The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, The Goths in the 3rd Century

JORDANES

THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS

551 AD

translated by Charles C. Mierow

Princeton University Press, 1915

The Goths in the Third Century AD

But let us now return to the point whence we made our digression and tell how
the stock of this people of whom I speak reached the end of its course. Now Ablabius
the historian relates that in Scythia, where we have said that they were dwelling
above an arm of the Pontic Sea, part of them who held the eastern region and whose
king was Ostrogotha, were called Ostrogoths, that is, eastern Goths, either from
his name or from the place. But the rest were called Visigoths, that is, the Goths
of the western country.

As already said, they crossed the Danube and dwelt a little while in Moesia
and Thrace. From the remnant of these came Maximinus, the Emperor succeeding Alexander
the son of Mama. For Symmachus relates it thus in the fifth book of his history,
saying that upon the death of Caesar Alexander, Maximinus was made Emperor by
the army; a man born in Thrace of most humble parentage, his father being a Goth
named Micca, and his mother a woman of the Alani called Ababa. He reigned three
years and lost alike his empire and his life while making war on the Christians.

Now after his first years spent in rustic life, he had come from his flocks
to military service in the reign of the Emperor Severus and at the time when he
was celebrating his son’s birthday. It happened that the Emperor was giving military
games. When Maximinus saw this, although he was a semi-barbarian youth, he besought
the Emperor in his native tongue to give him permission to wrestle with the trained
soldiers for the prizes offered.

Severus marvelling much at his great size–for his stature, it is said, was
more than eight feet,–bade him contend in wrestling with the camp followers,
in order that no injury might befall his soldiers at the hands of this wild fellow.
Thereupon Maximinus threw sixteen attendants with so great ease that he conquered
them one by one without taking any rest by pausing between the bouts. So then,
when he had won the prizes, it was ordered that he should be sent into the army
and should take his first campaign with the cavalry. On the third day after this,
when the Emperor went out to the field, he saw him coursing about in barbarian
fashion and bade a tribune restrain him and teach him Roman discipline. But when
he understood it was the Emperor who was speaking about him, he came forward and
began to run ahead of him as he rode.

Then the Emperor spurred on his horse to a slow trot and wheeled in many a
circle hither and thither with various turns, until he was weary. And then he
said to him “Are you willing to wrestle now after your running, my little Thracian?”
“As much as you like, O Emperor,” he answered. So Severus leaped from his horse
and ordered the freshest soldiers to wrestle with him. But he threw to the ground
seven very powerful youths, even as before, taking no breathing space between
the bouts. So he alone was given prizes of silver and a golden necklace by Caesar.
Then he was bidden to serve in the body guard of the Emperor.

After this he was an officer under Antoninus Caracalla, often increasing his
fame by his deeds, and rose to many military grades and finally to the centurionship
as the reward of his active service. Yet afterwards, when Macrinus became Emperor,
he refused military service for almost three years, and though he held the office
of tribune, he never came into the presence of Macrinus, thinking his rule shameful
because he had won it by committing a crime.

Then he returned to Eliogabalus, believing him to be the son of Antoninus,
and entered upon his tribuneship. After his reign, he fought with marvellous success
against the Parthians, under Alexander the son of Mama. When he was slain in an
uprising of the soldiers at Mogontiacum, Maximinus himself was made Emperor by
a vote of the army, without a decree of the senate. But he marred all his good
deeds by persecuting the Christians in accordance with an evil vow and, being
slain by Pupienus at Aquileia, left the kingdom to Philip. These matters we have
borrowed from the history of Symmachus for this our little book, in order to show
that the race of which we speak attained to the very highest station in the Roman
Empire. But our subject requires us to return in due order to the point whence
we digressed.

Now the Gothic race gained great fame in the region where they were then dwelling,
that is in the Scythian land on the shore of Pontus, holding undisputed sway over
great stretches of country, many arms of the sea and many river courses. By their
strong right arm the Vandals were often laid low, the Marcomanni held their footing
by paying tribute and the princes of the Quadi were reduced to slavery. Now when
the aforesaid Philip–who, with his son Philip, was the only Christian emperor
before Constantine–ruled over the Romans, in the second year of his reign Rome
completed its one thousandth year. He withheld from the Goths the tribute due
them; whereupon they were naturally enraged and instead of friends became his
foes. For though they dwelt apart under their own kings, yet they had been allied
to the Roman state and received annual gifts.

And what more? Ostrogotha and his men soon crossed the Danube and ravaged Moesia
and Thrace. Philip sent the senator Decius against him. And since he could do
nothing against the Getae, he released his own soldiers from military service
and sent them back to private life, as though it had been by their neglect that
the Goths had crossed the Danube. When, as he supposed, he had thus taken vengeance
on his soldiers, he returned to Philip. But when the soldiers found themselves
expelled from the army after so many hardships, in their anger they had recourse
to the protection of Ostrogotha, king of the Goths.

He received them, was aroused by their words and presently led out three hundred
thousand armed men, having as allies for this war some of the Taifali and Astringi
and also three thousand of the Carpi, a race of men very ready to make war and
frequently hostile to the Romans. But in later times when Diocletian and Maximian
were Emperors, the Caesar Galerius Maximianus conquered them and made them tributary
to the Roman Empire. Besides these tribes, Ostrogotha had Goths and Peucini from
the island of Peuce, which lies in the mouths of the Danube where they empty into
the Sea of Pontus. He placed in command Argaithus and Guntheric, the noblest leaders
of his race.

They speedily crossed the Danube, devastated Moesia a second time and approached
Marcianople, the famed metropolis of that land. Yet after a long siege they departed,
upon receiving money from the inhabitants.

Now since we have mentioned Marcianople, we may briefly relate a few matters
in connection with its founding. They say that the Emperor Trajan built this city
for the following reason. While his sister’s daughter Marcia was bathing in the
stream called Potamus–a river of great clearness and purity that rises in the
midst of the city–she wished to draw some water from it and by chance dropped
into its depths the golden pitcher she was carrying. Yet though very heavy from
its weight of metal, it emerged from the waves a long time afterwards. It surely
is not a usual thing for an empty vessel to sink; much less that, when once swallowed
up, it should be cast up by the waves and float again. Trajan marvelled at hearing
this and believed there was some divinity in the stream. So he built a city and
called it Marcianople after the name of his sister.

From this city, then, as we were saying, the Getae returned after a
long siege to their own land, enriched by the ransom they had received. Now the
race of the Gepidae was moved with envy when they saw them laden with booty and
so suddenly victorious everywhere, and made war on their kinsmen. Should you ask
how the Getae and Gepidae are kinsmen, I can tell you in a few words. You surely
remember that in the beginning I said the Goths went forth from the bosom of the
island of Scandza with Berig, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the
hither shore of Ocean, namely to Gothiscandza.

One of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually
the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language
gepanta means slow. Hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption the
name Gepidae was coined for them by way of reproach. For undoubtedly they too
trace their origin from the stock of the Goths, but because, as I have said, gepanta
means something slow and stolid, the word Gepidae arose as a gratuitous name of
reproach. I do not believe this is very far wrong, for they are slow of thought
and too sluggish for quick movement of their bodies.

These Gepidae were then smitten by envy while they dwelt in the province of
Spesis on an island surrounded by the shallow waters of the Vistula. This island
they called, in the speech of their fathers, Gepedoios; but it is now inhabited
by the race of the Vividarii, since the Gepidae themselves have moved to better
lands. The Vividarii are gathered from various races into this one asylum, if
I may call it so, and thus they form a nation.

So then, as we were saying, Fastida, king of the Gepidae, stirred up his quiet
people to enlarge their boundaries by war. He overwhelmed the Burgundians, almost
annihilating them, and conquered a number of other races also. He unjustly provoked
the Goths, being the first to break the bonds of kinship by unseemly strife. He
was greatly puffed up with vain glory, but in seeking to acquire new lands for
his growing nation, he only reduced the numbers of his own countrymen.

For he sent ambassadors to Ostrogotha, to whose rule Ostrogoths and Visigoths
alike, that is, the two peoples of the same tribe, were still subject. Complaining
that he was hemmed in by rugged mountains and dense forests, he demanded one of
two things,–that Ostrogotha should either prepare for war or give up part of
his lands to them.

Then Ostrogotha, king of the Goths, who was a man of firm mind, answered the
ambassadors that he did indeed dread such a war and that it would be a grievous
and infamous thing to join battle with their kin,–but he would not give up his
lands. And why say more? The Gepidae hastened to take arms and Ostrogotha likewise
moved his forces against them, lest he should seem a coward. They met at the town
of Galtis, near which the river Auha flows, and there both sides fought with great
valor; indeed the similarity of their arms and of their manner of fighting turned
them against their own men. But the better cause and their natural alertness aided
the Goths.

Finally night put an end to the battle as a part of the Gepidae were giving
way. Then Fastida, king of the Gepidae, left the field of slaughter and hastened
to his own land, as much humiliated with shame and disgrace as formerly he had
been elated with pride. The Goths returned victorious, content with the retreat
of the Gepidae, and dwelt in peace and happiness in their own land so long as
Ostrogotha was their leader.

After his death, Cniva divided the army into two parts and sent some to waste
Moesia, knowing that it was undefended through the neglect of the emperors. He
himself with seventy thousand men hastened to Euscia, that is, Novae. When driven
from this place by the general Gallus, he approached Nicopolis, a very famous
town situated near the Iatrus river. This city Trajan built when he conquered
the Sarmatians and named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius drew
near, Cniva at last withdrew to the regions of Haemus, which were not far distant.
Thence he hastened to Philippopolis, with his forces in good array.

When the Emperor Decius learned of his departure, he was eager to bring relief
to his own city and, crossing Mount Haemus, came to Beroa. While he was resting
his horses and his weary army in that place, all at once Cniva and his Goths fell
upon him like a thunderbolt. He cut the Roman army to pieces and drove the Emperor,
with a few who had succeeded in escaping, across the Alps again to Euscia in Moesia,
where Gallus was then stationed with a large force of soldiers as guardian of
the frontier. Collecting an army from this region as well as from Oescus, he prepared
for the conflict of the coming war.

But Cniva took Philippopolis after a long siege and then, laden with spoil,
allied himself to Priscus, the commander in the city, to fight against Decius.
In the battle that followed they quickly pierced the son of Decius with an arrow
and cruelly slew him. The father saw this, and although he is said to have exclaimed,
to cheer the hearts of his soldiers: “Let no one mourn; the death of one soldier
is not a great loss to the republic”, he was yet unable to endure it, because
of his love for his son. So he rode against the foe, demanding either death or
vengeance, and when he came to Abrittus, a city of Moesia, he was himself cut
off by the Goths and slain, thus making an end of his dominion and of his life.
This place is to-day called the Altar of Decius, because he there offered strange
sacrifices to idols before the battle.

Then upon the death of Decius, Gallus and Volusianus succeeded to the Roman
Empire. At this time a destructive plague, almost like death itself, such as we
suffered nine years ago, blighted the face of the whole earth and especially devastated
Alexandria and all the land of Egypt. The historian Dionysius gives a mournful
account of it and Cyprian, our own bishop and venerable martyr in Christ, also
describes it in his book entitled “On Mortality”. At this time the Goths frequently
ravaged Moesia, through the neglect of the Emperors.

When a certain Aemilianus saw that they were free to do this, and that they
could not be dislodged by anyone without great cost to the republic, he thought
that he too might be able to achieve fame and fortune. So he seized the rule in
Moesia and, taking all the soldiers he could gather, began to plunder cities and
people. In the next few months, while an armed host was being gathered against
him, he wrought no small harm to the state. Yet he died almost at the beginning
of his evil attempt, thus losing at once his life and the power he coveted.

Now though Gallus and Volusianus, the Emperors we have mentioned, departed
this life after remaining in power for barely two years, yet during this space
of two years which they spent on earth they reigned amid universal peace and favor.
Only one thing was laid to their charge, namely the great plague. But this was
an accusation made by ignorant slanderers, whose custom it is to wound the lives
of others with their malicious bite. Soon after they came to power they made a
treaty with the race of the Goths. When both rulers were dead, it was no long
time before Gallienus usurped the throne.

While he was given over to luxurious living of every sort, Respa, Veduc and
Thuruar, leaders of the Goths, took ship and sailed across the strait of the Hellespont
to Asia. There they laid waste many populous cities and set fire to the renowned
temple of Diana at Ephesus, which, as we said before, the Amazons built. Being
driven from the neighborhood of Bithynia, they destroyed Chalcedon, which Cornelius
Avitus afterwards restored to some extent. Yet even to-day, though it is happily
situated near the royal city, it still shows some traces of its ruin as a witness
to posterity.

After their success, the Goths recrossed the strait of the Hellespont, laden
with booty and spoil, and returned along the same route by which they had entered
the lands of Asia, sacking Troy and Ilium on the way. These cities, which had
scarce recovered a little from the famous war with Agamemnon, were thus destroyed
anew by the hostile sword. After the Goths had thus devastated Asia, Thrace next
felt their ferocity. For they went thither and presently attacked Anchiali, a
city at the foot of Haemus and not far from the sea. Sardanapalus, king of the
Parthians, had built this city long ago between an inlet of the sea and the base
of Haemus.

There they are said to have stayed for many days, enjoying the baths of the
hot springs which are situated about twelve miles from the city of Anchiali. There
they gush from the depths of their fiery source, and among the innumerable hot
springs of the world they are esteemed as specially famous and efficacious for
their healing virtues.

After these events, the Goths had already returned home when they were
summoned at the request of the Emperor Maximian to aid the Romans against the
Parthians. They fought for him faithfully, serving as auxiliaries. But after Caesar
Maximian by their aid had routed Narseus, king of the Persians, the grandson of
Sapor the Great, taking as spoil all his possessions, together with his wives
and his sons, and when Diocletian had conquered Achilles in Alexandria and Maximianus
Herculius had broken the Quinquegentiani in Africa, thus winning peace for the
empire, they began rather to neglect the Goths.

Now it had long been a hard matter for the Roman army to fight against any
nations whatsoever without them. This is evident from the way in which the Goths
were so frequently called upon. Thus they were summoned by Constantine to bear
arms against his kinsman Licinius. Later, when he was vanquished and shut up in
Thessalonica and deprived of his power, they slew him with the sword of Constantine
the victor.

In like manner it was the aid of the Goths that enabled him to build the famous
city that is named after him, the rival of Rome, inasmuch as they entered into
a truce with the Emperor and furnished him forty thousand men to aid him against
various peoples. This body of men, namely, the Allies, and the service they rendered
in war are still spoken of in the land to this day. Now at that time they prospered
under the rule of their kings Ariaric and Aoric. Upon their death Geberich appeared
as successor to the throne, a man renowned for his valor and noble birth.

For he was the son of Hilderith, who was the son of Ovida, who was the son
of Nidada; and by his illustrious deeds he equalled the glory of his race. Soon
he sought to enlarge his country’s narrow bounds at the expense of the race of
the Vandals and Visimar, their king. This Visimar was of the stock of the Asdingi,
which is eminent among them and indicates a most warlike descent, as Dexippus
the historian relates. He states furthermore that by reason of the great extent
of their country they could scarcely come from Ocean to our frontier in a year’s
time. At that time they dwelt in the land where the Gepidae now live, near the
rivers Marisia, Miliare, Gilpil and the Grisia, which exceeds in size all previously
mentioned.

They then had on the east the Goths, on the west the Marcomanni, on the north
the Hermunduli and on the south the Hister, which is also called the Danube. At
the time when the Vandals were dwelling in this region, war was begun against
them by Geberich, king of the Goths, on the shore of the river Marisia which I
have mentioned. Here the battle raged for a little while on equal terms. But soon
Visimar himself, the king of the Vandals, was overthrown, together with the greater
part of his people.

When Geberich, the famous leader of the Goths, had conquered and spoiled the
Vandals, he returned to his own place whence he had come. Then the remnant of
the Vandals who had escaped, collecting a band of their unwarlike folk, left their
ill-fated country and asked the Emperor Constantine for Pannonia. Here they made
their home for about sixty years and obeyed the commands of the emperors like
subjects. A long time afterward they were summoned thence by Stilicho, Master
of the Soldiery, Ex-Consul and Patrician, and took possession of Gaul. Here they
plundered their neighbors and had no settled place of abode.

Soon Geberich, king of the Goths, departed from human affairs and Hermanaric,
noblest of the Amali, succeeded to the throne. He subdued many warlike peoples
of the north and made them obey his laws, and some of our ancestors have justly
compared him to Alexander the Great. Among the tribes he conquered were the Golthescytha,
Thiudos, Inaunxis, Vasinabroncae, Merens, Mordens, Imniscaris, Rogas, Tadzans,
Athaul, Navego, Bubegenae and Coldae.

But though famous for his conquest of so many races, he gave himself no rest
until he had slain some in battle and then reduced to his sway the remainder of
the tribe of the Heruli, whose chief was Alaric. Now the aforesaid race, as the
historian Ablabius tells us, dwelt near Lake Maeotis in swampy places which the
Greeks call hele; hence they were named Heluri. They were a people swift of foot,
and on that account were the more swollen with pride, for there was at that time
no race that did not choose from them its light-armed troops for battle. But though
their quickness often saved them from others who made war upon them, yet they
were overthrown by the slowness and steadiness of the Goths; and the lot of fortune
brought it to pass that they, as well as the other tribes, had to serve Hermanaric,
king of the Getae.

After the slaughter of the Heruli, Hermanaric also took arms against the Venethi.
This people, though despised in war, was strong in numbers and tried to resist
him. But a multitude of cowards is of no avail, particularly when God permits
an armed multitude to attack them. These people, as we started to say at the beginning
of our account or catalogue of nations, though off-shoots from one stock, have
now three names, that is, Venethi, Antes and Sclaveni. Though they now rage in
war far and wide, in punishment for our sins, yet at that time they were all obedient
to Hermanaric’s commands.

This ruler also subdued by his wisdom and might the race of the Aesti, who
dwell on the farthest shore of the German Ocean, and ruled all the nations of
Scythia and Germany by his own prowess alone.