Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1055

Rh THEODORICUS. outrage, Theodoric made formidable preparations for an invasion of Africa ; and the Romans, who always encouraged the discords of the barbarians, readily offered to supply him with men and arms. But Genseric averted the threatening danger by persuading Attila to attack both the Romans and the Goths. With an enormous army composed of various nations, Attila crossed the Rhine at Stras- burg, and marched into Gaul. Aetius collected a powerful force to oppose him, and Theodoric, at the head of his Visigoths, and accompanied by his two sons Thorismond and Theodoric, joined the Roman general. On the approach of Aetius, Attila, who had laid siege to Orleans, retreated to the plains of Champagne. Aetius followed close upon his rear. The hostile armies at length met in the neighbour- hood of Chalons on the Marne, and in a short but most bloody engagement, Attila was defeated with great loss. The victory was mainly owing to the courage of the Visigoths and of the youthful Thorismond ; but their king Theodoric fell at the commencement of the engagement, as he was riding along the ranks to animate his troops (a. d. 451). He was succeeded by his son Thorismond. Theo- doric was a wise and prudent monarch ; and by his courage in war, and his just administration at home, lie earned the love of his subjects and the respect of his enemies. He introduced among his subjects a love of Latin literature, and his sons were care- fully trained in the study of the writers and the jurisprudence of Rome. (Jornandes, de Reb. Get. 34,36 — 41 ; Sidon. Apoll. Panegyricus Avito ; the Chronicles of Idatius and the two Prospers; Gibbon, Decline and Fall^ c. xxxv. ; Tilleraont, Histoire des Empcreurs, vol. vi.) THEODORICUS or THEODERICUS II., king of the Visigoths x. D. 452 — 466, was the second son of Theodoric I. He was present with his father at the battle of Chalons in 451,. and succeeded to the throne by the murder of his brother Thorismond at the close of the following year (452). [Thorismond.] In a. d. 455 Avitus, who had been well acquainted with the elder Theodoric, was sent as ambassador to the court of Toulouse, to renew the alliance between the Visigoths and the Romans. While staying with Theodoric, he received intelligence of the death of Maximus, and of the sack of Rome by the Vandals. His royal host pressed him to mount the vacant throne, and promised him his powerful assistance. Avitus could not resist the temptation, and the senate was obliged to receive a master from the king of the Visigoths. Theodoric soon showed ■that he was an able and willing ally of the emperor whom he had placed upon the throne. The Suevi, who had settled in Gallicia in Spain, threatened to extinguish the last remains of Roman independence in that country. The inhabitants of Carthagena and Tarragona implored the assistance of Avitus ; and when Rechiarius, the king of the Suevi, refused to listen to the proposals of peace and alliance which were made by the emperor, Theodoric, at the head of a formidable army, crossed the Pyrenees. This expedition was followed with the most com- plete success. The Suevi were defeated with great slaughter about twelve miles from Astorga, their capital Braga fell into the hands of Theodoric, and their unfortunate monarch, who had attempted to escape, was taken prisoner and put to death. These events happened towards the close of 456. Theodoric now carried his victorious arms into THEODORICUS. 1043 Lusitania, and took Merida the capital of the country. But early in the following year (457), before he had time to provide for the security of his conquests, he was obliged to return in haste to his own dominions, probably fearing evil conse- quences from the fall of Avitus. [Avitus.] A1- though Theodoric had professed to invade Spain as the servant of Avitus, he had made a secret stipu- lation that all the conquests he effected should belong to himself. He was therefore unwilling to relinquish the advantages he had already gained in that country; and accordingly we find that he sent an army into Spain in 458, under the command of Cyrila, and again in the following year (459) fresh troops under Suniericus. In the course of the latter year he had a more formidable enemy to cope with; for the emperor Maj or ian marched into Gaul, defeated Theodoric in battle, and concluded a peace with him. The death of Majorian in 461, and the conquests of the Vandals in Italy released Theodoric from all fear ; he violated his recent treaty with the Romans, and appears to have designed to make himself master of the whole of the Roman dominions in Gaul. He succeeded in uniting the territory of Narbonne to his own ; but his victorious career was checked by the defeat and death of his brother Frederic, who was slain in battle near Orleans by Aegidius, the Roman com- mander in Gaul. A great part of Spain apparently owned the authority of Theodoric ; but the Chro- nicles merely tell us of embassies that constantly passed bet ween the king of the Visigoths and the king of the Suevi, and give us little or no information of the relative power of the two parties. Theodoric lost his crown by the same crime by which he had gained it. He was assassinated in 466 by his brother Euric, who succeeded him on the throne. Theodoric II. was, like his father, a patron of letters and learned men ; and the poet Sidonius Apollinaris, who resided for some time at his court, has given us an interesting account, in a letter to a friend {Ep. i. 2), of the personal appearance, manners and habits, of the king of the Visigoths. (Jornandes, de Reb. Get. 43, 44 ; Sidon. Apoll. Panegyr. Avito ; the Chronicles of Idatius, Marius, and Victor ; Greg.Tur. ii. 11; TiWemont, Histoire des Empet<eurs, vol. vi.) THEODORICUS or THEODERICUS (0eu- SepiXos), surnamed the GREAT, king of the Ostrogoths, was the son of Theodemir by his fa- vourite concubine Eralieva. He was born in the neighbourhood of Vienna in A. d. 455, two years after the death of Attila. His father, and his fa- ther's brothers, Walamir and Widimir, had secured the independence of the Ostrogoths by the defeat of the Huns, and ruled their people as the acknow- ledged descendants of the royal race of the Amali. In the eighth year of his age Theodoric was sent as a hostage to the emperor Leo, who had pur- chased the assistance of the Ostrogoths by an an- nual subsidy. Theodoric received his education at Constantinople, and was restored to his father in 473, when he had reached the age of eighteen, as the emperor hoped to gain the favour of the Os- trogoths by this mark of confidence. During his absence Theodemir had become sole ruler of the nation, since Walamir had fallen in battle, and Widimir, the younger of the brothers, had marched into Italy and Gaul at the head of an army of barbarians. Theodoric had been carefully trained at Constantinople in all martial exercises, and had 3x2