Ostrogothic Provinces 77
death is procured for our enemies”.15 These instructions reveal not only the
military importance of the region but also its economic value. Dalmatia was
a source of raw materials, like iron, which might be turned into weapons in
state-owned factories or, as Theoderic claimed, be manufactured into tools,
such as ploughs.16 Other goods produced at this time may have included salt
and fish, which would have been consumed at home or traded abroad, and
the presence of a mint at Siscia and coin finds along the coast point to the
importance of trade and exchange in the region.17 Indeed, beyond looking into
mining operations, Simeon himself was enjoined by Theoderic to review the
siliquaticum tax owed by Dalmatia for the past three indictions and to correct
any abuses, a task that speaks again to the economic value of the province.
Theoderic hoped to “acquire monetary gain” from the audit and to “arrest the
behavior of [wicked] subjects”.18
This desire for peace and profits was also expressed to officials stationed
in Savia and reiterated to their subjects. Fridibad, for instance, who seems
to have been a subordinate of Osuin, was introduced to the population of
Siscia and Savia in 507/11 and was supposed to establish law and order in
the region by punishing animal rustlers, reducing homicides, and condemn-
ing thefts.19 “Live peacefully,” Theoderic told his subjects, “live governed by
good customs... He who commits depraved acts should be exposed to our
vengeance.”20 Lawlessness, as in the past, was seen as a condition of barbarism
and not in keeping with Roman rule. And while such behaviour was not a new
phenomenon, the Ostrogothic regime claimed that it kept it in check both at
home and abroad as part of its programme of just and recognizably Roman
governance; civilitas, the rule of law, had to be maintained.21 Severinus, who
15 Variae 3.25.2: “Hinc auxiliante deo patriae defensio venit.... per quam et nobis generan-
tur lucra et hostibus procurantur exitia.”
16 For tools: Variae 3.25.2; state-owned factories: Variae 7.18–19; factories at Salona: Wilkes,
Dalmatia, p. 424, and Wozniak, “Illyricum”, p. 367.
17 See Wilkes, Dalmatia, p. 425; for coin-finds: Demo, Ostrogothic Coinage, p. 168–9, and Kos,
“Numismatic Evidence”, p. 113.
18 Variae 3.25.1: “quia non tantum lucra quaerimus, quantum mores subiectorum deprehen-
dere festinamus”.
19 Variae 4.49, with Wolfram, Goths, p. 320 and 518 n. 426, and Amory, People and Identity,
pp. 375–6.
20 Variae 4.49.1: “Vivite compositi, vivite bonis moribus instituti... Necesse est vindictae
subiaceat qui pravis moribus obsecundat.”
21 See Arnold, Theoderic, pp. 126–32; also Heydemann in this volume. Whether the regime
was successful is another matter altogether. Cf. Castritius, “Korruption”, and Lafferty, Law
and Society, pp. 154–5.