He was succeeded by his grandson Athalaric, under the guardianship of his mother Amalasuntha, a woman of ta lents and virtue, who was desirous that her son should en joy the advantages of a literary education : hut in this wish she was thwarted by the prejudices of her Gothic counsel lors, and the young prince, left to himself, became profligate and debauched. The prosperity of the state began in con sequence to decline, and the dissatisfaction of the Italians with the government began to excite in the breast of the Emperor Justinian the hope of again regaining possession of the ancient seat of the Roman empire.
The excesses of Athalaric having injured his constitu tion, the succession to the throne, in the event of his de cease, was contested between his mother Atnalasuntha, and Theodotus, the nephew of Theodoric ; both of whom dis trusting their own powers. secretly applied for the assist ance of Justinian. In order to secure this, Theodotus even promised to give up to the emperor the province of Tusca ny, in which he was posssessed of extensive estates. On the death of Athalaric, however, the Gothic nation associ ated Theodotus with Amalasuntha in the sovereignty, but the former contrived to make the situation of the Queen so uncomfortable, that she was on the point of leaving Italy and seeking an asylum at Constantinople, when she was mur dered by order of Theodotus, who is said to have been in stigated to this crime by the empress Theodora, who dread ed the influence of Amalasuntha's charms and accomplish ments on the heart of Justinian. This atrocious action rendered Theodotus detestable in the eyes of his subjects, and afforded the Grecian emperor an additional pretext for the invasion of Italy. Alarmed by his preparations, the Gothic prince hastened to make submissions, and declared himself willing to become the vassal of the empire, and even promised to the Grecian ambassador to resign the kingdom, on condition of receiving an annual allowance. But these promises he soon retracted, on hearing of a de feat of the imperial forces in Dalmatia ; and the troops of Justinian, under the command of Belisarius, landed in Ita ly, took the city of Naples by assault, and having with a vet y small body of men defeated the Gothic army, entered Rome, deposed the worthless Theodotus, and shortly after put him to death. The Goths elected as his successor Vi tiges, an officer of distinguished valour, who married the niece of Theodoric, and under whose command they at tempted to recover Rome, but were repulsed, and their new king obliged to take refuge in Ravenna, in which he was closely besieged by Belisarius. In the mean time, Theodebert, king of the Franks, entered Italy with a consi derable army, hut without joining any party, and at first at tacking both Greeks and Goths. On perceiving the dis
tressed state of the latter, however, he offered his assist ance to Vitiges, on condition of his ceding to him one half of the kingdom of Italy. On this Belisarius redoubled his efforts to take Ravenna, and having succeeded by the trea chery of some of the inhabitants, took Vitiges prisoner. lint this great general being shortly after, by court in trigues, recalled to Constantinople, the Grecian interests in Italy began to languish, and the Goths, having chosen as a successor to Vitiges, Totila, a prince no less distinguish ed for his political than his military talents, soon recovered their former ascendancy. Alarmed at their victories, Jus tinian again sent Belisarius into Italy, but with an army by no means adequate for the service. The result was, as might have been expected : the Grecian army, feeble in itself, and led on by a general who distrusted it, and de sponded of success, was unable to make any effective op position to the victorious Totila ; and although Belisarius recovered the city of Rome, almost all the rest of Italy again fell under the dominion of the Goths. In this situa tion of affairs, Belisarius was again recalled, and the ma chinations of his enemies succeeded in banishing him from the court. (See liEusaaius.) The management of the Gothic war was committed to Narses, one of the eunuchs of the palace, whose vigorous understanding and enterpriz ing genius had already raised him to important situations in the court of Justinian. Aware, however, of the causes of the failure of the last expedition, Narses would not ac cept of the command without an army and resources suffi cient for the enterprize. In obtaining these, he succeeded; and led to Italy not only the flower of the Grecian army, hut an immense number of young noblemen in the charac ter of volunteers, who were desirous of making court to the Emperor, by serving their first campaign under his fa vourite. The most complete success attended the arms of Narses, for, notwithstanding the most valiant and obsti nate resistance of Totila, he was defeated and slain ; and the same fate having overtaken his successor Teia, the great body of the Goths surrendered to the Imperial army, and Italy was again, for a short time, re-annexed as a pro vince to the empire. Narses continued for 14 years to go vern Italy with wisdom equal to the bravery with which he had conquered it ; but, on the death of Justinian, he was re called from his situation by the Emperor Justin II., or ra ther by the Empress Sophia, who governed her husband and the empire ; and only survived his master two years.