Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 4 | Page 3

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The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon, Esq.
With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
Vol. 4
1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)

Chapter XXXIX
: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.


Part I.
Zeno And Anastasius, Emperors Of The East. - Birth, Education, And
First Exploits Of Theodoric The Ostrogoth. - His Invasion And
Conquest Of Italy. - The Gothic Kingdom Of Italy. - State Of The West.
- Military And Civil Government. - The Senator Boethius. - Last Acts
And Death Of Theodoric.
After the fall of the Roman empire in the West, an interval of fifty
years, till the memorable reign of Justinian, is faintly marked by the
obscure names and imperfect annals of Zeno, Anastasius, and Justin,
who successively ascended to the throne of Constantinople. During the
same period, Italy revived and flourished under the government of a
Gothic king, who might have deserved a statue among the best and
bravest of the ancient Romans.
Theodoric the Ostrogoth, the fourteenth in lineal descent of the royal
line of the Amali, ^1 was born in the neighborhood of Vienna ^2 two
years after the death of Attila. ^! A recent victory had restored the
independence of the Ostrogoths; and the three brothers, Walamir,
Theodemir, and Widimir, who ruled that warlike nation with united
counsels, had separately pitched their habitations in the fertile though
desolate province of Pannonia. The Huns still threatened their revolted
subjects, but their hasty attack was repelled by the single forces of
Walamir, and the news of his victory reached the distant camp of his
brother in the same auspicious moment that the favorite concubine of
Theodemir was delivered of a son and heir. In the eighth year of his age,
Theodoric was reluctantly yielded by his father to the public interest, as
the pledge of an alliance which Leo, emperor of the East, had
consented to purchase by an annual subsidy of three hundred pounds of
gold. The royal hostage was educated at Constantinople with care and
tenderness. His body was formed to all the exercises of war, his mind

was expanded by the habits of liberal conversation; he frequented the
schools of the most skilful masters; but he disdained or neglected the
arts of Greece, and so ignorant did he always remain of the first
elements of science, that a rude mark was contrived to represent the
signature of the illiterate king of Italy. ^3 As soon as he had attained
the age of eighteen, he was restored to the wishes of the Ostrogoths,
whom the emperor aspired to gain by liberality and confidence.
Walamir had fallen in battle; the youngest of the brothers, Widimir, had
led away into Italy and Gaul an army of Barbarians, and the whole
nation acknowledged for their king the father of Theodoric. His
ferocious subjects admired the strength and stature of their young
prince; ^4 and he soon convinced them that he had not degenerated
from the valor of his ancestors. At the head of six thousand volunteers,
he secretly left the camp in quest of adventures, descended the Danube
as far as Singidunum, or Belgrade, and soon returned to his father with
the spoils of a Sarmatian king whom he had vanquished and slain. Such
triumphs, however, were productive only of fame, and the invincible
Ostrogoths were reduced to extreme distress by the want of clothing
and food. They unanimously resolved to desert their Pannonian