ABSTRACT
Zeno’s final removal of the Ostrogothic federates had been a great political gain. For decades they had been a source of chronic instability in the empire, able to put into the field armies of up to 15,000 men for whatever purpose they chose. These were forces too powerful for the main Roman armies to defeat, except possibly as a result of an unacceptable weakening of other main frontiers. Zeno’s success also ended the disturbing possibility that the Ostrogoths might carve out permanent kingdoms from the Eastern empire, as they had in the West. Henceforth the position of Gothic soldiers and commanders in the empire became easier, as the suspicions of divided loyalties died away.
