History of the Wars, Books V and VI | Page 2

in one way or another, as it chanced in
each case, except that they were unable to capture, either by surrender
or by storm, the fortress of Caesena,[4] which is three hundred stades
distant from Ravenna, and Ravenna itself, where Odoacer happened to
be. For this city of Ravenna lies in a level plain at the extremity of the
Ionian Gulf, lacking two stades of being on the sea, and it is so situated
as not to be easily approached either by ships or by a land army. Ships
cannot possibly put in to shore there because the sea itself prevents
them by forming shoals for not less than thirty stades; consequently the
beach at Ravenna, although to the eye of mariners it is very near at
hand, is in reality very far away by reason of the great extent of the
shoal-water. And a land army cannot approach it at all; for the river Po,
also called the Eridanus, which flows past Ravenna, coming from the
boundaries of Celtica, and other navigable rivers together with some
marshes, encircle it on all sides and so cause the city to be surrounded
by water. In that place a very wonderful thing takes place every day.

For early in the morning the sea forms a kind of river and comes up
over the land for the distance of a day's journey for an unencumbered
traveller and becomes navigable in the midst of the mainland, and then
in the late afternoon it turns back again, causing the inlet to disappear,
and gathers the stream to itself.[5] All those, therefore, who have to
convey provisions into the city or carry them out from there for trade or
for any other reason, place their cargoes in boats, and drawing them
down to the place where the inlet is regularly formed, they await the
inflow of the water. And when this comes, the boats are lifted little by
little from the ground and float, and the sailors on them set to work and
from that time on are seafaring men. And this is not the only place
where this happens, but it is the regular occurrence along the whole
coast in this region as far as the city of Aquileia. However, it does not
always take place in the same way at every time, but when the light of
the moon is faint, the advance of the sea is not strong either, but from
the first[6] half-moon until the second the inflow has a tendency to be
greater. So much for this matter.
DATES: [E] 489 A.D.
But when the third year had already been spent by the Goths and
Theoderic in their siege of Ravenna, the Goths, who were weary of the
siege, and the followers of Odoacer, who were hard pressed by the lack
of provisions, came to an agreement with each other through the
mediation of the priest of Ravenna, the understanding being that both
Theoderic and Odoacer should reside in Ravenna on terms of complete
equality. And for some time they observed the agreement; but
afterward Theoderic caught Odoacer, as they say, plotting against him,
and bidding him to a feast with treacherous intent slew him,[7] and in
this way, after gaining the adherence of such of the hostile barbarians
as chanced to survive, he himself secured the supremacy over both
Goths and Italians. And though he did not claim the right to assume
either the garb or the name of emperor of the Romans, but was called
"rex" to the end of his life (for thus the barbarians are accustomed to
call their leaders),[8] still, in governing his own subjects, he invested
himself with all the qualities which appropriately belong to one who is
by birth an emperor. For he was exceedingly careful to observe justice,

he preserved the laws on a sure basis, he protected the land and kept it
safe from the barbarians dwelling round about, and attained the highest
possible degree of wisdom and manliness. And he himself committed
scarcely a single act of injustice against his subjects, nor would he
brook such conduct on the part of anyone else who attempted it, except,
indeed, that the Goths distributed among themselves the portion of the
lands which Odoacer had given to his own partisans. And although in
name Theoderic was a usurper, yet in fact he was as truly an emperor as
any who have distinguished themselves in this office from the
beginning; and love for him among both Goths and Italians grew to be
great, and that too contrary to the ordinary habits of men. For in all
states men's preferences are divergent, with the result that the
government in power pleases for the moment only those with whom its
acts find favour, but offends those whose judgment it