Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 4 | Page 7

the least considerable of their armies; ^15 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 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
[Footnote 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 wagon, (Marcellin. in Chron. Evagrius, l. iii. c. 25.)]
[Footnote 14: See Malchus (p. 91) and Evagrius, (l. iii. c. 35.)]
[Footnote 15: Malchus, p. 85. In a single action, which was decided by
the skill and discipline of Sabinian, Theodoric could lose 5000 men.]
[Footnote 16: Jornandes (c. 57, p. 696, 697) has abridged the great
history of Cassiodorus. See, compare, and reconcile Procopius, (Gothic.
l. i. c. i.,) the Valesian Fragment, (p. 718,) Theophanes, (p. 113,) and
Marcellinus, (in Chron.)]
The reputation both of the leader and of the war diffused a universal
ardor; 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

wagons, 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, Gepidae, 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
vanquished; 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. ^17
[Footnote 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.]
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, whose independent kings
^18 or leaders disdained the duties of subordination and