[532] 'His temporibus habitus est eximius, cum princeps non esset erectus.'
[533] This is probably the Basilius who was concerned in the accusation of Boethius (Phil. Cons. I. iv.); possibly the Consul of 541, who fled to Constantinople when Totila took Rome in 546 (Procop. De Bello Gotthico iii. 20, and Anastasius Lib. Pontif. apud Murator. iii. 132); and perhaps the Basilius whom we find in trouble in Variarum [iv. 22], [23]: scarcely the Basilius of Variarum [ii. 10], [11].
[534] 'Gentiles victu (?), Romanos sibi judiciis obligabat.'
[535] 'Dudum te forensibus negociis insudantem, oculus imperialis aspexit'—an expression which goes very near to styling Theodoric Imperator.
[536] 'Pater ita in Mediolanensi foro resplenduit, ut aeterno fructu e Tulliano cespite pullularet.'
[537] 'Is palmarum Eugenetis linguae ubertate suffecit.' Possibly this is the Magister Officiorum of Var. [i. 12], and the person to whom is addressed a letter of Ennodius (iv. 26). The form Eugenetis, instead of Eugenii, belongs to the debased Latinity of the age.
[538] In Nivellius' edition the title of this office is given as Praepositus.
[539] 'Redeat ad nomen antiquum Praefectura illa Praetorii, toto orbe laudabilis.' Is it possible that there had been some attempt to change the title of the Praefect, which accounts for the Praepositus which in some MSS. we find in the heading of this letter?
[540] 'Vidit te adhuc gentilis' (still under the dominion of the Gepidae) 'Danubius bellatorem: non te terruit Bulgarorum globus, qui etiam nostris erat praesumptione certaminis obstaturus. Peculiare tibi fuit et renitentes Barbaros aggredi, et conversos terrore sectari. Sic victoriam Gothorum non tam numero quam labore juvisti.'
[541] For a description of his services in this function, see Var. [v. 40].