Arnold built his case on the fact that Theodoric widely used the title of princeps for himself, and employed the term Res Publica to describe the domain he ruled. These titles, although archaic, were customarily reserved for the emperor and his empire. Thereto Arnold explains that the restraint shown by Theodoric in refraining to use titles such as Imperator, Imperium or Augustus was aimed at sparing the pride of the Eastern monarchy and ensuring Byzantium of its seniority, but that this did not diminish Theodoric's claim to the purple in the West.
Arnold built his case on the fact that Theodoric widely used the title of princeps for himself and employed the term Res Publica to describe the domain he ruled These titles although archaic were customarily reserved for the emperor and his empire Thereto Arnold explains that the restraint shown by Theodoric in refraining to use titles such as Imperator Imperium or Augustus was aimed at sparing the pride of the Eastern monarchy and ensuring Byzantium of its seniority but that this did not diminish Theodoric's claim to the purple in the West