of lingua franca among peoples of East Germanic stock—the circulation of the Wulfila Bible may also testify in this direction.35 Though Greek was no longer widely known in the West (Theodahad himself does not seem to have known Greek, despite his education in Platonic philosophy),36 it retained a prominent place in the education of elites, and it was desirable for rulers to know it. Theoderic learned Greek in Constantinople and used it in diplomatic relations with the emperors during his more than thirty years in the East, and later as king of Italy. He likely made sure that his daughter learned the language of the emperors. Cassiodorus’s claim about Amalasuintha’s knowledge of Greek oratory also fits with the queen’s strong interest in the imperial and Byzantine models that I explore in Chapter 5.
Amalasuintha’s skill in languages was accompanied by composure, discretion, diplomacy, and other virtues, one of them being restraint. She was a wise ruler, capable of handling the secrets of the palace: “But, although she rejoices in such linguistic perfection, she is so silent in public business (in actu publico sic tacita est) that you would think her indolent. She unties the knots of litigation by a few words; she quietly calms heated conflicts; she acts in silence for the public good (silentiose geritur publicum bonum). You do not hear proclaimed the measures which are openly adopted; and, with wonderful restraint (temperamento mirabili), she transacts by stealth what she knows must be done in haste.”37 These are the same praises that Cassiodorus repeats one year later when eulogizing Amalasuintha in the name of Theodahad:
Who could sufficiently explain with such piety, such authority of customs she is adorned? … She is acute in examining problems, but she is authoritative and extremely measured in her speech (ad loquendum summa moderatione gravissima). With no doubt this is a royal virtue: to think more quickly what is necessary, and more slowly, to break out in words. Indeed, one does not know how to say regrettable things, who entrusts to his own examination the things that he will later declare publicly. Hence it is that her admirable learning is expanded through the large richness of the knowledge of multiple languages of her, whose intellect is found so prepared even at a moment’s notice, that it does not seem mortal…. In a few words an immense meaning is encompassed, and with great ease is formulated what is not expressed even through a long reflection. Happy is the State that is glorified by the government of such a ruler.38
Among her many virtues, Cassiodorus acknowledges Amalasuintha’s gravitas, and also her moderatio, a quality that he also attributes to Empress Theodora.39 All these virtues were necessary for those closest to the king, as the Roman and the Gothic courtiers Cyprianus and Tuluin had been to Theoderic.40 For rulers, these qualities were not just desirable, they were indispensable; and both panegyrists and historians highlighted them. Sidonius Apollinaris attributed them to the Visigothic king Theoderic II: “Meanwhile deputations from various people are introduced, and he listens to a great deal of talk, but replies briefly, postponing business which he intends to consider, speeding that which is to be promptly settled.”41 Jordanes, abridging Cassiodorus, described King Walamer as “a good keeper of secrets, bland of speech and skilled in wiles.”42 And, to quote a closer example, in Ennodius’s praises of Theoderic we read: “Without speaking, his expression is enough alone to promise the ambassadors either a beautiful peace, if it is calm, or a war, if it is frightful. So many qualities are encompassed in you that—if they were distributed one to every man—it would be enough to make everyone perfect.”43 The language used to praise Amalasuintha as regent is the same language used to praise other acknowledged rulers, both male and female. The virtues of a good ruler that Amalasuintha embodied in her public persona were the ideal result of the model of female education for Roman elite women. Ennodius emphasized them in his eulogy of Barbara, when he praised her simplicity and clarity of speech.44 About sixty years later, Gregory of Tours would attribute similar qualities to Brunhild as wife of Sigibert: “virtuous and well-behaved, wise in her advice and pleasant in her address.”45
The Roman education and lifestyle that Theoderic promoted at his court in Ravenna strongly influenced Amalasuintha’s political activity. Fundamentally pro-Roman herself, Amalasuintha also placed great store in the Roman educational model and chose it for her son. Procopius tells us that she attempted to educate Athalaric as a Roman prince by having him schooled by a grammarian and surrounding him with wise elders. He suggests that the conservative Goths at the palace opposed her plans.46 That she did in fact desire a Roman education for her son seems even more likely when we consider that she gave exactly that kind of education to her daughter, Matasuintha. A fragment of a Cassiodoran panegyric from 537 celebrating Queen Matasuintha suggests her education in the Roman model:
Therefore gather here, O most honorable sisters, in the chambers of the court; come here accompanied by the supreme beauty that can adorn you. First let divine chastity (castitas) train the brow, then rosy modesty (verecundia) color the cheeks, moderate temperance (temperantia) cheer up the look of the bright eyes, gentle pity (pietas) rule over the noble heart, honored wisdom (sapientia) bestow speech to the tongue (sermonem linguae), quiet modesty (modestia) compose god-fearing (religiosos) steps. Such a cortege of deference deserves to have she, who could be discovered the descendant of so many kings.47
The virtues that are emphasized here mirror far more than the model of education eulogized by Ennodius in his pamphlet. They recur in panegyrical literature, but they also accord with those virtues of the Christian model of education that Pelagius, Augustine, and Jerome had recommended a century earlier to the women of the Anician family.48 From Roman circles, the study of grammar and the cultivation of Christian virtues penetrated the palace of Ravenna; here they became part of the culture of those few wealthy Goths who benefited from the privilege of a Romanized education.
While ruling for Athalaric, Amalasuintha not only endeavored to give her children a Roman education, she also guaranteed that the schools of the old capital received support. In late 533 she ensured payments to the Roman teachers, who had not been regularly remunerated. The letter is in Athalaric’s name but, as in other cases, it represents Amalasuintha’s will, and it clearly expresses her thoughts:
Now recently … I came to know by discreet report from various people, that the teachers of eloquence at Rome are not receiving the constituted rewards for their labours, and that the trafficking of certain men has caused the sums assigned to the masters of the schools to be diminished…. For the school of grammar has primacy: it is the fairest foundation of learning, the glorious mother of eloquence…. Grammar is the mistress of words, the embellisher of the human race; through the practice of the noble reading of ancient authors, she helps us, we know, by her counsels…. Therefore, fathers of the Senate, with God’s approval, I enjoin on you this duty, this authority: a succeeding professor in the school of liberal studies, whether the grammarian, the rhetorician, or the teacher of law, shall receive from those responsible, without any diminution, the income of his predecessor…. For, if I bestow my wealth on actors for the pleasure of the people, and men who are not thought so essential are meticulously paid, how much more should payment be made without delay to those through whom good morals are advanced, and the talent of eloquence is nurtured to serve my palace!49
This letter reflects those views about education that Amalasuintha shared with Theoderic. After all, it was Theoderic who had guaranteed these subsidies, and Amalasuintha here followed in the footsteps of her father, who had regularly supported grammatici, oratores, medici, and iurisperiti.50 The enthusiastic tone with which grammatica and rhetorica are exalted is reminiscent of Ennodius’s eulogy of higher education. Amalasuintha had experienced at first hand the importance of grammar and oratory for the palace. The schools of Rome incubated the younger generation, and the most skilled youths educated in Rome and in a few other places would later be summoned to the court to take up the most important appointments in the administration and palatine bureaucracy. Roman education distinguished the kingdom of Italy from the kingdoms of the other peoples, and Theoderic made
