_Oraculo penitus remoto, quo ad ritus suos haereticae superstitionis abrepserant, sciant omnes sanctae legis inimici, plectendos se poena & proscriptionis & sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum, execranda sceleris sui temeritate temptaverint. Dat. _viii._ Kal. Sept. Varano V.C. Cons._ A.C. 410. Which Edict was five years after fortified by the following. _Impp. Honor. & Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric._ _Sciant cuncti qui ad ritus suos haeresis superstitionibus obrepserant sacrosanctae legis inimici, plectendos se poena & proscriptionis & sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum exercendi sceleris sui temeritate temptaverint: ne qua vera divinaque reverentia contagione temeretur. Dat. _viii._ Kal. Sept. Honorio _x._ & Theod. _vi._ AA. Coss._ A.C. 415. These Edicts being directed to the governor of _Africa_, extended only to the _Africans_. Before these there were many severe ones against the _Donatists_, but they did not extend to blood. These two were the first which made their meetings, and the meetings of all dissenters, capital: for by _hereticks_ in these Edicts are meant all dissenters, as is manifest by the following against _Euresius_ a _Luciferan_ Bishop. _Impp. Arcad. & Honor. AA. Aureliano Proc. Africae._ _Haereticorum vocabulo continentur, & latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent succumbere, qui vel levi argumento a judicio Catholicae religionis & tramite detecti fuerint deviare: ideoque experientia tua Euresium haereticum esse cognoscat. Dat. _iii._ Non. Sept. Constantinop. Olybrio & Probino Coss._ A.C. 395. The _Greek_ Emperor _Zeno_ adopted _Theoderic_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ to be his son, made him master of the horse and _Patricius_, and Consul of _Constantinople_; and recommending to him the _Roman_ people and Senate, gave him the _Western_ Empire, and sent him into _Italy_ against _Odoacer_ King of the _Heruli_. _Theoderic_ thereupon led his nation into _Italy_, conquered _Odoacer_, and reigned over _Italy_, _Sicily_, _Rhaetia_, _Noricum_, _Dalmatia_, _Liburnia_, _Istria_, and part of _Suevia_, _Pannonia_ and _Gallia_. Whence _Ennodius_ said, in a Panegyric to _Theoderic_: _Ad limitem suum Romana regna remeasse._ _Theoderic_ reigned with great prudence, moderation and felicity; treated the _Romans_ with singular benevolence, governed them by their own laws, and restored their government under their Senate and Consuls, he himself supplying the place of Emperor, without assuming the title. _Ita sibi parentibus praefuit_, saith _Procopius_, _ut vere Imperatori conveniens decus nullum ipsi abesset: Justitiae magnus ei cultus, legumque diligens custodia: terras a vicinis barbaris servavit intactas_, &c. Whence I do not reckon the reign of this King, amongst the plagues of the four winds.