d when, being confronted by his denouncers, he had been
proved guilty without any question, she compelled him to pay back
everything which he had wrongfully seized and then dismissed him. And
since in this way she had given the greatest offence to the man, from
that time she was on hostile terms with him, exceedingly vexed as he
was by reason of his fondness for money, because he was unable to
continue his unlawful and violent practices.

At about this same time[I] Atalaric, being quite wasted away by the
disease, came to his end, having lived eight years in office. As for
Amalasuntha, since it was fated that she should fare ill, she took no
account of the nature of Theodatus and of what she had recently done to
him, and supposed that she would suffer no unpleasant treatment at his
hands if she should do the man some rather unusual favour. She
accordingly summoned him, and when he came, set out to cajole him,
saying that for some time she had known well that it was to be expected
that her son would soon die; for she had heard the opinion of all the
physicians, who agreed in their judgment, and had herself perceived that
the body of Atalaric continued to waste away. And since she saw that
both Goths and Italians had an unfavourable opinion regarding Theodatus,
who had now come to represent the race of Theoderic, she had conceived
the desire to clear him of this evil name, in order that it might not
stand in his way if he were called to the throne. But at the same time,
she explained, the question of justice disturbed her, at the thought
that those who claimed to have been wronged by him already should find
that they had no one to whom they might report what had befallen them,
but that they now had their enemy as their master. For these reasons,
then, although she invited him to the throne after his name should have
been cleared in this way, yet it was necessary, she said, that he should
be bound by the most solemn oaths that while the title of the office
should be conferred upon Theodatus, she herself should in fact hold the
power no less than before. When Theodatus heard this, although he swore
to all the conditions which Amalasuntha wished, he entered into the
agreement with treacherous intent, remembering all that she had
previously done to him. Thus Amalasuntha, being deceived by her own
judgment and the oaths of Theodatus, established him in the office. And
sending some Goths as envoys to Byzantium, she made this kno