History of the Wars, Books V and VI | Page 4

and Italians. And all the
notable men among them gathered together, and coming before
Amalasuntha made the charge that their king was not being educated
correctly from their point of view nor to his own advantage. For letters,
they said, are far removed from manliness, and the teaching of old men
results for the most part in a cowardly and submissive spirit. Therefore
the man who is to shew daring in any work and be great in renown
ought to be freed from the timidity which teachers inspire and to take
his training in arms. They added that even Theoderic would never
allow any of the Goths to send their children to school; for he used to

say to them all that, if the fear of the strap once came over them, they
would never have the resolution to despise sword or spear. And they
asked her to reflect that her father Theoderic before he died had
become master of all this territory and had invested himself with a
kingdom which was his by no sort of right, although he had not so
much as heard of letters. "Therefore, O Queen," they said, "have done
with these tutors now, and do you give to Atalaric some men of his
own age to be his companions, who will pass through the period of
youth with him and thus give him an impulse toward that excellence
which is in keeping with the custom of barbarians."
DATES: [G]526 A.D. [H]527 A.D.
When Amalasuntha heard this, although she did not approve, yet
because she feared the plotting of these men, she made it appear that
their words found favour with her, and granted everything the
barbarians desired of her. And when the old men had left Atalaric, he
was given the company of some boys who were to share his daily
life,--lads who had not yet come of age but were only a little in advance
of him in years; and these boys, as soon as he came of age, by enticing
him to drunkenness and to intercourse with women, made him an
exceptionally depraved youth, and of such stupid folly that he was
disinclined to follow his mother's advice. Consequently he utterly
refused to champion her cause, although the barbarians were by now
openly leaguing together against her; for they were boldly commanding
the woman to withdraw from the palace. But Amalasuntha neither
became frightened at the plotting of the Goths nor did she, womanlike,
weakly give way, but still displaying the dignity befitting a queen, she
chose out three men who were the most notable among the barbarians
and at the same time the most responsible for the sedition against her,
and bade them go to the limits of Italy, not together, however, but as far
apart as possible from one another; but it was made to appear that they
were being sent in order to guard the land against the enemy's attack.
But nevertheless these men by the help of their friends and relations,
who were all still in communication with them, even travelling a long
journey for the purpose, continued to make ready the details of their
plot against Amalasuntha.

And the woman, being unable to endure these things any longer,
devised the following plan. Sending to Byzantium she enquired of the
Emperor Justinian whether it was his wish that Amalasuntha, the
daughter of Theoderic, should come to him; for she wished to depart
from Italy as quickly as possible. And the emperor, being pleased by
the suggestion, bade her come and sent orders that the finest of the
houses in Epidamnus should be put in readiness, in order that when
Amalasuntha should come there, she might lodge in it and after
spending such time there as she wished might then betake herself to
Byzantium. When Amalasuntha learned this, she chose out certain
Goths who were energetic men and especially devoted to her and sent
them to kill the three whom I have just mentioned, as having been
chiefly responsible for the sedition against her. And she herself placed
all her possessions, including four hundred centenaria[10] of gold, in a
single ship and embarked on it some of those most faithful to her and
bade them sail to Epidamnus, and, upon arriving there, to anchor in its
harbour, but to discharge from the ship nothing whatever of its cargo
until she herself should send orders. And she did this in order that, if
she should learn that the three men had been destroyed, she might
remain there and summon the ship back, having no further fear from
her enemies; but if it should chance that any one of them was left alive,
no good hope being left her, she purposed to sail with all speed and
find safety for herself and her