nguished by these virtues, our candidate has been fittingly
allied by marriage with the noble family of Basilius[533].

[Footnote 533: This is probably the Basilius who was concerned in the
accusation of Boethius (Phil. Cons. I. iv.); possibly the Consul of
541, who fled to Constantinople when Totila took Rome in 546 (Procop.
De Bello Gotthico iii. 20, and Anastasius Lib. Pontif. apud Murator.
iii. 132); and perhaps the Basilius whom we find in trouble in
Variarum iv. 22, 23: scarcely the Basilius of Variarum ii. 10, 11.]

'He has managed his private affairs so as to avoid the two extremes of
parsimony and extravagance. He has become popular with the Goths by
his manner of life, and with the Romans by his righteous
judgments[534]; and has been over and over again chosen as a referee
(Judex privatus), thus showing the high opinion in which his integrity
is held.

[Footnote 534: 'Gentiles victu (?), Romanos sibi judiciis obligabat.']

'The Conscript Fathers are exhorted to endorse the favourable judgment
of the King, by welcoming the new Count of Sacred Largesses into their
body.'

[In view of these letters I do not understand what Gibbon means by
saying (cap. xxxix. _n._ 95), 'The characters of the two delators,
Basilius ('Var.' ii. 10, 11; iv. 22) and Opilio (v. 41; viii. 16), are
illustrated, not much to their honour, in the Epistles of
Cassiodorus.' This is quite true of Basilius, if the person alluded to
in the references given by Gibbon be the same as the informer against
Boethius, of which there may be a doubt; but Opilio is mentioned, as
we see, with the highest honour by Cassiodorus. So, too, is Decoratus,
whom in the same note Gibbon too hastily stigmatises as 'the worthless
colleague of Boethius.']

18. KING ATHALARIC TO FELIX, QUAESTOR (527).

[This cannot be the same as the Consul of 511, nor even his son; for
that Felix was of Gaulish extraction, and came from beyond the Alps.]

[Sidenote: Promotion of Felix to the Quaestorship.]

'It is desirable that those who are appointed as Judges should know
something of law, and most unfitting that he whom so many officials
(_milites_) obey should be seen to be dependent for his law on some
one of his subordinates.

'You long ago, when engaged in civil causes as an Advocate, were
marked out by your Sovereign's eye[535]. He noted your eloquence, your
fidelity, your youthful beauty, and your maturity of mind. No client
could ask for more devotion than you