rare case among the Goths--with masses of golden ringlets, and black
eyebrows over 'oculos caesios,' the blue grey eyes common to so many
conquerors. A complexion so peculiar, that one must believe it to be
truly reported.

His tragic death, and the yet more tragic consequences thereof, will
be detailed in the next lecture.



LECTURE V--DIETRICH'S END.



I have now to speak to you on the latter end of Dietrich's reign--
made so sadly famous by the death of Boethius--the last Roman
philosopher, as he has been called for centuries, and not unjustly.
His De Consolatione Philosophiae is a book good for any man, full of
wholesome and godly doctrine. For centuries it ranked as high as the
highest classics; higher perhaps at times than any book save the
Bible, among not merely scholars, but statesmen. It is the last
legacy of the dying old world to the young world which was trampling
it out of life; and therefore it is full of sadness. But beneath the
sadness there is faith and hope; for God is just, and virtue must be
triumphant and immortal, and the absolute and only good for man. The
whole story is very sad. Dietrich was one of those great men, who
like Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Napoleon, or the late Czar Nicholas, have
lived too long for their own honour. The old heathen would have
attributed his misadventures to a [Greek text which cannot be
reproduced], an envy of the Gods, who will not abide to see men as