take arms and go in search of new abodes, he wished
first to acquaint Zeno with it, in order that he might provide for them,
by granting some country in which they might establish themselves, by
his good favor with greater propriety and convenience. Zeno, partly
from fear and partly from a desire to drive Odoacer out of Italy, gave
Theodoric permission to lead his people against him, and take possession
of the country. Leaving his friends the Zepidi in Pannonia, Theodoric
marched into Italy, slew Odoacer and his son, and, moved by the same
reasons which had induced Valentinian to do so, established his court at
Ravenna, and like Odoacer took the title of king of Italy.

Theodoric possessed great talents both for war and peace; in the former
he was always conqueror, and in the latter he conferred very great
benefits upon the cities and people under him. He distributed the
Ostrogoths over the country, each district under its leader, that he
might more conveniently command them in war, and govern them in peace.
He enlarged Ravenna, restored Rome, and, with the exception of military
discipline, conferred upon the Romans every honor. He kept within
their proper bounds, wholly by the influence of his character, all the
barbarian kings who occupied the empire; he built towns and fortresses
between the point of the Adriatic and the Alps, in order, with the
greater facility, to impede the passage of any new hordes of barbarians
who might design to assail Italy; and if, toward the latter end of his
life, so many virtues had not been sullied by acts of cruelty, caused
by various jealousies of his people, such as the death of Symmachus and
Boethius, men of great holiness, every point of his character would have
deserved the highest praise. By his virtue and goodness, not only
Rome and Italy, but every part of the western empire, freed from the
continual troubles which they had suffered from the frequent influx
of barbarians, acquired new vigor, and began to live in an orderly and
civilized manner. For surely if any times were truly miserable for
Italy and the provinces overrun by the barbarians, they were those which
occurred from Arcadius and Honorius to Theodoric. If we only consider
the evils which arise to a republic or a kingdom by a change of prince
or of government; not by foreign interference, but by civil discord (in
which we may see how even slight variations suffice to ruin the most
powerful kingdoms or states), we may t