4. King Theodahad to the Senate of the City of Rome.

The same subject.

'We announce to you, Conscript Fathers, the Divine favour which has been manifested unto us, in that our sovereign Lady[636], who is renowned throughout the whole world, has with generous affection made me partaker of her throne, so that she may not lack loyal support and I may be fittingly clothed with the purple of my ancestors.

'I know that this elevation of mine was the object of the wishes of the community. Your whispers in my favour might have been a source of danger, but now your openly expressed acclamations are my proudest boast. You wished that God should bestow upon me this honour, to which I for my part should not have ventured to aspire. But if I have, as I trust I have, any influence with you, let me prevail upon you to join with me in perpetually hymning the glorious praises of our Lady and Sister. She has wished to strengthen the greatness of our Empire by associating me therein, even as the two eyes of a man harmoniously co-operate towards a single act of vision. Divine grace joins us together: our near relationship cements our friendship. Persons of diverse character may find it an arduous matter thus to work in common; but, to those who resemble one another in the goodness of their intentions, the difficulty would rather be not to work in harmony. The man devoid of forethought may fear the changing of his purposes; but he who is really great in wisdom eagerly seeks wisdom in another.

'But of all the gifts which with this regal dignity the Divine favour has bestowed upon me, none pleases me more than the fact that I should have been thus chosen by that wisest Lady who is herself a moral balance of the utmost delicacy, and who made me first feel her justice before advancing me to this high dignity. For, as you know, she ordained that I should plead my cause against private persons in the common judgment-hall[637]. Oh wonderful nobility of her mind! Oh admirable justice, which the world may well tell of! She hesitated not first to subject her own relation to the course of public justice, even him whom, a little after, she would raise above the laws themselves. She thoroughly searched the conscience of him to whom she was about to hand over the dignity of kingship, that she might be recognised as sovereign Lady of all, and that I, when tested, might be advanced by her to the throne.

Praises of Amalasuentha.

'When shall I be able to repay her for all these favours: her who, having reigned alone during the minority of her son, now chooses me as the partner of her realm? In her is the glory of all kingdoms, the flower of all our family. All our splendour is derived from her, and she reflects a lustre not only on our ancestors, but on the whole human race. Her dutiful affection, her weight of character, who can set forth? The philosophers would learn new lessons if they knew her, and would acknowledge that their books fail to describe all her attributes. Acute she is in her powers of reasoning; but with royal taciturnity she knows how to veil her conclusions in secrecy. She is mistress of many languages; and her intellect, if suddenly tested, is found so ready for the trial that it scarcely seems like that of a mortal. In the Books of Kings the Queen of the South is said to have come to learn the wisdom of Solomon: but here a woman speaks, and Sovereigns listen to her with admiration. Infinite depths of meaning are fathomed by her in few words, and she, with utmost ease, expresses what others can only after long deliberation embody in language[638].

'Happy the commonwealth which boasts the guidance of such a mistress. It was not enough that already liberty and convenience were combined for the multitude[639]: her merits have secured the fitting reverence for the person of the Sovereign. In obeying her we obey all the virtues. I, too, with such a counsellor, fear not the weight of the crown; and I know that whatever is strange to me in my new duties I shall learn from her as the safest of teachers.

'Acknowledge, noble Sirs, that all my power of increased usefulness to the State comes from this our most wise Lady, from whom I may either gain wisdom by asking questions, or virtue by following her example.

'Live happily: live in harmony by God's help, and emulate that grace of concord which you see prevailing between your Sovereigns.'