Let us march on.
It certainly shall be ours."
Then they passed quickly down, and soon they were in Italy. Odoacer
had heard of their coming and he got ready an army to drive them
away. Theodoric also got his fighting men ready. The two armies
met, and there was a great battle near the town of Aquileia. Odoacer
was defeated. Then he tried to get Theodoric to leave Italy by
offering him a large sum of money.
"I will give you," said he, "thousands of pounds of gold and silver
if you agree to go back to your own country."
But Theodoric would not go. He said he had as good a right to
be king of Italy as Odoacer, and he would remain and conquer the
country and be its king. Soon after there was another battle, near
Verona, and Odoacer was again defeated.
Theodoric came very near being killed in battle. He was saved only
by the courage of his mother. She was in his camp, and at one time
she saw a number of the Ostrogoths running away from that part
of the battle-field where her son was fighting, thus leaving him
without support. The mother rushed forward and stopped the fleeing
men. She made them feel that it was a shame for them to desert
their leader, and they at once returned to the field and fought
beside their king until the battle was won.
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