182 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xxxix CHAPTEE XXXIX Zeno and Anastasius, Emperors of the East — Birth, Education, and first Exploits of Theodoric the Ostrogoth — His In- vasion and Conquest of Italy — The Gothic Kingdom of Italy — State of the West — Military and Civil Government — The Senator Boethius — Last Acts and Death of Theo- doric A a.d. 476-527 FTEE the fall of the Eoman Empire in the West, an interval of fifty years, till the memorable reign of Justinian, is faintly marked by the obscure names and imperfect annals of Zeno, Anastasius, and Justin, who suc- cessively ascended the throne of Constantinople. During the same period, Italy revived and flourished under the government of a Gothic king, who might have deserved a statue among the best and bravest of the ancient Eomans. Bh-th and Theodoric the Ostrogoth, the fourteenth in lineal descent of Theodo- of the royal line of the Amali, 1 was born in the neighbourhood 455-475' of Vienna 2 two years after the death of Attila. A recent victory had restored the independence of the Ostrogoths ; and the three brothers, Walamir, Theodemir, and Widimir, who ruled that warlike nation with united counsels, had separately pitched their habitations in the fertile though desolate province 1 Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 13, 14, p. 629, 630, edit. Grot.) has drawn the pedigree of Theodoric from Gapt, one of the Anses or Demi-gods who lived about the time of Domitian. Cassiodorius, the first who celebrates the royal race of the Amali (Variar. viii. 5, ix. 25, x. 2, xi. 1), reckons the grandson of Theo- doric as the xviith in descent. Peringsciold (the Swedish commentator of Coch- loeus, Vit. Theodoric. p. 271, &c. Stockholm, 1699) labours to connect this genealogy with the legends or traditions of his native country. 2 More correctly, on the banks of the lake Pelso (Neusiedler-see), near Car- nuntum, almost on the same spot where Marcus Antoninus composed his Medita- tions (Jornandes, c. 52, p. 659. Severin, Pannonia Illustrata, p. 22. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. torn. i. p. 350). [Date of Theodoric's birth, c. 454 (not earlier) ; he was sent to Constantinople in a.d. 461.]
