ODOACER, FIRST KING OF ITALY.
A. D. 476.

THE Roman empire of the west, which had been so long declining, was finally extinguished in the year 476; and Odoaçer, a barbarian commander in the pay of Rome, was raised to the throne, under the title of King of Italy. Odoaçer was not unworthy of the dignity which he had attained he ruled with firmness and moderation, reverenced the established laws and religion, and kept in awe the barbarians who hovered on the frontiers. Italy had no just cause to repent the extinction of that long line of emperors, who, with few exceptions, had been deserving only of hatred or contempt. The state of the country was very miserable: plains that had once been covered with waving corn, and adorned with populous villages, were now barren, uninhabited wastes; blackened ruins showed where cities had been destroyed by invaders; large marshes on the undrained land rendered the air unwholesome; and hordes of wolves, fattened on fields of battle, and unmolested by the remnant of peasantry, roamed through the forests, and often approached the unprotected villages.

If the outward face of the country was thus injured, her inhabitants had become equally de

graded; yet from this time a new and nobler spirit was infused into Italy. The barbarian soldiers of Odoaçer had insisted on having a third part of the lands of Italy divided among them, which he dared not refuse. Thus a race of hardy and industrious men became naturalized, whose descendants, unacquainted with the luxury of the Romans, though calling themselves by their name, distinguished themselves as brave and free-spirited patriots.

Odoaçer had reigned only fourteen years, when he was driven from the throne by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. For thirty-three years Theodoric ruled Italy with moderation and justice. After his death, Italy became again the scene of contention. For a short time, the emperors of the east obtained command over it, which they placed in the hands of governors called exarchs, who held their court at Ravenna. At length, the exarchs were driven out by the Lombards, a people of Germany, under the command of Alboin, who founded a kingdom in the north of Italy, which thence took the name of Lombardy.

Here the history of modern Italy may fairly be said to commence. The preceding chapters have been tiresome, but necessary; as we often have to wade through mud and mire to arrive at a pleasant walk, which seems more agreeable from the

contrast.

ODOACER, FIRST KING OF ITALY.
A. D. 476.

THE Roman empire of the west, which had been so long declining, was finally extinguished in the year 476; and Odoaçer, a barbarian commander in the pay of Rome, was raised to the throne, under the title of King of Italy. Odoaçer was not unworthy of the dignity which he had attained: he ruled with firmness and moderation, reverenced the established laws and religion, and kept in awe the barbarians who hovered on the frontiers. Italy had no just cause to repent the extinction of that long line of emperors, who, with few exceptions, had been deserving only of hatred or contempt. The state of the country was very miserable: plains that had once been covered with waving corn, and adorned with populous villages, were now barren, uninhabited wastes; blackened ruins showed where cities had been destroyed by invaders; large marshes on the undrained land rendered the air unwholesome; and hordes of wolves, fattened on fields of battle, and unmolested by the remnant of peasantry, roamed through the forests, and often approached the unprotected villages.

If the outward face of the country was thus injured, her inhabitants had become equally de

graded; yet from this time a new and nobler spirit was infused into Italy. The barbarian soldiers of Odoaçer had insisted on having a third part of the lands of Italy divided among them, which he dared not refuse. Thus a race of hardy and industrious men became naturalized, whose descendants, unacquainted with the luxury of the Romans, though calling themselves by their name, distinguished themselves as brave and free-spirited patriots.

Odoaçer had reigned only fourteen years, when he was driven from the throne by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. For thirty-three years Theodoric ruled Italy with moderation and justice. After his death, Italy became again the scene of contention. For a short time, the emperors of the east obtained command over it, which they placed in the hands of governors called exarchs, who held their court at Ravenna. At length, the exarchs were driven out by the Lombards, a people of Germany, under the command of Alboin, who founded a kingdom in the north of Italy, which thence took the name of Lombardy.

Here the history of modern Italy may fairly be said to commence. The preceding chapters have been tiresome, but necessary; as we often have to wade through mud and mire to arrive at a pleasant walk, which seems more agreeable from the

contrast.

LOMBARDY.

THE CONQUEST OF ALBOIN.

A. D. 568.

ALBOIN, afterwards monarch of Lombardy, was the son of the King of Pannonia.

One day, as he stood behind his father's chair at dinner, he said, "Father, is it not hard that I, who am heir to thy dominions, have approved myself a worthy soldier, and have slain the prince of the Gepidæ, may not sit with thee at meat?"? "Son," returned the old king, gravely, “thou art not ignorant of the wise customs of our ancestors : no prince is qualified to sit at his father's table, until he has been solemnly invested with arms by a foreign sovereign."

Prince Alboin said no more, but quitted the dining-hall, accoutred himself in armour, summoned forty of his young warriors, and rode off with them to the court of Turisund, King of the Gepida. This was the father of the prince whom Alboin had slain in battle; it might therefore be thought that he would not be the person most willing to perform the knightly office required. Nevertheless, according to the rules of chivalrywhen Alboin entered Turisund's hall, and said.