his own and the public interest. Theodoric loved the virtues which
he possessed, and the talents of which he was destitute. Liberius was
promoted to the office of Praetorian praefect for his unshaken fidelity
to the unfortunate cause of Odoacer. The ministers of Theodoric,
Cassiodorus, [57] and Boethius, have reflected on his reign the lustre
of their genius and learning. More prudent or more fortunate than his
colleague, Cassiodorus preserved his own esteem without forfeiting the
royal favor; and after passing thirty years in the honors of the world,
he was blessed with an equal term of repose in the devout and studious
solitude of Squillace. [5711]

[Footnote 52: Procopius affirms that no laws whatsoever were promulgated
by Theodoric and the succeeding kings of Italy, (Goth. l. ii. c. 6.) He
must mean in the Gothic language. A Latin edict of Theodoric is still
extant, in one hundred and fifty-four articles. * Note: See Manso, 92.
Savigny, vol. ii. p. 164, et seq.--M.]

[Footnote 53: The image of Theodoric is engraved on his coins: his
modest successors were satisfied with adding their own name to the head
of the reigning emperor, (Muratori, Antiquitat. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom.
ii. dissert. xxvii. p. 577--579. Giannone, Istoria Civile di Napoli tom.
i. p. 166.)]

[Footnote 54: The alliance of the emperor and the king of Italy
are represented by Cassiodorus (Var. i. l, ii. 1, 2, 3, vi. l) and
Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 6, l. iii. c. 21,) who celebrate the
friendship of Anastasius and Theodoric; but the figurative style of
compliment was interpreted in a very different sense at Constantinople
and Ravenna.]

[Footnote 5411: All causes between Roman and Roman were judged by the
old Roman courts. The comes Gothorum judged between Goth and Goth;
between Goths and Romans, (without considering which was the plaintiff.)
the comes Gothorum, with a Roman jurist as his assessor, making a kind
of mixed jurisdiction, but with a natural predominance to the side of
the Goth Savigny, vol. i. p. 290.--M.]

[Footnote 55: To the xvii. provinces of the Notitia, Paul Warnefrid the
deacon (De Reb. Longobard. l. ii. c. 14--22) has subjoined an xviiith,
the Apennine, (Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 431--443.)
But of these Sardinia and Corsica were possessed by the Vandals, and the
two Rhaetias, as well as the Cottian Alps, seem to have been abandoned
to a military government. The state of the four provinces that now form