New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-12

THUS. ana according uO lliS uuiliSoiVh' H"''J
Roman Senators. had correspondent with the
Byzantine Government in what could only w IT,
rarded by Theodoric as reasonable manner. lie
was within his rights in furnishing such conduct
and while clemency would have been more credit
able 20 him. and more in harmony with his past
rule, than severity, he can hardly be accused ol
wantOn outrage in doing as he dld.
DR. Uodgkin suggests the possibility that 10
ward the end of his life, the mind of Theodore
failed He also appears to think that the symp-
toms of the Kings fatal illness may indicate
arsenical poisoning The fact that none OF his
contemporaries whether friendly OF hostile refers
TO any such suspicion, may be thought conclusive
ON this point for it was time when poison was not
infrequently used, and it was also q time when the
least mention Of that or any other crime lsureu le
publication. The rational presumption seems 10
be that Theodore died natural death, ana prop
ably he died only just in time TO avoid seeing the oe
ginning of the end of all he had lived and workeu
TO establish. Dr. Ho6gllin might have closed ms
record here but he has earned the thanks OF MS
readers by continuing the history down to the
extinction of the Ostrogothic Empire. That En-
pire did not expire with the misfortunes welch so
swiftly followed the disappearance OF Theodore.
For time it looked as though Justnlan ana
Belisarus between them would regain the Wnole,
or neIrly the whole, of the Roman Empire Dut
after n period of successes Cor Justinians great
soldier, he was recalled to take charge OF the
Persian war, and with his departure the Ostrogoths
at once began to recover courage, and, finding in
Toteta q commander of true genius, they forth
with took the field and the Imperialist forces
were driven before them.
There have been great and strange vicissitudes
in the history Of the Eternal City, but perhaps
none more singular than the one which, about tins
period, left Rome absolutely uninhabited for
months The glory of the great city had ndeed
previously departed. The population at one Time
is said TO have been reduced TO 500 souls. But
when Totela took Rome, ami forewent his hrst
to rae the proud Capital to the
ground he swore that he would at least convert
1t into wilderness, and he kept his word IL Is
difficult TO conceive Of Rome IN the condition in
dicated bv the statement that it was thought
useless to besiege the city, because enough grain
for the needs of the population could lie raised
within the walls As Dr. Hodgkin happily puts
il. this is as if the population Of modern London
had been 50 reduced that IL could subsist upon
the barvcsts raised in Hyde Park and st. James
Park. But what is even this TO the fact that no
single living soul was left on the Seven HIS
That the palaces on the Palatne. the noble prom
enades the courses, the Flavian Amphitheatre.
the Forum. all the resorts of historic Rome were
for months absolutely empty Deserted temples
indeed the Rome of the fifth century had learned
to gaze upon with Indifference. for the advent OF
Christianity had brought that change. But Iotea
left not even a solitary citizen to mark the silent
streets It is true that this action of the young
Gothic commander proved a strategic blunder'
which the ever-vigilant Bclisarius promptly awaited
himself Of Finding Rome abandoned by It's
captor he swiftly and secretly threw into 1t thou
sand soldiers and set them 10 repair the breaches
in the walls which Totela had made. When the
Goth discovered what was going on, it was too
late. The walls had been repaired sufficiently to
defy capture by assault, and the bones Of 10000
Goths laid before the city in n former siege by
the deadly cir Of the Campagna. forbade
another attempt of the kind. Totela withdrew,
baffled. and Belisarus was able to lay the keys
of Rome at the feet OF Jrstuan.
The untimely death of Totela at the hands Of
Gepid adversary removed the chief hope of the
Ostrogoths and the current turned at once and set
once more against their arms. The war indeed did
not come to sudden end for the OstrogOths had not
lost their virlity in thirty years of peace, IKE
their knsmen, the Visisoths and they fought With
characteristic tenacty. Rut they could nOt save
when very ably led, contend long against the
mounted archers who were the manstay OF the
Imperiasts. Dr. Hodgkin liilcns these horscmen
to the modern mounted rifles. They seem to us
rather to have represented a preponderance III
artillery and in skill in the use of it. The Goths
had only foOt-archers. who could not move without
infantry support The mounted archers could adj
vance to the front and pour voleys into the ranks
of the men.at-arms. who bore only spears and
swords, and these, from the nature Of their
weapons were unable to rctaate. 1t was q re-
newal Of the old strife between formations and
weapons between legion and phalanX, gladiuS and
sarissa: and the most effective in5trumentality
again conquered. The disruption of Theodore S
kingdom was, however. really of small Importance.
The calamity consisted in the destruction of his
civilized methods Of government Could those
methods have been perpctuatcd for another genera
ton it is quite possible that the Goths, who had
already learned TO live under them resgDedly,
would have further learned 10 appreciate them for
their inherent advantages. In that event, the
Romans themselves, being already heartily in ac-
cord with Theodorie's civilitas" the worst Of
the evils which followed might have been averted,
and Theodorie's desire TO weld the Barbarian and
Roman powers together might have been fulfilled.
Dr. IIodgkin has enriched his work with a
final chapter treating of the Saga in which, under
the name Dietrich Of Bern, Theodore came to
figure some seven hundred years after his death,
netalnorphosed indeed, almost beyond recognition.
The Teutonic imagination was at it's most pro-
life stage when these legends Of the Amelung
and the Nibelungen were fashioned Viewed
solely as legend, however, the story in full of in
terest and it is possible TO trace here and there.
as Dr. IIodgl.in points out, the historical facts
which have been made the groundwork Of the
widest romance and supernaturalism. In the
Saga Thcodoric the Goth becomes the slayer of
Cricmhild, after the awful slaughter of Huns and
Nibeungs in Attilas palace-hall. The Criemhild
at whose guilty head the real Theodore aimed his
enchanted sword was the lawessnesS, cruelty and
greed which up to and after his time made CHAR
nel-housc of Europe, but which for the space of
a generation he held at bay. 1t is needless u
expatiate upon the efudition and the literary
style of DR.. lIOdgkins interesting book The
author of Italy and her Invaders" has won too
high a rank in the literature Of the period TO
be praised as a tyr0. In the present instance,
moreover, he is treading familiar ground, for the