pecially by the fierce Bulgarians, but in the
end Pitzias obtained a complete victory. We may state this fact with
confidence, as it is recorded in the chronicles of an official of the
Eastern Empire.[108] He says of Sabinian: "Having joined battle at
Horrea Margi, and many of his soldiers having been slain in this
conflict and drowned in the river Margus _(Morava)_, having also lost
all his wagons, he fled with a few followers to the fortress which is
called Nato. In this lamentable war so promising an army fell, that,
speaking after the manner of men, its loss could never be repaired".

[Footnote 107: _Morava Hissar_, about half-way between Nisch and
Belgrade.]

[Footnote 108: Marcellinus Comes. Strangely enough he makes no mention
of the Goths as assisting Mundo.]

Without any general campaign, the quarrel between the Goths and the
Empire seems to have smouldered on for three years longer. In his
chronicle for the year 508, the same Byzantine official who has just
been quoted, says very honestly: "Romanus Count of the Domestics and
Rusticus Count of the Scholarii,[109] with 100 armed ships and as many
cutters, carrying 8,000 soldiers, went forth to ravage the shores of
Italy, and proceeded as far as the most ancient city of Tarentum. Having
recrossed the sea they reported to Anastasius Caesar this inglorious
victory, which in piratical fashion Romans had snatched from their
fellow-Romans".

[Footnote 109: Both these terms denote what we should call "household
troops".]

These words of the chronicler show to what extent Theodoric's kingdom
was looked upon as still forming part of the Roman Empire, and they also
point to the difficulty of the position of Anastasius, who, whatever
might be his cause of quarrel with Theodoric, could only enforce his
complaints against him by resorting to acts which in the eyes of his
subjects wore the unholy appearance of a civil war.

Though we are not precisely informed when or how hostilities were
brought to a close, it seems probable that soon after this raid, about
the year 509, peace, unbroken for the rest of Theodoric's reign, was
re-established between Ravenna and Byzantium. The Epistle which stands
in the forefront of the "Various Letters" of Cassiodorus was probably
written on this occasion.

"Most clement Emperor", says Theodoric, or rather Cassiodorus speaking
in his name, "there ought to be peace between us since there is no real
occasion for animosity. Every kingdo