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]