bonificamenti delle terre Pontine, p. 103. In Sartorius, in his
prize essay on the reign of Theodoric, and Manse Beylage, xi. -
M.]

[Footnote 75: LX modii tritici in solidum ipsius tempore fuerunt,
et vinum xxx amphoras in solidum, (Fragment. Vales.) Corn was
distributed from the granaries at xv or xxv modii for a piece of
gold, and the price was still moderate.]

A difference of religion is always pernicious, and often
fatal, to the harmony of the prince and people: the Gothic
conqueror 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 condescending to
balance the subtile arguments of theological metaphysics.
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
dominions acknowledged, perhaps with reluctance, the peace of the
church; their clergy, according to the degrees of rank or merit,
were honorably entertained in the palace of Theodoric; he
esteemed the living sanctity of Caesarius ^76 and Epiphanius, ^77
the orthodox bishops of Arles and Pavia; and presented a decent
offering on the tomb of St. Peter, without any scrupulous inquiry
into the creed of the apostle. ^78 His favorite Goths, and even
his mother, were permitted to retain or embrace the Athanasian
faith, and his long reign could not afford the example of an