Part 6 (1/2)
II In the year 490 Gundobad, king of the Burgundians, crossed the Alps and descended into Italy to onist of Theodoric In the sa of the Visigoths, entered Italy as his ally A great battle was fought on the river Adda, ten ed froain completely defeated He fled once ain quitted
[Footnote 55: Ennodius (writing the life of Bishop Epiphanius)]
While these operations were proceeding, Theodoric's own faothic nation were in safe shelter, though in so city of Pavia, whose Bishop, Epiphanius, was the greatest saint of his age, and one for whom Theodoric felt an especial veneration No doubt they ians entered it (492), but we hear nothing of the circuundian king, he does not seeh considerations of policy in his invasion of Italy, and having been induced to conclude a treaty with Theodoric, he returned to his own royal city of Lyons with goodly spoil and a long train of hapless captives torn fro ele cleared ae may now turn our attention to the true key of the position and the central event of the war, the siege of Odovacar in Ravenna After Tufa's second change of sides, and during the Burgundian invasion of Italy, there was no possibility of keeping up an Ostrogothic blockade of the city of the ed thence, won back the lower valley of the Po, andon Milan, inflicted heavy punishiven to Theodoric In the battle of the Adda, 11 August, 490, however, as has been already mentioned, he sustained a severe defeat, in which he lost one of his most faithful friends and ablest counsellors, a Roht to Ravenna, which immediately followed the battle of the Adda, there seehout Italy, headed by the Catholic clergy, for the purpose of throwing off his yoke, and if we do not yrist, this movement was accompanied by a wide-spread popular conspiracy, somewhat like the Sicilian Vespers of a later day, to which the _fderati_, the still surviving adherents of Odovacar, scattered over their various domains in Italy, appear to have fallen victims
Only two cities, Csena and Rimini, beside Ravenna, now remained to Odovacar, and for the next two years and a half (fro of 493) Ravenna was straitly besieged Corn rose to a terrible fas a peck), and before the end of the siege the inhabitants had to feed on the hides of animals, and all sorts of foul and fearful alier A sortie made in 491 by a number of barbarian recruits whom Odovacar had by some means attracted to his standard, was repelled after a desperate encounter During all this tireat pine-wood of Ravenna, atching jealously to see that no provisions entered the city by land, and in 492, after taking Riht a fleet of swift vessels thence to a harbour about six miles from Ravenna, and thus co of 493 the ed city becaan to negotiate for its surrender His son Thelane was handed over as a hostage for his fidelity, and the parleying between the two rival chiefs began on the 25th of February On the following day Theodoric and his Ostrogoths entered Classis, the great naval emporium, about three miles from the city; and on the 27th, by the mediation of the Bishop, peace was fors
The peace, the surrender of the city, the acceptance of the rule of ”the new King frouardianshi+p of the Church ”The most blessed man, the Archbishop John”, says a later ecclesiastical historian,[56] ”opened the gates of the city, 5 March, 493, which Odovacar had closed, and went forth with crosses and thuribles and the Holy Gospels, seeking peace While the priests and the rest of the clergy round hiround, obtained that which he desired He welcoranted unto hi not only the citizens of Ravenna, but all the other Romans[57], for whonellus (writing in the ninth century) His use of the tere]
[Footnote 57: The non-barbarian population of Italy]
The chief clause of the treaty was that which assured Odovacar not only life but absolute equality of poith his conqueror The fact that Theodoric should have, even in appearance, consented to an arrangeest testinability of Ravenna, which after three years' strict blockade, could still be won only by so hty a concession But of course there was not, there could not be, any real peace on such ter hive of barbarians Theodoric received infor snares for his life, and being determined to anticipate the blow, invited Odovacar to a banquet at ”the Palace of the Laurel-grove”, on the south-east of the city (15th March, 493) When Odovacar arrived, two suppliants knelt before hined petition Some soldiers who had been stationed in two side alcoves stepped forth from the ambush to slay him, but at the last moment their hearts failed them, and they could not strike If the deed was to be done, Theodoric must himself be the executioner or the assassin He raised his sword to strike ”Where is God?” cried the defenceless but unterrified victim
”Thus didst thou tohim of the treacherous murder of the ”henchmen” Then with a tremendous stroke of his broadsword he clove his rival from the shoulder to the loin The barbarian frenzy, which the Scandinavian minstrels call the ”fury of the Berserk”, was in his heart, and with a savage laugh at his own too iround: ”I think the weakling had never a bone in his body”
The body of Odovacar was laid in a stone coffin, and buried near the synagogue of the Jews His brother was h the palace-garden His wife died of hunger in her prison His son, sent for safe-keeping to the king of the Visigoths in Gaul, afterwards escaped to Italy and was put to death by the orders of Theodoric Thus perished the whole short-lived dynasty of the captain of the _fderati_
In his long struggle for the possession of Italy, Theodoric had shown himself patient in adversity,But the memory of all these noble deeds is diedy, a crime by the commission of which Theodoric sank below the level of the ordinary hted word, and sinning against the faith of hospitality
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CHAPTER VIII
CIVILITAS
Transformation in the character of Theodoric--His title--Embassies to Zeno and Anastasius--Theodoric's care for the rebuilding of cities and repair of aqueducts--Encouragericulture--Anecdotes of Theodoric
Thus far we have followed the fortunes of a Teutonic warrior of the fifth century of our era, e vacillations between friendshi+p and enreat civilised Empire under the shattered fabric whereof he and his people were dwelling, and neither concealing nor extenuating any of his lawless deeds, least of all that deed of treachery and violence by which he finally climbed to the pinnacle of supreme power in Italy Now, for the next thirty years, we shall have to watch the career of this sa Italy with unquestioned justice and wise forethought,the welfare of every class of his subjects the end of all his endeavours, and cherishi+ng civilisation (or, as it was called in the language of his chosen counsellors, _civilitas_) with a love and devotion alious zeal kindles in the hearts of its surrendered votaries
The transformation is a marvellous one Success and unquestioned dominion far more often deprave and distort than ennoble and purify thelike this transforuer, ripened into the wise and statesnorant of a similar phenomenon, when the stern soldier-politician of Gerht in war and whose favouritesecured for his e twenty difficult years, toEuropean nations, like one convinced in his heart that War is the supre, ”Happy is the nation that has no annals”, and the miserable historians of the time tell us far too little about the thirty years of peace which Italy enjoyed under the wise rule of Theodoric; still we are told enough to enable us in soree to understand both what he acco which makes us accept the state belief is that they have no reat Ostrogoth They are not his countryionists Our chief authorities are Roman and Orthodox, and bitterly condemn Theodoric for the persecution of the Catholics, into which, as we shall see, he was provoked in the last two years of his reign Still, over the grave of this dead barbarian and heretic, when they have nothing to gain by speaking well of him, they cannot forbear to praise the noble impartiality and anxious care for the welfare of his people, which, for the space of one whole generation, gave happiness to Italy It will be well to quote here one or two of these testimonies, borne by impartial witnesses
Our chief authority,[58] who is believed to have been a Catholic Bishop of Ravenna, says:
”He was an illustrious ned thirty-three (really thirty-two) years, and during thirty of these years so great was the happiness of Italy that even the wayfarers were at peace For he did nothing wrong So did he govern the two nations, the Goths and Ro himself to the Arian sect, yet he ordained that the civil administration should reave presents and rations to the people, yet, though he found the Treasury ruined, he brought it round, by his own hard work, into a flourishi+ng state He atteainst the Catholic faith Exhibiting games in the circus and amphitheatre, he received from the Romans the names of Trajan and Valentinian (the happy days of which most prosperous Emperors he did in truth seek to restore), and, at the same ti, according to the Edict which he had proated for them”
[Footnote 58: ”Anonyave one of his daughters in oths in Gaul, another to the son of the Burgundian King; his sister to the King of the Vandals, and his niece to the King of the Thuringians Thus he pleased all the nations round hireat restorer of cities He restored the aqueduct of Ravenna, which Trajan had built; and again, after a long interval, brought water into the city He completed, but did not dedicate, the palace, and finished the porticoes round it At Verona he erected baths and a palace, and constructed a portico fro destroyed, he renewed, and brought in water through it He also surrounded the city with nealls At Ticinum (_Pavia_) too he built a palace, baths, and an amphitheatre, and erected walls round the city On many other cities also he bestowed similar benefits