lection were written by order of
Amalasuentha after the commencement of the joint reign. Soon Theodahad
felt himself strong enough to hurl from the throne the woman who had
dared to compel him to draw back the boundary of his Tuscan
_latifundium._ The relations of the three noblemen whom Amalasuentha
had put to death gathered gladly round him, eager to work out the
blood-feud; and by their help he slew many of the strongest supporters
of the Queen, and shut her up in prison in a little lonely island upon
the lake of Vulsinii. This event took place on the 30th of April, 535,
not quite seven months after the death of Athalaric[63].

[Footnote 63: The dates of the death of Athalaric and deposition of
Amalasuentha are given by Agnellus in his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae
Ravennatis, p. 322 (in the edition comprised in the Monumenta
Germaniae Historica).]

[Sidenote: Embassy of Peter.]

[Sidenote: Death of Amalasuentha.]

During all these later months there had been a perpetual flux and
reflux of diplomatic communications between Ravenna and
Constantinople. The different stages of the negotiations are marked,
apparently with clearness, by Procopius; but it is not always easy to
harmonise them with the letters published by Cassiodorus, who either
did not write, or shrank from republishing, some of the most important
letters to the Emperor. This remark applies to the missive which was
probably taken by the Senators Liberius and Opilio, who were now sent
by Theodahad to Justinian to apologise for the imprisonment of
Amalasuentha, and to promise that she should receive no injury.
Meanwhile Peter, a rhetorician and an ex-Consul, was travelling from
Constantinople with a commission the character of which was being
constantly changed by the rapid current of events. He started with
instructions to complete the transaction with Amalasuentha as to the
surrender of Italy, and to buy from Theodahad, who was still a private
individual, his possessions in Tuscany. Soon after his departure he
met the ambassadors, who told him of the death of Athalaric and the
accession of Theodahad. On the shores of the Hadriatic he heard of
Amalasuentha's captivity. He waited for further instructions from his
master, and on his arrival at Ravenna he found that all was over. The
letter which he was to have handed to the deposed Queen, assuring her
of Justinian's protection, was already obsolete. The kinsmen of the
three nobles had been permitted or en