The Goths, from the earliest times to the end of the Gothic dominion in Spain . or Theoderics memory we maylearn from the dialogues of the famous pope, Gregory igo THEODERIC S EVIL DAYS, the Great, who tells how, at the moment of the hereticmonarchs death, a saintly hermit beheld in a visionhis soul drag^ged by the victims of his persecutions,and cast into the mouth of the volcano of Lipari. Here ends the story of Theoderic the Great. Toestimate his character aright we must look not atthose last sad three years, when, with a mindweakened by age and stung into fury by thetreachery of trusted fr
The Goths, from the earliest times to the end of the Gothic dominion in Spain . or Theoderics memory we maylearn from the dialogues of the famous pope, Gregory igo THEODERIC S EVIL DAYS, the Great, who tells how, at the moment of the hereticmonarchs death, a saintly hermit beheld in a visionhis soul drag^ged by the victims of his persecutions,and cast into the mouth of the volcano of Lipari. Here ends the story of Theoderic the Great. Toestimate his character aright we must look not atthose last sad three years, when, with a mindweakened by age and stung into fury by thetreachery of trusted friends, he stained by deeds ofcruelty and wrong the glory of a great career, butat the thirty years which he spent in unselfish labourfor the welfare of his people. If we so judge him,we shall surely assign to him a place among thenoblest men who ever wore a crown. Perhaps Alfredof England—different as the two were in many ways—is of all the kings known to history the one withwhom Theoderic may most fitly be compared ; andit would be hard to say which was the greater COINS OF THEODERIC. XX. A queens troubles. The Ostrogoths must have thought it a strangething that the kingdom over which the greatTheoderic had so long reigned should now begoverned by a woman in the name of a before had this nation of warriors humbleditself by submitting to female rule, and scarcely everhad it acknowledged an infant as its king. In theold days of freedom the custom had been, whenevertheir king died and left no heir old enough to leadthe army to battle or preside in the assembly, for thepeople to choose as his successor the ablest manamongst the kindred of the royal house. Althoughthere was no man living who could remember thosegood old times, the history of the nation was stillfamiliar through the popular songs ; and there werethose who talked of going back to the ancient rule,and placing the crown on the head of Thulwin,Theoderics most honoured general, and the husbandof an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgoths, bookyear1887
