all men was
naturally fixed upon him, for by the King's favour, the same favour
which in the preceding year had raised his two sons to the consulship,
he was now filling the great place of Master of the Offices.[130]
"False", said Boethius in loud, impassioned tones, "is the accusation of
Cyprian; but whatever Albinus did, I and the whole Senate of Rome, with
one purpose, did the same. The charge is false, O King Theodoric".The
inter-position of Boethius was due to a noble and generous impulse, but
it was not perhaps wise, in view of all that had passed, and without in
any way helping Albinus, it involved Boethius in his ruin. Cyprian, thus
challenged, included the Master of the Offices in his accusation, and
certain persons, not Goths, but Romans and men of senatorial rank,
Opilio (the brother of Cyprian), Basilius, and Gaudentius, came forward
and laid information against Boethius.

[Footnote 130: See p. 150.]

Here the reader will naturally ask, "Of what did these informers accuse
him?" but to that question it is not possible to give a satisfactory
answer. He himself in his meditations on his trial says: "Of what crime
is it that I am accused? I am said to have desired the safety of the
Senate. 'In what way?' you may ask. I am accused of having prevented an
informer from producing certain documents in order to prove the Senate
guilty of high treason. Shall I deny the charge? But I did wish for the
safety of the Senate and shall never cease to wish for it, nor, though
they have abandoned me, can I consider it a crime to have desired the
safety of that venerable order. That posterity may know the truth and
the real sequence of events, I have drawn up a written memorandum
concerning the whole affair. For, as for these forged letters upon which
is founded the accusation against me of having hoped for Roman freedom,
why should I say anything about them? Their falsehood would have been
made manifest, if I could have used the confession of the informers
themselves, which in all such affairs is admitted to have the greatest
weight. As for Roman freedom, what hope is left to us of attaining that?
Would that there were any such hope. Had the King questioned me, I would
have answered in the words Canius, when he was questioned by the Emperor
Caligula as to his complicity in a a conspiracy formed against him. If
I, said he, had known, thou shouldest never have known."

These words, coupled with some bitter statements as to the