othus imitatur Romanum." (See
the Fragment and Notes of Valesius, p. 719.)]

[Footnote 32: The view of the military establishment of the Goths in
Italy is collected from the Epistles of Cassiodorus (Var. i. 24,
40; iii. 3, 24, 48; iv. 13, 14; v. 26, 27; viii. 3, 4, 25.) They are
illustrated by the learned Mascou, (Hist. of the Germans, l. xi. 40--44,
Annotation xiv.) Note: Compare Manso, Geschichte des Ost Gothischen
Reiches, p. 114.--M.]

Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.--Part II.

Among the Barbarians of the West, the victory of Theodoric had spread
a general alarm. But as soon as it appeared that he was satisfied with
conquest and desirous of peace, terror was changed into respect, and
they submitted to a powerful mediation, which was uniformly employed
for the best purposes of reconciling their quarrels and civilizing their
manners. [33] The ambassadors who resorted to Ravenna from the most
distant countries of Europe, admired his wisdom, magnificence, [34]
and courtesy; and if he sometimes accepted either slaves or arms, white
horses or strange animals, the gift of a sun-dial, a water-clock, or a
musician, admonished even the princes of Gaul of the superior art and
industry of his Italian subjects. His domestic alliances, [35] a wife,
two daughters, a sister, and a niece, united the family of Theodoric
with the kings of the Franks, the Burgundians, the Visigoths, the
Vandals, and the Thuringians, and contributed to maintain the harmony,
or at least the balance, of the great republic of the West. [36] It
is difficult in the dark forests of Germany and Poland to pursue the
emigrations of the Heruli, a fierce people who disdained the use of
armor, and who condemned their widows and aged parents not to survive
the loss of their husbands, or the decay of their strength. [37] The
king of these savage warriors solicited the friendship of Theodoric, and
was elevated to the rank of his son, according to the barbaric rites of
a military adoption. [38] From the shores of the Baltic, the Aestians
or Livonians laid their offerings of native amber [39] at the feet of
a prince, whose fame had excited them to undertake an unknown and
dangerous journey of fifteen hundred miles. With the country [40] from
whence the Gothic nation derived their origin, he maintained a frequent
and friendly correspondence: the Italians were clothed in the rich
sables [41] of Sweden; and one of its sovereigns, after a voluntary
or reluc