History of the Wars, Books V and VI | Page 6

by force and are now holding, and
barbarians, slaves of mine who have run away, you have received and
have not even yet decided to restore them to me, and besides all this
you have treated outrageously my city of Gratiana, though it belongs to
you in no way whatever. Wherefore it is time for you to consider what
the end of these things will some day be." And when this letter had
been delivered to her and she had read it, she replied in the following
words: "One may reasonably expect an emperor who is great and lays
claim to virtue to assist an orphan child who does not in the least
comprehend what is being done, rather than for no cause at all to
quarrel with him. For unless a struggle be waged on even terms, even
the victory it gains brings no honour. But thou dost threaten Atalaric on
account of Lilybaeum, and ten runaways, and a mistake, made by

soldiers in going against their enemies, which through some
misapprehension chanced to affect a friendly city. Nay! do not thus; do
not thou thus, O Emperor, but call to mind that when them wast making
war upon the Vandals, we not only refrained from hindering thee, but
quite zealously even gave thee free passage against the enemy and
provided a market in which to buy the indispensable supplies,[13]
furnishing especially the multitude of horses to which thy final mastery
over the enemy was chiefly due. And yet it is not merely the man who
offers an alliance of arms to his neighbours that would in justice be
called their ally and friend, but also the man who actually is found
assisting another in war in regard to his every need. And consider that
at that time thy fleet had no other place at which to put in from the sea
except Sicily, and that without the supplies bought there it could not go
on to Libya. Therefore thou art indebted to us for the chief cause of thy
victory; for the one who provides a solution for a difficult situation is
justly entitled also to the credit for the results which flow from his help.
And what could be sweeter for a man, O Emperor, than gaining the
mastery over his enemies? And yet in our case the outcome is that we
suffer no slight disadvantage, in that we do not, in accordance with the
custom of war, enjoy our share of the spoils. And now thou art also
claiming the right to despoil us of Lilybaeum in Sicily, which has
belonged to the Goths from ancient times, a lone rock, O Emperor,
worth not so much as a piece of silver, which, had it happened to
belong to thy kingdom from ancient times, thou mightest in equity at
least have granted to Atalaric as a reward for his services, since he lent
thee assistance in the times of thy most pressing necessity." Such was
the message which Amalasuntha wrote openly to the emperor; but
secretly she agreed to put the whole of Italy into his hands. And the
envoys, returning to Byzantium, reported everything to the Emperor
Justinian, Alexander telling him the course which had been decided
upon by Amalasuntha, and Demetrius and Hypatius all that they had
heard Theodatus say, adding that Theodatus enjoyed great power in
Tuscany, where he had become owner of the most of the land and
consequently would be able with no trouble at all to carry his
agreement into effect. And the emperor, overjoyed at this situation,
immediately sent to Italy Peter, an Illyrian by birth, but a citizen of
Thessalonica, a man who was one of the trained speakers in Byzantium,

a discreet and gentle person withal and fitted by nature to persuade
men.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] Book IV. v. 11 ff.
[12] Near modern Mitrowitz.
[13] Cf. Book III. xiv. 5, 6.

IV
But while these things were going on as I have explained, Theodatus
was denounced before Amalasuntha by many Tuscans, who stated that
he had done violence to all the people of Tuscany and had without
cause seized their estates, taking not only all private estates but
especially those belonging to the royal household, which the Romans
are accustomed to call "patrimonium." For this reason the woman
called Theodatus to an investigation, and when, being confronted by his
denouncers, he had been proved guilty without any question, she
compelled him to pay back everything which he had wrongfully seized
and then dismissed him. And since in this way she had given the
greatest offence to the man, from that time she was on hostile terms
with him, exceedingly vexed as he was by reason of his fondness for
money, because he was unable to continue his unlawful and