Theodoric (who must not be confounded with his namesake, the Visigoth king, who fell in conquering Attila) was a man of great natural ability, which had been well developed by his education in Constantinople. He accepted the appointment of General and Governor from the Emperor, yet the preparations he made for the expedition to Italy show that he intended to remain and establish his own kingdom there. It was not a military march, but the migration of a people, which he headed. The Ostrogoths and their allies took with them their wives and children, their herds and household goods: they moved so slowly up the Danube and across the Alps, now halting to rest and recruit, now fighting a passage through some hostile tribe, that several years elapsed before they reached Italy. Odoaker had reigned fourteen years, with more justice and discretion than was common in those times, and was able to raise a large force, in 489, to meet the advance of Theodoric. After three severe battles had been fought, he was forced to take shelter within the strong walls of Ravenna; but he again sallied forth and attacked the Ostrogoths with such bravery that he came near defeating them. Finally, in 493, after a siege of three years, he capitulated, and was soon afterwards treacherously murdered, by order of Theodoric, at a banquet to which the latter had invited him. Having the power in his own hands, Theodoric now threw off his assumed subjection to the Eastern Empire, put on the Roman purple, and proclaimed himself king. All Italy, including Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, fell at once into his hands; and, having left a portion of the Ostrogoths behind him, on the Danube, he also claimed all the region between, in order to preserve a communication with them. He was soon so strongly settled in his new realm that he had nothing to fear from the Emperor Zeno and his successors. The latter did not venture to show any direct signs of hostility towards him, but remained quiet; while, on his part, beyond seizing a portion of Pannonia, he refrained from interfering with their rule in the East. In the West, however, the case was different. Five years before Theodoric's arrival in Italy, the last relic of Roman power disappeared forever from Gaul. A general named Syagrius had succeeded to the command, after the murder of Aëtius, and had formed the central provinces into a Roman state, which was so completely cut off from all connection with the Empire that it became practically independent. The Franks, who now held all Northern Gaul and Belgium, from the Rhine to the Atlantic, with Paris as their capital, were by this time so strong and well organized, that their king, Chlodwig, boldly challenged Syagrius to battle. The challenge was accepted: a battle was fought near Soissons, in the year 486, the Romans were cut to pieces, and the river Loire became the southern boundary of the Frank kingdom. The territory between that river and the Pyrenees still belonged to the Visigoths.