Theodoric abruptly drew his broadsword and struck Odoacer with such ferocity that it cleaved him from shoulder to thigh in a single slice. “The wretch cannot have had a bone in his body,” he joked, standing over the barbarian King of Italy, the man who put to bed the Western Roman Empire. Carved to a gory stump. Odoacer had joined Theodoric that evening for a banquet intended to celebrate a truce between the two Germanic warlords. It was a trap, and after Odoacer was dispatched, Theodoric slaughtered his family and friends in ways that would make Machiavelli blush. Yet what followed this bloodletting might surprise you.