Here, amid the decay of ancient splendour and the
luxuriance of the triumphing earth, King Totila made his momentary
abode; with him, in Hadrian's palace, housed the Gothic
warrior-nobles, and a number of ladies, their wives and relatives,
who made, as it were, a wandering court. Honour, pride, and cheerful
courage were the notable characteristics of these Gothic women. What
graces they had they owed to nature, not to any cultivation of the
mind. Their health Buffered in a nomadic life from the ills of the
country, the dangers of the climate, and the children by whom a few
were accompanied, showed a degeneracy of blood which threatened the
race with extinction.
Foremost in rank among them was Athalfrida, sister to the king, and
wife of a brawny lord named Osuin. Though not yet five and twenty
years old, Athalfrida had borne seven children, of whom five died in
babyhood. A creature of magnificent form, and in earlier life of
superb vigour, her paling cheek told of decline that had begun;
nevertheless her spirits were undaunted; and her voice, in gay talk,
in song or in laughter, sounded constantly about the halls and wild
gardens.
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