lling prostrate on the ground, obtained that which he desired. He
welcomed the new King coming from the East, and peace was granted unto
him, including not only the citizens of Ravenna, but all the other
Romans[57], for whom the blessed John made entreaty".

[Footnote 56: Agnellus (writing in the ninth century). His use of the
term Archbishop is itself a sign of a later age.]

[Footnote 57: The non-barbarian population of Italy]

The chief clause of the treaty was that which assured Odovacar not only
life but absolute equality of power with his conqueror. The fact that
Theodoric should have, even in appearance, consented to an arrangement
so precarious and unstable, is the strongest testimony to the
impregnability of Ravenna, which after three years' strict blockade,
could still be won only by so mighty a concession. But of course there
was not, there could not be, any real peace on such terms between the
two queen-bees in that swarming hive of barbarians. Theodoric received
information--so we are told--that his rival was laying snares for his
life, and being determined to anticipate the blow, invited Odovacar to a
banquet at "the Palace of the Laurel-grove", on the south-east of the
city (15th March, 493). When Odovacar arrived, two suppliants knelt
before him and clasped his hands while offering a feigned petition. Some
soldiers who had been stationed in two side alcoves stepped forth from
the ambush to slay him, but at the last moment their hearts failed them,
and they could not strike. If the deed was to be done, Theodoric must
himself be the executioner or the assassin. He raised his sword to
strike. "Where is God?" cried the defenceless but unterrified victim.
"Thus didst thou to my friends", answered Theodoric, reminding him of
the treacherous murder of the "henchmen". Then with a tremendous stroke
of his broadsword he clove his rival from the shoulder to the loin. The
barbarian frenzy, which the Scandinavian minstrels call the "fury of the
Berserk", was in his heart, and with a savage laugh at his own too
impetuous blow, he shouted as the corpse fell to the ground: "I think
the weakling had never a bone in his body".

The body of Odovacar was laid in a stone coffin, and buried near the
synagogue of the Jews. His brother was mortally wounded while attempting
to escape through the palace-garden. His wife died of hunger in her
prison. His son, sent for safe-keeping to the king of the Visigoths in
Gaul, afterward