to attack the enemy in Dalmatia, where he quickly achieved a success by the capture of Salona. Justinian now declared himself openly as the regenerator of Italy against the Arian heretics, who had wrested it by force from the Empire; and he sent letters to the Franks, who were Orthodox, claiming their assistance in his enterprise. The specific permission granted to Theodoric by Zeno, and the ratification of his title by Anastasius were ignored, and the Goths were presented in the same light as the heterogeneous horde of barbarians whom they had displaced. As in the case of Africa the religious sympathies of the native population in this war were on the side of the Byzantines.
Notwithstanding this state of active warfare, Peter had attached himself to Theodahad, seeking an opportunity to extract from him a formal deed of abdication. During these negotiations the Gothic King showed himself to be a vacillating and incapable administrator. He signed a treaty in the most abject terms, reserving to himself merely the name of King, and dismissed the ambassadors. He became fearful, saw himself in the place of Gelimer, recalled them, and tendered a second document, in which his abdication was made absolute; but he imposed an oath on Peter not to reveal it unless his first terms should be rejected. Justinian, however, was soon made aware of the alternative proposals, whereupon he chartered a commission to take over the government of Italy. But in the meantime the Goths had massed their forces in Dalmatia, defeated and killed Mundus, and regained their ascendency in that province. This success effected a reversal in the attitude of Theodahad; he received the Byzantine deputies haughtily, cited historical precedents to show that the person of an ambassador was not always strictly inviolable, and finally
