History of Florence and Italy | Page 8

the title of king of Italy.
Theodoric possessed great talents both for war and peace; in the former
he was always conqueror, and in the latter he conferred very great
benefits upon the cities and people under him. He distributed the
Ostrogoths over the country, each district under its leader, that he might
more conveniently command them in war, and govern them in peace.
He enlarged Ravenna, restored Rome, and, with the exception of
military discipline, conferred upon the Romans every honor. He kept
within their proper bounds, wholly by the influence of his character, all
the barbarian kings who occupied the empire; he built towns and
fortresses between the point of the Adriatic and the Alps, in order, with
the greater facility, to impede the passage of any new hordes of
barbarians who might design to assail Italy; and if, toward the latter end
of his life, so many virtues had not been sullied by acts of cruelty,
caused by various jealousies of his people, such as the death of
Symmachus and Boethius, men of great holiness, every point of his
character would have deserved the highest praise. By his virtue and
goodness, not only Rome and Italy, but every part of the western
empire, freed from the continual troubles which they had suffered from
the frequent influx of barbarians, acquired new vigor, and began to live
in an orderly and civilized manner. For surely if any times were truly
miserable for Italy and the provinces overrun by the barbarians, they
were those which occurred from Arcadius and Honorius to Theodoric.
If we only consider the evils which arise to a republic or a kingdom by
a change of prince or of government; not by foreign interference, but by
civil discord (in which we may see how even slight variations suffice to
ruin the most powerful kingdoms or states), we may then easily

imagine how much Italy and the other Roman provinces suffered, when
they not only changed their forms of government and their princes, but
also their laws, customs, modes of living, religion, language, and name.
Any one of such changes, by itself, without being united with others,
might, with thinking of it, to say nothing of the seeing and suffering,
infuse terror into the strongest minds.
From these causes proceeded the ruin as well as the origin and
extension of many cities. Among those which were ruined were
Aquileia, Luni, Chiusi, Popolonia, Fiesole, and many others. The new
cities were Venice, Sienna, Ferrara, Aquila, with many towns and
castles which for brevity we omit. Those which became extended were
Florence, Genoa, Pisa, Milan, Naples, and Bologna; to all of which
may be added, the ruin and restoration of Rome, and of many other
cities not previously mentioned.
From this devastation and new population arose new languages, as we
see in the different dialects of France, Spain and Italy; which, partaking
of the native idiom of the new people and of the old Roman, formed a
new manner of discourse. Besides, not only were the names of
provinces changed, but also of lakes, rivers, seas, and men; for France,
Spain, and Italy are full of fresh names, wholly different from the
ancient; as, omitting many others, we see that the Po, the Garda, the
Archipelago, are names quite different from those which the ancients
used; while instead of Cæsar and Pompey we have Peter, Matthew,
John, etc.
Among so many variations, that of religion was not of little importance;
for, while combating the customs of the ancient faith with the miracles
of the new, very serious troubles and discords were created among men.
And if the Christians had been united in one faith, fewer disorders
would have followed; but the contentions among themselves, of the
churches of Rome, Greece, and Ravenna, joined to those of the heretic
sects with the Catholics, served in many ways to render the world
miserable. Africa is a proof of this; having suffered more horrors from
the Arian sect, whose doctrines were believed by the Vandals, than
from any avarice or natural cruelty of the people themselves. Living

amid so many persecutions, the countenances of men bore witness of
the terrible impressions upon their minds; for besides the evils they
suffered from the disordered state of the world, they scarcely could
have recourse to the help of God, in whom the unhappy hope for relief;
for the greater part of them, being uncertain what divinity they ought to
address, died miserably, without help and without hope.
Having been the first who put a stop to so many evils, Theodoric
deserves the highest praise: for during the thirty-eight years he reigned
in Italy, he brought the country to such a state of greatness that her
previous sufferings were no longer recognizable. But at his death, the