Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 4 (1897).djvu/194

As long as Theodoric condescended to serve, he supported with courage and fidelity the cause of his benefactor: [A.D. 477] his rapid march contributed to the restoration of Zeno; and in the second revolt, the Walamirs, as they were called, pursued and pressed the Asiatic rebels, till they left an easy victory to the Imperial troops.^[1] [A.D. 479] But the faithful servant was suddenly converted into a formidable enemy, who spread the flames of war from Constantinople to the Adriatic; many flourishing cities were reduced to ashes, and the agriculture of Thrace was almost extirpated by the wanton cruelty of the Goths, who deprived their captive peasants of the right hand that guided the plough.^[2] On such occasions, Theodoric sustained the loud and specious reproach of disloyalty, of ingratitude, and of insatiate avarice, which could be only excused by the hard necessity of his situation. He reigned, not as the monarch, but as the minister of a ferocious people, whose spirit was unbroken by slavery, and impatient of real or imaginary insults. Their poverty was incurable; since the most liberal donatives were soon dissipated in wasteful

1. In ipsis congressionis tuæ foribus cessit invasor, cum profugo per te sceptra redderentur de salute dubitanti. Ennodius then proceeds (p. 1596, 1597, tom. i. Sirmond. [p. 204, ed. Vogel]) to transport his hero (on a flying dragon?) into Æthiopia, beyond the tropic of Cancer. The evidence of the Valesian Fragment (p. 717), Liberatus (Brev. Eutych. c. 25, p. 118), and Theophanes (p. 112) is more sober and rational. [The complicated triangular duel between the two Theodorics and the Emperor from A.D. 478 to 481 may be summarized thus: —

   A.D. 478: Theodoric the Amal and Zeno versus Theodoric son of Triarius.
   ,,⁠,,⁠Coalition of the two Theodorics versus Zeno.
   ,,⁠479: Zeno and Theodoric son of Triarius versus Theodoric the Amal.
   ,,⁠479-80: Zeno obtains assistance of Bulgarians against Theodoric the Amal.
   ,,⁠481: Theodoric son of Triarius versus Zeno. He attacks Constantinople.
   ,,⁠,,⁠Death of Theodoric son of Triarius.
   ,,⁠482: Theodoric the Amal versus Zeno. He ravages Macedonia and Thessaly.
   ,,⁠483: Theodoric made magister militum in præsenti.
   ,,⁠484: Theodoric consul.
   ,,⁠487: Theodoric ravages Thrace; sent to Italy.

   It will be seen that Gibbon (misled by false arrangement of the fragments of Malchus) has presented the interview of the two Theodorics (which took place in 478) and their alliance as subsequent to the events of 479. Theodoric son of Triarius was induced to desert his namesake by the bestowal of the post of magister militum in præsenti. The alliance of the Bulgarians — the first time this people appears in history — with Zeno is preserved in a fragment of John of Antioch (Müller, F.H.G., iv. p. 619), and a success gained by Theodoric over the Bulgarian king is recorded by Ennodius in his Panegyric on Theodoric (p. 211, ed. Vogel). — Recitach, the son of Theodoric son of Triarius, at first reconciled to Zeno, was afterwards slain by Theodoric the Amal at Zeno's suggestion. See John of Antioch, ib. p. 620.]

2. This cruel practice is specially imputed to the Triarian Goths, less barbarous, as it should seem, than the Walamirs: but the son of Theodemir is charged with the ruin of many Roman cities (Malchus Excerpt. Leg. p. 95). [This is the right interpretation of the words of Malchus, χεɩ̂ράς τε άποτέμνων ἅμα τῷ Ἁρματίῳ. He does not mean "cutting off the hands of Harmatius," but that in mutilating the peasants his conduct resembled that of Harmatius. Malch. p. 120, ed. Müller.]