Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 4 | Page 9

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 which force would not
sincerely have granted, nor weakness have rashly infringed. The
jealousy of power, and the mischiefs of discord, may suggest a more

decent apology, and a sentence less rigorous may be pronounced
against a crime which was necessary to introduce into Italy a generation
of public felicity. The living author of this felicity was audaciously
praised in his own presence by sacred and profane orators; ^23 but
history (in his time she was mute and inglorious) has not left any just
representation of the events which displayed, or of the defects which
clouded, the virtues of Theodoric. ^24 One record of his fame, the
volume of public epistles composed by Cassiodorus in the royal name,
is still extant, and has obtained more implicit credit than it seems to
deserve. ^25 They exhibit the forms, rather than the substance, of his
government; and we should vainly search for the pure and spontaneous
sentiments of the Barbarian amidst the declamation and learning of a
sophist, the wishes of a Roman senator, the precedents of office, and
the vague professions, which, in every court, and on every occasion,
compose the language of discreet ministers. The reputation of
Theodoric may repose with more confidence on the visible peace and
prosperity of a reign of thirty-three years; the unanimous esteem of his
own times, and the memory of his wisdom and courage, his justice and
humanity, which was deeply impressed on the minds of the Goths and
Italians.
[Footnote 21: Hist. Miscell. l. 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.)]
[Footnote 22: Procopius (Gothic. l. i. c. i.) approves himself an
impartial sceptic. Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Ennodius (p. 1604) are
loyal and credulous, and the testimony of the Valesian Fragment (p.
718) may justify their belief. Marcellinus spits the venom of a Greek
subject - perjuriis illectus, interfectusque est, (in Chron.)]
[Footnote 23: The sonorous and servile oration of Ennodius was
pronounced at Milan or Ravenna in the years 507 or 508, (Sirmond,
tom. i. p. 615.) Two or three years afterwards, the orator was rewarded
with the bishopric of Pavia, which he held till his death in the year 521.
(Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. v. p. 11 - 14. See Saxii Onomasticon, tom.
ii. p. 12.)]

[Footnote 24: Our best materials are occasional hints from Procopius
and the Valesian Fragment, which was discovered by Sirmond, and is
published at the end of Ammianus Marcellinus. The author's name is
unknown, and his style is barbarous; but in his various facts he exhibits
the knowledge, without the passions, of a contemporary. The president
Montesquieu had formed the plan of a history of Theodoric, which at a
distance might appear a rich and interesting subject.]
[Footnote 25: The best edition of the Variarum Libri xii. is that of Joh.
Garretius, (Rotomagi, 1679, in Opp. Cassiodor. 2 vols. in fol.;) but they
deserved and required such an editor as the Marquis Scipio Maffei,
who thought of publishing them at Verona. The Barbara Eleganza (as it
is ingeniously named by Tiraboschi) is never simple, and seldom
perspicuous] The partition of the lands of Italy, of which Theodoric
assigned the third part to his soldiers, is honorably arraigned as the sole
injustice of his life. ^* And even this act may be fairly justified by the
example of Odoacer, the rights of conquest, the true interest of the
Italians, and the sacred duty of subsisting a whole people, who, on the
faith of his promises, had transported themselves into a distant land.
^26 Under the reign of Theodoric, and in the happy climate of Italy, the
Goths soon multiplied to a formidable host of two hundred thousand
men, ^27 and the whole amount of their families may be computed by
the ordinary addition of women and children. Their invasion of
property, a part of which must have been already vacant, was disguised
by the generous but improper name of hospitality; these unwelcome
guests were irregularly dispersed over the face of Italy, and the lot of
each Barbarian was adequate to his birth and office, the number of his
followers, and the rustic wealth which he possessed in slaves and cattle.
The distinction of noble and plebeian were acknowledged; ^28 but the
lands of every freeman were exempt from taxes, ^* and he enjoyed the