The civil war which had lately
broken out between Equilo and Heraclia was terminated by the influential
mediation of one of the tribunes, and the Lombards now condescended to
ratify a treaty assigning to the Venetians the whole of the territory
lying between the greater and lesser Piave, empowering the republic to
erect boundary lines, and prohibiting either of the contracting parties
from building a stronghold within ten miles of those lines. A settlement
of confines between two such close neighbors was of the highest
importance and utility. But a still more momentous principle was here
involved.
The republic had exercised a clear act of sovereign independence. It had
made its first Italian treaty. This was a proud step and a quotable
precedent.
FOOTNOTE:
[68] Some modern writers question the etymology which in the name of the
Langobardi finds a reference to the length of their beards. Sheppard
thinks that "long-spears," rather than "long-beards" was the original
signification. Since, on the banks of the Elbe, _Boerde_ or _Bord_ still
means "a fertile plain beside a river," others derive their name from
the district they inhabited.
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