JORDANES
THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS
551 AD
translated by Charles C. Mierow
Princeton University Press, 1915
The Divided Goths: Ostrogoths
Since I have followed the stories of my 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 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 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 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.
And later, after the death of Vinitharius, Hunimund 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, 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.
But that the order we have taken for our history may 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; 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 or 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.
Shortly before he died, as the historian Priscus 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, 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 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 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 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.
After they had fulfilled these rites, a contest for 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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 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, 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.
There were other Goths also, called the Lesser, 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.
Let us now return to the tribe with which we 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 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.
Now after no great time King Valamir and his brothers 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 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.
Now after firm peace was established between 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 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.
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 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 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 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.
The kings [of the Suavi], Hunimund and Alaric, fearing the destruction that
had come upon the Sciri, next made war upon the Goths, relying upon the aid of
the Sarmatians, 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 reforcements 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 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, 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.
After a certain time, when the wintry cold was 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 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 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.
Then as the spoil taken from one and another 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 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.
But Thiudimer, the elder brother, crossed the river 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 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 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 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.
When the Emperor Zeno heard that Theodoric 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.
Now while Theodoric was in alliance by treaty with 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 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 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.
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 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 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 him of his life.
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.
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.
Now before he had a child from Audefleda, 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 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 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 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 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.
Theodoric won an equally great victory over the 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 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.
When he had reached old age and knew that he 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.
They kept this command fully so long as Athalaric 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 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.
When Justinian, the Emperor of the East, heard 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 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 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 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.
Meanwhile the Roman army crossed the strait and 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 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 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 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 people.
