AMALASONTHA, youngest daughter of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, was born about the year 498. The sister of Clovis was her mother; and in 515 she married Eutharic, the only remaining heir of the legal race of the Amali. Her father having formed the design of making him his successor, sent to bring him from Spain for that purpose. But he never arrived at the destined honour; for Eutharic died before his father-in-law, leaving an only son, Athalaric. The well-known abilities of Amalasontha induced Theodoric to place Athalaric, to whom he had left the kingdom of Italy, under the care of his mother. This princess inherited an ample share of her father’s talents, which he had been exceedingly careful to improve by means of a liberal education. She became a great proficient in the philosophy and morals of that age, and with equal elegance and grace could converse in the Greek, Latin, and Gothic languages. Nor were her talents merely qualified to adorn private life: she displayed them in the administration of public justice, and in political discussion. Her first efforts were in behalf of the injured children of Boethius and Symmachus, whom she reinstated in the possession of their inheritance. When die chiefs of the Goths were strongly inclined to treat the Romans as a conquered people, she mildly restrained their violent oppression and their ungovernable rapacity. She relieved her subjects from some of the severer impositions of her father; but carefully retained all his laws, magistrates, and political institutions. Having herself tasted of the sweets of literature, and experienced its advantages, she patronised learning with an assiduous care, by regularly paying the salaries of public teachers, and giving every encouragement to the improvement of genius. Her peaceable deportment towards the neighbouring princes forms an amiable feature in her character. With the imperial court, and with all the other powers, she lived upon terms of friendship. Prompted by maternal affection and a highly cultivated mind, she exerted all her ingenuity in the education of her son. Unfortunately, however, both for the mother and the son, neither the general character of the Gothic nation, nor the wayward inclinations of the boy, seconded her laudable endeavours. The Gothic nobles had just commenced their murmurings against the soft effeminate manner in which the education of their prince was conducted, when upon a certain day the youth, having undergone some kind maternal chastisement, rushed into the room where some of the nobles were assembled, with the tears streaming from his eyes. Informed of the cause of his distress, the wrath of the nobles suddenly arose, and in a violent burst of passion they insisted upon the immediate release of their prince from the bondage of learning, and from the restraints of a mother. The unfortunate youth was thus dragged from the habitation of learning, prudence, and virtue; and, being plunged into all the extravagancies of dissolute pleasure, his mind became inspired with contempt and aversion to his virtuous mother.

It was impossible for humanity to bear this insult and high injury without opposition; therefore, in the first effusions of her resentment she seized three of the principal persons concerned in this transaction, and confined them in one of the remotest parts of Italy. But, as the efforts of one or of a few individuals are never adequate to the task of counteracting the general efforts of a nation, so the party whose sentiments were opposed to hers gradually acquired such power and influence, that Amalasontha formed serious resolutions of sheltering herself under the protection of Justinian. After a correspondence had been carried on to prepare for this event, before setting sail she determined to make one bold effort to regain her absolute power. With this view she caused the three persons who were in confinement to be secretly assassinated; a deed which, although it re-established her authority, augmented the public hatred. But another cause of disquiet soon arose. At the early age of sixteen, her son fell a victim to his debaucheries and follies, and she was left devoid of any legal claim to the crown. The accomplished and ambitious Amalasontha spurned the idea of retiring to a private station, and formed the bold design of sharing the throne with Theodotus her cousin. She had sufficient penetration to perceive that the dispositions of that youth were indolent and weak, and consequently she still hoped to remain at the helm of government. But the future fortune of that accomplished woman demonstrates to posterity the danger of confiding in human weakness, where the principles of honour, justice, and virtue are wanting. Theodotus issued an order for her confinement in an island on the lake Bolsena; and in the year 535 she was strangled in the bath. Some historians ascribe this deed to the influence of the empress Theodora, whose jealousy was excited by the respect paid to her by Justinian.