The Goths, from the earliest times to the end of the Gothic dominion in Spain . cretly also the agent of the wicked empressTheodora, managed to persuade his mistress thatAmalaswinthas death had been brought about by hisown contrivance, and was rewarded by her with highoffice in consequence. The correspondence betweenthe empress and Theodahads wife Gudelina containssome mysterious allusions, which have been supposedto show that these two women had conspired togetherto have Amalaswintha murdered. It is possibleenough : in that evil time there were few among thegreat ones of the earth who were fr
The Goths, from the earliest times to the end of the Gothic dominion in Spain . cretly also the agent of the wicked empressTheodora, managed to persuade his mistress thatAmalaswinthas death had been brought about by hisown contrivance, and was rewarded by her with highoffice in consequence. The correspondence betweenthe empress and Theodahads wife Gudelina containssome mysterious allusions, which have been supposedto show that these two women had conspired togetherto have Amalaswintha murdered. It is possibleenough : in that evil time there were few among thegreat ones of the earth who were free from hideoussuspicions, which were often certainties, of being con-cerned in plots for the assassination of their Justinian had himself no hand in procur-ing the queens death, yet no event could have beenmore fortunate for his schemes. It gave him, what hehad long desired, a good excuse for a war of conquestagainst the Goths. To profess himself the avenger ofthe murdered daughter of Theoderic was to assume acharacter which commanded sympathy not only from. yUSTINIAN RESOLVES ON WAR, 207 all the Romans of Italy, but even from many of theGoths themselves, who were still loyal to the memoryof their great hero, and were filled with loathfng forthe treachery and cowardice of Theodahad. Theweakness of Italy, divided into hostile parties, withits military system fallen into decay through years offeeble government, invited attack ; and the emperorwas conscious of the strength which he possessed, notso much in the numbers of his army as in the talc^ntsand energy of his general Belisarius, in himself ahost And so in the year 535, Justinian declared a warwhich he vowed should continue until the Gothic powerin Italy was annihilated. He kept his promise ; butthe struggle was harder and longer than he was not until twenty years had passed that thesword was sheathed, and Italy became a part of thedominions of the Eastern empire.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgoths, bookyear1887
