GOTHS. ni 
qncfllons of doftrlne and difcipline, t'he laity was ex¬ 
cluded from their debates; which were condu6ted, how¬ 
ever, with decent folemnity. But, on the morning of 
the fourth day, tlie doors were thrown open for the en¬ 
trance o; the great officers of the palace, the dukes and 
counts of the provinces, the judges of the cities, and 
the Gothic nobles: and their decrees were ratified by 
the confent of the people. The fame rules were ob- 
ferved in tlie provincial affemblies, the annual fynods 
which were empowered to hear complaints, and to re- 
drefs grievances ; and a legal government was fupported 
by the prevailing influence of the Spanith clergy. The 
bifliops, for a time, laboured to exalt the mitre above 
tlte crown. Yet the national councils of Toledo, in 
which the free fpirit of the barbarians was tempered and 
guided by epifcopal policy, have eftablifhed fome pru¬ 
dent laws for the common benefit of tlie king_and people. 
The vacancy of the throne was ufually fupplied by the 
choice of the bifliops and palatines ; and, after the fail¬ 
ure of the line of Alaiic, the regal dignity was ftill 
limited to the pure and noble blood of the Go.ths. 1 he 
clergy, who anointed their lawful prince, always recom¬ 
mended the duty of allegiance : and the fpiritual cen- 
fures were denounced againfl: every fubjeiit vvlio fliould 
retift his authority, confpire againfl his life, or violate, 
byanindecent union, the chaflity evenofhis widow. But 
the monarch bimfelf, when lie afcended the throne, was 
bound by a reciprocal oath lo God and liis people, that 
he would faithfully execute liis important trufl. Tlie 
faults of Ills adminiflration were I'ubjett to the controul 
of a powerful arifiocracy ; and the bifliops and palatines 
were guaided by a fundamental privilege, that they 
fliould not be degraded, imprifoned, tortured, nor pu- 
iiillied with death, exile, or confifeation, unlefs by the 
free and public judgment of their peers. 
One of thefe legiflative councils of Toledo, examined 
and ratified the code of laws which had been framed by 
the rifing genius of Euric. As long as the Goths were 
fatisfied with the rude cufloms of their anceftors, they 
indulged their fubjects in tlte enjoyment of the Eonian 
ia’vv. Their gradual improvement in arts, in policy, 
and at length in religion, encouraged them to imitate, 
and to fuperfede, thefe foreign inflitutions ; and to coiii- 
pofe a code of civil and criminal jurifprudeiice, for the 
life of a great and united people. The fame obliga¬ 
tions, and the fame privileges, were communicated to 
the nations of the Spanifli monarchy : the conquerors, 
iiifenfibly renouncing the Teutonic idiom, fubmitted to 
the reflraints of equity, and exalted their people to 
the participation of freedom ; and the merit of this im¬ 
partial policy was enhanced by the fituation of Spain 
under tlie reign of the Vifigoths. Thus this divition of 
the Gothic nation, dill maintaining its jurifdiclion over 
Septimania on the other fide of the Pyrenees, finally fix¬ 
ed its empire in Spain, over which the Goths continued 
the fupreme rulers until that country w'as conquered by 
the Saracens or Arabs in the year 713 ; for particulars 
of wiiicli fee the article Spain. 
Tlie other grand divifion of the Gothic nation, denomi¬ 
nated Ofirogoths, had, as noticedabove, eftabliflied them- 
felves in Italy, under the fovereignty of Theodoric, the 
fourteenth in lineal defeent of the royal line of the Amali, 
or demi-gods, wlio lived about the time of Doniitian. 
He was born in the neighbourhood of Vienna in 455, 
two years after the deatli of Attila. A fignal vidtory 
had refiored the independence ot the Ofirogoths ; and 
the three brothers, Walamir, Theodemir, andWidimir, 
who ruled that warlike nation with united counfels, 
had feparately pitched their habitations in the fertile 
though defolated province of Pannonia. Tlie Huns 
ftill threatened them with deftruftion; but their hafty 
attack was repelled by the fingle forces of Walamir, and 
the news of his viClory reached tlie diftant camp of his 
brother, in the fame aufpicious moment that tlie favou¬ 
rite concubine of Theodemir was delivered of Theodo¬ 
ric. In the eighth year of his age, Theodoric was re- 
kuflantly yielded by his father lo the public intereft, as 
the pledge of an alliance which Leo, emperor of the 
Eaft, had confented to purchafe by an annual lubfidy 
of three hundred pounds of gold. The royal hoftage 
was educated at Conftantinopie with care and tender- 
nefs. His body was formed to all the exercifes of war; 
his mind to tlie habits of liberal converfation ; he fre¬ 
quented the fcliools of the mofi flcilful mafters; but he 
difdained or negle6lcd tlie arts-of Greece ; and fo igno¬ 
rant did he always remain of the firft elements of fcienccy 
tliat a rude mark was contrived to reprefent the figna- 
ture of the king of Italy. As foon. as he had attained 
the age of eighteen, he was refiored to the bofom of the 
Ofirogoths, whom the emperor afpired to gain by libe¬ 
rality and confidence. Walamir had fallen in battle ; 
the yOLingeft of the brothers, Widimir, had led away- 
into Italy and Gaul a colony of barbiuians; and the 
whole nation acknowledged for tlieir king Theodemir, 
the father of Theodoric. His warlike I'ubjedls admired 
the firength and fiature of their young jirince ; and he 
foon convinced them tliut he had not degenerated from 
tlie valour of liis anceftors. At the head of iix thou- 
fand volunteers he fecrelly left the camp in queft of ad¬ 
ventures, defeended the Danube as far as Singiduiium 
or Belgrade, and foon returned to his father wdth the 
fpoils of a Sarmatian king whom he liad vanquilhed and 
fiain. Sucli triumphs, however, were produbtive only 
of tame ; and the invincible Ofirogoths were reduced to 
extreme diftrefs by the want of clothing and food. They 
unanimoutly rel'olved to defert their Pannonian encamp, 
ments, and boldly to advance into the warm tind wealthy 
neighbourliood of the Byzantine court, wdiich already 
maintained in pride and luxury fo many bands of confe¬ 
derate Gotlis. After proving by fome afls of hoftility 
that they could be dangerous, or at leafi troublefome 
enemies, the Ofirogoths fold at a high price their recon¬ 
ciliation and fidelity, accepted a donative of lands and 
money, and were entrufted vvitli the defence of thelower 
Danube, under the comrriand of Theodoric, who fuc- 
ceeded after liis father’s death to the hereditary throne 
of tlie Amali. 
V/hile Zeno reigned as emperor of the Eaft, he be- 
fiowed on the king of the Ofirogoths tlie rank of patri- 
clan and conful, and gave him the command of the Pa¬ 
latine troops. As long as Theodoric condefeended to 
lerve, lie fupported with courage and fidelity the caufe 
of his benefactor : but on tlie firft fhyaefs or jealoufy of 
the emperor, he became a deadly foe, who fpread the 
flames of war from the gates of Coaftanvinople to the 
fliores of the Adriatic Sea; many flourilliing cities were 
reduced to allies, and the agriculture of Thrace was al. 
mofi extirpated by the wanton cruelty of the Goths, 
who deprived their captive peafiints of the right hand 
that guided the plough. Sec Malchus Excerpt. Leg. 
p. 95. On fuch occalioiis, Tlieodoric fuftained the loud 
reproach of difloyalty, of ingratitude, and of infiitiate 
avarice ; whicli could only be defended by the hard ne- 
cefTity of his fituation. He reigned, not as the monarcii, 
but as the minifter, of a ferocious people, whofe fpirit 
was unbroken by flavery, and impatient of real or ima¬ 
ginary infult, Tlieir poverty was incurable : fuice the 
mofi liberal donatives'were foon diflipated in wafteful 
Ittxury, and the mofi fertile efiates became barren in 
their hands ; they defpiled, though they envied, the 
laborious provincials ; and when their f'ubfiftence liad 
failed, the Ofirogoths embraced the familiar refources 
of war antbrapine. It had been the wifh of Theodoric, 
(fuch at leafi was his declaration,) to lead a peaceable 
and obedient life on the confines of Scythia, till the By¬ 
zantine court, by. fpiendid and fallacious proiuifes, fe- 
duced him to attack a confederate tribe of Gotlis, who 
had been engaged in the party of Bafiliicus. See the 
article Rome. He marched from his flation in Matfia, on 
the falemn aflurance that before he reached Adrianople, 
he 
