The Dark Ages Collection. David Hume
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him, seems to have thought it more likely that the Ostrogoths would employ vessels for the purpose of plundering the Epeirot or Dalmatian coasts, for he sent a post messenger to Dyrrhachium, to blame Theoderic for his hostile advance while negotiations were pending, and to exhort him to remain quiet and not to seize ships until he arrived himself.
Starting from Thessalonica, and passing Pella on the Via Egnatia, Adamantius came to Edessa, the modern Vodena, where he found Sabinian Magnus, and informed him that he had been appointed Master of Soldiers in Illyricum. The messenger, who had been sent to Dyrrhachium, returned in the company of a priest, to assure Adamantius that he might proceed confidently to the camp of Theoderic; and, having issued a mandate to collect all the troops available, the general and the ambassador moved forward to Lychnidus. Here Sabinian106 made difficulties about binding himself by oath to restore the hostages whom Theoderic was willing to deliver as a gage for the personal safety of Adamantius. This produced a deadlock; Theoderic naturally refused to give the hostages. Adamantius naturally refused to visit Theoderic.
Adamantius invented a simple solution of the difficulty, which led to a striking scene. Taking with him a body of two hundred soldiers he climbed by an obscure and narrow path, where horses had never set hoof before, and reached by a circuitous route an impregnable fort, built on a high cliff, close to the city of Dyrrhachium. At the foot of the cliff yawned a deep ravine, through which a river flowed. A messenger was sent to inform Theoderic that the Roman ambassador awaited him, and, attended by a few horse-soldiers, the Ostrogoth rode to the bank of the river. The physical features, the cliff, the chasm, and the river, are sufficiently simple and definite to enable us to call up vividly this strange scene. The attendants of both Adamantius and Theoderic had retired beyond range of earshot; and standing on the edges of the ravine the Ostrogothic king and the ambassador of the Roman Empire conversed together.
“I elected to live,” complained Theoderic, “beyond the borders of Thrace, far away Scythia-ward, deeming that if I abode there I should trouble no man, and should be able to obey all the behests of the Emperor. But ye summoned me as to war against Theoderic, and promised, firstly, that the Master of Soldiers in Thrace would meet me with his army, yet he never appeared; secondly, ye promised that Claudius, the steward of the Gothic contingent, would come with the pay for my troops (ξενικῷ), yet I never saw him; thirdly, ye gave me guides who, leaving the better roads that would have taken me to the quarters of the foe, led me by steep and precipitous rocky paths, where I wellnigh perished with all my train, advancing as I was with cavalry, waggons, and all the furniture of camp, and exposed to the attacks of the enemy. I was therefore constrained to come to terms with them, and owe them a debt of gratitude that they did not annihilate me, betrayed as I was by you and in their power.”
“The Emperor,” replied Adamantius, “bestowed upon you the title of Patrician, and created you a Master of Soldiers. These are the highest honours that crown the labours of the most deserving Roman officers, and nothing should induce you to cherish towards their bestower other than filial sentiments.” Having endeavoured to defend or extenuate the treatment of which Theoderic complained, the envoy proceeded thus: “You are acting intolerably in seizing Roman cities, while you are expecting an embassy; and remember that the Romans held you at their mercy, a prisoner, surrounded by their armies, amid the mountains and rivers of Thrace, whence you could never have extricated yourself, if they had not permitted you to withdraw, not even were your forces tenfold as great as they are. Allow me to counsel you to assume a more moderate attitude towards the Emperor, for you cannot in the end overcome the Romans when they press on you from all sides. Leave Epirus and the cities of this region — we cannot allow such great cities to be occupied by you and their inhabitants to be expelled — and go to Dardania, where there is an extensive territory of rich soil, uninhabited, and sufficient to support your host in plenty.”
To this proposal Theoderic replied that he would readily consent, but that his followers, who had recently endured many hardships, would be unwilling to leave their quarters in Epirus, where they had fully expected to pass the winter. He proposed a compromise, and engaged that if he were permitted to winter at Dyrrhachium he would migrate to Dardania in the ensuing spring. He added that he was quite ready to leave the unwarlike mass of his Ostrogoths in any city named by Zeno, and giving up his mother and sister as hostages, to take the field against Strabo with six thousand of his most martial followers, in company with the Illyrian army; when he had conquered his rival he expected to succeed to the post of Master of Soldiers and to be received in New Rome as a Roman.107 He also observed that he was prepared, if the Emperor wished, “to go to Dalmatia and restore Julius Nepos.” Adamantius was unable to promise so much; it was necessary to send a messenger to Byzantium to consult the Emperor. And thus the interview terminated.
Meanwhile the military forces, stationed in the Illyrian cities, had assembled at Lychnidus, around the standard of Sabinian. It was announced to the general that a band of the Ostrogoths led by Theodimund, the brother of Theoderic, was descending in secure negligence from Mount Candaira, which separates the valley of the Genusus (Skumbi) from that of the Drilo. This band had formed the rear of the Ostrogothic line of march, and had not yet reached Dyrrhachium. Sabinian sent a few infantry soldiers by a circuitous mountain route, with minute directions as to the hour and place at which they were to appear; and himself with the rest of the army proceeded thither, after the evening meal, by a more direct way. Marching during the night he assailed the company of Theodimund at dawn of day. Theodimund and his mother, who was with him, fled with all speed into the plain, and, having crossed a deep gully, destroyed the bridge which spanned it to cut off pursuit. This act, while it saved them, sacrificed their followers, who turned at bay upon the Romans. Two thousand waggons and more than five thousand captives were taken, and a great booty (A.D. 479).
After this the Emperor received two messages, one from Adamantius announcing the proposals of Theoderic, the other from Sabinian exaggerating his victory and dissuading him from the conclusion of peace. War seemed more honourable to Zeno and the pacific offers were rejected, Sabinian was permitted to continue the war, and for about a year and a half he held the Gauls in check in Epirus. But the active general was murdered by an ungrateful master,108 and John the Scythian and Moschian were sent to succeed him.
The revolt of Marcian towards the end of A.D. 479 had given Strabo a pretext for approaching Constantinople to assist the government. Having extorted money from Zeno, he received two of the conspirators in his camp and refused to surrender them. He was then once more deprived of his dignities and declared an enemy of the republic. He entered again into alliance with Theoderic and devastated Thrace. Zeno invoked the aid of the Bulgarians of the Lower Danube, but they were defeated by Strabo, who then advanced on Constantinople (A.D. 481).
It was a surprise, and we are told that he would easily have captured the city if Illus had not set guards at the gates just in time. He attempted to cross over to Bithynia, but was defeated in a battle on the water, and departed to Thrace. Thence he set forth for Greece, with his son Recitach, his wife, and about 30,000 followers. At a place called the Stable of Diomede, on the Egnatian Road, his horse threw him one morning on a spear which was standing point upwards, close to his tent. The accident was fatal (A.D. 481). Recitach succeeded him, and ruled in Thrace, “performing more outrageous acts than his father had performed.”109 Three years later Recitach was slain by Theoderic, son of Theodemir, whom Zeno instigated to the deed.110
In 482 we find Theoderic — the name is no longer ambiguous — ravaging the provinces of Macedonia, and Thessaly, and capturing the town of Larissa. He was no longer held in check by the able general Sabinian who had been murdered the year before. The Emperor decided to make a new agreement. Parts of Moesia and Dacia Ripensis were conceded to the Ostrogoths, and Theoderic was appointed Master of Soldiers (A.D. 483).111 In A.D. 484 he enjoyed the coveted distinction of giving his name to the year as consul, and he assisted Zeno against the rebel Illus. But a new breach soon followed. He devastated Thrace (A.D. 486) and marched on Constantinople (A.D. 487). Rhegium was occupied, Melantias was taken, and the capital once more threatened. But the intervention of his sister,112 who was at Zeno’s court, induced him to retire to his headquarters in Moesia, which he was soon to abandon for ever. The days of the Thracian period of Theoderic’s career were numbered.
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