THEODORIC THE GOTH

n the following pages I haveendeavoured to portray the lifeand character of one of themost striking figures in the historyof the Early Middle Ages,Theodoric the Ostrogoth. The planof the series, for which this volumehas been prepared, does not admit ofminute discussion of the authorities onwhich the history rests. In my case theomission is of the less consequence, as I have treatedthe subject more fully in my larger work, "Italyand her Invaders", and as also the chief authoritiesare fully enumerated in that book which is or oughtto be in the library of every educated Englishmanand American, Gibbon's "History of the Declineand Fall of the Roman Empire".

The fifth and sixth centuries do not supply uswith many materials for pictorial illustrations, andI do not know where to look for authentic and contemporaryrepresentations of the civil or military lifeof Theodoric and his subjects. We have, however,a large and interesting store of nearly contemporaryworks of art at Ravenna, illustrating the ecclesiasticalvilife of the period, and of these the engraver hasmade considerable use. The statue of Theodoric atInnsbruck, a representation of which is included withthe illustrations, possesses, of course, no historicalvalue, but is interesting as showing how deeply thememory of Theodoric's great deeds had impresseditself on the mind of the Middle Ages.

And here I will venture on a word of personalreminiscence. The figure of Theodoric the Ostrogothhas been an interesting and attractive one to mefrom the days of my boyhood. I well rememberwalking with a friend on a little hill (then silent andlonely, now covered with houses), looking down onLondon, and discussing European politics with theearnest interest

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