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Jordanes, Translated by Charles C. Mierow
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Title: The Origin and Deeds of the Goths
Author: Jordanes
Release Date: January 26, 2005 [eBook #14809]
[Date last updated: July 5, 2006]
Language: English
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THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS
by
JORDANES
in English Version
Part of a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Princeton University
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
by CHARLES C. MIEROW
Princeton
1908
NOTE
For the first time the story of the Goths recorded in
the _Getica_ of Jordanes, a Christian Goth who wrote his
account in the year 551, probably in Constantinople, is
now put in English form, as part of an edition of the
_Getica_ prepared by Mr. Mierow. Those who care for the
romance of history will be charmed by this great tale of a
lost cause and will not find the simple-hearted exaggerations
of the eulogist of the Gothic race misleading. He
pictured what he believed or wanted to believe, and his
employment of fable and legend, as well as the naïve
exhibition of his loyal prejudices, merely heightens the
interest of his story. Those who want coldly scientific
narrative should avoid reading Jordanes, but should likewise
remember the truthful, words of Delbrück: "Legende
und Poesie malen darum noch nicht falsch, weil sie
mit anderen Farben malen als die Historie. Sie reden
nur eine andere Sprache, und es handelt sich darum,
aus dieser richtig ins Historische zu übersetzen."
ANDREW F. WEST.
PREFACE
The following version of the Getica of Jordanes is
based upon the text of Mommsen, as found in the
Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores
Antiquissimi 5 (Berlin 1882). I have
adhered closely to his spelling of proper names, especially
the Gothic names, except in the case of a very few words
which are in common use in another form (such as
Gaiseric and Belisarius).
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dean Andrew F.
West of the Princeton Graduate School for his unfailing
interest in my work. It was in one of his graduate
courses that the translation was begun, three years ago,
and at his suggestion that I undertook the composition
of the thesis in its present form. He has read the entire
treatise in the manuscript, and has been my constant
adviser and critic. Thanks are also due to Dr. Charles
G. Osgood of the English Department of Princeton
University for reading the translation.
CHARLES C. MIEROW.
Classical Seminary,
Princeton University,
July 1908.
THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS
(Preface)
Though it had been my wish to glide in my little boat 1
by the shore of a peaceful coast and, as a certain writer
says, to gather little fishes from the pools of the ancients,
you, brother Castalius, bid me set my sails toward the
deep. You urge me to leave the little work I have in
hand, that is, the abbreviation of the Chronicles, and to
condense in my own style in this small book the twelve
volumes of the Senator on the origin and deeds of the
Getae from olden time to the present day, descending
through the generations of the kings. Truly a hard command, 2
and imposed by one who seems unwilling to realize
the burden of the task. Nor do you note this, that my
utterance is too slight to fill so magnificent a trumpet of
speech as his. But above every burden is the fact that
I have no access to his books that I may follow his
thought. Still--and let me lie not--I have in times past
read the books a second time by his steward's loan for a
three days' reading. The words I recall not, but the
sense and the deeds related I think I retain entire. To 3
this I have added fitting matters from some Greek and
Latin histories. I have also put in an introduction and
a conclusion, and have inserted many things of my own
authorship. Wherefore reproach me not, but receive and
read with gladness what you have asked me to write. If
aught be insufficiently spoken and you remember it, do
you as a neighbor to our race add to it, praying for me,
dearest brother. The Lord be with you. Amen.
(Geographical Introduction)
[Sidenote: Ocean and Its Lesser Isles.]
I Our ancestors, as Orosius relates, were of the 4
opinion that the circle of the whole world was surrounded
by the girdle of Ocean on three sides. Its three parts
they called Asia, Europe and Africa. Concerning this
threefold division of the earth's extent there are almost
innumerable writers, who not only explain the situations
of cities and places, but also measure out the number of
miles and paces to give more clearness. Moreover they
locate the islands interspersed amid the waves, both the
greater and also the lesser islands, called Cyclades or
Sporades, as situated in the vast flood of the Great Sea.
But the impassable farther bounds of Ocean not only has 5
no one attempted to describe, but no man has been allowed
to reach; for by reason of obstructing seaweed and
the failing of the winds it is plainly inaccessible and is
unknown to any save to Him who made it. But the 6
nearer border of this sea, which we call the circle of the
world, surrounds its coasts like a wreath. This has
become clearly known to men of inquiring mind, even
to such as desired to write about it. For not only is the
coast itself inhabited, but certain islands off in the sea
are habitable. Thus there are to the East in the Indian
Ocean, Hippodes, Iamnesia, Solis Perusta (which though
not habitable, is yet of great length and breadth), besides
Taprobane, a fair island wherein there are towns or
estates and ten strongly fortified cities. But there is yet 7
another, the lovely Silefantina, and Theros also. These,
though not clearly described by any writer, are nevertheless
well filled with inhabitants. This same Ocean has
in its western region certain islands known to almost
everyone by reason of the great number of those that
journey to and fro. And there are two not far from the
neighborhood of the Strait of Gades, one the Blessed
Isle and another called the Fortunate. Although some
reckon as islands of Ocean the twin promontories of
Galicia and Lusitania, where are still to be seen the
Temple of Hercules on one and Scipio's Monument on
the other, yet since they are joined to the extremity of
the Galician country, they belong rather to the great land
of Europe than to the islands of Ocean. However, it 8
has other islands deeper within its own tides, which are
called the Baleares; and yet another, Mevania, besides
the Orcades, thirty-three in number, though not all inhabited.
And at the farthest bound of its western expanse 9
it has another island named Thule, of which the
Mantuan bard makes mention:
"And Farthest Thule shall serve thee."
The same mighty sea has also in its arctic region, that is
in the north, a great island named Scandza, from which
my tale (by God's grace) shall take its beginning. For
the race whose origin you ask to know burst forth like a
swarm of bees from the midst of this island and came
into the land of Europe. But how or in what wise we
shall explain hereafter, if it be the Lord's will.
(BRITAIN)
[Sidenote: Caesar's two invasions of Britain B.C. 55-54]
II But now let me speak briefly as I can concerning 10
the island of Britain, which is situated in the bosom of
Ocean between Spain, Gaul and Germany. Although
Livy tells us that no one in former days sailed around
it, because of its great size, yet many writers have held
various opinions of it. It was long unapproached by
Roman arms, until Julius Caesar disclosed it by battles
fought for mere glory. In the busy age which followed
it became accessible to many through trade and by other
means. Thus it revealed more clearly its position, which
I shall here explain as I have found it in Greek and Latin
authors. Most of them say it is like a triangle pointing 11
between the north and west. Its widest angle faces the
mouths of the Rhine. Then the island shrinks in breadth
and recedes until it ends in two other angles. Its long
doubled side faces Gaul and Germany. Its greatest
breadth is said to be over two thousand three hundred
and ten stadia, and its length not more than seven thousand
one hundred and thirty-two stadia. In some parts 12
it is moorland, in others there are wooded plains, and
sometimes it rises into mountain peaks. The island is
surrounded by a sluggish sea, which neither gives readily
to the stroke of the oar nor runs high under the blasts
of the wind. I suppose this is because other lands are
so far removed from it as to cause no disturbance of the
sea, which indeed is of greater width here than anywhere
else. Moreover Strabo, a famous writer of the Greeks,
relates that the island exhales such mists from its soil,
soaked by the frequent inroads of Ocean, that the sun is
covered throughout the whole of their disagreeable sort
of day that passes as fair, and so is hidden from sight.
Cornelius also, the author of the Annals, says that in 13
the farthest part of Britain the night gets brighter and
is very short. He also says that the island abounds in
metals, is well supplied with grass and is more productive
in all those things which feed beasts rather than men.
Moreover many large rivers flow through it, and the
tides are borne back into them, rolling along precious
stones and pearls. The Silures have swarthy features
and are usually born with curly black hair, but the inhabitants
of Caledonia have reddish hair and large loose-jointed
bodies. They are like the Gauls or the Spaniards,
according as they are opposite either nation. Hence some 14
have supposed that from these lands the island received
its inhabitants, alluring them by its nearness. All the
people and their kings are alike wild. Yet Dio, a most
celebrated writer of annals, assures us of the fact that
they have all been combined under the name of Caledonians
and Maeatae. They live in wattled huts, a shelter
used in common with their flocks, and often the woods
are their home. They paint their bodies with iron-red,
whether by way of adornment or perhaps for some other
reason. They often wage war with one another, either 15
because they desire power or to increase their possessions.
They fight not only on horseback or on foot, but even
with scythed two-horse chariots, which they commonly
call _essedae_. Let it suffice to have said thus much on the
shape of the island of Britain.
(SCANDZA)
III Let us now return to the site of the island of 16
Scandza, which we left above. Claudius Ptolemaeus, an
excellent describer of the world, has made mention of it
in the second book of his work, saying: "There is a
great island situated in the surge of the northern Ocean,
Scandza by name, in the shape of a juniper leaf with
bulging sides that taper down to a point at a long end."
Pomponius Mela also makes mention of it as situated in
the Codan Gulf of the sea, with Ocean lapping its shores.
This island lies in front of the river Vistula, which rises 17
in the Sarmatian mountains and flows through its triple
mouth into the northern Ocean in sight of Scandza, separating
Germany and Scythia. The island has in its
eastern part a vast lake in the bosom of the earth, whence
the Vagus river springs from the bowels of the earth and
flows surging into the Ocean. And on the west it is surrounded
by an immense sea. On the north it is bounded
by the same vast unnavigable Ocean, from which by
means of a sort of projecting arm of land a bay is cut off
and forms the German Sea. Here also there are said to 18
be many small islands scattered round about. If wolves
cross over to these islands when the sea is frozen by
reason of the great cold, they are said to lose their sight.
Thus the land is not only inhospitable to men but cruel
even to wild beasts.
Now in the island of Scandza, whereof I speak, there 19
dwell many and divers nations, though Ptolemaeus mentions
the names of but seven of them. There the honey-making
swarms of bees are nowhere to be found on
account of the exceeding great cold. In the northern part
of the island the race of the Adogit live, who are said
to have continual light in midsummer for forty days and
nights, and who likewise have no clear light in the winter
season for the same number of days and nights. By 20
reason of this alternation of sorrow and joy they are like
no other race in their sufferings and blessings. And why?
Because during the longer days they see the sun returning
to the east along the rim of the horizon, but on the shorter
days it is not thus seen. The sun shows itself differently
because it is passing through the southern signs, and
whereas to us the sun seem to rise from below, it seems
to go around them along the edge of the earth. There
also are other peoples. There are the Screrefennae, who 21
do not seek grain for food but live on the flesh of wild
beasts and birds' eggs; for there are such multitudes of
young game in the swamps as to provide for the natural
increase of their kind and to afford satisfaction to the
needs of the people. But still another race dwells there,
the Suehans, who, like the Thuringians, have splendid
horses. Here also are those who send through innumerable
other tribes the sappherine skins to trade for Roman
use. They are a people famed for the dark beauty of
their furs and, though living in poverty, are most richly
clothed. Then comes a throng of various nations, Theustes, 22
Vagoth, Bergio, Hallin, Liothida. All their habitations
are in one level and fertile region. Wherefore they
are disturbed there by the attacks of other tribes. Behind
these are the Ahelmil, Finnaithae, Fervir and Gauthigoth,
a race of men bold and quick to fight. Then come the
Mixi, Evagre, and Otingis. All these live like wild animals
in rocks hewn out like castles. And there are beyond 23
these the Ostrogoths, Raumarici, Aeragnaricii, and
the most gentle Finns, milder than all the inhabitants of
Scandza. Like them are the Vinovilith also. The Suetidi
are of this stock and excel the rest in stature. However,
the Dani, who trace their origin to the same stock, drove
from their homes the Heruli, who lay claim to preëminence
among all the nations of Scandza for their tallness.
Furthermore there are in the same neighborhood the 24
Grannii, Augandzi, Eunixi, Taetel, Rugi, Arochi and
Ranii, over whom Roduulf was king not many years ago.
But he despised his own kingdom and fled to the embrace
of Theodoric, king of the Goths, finding there what he
desired. All these nations surpassed the Germans in size
and spirit, and fought with the cruelty of wild beasts.
(The United Goths)
[Sidenote: HOW THE GOTHS CAME TO SCYTHIA]
IV Now from this island of Scandza, as from a hive 25
of races or a womb of nations, the Goths are said to have
come forth long ago under their king, Berig by name.
As soon as they disembarked from their ships and set
foot on the land, they straightway gave their name to the
place. And even to-day it is said to be called Gothiscandza.
Soon they moved from here to the abodes of
the Ulmerugi, who then dwelt on the shores of Ocean, 26
where they pitched camp, joined battle with them and
drove them from their homes. Then they subdued their
neighbors, the Vandals, and thus added to their victories.
But when the number of the people increased greatly and
Filimer, son of Gadaric, reigned as king--about the fifth
since Berig--he decided that the army of the Goths with
their families should move from that region. In search 27
of suitable homes and pleasant places they came to the
land of Scythia, called Oium in that tongue. Here they
were delighted with the great richness of the country,
and it is said that when half the army had been brought
over, the bridge whereby they had crossed the river fell
in utter ruin, nor could anyone thereafter pass to or fro.
For the place is said to be surrounded by quaking bogs
and an encircling abyss, so that by this double obstacle
nature has made it inaccessible. And even to-day one
may hear in that neighborhood the lowing of cattle and
may find traces of men, if we are to believe the stories
of travellers, although we must grant that they hear these
things from afar.
This part of the Goths, which is said to have crossed 28
the river and entered with Filimer into the country of
Oium, came into possession of the desired land, and there
they soon came upon the race of the Spali, joined battle
with them and won the victory. Thence the victors hastened
to the farthest part of Scythia, which is near the sea
of Pontus; for so the story is generally told in their early
songs, in almost historic fashion. Ablabius also, a famous
chronicler of the Gothic race, confirms this in his
most trustworthy account. Some of the ancient writers 29
also agree with the tale. Among these we may mention
Josephus, a most reliable relator of annals, who everywhere
follows the rule of truth and unravels from the
beginning the origin of causes;--but why he has omitted
the beginnings of the race of the Goths, of which I have
spoken, I do not know. He barely mentions Magog
of that stock, and says they were Scythians by race and
were called so by name.
Before we enter on our history, we must describe the
boundaries of this land, as it lies.
[Sidenote: SCYTHIA]
V Now Scythia borders on the land of Germany as 30
far as the source of the river Ister and the expanse of the
Morsian Swamp. It reaches even to the rivers Tyra,
Danaster and Vagosola, and the great Danaper, extending
to the Taurus range--not the mountains in Asia but
our own, that is, the Scythian Taurus--all the way to
Lake Maeotis. Beyond Lake Maeotis it spreads on the
other side of the straits of Bosphorus to the Caucasus
Mountains and the river Araxes. Then it bends back to
the left behind the Caspian Sea, which comes from the
north-eastern ocean in the most distant parts of Asia, and
so is formed like a mushroom, at first narrow and then
broad and round in shape. It extends as far as the Huns,
Albani and Seres. This land, I say,--namely, Scythia, 31
stretching far and spreading wide,--has on the east the
Seres, a race that dwelt at the very beginning of their
history on the shore of the Caspian Sea. On the west are
the Germans and the river Vistula; on the arctic side,
namely the north, it is surrounded by Ocean; on the south
by Persis, Albania, Hiberia, Pontus and the farthest
channel of the Ister, which is called the Danube all the
way from mouth to source. But in that region where 32
Scythia touches the Pontic coast it is dotted with towns
of no mean fame:--Borysthenis, Olbia, Callipolis, Cherson,
Theodosia, Careon, Myrmicion and Trapezus. These
towns the wild Scythian tribes allowed the Greeks to build
to afford them means of trade. In the midst of Scythia is
the place that separates Asia and Europe, I mean the
Rhipaeian mountains, from which the mighty Tanais
flows. This river enters Maeotis, a marsh having a circuit
of one hundred and forty-four miles and never subsiding
to a depth of less than eight fathoms.
In the land of Scythia to the westward dwells, first of 33
all, the race of the Gepidae, surrounded by great and
famous rivers. For the Tisia flows through it on the
north and northwest, and on the southwest is the great
Danube. On the east it is cut by the Flutausis, a swiftly
eddying stream that sweeps whirling into the Ister's
waters. Within these rivers lies Dacia, encircled by the 34
lofty Alps as by a crown. Near their left ridge, which
inclines toward the north, and beginning at the source of
the Vistula, the populous race of the Venethi dwell, occupying
a great expanse of land. Though their names are
now dispersed amid various clans and places, yet they are
chiefly called Sclaveni and Antes. The abode of the 35
Sclaveni extends from the city of Noviodunum and the
lake called Mursianus to the Danaster, and northward as
far as the Vistula. They have swamps and forests for
their cities. The Antes, who are the bravest of these
peoples dwelling in the curve of the sea of Pontus, spread
from the Danaster to the Danaper, rivers that are many
days' journey apart. But on the shore of Ocean, where 36
the floods of the river Vistula empty from three mouths,
the Vidivarii dwell, a people gathered out of various
tribes. Beyond them the Aesti, a subject race, likewise
hold the shore of Ocean. To the south dwell the Acatziri,
a very brave tribe ignorant of agriculture, who subsist
on their flocks and by hunting. Farther away and above 37
the Sea of Pontus are the abodes of the Bulgares, well
known from the wrongs done to them by reason of our
oppression. From this region the Huns, like a fruitful
root of bravest races, sprouted into two hordes of people.
Some of these are called Altziagiri, others Sabiri; and
they have different dwelling places. The Altziagiri are
near Cherson, where the avaricious traders bring in the
goods of Asia. In summer they range the plains, their
broad domains, wherever the pasturage for their cattle
invites them, and betake themselves in winter beyond the
Sea of Pontus. Now the Hunuguri are known to us from
the fact that they trade in marten skins. But they have
been cowed by their bolder neighbors.
[Sidenote: THE THREE ABODES OF THE GOTHS]
We read that on their first migration the Goths dwelt 38
in the land of Scythia near Lake Maeotis. On the second
migration they went to Moesia, Thrace and Dacia, and
after their third they dwelt again in Scythia, above the
Sea of Pontus. Nor do we find anywhere in their
written records legends which tell of their subjection to
slavery in Britain or in some other island, or of their
redemption by a certain man at the cost of a single horse.
Of course if anyone in our city says that the Goths had an
origin different from that I have related, let him object.
For myself, I prefer to believe what I have read, rather
than put trust in old wives' tales.
To return, then, to my subject. The aforesaid race of 39
which I speak is known to have had Filimer as king while
they remained in their first home in Scythia near Maeotis.
In their second home, that is in the countries of Dacia,
Thrace and Moesia, Zalmoxes reigned, whom many writers
of annals mention as a man of remarkable learning in
philosophy. Yet even before this they had a learned man
Zeuta, and after him Dicineus; and the third was Zalmoxes
of whom I have made mention above. Nor did
they lack teachers of wisdom. Wherefore the Goths have 40
ever been wiser than other barbarians and were nearly
like the Greeks, as Dio relates, who wrote their history
and annals with a Greek pen. He says that those of noble
birth among them, from whom their kings and priests
were appointed, were called first Tarabostesei and then
Pilleati. Moreover so highly were the Getae praised that
Mars, whom the fables of poets call the god of war, was
reputed to have been born among them. Hence Virgil
says:
"Father Gradivus rules the Getic fields." 41
Now Mars has always been worshipped by the Goths
with cruel rites, and captives were slain as his victims.
They thought that he who is the lord of war ought to be
appeased by the shedding of human blood. To him they
devoted the first share of the spoil, and in his honor arms
stripped from the foe were suspended from trees. And
they had more than all other races a deep spirit of religion,
since the worship of this god seemed to be really
bestowed upon their ancestor.
In their third dwelling place, which was above the Sea 42
of Pontus, they had now become more civilized and, as I
have said before, were more learned. Then the people
were divided under ruling families. The Visigoths served
the family of the Balthi and the Ostrogoths served the
renowned Amali. They were the first race of men to 43
string the bow with cords, as Lucan, who is more of a
historian than a poet, affirms:
"They string Armenian bows with Getic cords."
[Sidenote: THE RIVER DON]
[Sidenote: THE DNIEPER]
In earliest times they sang of the deeds of their ancestors
in strains of song accompanied by the cithara; chanting
of Eterpamara, Hanala, Fritigern, Vidigoia and
others whose fame among them is great; such heroes as
admiring antiquity scarce proclaims its own to be. Then, 44
as the story goes, Vesosis waged a war disastrous to
himself against the Scythians, whom ancient tradition
asserts to have been the husbands of the Amazons. Concerning
these female warriors Orosius speaks in convincing
language. Thus we can clearly prove that Vesosis
then fought with the Goths, since we know surely that he
waged war with the husbands of the Amazons. They
dwelt at that time along a bend of Lake Maeotis, from
the river Borysthenes, which the natives call the Danaper,
to the stream of the Tanais. By the Tanais I mean the 45
river which flows down from the Rhipaeian mountains
and rushes with so swift a current that when the neighboring
streams or Lake Maeotis and the Bosphorus are
frozen fast, it is the only river that is kept warm by the
rugged mountains and is never solidified by the Scythian
cold. It is also famous as the boundary of Asia and
Europe. For the other Tanais is the one which rises in
the mountains of the Chrinni and flows into the Caspian
Sea. The Danaper begins in a great marsh and issues 46
from it as from its mother. It is sweet and fit to drink
as far as half-way down its course. It also produces fish
of a fine flavor and without bones, having only cartilage
as the frame-work of their bodies. But as it approaches
the Pontus it receives a little spring called Exampaeus,
so very bitter that although the river is navigable for the
length of a forty days' voyage, it is so altered by the
water of this scanty stream as to become tainted and
unlike itself, and flows thus tainted into the sea between
the Greek towns of Callipidae and Hypanis. At its mouth
there is an island named Achilles. Between these two
rivers is a vast land filled with forests and treacherous
swamps.
[Sidenote: DEFEAT OF VESOSIS (SESOSTRIS)]
VI This was the region where the Goths dwelt when 47
Vesosis, king of the Egyptians, made war upon them.
Their king at that time was Tanausis. In a battle at the
river Phasis (whence come the birds called pheasants,
which are found in abundance at the banquets of the great
all over the world) Tanausis, king of the Goths, met
Vesosis, king of the Egyptians, and there inflicted a
severe defeat upon him, pursuing him even to Egypt.
Had he not been restrained by the waters of the impassable
Nile and the fortifications which Vesosis had long
ago ordered to be made against the raids of the Ethiopians,
he would have slain him in his own land. But
finding he had no power to injure him there, he returned
and conquered almost all Asia and made it subject and
tributary to Sornus, king of the Medes, who was then his
dear friend. At that time some of his victorious army,
seeing that the subdued provinces were rich and fruitful,
deserted their companies and of their own accord
remained in various parts of Asia.
From their name or race Pompeius Trogus says the 48
stock of the Parthians had its origin. Hence even to-day
in the Scythian tongue they are called Parthi, that is,
Deserters. And in consequence of their descent they are
archers--almost alone among all the nations of Asia--and
are very valiant warriors. Now in regard to the
name, though I have said they were called Parthi because
they were deserters, some have traced the derivation of
the word otherwise, saying that they were called Parthi
because they fled from their kinsmen. Now when this
Tanausis, king of the Goths, was dead, his people worshipped
him as one of their gods.
[Sidenote: THE AMAZONS IN ASIA MINOR]
VII After his death, while the army under his successors 49
was engaged in an expedition in other parts, a
neighboring tribe attempted to carry off women of the
Goths as booty. But they made a brave resistance, as
they had been taught to do by their husbands, and routed
in disgrace the enemy who had come upon them. When
they had won this victory, they were inspired with greater
daring. Mutually encouraging each other, they took up
arms and chose two of the bolder, Lampeto and Marpesia,
to act as their leaders. While they were in command, 50
they cast lots both for the defense of their own country
and the devastation of other lands. So Lampeto remained
to guard their native land and Marpesia took a company
of women and led this novel army into Asia. After conquering
various tribes in war and making others their
allies by treaties, she came to the Caucasus. There she
remained for some time and gave the place the name Rock
of Marpesia, of which also Virgil makes mention:
"Like to hard flint or the Marpesian Cliff."
It was here Alexander the Great afterwards built gates
and named them the Caspian Gates, which now the tribe
of the Lazi guard as a Roman fortification. Here, then, 51
the Amazons remained for some time and were much
strengthened. Then they departed and crossed the river
Halys, which flows near the city of Gangra, and with
equal success subdued Armenia, Syria, Cilicia, Galatia,
Pisidia and all the places of Asia. Then they turned to
Ionia and Aeolia, and made provinces of them after their
surrender. Here they ruled for some time and even
founded cities and camps bearing their name. At Ephesus
also they built a very costly and beautiful temple for
Diana, because of her delight in archery and the chase--arts
to which they were themselves devoted. Then these 52
Scythian-born women, who had by such a chance gained
control over the kingdoms of Asia, held them for almost
a hundred years, and at last came back to their own kinsfolk
in the Marpesian rocks I have mentioned above,
namely the Caucasus mountains.
[Sidenote: THE CAUCASUS]
Inasmuch as I have twice mentioned this mountain-range,
I think it not out of place to describe its extent and
situation, for, as is well known, it encompasses a great
part of the earth with its continuous chain. Beginning 53
at the Indian Ocean, where it faces the south it is warm,
giving off vapor in the sun; where it lies open to the
north it is exposed to chill winds and frost. Then bending
back into Syria with a curving turn, it not only sends
forth many other streams, but pours from its plenteous
breasts into the Vasianensian region the Euphrates and
the Tigris, navigable rivers famed for their unfailing
springs. These rivers surround the land of the Syrians
and cause it to be called Mesopotamia, as it truly is. Their
waters empty into the bosom of the Red Sea. Then turning 54
back to the north, the range I have spoken of passes
with great bends through the Scythian lands. There it
sends forth very famous rivers into the Caspian Sea--the
Araxes, the Cyrus and the Cambyses. It goes on in continuous
range even to the Rhipaeian mountains. Thence
it descends from the north toward the Pontic Sea, furnishing
a boundary to the Scythian tribes by its ridge, and
even touches the waters of the Ister with its clustered
hills. Being cut by this river, it divides, and in Scythia
is named Taurus also. Such then is the great range, 55
almost the mightiest of mountain chains, rearing aloft its
summits and by its natural conformation supplying men
with impregnable strongholds. Here and there it divides
where the ridge breaks apart and leaves a deep gap, thus
forming now the Caspian Gates, and again the Armenian
or the Cilician, or of whatever name the place may be.
Yet they are barely passable for a wagon, for both sides
are sharp and steep as well as very high. The range has
different names among various peoples. The Indian calls
it Imaus and in another part Paropamisus. The Parthian
calls it first Choatras and afterward Niphates; the Syrian
and Armenian call it Taurus; the Scythian names it Caucasus
and Rhipaeus, and at its end calls it Taurus. Many
other tribes have given names to the range. Now that we
have devoted a few words to describing its extent, let us
return to the subject of the Amazons.
[Sidenote: THE AMAZONS]
VIII Fearing their race would fail, they sought marriage 56
with neighboring tribes. They appointed a day for
meeting once in every year, so that when they should
return to the same place on that day in the following year
each mother might give over to the father whatever male
child she had borne, but should herself keep and train for
warfare whatever children of the female sex were born.
Or else, as some maintain, they exposed the males, destroying
the life of the ill-fated child with a hate like
that of a stepmother. Among them childbearing was
detested, though everywhere else it is desired. The terror 57
of their cruelty was increased by common rumor; for
what hope, pray, would there be for a captive, when it
was considered wrong to spare even a son? Hercules,
they say, fought against them and overcame Menalippe,
yet more by guile than by valor. Theseus, moreover, took
Hippolyte captive, and of her he begat Hippolytus. And
in later times the Amazons had a queen named Penthesilea,
famed in the tales of the Trojan war. These women
are said to have kept their power even to the time of
Aleander the Great.
[Sidenote: REIGN OF TELEFUS AND EURYPYLUS]
IX But say not "Why does a story which deals with 58
the men of the Goths have so much to say of their women?"
Hear, then, the tale of the famous and glorious
valor of the men. Now Dio, the historian and diligent
investigator of ancient times, who gave to his work the
title "Getica" (and the Getae we have proved in a previous
passage to be Goths, on the testimony of Orosius
Paulus)--this Dio, I say, makes mention of a later king
of theirs named Telefus. Let no one say that this name
is quite foreign to the Gothic tongue, and let no one who
is ignorant cavil at the fact that the tribes of men make
use of many names, even as the Romans borrow from the
Macedonians, the Greeks from the Romans, the Sarmatians
from the Germans, and the Goths frequently from
the Huns. This Telefus, then, a son of Hercules by 59
Auge, and the husband of a sister of Priam, was of
towering stature and terrible strength. He matched his
father's valor by virtues of his own and also recalled the
traits of Hercules by his likeness in appearance. Our
ancestors called his kingdom Moesia. This province has
on the east the mouths of the Danube, on the south
Macedonia, on the west Histria and on the north the
Danube. Now this king we have mentioned carried on 60
wars with the Greeks, and in their course he slew in battle
Thesander, the leader of Greece. But while he was making
a hostile attack upon Ajax and was pursuing Ulysses,
his horse became entangled in some vines and fell. He
himself was thrown and wounded in the thigh by a javelin
of Achilles, so that for a long time he could not be healed.
Yet, despite his wound, he drove the Greeks from his
land. Now when Telefus died, his son Eurypylus succeeded
to the throne, being a son of the sister of Priam,
king of the Phrygians. For love of Cassandra he sought
to take part in the Trojan war, that he might come to the
help of her parents and his own father-in-law; but soon
after his arrival he was killed.
[Sidenote: Cyrus the Great B.C. 559-529]
[Sidenote: QUEEN TOMYRIS AND CYRUS B.C. 529]
X Then Cyrus, king of the Persians, after a long 61
interval of almost exactly six hundred and thirty years
(as Pompeius Trogus relates), waged an unsuccessful
war against Tomyris, Queen of the Getae. Elated by his
victories in Asia, he strove to conquer the Getae, whose
queen, as I have said, was Tomyris. Though she could
have stopped the approach of Cyrus at the river Araxes,
yet she permitted him to cross, preferring to overcome
him in battle rather than to thwart him by advantage of 62
position. And so she did. As Cyrus approached, fortune
at first so favored the Parthians that they slew the son
of Tomyris and most of the army. But when the battle
was renewed, the Getae and their queen defeated, conquered
and overwhelmed the Parthians and took rich
plunder from them. There for the first time the race of
the Goths saw silken tents. After achieving this victory
and winning so much booty from her enemies, Queen
Tomyris crossed over into that part of Moesia which is
now called Lesser Scythia--a name borrowed from great
Scythia,--and built on the Moesian shore of Pontus the
city of Tomi, named after herself.
[Sidenote: DARIUS B.C. 521-485]
[Sidenote: DARIUS REPELLED]
Afterwards Darius, king of the Persians, the son of 63
Hystaspes, demanded in marriage the daughter of Antyrus,
king of the Goths, asking for her hand and at the
same time making threats in case they did not fulfil his
wish. The Goths spurned this alliance and brought his
embassy to naught. Inflamed with anger because his
offer had been rejected, he led an army of seven hundred
thousand armed men against them and sought to avenge
his wounded feelings by inflicting a public injury. Crossing
on boats covered with boards and joined like a bridge
almost the whole way from Chalcedon to Byzantium, he
started for Thrace and Moesia. Later he built a bridge
over the Danube in like manner, but he was wearied by
two brief months of effort and lost eight thousand armed
men among the Tapae. Then, fearing the bridge over the
Danube would be seized by his foes, he marched back to
Thrace in swift retreat, believing the land of Moesia
would not be safe for even a short sojourn there.
[Sidenote: Xerxes B.C. 485-465]
After his death, his son Xerxes planned to avenge his 64
father's wrongs and so proceeded to undertake a war
against the Goths with seven hundred thousand of his
own men and three hundred thousand armed auxiliaries,
twelve hundred ships of war and three thousand transports.
But he did not venture to try them in battle, being
overawed by their unyielding animosity. So he returned
with his force just as he had come, and without righting
a single battle.
[Sidenote: Philip of Macedon B.C. 359-336]
[Sidenote: SIEGE OF ODESSUS]
Then Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, made 65
alliance with the Goths and took to wife Medopa, the
daughter of King Gudila, so that he might render the
kingdom of Macedon more secure by the help of this
marriage. It was at this time, as the historian Dio relates,
that Philip, suffering from need of money, determined
to lead out his forces and sack Odessus, a city of
Moesia, which was then subject to the Goths by reason of
the neighboring city of Tomi. Thereupon those priests
of the Goths that are called the Holy Men suddenly
opened the gates of Odessus and came forth to meet them.
They bore harps and were clad in snowy robes, and
chanted in suppliant strains to the gods of their fathers
that they might be propitious and repel the Macedonians.
When the Macedonians saw them coming with such confidence
to meet them, they were astonished and, so to
speak, the armed were terrified by the unarmed. Straight-way
they broke the line they had formed for battle and
not only refrained from destroying the city, but even
gave back those whom they had captured outside by right
of war. Then they made a truce and returned to their
own country.
After a long time Sitalces, a famous leader of the 66
Goths, remembering this treacherous attempt, gathered a
hundred and fifty thousand men and made war upon the
Athenians, fighting against Perdiccas, King of Macedon.
This Perdiccas had been left by Alexander as his successor
to rule Athens by hereditary right, when he drank his
destruction at Babylon through the treachery of an attendant.
The Goths engaged in a great battle with him
and proved themselves to be the stronger. Thus in return
for the wrong which the Macedonians had long before
committed in Moesia, the Goths overran Greece and laid
waste the whole of Macedonia.
[Sidenote: Sulla's Dictatorship B.C. 82-79]
[Sidenote: THE WISE RULE OF DICINEUS]
[Sidenote: Caesar's Dictatorship B.C. 49-44]
[Sidenote: Tiberius A.D. 14-37]
XI Then when Buruista was king of the Goths, 67
Dicineus came to Gothia at the time when Sulla ruled the
Romans. Buruista received Dicineus and gave him almost
royal power. It was by his advice the Goths ravaged
the lands of the Germans, which the Franks now possess. 68
Then came Caesar, the first of all the Romans to assume
imperial power and to subdue almost the whole world,
who conquered all kingdoms and even seized islands lying
beyond our world, reposing in the bosom of Ocean. He
made tributary to the Romans those that knew not the
Roman name even by hearsay, and yet was unable to prevail
against the Goths, despite his frequent attempts.
Soon Gaius Tiberius reigned as third emperor of the
Romans, and yet the Goths continued in their kingdom
unharmed. Their safety, their advantage, their one hope 69
lay in this, that whatever their counsellor Dicineus advised
should by all means be done; and they judged it
expedient that they should labor for its accomplishment.
And when he saw that their minds were obedient to him
in all things and that they had natural ability, he taught
them almost the whole of philosophy, for he was a skilled
master of this subject. Thus by teaching them ethics he
restrained their barbarous customs; by imparting a knowledge
of physics he made them live naturally under laws
of their own, which they possess in written form to this
day and call _belagines_. He taught them logic and made
them skilled in reasoning beyond all other races; he
showed them practical knowledge and so persuaded them
to abound in good works. By demonstrating theoretical
knowledge he urged them to contemplate the twelve signs
and the courses of the planets passing through them, and
the whole of astronomy. He told them how the disc of
the moon gains increase or suffers loss, and showed them
how much the fiery globe of the sun exceeds in size our
earthly planet. He explained the names of the three hundred
and forty-six stars and told through what signs in
the arching vault of the heavens they glide swiftly from
their rising to their setting. Think, I pray you, what 70
pleasure it was for these brave men, when for a little
space they had leisure from warfare, to be instructed in
the teachings of philosophy! You might have seen one
scanning the position of the heavens and another investigating
the nature of plants and bushes. Here stood one
who studied the waxing and waning of the moon, while
still another regarded the labors of the sun and observed
how those bodies which were hastening to go toward the
east are whirled around and borne back to the west by
the rotation of the heavens. When they had learned the 71
reason, they were at rest. These and various other matters
Dicineus taught the Goths in his wisdom and gained
marvellous repute among them, so that he ruled not only
the common men but their kings. He chose from among
them those that were at that time of noblest birth and
superior wisdom and taught them theology, bidding them
worship certain divinities and holy places. He gave the
name of Pilleati to the priests he ordained, I suppose
because they offered sacrifice having their heads covered
with tiaras, which we otherwise call _pillei_. But he bade
them call the rest of their race Capillati. This name the 72
Goths accepted and prized highly and they retain it to
this day in their songs.
After the death of Dicineus, they held Comosicus in 73
almost equal honor, because he was not inferior in knowledge.
By reason of his wisdom he was accounted their
priest and king, and he judged the people with the greatest
uprightness.
[Sidenote: DACIA]
XII When he too had departed from human affairs,
Coryllus ascended the throne as king of the Goths and for
forty years ruled his people in Dacia. I mean ancient
Dacia, which the race of the Gepidae now possess. This
country lies across the Danube within sight of Moesia, 74
and is surrounded by a crown of mountains. It has only
two ways of access, one by way of the Boutae and the
other by the Tapae. This Gothia, which our ancestors
called Dacia and now, as I have said, is called Gepidia,
was then bounded on the east by the Roxolani, on the west
by the Iazyges, on the north by the Sarmatians and Basternae
and on the south by the river Danube. The Iazyges
are separated from the Roxolani by the Aluta river only.
[Sidenote: THE DANUBE]
And since mention has been made of the Danube, I 75
think it not out of place to make brief notice of so excellent
a stream. Rising in the fields of the Alamanni, it
receives sixty streams which flow into it here and there
in the twelve hundred miles from its source to its mouths
in the Pontus, resembling a spine inwoven with ribs like
a basket. It is indeed a most vast river. In the language
of the Bessi it is called the Hister, and it has profound
waters in its channel to a depth of quite two hundred feet.
This stream surpasses in size all other rivers, except the
Nile. Let this much suffice for the Danube. But let us
now with the Lord's help return to the subject from which
we have digressed.
[Sidenote: Domitian A.D. 81-96]
[Sidenote: WAR WITH DOMITIAN]
XIII Now after a long time, in the reign of the 76
Emperor Domitian, the Goths, through fear of his avarrice,
broke the truce they had long observed under other
emperors. They laid waste the bank of the Danube, so
long held by the Roman Empire, and slew the soldiers and
their generals. Oppius Sabinus was then in command of
that province, succeeding Agrippa, while Dorpaneus held
command over the Goths. Thereupon the Goths made
war and conquered the Romans, cut off the head of
Oppius Sabinus, and invaded and boldly plundered many
castles and cities belonging to the Emperor. In this plight 77
of his countrymen Domitian hastened with all his might
to Illyricum, bringing with him the troops of almost
the entire empire. He sent Fuscus before him as his
general with picked soldiers. Then joining boats together
like a bridge, he made his soldiers cross the river
Danube above the army of Dorpaneus. But the Goths 78
were on the alert. They took up arms and presently overwhelmed
the Romans in the first encounter. They slew
Fuscus, the commander, and plundered the soldiers' camp
of its treasure. And because of the great victory they
had won in this region, they thereafter called their leaders,
by whose good fortune they seemed to have conquered,
not mere men, but demigods, that is Ansis. Their
genealogy I shall run through briefly, telling the lineage
of each and the beginning and the end of this line. And
do thou, O reader, hear me without repining; for I speak
truly.
[Sidenote: GENEALOGY OF THE ANSIS OR AMALI]
XIV Now the first of these heroes, as they themselves 79
relate in their legends, was Gapt, who begat
Hulmul. And Hulmul begat Augis; and Augis begat
him who was called Amal, from whom the name of the
Amali comes. This Amal begat Hisarnis. Hisarnis
moreover begat Ostrogotha, and Ostrogotha begat Hunuil,
and Hunuil likewise begat Athal. Athal begat
Achiulf and Oduulf. Now Achiulf begat Ansila and
Ediulf, Vultuulf and Hermanaric. And Vultuulf begat
Valaravans and Valaravans begat Vinitharius. Vinitharius
moreover begat Vandalarius; Vandalarius begat 80
Thiudimer and Valamir and Vidimer; and Thiudimer
begat Theodoric. Theodoric begat Amalasuentha; Amalasuentha
bore Athalaric and Mathesuentha to her husband
Eutharic, whose race was thus joined to hers in
kinship. For the aforesaid Hermanaric, the son of 81
Achiulf, begat Hunimund, and Hunimund begat Thorismud.
Now Thorismud begat Beremud, Beremud begat
Veteric, and Veteric likewise begat Eutharic, who married
Amalasuentha and begat Athalaric and Mathesuentha.
Athalaric died in the years of his childhood, and
Mathesuentha married Vitiges, to whom she bore no
child. Both of them were taken together by Belisarius to
Constantinople. When Vitiges passed from human affairs,
Germanus the patrician, a cousin of the Emperor
Justinian, took Mathesuentha in marriage and made her
a Patrician Ordinary. And of her he begat a son, also
called Germanus. But upon the death of Germanus, she
determined to remain a widow. Now how and in what
wise the kingdom of the Amali was overthrown we shall
keep to tell in its proper place, if the Lord help us.
But let us now return to the point whence we made our 82
digression and tell how the stock of this people of whom
I speak reached the end of its course. Now Ablabius the
historian relates that in Scythia, where we have said that
they were dwelling above an arm of the Pontic Sea, part
of them who held the eastern region and whose king was
Ostrogotha, were called Ostrogoths, that is, eastern
Goths, either from his name or from the place. But the
rest were called Visigoths, that is, the Goths of the western
country.
[Sidenote: MAXIMINUS, THE GOTH WHO BECAME A ROMAN EMPEROR]
[Sidenote: Septimius Severus A.D. 193-211]
[Sidenote: Antoninus Caracalla A.D. 198-217]
[Sidenote: Macrinus A.D. 217-218]
[Sidenote: Antoninus Elagabalus A.D. 218-222]
[Sidenote: Alexander A.D. 222-235]
[Sidenote: Maximinus A.D. 235-238]
[Sidenote: Pupienus A.D. 238]
XV As already said, they crossed the Danube and 83
dwelt a little while in Moesia and Thrace. From the
remnant of these came Maximinus, the Emperor succeeding
Alexander the son of Mama. For Symmachus relates
it thus in the fifth book of his history, saying that
upon the death of Caesar Alexander, Maximinus was
made Emperor by the army; a man born in Thrace of
most humble parentage, his father being a Goth named
Micca, and his mother a woman of the Alani called
Ababa. He reigned three years and lost alike his empire
and his life while making war on the Christians. Now 84
after his first years spent in rustic life, he had come from
his flocks to military service in the reign of the Emperor
Severus and at the time when he was celebrating his
son's birthday. It happened that the Emperor was giving
military games. When Maximinus saw this, although he
was a semi-barbarian youth, he besought the Emperor in
his native tongue to give him permission to wrestle with 85
the trained soldiers for the prizes offered. Severus marvelling
much at his great size--for his stature, it is said,
was more than eight feet,--bade him contend in wrestling
with the camp followers, in order that no injury might
befall his soldiers at the hands of this wild fellow. Thereupon
Maximinus threw sixteen attendants with so great
ease that he conquered them one by one without taking
any rest by pausing between the bouts. So then, when
he had won the prizes, it was ordered that he should be
sent into the army and should take his first campaign with
the cavalry. On the third day after this, when the Emperor
went out to the field, he saw him coursing about
in barbarian fashion and bade a tribune restrain him and
teach him Roman discipline. But when he understood
it was the Emperor who was speaking about him, he came 86
forward and began to run ahead of him as he rode. Then
the Emperor spurred on his horse to a slow trot and
wheeled in many a circle hither and thither with various
turns, until he was weary. And then he said to him "Are
you willing to wrestle now after your running, my little
Thracian?" "As much as you like, O Emperor," he
answered. So Severus leaped from his horse and ordered
the freshest soldiers to wrestle with him. But he threw
to the ground seven very powerful youths, even as before,
taking no breathing space between the bouts. So he alone
was given prizes of silver and a golden necklace by Caesar.
Then he was bidden to serve in the body guard of
the Emperor. After this he was an officer under Antoninus 87
Caracalla, often increasing his fame by his deeds,
and rose to many military grades and finally to the centurionship
as the reward of his active service. Yet afterwards,
when Macrinus became Emperor, he refused military
service for almost three years, and though he held
the office of tribune, he never came into the presence of
Macrinus, thinking his rule shameful because he had won
it by committing a crime. Then he returned to Eliogabalus, 88
believing him to be the son of Antoninus, and
entered upon his tribuneship. After his reign, he fought
with marvellous success against the Parthians, under
Alexander the son of Mama. When he was slain in an
uprising of the soldiers at Mogontiacum, Maximinus
himself was made Emperor by a vote of the army, without
a decree of the senate. But he marred all his good
deeds by persecuting the Christians in accordance with
an evil vow and, being slain by Pupienus at Aquileia, left
the kingdom to Philip. These matters we have borrowed
from the history of Symmachus for this our little book,
in order to show that the race of which we speak attained
to the very highest station in the Roman Empire. But
our subject requires us to return in due order to the point
whence we digressed.
[Sidenote: KING OSTROGOTHA WARS WITH PHILIP]
[Sidenote: Philip pater A.D. 244-249 "The Arabian"]
[Sidenote: Philip filius A.D. 247-249]
XVI Now the Gothic race gained great fame in the 89
region where they were then dwelling, that is in the
Scythian land on the shore of Pontus, holding undisputed
sway over great stretches of country, many arms of the
sea and many river courses. By their strong right arm
the Vandals were often laid low, the Marcomanni held
their footing by paying tribute and the princes of the
Quadi were reduced to slavery. Now when the aforesaid
Philip--who, with his son Philip, was the only Christian
emperor before Constantine--ruled over the Romans, in
the second year of his reign Rome completed its one
thousandth year. He withheld from the Goths the tribute
due them; whereupon they were naturally enraged and
instead of friends became his foes. For though they dwelt
apart under their own kings, yet they had been allied to
the Roman state and received annual gifts. And what 90
more? Ostrogotha and his men soon crossed the Danube
and ravaged Moesia and Thrace. Philip sent the senator
Decius against him. And since he could do nothing
against the Getae, he released his own soldiers from military
service and sent them back to private life, as though
it had been by their neglect that the Goths had crossed the
Danube. When, as he supposed, he had thus taken vengeance
on his soldiers, he returned to Philip. But when
the soldiers found themselves expelled from the army
after so many hardships, in their anger they had recourse
to the protection of Ostrogotha, king of the Goths. He 91
received them, was aroused by their words and presently
led out three hundred thousand armed men, having as
allies for this war some of the Taifali and Astringi and
also three thousand of the Carpi, a race of men very ready
to make war and frequently hostile to the Romans. But
in later times when Diocletian and Maximian were Emperors,
the Caesar Galerius Maximianus conquered them
and made them tributary to the Roman Empire. Besides
these tribes, Ostrogotha had Goths and Peucini from the
island of Peucë, which lies in the mouths of the Danube
where they empty into the Sea of Pontus. He placed in
command Argaithus and Guntheric, the noblest leaders 92
of his race. They speedily crossed the Danube, devastated
Moesia a second time and approached Marcianople,
the famed metropolis of that land. Yet after a long siege
they departed, upon receiving money from the inhabitants.
[Sidenote: MARCIANOPLE]
[Sidenote: THE GEPIDAE AND THEIR DEFEAT BY OSTROGOTHA]
Now since we have mentioned Marcianople, we may 93
briefly relate a few matters in connection with its founding.
They say that the Emperor Trajan built this city
for the following reason. While his sister's daughter
Marcia was bathing in the stream called Potamus--a
river of great clearness and purity that rises in the midst
of the city--she wished to draw some water from it and
by chance dropped into its depths the golden pitcher she
was carrying. Yet though very heavy from its weight
of metal, it emerged from the waves a long time afterwards.
It surely is not a usual thing for an empty vessel
to sink; much less that, when once swallowed up, it should
be cast up by the waves and float again. Trajan marvelled
at hearing this and believed there was some divinity
in the stream. So he built a city and called it Marcianople
after the name of his sister.
XVII From this city, then, as we were saying, the 94
Getae returned after a long siege to their own land, enriched
by the ransom they had received. Now the race
of the Gepidae was moved with envy when they saw them
laden with booty and so suddenly victorious everywhere,
and made war on their kinsmen. Should you ask how
the Getae and Gepidae are kinsmen, I can tell you in a
few words. You surely remember that in the beginning
I said the Goths went forth from the bosom of the island
of Scandza with Berig, their king, sailing in only three
ships toward the hither shore of Ocean, namely to
Gothiscandza. One of these three ships proved to be 95
slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is
said to have given the tribe their name, for in their
language _gepanta_ means slow. Hence it came to pass
that gradually and by corruption the name Gepidae was
coined for them by way of reproach. For undoubtedly
they too trace their origin from the stock of the Goths,
but because, as I have said, _gepanta_ means something
slow and stolid, the word Gepidae arose as a gratuitous
name of reproach. I do not believe this is very far
wrong, for they are slow of thought and too sluggish for
quick movement of their bodies.
These Gepidae were then smitten by envy while they 96
dwelt in the province of Spesis on an island surrounded
by the shallow waters of the Vistula. This island they
called, in the speech of their fathers, Gepedoios; but it is
now inhabited by the race of the Vividarii, since the
Gepidae themselves have moved to better lands. The
Vividarii are gathered from various races into this one
asylum, if I may call it so, and thus they form a nation.
So then, as we were saying, Fastida, king of the Gepidae, 97
stirred up his quiet people to enlarge their boundaries by
war. He overwhelmed the Burgundians, almost annihilating
them, and conquered a number of other races also.
He unjustly provoked the Goths, being the first to break
the bonds of kinship by unseemly strife. He was greatly
puffed up with vain glory, but in seeking to acquire new
lands for his growing nation, he only reduced the numbers
of his own countrymen. For he sent ambassadors 98
to Ostrogotha, to whose rule Ostrogoths and Visigoths
alike, that is, the two peoples of the same tribe, were still
subject. Complaining that he was hemmed in by rugged
mountains and dense forests, he demanded one of two
things,--that Ostrogotha should either prepare for war
or give up part of his lands to them. Then Ostrogotha, 99
king of the Goths, who was a man of firm mind, answered
the ambassadors that he did indeed dread such a
war and that it would be a grievous and infamous thing
to join battle with their kin,--but he would not give up
his lands. And why say more? The Gepidae hastened
to take arms and Ostrogotha likewise moved his forces
against them, lest he should seem a coward. They met
at the town of Galtis, near which the river Auha flows
and there both sides fought with great valor; indeed the
similarity of their arms and of their manner of fighting
turned them against their own men. But the better cause
and their natural alertness aided the Goths. Finally night 100
put an end to the battle as a part of the Gepidae were
giving way. Then Fastida, king of the Gepidae, left the
field of slaughter and hastened to his own land, as much
humiliated with shame and disgrace as formerly he had
been elated with pride. The Goths returned victorious,
content with the retreat of the Gepidae, and dwelt in
peace and happiness in their own land so long as Ostrogotha
was their leader.
[Sidenote: KING CNIVA AT WAR WITH DECIUS]
[Sidenote: Decius A.D. 249-251]
[Sidenote: Capture of Philippopolis A.D. 250]
[Sidenote: Death of Decius at Abrittus A.D. 251]
XVIII After his death, Cniva divided the army into 101
two parts and sent some to waste Moesia, knowing that it
was undefended through the neglect of the emperors.
He himself with seventy thousand men hastened to
Euscia, that is, Novae. When driven from this place by
the general Gallus, he approached Nicopolis, a very famous
town situated near the Iatrus river. This city
Trajan built when he conquered the Sarmatians and
named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius
drew near, Cniva at last withdrew to the regions of
Haemus, which were not far distant. Thence he hastened
to Philippopolis, with his forces in good array. When 102
the Emperor Decius learned of his departure, he was
eager to bring relief to his own city and, crossing Mount
Haemus, came to Beroa. While he was resting his horses
and his weary army in that place, all at once Cniva and
his Goths fell upon him like a thunderbolt. He cut the
Roman army to pieces and drove the Emperor, with a
few who had succeeded in escaping, across the Alps again
to Euscia in Moesia, where Gallus was then stationed
with a large force of soldiers as guardian of the frontier.
Collecting an army from this region as well as from
Oescus, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war.
But Cniva took Philippopolis after a long siege and then, 103
laden with spoil, allied himself to Priscus, the commander
in the city, to fight against Decius. In the battle that
followed they quickly pierced the son of Decius with an
arrow and cruelly slew him. The father saw this, and
although he is said to have exclaimed, to cheer the hearts
of his soldiers: "Let no one mourn; the death of one
soldier is not a great loss to the republic", he was yet
unable to endure it, because of his love for his son. So
he rode against the foe, demanding either death or vengeance,
and when he came to Abrittus, a city of Moesia,
he was himself cut off by the Goths and slain, thus making
an end of his dominion and of his life. This place
is to-day called the Altar of Decius, because he there
offered strange sacrifices to idols before the battle.
(THE GOTHS IN THE TIME OF GALLUS, VOLUSIANUS AND AEMILIANUS)
[Sidenote: Gallus A.D. 251-253]
[Sidenote: Volusianus A.D. 252-253]
[Sidenote: Aemilianus A.D. 253]
[Sidenote: The Plague A.D. 252-267]
[Sidenote: Gallienus A.D. 253-268]
XIX Then upon the death of Decius, Gallus and 104
Volusianus succeeded to the Roman Empire. At this
time a destructive plague, almost like death itself, such
as we suffered nine years ago, blighted the face of the
whole earth and especially devastated Alexandria and all
the land of Egypt. The historian Dionysius gives a
mournful account of it and Cyprian, our own bishop and
venerable martyr in Christ, also describes it in his book
entitled "On Mortality". At this time the Goths frequently
ravaged Moesia, through the neglect of the Emperors.
When a certain Aemilianus saw that they were 105
free to do this, and that they could not be dislodged by
anyone without great cost to the republic, he thought that
he too might be able to achieve fame and fortune. So he
seized the rule in Moesia and, taking all the soldiers he
could gather, began to plunder cities and people. In the
next few months, while an armed host was being gathered
against him, he wrought no small harm to the state.
Yet he died almost at the beginning of his evil attempt,
thus losing at once his life and the power he coveted.
Now though Gallus and Volusianus, the Emperors we 106
have mentioned, departed this life after remaining in
power for barely two years, yet during this space of two
years which they spent on earth they reigned amid universal
peace and favor. Only one thing was laid to their
charge, namely the great plague. But this was an accusation
made by ignorant slanderers, whose custom it is
to wound the lives of others with their malicious bite.
Soon after they came to power they made a treaty with
the race of the Goths. When both rulers were dead, it
was no long time before Gallienus usurped the throne.
[Sidenote: THE GOTHS PLUNDER ASIA MINOR A.D. 262 or 263]
XX While he was given over to luxurious living of 107
every sort, Respa, Veduc and Thuruar, leaders of the
Goths, took ship and sailed across the strait of the Hellespont
to Asia. There they laid waste many populous
cities and set fire to the renowned temple of Diana at
Ephesus, which, as we said before, the Amazons built.
Being driven from the neighborhood of Bithynia, they
destroyed Chalcedon, which Cornelius Avitus afterwards
restored to some extent. Yet even to-day, though it is
happily situated near the royal city, it still shows some
traces of its ruin as a witness to posterity. After their 108
success, the Goths recrossed the strait of the Hellespont,
laden with booty and spoil, and returned along the same
route by which they had entered the lands of Asia, sacking
Troy and Ilium on the way. These cities, which had
scarce recovered a little from the famous war with Agamemnon,
were thus destroyed anew by the hostile sword.
After the Goths had thus devastated Asia, Thrace next
felt their ferocity. For they went thither and presently
attacked Anchiali, a city at the foot of Haemus and not
far from the sea. Sardanapalus, king of the Parthians,
had built this city long ago between an inlet of the sea
and the base of Haemus. There they are said to have 109
stayed for many days, enjoying the baths of the hot
springs which are situated about twelve miles from the
city of Anchiali. There they gush from the depths of
their fiery source, and among the innumerable hot springs
of the world they are esteemed as specially famous and
efficacious for their healing virtues.
(THE TIMES OF DIOCLETIAN)
[Sidenote: Diocletian 284-305]
[Sidenote: Masimian 284-305]
XXI After these events, the Goths had already returned 110
home when they were summoned at the request
of the Emperor Maximian to aid the Romans against the
Parthians. They fought for him faithfully, serving as
auxiliaries. But after Caesar Maximian by their aid had
routed Narseus, king of the Persians, the grandson of
Sapor the Great, taking as spoil all his possessions, together
with his wives and his sons, and when Diocletian
had conquered Achilles in Alexandria and Maximianus
Herculius had broken the Quinquegentiani in Africa, thus
winning peace for the empire, they began rather to neglect
the Goths.
[Sidenote: Constantine I 306-337]
[Sidenote: Licinius 307-323]
Now it had long been a hard matter for the Roman 111
army to fight against any nations whatsoever without
them. This is evident from the way in which the Goths
were so frequently called upon. Thus they were summoned
by Constantine to bear arms against his kinsman
Licinius. Later, when he was vanquished and shut up
Thessalonica and deprived of his power, they slew him
with the sword of Constantine the victor. In like manner 112
it was the aid of the Goths that enabled him to build the
famous city that is named after him, the rival of Rome,
inasmuch as they entered into a truce with the Emperor
and furnished him forty thousand men to aid him against
various peoples. This body of men, namely, the Allies,
and the service they rendered in war are still spoken of in
the land to this day. Now at that time they prospered
under the rule of their kings Ariaric and Aoric. Upon
their death Geberich appeared as successor to the throne,
a man renowned for his valor and noble birth.
[Sidenote: GEBERICH CONQUERS THE VANDALS 336]
XXII For he was the son of Hilderith, who was the 113
son of Ovida, who was the son of Nidada; and by his
illustrious deeds he equalled the glory of his race. Soon
he sought to enlarge his country's narrow bounds at the
expense of the race of the Vandals and Visimar, their
king. This Visimar was of the stock of the Asdingi,
which is eminent among them and indicates a most warlike
descent, as Dexippus the historian relates. He states
furthermore that by reason of the great extent of their
country they could scarcely come from Ocean to our frontier
in a year's time. At that time they dwelt in the land
where the Gepidae now live, near the rivers Marisia,
Miliare, Gilpil and the Grisia, which exceeds in size all
previously mentioned. They then had on the east the 114
Goths, on the west the Marcomanni, on the north the
Hermunduli and on the south the Hister, which is also
called the Danube. At the time when the Vandals were
dwelling in this region, war was begun against them by
Geberich, king of the Goths, on the shore of the river
Marisia which I have mentioned. Here the battle raged
for a little while on equal terms. But soon Visimar himself,
the king of the Vandals, was overthrown, together
with the greater part of his people. When Geberich, the 115
famous leader of the Goths, had conquered and spoiled
Vandals, he returned to his own place whence he had
come. Then the remnant of the Vandals who had escaped,
collecting a band of their unwarlike folk, left their
ill-fated country and asked the Emperor Constantine for
Pannonia. Here they made their home for about sixty
years and obeyed the commands of the emperors like
subjects. A long time afterward they were summoned
thence by Stilicho, Master of the Soldiery, Ex-Consul and
Patrician, and took possession of Gaul. Here they plundered
their neighbors and had no settled place of abode.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF THE HERCULI, VENETHI AND AESTI]
XXIII Soon Geberich, king of the Goths, departed 116
from human affairs and Hermanaric, noblest of the
Amali, succeeded to the throne. He subdued many warlike
peoples of the north and made them obey his laws,
and some of our ancestors have justly compared him to
Alexander the Great. Among the tribes he conquered
were the Golthescytha, Thiudos, Inaunxis, Vasinabroncae,
Merens, Mordens, Imniscaris, Rogas, Tadzans, Athaul, 117
Navego, Bubegenae and Coldae. But though famous
for his conquest of so many races, he gave himself no rest
until he had slain some in battle and then reduced to his
sway the remainder of the tribe of the Heruli, whose chief
was Alaric. Now the aforesaid race, as the historian
Ablabius tells us, dwelt near Lake Maeotis in swampy
places which the Greeks call _hel[=e]_; hence they were named
Heluri. They were a people swift of foot, and on that
account were the more swollen with pride, for there was 118
at that time no race that did not choose from them its
light-armed troops for battle. But though their quickness
often saved them from others who made war upon them,
yet they were overthrown by the slowness and steadiness
of the Goths; and the lot of fortune brought it to pass
that they, as well as the other tribes, had to serve Hermanaric,
king of the Getae. After the slaughter of the 119
Heruli, Hermanaric also took arms against the Venethi.
This people, though despised in war, was strong in numbers
and tried to resist him. But a multitude of cowards
is of no avail, particularly when God permits an armed
multitude to attack them. These people, as we started
to say at the beginning of our account or catalogue of
nations, though off-shoots from one stock, have now
three names, that is, Venethi, Antes and Sclaveni. Though
they now rage in war far and wide, in punishment for
our sins, yet at that time they were all obedient to Hermanaric's
commands. This ruler also subdued by his 120
wisdom and might the race of the Aesti, who dwell on
the farthest shore of the German Ocean, and ruled all the
nations of Scythia and Germany by his own prowess
alone.
[Sidenote: ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE HUNS]
XXIV But after a short space of time, as Orosius 121
relates, the race of the Huns, fiercer than ferocity itself,
flamed forth against the Goths. We learn from old traditions
that their origin was as follows: Filimer, king of
the Goths, son of Gadaric the Great, who was the fifth in
succession to hold the rule of the Getae after their departure
from the island of Scandza,--and who, as we have
said, entered the land of Scythia with his tribe,--found
among his people certain witches, whom he called in his
native tongue Haliurunnae. Suspecting these women, he
expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled
them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army.
There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered 122
through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces
upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at
first in the swamps,--a stunted, foul and puny tribe,
scarcely human, and having no language save one which
bore slight resemblance to human speech. Such was
the descent of the Huns who came to the country of the
Goths.
This cruel tribe, as Priscus the historian relates, settled 123
on the farther bank of the Maeotic swamp. They
were fond of hunting and had no skill in any other
art. After they had grown to a nation, they disturbed
the peace of neighboring races by theft and rapine. At
one time, while hunters of their tribe were as usual seeking
for game on the farthest edge of Maeotis, they
saw a doe unexpectedly appear to their sight and enter
the swamp, acting as guide of the way; now advancing
and again standing still. The hunters followed and 124
crossed on foot the Maeotic swamp, which they had
supposed was impassable as the sea. Presently the
unknown land of Scythia disclosed itself and the doe
disappeared. Now in my opinion the evil spirits, from
whom the Huns are descended, did this from envy of the
Scythians. And the Huns, who had been wholly ignorant 125
that there was another world beyond Maeotis, were now
filled with admiration for the Scythian land. As they
were quick of mind, they believed that this path, utterly
unknown to any age of the past, had been divinely revealed
to them. They returned to their tribe, told them
what had happened, praised Scythia and persuaded the
people to hasten thither along the way they had found
by the guidance of the doe. As many as they captured,
when they thus entered Scythia for the first time, they
sacrificed to Victory. The remainder they conquered
and made subject to themselves. Like a whirlwind of 126
nations they swept across the great swamp and at once
fell upon the Alpidzuri, Alcildzuri, Itimari, Tuncarsi and
Boisci, who bordered on that part of Scythia. The Alani
also, who were their equals in battle, but unlike them in
civilization, manners and appearance, they exhausted by
their incessant attacks and subdued. For by the terror 127
of their features they inspired great fear in those whom
perhaps they did not really surpass in war. They made
their foes flee in horror because their swarthy aspect was
fearful, and they had, if I may call it so, a sort of shapeless
lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather than eyes.
Their hardihood is evident in their wild appearance, and
they are beings who are cruel to their children on the
very day they are born. For they cut the cheeks of the
males with a sword, so that before they receive the nourishment
of milk they must learn to endure wounds.
Hence they grow old beardless and their young men are 128
without comeliness, because a face furrowed by the sword
spoils by its scars the natural beauty of a beard. They
are short in stature, quick in bodily movement, alert
horsemen, broad shouldered, ready in the use of bow and
arrow, and have firm-set necks which are ever erect in
pride. Though they live in the form of men, they have
the cruelty of wild beasts.
[Sidenote: FIRST IRRUPTION OF THE HUNS as early as 375]
When the Getae beheld this active race that had invaded 129
many nations, they took fright and consulted with
their king how they might escape from such a foe. Now
although Hermanaric, king of the Goths, was the conqueror
of many tribes, as we have said above, yet while
he was deliberating on this invasion of the Huns, the
treacherous tribe of the Rosomoni, who at that time were
among those who owed him their homage, took this
chance to catch him unawares. For when the king had
given orders that a certain woman of the tribe I have
mentioned, Sunilda by name, should be bound to wild
horses and torn apart by driving them at full speed in
opposite directions (for he was roused to fury by her
husband's treachery to him), her brothers Sarus and
Immius came to avenge their sister's death and plunged
a sword into Hermanaric's side. Enfeebled by this blow,
he dragged out a miserable existence in bodily weakness.
Balamber, king of the Huns, took advantage of his ill 130
health to move an army into the country of the Ostrogoths,
from whom the Visigoths had already separated
because of some dispute. Meanwhile Hermanaric, who
was unable to endure either the pain of his wound or the
inroads of the Huns, died full of days at the great age of
one hundred and ten years. The fact of his death enabled
the Huns to prevail over those Goths who, as we have
said, dwelt in the East and were called Ostrogoths.
(The Divided Goths: Visigoths)
[Sidenote: Valentinian I 364-375]
[Sidenote: THE VISIGOTHS SETTLE IN THRACE AND MOESIA 376]
[Sidenote: Valens 364-378]
XXV The Visigoths, who were their other allies and 131
inhabitants of the western country, were terrified as their
kinsmen had been, and knew not how to plan for safety
against the race of the Huns. After long deliberation by
common consent they finally sent ambassadors into Romania
to the Emperor Valens, brother of Valentinian,
the elder Emperor, to say that if he would give them part
of Thrace or Moesia to keep, they would submit themselves
to his laws and commands. That he might have
greater confidence in them, they promised to become
Christians, if he would give them teachers who spoke
their language. When Valens learned this, he gladly and 132
promptly granted what he had himself intended to ask.
He received the Getae into the region of Moesia and
placed them there as a wall of defense for his kingdom
against other tribes. And since at that time the Emperor
Valens, who was infected with the Arian perfidy, had
closed all the churches of our party, he sent as preachers
to them those who favored his sect. They came and
straightway filled a rude and ignorant people with the
poison of their heresy. Thus the Emperor Valens made
the Visigoths Arians rather than Christians. Moreover 133
from the love they bore them, they preached the gospel
both to the Ostrogoths and to their kinsmen the Gepidae,
teaching them to reverence this heresy, and they invited
all people of their speech everywhere to attach themselves
to this sect. They themselves as we have said, crossed
the Danube and settled Dacia Ripensis, Moesia and
Thrace by permission of the Emperor.
[Sidenote: FAMINE 376-377]
XXVI Soon famine and want came upon them, as 134
often happens to a people not yet well settled in a country.
Their princes and the leaders who ruled them in
place of kings, that is Fritigern, Alatheus and Safrac,
began to lament the plight of their army and begged
Lupicinus and Maximus, the Roman commanders, to
open a market. But to what will not the "cursed lust for
gold" compel men to assent? The generals, swayed by
avarice, sold them at a high price not only the flesh of
sheep and oxen, but even the carcasses of dogs and unclean
animals, so that a slave would be bartered for a loaf
of bread or ten pounds of meat. When their goods and 135
chattels failed, the greedy trader demanded their sons in
return for the necessities of life. And the parents consented
even to this, in order to provide for the safety of
their children, arguing that it was better to lose liberty
than life; and indeed it is better that one be sold, if he
will be mercifully fed, than that he should be kept free
only to die.
[Sidenote: TREACHERY OF THE ROMANS]
Now it came to pass in that troublous time that Lupicinus,
the Roman general, invited Fritigern, a chieftain
of the Goths, to a feast and, as the event revealed,
devised a plot against him. But Fritigern, thinking 136
evil came to the feast with a few followers. While
he was dining in the praetorium he heard the dying
cries of his ill-fated men, for, by order of the general,
the soldiers were slaying his companions who were shut
up in another part of the house. The loud cries of the
dying fell upon ears already suspicious, and Fritigern at
once perceived the treacherous trick. He drew his sword
and with great courage dashed quickly from the banqueting-hall,
rescued his men from their threatening doom
and incited them to slay the Romans. Thus these valiant 137
men gained the chance they had longed for--to be free to
die in battle rather than to perish of hunger--and immediately
took arms to kill the generals Lupicinus and
Maximus. Thus that day put an end to the famine of the
Goths and the safety of the Romans, for the Goths no
longer as strangers and pilgrims, but as citizens and lords,
began to rule the inhabitants and to hold in their own
right all the northern country as far as the Danube.
[Sidenote: EMPEROR VALENS DEFEATED AND SLAIN A.D. 378]
When the Emperor Valens heard of this at Antioch, 138
he made ready an army at once and set out for the country
of Thrace. Here a grievous battle took place and the
Goths prevailed. The Emperor himself was wounded and
fled to a farm near Hadrianople. The Goths, not knowing
that an emperor lay hidden in so poor a hut, set fire
to it (as is customary in dealing with a cruel foe), and
thus he was cremated in royal splendor. Plainly it was
a direct judgment of God that he should be burned with
fire by the very men whom he had perfidiously led astray
when they sought the true faith, turning them aside from
the flame of love into the fire of hell. From this time the
Visigoths, in consequence of their glorious victory, possessed
Thrace and Dacia Ripensis as if it were their native
land.
[Sidenote: Gratian 367-383]
[Sidenote: HOSTILE RELATIONS WITH ROME ENDED BY A TRUCE]
[Sidenote: Theodosius 379-305]
XXVII Now in the place of Valens, his uncle, the 139
Emperor Gratian established Theodosius the Spaniard in
the Eastern Empire. Military discipline was soon restored
to a high level, and the Goth, perceiving that the
cowardice and sloth of former princes was ended, became
afraid. For the Emperor was famed alike for his acuteness
and discretion. By stern commands and by generosity
and kindness he encouraged a demoralized army to
deeds of daring. But when the soldiers, who had obtained 140
a better leader by the change, gained new confidence,
they sought to attack the Goths and drive them
from the borders of Thrace. But as the Emperor Theodosius
fell so sick at this time that his life was almost
despaired of, the Goths were again inspired with courage.
Dividing the Gothic army, Fritigern set out to plunder
Thessaly, Epirus and Achaia, while Alatheus and Safrac
with the rest of the troops made for Pannonia. Now the 141
Emperor Gratian had at this time retreated from Rome to
Gaul because of the invasions of the Vandals. When he
learned that the Goths were acting with greater boldness
because Theodosius was in despair of his life, he quickly
gathered an army and came against them. Yet he put no
trust in arms, but sought to conquer them by kindness and
gifts. So he entered on a truce with them and made
peace, giving them provisions.
[Sidenote: PEACE CONFIRMED BY THEODOSIUS 380]
[Sidenote: DEATH OF KING ATHANARIC AT CONSTANTINOPLE 381]
XXVIII When the Emperor Theodosius afterwards 142
recovered and learned that the Emperor Gratian had
made a compact between the Goths and the Romans, as
he had himself desired, he took it very graciously and
gave his assent. He gave gifts to King Athanaric, who
had succeeded Fritigern, made an alliance with him and
in the most gracious manner invited him to visit him in
Constantinople. Athanaric very gladly consented and 143
as he entered the royal city exclaimed in wonder "Lo,
now I see what I have often heard of with unbelieving
ears," meaning the great and famous city. Turning his
eyes hither and thither, he marvelled as he beheld the
situation of the city, the coming and going of the ships,
the splendid walls, and the people of divers nations gathered
like a flood of waters streaming from different regions
into one basin. So too, when he saw the army in
array, he said "Truly the Emperor is a god on earth, and
whoso raises a hand against him is guilty of his own
blood." In the midst of his admiration and the enjoyment 144
of even greater honors at the hand of the emperor,
he departed this life after the space of a few months.
The emperor had such affection for him that he honored
Athanaric even more when he was dead than during his
life-time, for he not only gave him a worthy burial, but
himself walked before the bier at the funeral. Now when 145
Athanaric was dead, his whole army continued in the
service of the Emperor Theodosius and submitted to the
Roman rule, forming as it were one body with the imperial
soldiery. The former service of the Allies under the
Emperor Constantine was now renewed and they were
again called Allies. And since the Emperor knew that
they were faithful to him and his friends, he took from
their number more than twenty thousand warriors to
serve against the tyrant Eugenius who had slain Gratian
and seized Gaul. After winning the victory over this
usurper, he wreaked his vengeance upon him.
[Sidenote: ALARIC I KING OF THE GOTHS 395-410]
[Sidenote: Stilicho and Aurelian Consuls in 400]
XXIX But after Theodosius, the lover of peace and 146
of the Gothic race, had passed from human cares, his
sons began to ruin both empires by their luxurious living
and to deprive their Allies, that is to say the Goths, of the
customary gifts. The contempt of the Goths for the
Romans soon increased, and for fear their valor would be
destroyed by long peace, they appointed Alaric king over
them. He was of a famous stock, and his nobility was
second only to that of the Amali, for he came from the
family of the Balthi, who because of their daring valor
had long ago received among their race the name _Baltha_, 147
that is, The Bold. Now when this Alaric was made king,
he took counsel with his men and persuaded them to seek
a kingdom by their own exertions rather than serve others
in idleness. In the consulship of Stilicho and Aurelian
he raised an army and entered Italy, which seemed to be
bare of defenders, and came through Pannonia and Sirmium
along the right side. Without meeting any resistance,
he reached the bridge of the river Candidianus at
the third milestone from the royal city of Ravenna.
[Sidenote: DESCRIPTION OF RAVENNA]
This city lies amid the streams of the Po between 148
swamps and the sea, and is accessible only on one side.
Its ancient inhabitants, as our ancestors relate, were
called _Ainetoi_, that is, "Laudable". Situated in a corner
of the Roman Empire above the Ionian Sea, it is hemmed
in like an island by a flood of rushing waters. On the 149
east it has the sea, and one who sails straight to it from
the region of Corcyra and those parts of Hellas sweeps
with his oars along the right hand coast, first touching
Epirus, then Dalmatia, Liburnia and Histria and at last
the Venetian Isles. But on the west it has swamps
through which a sort of door has been left by a very
narrow entrance. To the north is an arm of the Po,
called the Fossa Asconis. On the south likewise is the 150
Po itself, which they call the King of the rivers of Italy;
and it has also the name Eridanus. This river was turned
aside by the Emperor Augustus into a very broad canal
which flows through the midst of the city with a seventh
part of its stream, affording a pleasant harbor at its
mouth. Men believed in ancient times, as Dio relates,
that it would hold a fleet of two hundred and fifty vessels
in its safe anchorage. Fabius says that this, which was 151
once a harbor, now displays itself like a spacious garden
full of trees; but from them hang not sails but apples.
The city itself boasts of three names and is happily placed
in its threefold location. I mean to say the first is called
Ravenna and the most distant part Classis; while midway
between the city and the sea is Caesarea, full of luxury.
The sand of the beach is fine and suited for riding.
[Sidenote: Honorius 393-423]
[Sidenote: HONORIUS GRANTS THE GOTHS LANDS IN GAUL AND SPAIN]
XXX But as I was saying, when the army of the 152
Visigoths had come into the neighborhood of this city,
they sent an embassy to the Emperor Honorius, who
dwelt within. They said that if he would permit the
Goths to settle peaceably in Italy, they would so live with
the Roman people that men might believe them both to
be of one race; but if not, whoever prevailed in war
should drive out the other, and the victor should henceforth
rule unmolested. But the Emperor Honorius feared
to make either promise. So he took counsel with his
Senate and considered how he might drive them from the
Italian borders. He finally decided that Alaric and his 153
race, if they were able to do so, should be allowed to
seize for their own home the provinces farthest away,
namely, Gaul and Spain. For at this time he had almost
lost them, and moreover they had been devastated by the
invasion of Gaiseric, king of the Vandals. The grant
was confirmed by an imperial rescript, and the Goths,
consenting to the arrangement, set out for the country
given them.
[Sidenote: STILICHO'S TREACHEROUS ATTACK 402]
[Sidenote: ALARIC I SACKS ROME A.D. 410]
When they had gone away without doing any harm 154
in Italy, Stilicho, the Patrician and father-in-law of
the Emperor Honorius,--for the Emperor had married
both his daughters, Maria and Thermantia, in succession,
but God called both from this world in their virgin
purity--this Stilicho, I say, treacherously hurried
to Pollentia, a city in the Cottian Alps. There he fell
upon the unsuspecting Goths in battle, to the ruin of all
Italy and his own disgrace. When the Goths suddenly 155
beheld him, at first they were terrified. Soon regaining
their courage and arousing each other by brave shouting,
as is their custom, they turned to flight the entire army
of Stilicho and almost exterminated it. Then forsaking
the journey they had undertaken, the Goths with hearts
full of rage returned again to Liguria whence they
had set out. When they had plundered and spoiled it,
they also laid waste Aemilia, and then hastened toward
the city of Rome along the Flaminian Way, which runs
between Picenum and Tuscia, taking as booty whatever 156
they found on either hand. When they finally entered
Rome, by Alaric's express command they merely
sacked it and did not set the city on fire, as wild peoples
usually do, nor did they permit serious damage to be done
to the holy places. Thence they departed to bring like
ruin upon Campania and Lucania, and then came to
Bruttii. Here they remained a long time and planned to
go to Sicily and thence to the countries of Africa.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF ALARIC I A.D. 410]
[Sidenote: Athavulf 410-415]
Now the land of the Bruttii is at the extreme southern
bound of Italy, and a corner of it marks the beginning of
the Apennine mountains. It stretches out like a tongue
into the Adriatic Sea and separates it from the Tyrrhenian
waters. It chanced to receive its name in ancient times
from a Queen Bruttia. To this place came Alaric, king of 157
Visigoths, with the wealth of all Italy which he had
taken as spoil, and from there, as we have said, he intended
to cross over by way of Sicily to the quiet land of
Africa. But since man is not free to do anything he
wishes without the will of God, that dread strait sunk several
of his ships and threw all into confusion. Alaric was
cast down by his reverse and, while deliberating what he
should do, was suddenly overtaken by an untimely death
and departed from human cares. His people mourned for 158
him with the utmost affection. Then turning from its
course the river Busentus near the city of Consentia--for
this stream flows with its wholesome waters from the foot
of a mountain near that city--they led a band of captives
into the midst of its bed to dig out a place for his grave.
In the depths of this pit they buried Alaric, together with
many treasures, and then turned the waters back into
their channel. And that none might ever know the place,
they put to death all the diggers. They bestowed the
kingdom of the Visigoths on Athavulf his kinsman, a
man of imposing beauty and great spirit; for though not
tall of stature, he was distinguished for beauty of face
and form.
[Sidenote: DEEDS OF KING ATHAVULF]
[Sidenote: Marries Galla Placidia 414]
[Sidenote: KING SEGERIC 415]
XXXI When Athavulf became king, he returned 159
again to Rome, and whatever had escaped the first sack
his Goths stripped bare like locusts, not merely despoiling
Italy of its private wealth, but even of its public
resources. The Emperor Honorius was powerless to
resist even when his sister Placidia, the daughter of the
Emperor Theodosius by his second wife, was led away
captive from the city. But Athavulf was attracted by her 160
nobility, beauty and chaste purity, and so he took her to
wife in lawful marriage at Forum Julii, a city of Aemilia.
When the barbarians learned of this alliance, they were
the more effectually terrified, since the Empire and the
Goths now seemed to be made one. Then Athavulf set
out for Gaul, leaving Honorius Augustus stripped of his
wealth, to be sure, yet pleased at heart because he was
now a sort of kinsman of his. Upon his arrival the 161
neighboring tribes who had long made cruel raids into
Gaul,--Franks and Burgundians alike,--were terrified
and began to keep within their own borders. Now the
Vandals and the Alani, as we have said before, had been
dwelling in both Pannonias by permission of the Roman
Emperors. Yet fearing they would not be safe even here
if the Goths should return, they crossed over into Gaul.
But no long time after they had taken possession of Gaul 162
they fled thence and shut themselves up in Spain, for they
still remembered from the tales of their forefathers what
ruin Geberich, king of the Goths, had long ago brought
on their race, and how by his valor he had driven them
from their native land. And thus it happened that Gaul
lay open to Athavulf when he came. Now when the 163
Goth had established his kingdom in Gaul, he began to
grieve for the plight of the Spaniards and planned to
save them from the attacks of the Vandals. So Athavulf
left at Barcelona his treasures and the men who were
unfit for war, and entered the interior of Spain with a
few faithful followers. Here he fought frequently with
the Vandals and, in the third year after he had subdued
Gaul and Spain, fell pierced through the groin by the
sword of Euervulf, a man whose short stature he had
been wont to mock. After his death Segeric was appointed
king, but he too was slain by the treachery of his
own men and lost both his kingdom and his life even more
quickly than Athavulf. 164
[Sidenote: KING VALIA 415-419]
XXXII Then Valia, the fourth from Alaric, was
made king, and he was an exceeding stern and prudent
man. The Emperor Honorius sent an army against him
under Constantius, who was famed for his achievements
in war and distinguished in many battles, for he feared
that Valia would break the treaty long ago made with
Athavulf and that, after driving out the neighboring
tribes, he would again plot evil against the Empire.
Moreover Honorius was eager to free his sister Placidia
from the disgrace of servitude, and made an agreement
with Constantius that if by peace or war or any means
soever he could bring her back to the kingdom, he should
have her in marriage. Pleased with this promise, Constantius 165
set out for Spain with an armed force and in
almost royal splendor. Valia, king of the Goths, met him
at a pass in the Pyrenees with as great a force. Here-upon
embassies were sent by both sides and it was decided
to make peace on the following terms, namely that Valia
should give up Placidia, the Emperor's sister, and should
not refuse to aid the Roman Empire when occasion
demanded.
[Sidenote: Constantine III 407-411]
[Sidenote: Constans 407-411]
[Sidenote: Jovinus 411-413]
[Sidenote: Sebastian 412]
Now at that time a certain Constantine usurped imperial
power in Gaul and appointed as Caesar his son Constans,
who was formerly a monk. But when he had held
for a short time the Empire he had seized, he was himself
slain at Arelate and his son at Vienne. Jovinus and
Sebastian succeeded them with equal presumption and
thought they might seize the imperial power; but they
perished by a like fate.
[Sidenote: VALIA MOVES AGAINST THE VANDALS 427]
Now in the twelfth year of Valia's reign the Huns 166
were driven out of Pannonia by the Romans and Goths,
almost fifty years after they had taken possession of it.
Then Valia found that the Vandals had come forth with
bold audacity from the interior of Galicia, whither Athavulf
had long ago driven them, and were devastating and
plundering everywhere in his own territories, namely in
the land of Spain. So he made no delay but moved his
army against them at once, at about the time when Hierius
and Ardabures had become consuls.
[Sidenote: VALENTINIAN III 425-455]
[Sidenote: THE VANDALS AND GAISERIC THEIR KING 427-477]
XXXIII But Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, had already 167
been invited into Africa by Boniface, who had
fallen into a dispute with the Emperor Valentinian and
was able to obtain revenge only by injuring the empire.
So he invited them urgently and brought them across the
narrow strait known as the Strait of Gades, scarcely seven
miles wide, which divides Africa from Spain and unites
the mouth of the Tyrrhenian Sea with the waters of
Ocean. Gaiseric, still famous in the City for the disaster 168
of the Romans, was a man of moderate height and lame
in consequence of a fall from his horse. He was a man
of deep thought and few words, holding luxury in disdain,
furious in his anger, greedy for gain, shrewd in
winning over the barbarians and skilled in sowing the
seeds of dissension to arouse enmity. Such was he who, 169
as we have said, came at the solicitous invitation of Boniface
to the country of Africa. There he reigned for a
long time, receiving authority, as they say, from God
Himself. Before his death he summoned the band of his
sons and ordained that there should be no strife among
them because of desire for the kingdom, but that each
should reign in his own rank and order as he survived
the others; that is, the next younger should succeed his
elder brother, and he in turn should be followed by his
junior. By giving heed to this command they ruled their
kingdom in happiness for the space of many years and
were not disgraced by civil war, as is usual among other
nations; one after the other receiving the kingdom and
ruling the people in peace.
[Sidenote: The six kings of the Vandals 427-534]
[Sidenote: KINGDOM OF THE VANDALS MADE SUBJECT TO ROME]
Now this is their order of succession: first, Gaiseric 170
who was father and lord, next, Huneric, the third
Gunthamund, the fourth Thrasamund, and the fifth
Ilderich. He was driven from the throne and slain
by Gelimer, who destroyed his race by disregarding
his ancestor's advice and setting up a tyranny. But 171
what he had done did not remain unpunished, for soon
the vengeance of the Emperor Justinian was manifested
against him. With his whole family and that
wealth over which he gloated like a robber, he was taken
to Constantinople by that most renowned warrior Belisarius,
Master of the Soldiery of the East, Ex-Consul
Ordinary and Patrician. Here he afforded a great spectacle
to the people in the Circus. His repentance, when
he beheld himself cast down from his royal state, came
too late. He died as a mere subject and in retirement,
though he had formerly been unwilling to submit to private 172
life. Thus after a century Africa, which in the
division of the earth's surface is regarded as the third
part of the world, was delivered from the yoke of the
Vandals and brought back to the liberty of the Roman
Empire. The country which the hand of the heathen had
long ago cut off from the body of the Roman Empire,
by reason of the cowardice of emperors and the treachery
of generals, was now restored by a wise prince and a
faithful leader and to-day is happily flourishing. And
though, even after this, it had to deplore the misery of
civil war and the treachery of the Moors, yet the triumph
of the Emperor Justinian, vouchsafed him by God.
brought to a peaceful conclusion what he had begun. But
why need we speak of what the subject does not require?
Let us return to our theme.
[Sidenote: MIGRATION or THE AMALI TO THE VISIGOTHS]
[Sidenote: THEODORID I 419-451]
Now Valia, king of the Goths, and his army fought so 173
fiercely against the Vandals that he would have pursued
them even into Africa, had not such a misfortune recalled
him as befell Alaric when he was setting out for Africa.
So when he had won great fame in Spain, he returned
after a bloodless victory to Tolosa, turning over to the
Roman Empire, as he had promised, a number of provinces
which he had rid of his foes. A long time after this
he was seized by sickness and departed this life. Just at 174
that time Beremud, the son of Thorismud, whom we have
mentioned above in the genealogy of the family of the
Amali, departed with his son Veteric from the Ostrogoths,
who still submitted to the oppression of the Huns
in the land of Scythia, and came to the kingdom of the
Visigoths. Well aware of his valor and noble birth, he
believed that the kingdom would be the more readily
bestowed upon him by his kinsmen, inasmuch as he was
known to be the heir of many kings. And who would
hesitate to choose one of the Amali, if there were an empty
throne? But he was not himself eager to make known
who he was, and so upon the death of Valia the Visigoths
made Theodorid his successor. Beremud came to 175
him and, with the strength of mind for which he was
noted, concealed his noble birth by prudent silence, for he
knew that those of royal lineage are always distrusted by
kings. So he suffered himself to remain unknown, that
he might not bring the established order into confusion.
King Theodorid received him and his son with special
honor and made him partner in his counsels and a companion
at his board; not for his noble birth, which he
knew not, but for his brave spirit and strong mind, which
Beremud could not conceal.
[Sidenote: Consulship of Theodosius 439]
[Sidenote: FIRST BREACH BETWEEN THEODORID I AND THE ROMANS]
[Sidenote: The Truce 439]
XXXIV And what more? Valia (to repeat what we 176
have said) had but little success against the Gauls, but
when he died the more fortunate and prosperous Theodorid
succeeded to the throne. He was a man of the
greatest moderation and notable for vigor of mind and
body. In consulship of Theodosius and Festus the
Romans broke the truce and took up arms against him in
Gaul, with the Huns as their auxiliaries. For a band of
the Gallic Allies, led by Count Gaina, had aroused the
Romans by throwing Constantinople into a panic. Now
at that time the Patrician Aëtius was in command of the
army. He was of the bravest Moesian stock, born of his
father Gaudentius in the city of Durostorum. He was a man
fitted to endure the toils of war, born expressly to
serve the Roman state; and by inflicting crushing defeats
he had compelled the proud Suavi and barbarous Franks
to submit to Roman sway. So then, with the Huns as 177
allies under their leader Litorius, the Roman army
moved in array against the Goths. When the battle
lines of both sides had been standing for a long time
opposite each other, both being brave and neither side the
weaker, they struck a truce and returned to their ancient
alliance. And after the treaty had been confirmed by
both and an honest peace was established, they both withdrew.
[Sidenote: Embassy to Attila 448]
During this peace Attila was lord over all the Huns 178
and almost the sole earthly ruler of all the tribes of
Scythia; a man marvellous for his glorious fame among
all nations. The historian Priscus, who was sent to him
on an embassy by the younger Theodosius, says this
among other things: "Crossing mighty rivers--namely,
the Tisia and Tibisia and Dricca--we came to the place
where long ago Vidigoia, bravest of the Goths, perished
by the guile of the Sarmatians. At no great distance
from that place we arrived at the village where King
Attila was dwelling,--a village, I say, like a great city
in which we found wooden walls made of smooth-shining
boards, whose joints so counterfeited solidity that the
union of the boards could scarcely be distinguished by
close scrutiny. There you might see dining halls of 179
large extent and porticoes planned with great beauty,
while the courtyard was bounded by so vast a circuit that
its very size showed it was the royal palace." This was
the abode of Attila, the king of all the barbarian world;
and he preferred this as a dwelling to the cities he
captured.
[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF ATTILA KING OF THE HUNS]
[Sidenote: Attila and Bleda joint kings 433-445]
[Sidenote: Attila sole king 445-453]
XXXV Now this Attila was the son of Mundiuch, 180
and his brothers were Octar and Ruas who are said to
have ruled before Attila, though not over quite so many
tribes as he. After their death he succeeded to the throne
of the Huns, together with his brother Bleda. In order
that he might first be equal to the expedition he was
preparing, he sought to increase his strength by murder.
Thus he proceeded from the destruction of his own kindred
to the menace of all others. But though he increased 181
his power by this shameful means, yet by the balance of
justice he received the hideous consequences of his own
cruelty. Now when his brother Bleda, who ruled over
a great part of the Huns, had been slain by his treachery,
Attila united all the people under his own rule. Gathering
also a host of the other tribes which he then held
under his sway, he sought to subdue the foremost nations
of the world--the Romans and the Visigoths. His army 182
is said to have numbered five hundred thousand men.
He was a man born into the world to shake the nations,
the scourge of all lands, who in some way terrified all
mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning
him. He was haughty in his walk, rolling his eyes
hither and thither, so that the power of his proud spirit
appeared in the movement of his body. He was indeed
a lover of war, yet restrained in action, mighty in counsel,
gracious to suppliants and lenient to those who were
once received into his protection. He was short of stature
with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were
small, his beard thin and sprinkled with gray; and he had
a flat nose and a swarthy complexion, showing the evidences
of his origin. And though his temper was such 183
that he always had great self-confidence, yet his assurance
was increased by finding the sword of Mars, always
esteemed sacred among the kings of the Scythians. The
historian Priscus says it was discovered under the following
circumstances: "When a certain shepherd beheld
one heifer of his flock limping and could find no cause
for this wound, he anxiously followed the trail of blood
and at length came to a sword it had unwittingly trampled
while nibbling the grass. He dug it up and took it
straight to Attila. He rejoiced at this gift and, being
ambitious, thought he had been appointed ruler of the
whole world, and that through the sword of Mars supremacy
in all wars was assured to him."
[Sidenote: GAISERIC INCITES HIM TO WAR WITH THE GOTHS]
XXXVI Now when Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, 184
whom we mentioned shortly before, learned that his mind
was bent on the devastation of the world, he incited
Attila by many gifts to make war on the Visigoths, for
he was afraid that Theodorid, king of the Visigoths,
would avenge the injury done to his daughter. She had
been joined in wedlock with Huneric, the son of Gaiseric,
and at first was happy in this union. But afterwards he
was cruel even to his own children, and because of the
mere suspicion that she was attempting to poison him, he
cut off her nose and mutilated her ears. He sent her
back to her father in Gaul thus despoiled of her natural
charms. So the wretched girl presented a pitiable aspect
ever after, and the cruelty which would stir even strangers
still more surely incited her father to vengeance.
Attila, therefore, in his efforts to bring about the wars 185
long ago instigated by the bribe of Gaiseric, sent ambassadors
into Italy to the Emperor Valentinian to sow
strife between the Goths and the Romans, thinking to
shatter by civil discord those whom he could not crush
in battle. He declared that he was in no way violating
his friendly relations with the Empire, but that he had a
quarrel with Theodorid, king of the Visigoths. As he
wished to be kindly received, he had filled the rest of the
letter with the visual flattering salutations, striving to win
credence for his falsehood. In like manner he despatched 186
a message to Theodorid, king of the Visigoths, urging
him to break his alliance with the Romans and reminding
him of the battles to which they had recently provoked
him. Beneath his great ferocity he was a subtle man,
and fought with craft before he made war.
[Sidenote: LEAGUE OF THE VISIGOTHS AND ROMANS AGAINST ATTILA 451]
Then the Emperor Valentinian sent an embassy to the
Visigoths and their king Theodorid, with this message:
"Bravest of nations, it is the part of prudence for us to 187
unite against the lord of the earth who wishes to enslave
the whole world; who requires no just cause for battle,
but supposes whatever he does is right. He measures
his ambition by his might. License satisfies his pride.
Despising law and right, he shows himself an enemy to
Nature herself. And thus he, who clearly is the common
foe of each, deserves the hatred of all. Pray remember--what 188
you surely cannot forget--that the Huns do not
overthrow nations by means of war, where there is an
equal chance, but assail them by treachery, which is a
greater cause for anxiety. To say nothing about ourselves,
can you suffer such insolence to go unpunished?
Since you are mighty in arms, give heed to your own
danger and join hands with us in common. Bear aid
also to the Empire, of which you hold a part. If you
would learn how needful such an alliance is for us, look
into the plans of the foe."
[Sidenote: THE FORCES OF THE ALLIES]
By these and like arguments the ambassadors of Valentinian 189
prevailed upon King Theodorid. He answered
them, saying "Romans, you have attained your desire;
you have made Attila our foe also. We will pursue
him wherever he summons us, and though he is puffed
up by his victories over divers races, yet the Goths know
how to fight this haughty foe. I call no war dangerous
save one whose cause is weak; for he fears no ill on
whom Majesty has smiled." The nobles shouted assent 190
to the reply and the multitude gladly followed. All were
fierce for battle and longed to meet the Huns, their foe.
And so a countless host was led forth by Theodorid, king
of the Visigoths, who sent home four of his sons, namely
Friderich and Eurich, Retemer and Himnerith, taking
with him only the two elder sons, Thorismud and Theodorid,
as partners of his toil. O brave array, sure defense
and sweet comradeship! having as its solace the
peril of those whose one joy is the endurance of the same
dangers.
On the side of the Romans stood the Patrician Aëtius, 191
on whom at that time the whole Empire of the West depended;
a man of such wisdom that he had assembled
warriors from everywhere to meet them on equal terms.
Now these were his auxiliaries: Franks, Sarmatians,
Armoricians, Liticians, Burgundians, Saxons, Riparians
Olibriones (once Roman soldiers and now the flower of
the allied forces), and some other Celtic or German tribes.
And so they met in the Catalaunian Plains, which are 192
also called Mauriacian, extending in length one hundred
_leuva_, as the Gauls express it, and seventy in width. Now
a Gallic _leuva_ measures a distance of fifteen hundred
paces. That portion of the earth accordingly became
the threshing-floor of countless races. The two hosts
bravely joined battle. Nothing was done under cover,
but they contended in open fight. What just cause can 193
be found for the encounter of so many nations, or what
hatred inspired them all to take arms against each other?
It is proof that the human race lives for its kings, for it is
at the mad impulse of one mind a slaughter of nations
takes place, and at the whim of a haughty ruler that
which nature has taken ages to produce perishes in a
moment.
[Sidenote: THE BEGINNING OF THE STRIFE]
XXXVII But before we set forth the order of the 194
battle itself, it seems needful to relate what had already
happened in the course of the campaign, for it was not
only a famous struggle but one that was complicated and
confused. Well then, Sangiban, king of the Alani, smitten
with fear of what might come to pass, had promised
to surrender to Attila, and to give into his keeping Aureliani,
a city of Gaul wherein he then dwelt. When Theodorid 195
and Aëtius learned of this, they cast up great earthworks
around that city before Attila's arrival and kept
watch over the suspected Sangiban, placing him with his
tribe in the midst of their auxiliaries. Then Attila, king
of the Huns, was taken aback by this event and lost confidence
in his own troops, so that he feared to begin the
conflict. While he was meditating on flight--a greater
calamity than death itself--he decided to inquire into the
future through soothsayers. So, as was their custom, 196
they examined the entrails of cattle and certain streaks in
bones that had been scraped, and foretold disaster to the
Huns. Yet as a slight consolation they prophesied that
the chief commander of the foe they were to meet should
fall and mar by his death the rest of the victory and the
triumph. Now Attila deemed the death of Aëtius a thing
to be desired even at the cost of his own life, for Aëtius
stood in the way of his plans. So although he was disturbed
by this prophecy, yet inasmuch as he was a man
who sought counsel of omens in all warfare, he began
the battle with anxious heart at about the ninth hour of
the day, in order that the impending darkness might come
to his aid if the outcome should be disastrous.
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF THE CATALAUNIAN PLAINS A.D. 451]
XXXVIII The armies met, as we have said, in the 197
Catalaunian Plains. The battle field was a plain rising
by a sharp slope to a ridge, which both armies sought to
gain; for advantage of position is a great help. The
Huns with their forces seized the right side, the Romans,
the Visigoths and their allies the left, and then began a
struggle for the yet untaken crest. Now Theodorid with
the Visigoths held the right wing and Aëtius with the
Romans the left. They placed in the centre Sangiban
(who, as said before, was in command of the Alani),
thus contriving with military caution to surround by a
host of faithful troops the man in whose loyalty they had
little confidence. For one who has difficulties placed in
the way of his flight readily submits to the necessity of 198
fighting. On the other side, however, the battle line of
the Huns was so arranged that Attila and his bravest
followers were stationed in the centre. In arranging
them thus the king had chiefly his own safety in view,
since by his position in the very midst of his race he
would be kept out of the way of threatening danger.
The innumerable peoples of divers tribes, which he had
subjected to his sway, formed the wings. Amid them 199
was conspicuous the army of the Ostrogoths under the
leadership of the brothers Valamir, Thiudimer and Vidimer,
nobler even than the king they served, for the might
of the family of the Amali rendered them glorious. The
renowned king of the Gepidae, Ardaric, was there also
with a countless host, and because of his great loyalty to
Attila, he shared his plans. For Attila, comparing them
in his wisdom, prized him and Valamir, king of the Ostrogoths,
above all the other chieftains. Valamir was a 200
good keeper of secrets, bland of speech and skilled in
wiles, and Ardaric, as we have said, was famed for his
loyalty and wisdom. Attila might well feel sure that
they would fight against the Visigoths, their kinsmen.
Now the rest of the crowd of kings (if we may call them
so) and the leaders of various nations hung upon Attila's
nod like slaves, and when he gave a sign even by a glance,
without a murmur each stood forth in fear and trembling,
or at all events did as he was bid. Attila alone was 201
king of all kings over all and concerned for all.
So then the struggle began for the advantage of position
we have mentioned. Attila sent his men to take the
summit of the mountain, but was outstripped by Thorismud
and Aëtius, who in their effort to gain the top of the
hill reached higher ground and through this advantage
of position easily routed the Huns as they came up.
[Sidenote: ATTILA ADDRESSES HIS MEN]
XXXIX Now when Attila saw his army was thrown 202
into confusion by this event, he thought it best to encourage
them by an extemporaneous address on this wise:
"Here you stand, after conquering mighty nations and
subduing the world. I therefore think it foolish for me
to goad you with words, as though you were men who
had not been proved in action. Let a new leader or an
untried army resort to that. It is not right for me to 203
say anything common, nor ought you to listen. For what
is war but your usual custom? Or what is sweeter for a
brave man than to seek revenge with his own hand? It
is a right of nature to glut the soul with vengeance. Let 204
us then attack the foe eagerly; for they are ever the
bolder who make the attack. Despise this union of discordant
races! To defend oneself by alliance is proof of
cowardice. See, even before our attack they are smitten
with terror. They seek the heights, they seize the hills
and, repenting too late, clamor for protection against
battle in the open fields. You know how slight a matter
the Roman attack is. While they are still gathering in
order and forming in one line with locked shields, they
are checked, I will not say by the first wound, but even
by the dust of battle. Then on to the fray with stout 205
hearts, as is your wont. Despise their battle line. Attack
the Alani, smite the Visigoths! Seek swift victory in
that spot where the battle rages. For when the sinews
are cut the limbs soon relax, nor can a body stand when
you have taken away the bones. Let your courage rise
and your own fury burst forth! Now show your cunning,
Huns, now your deeds of arms! Let the wounded
exact in return the death of his foe; let the unwounded 206
revel in slaughter of the enemy. No spear shall harm
those who are sure to live; and those who are sure to die
Fate overtakes even in peace. And finally, why should
fortune have made the Huns victorious over so many
nations, unless it were to prepare them for the joy of
this conflict. Who was it revealed to our sires the
path through the Maeotian swamp, for so many ages
closed secret? Who, moreover, made armed men yield
to you, when you were as yet unarmed? Even a mass of
federated nations could not endure the sight of the Huns.
I am not deceived in the issue;--here is the field so many
victories have promised us. I shall hurl the first spear
at the foe. If any can stand at rest while Attila fights,
he is a dead man." Inflamed by these words, they all
dashed into battle.
[Sidenote: FIERCE FIGHTING]
XL And although the situation was itself fearful, yet 207
the presence of their king dispelled anxiety and hesitation.
Hand to hand they clashed in battle, and the fight
grew fierce, confused, monstrous, unrelenting--a fight
whose like no ancient time has ever recorded. There such
deeds were done that a brave man who missed this marvellous
spectacle could not hope to see anything so wonderful
all his life long. For, if we may believe our 208
elders, a brook flowing between low banks through the
plain was greatly increased by blood from the wounds
of the slain. It was not flooded by showers, as brooks
usually rise, but was swollen by a strange stream and
turned into a torrent by the increase of blood. Those
whose wounds drove them to slake their parching thirst
drank water mingled with gore. In their wretched plight
they were forced to drink what they thought was the
blood they had poured from their own wounds.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF KING THEODORID I IN THE BATTLE]
Here King Theodorid, while riding by to encourage 209
his army, was thrown from his horse and trampled under
foot by his own men, thus ending his days at a ripe old
age. But others say he was slain by the spear of Andag
of the host of the Ostrogoths, who were then under the
sway of Attila. This was what the soothsayers had told
to Attila in prophecy, though he understood it of Aëtius.
Then the Visigoths, separating from the Alani, fell upon 210
the horde of the Huns and nearly slew Attila. But he
prudently took flight and straightway shut himself and
his companions within the barriers of the camp, which
he had fortified with wagons. A frail defence indeed;
yet there they sought refuge for their lives, whom but a
little while before no walls of earth could withstand.
But Thorismud, the son of King Theodorid, who with 211
Aëtius had seized the hill and repulsed the enemy from
the higher ground, came unwittingly to the wagons of
the enemy in the darkness of night, thinking he had
reached his own lines. As he was fighting bravely, someone
wounded him in the head and dragged him from his
horse. Then he was rescued by the watchful care of his
followers and withdrew from the fierce conflict. Aëtius 212
also became separated from his men in the confusion of
night and wandered about in the midst of the enemy.
Fearing disaster had happened, he went about in search
of the Goths. At last he reached the camp of his allies
and passed the remainder of the night in the protection
of their shields.
At dawn on the following day, when the Romans
saw the fields were piled high with bodies and that
the Huns did not venture forth, they thought the victory
was theirs, but knew that Attila would not flee from
the battle unless overwhelmed by a great disaster. Yet
he did nothing cowardly, like one that is overcome, but
with clash of arms sounded the trumpets and threatened
an attack. He was like a lion pierced by hunting
spears, who paces to and fro before the mouth of his
den and dares not spring, but ceases not to terrify the
neighborhood by his roaring. Even so this warlike king
at bay terrified his conquerors. Therefore the Goths and 213
Romans assembled and considered what to do with the
vanquished Attila. They determined to wear him out by
a siege, because he had no supply of provisions and was
hindered from approaching by a shower of arrows from
the bowmen placed within the confines of the Roman
camp. But it was said that the king remained supremely
brave even in this extremity and had heaped up a funeral
pyre of horse trappings, so that if the enemy should attack
him, he was determined to cast himself into the
flames, that none might have the joy of wounding him
and that the lord of so many races might not fall into
the hands of his foes.
[Sidenote: RESULTS OF THE BATTLE]
XLI Now during these delays in the siege, the Visigoths 214
sought their king and the king's sons their father,
wondering at his absence when success had been attained.
When, after a long search, they found him where the
dead lay thickest, as happens with brave men, they honored
him with songs and bore him away in the sight of
the enemy. You might have seen bands of Goths shouting
with dissonant cries and paying the honors of death
while the battle still raged. Tears were shed, but such
as they were accustomed to devote to brave men. It was
death indeed, but the Huns are witness that it was a
glorious one. It was a death whereby one might well
suppose the pride of the enemy would be lowered, when
they beheld the body of so great a king borne forth with
fitting honors. And so the Goths, still continuing the 215
rites due to Theodorid, bore forth the royal majesty with
sounding arms, and valiant Thorismud, as befitted a son,
honored the glorious spirit of his dear father by following
his remains.
When this was done, Thorismud was eager to take
vengeance for his father's death on the remaining Huns,
being moved to this both by the pain of bereavement and
the impulse of that valor for which he was noted. Yet
he consulted with the Patrician Aëtius (for he was an
older man and of more mature wisdom) with regard to
what he ought to do next. But Aëtius feared that if the 216
Huns were totally destroyed by the Goths, the Roman
Empire would be overwhelmed, and urgently advised him
to return to his own dominions to take up the rule which
his father had left. Otherwise his brothers might seize
their father's possessions and obtain the power over the
Visigoths. In this case Thorismud would have to fight
fiercely and, what is worse, disastrously with his own
countrymen. Thorismud accepted the advice without
perceiving its double meaning, but followed it with an
eye toward his own advantage. So he left the Huns and
returned to Gaul. Thus while human frailty rushes into 217
suspicion, it often loses an opportunity of doing great
things.
In this most famous war of the bravest tribes, one hundred
and sixty five thousand are said to have been slain on
both sides, leaving out of account fifteen thousand of the
Gepidae and Franks, who met each other the night before
the general engagement and fell by wounds mutually received,
the Franks fighting for the Romans and the Gepidae
for the Huns.
Now when Attila learned of the retreat of the Goths, 218
he thought it a ruse of the enemy,--for so men are wont
to believe when the unexpected happens--and remained
for some time in his camp. But when a long silence followed
the absence of the foe, the spirit of the mighty
king was aroused to the thought of victory and the anticipation
of pleasure, and his mind turned to the old oracles
of his destiny.
[Sidenote: THORISMUD 451-453]
Thorismud, however, after the death of his father on
the Catalaunian Plains where he had fought, advanced in
royal state and entered Tolosa. Here although the throng
of his brothers and brave companions were still rejoicing
over the victory he yet began to rule so mildly that no one
strove with him for the succession to the kingdom.
[Sidenote: THE SIEGE AND FALL OF AQUILEIA 452]
XLII But Attila took occasion from the withdrawal 219
of the Visigoths, observing what he had often desired
that his enemies were divided. At length feeling secure,
he moved forward his array to attack the Romans. As
his first move he besieged the city of Aquileia, the metropolis
of Venetia, which is situated on a point or tongue
of land by the Adriatic Sea. On the eastern side its walls
are washed by the river Natissa, flowing from Mount
Piccis. The siege was long and fierce, but of no avail, 220
since the bravest soldiers of the Romans withstood him
from within. At last his army was discontented and
eager to withdraw. Attila chanced to be walking around
the walls, considering whether to break camp or delay
longer, and noticed that the white birds, namely, the
storks, who build their nests in the gables of houses, were
bearing their young from the city and, contrary to their
custom, were carrying them out into the country. Being 221
a shrewd observer of events, he understood this and said
to his soldiers: "You see the birds foresee the future.
They are leaving the city sure to perish and are forsaking
strongholds doomed to fall by reason of imminent peril.
Do not think this a meaningless or uncertain sign; fear,
arising from the things they foresee, has changed their
custom." Why say more? He inflamed the hearts of
his soldiers to attack Aquileia again. Constructing battering
rams and bringing to bear all manner of engines
of war, they quickly forced their way into the city, laid it
waste, divided the spoil and so cruelly devastated it as
scarcely to leave a trace to be seen. Then growing bolder 222
and still thirsting for Roman blood, the Huns raged
madly through the remaining cities of the Veneti. They
also laid waste Mediolanum, the metropolis of Liguria,
once an imperial city, and gave over Ticinum to a like
fate. Then they destroyed the neighboring country in
their frenzy and demolished almost the whole of Italy.
[Sidenote: POPE LEO INTERVENES TO SAVE ROME 452]
Attila's mind had been bent on going to Rome. But
his followers, as the historian Priscus relates, took him
away, not out of regard for the city to which they were
hostile, but because they remembered the case of Alaric,
the former king of the Visigoths. They distrusted the
good fortune of their own king, inasmuch as Alaric did
not live long after the sack of Rome, but straightway
departed this life. Therefore while Attila's spirit was 223
wavering in doubt between going and not going, and he
still lingered to ponder the matter, an embassy came to
him from Rome to seek peace. Pope Leo himself came
to meet him in the Ambuleian district of the Veneti at the
well-travelled ford of the river Mincius. Then Attila
quickly put aside his usual fury, turned back on the way
he had advanced from beyond the Danube and departed
with the promise of peace. But above all he declared and
avowed with threats that he would bring worse things
upon Italy, unless they sent him Honoria, the sister of the
Emperor Valentinian and daughter of Augusta Placidia,
with her due share of the royal wealth. For it was said 224
that Honoria, although bound to chastity for the honor
of the imperial court and kept in constraint by command
of her brother, had secretly despatched a eunuch to summon
Attila that she might have his protection against he
brother's power;--a shameful thing, indeed, to get license
for her passion at the cost of the public weal.
[Sidenote: MARCIAN 450-457]
[Sidenote: ATTILA DEFEATED BY THORISMUD]
XLIII So Attila returned to his own country, seeming 225
to regret the peace and to be vexed at the cessation of
war. For he sent ambassadors to Marcian, Emperor of
the East, threatening to devastate the provinces, because
that which had been promised him by Theodosius, a former
emperor, was in no wise performed, and saying that
he would show himself more cruel to his foes than ever.
But as he was shrewd and crafty, he threatened in one
direction and moved his army in another; for in the
midst of these preparations he turned his face toward the
Visigoths who had yet to feel his vengeance. But here 226
he had not the same success as against the Romans.
Hastening back by a different way than before, he decided
to reduce to his sway that part of the Alani which
was settled across the river Loire, in order that by attacking
them, and thus changing the aspect of the war, he
might become a more terrible menace to the Visigoths.
Accordingly he started from the provinces of Dacia and
Pannonia, where the Huns were then dwelling with various
subject peoples, and moved his array against the
Alani. But Thorismud, king of the Visigoths, with like 227
quickness of thought perceived Attila's trick. By forced
marches he came to the Alani before him, and was well
prepared to check the advance of Attila when he came
after him. They joined battle in almost the same way as
before at the Catalaunian Plains, and Thorismud dashed
his hopes of victory, for he routed him and drove him
from the land without a triumph, compelling him to flee
to his own country. Thus while Attila, the famous leader
and lord of many victories, sought to blot out the fame
of his destroyer and in this way to annul what he had
suffered at the hands of the Visigoths, he met a second
defeat and retreated ingloriously. Now after the bands 228
of the Huns had been repulsed by the Alani, without any
hurt to his own men, Thorismud departed for Tolosa.
There he established a settled peace for his people and in
the third year of his reign fell sick. While letting blood
from a vein, he was betrayed to his death by Ascalc, a
client, who told his foes that his weapons were out of
reach. Yet grasping a foot-stool in the one hand he had
free, he became the avenger of his own blood by slaying
several of those that were lying in wait for him.
[Sidenote: THE REIGN OF KING THEODORID II 453-466]
[Sidenote: Battle near the Ulbius 456]
XLIV After his death, his brother Theodorid succeeded 229
to the kingdom of the Visigoths and soon found
that Riciarius his kinsman, the king of the Suavi, was
hostile to him. For Riciarius, presuming on his relationship
to Theodorid, believed that he might seize almost the
whole of Spain, thinking the disturbed beginning of
Theodorid's reign made the time opportune for his trick.
The Suavi formerly occupied as their country Galicia and 230
Lusitania, which extend on the right side of Spain along
the shore of Ocean. To the east is Austrogonia, to the
west, on a promontory, is the sacred Monument of the
Roman general Scipio, to the north Ocean, and to the
south Lusitania and the Tagus river, which mingles
golden grains in its sands and thus carries wealth in its
worthless mud. So then Riciarius, king of the Suavi, set
forth and strove to seize the whole of Spain. Theodorid, 231
his kinsman, a man of moderation, sent ambassadors to
him and told him quietly that he must not only withdraw
from the territories that were not his own, but furthermore
that he should not presume to make such an attempt,
as he was becoming hated for his ambition. But with
arrogant spirit he replied: "If you murmur here and
find fault with my coming, I shall come to Tolosa where
you dwell. Resist me there, if you can." When he heard
this, Theodorid was angry and, making a compact with
all the other tribes, moved his array against the Suavi.
He had as his close allies Gundiuch and Hilperic, kings
of the Burgundians. They came to battle near the river 232
Ulbius, which flows between Asturica and Hiberia, and
in the engagement Theodorid with the Visigoths, who
fought for the right, came off victorious, overthrowing
the entire tribe of the Suavi and almost exterminating
them. Their king Riciarius fled from the dread foe and
embarked upon a ship. But he was beaten back by another
foe, the adverse wind of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and
so fell into the hands of the Visigoths. Thus though
he changed from sea to land, the wretched man did not
avert his death.
When Theodorid had become the victor, he spared the 233
conquered and did not suffer the rage of conflict to continue,
but placed over the Suavi whom he had conquered
one of his own retainers, named Agrivulf. But Agrivulf
soon treacherously changed his mind, through the persuasion
of the Suavi, and failed to fulfil his duty. For
he was quite puffed up with tyrannical pride, believing
he had obtained the province as a reward for the valor
by which he and his lord had recently subjugated it. Now
he was a man born of the stock of the Varni, far below
the nobility of Gothic blood, and so was neither zealous
for liberty nor faithful toward his patron. As soon as 234
Theodorid heard of this, he gathered a force to cast him
out from the kingdom he had usurped. They came
quickly and conquered him in the first battle, inflicting a
punishment befitting his deeds. For he was captured,
taken from his friends and beheaded. Thus at last he
was made aware of the wrath of the master he thought
might be despised because he was kind. Now when the
Suavi beheld the death of their leader, they sent priests
of their country to Theodorid as suppliants. He received
them with the reverence due their office and not only
granted the Suavi exemption from punishment, but was
moved by compassion and allowed them to choose a ruler
of their own race for themselves. The Suavi did so,
taking Rimismund as their prince. When this was done
and peace was everywhere assured, Theodorid died in
the thirteenth year of his reign.
[Sidenote: KING EURICH 66-485]
[Sidenote: THE WESTERN EMPIRE FROM THE DEATH OF VALENTINIAN III TO
ROMULUS AUGUSTULUS]
[Sidenote: Maximus 455]
[Sidenote: GAISERIC SACKS ROME 455]
[Sidenote: Majorian 457-461]
[Sidenote: Livius Severus 461-465]
[Sidenote: Leo I 457-474]
[Sidenote: Anthemius 467-472]
XLV His brother Eurich succeeded him with such 235
eager haste that he fell under dark suspicion. Now while
these and various other matters were happening among
the people of the Visigoths, the Emperor Valentinian was
slain by the treachery of Maximus, and Maximus himself,
like a tyrant, usurped the rule. Gaiseric, king of the
Vandals, heard of this and came from Africa to Italy
with ships of war, entered Rome and laid it waste.
Maximus fled and was slain by a certain Ursus, a Roman
soldier. After him Majorian undertook the government 236
of the Western Empire at the bidding of Marcian, Emperor
of the East. But he too ruled but a short time.
For when he had moved his forces against the Alani who
were harassing Gaul, he was killed at Dertona near the
river named Ira. Severus succeeded him and died at
Rome in the third year of his reign. When the Emperor
Leo, who had succeeded Marcian in the Eastern Empire,
learned of this, he chose as emperor his Patrician Anthemius
and sent him to Rome. Upon his arrival he sent
against the Alani his son-in-law Ricimer, who was an
excellent man and almost the only one in Italy at that
time fit to command the army. In the very first engagement
he conquered and destroyed the host of the Alani,
together with their king, Beorg.
[Sidenote: Olybrius 472]
Now Eurich, king of the Visigoths, perceived the frequent 237
change of Roman Emperors and strove to hold
Gaul by his own right. The Emperor Anthemius heard
of it and asked the Brittones for aid. Their King
Riotimus came with twelve thousand men into the state
of the Bituriges by the way of Ocean, and was received
as he disembarked from his ships. Eurich, king of the 238
Visigoths, came against them with an innumerable army,
and after a long fight he routed Riotimus, king of the
Brittones, before the Romans could join him. So when
he had lost a great part of his army, he fled with all the
men he could gather together, and came to the Burgundians,
a neighboring tribe then allied to the Romans. But
Eurich, king of the Visigoths, seized the Gallic city of
Arverna; for the Emperor Anthemius was now dead.
Engaged in fierce war with his son-in-law Ricimer, he 239
had worn out Rome and was himself finally slain by his
son-in-law and yielded the rule to Olybrius.
[Sidenote: Glycerius 473]
[Sidenote: Nepos 474]
At that time Aspar, first of the Patricians and a famous
man of the Gothic race was wounded by the swords of
the eunuchs in his palace at Constantinople and died.
With him were slain his sons Ardabures and Patriciolus,
the one long a Patrician, and the other styled a Caesar
and son-in-law of the Emperor Leo. Now Olybrius died
barely eight months after he had entered upon his reign,
and Glycerius was made Caesar at Ravenna, rather by
usurpation than by election. Hardly had a year been
ended when Nepos, the son of the sister of Marcellinus,
once a Patrician, deposed him from his office and ordained
him bishop at the Port of Rome.
[Sidenote: Romulus Augustulus 476]
When Eurich, as we have already said, beheld these 240
great and various changes, he seized the city of Arverna,
where the Roman general Ecdicius was at that time in
command. He was a senator of most renowned family
and the son of Avitus, a recent emperor who had usurped
the reign for a few days--for Avitus held the rule for a
few days before Olybrius, and then withdrew of his own
accord to Placentia, where he was ordained bishop. His
son Ecdicius strove for a long time with the Visigoths,
but had not the power to prevail. So he left the country
and (what was more important) the city of Arverna to
the enemy and betook himself to safer regions. When 241
the Emperor Nepos heard of this, he ordered Ecdicius
to leave Gaul and come to him, appointing Orestes in his
stead as Master of the Soldiery. This Orestes thereupon
received the army, set out from Rome against the
enemy and came to Ravenna. Here he tarried while he
made his son Romulus Augustulus emperor. When
Nepos learned of this, he fled to Dalmatia and died there,
deprived of his throne, in the very place where Glycerius,
who was formerly emperor, held at that time the bishopric
of Salona.
[Sidenote: THE RULE OF ODOACER 476-493]
[Sidenote: Death of Bracila 477]
XLVI Now when Augustulus had been appointed 242
Emperor by his father Orestes in Ravenna, it was not
long before Odoacer, king of the Torcilingi, invaded
Italy, as leader of the Sciri, the Heruli and allies of
various races. He put Orestes to death, drove his son
Augustulus from the throne and condemned him to the
punishment of exile in the Castle of Lucullus in Campania.
Thus the Western Empire of the Roman race, which 243
Octavianus Augustus, the first of the Augusti, began to
govern in the seven hundred and ninth year from the
founding of the city, perished with this Augustulus in the
five hundred and twenty second year from the beginning
of the rule of his predecessors and those before them,
and from this time onward kings of the Goths held Rome
and Italy. Meanwhile Odoacer, king of nations, subdued
all Italy and then at the very outset of his reign slew
Count Bracila at Ravenna that he might inspire a fear
of himself among the Romans. He strengthened his
kingdom and held it for almost thirteen years, even until
the appearance of Theodoric, of whom we shall speak
hereafter.
[Sidenote: Leo II 473-474]
[Sidenote: Zeno 474-491]
[Sidenote: Eurich killed 485]
[Sidenote: ALARIC II LAST KING OF THE VISIGOTHS 485-507]
XLVII But first let us return to that order from 244
which we have digressed and tell how Eurich, king of the
Visigoths, beheld the tottering of the Roman Empire and
reduced Arelate and Massilia to his own sway. Gaiseric,
king of the Vandals, enticed him by gifts to do these
things, to the end that he himself might forestall the plots
which Leo and Zeno had contrived against him. Therefore
he stirred the Ostrogoths to lay waste the Eastern
Empire and the Visigoths the Western, so that while his
foes were battling in both empires, he might himself
reign peacefully in Africa. Eurich perceived this with
gladness and, as he already held all of Spain and Gaul
by his own right, proceeded to subdue the Burgundians
also. In the nineteenth year of his reign he was deprived
of his life at Arelate, where he then dwelt. He was succeeded 245
by his own son Alaric, the ninth in succession
from the famous Alaric the Great to receive the kingdom
of the Visigoths. For even as it happened to the line of
the Augusti, as we have stated above, so too it appears in
the line of the Alarici, that kingdoms often come to an
end in kings who bear the same name as those at the
beginning. Meanwhile let us leave this subject, and
weave together the whole story of the origin of the Goths,
as we promised.
(The Divided Goths: Ostrogoths)
[Sidenote: THE OSTROGOTHS AND THEIR SUBJECTION TO THE HUNS]
[Sidenote: Death of Hermanaric 375 or 376]
XLVIII Since I have followed the stories of my 246
ancestors and retold to the best of my ability the tale of
the period when both tribes, Ostrogoths and Visigoths,
were united, and then clearly treated of the Visigoths
apart from the Ostrogoths, I must now return to those
ancient Scythian abodes and set forth in like manner the
ancestry and deeds of the Ostrogoths. It appears that at
the death of their king, Hermanaric, they were made a
separate people by the departure of the Visigoths, and
remained in their country subject to the sway of the
Huns; yet Vinitharius of the Amali retained the insignia
of his rule. He rivalled the valor of his grandfather 247
Vultuulf, although he had not the good fortune of Hermanaric.
But disliking to remain under the rule of the
Huns, he withdrew a little from them and strove to show
his courage by moving his forces against the country of
the Antes. When he attacked them, he was beaten in the
first encounter. Thereafter he did valiantly and, as a
terrible example, crucified their king, named Boz, together
with his sons and seventy nobles, and left their bodies
hanging there to double the fear of those who had surrendered.
When he had ruled with such license for 248
barely a year, Balamber, king of the Huns, would no
longer endure it, but sent for Gesimund, son of Hunimund
the Great. Now Gesimund, together with a great
part of the Goths, remained under the rule of the Huns,
being mindful of his oath of fidelity. Balamber renewed
his alliance with him and led his army up against Vinitharius.
After a long contest, Vinitharius prevailed in
the first and in the second conflict, nor can any say how
great a slaughter he made of the army of the Huns. But 249
in the third battle, when they met each other unexpectedly
at the river named Erac, Balamber shot an arrow and
wounded Vinitharius in the head, so that he died. Then
Balamber took to himself in marriage Vadamerca, the
grand-daughter of Vinitharius, and finally ruled all the
people of the Goths as his peaceful subjects, but in such
a way that one ruler of their own number always held the
power over the Gothic race, though subject to the Huns.
[Sidenote: KING HUNIMUND]
[Sidenote: KING THORISMUD KILLED 404]
And later, after the death of Vinitharius, Hunimund 250
ruled them, the son of Hermanaric, a mighty king of
yore; a man fierce in war and of famous personal beauty,
who afterwards fought successfully against the race of
the Suavi. And when he died, his son Thorismud succeeded
him, in the very bloom of youth. In the second
year of his rule he moved an army against the Gepidae
and won a great victory over them, but is said to have
been killed by falling from his horse. When he was dead, 251
the Ostrogoths mourned for him so deeply that for forty
years no other king succeeded in his place, and during all
this time they had ever on their lips the tale of his memory.
Now as time went on, Valamir grew to man's
estate. He was the son of Thorismud's cousin Vandalarius.
For his son Beremud, as we have said before, at
last grew to despise the race of the Ostrogoths because of
the overlordship of the Huns, and so had followed the
tribe of the Visigoths to the western country, and it was
from him Veteric was descended. Veteric also had a son
Eutharic, who married Amalasuentha, the daughter of
Theodoric, thus uniting again the stock of the Amali
which had divided long ago. Eutharic begat Athalaric
and Mathesuentha. But since Athalaric died in the
years of his boyhood, Mathesuentha was taken to Constantinople
by her second husband, namely Germanus, a
cousin of the Emperor Justinian, and bore a posthumous
son, whom she named Germanus.
[Sidenote: KING VALAMIR 445?]
But that the order we have taken for our history may 252
run its due course, we must return to the stock of Vandalarius,
which put forth three branches. This Vandalarius,
the son of a brother of Hermanaric and cousin of the
aforesaid Thorismud, vaunted himself among the race of
the Amali because he had begotten three sons, Valamir,
Thiudimer and Vidimer. Of these Valamir ascended the
throne after his parents, though the Huns as yet held the
power over the Goths in general as among other nations.
It was pleasant to behold the concord of these three brothers; 253
for the admirable Thiudimer served as a soldier for
the empire of his brother Valamir, and Valamir bade
honors be given him, while Vidimer was eager to serve
them both. Thus regarding one another with common
affection, not one was wholly deprived of the kingdom
which two of them held in mutual peace. Yet, as has
often been said, they ruled in such a way that they respected
the dominion of Attila, king of the Huns. Indeed
they could not have refused to fight against their kinsmen
the Visigoths, and they must even have committed parricide
at their lord's command. There was no way whereby
any Scythian tribe could have been wrested from the
power of the Huns, save by the death of Attila,--an
event the Romans and all other nations desired. Now his
death was as base as his life was marvellous.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF ATTILA 453]
XLIX Shortly before he died, as the historian Priscus 254
relates, he took in marriage a very beautiful girl named
Ildico, after countless other wives, as was the custom of
his race. He had given himself up to excessive joy at
his wedding, and as he lay on his back, heavy with wine
and sleep, a rush of superfluous blood, which would ordinarily
have flowed from his nose, streamed in deadly
course down his throat and killed him, since it was hindered
in the usual passages. Thus did drunkenness put a
disgraceful end to a king renowned in war. On the following
day, when a great part of the morning was spent,
the royal attendants suspected some ill and, after a great
uproar, broke in the doors. There they found the death
of Attila accomplished by an effusion of blood, without
any wound, and the girl with downcast face weeping
beneath her veil. Then, as is the custom of that race, 255
they plucked out the hair of their heads and made their
faces hideous with deep wounds, that the renowned warrior
might be mourned, not by effeminate wailings and
tears, but by the blood of men. Moreover a wondrous
thing took place in connection with Attila's death. For
in a dream some god stood at the side of Marcian, Emperor
of the East, while he was disquieted about his
fierce foe, and showed him the bow of Attila broken in
that same night, as if to intimate that the race of Huns
owed much to that weapon. This account the historian
Priscus says he accepts upon truthful evidence. For so
terrible was Attila thought to be to great empires that
the gods announced his death to rulers as a special boon.
We shall not omit to say a few words about the many 256
ways in which his shade was honored by his race. His
body was placed in the midst of a plain and lay in state
in a silken tent as a sight for men's admiration. The best
horsemen of the entire tribe of the Huns rode around in
circles, after the manner of circus games, in the place
to which he had been brought and told of his deeds in a
funeral dirge in the following manner: "The chief of the 257
Huns, King Attila, born of his sire Mundiuch, lord of
bravest tribes, sole possessor of the Scythian and German
realms--powers unknown before--captured cities and
terrified both empires of the Roman world and, appeased
by their prayers, took annual tribute to save the rest from
plunder. And when he had accomplished all this by the
favor of fortune, he fell, not by wound of the foe, nor
by treachery of friends, but in the midst of his nation at
peace, happy in his joy and without sense of pain. Who
can rate this as death, when none believes it calls for
vengeance?" When they had mourned him with such 258
lamentations, a _strava_, as they call it, was celebrated over
his tomb with great revelling. They gave way in turn to
the extremes of feeling and displayed funereal grief alternating
with joy. Then in the secrecy of night they buried
his body in the earth. They bound his coffins, the first
with gold, the second with silver and the third with the
strength of iron, showing by such means that these three
things suited the mightiest of kings; iron because he
subdued the nations, gold and silver because he received
the honors of both empires. They also added the arms
of foemen won in the fight, trappings of rare worth,
sparkling with various gems, and ornaments of all sorts
whereby princely state is maintained. And that so great
riches might be kept from human curiosity, they slew
those appointed to the work--a dreadful pay for their
labor; and thus sudden death was the lot of those who
buried him as well as of him who was buried.
[Sidenote: DISSOLUTION OF THE KINGDOM OF THE HUNS 454]
[Sidenote: Battle of Nedao 454]
L After they had fulfilled these rites, a contest for 259
the highest place arose among Attila's successors,--for the
minds of young men are wont to be inflamed by ambition
for power,--and in their rash eagerness to rule they all
alike destroyed his empire. Thus kingdoms are often
weighed down by a superfluity rather than by a lack of
successors. For the sons of Attila, who through the
license of his lust formed almost a people of themselves,
were clamoring that the nations should be divided among
them equally and that warlike kings with their peoples
should be apportioned to them by lot like a family estate.
When Ardaric, king of the Gepidae, learned this, he 260
became enraged because so many nations were being
treated like slaves of the basest condition, and was the
first to rise against the sons of Attila. Good fortune
attended him, and he effaced the disgrace of servitude that
rested upon him. For by his revolt he freed not only his
own tribe, but all the others who were equally oppressed;
since all readily strive for that which is sought for the
general advantage. They took up arms against the destruction
that menaced all and joined battle with the
Huns in Pannonia, near a river called Nedao. There an 261
encounter took place between the various nations Attila
had held under his sway. Kingdoms with their peoples
were divided, and out of one body were made many
members not responding to a common impulse. Being
deprived of their head, they madly strove against each
other. They never found their equals ranged against
them without harming each other by wounds mutually
given. And so the bravest nations tore themselves to
pieces. For then, I think, must have occurred a most
remarkable spectacle, where one might see the Goths
fighting with pikes, the Gepidae raging with the sword,
the Rugi breaking off the spears in their own wounds, the
Suavi fighting on foot, the Huns with bows, the Alani
drawing up a battle-line of heavy-armed and the Heruli
of light-armed warriors.
Finally, after many bitter conflicts, victory fell unexpectedly
to the Gepidae. For the sword and conspiracy 262
of Ardaric destroyed almost thirty thousand men, Huns
as well as those of the other nations who brought them
aid. In this battle fell Ellac, the elder son of Attila,
whom his father is said to have loved so much more than
all the rest that he preferred him to any child or even to
all the children of his kingdom. But fortune was not in
accord with his father's wish. For after slaying many
of the foe, it appears that he met his death so bravely
that, if his father had lived, he would have rejoiced at his
glorious end. When Ellac was slain, his remaining 263
brothers were put to flight near the shore of the Sea of
Pontus, where we have said the Goths first settled. Thus
did the Huns give way, a race to which men thought the
whole world must yield. So baneful a thing is division,
that they who used to inspire terror when their strength
was united, were overthrown separately. The cause of
Ardaric, king of the Gepidae, was fortunate for the various
nations who were unwillingly subject to the rule
of the Huns, for it raised their long downcast spirits to
the glad hope of freedom. Many sent ambassadors to
the Roman territory, where they were most graciously
received by Marcian, who was then emperor, and took the
abodes allotted them to dwell in. But the Gepidae by their 264
own might won for themselves the territory of the Huns
and ruled as victors over the extent of all Dacia, demanding
of the Roman Empire nothing more than peace and
an annual gift as a pledge of their friendly alliance. This
the Emperor freely granted at the time, and to this day
that race receives its customary gifts from the Roman
Emperor.
[Sidenote: JORDANES]
Now when the Goths saw the Gepidae defending for
themselves the territory of the Huns and the people of
the Huns dwelling again in their ancient abodes, they
preferred to ask for lands from the Roman Empire
rather than invade the lands of others with danger to
themselves. So they received Pannonia, which stretches
in a long plain, being bounded on the east by Upper
Moesia, on the south by Dalmatia, on the west by Noricum
and on the north by the Danube. This land is
adorned with many cities, the first of which is Sirmium
and the last Vindobona. But the Sauromatae, whom we 265
call Sarmatians, and the Cemandri and certain of the
Huns dwelt in Castra Martis, a city given them in the
region of Illyricum. Of this race was Blivila, Duke of
Pentapolis, and his brother Froila and also Bessa, a Patrician
in our time. The Sciri, moreover, and the Sadagarii
and certain of the Alani with their leader, Candac by
name, received Scythia Minor and Lower Moesia. Paria,
the father of my father Alanoviiamuth (that is to say, 266
my grandfather), was secretary to this Candac as long
as he lived. To his sister's son Gunthigis, also called
Baza, the Master of the Soldiery, who was the son of
Andag the son of Andela, who was descended from the
stock of the Amali, I also, Jordanes, although an unlearned
man before my conversion, was secretary. The
Rugi, however, and some other races asked that they
might inhabit Bizye and Arcadiopolis. Hernac, the
younger son of Attila, with his followers, chose a home
in the most distant part of Lesser Scythia. Emnetzur and
Ultzindur, kinsmen of his, won Oescus and Utus and
Almus in Dacia on the bank of the Danube, and many of
the Huns, then swarming everywhere, betook themselves
into Romania, and from them the Sacromontisi and the
Fossatisii of this day are said to be descended.
[Sidenote: Bishop Ulfilas about 311-381]
[Sidenote: THE LESSER GOTHS]
LI There were other Goths also, called the Lesser, 267
a great people whose priest and primate was Vulfila, who
is said to have taught them to write. And to-day they
are in Moesia, inhabiting the Nicopolitan region as far
as the base of Mount Haemus. They are a numerous
people, but poor and unwarlike, rich in nothing save
flocks of various kinds and pasture-lands for cattle and
forests for wood. Their country is not fruitful in wheat
and other sorts of grain. Certain of them do not know
that vineyards exist elsewhere, and they buy their wine
from neighboring countries. But most of them drink
milk.
[Sidenote: THE OSTROGOTHS IN PANNONIA]
[Sidenote: BIRTH OF THEODORIC THE GREAT 454]
LII Let us now return to the tribe with which we 268
started, namely the Ostrogoths, who were dwelling in
Pannonia under their king Valamir and his brothers Thiudimer
and Vidimer. Although their territories were
separate, yet their plans were one. For Valamir dwelt
between the rivers Scarniunga and Aqua Nigra, Thiudimer
near Lake Pelso and Vidimer between them both.
Now it happened that the sons of Attila, regarding the
Goths as deserters from their rule, came against them as
though they were seeking fugitive slaves, and attacked
Valamir alone, when his brothers knew nothing of it. He 269
sustained their attack, though he had but few supporters,
and after harassing them a long time, so utterly overwhelmed
them that scarcely any portion of the enemy
remained. The remnant turned in flight and sought
the parts of Scythia which border on the stream of the
river Danaper, which the Huns call in their own tongue
the Var. Thereupon he sent a messenger of good tidings
to his brother Thiudimer, and on the very day the messenger
arrived he found even greater joy in the house of
Thiudimer. For on that day his son Theodoric was born,
of a concubine Erelieva indeed, and yet a child of good
hope.
[Sidenote: HIS YOUTH SPENT AT CONSTANTINOPLE BEGINNING 461]
Now after no great time King Valamir and his brothers 270
Thiudimer and Vidimer sent an embassy to the Emperor
Marcian, because the usual gifts which they received
like a New Year's present from the Emperor, to
preserve the compact of peace, were slow in arriving.
And they found that Theodoric, son of Triarius, a man
of Gothic blood also, but born of another stock, not of
the Amali, was in great favor, together with his followers.
He was allied in friendship with the Romans
and obtained an annual bounty, while they themselves
were merely held in disdain. Thereat they were aroused 271
to frenzy and took up arms. They roved through almost
the whole of Illyricum and laid it waste in their search
for spoil. Then the Emperor quickly changed his mind
and returned to his former state of friendship. He sent
an embassy to give them the past gifts, as well as those
now due, and furthermore promised to give these gifts
in future without any dispute. From the Goths the
Romans received as a hostage of peace Theodoric, the
young child of Thiudimer, whom we have mentioned
above. He had now attained the age of seven years and
was entering upon his eighth. While his father hesitated
about giving him up, his uncle Valamir besought him to
do it, hoping that peace between the Romans and the
Goths might thus be assured. Therefore Theodoric was
given as a hostage by the Goths and brought to the city
of Constantinople to the Emperor Leo and, being a
goodly child, deservedly gained the imperial favor.
[Sidenote: THE GOTHS OVERWHELM THE REMNANT OF THE HUNS]
LIII Now after firm peace was established between 272
Goths and Romans, the Goths found that the possessions
they had received from the Emperor were not sufficient
for them. Furthermore, they were eager to display their
wonted valor, and so began to plunder the neighboring
races round about them, first attacking the Sadagis who
held the interior of Pannonia. When Dintzic, king of the
Huns, a son of Attila, learned this, he gathered to him
the few who still seemed to have remained under his
sway, namely, the Ultzinzures, and Angisciri, the Bittugures
and the Bardores. Coming to Bassiana, a city of
Pannonia, he beleaguered it and began to plunder its territory.
Then the Goths at once abandoned the expedition 273
they had planned against the Sadagis, turned upon the
Huns and drove them so ingloriously from their own
land that those who remained have been in dread of the
arms of the Goths from that time down to the present
day.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF THE SUAVI]
[Sidenote: Plot of Hunimund about 470]
When the tribe of the Huns was at last subdued by the
Goths, Hunimund, chief of the Suavi, who was crossing
over to plunder Dalmatia, carried off some cattle of the
Goths which were straying over the plains; for Dalmatia
was near Suavia and not far distant from the territory
of Pannonia, especially that part where the Goths were
then staying. So then, as Hunimund was returning 274
with the Suavi to his own country, after he had devastated
Dalmatia, Thiudimer the brother of Valamir,
king of the Goths, kept watch on their line of march.
Not that he grieved so much over the loss of his cattle,
but he feared that if the Suavi obtained this plunder with
impunity, they would proceed to greater license. So in
the dead of night, while they were asleep, he made an
unexpected attack upon them, near Lake Pelso. Here he
so completely crushed them that he took captive and sent
into slavery under the Goths even Hunimund, their king,
and all of his army who had escaped the sword. Yet
as he was a great lover of mercy, he granted pardon
after taking vengeance and became reconciled to the
Suavi. He adopted as his son the same man whom he
had taken captive, and sent him back with his followers
into Suavia. But Hunimund was unmindful of his 275
adopted father's kindness. After some time he brought
forth a plot he had contrived and aroused the tribe of the
Sciri, who then dwelt above the Danube and abode peaceably
with the Goths. So the Sciri broke off their alliance
with them, took up arms, joined themselves to Hunimund
and went out to attack the race of the Goths. Thus war
came upon the Goths who were expecting no evil, because
they relied upon both of their neighbors as friends. Constrained
by necessity they took up arms and avenged
themselves and their injuries by recourse to battle. In 276
this battle, as King Valamir rode on his horse before the
line to encourage his men, the horse was wounded and
fell, overthrowing its rider. Valamir was quickly pierced
by his enemies' spears and slain. Thereupon the Goths
proceeded to exact vengeance for the death of their king,
as well as for the injury done them by the rebels. They
fought in such wise that there remained of all the race of
the Sciri only a few who bore the name, and they with
disgrace. Thus were all destroyed.
[Sidenote: SUCCESS OF THE GOTHS UNDER HIUDIMER ABOUT 470]
LIV The kings [of the Suavi], Hunimund and 277
Alaric, fearing the destruction that had come upon the
Sciri, next made war upon the Goths, relying upon the
aid of the Sarmations, who had come to them as auxiliaries
with their kings Beuca and Babai. They summoned
the last remnants of the Sciri, with Edica and Hunuulf,
their chieftains, thinking they would fight the more desperately
to avenge themselves. They had on their side
the Gepidae also, as well as no small reinforcements from
the race of the Rugi and from others gathered here
and there. Thus they brought together a great host at
the river Bolia in Pannonia and encamped there. Now 278
when Valamir was dead, the Goths fled to Thiudimer,
his brother. Although he had long ruled along with his
brothers, yet he took the insignia of his increased authority
and summoned his younger brother Vidimer and
shared with him the cares of war, resorting to arms under
compulsion. A battle was fought and the party of the
Goths was found to be so much the stronger that the
plain was drenched in the blood of their fallen foes and
looked like a crimson sea. Weapons and corpses, piled
up like hills, covered the plain for more than ten miles.
When the Goths saw this, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable, 279
because by this great slaughter of their foes they
had avenged the blood of Valamir their king and the
injury done themselves. But those of the innumerable
and motley throng of the foe who were able to escape,
though they got away, nevertheless came to their own
land with difficulty and without glory.
[Sidenote: THIUDIMER AGAIN WARS WITH THE SUAVI]
[Sidenote: THEODORIC SENT BACK TO HIS OWN PEOPLE 472]
[Sidenote: Capture of Belgrade]
LV After a certain time, when the wintry cold was 280
at hand, the river Danube was frozen over as usual. For
a river like this freezes so hard that it will support like
a solid rock an army of foot-soldiers and wagons and
carts and whatsoever vehicles there may be,--nor is there
need of skiffs and boats. So when Thiudimer, king of
the Goths, saw that it was frozen, he led his army across
the Danube and appeared unexpectedly to the Suavi from
the rear. Now this country of the Suavi has on the east
the Baiovari, on the west the Franks, on the south the
Burgundians and on the north the Thuringians. With 281
the Suavi there were present the Alamanni, then their
confederates, who also ruled the Alpine heights, whence
several streams flow into the Danube, pouring in with a
great rushing sound. Into a place thus fortified King
Thiudimer led his army in the winter-time and conquered,
plundered and almost subdued the race of the Suavi as
well as the Alamanni, who were mutually banded together.
Thence he returned as victor to his own home in
Pannonia and joyfully received his son Theodoric, once
given as hostage to Constantinople and now sent back by
the Emperor Leo with great gifts. Now Theodoric had 282
reached man's estate, for he was eighteen years of age
and his boyhood was ended. So he summoned certain of
his father's adherents and took to himself from the people
his friends and retainers,--almost six thousand men.
With these he crossed the Danube, without his father's
knowledge, and marched against Babai, king of the Sarmatians,
who had just won a victory over Camundus, a
general of the Romans, and was ruling with insolent
pride. Theodoric came upon him and slew him, and
taking as booty his slaves and treasure, returned victorious
to his father. Next he invaded the city of Singidunum,
which the Sarmatians themselves had seized, and
did not return it to the Romans, but reduced it to his own
sway.
[Sidenote: VIDIMER THE YOUNGER GOES TO GAUL 473]
LVI Then as the spoil taken from one and another 283
of the neighboring tribes diminished, the Goths began
to lack food and clothing, and peace became distasteful
to men for whom war had long furnished the
necessaries of life. So all the Goths approached their
king Thiudimer and, with great outcry, begged him to
lead forth his army in whatsoever direction he might
wish. He summoned his brother and, after casting lots,
bade him go into the country of Italy, where at this time
Glycerius ruled as emperor, saying that he himself as the
mightier would go to the east against a mightier empire.
And so it happened. Thereupon Vidimer entered the 284
land of Italy, but soon paid the last debt of fate and
departed from earthly affairs, leaving his son and namesake
Vidimer to succeed him. The Emperor Glycerius
bestowed gifts upon Vidimer and persuaded him to go
from Italy to Gaul, which was then harassed on all sides
by various races, saying that their own kinsmen, the
Visigoths, there ruled a neighboring kingdom. And
what more? Vidimer accepted the gifts and, obeying
the command of the Emperor Glycerius, pressed on to
Gaul. Joining with his kinsmen the Visigoths, they
again formed one body, as they had been long ago. Thus
they held Gaul and Spain by their own right and so
defended them that no other race won the mastery there.
[Sidenote: THIUDIMER IN MACEDONIA]
But Thiudimer, the elder brother, crossed the river 285
Savus with his men, threatening the Sarmatians and their
soldiers with war if any should resist him. From fear of
this they kept quiet; moreover they were powerless in the
face of so great a host. Thiudimer, seeing prosperity
everywhere awaiting him, invaded Naissus, the first city
of Illyricum. He was joined by his son Theodoric and
the Counts Astat and Invilia, and sent them to Ulpiana
by way of Castrum Herculis. Upon their arrival the 286
town surrendered, as did Stobi later; and several places
of Illyricum, inaccessible to them at first, were thus made
easy of approach. For they first plundered and then
ruled by right of war Heraclea and Larissa, cities of
Thessaly. But Thiudimer the king, perceiving his own
good fortune and that of his son, was not content with
this alone, but set forth from the city of Naissus, leaving
only a few men behind as a guard. He himself advanced
to Thessalonica, where Hilarianus the Patrician, appointed
by the Emperor, was stationed with his army.
When Hilarianus beheld Thessalonica surrounded by an 287
entrenchment and saw that he could not resist attack, he
sent an embassy to Thiudimer the king and by the offer
of gifts turned him aside from destroying the city. Then
the Roman general entered upon a truce with the Goths
and of his own accord handed over to them those places
they inhabited, namely Cyrrhus, Pella, Europus, Methone,
Pydna, Beroea, and another which is called Dium.
So the Goths and their king laid aside their arms, consented 288
to peace and became quiet. Soon after these
events, King Thiudimer was seized with a mortal illness
in the city of Cyrrhus. He called the Goths to himself,
appointed Theodoric his son as heir of his kingdom and
presently departed this life.
[Sidenote: Zeno 491]
[Sidenote: Theodoric the Great 526]
[Sidenote: THEODORIC HONORED BY ZENO 528]
LVII When the Emperor Zeno heard that Theodoric 289
had been appointed king over his own people, he received
the news with pleasure and invited him to come and visit
him in the city, appointing an escort of honor. Receiving
Theodoric with all due respect, he placed him among the
princes of his palace. After some time Zeno increased
his dignity by adopting him as his son-at-arms and gave
him a triumph in the city at his expense. Theodoric was
made Consul Ordinary also, which is well known to be
the supreme good and highest honor in the world. Nor
was this all, for Zeno set up before the royal palace an
equestrian statue to the glory of this great man.
[Sidenote: ASKS TO THE EMPIRE FOR HIS RULE]
[Sidenote: THEODORIC SETS OUT FOR ITALY 488]
Now while Theodoric was in alliance by treaty with 290
the Empire of Zeno and was himself enjoying every
comfort in the city, he heard that his tribe, dwelling as
we have said in Illyricum, was not altogether satisfied or
content. So he chose rather to seek a living by his own
exertions, after the manner customary to his race, rather
than to enjoy the advantages of the Roman Empire in
luxurious ease while his tribe lived in want. After pondering
these matters, he said to the Emperor: "Though I
lack nothing in serving your Empire, yet if Your Piety
deem it worthy, be pleased to hear the desire of my
heart." And when as usual he had been granted permission 291
to speak freely, he said: "The western country, long
ago governed by the rule of your ancestors and predecessors,
and that city which was the head and mistress of
the world,--wherefore is it now shaken by the tyranny
of the Torcilingi and the Rugi? Send me there with my
race. Thus if you but say the word, you may be freed
from the burden of expense here, and, if by the Lord's
help I shall conquer, the fame of Your Piety shall be
glorious there. For it is better that I, your servant and
your son, should rule that kingdom, receiving it as a
gift from you if I conquer, than that one whom you do
not recognize should oppress your Senate with his tyrannical
yoke and a part of the republic with slavery. For if
I prevail, I shall retain it as your grant and gift; if I am
conquered, Your Piety will lose nothing--nay, as I have
said, it will save the expense I now entail." Although the 292
Emperor was grieved that he should go, yet when he
heard this he granted what Theodoric asked, for he was
unwilling to cause him sorrow. He sent him forth enriched
by great gifts and commended to his charge the
Senate and the Roman People.
[Sidenote: HE CONQUERS ODOACER AND PUTS HIM TO DEATH 493]
Therefore Theodoric departed from the royal city and
returned to his own people. In company with the whole
tribe of the Goths, who gave him their unanimous consent,
he set out for Hesperia. He went in straight march
through Sirmium to the places bordering on Pannonia
and, advancing into the territory of Venetia as far as
the bridge of the Sontius, encamped there. When he 293
had halted there for some time to rest the bodies of
his men and pack-animals, Odoacer sent an armed force
against him, which he met on the plains of Verona and
destroyed with great slaughter. Then he broke camp
and advanced through Italy with greater boldness. Crossing
the river Po, he pitched camp near the royal city
of Ravenna, about the third milestone from the city in
the place called Pineta. When Odoacer saw this, he
fortified himself within the city. He frequently harassed
the army of the Goths at night, sallying forth stealthily
with his men, and this not once or twice, but often; and
thus he struggled for almost three whole years. But he 294
labored in vain, for all Italy at last called Theodoric its
lord and the Empire obeyed his nod. But Odoacer, with
his few adherents and the Romans who were present, suffered
daily from war and famine in Ravenna. Since he
accomplished nothing, he sent an embassy and begged for
mercy. Theodoric first granted it and afterwards deprived 295
him of his life.
[Sidenote: THEODORIC FOUNDS THE OSTROGOTHIC KINGDOM IN ITALY 493]
It was in the third year after his entrance into Italy,
as we have said, that Theodoric, by advice of the Emperor
Zeno, laid aside the garb of a private citizen and
the dress of his race and assumed a costume with a royal
mantle, as he had now become the ruler over both Goths
and Romans. He sent an embassy to Lodoin, king of the
Franks, and asked for his daughter Audefleda in marriage. 296
Lodoin freely and gladly gave her, and also his
sons Celdebert and Heldebert and Thiudebert, believing
that by this alliance a league would be formed and that
they would be associated with the race of the Goths. But
that union was of no avail for peace and harmony, for
they fought fiercely with each other again and again for
the lands of the Goths; but never did the Goths yield to
the Franks while Theodoric lived.
[Sidenote: OF THE INCREASE OF HIS POWER]
[Sidenote: Amalaric 507-531]
LVIII Now before he had a child from Audefleda, 297
Theodoric had children of a concubine, daughters begotten
in Moesia, one named Thiudigoto and another Ostrogotho.
Soon after he came to Italy, he gave them in marriage
to neighboring kings, one to Alaric, king of the
Visigoths, and the other to Sigismund, king of the Burgundians.
Now Alaric begat Amalaric. While his grandfather 298
Theodoric cared for and protected him--for he
had lost both parents in the years of childhood--he
found that Eutharic, the son of Veteric, grandchild of
Beremud and Thorismud, and a descendant of the race
of the Amali, was living in Spain, a young man strong in
wisdom and valor and health of body. Theodoric sent
for him and gave him his daughter Amalasuentha in
marriage. And that he might extend his family as much 299
as possible, he sent his sister Amalafrida (the mother of
Theodahad, who was afterwards king) to Africa as wife
of Thrasamund, king of the Vandals, and her daughter
Amalaberga, who was his own niece, he united with Herminefred,
king of the Thuringians.
Now he sent his Count Pitza, chosen from among the 300
chief men of his kingdom, to hold the city of Sirmium.
He got possession of it by driving out its king Thrasaric,
son of Thraustila, and keeping his mother captive. Thence
he came with two thousand infantry and five hundred
horsemen to aid Mundo against Sabinian, Master of the
Soldiery of Illyricum, who at that time had made ready to
fight with Mundo near the city named Margoplanum,
which lies between the Danube and Margus rivers, and
destroyed the Army of Illyricum. For this Mundo, who 301
traced his descent from the Attilani of old, had put to
flight the tribe of the Gepidae and was roaming beyond
the Danube in waste places where no man tilled the soil.
He had gathered around him many outlaws and ruffians
and robbers from all sides and had seized a tower called
Herta, situated on the bank of the Danube. There he
plundered his neighbors in wild license and made himself
king over his vagabonds. Now Pitza came upon him
when he was nearly reduced to desperation and was already
thinking of surrender. So he rescued him from
the hands of Sabinian and made him a grateful subject of
his king Theodoric.
[Sidenote: Thiudis 531-548]
[Sidenote: Thiudigisclus 548-549]
[Sidenote: Agil 549-554]
[Sidenote: Athanagild 554-567]
Theodoric won an equally great victory over the 302
Franks through his Count Ibba in Gaul, when more than
thirty thousand Franks were slain in battle. Moreover,
after the death of his son-in-law Alaric, Theodoric appointed
Thiudis, his armor-bearer, guardian of his grandson
Amalaric in Spain. But Amalaric was ensnared by
the plots of the Franks in early youth and lost at once his
kingdom and his life. Then his guardian Thiudis, advancing
from the same kingdom, assailed the Franks and
delivered the Spaniards from their disgraceful treachery.
So long as he lived he kept the Visigoths united. After 303
him Thiudigisclus obtained the kingdom and, ruling but
a short time, met his death at the hands of his own followers.
He was succeeded by Agil, who holds the kingdom
to the present day. Athanagild has rebelled against
him and is even now provoking the might of the Roman
Empire. So Liberius the Patrician is on the way with
an army to oppose him. Now there was not a tribe in
the west that did not serve Theodoric while he lived,
either in friendship or by conquest.
[Sidenote: THEODORIC THE GREAT DIES 526]
[Sidenote: KING ATHALARIC 526-534]
LIX When he had reached old age and knew that he 304
should soon depart this life, he called together the Gothic
counts and chieftains of his race and appointed Athalaric
as king. He was a boy scarce ten years old, the son of
his daughter Amalasuentha, and he had lost his father
Eutharic. As though uttering his last will and testament,
Theodoric adjured and commanded them to honor their
king, to love the Senate and Roman People and to make
sure of the peace and good will of the Emperor of the
East, as next after God.
[Sidenote: AMALASUENTHA]
[Sidenote: Theodahad 534-536]
[Sidenote: 534]
They kept this command fully so long as Athalaric 305
their king and his mother lived, and ruled in peace for
almost eight years. But as the Franks put no confidence
in the rule of a child and furthermore held him in contempt,
and were also plotting war, he gave back to them
those parts of Gaul which his father and grandfather had
seized. He possessed all the rest in peace and quiet.
Therefore when Athalaric was approaching the age of
manhood, he entrusted to the Emperor of the East both
his own youth and his mother's widowhood. But in a
short time the ill-fated boy was carried off by an untimely
death and departed from earthly affairs. His mother 306
feared she might be despised by the Goths on account of
the weakness of her sex. So after much thought she decided,
for the sake of relationship, to summon her cousin
Theodahad from Tuscany, where he led a retired life at
home, and thus she established him on the throne. But
he was unmindful of their kinship and, after a little time,
had her taken from the palace at Ravenna to an island
of the Bulsinian lake where he kept her in exile. After
spending a very few days there in sorrow, she was
strangled in the bath by his hirelings.
[Sidenote: Justinian 527-565]
[Sidenote: JUSTINIAN SENDS BELISARIUS TO AVENGE THE DEATH OF HIS WARDS
534]
[Sidenote: Vitiges King 536-540]
LX When Justinian, the Emperor of the East, heard 307
this, he was aroused as if he had suffered personal injury
in the death of his wards. Now at that time he had won
a triumph over the Vandals in Africa, through his most
faithful Patrician Belisarius. Without delay he sent his
army under this leader against the Goths at the very time
when his arms were yet dripping with the blood of the
Vandals. This sagacious general believed he could not 308
overcome the Gothic nation, unless he should first seize
Sicily, their nursing-mother. Accordingly he did so. As
soon as he entered Trinacria, the Goths, who were besieging
the town of Syracuse, found that they were not succeeding
and surrendered of their own accord to Belisarius,
with their leader Sinderith. When the Roman general
reached Sicily, Theodahad sought out Evermud, his
son-in-law, and sent him with an army to guard the strait
which lies between Campania and Sicily and sweeps from
a bend of the Tyrrhenian Sea into the vast tide of the
Adriatic. When Evermud arrived, he pitched his camp 309
by the town of Rhegium. He soon saw that his side was
the weaker. Coming over with a few close and faithful
followers to the side of the victor and willingly casting
himself at the feet of Belisarius, he decided to serve the
rulers of the Roman Empire. When the army of the
Goths perceived this, they distrusted Theodahad and
clamored for his expulsion from the kingdom and for the
appointment as king of their leader Vitiges, who had been
his armor bearer. This was done; and presently Vitiges 310
was raised to the office of king on the Barbarian Plains.
He entered Rome and sent on to Ravenna the men most
faithful to him to demand the death of Theodahad. They
came and executed his command. After King Theodahad
was slain, a messenger came from the king--for he was
already king in the Barbarian Plains--to proclaim Vitiges
to the people.
[Sidenote: THE OSTROGOTHS OVERCOME BY BELISARIUS]
[Sidenote: Siege of Rome 537-538]
[Sidenote: Surrender of Vitiges 540]
[Sidenote: Death of Vitiges 542]
[Sidenote: Mathesuentha marries Germanus 542]
Meanwhile the Roman army crossed the strait and 311
marched toward Campania. They took Naples and
pressed on to Rome. Now a few days before they arrived,
King Vitiges had set forth from Rome, arrived at
Ravenna and married Mathesuentha, the daughter of
Amalasuentha and grand-daughter of Theodoric, the former
king. While he was celebrating his new marriage and
holding court at Ravenna, the imperial army advanced
from Rome and attacked the strongholds in both parts of
Tuscany. When Vitiges learned of this through messengers,
he sent a force under Hunila, a leader of the Goths,
to Perusia which was beleaguered by them. While they 312
were endeavoring by a long siege to dislodge Count
Magnus, who was holding the place with a small force,
the Roman army came upon them, and they themselves
were driven away and utterly exterminated. When Vitiges
heard the news, he raged like a lion and assembled
all the host of the Goths. He advanced from Ravenna
and harassed the walls of Rome with a long siege. But
after fourteen months his courage was broken and he
raised the siege of the city of Rome and prepared to overwhelm
Ariminum. Here he was baffled in like manner 313
and put to flight; and so he retreated to Ravenna. When
besieged there, he quickly and willingly surrendered himself
to the victorious side, together with his wife Mathesuentha
and the royal treasure.
And thus a famous kingdom and most valiant race,
which had long held sway, was at last overcome in almost
its two thousand and thirtieth year by that conquerer of
many nations, the Emperor Justinian, through his most
faithful consul Belisarius. He gave Vitiges the title of
Patrician and took him to Constantinople, where he dwelt
for more than two years, bound by ties of affection to the
Emperor, and then departed this life. But his consort 314
Mathesuentha was bestowed by the Emperor upon the
Patrician Germanus, his cousin. And of them was born
a son (also called Germanus) after the death of his
father Germanus. This union of the race of the Anicii
with the stock of the Amali gives hopeful promise, under
the Lord's favor, to both peoples.
(Conclusion)
And now we have recited the origin of the Goths, the 315
noble line of the Amali and the deeds of brave men. This
glorious race yielded to a more glorious prince and surrendered
to a more valiant leader, whose fame shall be
silenced by no ages or cycles of years; for the victorious
and triumphant Emperor Justinian and his consul Belisarius
shall be named and known as Vandalicus, Africanus
and Geticus.
Thou who readest this, know that I have followed the 316
writings of my ancestors, and have culled a few flowers
from their broad meadows to weave a chaplet for him
who cares to know these things. Let no one believe that
to the advantage of the race of which I have spoken--though
indeed I trace my own descent from it--I have
added aught besides what I have read or learned by
inquiry. Even thus I have not included all that is written
or told about them, nor spoken so much to their praise as
to the glory of him who conquered them.
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