ments on that island had never been very numerous); he
would also resign those parts of Dalmatia now occupied by the
Byzantines. On his side the Emperor should immediately evacuate
Ravenna, which no perseverance or stratagem on the part of the Gothic
besiegers had been able to reduce.

As the person most qualified to undertake this mission of peace and
reconciliation, the King thought of a man who was distinguished by
worth and dignity, by his love for Italy and the Goths, and who was
renowned, even in the East, for his wisdom--the venerable Cassiodorus.

Although the pious old man had withdrawn from all affairs of state for
many years, the young King succeeded in persuading him to leave the
peaceful quiet of his lonely cloister, and brave the troubles and
dangers of a journey to Byzantium in order to perform this noble and
pious work.

But it was impossible to lay upon the old man the whole burden of such
an embassy, and the King now sought for a younger and stronger man to
accompany him. A man of similar benevolent and Christian feeling--a
second apostle of peace.

A few weeks after the conquest of Rome, a royal messenger carried the
following letter over the Cottian Alps into Provence:

"To Julius Manilius Montanus, Totila, who is called the King of the
Goths.

"Come, my beloved friend, return to my heart! Years have passed; much
blood has been shed, and many tears have fallen. More than once,
terribly or fortunately, has everything changed around me since I
pressed your hand for the last time. Everything around me has changed,
but I remain the same. All is as it was between you and me. I still
revere the idols at whose shrines we worshipped together in the first
dreams of our youth, but growing experience has ennobled these idols.
When sin, treachery, and all dark powers raged upon Italian soil, you
abandoned it. See, they have disappeared, like moisture in the sun and
wind. The conquered demons growl in the distance, and a rainbow
stretches its brilliant arch over this my beloved kingdom. When nobler
souls unhappily succumbed. Heaven preserved me to see the end of the
fearful storm and to sow the seeds of a new time. Come now, my Julius;
help me to carry out those dreams at which you so often smiled,
thinking them _mere_ dreams. Help me to create a new people of Goths
and Italians, which will unite the advantages and exclude the
weaknesses of both nations. Help me to found a realm of justice and of
peace,