Chap, xxxix] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 195 conquerors to assume the more elegant dress of the natives, but they still persisted in the use of their mother-tongue ; and their contempt for the Latin schools was applauded by Theo- doric himself, who gratified their prejudices, or his own, by de- claring that the child who had trembled at a rod would never dare to look upon a sword. 38 Distress might sometimes provoke the indigent Eoman to assume the ferocious manners which were insensibly relinquished by the rich and luxurious Barbarian ; 39 but these mutual conversions were not encouraged by the policy separation of a monarch who perpetuated the separation of the Italians and Goths and Goths ; reserving the former for the arts of peace and the latter for the service of war. To accomplish this design, he studied to protect his industrious subjects, and to moderate the violence without enervating the valour of his soldiers, who were main- tained for the public defence. They held their lands and bene- fices as a military stipend ; at the sound of the trumpet they were prepared to march under the conduct of their provincial officers ; and the whole extent of Italy was distributed into the several quarters of a well-regulated camp. The service of the palace and of the frontiers was performed by choice or by rota- tion ; and each extraordinary fatigue was recompensed by an increase of pay and occasional donatives. Theodoric had con- vinced his brave companions that empire must be acquired and defended by the same arts. After his example, they strove to excel in the use, not only of the lance and sword, the instru- ments of their victories, but of the missile weapons, which they were too much inclined to neglect ; and the lively image of war was displayed in the daily exercise and annual reviews of the Gothic cavalry. A firm though gentle discipline imposed the habits of modesty, obedience, and temperance; and the Goths were instructed to spare the people, to reverence the laws, to understand the duties of civil society, and to disclaim the barbarous licence of judicial combat and private revenge. 40 38 Procopius, Goth. 1. i. c. 2. The Roman boys learned the language (Var. viii. 21) of the Goths. Their general ignorance is not destroyed by the exceptions of Amalasuntha, a female, who might study without shame, or of Theodatus, whose learning provoked the indignation and contempt of his countrymen.
- !9 A saying of Theodoric was founded on experience : " Romanus miser imi-
tatur Gothum ; et utilis (dives [Valois suggested uilis, which is adopted by Gardt- hausen]) Gothus imitatur Romanum ". (See the Fragment and Notes of Valesius, p. 719 [§ 61].) 40 The view of the military establishment of the Goths in Italy is collected from the Epistles of Cassiodorius (Var. i. 24, 40 ; iji. 3 [23 ?], 24, 48 ; iv. 13,
