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 192 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xxxix by her generous reproaches, drove them back on the swords of the enemy. 25 Hiscapitu- From the Alps to the extremity of Calabria, Theodoric death. reigned by the right of conquest ; 2G the Vandal ambassadors March 5 surrendered the land of Sicily, as a lawful appendage of his kingdom ; and he was accepted as the deliverer of Eome by the senate and people, who had shut their gates against the flying usurper. 27 Ravenna alone, secure in the fortifications of art and nature, still sustained a siege of almost three years ; and [490-493] the daring sallies of Odoacer carried slaughter and dismay into the Gothic camp. At length, destitute of provisions and hope- less of relief, that unfortunate monarch yielded to the groans of [Feb. 25, his subjects and the clamours of his soldiers. A treaty of peace was negotiated by the bishop of Ravenna ; the Ostrogoths were admitted into the city; and the hostile kings consented, under [March 5] the sanction of an oath, to rule with equal and undivided authority the provinces of Italy. 28 The event of such an agree- ment may be easily foreseen. After some days had been de- voted to the semblance of joy and friendship, Odoacer, in the [March 15] midst of a solemn banquet, was stabbed by the hand, or at least by the command, of his rival. 29 Secret and effectual 25 This anecdote is related on the modern but respectable authority of Sigonius (Op. torn. i. p. 580. De Occident. Imp. 1. xv.) : his words are curious : " Would you return ? " &c. She presented, and almost displayed, the original recess. [The anecdote is worthless ; but whence did Sigonius derive it ?] 26 [In the Panegyric of Ennodius, a passage (in c. x. p. 209, ed. Vogel) which escaped Gibbon's notice darkly mentions a slaughter of the adherents of Odovacar in all parts of Italy, carried out (apparently in 490 a.d.) by a prearranged scheme. His phrases suggest that the clergy were privy to it. Cp. Dahn, Konige der Germanen, ii. 80.] 27 Hist. Miscell. 1. xv., a Roman history from Janus to the ninth century, an Epitome of Eutropius, Paulus Diaconus, and Theophanes, which Muratori has published from a Ms. in the Ambrosian library (Script. Rerum Italicarum, torn. i. p. 100). 28 [This was an arrangement which obviously had no elements of permanence, and Tillemont rejected the statement of Procopius (i. 1), on whose single authority it depended until the discovery of a confirmatory fragment of John of Antioch (214a, Miiller, F.H.G. v.).] 29 [An account of the death of Odovacar has been recovered in a fragment of John of Antioch (ib. fr. 214). Theodoric invited Odovacar (now 60 years old) toia feast in the Palace of the Consul at the south-east corner of Ravenna, on March 15. As Odovacar sat at table, two men knelt before him with a petition and clasped his hands. Then soldiers, who were hidden in recesses on either side of the hall, rushed out, but for some cause they could not bring themselves to strike the king. Theodoric himself stepped forward and raised his sword. " Where is God ? " cried Odovacar. " This didst thou to my friends," said Theodoric, and clave him from the collar-bone to the loin. Surprised at his own stroke, he exclaimed, " The wretch can have had no bones in his body ".]