80 Arnold
the origin of his rank are not stated in the dedication. But if not Ursus, some-
one still commanded this region on behalf of the Ravenna government. And
if not an independent dux along the model of Raetia, perhaps this individual
was the subordinate of an official elsewhere, as was the case in nearby Savia.
Regardless, the inhabitants of Noricum did receive orders from the
Ostrogothic king. The sole surviving example comes from around 507, when
these provincials were ordered to trade cattle with refugee Alamanni travelling
through the region.34 A threatening letter directed to the Frankish king Clovis
around the same time demonstrates that Theoderic had welcomed these
refugees into his territory following their annihilation by the Franks, while a
later source suggests that they were settled within the Alpine frontier, likely in
Raetia, Noricum, and possibly Savia.35 Ennodius also treated the event in his
panegyric, focusing on its ideological significance. Here Theoderic was cast in
the role of a Roman emperor and the Alamanni as new federates, former bar-
barians who would defend the empire from its aggressors. “How is it possible,”
he asked, “that you enclosed the multitude of Alamannia within the boundar-
ies of Italy without any damage to Roman possessions? Having always run riot
with their plundering of our lands, they have been transformed into guardians
of the Latin Empire.”36
Ennodius’ words, therefore, speak as much to the perceived Romanness of
‘Ostrogothic Italy’ as to the defensive value of Alpine lands like Noricum to it.
Beyond these notices, however, little more can be said about this province.
Pannonia Sirmiensis
While the details surrounding Theoderic’s expansion into Dalmatia-Savia
and Noricum are shadowy, those for Pannonia Sirmiensis are far clearer. The
region had fallen to the Gepids after the Goths’ own departure in 474, and rela-
tions with their king, Thraseric, grew strained by the opening years of the 6th
century. Fear of a Gepid offensive against neighbouring Savia might have pro-
voked Theoderic’s decision to invade, but in keeping with current ideologies of
Roman rule, Ennodius and others imagined the act as a deliberate attempt to
34 Variae 3.50.
35 Variae 2.41 and Agathias, Histories 1.6, trans. Frendo, pp. 14–15; also Heuberger, “Rätien”,
pp. 100–2; Wolfram, Goths, pp. 317–18; and Drinkwater, Alamanni, pp. 344–7.
36 Pan. 72: “Quid quod a te Alamanniae generalitas intra Italiae terminos sine detrimento
Romanae possessionis inclusa est?... Facta est Latiaris custos imperii semper nostrorum
populatione grassata.”