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]