

 pleafing to contemplate. His fecretary Caffiodorus, who was 

 himfelf a man of erudition, and who caufed his untaught 

 mafter to patronize literature, has recorded in his twelve 

 books of Epiftles, the events at which we have here glanced. 

 It mult not be difguifed, however, that the reign of Theo- 

 doric was not exempt from the evils infeparable from a def- 

 potifm upheld by mihtary power. The yoke of a foreigner 

 was galling ; and more efpecially that of a foreigner who 

 was confidered as a barbarian and a heretic. The tolerant 

 principles of Theodoric did not accord with the orthodox 

 zeal ot his fubjefts ; and his puniftiment of fomc outrages 

 committed againft the Jews, who were fettled in the cities of 

 Italy, was reprefented as a perfecution of the church. An 

 intolerant edift againft the Arians, iffued by the Byzantine 

 court, provoked the king to retaliate on the Catholics under 

 his jurifdiftion ; and ftiortly before his death an order was 

 prepared to forbid the exercife of the Catholic worftiip in 

 Italy after a certain day. In the mean time, jealoufies of the fe- 

 natorial party in Rome, and of their conneftion with the impe- 

 rial court, took pofieffion of the m.ind of Theodoric, who was 

 made fufpicious by age ; and an inftance of tyranny infliftcd 

 upon two exemplary charafters, fays one of his biographers, 

 is unhappily the laft aft recorded of a fovereign diftinguifhcd 

 for the mildnefs and equity of his adminiltration. For an ac- 

 3 P count 



