86 Arnold
To judge from the Italian evidence, there was little more desirable or worthy
of celebration at the time, and even long after the fact these achievements
remained a major source of pride that did much to legitimize Theoderic and
his successors. “Bravo, untiring celebrator of triumphs”, Cassiodorus declared
in a panegyric delivered in Theoderic’s honour. “While you fight, the tired limbs
of the Republic are revived and blessedness is returned to our age. We used to
only read in the annals that Gaul had once been Roman.”67 Around the same
time the illustrious senator Basilius Decius chose to “preserve the glory of so
great a lord” in a series of inscriptions erected along the Appian Way, referring
to Theoderic as “victor and celebrator of triumphs, always Augustus, born for
the good of the Republic, guardian of liberty, propagator of the Roman name,
and conqueror of the barbarians”, words that speak as much to the reception of
Theoderic as his transalpine victories.68 Theoderic, too, promoted his achieve-
ments in Gaul and Spain, believing that they were a source of great praise and
would “sow the fame of [his] name”.69 His commissioning of a series of triple
solidi, represented today by the Senigallia Medallion, likely celebrated these
victories (see Figure 14.4 in Chapter 14). These commemorative coins bore his
likeness standing in the act of adlocutio and holding a globe straddled by a
wreath- and palm-bearing victory, the latter enlarged and facing in the oppo-
site direction on the reverse. Roman victory and dominance on a grand scale
were implied by such iconography and reiterated through the inscriptions,
which described Theoderic as an “always most invincible princeps” and “con-
queror of barbarians”.70 Soon, a similar looking victory appeared on the coin-
age minted in Ostrogothic Gaul, probably at Narbonne.71
Nor was Theoderic the only representative of the Ostrogothic regime to be
celebrated for Gaul’s restoration. Upon returning to Italy in 509/11, for instance,
67 Orationum Reliquae, p. 466, ln. 14–19: “Macte, infatigabilis triumphator, quo pugnante
fessa rei publicae membra reparantur et ad saecula nostra antiqua beatitudo revertitur.
Galliam quondam fuisse Romanam solis tantum legebamus annalibus,” with Romano,
“Cassiodoro panegirista”, pp. 14–17.
68 Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 827, ed. Dessau: “Theodericus, victor ac triumfator, semper
Augustus, bono rei publicae natus, custos libertatis et propagator Romani nominis, domi-
tor gentium... ad perpetuandam tanti domini gloriam,” with Variae 2.32–33.
69 Variae 3.16.2: “quos nostris laudibus specialiter credimus adquisitos”, and 3.38: “ipsa initia
bene plantare debent nostri nominis famam”.
70 On the medallion’s date and significance: Grierson/Blackburn, Medieval European
Coinage 1, p. 35; Delaplace, “Guerre”, pp. 84–5; Arnold, Theoderic, pp. 111–13 and 273; and
idem, “Mustache”, pp. 152–5 and 182–3.
71 See Tomasini, Barbaric Tremissis, pp. 39–44; Grierson/Blackburn, Medieval European
Coinage 1, p. 48–49.