THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 228
Odovacar, the First King of Italy
15-2. Odovacar, the First King of Italy
Romulus who had hidden himself and cast off the fatal purple was brought before him. Odovacar taking pity on his youth and moved by his beauty consented to spare his life. He moreover granted him a revenue of 6000 gold solidi and assigned him as his residence the Lucullanum, a villa in Campania near Cape Misenum which had been built by Marius and decorated by Lucullus.
In succession to three Emperors of the West who still survived - - Glycerins and Nepos in Dalmatia and Romulus in Campania — Odovacar, styled by Jordanes King of the Rugians, by the Anonymus Valcsii King of the Turcilingi, and by other authorities Prince of the Sciri, now wielded supreme power.
At this point certain questions arise as to the nature of the authority which he exercised and to his relations with Byzantium and the established powers in Italy. The documents which supply an answer are scanty. The passages devoted to Odovacar give no details except such as relate to the beginning and end of his reign; it is plain too, that the Latin writers of the time were more intent on pleasing Theodoric than on recording the facts of history.
Cassiodorus has been careful to point out that Odovacar refused altogether to assume the imperial insignia and the purple robe and was content with the title of king. These events took place when Basilicus having driven Zeno from power was reigning as Emperor of the East, that is, at a moment of dynastic trouble in the other half of the Empire. The possession of Ravenna, the exile of Romulus, and the death of Orestes did not suffice to secure to Odovacar the lordship of Italy; it was only after his formal entry into Rome and his tacit recognition by the Senate, that he could look upon his authority as finally established.
He was not however satisfied with this, but desired a formal appointment by the Emperor and the recognition of his authority by Constantinople. A palace conspiracy which broke out in 477 having replaced Zeno on the throne of Byzantium, the ex-sovereign Romulus Augustulus, in spite of the fact that never having been formally recognised by the Emperor, he had no legal claim to take such a step, sent certain Senators as an embassy to Zeno. The representatives of the Senate were instructed to inform the Emperor that Italy had no need of a separate ruler and that the autocrat of the two divisions of the Empire sufficed as Emperor for both, that Odovacar moreover, in virtue of his political capacity and military strength, was fully competent to protect the interests of the Italian diocese, and under these circumstances they prayed that Zeno would recognise the high qualities of Odovacar by conferring on him the title of Patrician and by entrusting him with the government of Italy.
The Emperor's reply was truly diplomatic. After severely censuring the Senate for the culpable indifference they had shewn with respect to the murder of Anthemius and the expulsion of Nepos, two sovereigns who had been sent by the East to rule in Italy, he declared to the ambassadors that it was their business to decide on the course to be pursued. Certain members of the legation represented more especially the interests of Odovacar, and to them the Emperor declared that he fully approved of the conduct of the barbarian in adopting Roman manners, and that he would forthwith bestow on him the well-merited title of Patrician if Nepos had not already done so, and he gave them a letter for Odovacar in which he granted him the dignity in question. Zeno in short had to recognise the fait accompli, the more so as the ambassadors from Rome to Byzantium had there found themselves in the presence of another mission sent from Dalmatia by Nepos to beg for the deposed sovereign the assistance of the newly restored Emperor.
He however could only condole with him on his lot and point out its similarity to that from which he himself had just escaped.
There is yet another proof of the tacit recognition of Odovacar's authority. In 480 Nepos was assassinated by the Counts Victor and Ovida and in 481, as if he had been the legitimate heir of a predecessor whose death it was his duty to avenge, Odovacar led an expedition against the murderers, defeated and slew Ovida and restored Dalmatia to the Italian diocese. More than this, Odovacar looked upon himself as the formally appointed representative of Zeno, for at the time of the revolt of Ulus, he refused to aid the latter, who had applied to him as well as to the kings of Persia and Armenia for assistance against the Emperor. He had already exercised sovereign power in the cession of Narbonne to the Visigoths of Euric and in the conclusion of a treaty with Gaiseric in 477, by the terms of which the king of the Vandals restored Sicily to the Italians, subject to the payment of a tribute and retaining possession of a castle which he had built in the island.
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