M.]

Whatever fear of affection could bestow, was profusely lavished by Zeno
on the king of the Ostrogoths; the rank of patrician and consul, the
command of the Palatine troops, an equestrian statue, a treasure in gold
and silver of many thousand pounds, the name of son, and the promise of
a rich and honorable wife. As long as Theodoric condescended to serve,
he supported with courage and fidelity the cause of his benefactor; his
rapid march contributed to the restoration of Zeno; and in the second
revolt, the Walamirs, as they were called, pursued and pressed the
Asiatic rebels, till they left an easy victory to the Imperial troops.
[10] But the faithful servant was suddenly converted into a formidable
enemy, who spread the flames of war from Constantinople to the Adriatic;
many flourishing cities were reduced to ashes, and the agriculture of
Thrace was almost extirpated by the wanton cruelty of the Goths, who
deprived their captive peasants of the right hand that guided the
plough. [11] On such occasions, Theodoric sustained the loud and
specious reproach of disloyalty, of ingratitude, and of insatiate
avarice, which could be only excused by the hard necessity of his
situation. He reigned, not as the monarch, but as the minister of a
ferocious people, whose spirit was unbroken by slavery, and impatient of
real or imaginary insults. Their poverty was incurable; since the most
liberal donatives were soon dissipated in wasteful luxury, and the most
fertile estates became barren in their hands; they despised, but they
envied, the laborious provincials; and when their subsistence had
failed, the Ostrogoths embraced the familiar resources of war and
rapine. It had been the wish of Theodoric (such at least was his
declaration) to lead a peaceful, obscure, obedient life on the confines
of Scythia, till the Byzantine court, by splendid and fallacious
promises, seduced him to attack a confederate tribe of Goths, who had
been engaged in the party of Basiliscus. He marched from his station in
Maesia, on the solemn assurance that before he reached Adrianople, he
should meet a plentiful convoy of provisions, and a reenforcement of
eight thousand horse and thirty thousand foot, while the legions of Asia
were encamped at Heraclea to second his operations. These measures were
disappointed by mutual jealousy. As he advanced into Thrace, the son of
Theodemir found an inhospitable solitude, and his Gothic followers, with
a heavy train of