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.