couraged by Theodahad to end the
blood-feud bloodily. They had repaired to the Lake of Vulsinii and
murdered Amalasuentha in her bath[64]. The Byzantine ambassador sought
the presence of the King, boldly denounced his wicked deed, and
declared on the part of his master a war which would be waged without
truce or treaty till Amalasuentha was avenged. Thus began the eighteen
years' war between Justinian and the Ostrogoths.

[Footnote 64: We do not seem to have the precise date of the death of
Amalasuentha, but apparently it happened about the month of May, 535.]

[Sidenote: Why did Cassiodorus continue in the service of Theodahad?]

It might certainly have been expected that a statesman who had been
honoured with the intimate friendship of Theodoric and his daughter,
even if unable to avenge her death, would have refused to serve in the
Cabinet of her murderer. It is accordingly with a feeling of painful
surprise that we find Cassiodorus still holding the Secretary's pen,
and writing letter after letter (they form the majority of the
documents in the Tenth Book of the 'Variae') in the name of Theodahad
and his wife Gudelina. Dangers no doubt were thickening round his
beloved Italy. He may have thought that whoever wore the Gothic crown,
Duty forbade him to quit the Secretum at Ravenna just when war with
the Empire was becoming every day more imminent. On the other hand,
the Praetorian Praefecture, the object of a life's ambition, was now
his, but had been his only for two years. It was hard to lay aside the
purple _mandye_ while the first gloss was yet upon it; hard to have to
fall back into the ranks of the ordinary senators, and no longer to
receive the reverent salutations of the chiefs of the army when he
entered the hall of meeting. Whether the public good or the private
advantage swayed him most who shall say? There are times when
patriotism calls for the costliest sacrifice which a statesman can
make--the sacrifice, apparently, of his own honour. The man who has
made such a sacrifice must be content to be misjudged by his
fellow-men. Certainly, to us the one stain upon an otherwise pure
reputation seems to be found in the service, the apparently willing
service, which in the Tenth Book of his letters Cassiodorus renders to
Theodahad.

[Sidenote: Vacillation of Theodahad.]

Throughout the latter half of 535, Belisarius in Sicily and Mundus in
Dalmatia were warring for Justinian against Theodahad. The rhetoricia