enefits than he did on his brethren. Happy age! in which Kings
may be likened, not to Kings, but to Prophets, and yet bear away the
palm.

'But that we may not longer detain you from the desired enjoyment of
the Royal benefits, know that our commands have been given to those
whose business it is to attend to this affair, that, according to the
tenour of this edict, the generosity of the Sovereign may penetrate
into your homes.'

[The same considerations which were applied to the date of the
preceding letter seem to require that this also be dated in 537. After
the raising of the siege of Rome (March, 538), by the despatch of
Imperial troops into Liguria, and the enthusiastic adherence of that
Province to the Imperial cause, a new state of things was established,
and one to which the language of this letter would have been utterly
inapplicable.

There are two events of which we have no other knowledge than that
furnished by this letter: the invasion of the Burgundians, and the
ravages of the Alamanni in the Province of Liguria.

(1) The invasion of the Burgundians seems, as stated in a previous
note, to have occurred in the spring or early summer of 536; so that
Cassiodorus could represent the invaders as surprised and disheartened
by learning of the elevation of Witigis. It no doubt formed part of
those hostile operations of the Frankish Kings described by Procopius
(De Bello Gotthico i. 13), the termination of which was purchased by
Witigis by the cession of Provence and the payment of a subsidy. It is
interesting to observe, however, that the Burgundians, notwithstanding
their subjugation in 534, and their incorporation in the Frankish
monarchy, are still spoken of as conducting an invasion on their own
account. This is just like the invasion of Italy in 553 by the
Alamannic brethren, and is quite in keeping with the loosely compacted
character of the Merovingian monarchy, in which it was copied by the
Anglian and Saxon Kingdoms.

(2) For the ravages of the Alamanni consult, as before stated, von
Schubert's monograph. This passage quite confirms his view of the
events connected with the overthrow of the Alamannic Kingdom by
Clovis. A remnant of the people, settled as refugees in Raetia under
Theodoric's protection, now, in the decline of the Ostrogothic
monarchy throw off their allegiance to his successors, and press
forward over the Alps to share the spoil of Italy. Witigis, however,
notwithstanding his strugg