“white horses or strange animals”

The exchange of gifts at Theodoric’s court in Ravenna, after the Ostrogoth conquest of Italy:

“The ambassadors who resorted to Ravenna from the most distant countries of Europe, admired [Theodoric’s] wisdom, magnificence, and courtesy; and, if he sometimes accepted either slaves or arms, white horses or strange animals, the gift of a sundial, a water-clock, or a musician, admonished even the princes of Gaul, of the superior art and industry of his Italian subjects.”

Of course, his “wisdom, magnificence, and courtesy” did not prevent him from ordering the brutal death of BOETHIUS.

And by the way, if you click the link to the Boethius article, don’t fail to the follow the early link there to the RITHMOMACHY article.