Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.

Part II.

Among the Barbarians of the West, the victory of Theodoric
had spread a general alarm. But as soon as it appeared that he
was satisfied with conquest and desirous of peace, terror was
changed into respect, and they submitted to a powerful mediation,
which was uniformly employed for the best purposes of reconciling
their quarrels and civilizing their manners. ^33 The ambassadors
who resorted to Ravenna from the most distant countries of
Europe, admired his wisdom, magnificence, ^34 and courtesy; and
if he sometimes accepted either slaves or arms, white horses or
strange animals, the gift of a sun-dial, a water-clock, or a
musician, admonished even the princes of Gaul of the superior art
and industry of his Italian subjects. His domestic alliances, ^35
a wife, two daughters, a sister, and a niece, united the family
of Theodoric with the kings of the Franks, the Burgundians, the
Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Thuringians, and contributed to
maintain the harmony, or at least the balance, of the great
republic of the West. ^36 It is difficult in the dark forests of
Germany and Poland to pursue the emigrations of the Heruli, a
fierce people who disdained the use of armor, and who condemned
their widows and aged parents not to survive the loss of their
husbands, or the decay of their strength. ^37 The king of these
savage warriors solicited the friendship of Theodoric, and was
elevated to the rank of his son, according to the barbaric rites
of a military adoption. ^38 From the shores of the Baltic, the
Aestians or Livonians laid their offerings of native amber ^39 at