tinian III., and so we are brought to the
nine phantom emperors who follow the race of the great Theodosius, when it
had been terminated by the vice of its worst descendant.

One Teuton race, the most celebrated of all, I have reserved for future
mention. The Franks in St. Leo's time, and for thirty-five years after his
death, were still pagan. The Salian branch occupied the north of Gaul, and
the Ripuarians were spread along the Rhine, about Cologne. Their paganism
had prevented them from being touched by the infection of the Arian heresy,
common to all the other tribes, so that the Arian religion was the mark of
the Teutonic settler throughout the West, and the Catholic that of the
Roman provincials.

Thus when, in the year 476, the Roman senate, at Odoacer's bidding,
exercised for the last time its still legal prerogative of naming the
emperor, by declaring that no emperor of the West was needed, and by
sending back the insignia of empire to the eastern emperor Zeno, all the
provinces of the West had fallen, as to government, into the hands of the
Teuton invaders, and all of these, with the single exception of the Franks,
were Arians. They alone were still pagans. Odoacer, also an Arian, became
the ruler of Rome and Italy, nominally by commission from the emperor Zeno,
really in virtue of the armed force, consisting of adventurers belonging to
various northern tribes which he commanded. To the Romans he was
Patricius,[19] a title of honour lasting for life, which from Constantine's
time, without being connected with any particular office, surpassed all
other dignities. To his own people he was king of the Ruges, Herules, and
Turcilings, or king of the nations. He ruled Italy, and Sicily, except a
small strip of coast, and Dalmatia, and these lands he was able to protect
from outward attack and inward disturbance. He made Ravenna his seat of
government. He did not assume the title of king at Rome. He maintained the
old order of the State in appearance. The senate held its usual sittings.
The Roman aristocracy occupied high posts. The consuls from the year 482
were again annually named. The Arian ruler left theological matters alone.
But the eyes of Rome were turned towards Byzantium. The Roman empire
continued legally to exist, and especially in the eye of the Church. The
Pope maintained relations with the imperial power.

In the meantime, Theodorich the Ostrogoth, son of Theodemir, chief of the
Amal family, had been