d at
the head of his people forced his way, between the years 488 and 489,
through hostile country into Italy. In three battles he triumphed over
Odoacer, forced that monarch to capitulate on favourable terms at
Ravenna (493), and after pretending to allow him to share his
sovereignty of Italy, assassinated him in the same year.

The long reign of Theodoric (493-526) was marked by a transient return
of peace and prosperity to Italy. His domestic and foreign policy were
dictated alike by wisdom and necessity. His people were settled on the
land, which they held by military tenure. A series of matrimonial
alliances secured him the support of the Franks, the Burgundians, the
Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Thuringians, and his sword preserved his
territory from the incursions of rival barbarians and the two disastrous
attacks (505 and 508) that envy prompted the Emperor Anastasius to
attempt.

_II.--Justinian the Great_

The death of the Emperor Anastasius had raised to the throne a Dardanian
peasant, who by his arts secured the suffrage of the guards, despoiled
and destroyed his more powerful rivals, and reigned under the name of
Justin I. from 518 to 527. He was succeeded by his nephew, the great
Justinian, who for thirty-eight years directed the fortunes of the Roman
Empire.

The Empress Theodora, who before her marriage had been a theatrical
wanton, was seated, by the fondness of the emperor, on the throne as an
equal and independent colleague in the sovereignty. Her rapacity, her
cruelty, and her pride were the subject of contemporary writings, but
her benevolence to her less fortunate sisters, and her courage amidst
the factions and dangers of the court, justly entitle her to a certain
nobility of character.

Constantinople in the age of Justinian was torn by the factions of the
circus. The rival bands of charioteers, who wore respectively liveries
of green and blue, created in the capital of the East, as they had
created in Rome, two factions among the populace. Justinian's support of
the blues led to a serious sedition in the capital. The two factions
were united by a common desire for vengeance, and with the watchword of
"Nika" (vanquish) (January 532), raged in tumult through Constantinople
for five days. At the command of Theodora 3,000 veterans who could be
trusted marched through the burning streets to the Hippodrome, and
there, supported by the repentant blues, massacred the unresisting mob.

The