82 Arnold
Despite the concession, the Sirmian campaign was still celebrated at the
time and continued to be important long after the fact. “Roman powers”,
Ennodius exclaimed, “return to their former limits”, while Theoderic, like a
good Roman emperor, “dictated instructions to the inhabitants of Sirmium in
the custom of our ancestors”.45 The coins that were soon minted in this city
echoed such sentiments, associating Theoderic’s monogram with an uncon-
quered Rome.46 Other individuals, both Goths and Romans, were eulogized
for their actual roles in the war. Pitzia, for instance, “was worthy to be honored
forever”, according to Ennodius.47 Nearly two decades later, the noble Goth
Tuluin was praised before the Senate for having given “death to the Bulgars,
terrible to the whole world” in an early test of his martial prowess.48 Likewise,
the senator Cyprian was remembered as a “warrior” on the “then barbarous
Danube”. “The throng of Bulgars did not terrify you”, he was told by Athalaric,
and “it was exceptional that you attacked the resisting barbarians and pursued
them as they fled in terror.”49
The evidence for the reconquest of Pannonia Sirmiensis and its ideological
meaning, both in the short and long term, is thus comparatively rich. However,
the history of its administration following the Sirmian War is much less com-
plete. Indeed only three letters in the Variae deal specifically with this province,
with two additional letters likely referring to some of its Gepid inhabitants, who
served in the Ostrogothic army and were later redeployed to Gaul.50 The three
letters in question demonstrate that this province, like Dalmatia-Savia, was
placed under the command of single military comes of illustrious rank, who
was based in the city of Sirmium. When exactly this comitiva was established
is not certain, but beginning in 507/11 it was held by Colosseus, whose length
of tenure is unknown. His ethnicity is likewise a matter of some debate, given
his Latin name and military/Gothic office;51 but whatever his background, he
was imagined as the chief source of law, order, and defence in this dangerous
45 Pan. 69: “ad limitem suum Romana regna remearunt: dictas more veterum praecepta
Sermiensibus.”
46 Demo, Ostrogothic Coinage, pp. 136–8, 140–1.
47 Pan. 68: “celebrandus saeculis Pitzia”.
48 Variae 8.10.4: “emeritam laudem primis congressibus auspicatus neci dedit Bulgares toto
orbe terribiles.”
49 Variae 8.21.3: “Vidit te adhuc gentilis Danuvius bellatorem: non te terruit Bulgarum glo-
bus... Peculiare tibi fuit et renitentes barbaros aggredi et conversos terrore sectari.”
50 For Gepids: Variae 5.10–11, with Sirago, “Ostrogoti”, pp. 72–4.
51 Cf. Wolfram, Goths, p. 321; Amory, People and Identity, p. 368–9; Lafferty, Law and Society,
p. 103.