Some five million of Theoderic’s subjects in Italy were Romans. Around 100,000 of them were Goths, most of whom had long ago adopted many elements of Roman culture. They drank Roman wine, used Roman tableware and spoke some Latin. Theoderic treated Goths and Romans as parallel populations who owed different things to the kingdom and required different forms of support. Today, American and European writers wonder if there are any lessons for our quagmires of multiculturalism.

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Persons: Theoderic, Wiemer, wonk, skimpily, Machiavelli Organizations: Christian Locations: Italy