XXXIX.

were sometimes awakened from this pleasing vi. CHAP. sion of a Roman government, they derived more xxxIx. substantial comfort from the character of a Gothic princé who had penetration to discern, and firma ness to pursue, his own and the public interest. Theodoric loved the virtues which he possessed, and the talents of which he was destitute. Liberius was promoted to the office of prætorian præfect for his unshaken fidelity to the unfortunate cause of Odoacer. The ministers of Theodoric, Cassiodorius * and Boethius, have reflected on his reign the lustre of their genius and learning. More prudent or more fortunate than his colleague, Cassiodorius preserved his own esteem without forfeiting the royal favour; and after passing thirty years in the honours of the world, he was blessed with an equal term of repose in the devout and studious solitude of Squillace.

As the patron of the republic, it was the in- Prosperity terest and duty of the Gothic king to cultivate the of Rome. affections of the senate † and people. The nobles of Rome were flattered by sonorous epithets and formal professions of respect, which had been more

justly

V

nihilated, however, by Maffei (Verona illustrata, p. i. l. viii. p. 227.); for those of Syracuse and Naples (Var. vi. 22, 23.) were special and temporary commissions.

* Two Italians of the name of Cassiodorius, the father (Var. i. 24. 40.) and the son (ix. 24, 25.), were successively employed in the administration of Theodoric. The son was born

the year 479: his various epistles as quæstor, master of the offices, and prætorian præfect, extend from 509 to 539, and he lived as a monk about thirty years (Tiraboschi Storia della Letteratura Italiana, tom. iii. p. 7-24. Fabricius, Bibliot. Lat. Med. Ævi, tom. i. p. 357, 358. edit. Mansi).

+ See his regard for the senate in Cochlæus (Vit. Theod. viii. p. 72-80.

in

*

CHA P. justly applied to the meriť and authority of their XXXIX. ancestors, The people enjoyed, without fear or

danger, the three blessings of a capital, order, plenty, and public amusements. A visible dinimuition of their numbers may be found even in the measure of liberality * ; yet Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, poured their tribute of corn into the granaries of Rome; an allowance of bread and meat was distributed to the indigent citizens; and every office was deemed honourable which was consecrated to the care of their health and happiness. The public games, such as a Greek ambassador might politely applaud, exhibited a faint and feeble copy of the magnificence of the Cæsars : yet the musical, the gymnastic, and the pantomine arts, had not tuially sunk in oblivion ; the wild beasts of Africa still exercised in the amphitheatre the courage and dexterity of the hunters; and the indulgent Goth either patiently tolerated

or gently restrained the blue and green factions, Visit of

whose contests so often filled the circus with claThendoric, mour, and even with blood f. In the seventh

t A. D. 500.

year of his peaceful reign, Theodoric visited the old capital of the world ; the senate and people advanced in solemn procession to salute a second Trajan, a new Valentinian ; and he nobly supported that character by the assurance of a just

and

a

and legal government *, in a discourse which he chaP. was not afraid to pronounce in public, and to XXXIX. inscribe on a tablet of brass. Rome, in this august ceremony, shot a last ray of declining glory; and a saint, the spectator of this pompous scene, could only hope in his pious fancy, that it was excelled by the celestial splendour of the New Jerusalem t. During a residence of six months, the fame, the person, and the courteous demeanour of the Gothic king, excited the admiration of the Romans, and he contemplated, with equal curiosity and surprise, the monuments that remained of their ancient greatness. He imprinted the footsteps of a conqueror on the Capitoline hill, and frankly: confessed that each day he viewed with fresh wonder the forum of Trajan and his lofty column. The theatre of Pompey appeared, even in its decay, as a huge mountain artificially hollowed and polished, and adorned by human industry; and he vaguely computed, that a river of gold must have been drained to erect the Colossal amphitheatre of Titus f. From the mouths of fourteen aqueducts, a pure and copious stream

a

CHAP. was diffused into every part of the city; among Xxx.x. these the Claudian water, which arose at the dis

tance of thirty-eight miles in the Sabine mountains, was conveyed along a gentle though constant declivity of solid arches, till it descended on the summit of the Aventine hill. The long and spacious vaults which had been constructed for the purpose of common sewers, subsisted, after twelve centuries, in their pristine strength; and the subterraneous channels have been preferred to all the visible wonders of Rome *. The Gothic kings, so injuriously accused of the ruin of antiquity, were anxious to preserve the monuments of the nation whom they had subdued t. The royal edicts were framed to prevent the abuses, the neglect, or the depredations of the citizens themselves; and a professed architect, the annual sum of two hundred pounds of goid, twenty-five thousand tiles, and the receipt of customs from the Lucrine port, were assigned for the ordinary repairs of the walls and public edifices. A similar care was extended to the statues of metal or marble of men or animals. The spirit of the horses, which have given a modern name to the Quirinal, was applauded by the Barbarians; the brazen elephants

For the aqueducts and cloaca, see Strabo (1. v. p. 360.); Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 24.), Cassiodorius (Var. iii. 30, 31. vi. 6.), Procopius (Goth. 1. i. c. 19.), and Nardini (Roma Antica, p. 514-522). How such works could be executed by a king of Rome, is yet a problem.

+ For the Gothic care of the buildings and statues, see Cassiodorius (Var. i. 21. 25. ii. 34. iv. 30. vii. 6. 13. 15.), and the Valesian Fragment (p. 721.).

Var. vii. 15. These horses of Monte-Cavallo had been transported from Alexandria to the baths of Constantine (Nardini, p. 188.). Their sculpture is disdained by the Abbé Du

bos

elephants of the Via sacra were diligently restor- CHA P. ed; the famous heifer of Myron deceived the xxxix. cattle, as they were driven through the forum of Peace; and an officer was created to protect those works of art, which Theodoric considered as the noblest ornament of his kingdom.

Italy.

After the example of the last emperors, Theo- Flourishdoric preferred the residence of Ravenna, where ing state of he cultivated an orchard with his own hands As often as the peace of his kingdom was threatened (for it was never invaded) by the Barbarians, he removed his court to Verona § on the northern frontier, and the image of his palace, still extant, on a coin, represents the oldest and most authentic model of Gothic architecture. These two capitals, as well as Pavia, Spoleto, Naples, and the rest of the Italian cities, acquired under his reign the useful or splendid decorations of churches, aqueducts, baths, porticoes, and palaces. But the happiness VOL. VII.

D

of

bos (Reflections sur a Poesie et sur la Peinture, tom. i. section 39.), and admired by Winkelman (Hist. de l'Art, tom, ii. 159.).

Var. x. 10. They were probably a fragment of some triumphal car (Cuper de Elephantis, ii. 10.).

+ Procopius (Goth. 1. iv. c. 21.) relates a foolish story of Myron's cow, which is celebrated by the false wit of thiry-six Greek epigrams (Antholog. 1. iv. p. 302-306. edit. Hen. Steph. Auson. Epigram. lviii-lxviii.).

See an Epigram of Ennodius (ii. 3. p. 1893, 1894.) on this garden and the royal gardener.

§ His affection for that city is proved by the epithet of "Verona tua," and the legend of the hero; under the barbarous name of Dietrich of Bern (Peringciold ad Cochlæum, p. 240.), Maffei traces him with knowledge and pleasure in his native country (1. ix. p. 230-236.).

See Maffei, Verona Illustrata, Part i. p. 231, 232 308, &c. He imputes Gothic architecture, like the corruption of language, writing, &c. not to the Barbarians but to the Italians themselves. Compare his sentiments with those of Tiraboschi (tom, iii. p. 61.).