dom Of Italy.--Part III.

After the example of the last emperors, Theodoric preferred the
residence of Ravenna, where he cultivated an orchard with his own hands.
As often as the peace of his kingdom was threatened (for it was never
invaded) by the Barbarians, he removed his court to Verona on the
northern frontier, and the image of his palace, still extant on a coin,
represents the oldest and most authentic model of Gothic architecture.
These two capitals, as well as Pavia, Spoleto, Naples, and the rest
of the Italian cities, acquired under his reign the useful or splendid
decorations of churches, aqueducts, baths, porticos, and palaces. But
the happiness of the subject was more truly conspicuous in the busy
scene of labor and luxury, in the rapid increase and bold enjoyment
of national wealth. From the shades of Tibur and Praeneste, the Roman
senators still retired in the winter season to the warm sun, and
salubrious springs of Baiae; and their villas, which advanced on solid
moles into the Bay of Naples, commanded the various prospect of the sky,
the earth, and the water. On the eastern side of the Adriatic, a new
Campania was formed in the fair and fruitful province of Istria, which
communicated with the palace of Ravenna by an easy navigation of
one hundred miles. The rich productions of Lucania and the adjacent
provinces were exchanged at the Marcilian fountain, in a populous fair
annually dedicated to trade, intemperance, and superstition. In the
solitude of Comum, which had once been animated by the mild genius of
Pliny, a transparent basin above sixty miles in length still reflected
the rural seats which encompassed the margin of the Larian lake; and
the gradual ascent of the hills was covered by a triple plantation of
olives, of vines, and of chestnut trees. Agriculture revived under the
shadow of peace, and the number of husbandmen was multiplied by the
redemption of captives. The iron mines of Dalmatia, a gold mine in
Bruttium, were carefully explored, and the Pomptine marshes, as well as
those of Spoleto, were drained and cultivated by private undertakers,
whose distant reward must depend on the continuance of the public
prosperity. Whenever the seasons were less propitious, the doubtful
precautions of forming magazines of corn, fixing the price, and
prohibiting the exportation, attested at least the benevolence of the
state; but such was the extraordinary plenty which an industrious people
produced from a