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 chap, xxxix] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 207 the fields, was expressive of the conscious security of the inhabitants. 87 A difference of religion is always pernicious and often fatal Theoaoric . -I r~ i • an Arian to the harmony of the prince and people ; the Gothic con- queror had been educated in the profession of Arianism, and Italy was devoutly attached to the Nicene faith. But the persuasion of Theodoric was not infected by zeal, and he piously adhered to the heresy of his fathers, without conde- scending to balance the subtile arguments of theological meta- physics. Satisfied with the private toleration of his Arian sectaries, he justly conceived himself to be the guardian of the public worship, and his external reverence for a superstition which he despised may have nourished in his mind the salutary indifference of a statesman or philosopher. The Catholics of His toiera- his dominions acknowledged, perhaps with reluctance, the peace catholics of the church ; their clergy, according to the degrees of rank or merit, were honourably entertained in the palace of Theodoric ; he esteemed the living sanctity of Cresarius 88 and Epiphanius, 89 the orthodox bishops of Aries and Pavia ; and presented a decent offering on the tomb of St. Peter, without any scrupu- lous inquiry into the creed of the apostle. 90 His favourite Goths, and even his mother, were permitted to retain or embrace the Athanasian faith, and his long reign could not afford the ex- ample of an Italian Catholic who either from choice or compul- sion had deviated into the religion of the conqueror. 91 The people, and the Barbarians themselves, were edified by the 87 See the life of St. Csesarius in Baronius (a.d. 508, No. 12, 13, 14). The king presented him with 300 gold solidi, and a discus of silver of the weight of sixty pounds. 88 Ennodius in Vit. St. Epiphanii, in Sirmond Op. torn. i. p. 1672-1690. Theo- doric bestowed some important favours on this bishop, whom he used as a counsellor in peace and war. 89 Devotissimus ac si Catholicus (Anonym. Vales, p. 720) ; yet his offering was no more than two silver candlesticks (cerostrata) of the weight of seventy pounds, far inferior to the gold and gems of Constantinople and France (Anastasius in Vit. Pont, in Hormisda, p. 34, edit. Paris). 90 The tolerating system of his reign (Ennodius, p. 1612, Anonym. Vales, p. 719. Procop. Goth. 1. i. c. 1 ; 1. ii. c. 6) may be studied in the Epistles of Cassio- dorius, under the following heads : bislwps (Var. i. 9 ; viii. 15, 24 ; xi. 23) ; im- munities (i. 26 ; ii. 29, 30) ; church lands (iv. 17, 20) ; sanctuaries (ii. 11 ; iii. 47) ; church plate (xii. 20) ; discipline (iv. 44) ; which prove at the same time that he was the head of the church as well as of the state. 91 We may reject a foolish tale of his beheading a Catholic deacon who turned Arian (Theodor. Lector, No. 17). Why is Theodoric surnamed Afer ? From Vafer (Vales, ad loc). A light conjecture.