When his own kinsmen,
Boethius and Symmachus, were put to death on a charge of treachery,
Maximus burned with hatred of the Goth. He regarded with disdain the
principles of Cassiodorus, who devoted his life to the Gothic cause,
and who held that only as an independent kingdom could there be hope
for Italy. Having for a moment the ear of Theodoric's daughter,
Amalasuntha, when she ruled for her son, Maximus urged her to yield
her kingdom to the Emperor, and all but saw his counsel acted upon.
After all, was not Cassiodorus right? Were not the senators who had
ceaselessly intrigued with Byzantium in truth traitors to Rome? It
was a bitter thought for the dying man that all his life he had not
only failed in service to his country, but had obstinately wrought
for her ruin.
Attendants placed food beside him. He mingled wine with water and
soothed a feverish thirst. His physician, an elderly man of Oriental
visage, moved respectfully to his side, greeted him as Illustrious,
inquired how his Magnificence had passed the latter part of the
night. Whilst replying, as ever courteously--for in the look and
bearing of Maximus there was that _senatorius decor_ which Pliny
noted in a great Roman of another time--his straining eyes seemed
to descry a sail in the quarter he continually watched.
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