a's dowry.
Apparently it had been recaptured by the Goths after the death of the
Vandal queen, but Justinian urged that it was still the rightful
possession of Gelimer, and therefore of himself, who now by the fortune
of war was Gelimer's master. Then there were certain Huns, deserters
from the Emperor's service, who had been allowed by the governor of
Naples to enlist in the Gothic army. A Gothic general who had to conduct
some warlike operations near Sirmium had crossed the Danube and sacked
Gratiana, a city in Moesia. All these grievances were rehearsed by the
Imperial ambassador, who hinted, not obscurely, that war would follow if
they were not redressed.

In fact, however, the real object of the embassy which came with this
formal statement of grievances was to discuss a strange proposition
which had been made by Amalasuentha, one for the understanding of which
we must go back a few years (we are not told exactly how many) to an
event which illustrates the manner in which the Gothic princess
conducted the education of her son. She wished, we are told, to have him
brought up in all respects after the manner of the Romans, and forced
him every day to go to the house of a grammarian to learn his lessons.
Moreover, she chose out three Gothic ancients, men of wisdom and of
calm, reasonable temperament, and assigned these venerable persons to
Athalaric as his constant companions. This manner of training the kingly
boy did not at all suit the ideas of the Goths, the Roman historian
says, "because they wished him to be trained in more barbaric style in
order that they might have the more liberty for oppressing their
subjects": a modern historian may suggest, "because they remembered
their own childhood and knew what was in the heart of a boy", of which
Amalasuentha, who was evidently elderly and wise in her cradle, had no
conception. One day, for some childish offence, the young king was
slapped in the face by his mother, and thereupon, in a tempest of
passionate tears, he burst out of the women's apartments and appeared
sobbing in the men's hall of audience. All Gothic hearts were stirred
when they saw the princely Amal thus mishandled, and the warriors began
to hint the insulting suspicion that Amalasuentha wished to educate her
child into his grave, that she might marry again and make her new
husband king of the Goths and Romans. The nobles of the nation were
gathered together, and seeking an audience with the princess,