84 Arnold
and inadvertently attacking the Byzantine city of Gratiana in the process.56
Once more, the act of aggression raised alarms in Constantinople, heightening
tensions and leading to many acts of diplomacy.57 Yet back in Rome the events
were commemorated in a short panegyric, which praised Athalaric’s regent and
mother, Amalasuentha. Nearly a century prior, the western empress and regent
for Valentinian III, Galla Placidia, had ceded Illyricum to the East, “a division
lamentable to the provinces”. But now it was Amalasuentha who “made the
Danube Roman again, contrary to the wishes of the [eastern] princeps”.58 Later,
a panegyric of Cassiodorus’ eulogized Witigis’ own valiant achievements along
the Danube in epic fashion, while Witigis himself (along with some eastern
Romans) cited these campaigns as the principal rationale for his selection as
king in a time of war.59 “I was chosen in wide open fields... sought after by
blaring trumpets, so that the Getic people of Mars might discover for them-
selves a [real] king.”60
Gaul and Spain
Ostrogothic expansion into Gaul, and with it Spain, is far better evidenced
than any of the provinces discussed thus far and was the consequence of
Theoderic’s failed diplomacy combined with the intrigues of the eastern
Roman court.61 Despite his best efforts, war came suddenly in 507 and with
disastrous results. The neighbouring Visigoths, who were Theoderic’s long-
standing allies, were crushed at the battle of Vouillé and their kingdom began
to disintegrate;62 worse still, Theoderic himself was unable to intervene, caught
off guard by Byzantine and Burgundian raiders, who harassed his kingdom in
56 For reconstructions: Stein, Bas-Empire 2, pp. 307–8; Wozniak, “Illyricum”, pp. 377–9;
Wolfram, Goths, p. 335 and 343; and Sarantis, “War and Diplomacy”, pp. 21–3.
57 See Cassiodorus, Variae 11.1.11, and Procopius, Wars 5.3.15–21, ed. Dewing.
58 Variae 11.1.9–10: “amissione Illyrici... factaque est coniunctio regnantis divisio dolenda
provinciis.... Sub hac autem domina... contra Orientis principis votum Romanum fecit
esse Danuvium,” with Arnold, Theoderic, pp. 48–51 and 300.
59 See Cassiodorus, Orationum reliquiae, ed. Traube, pp. 473–6; Variae 10.31; and Procopius,
Wars 5.11.5.
60 Variae 10.31.2: “in campis late patentibus electum me esse noveritis... tubis concrepanti-
bus sum quaesitus, ut... regem sibi Martium Geticus populus inveniret.”
61 See Arnold, “Vouillé,” pp. 119–25; idem, Theoderic, pp. 262–8; Ensslin, Theoderic, pp. 139–
42; and Meier, Anastasios, pp. 226–30.
62 On the event: Mathisen/Shanzer (eds.), Vouillé.