The Society for Ancient Languages
Week One
English Translation |
IORDANIS CAPUT XXVI |
JORDANES CHAPTER 26 |
| Quibus evenit, ut adsolet genti, necdum bene loco fundatis, penuria famis, coeperuntque primates eorum et duces, qui regum vice illis praeerant, id est Fritigernus, Alatheus et Safrac, exercitus inopiam condolere negotiationemque a Lupicino Maximoque Romanorum ducum expetere. Verum quid non auri sacra fames compellit adquiescere? Coeperunt duces avaritia compellente non solum ovium bovumque carnes, verum etiam canum et inmundorum animalium morticina eis pro magno contradere, adeo, ut quemlibet mancipium in uno pane aut decem libris carne mercarent. Sed iam mancipiis et supellectile deficientibus filios eorum avarus mercator victus necessitate exposcit. haut enim secus parentes faciunt salute suorum pignorum providentes: faciliusque deliberant ingenuitatem perire quam vitam. Dum misericorditer alendus quis venditur quam moriturus servatur. Contigit etenim illo sub tempore erumnoso. Lupicinus ut doctor Romanorum Fritigernum Gothorum regulum in convivio invitaret dolumque ei, ut post exitus docuit, moliretur. Sed Fritigernus dolum nescius cum paucorum comitatu ad convivium veniens. Dum intus in preturio aepularetur, clamorem miserorum morientium audiret: nam in alia parte socios eius reclausos dum milites ducis sui iussu trucidare conarentur et vox morientium duriter emissa iam suspectis auribus intonaret, ilico aperto dolo cognoscens Fritigernus evaginato gladio e convivio non sine magna temeritate velocitateque egreditur suosque socios ab imminenti morte ereptos ad necem Romanorum instigat. Qui nancti occasione votiva elegerunt viri fortissimi in bello magis quam in fame deficere, et ilico in ducum Lupicini et Maximi armantur occisione. Illa namque dies Gothorum famem Romanorumque securitatem ademit, coeperuntque Gothi iam non ut advenae et peregrini, sed ut cives et domini possessoribus imperare totasque partes septentrionales usque ad Danubiam suo iuri tenere. Quod conperiens in Antiochia Valens imperator mox armato exercitu in Thraciarum partes egreditur: ubi lacrimabile bello commisso vincentibus Gothis in quodam praedio iuxta Adrianopolim saucius ipse refugiens ignorantibusque, quod imperator in tam vili casula delitisceret. Gothis, ignemque, ut adsolet saeviente inimico, supposito, cum regali pompa crematus est, haut secus quam dei prorsus iudicio, ut ab ipsis igni conbureretur, quos ipse vera fide petentibus in perfidia declinasset ignemque caritatis ad gehennae ignem detorsisset. Quo tempore Vesegothae Thracias Daciaque ripense post tanti gloria tropaei tamquam solum genitalem potiti coeperunt incolere. | The want of hunger befell them who, as is usual for a people not yet well established in a place, and their great men and leaders who presided over them instead of as kings over them, that is Fritigern, Alatheus and Safrac, began to suffer greatly because of the poverty of the army and they began to seek the market's business from Lupicinus and Maximus, the leaders of the Romans. But truly what does the unholy hunger for gold impel men to find comfort in? From a driving, compelling greed the leaders began to give or trade not only the flesh of sheep and oxen, but even the carrion of dogs and unclean animals to trade with them for a high price, to such an extent that it was agreeable that they would trade someone into slavery for one loaf of bread or a ten pound weight of meat. But now after losing the slaves and provisions the greedy merchant inevitably demanded the surrender of their sons for provisions, indeed hardly otherwise the parents prudently agreed on account of the safety of their children: they resolved to lose the condition of free man more easily than to lose life. During that time a man having been nurtured is sold compassionately than he who about to die is protected. For indeed it happened in that troubled time that Lupicinus, the commander of the Romans, invited to a feast Fritigern, the petty king of the Goths, in order that he might lay a deception for him, as the result has revealed. But Fritigern, coming with a few companions, was directed to the feast unaware to deception. When in the praetorium he heard from within the clamor of wretched men dying, for his companions lay in another part of the house, while the soldiers, by order of their leader, attempted to slaughter his men, and the sound of those dying harshly raged on, but had now slipped free to suspicious ears. Immediately understanding the clear deception Fritigern, with his sword having been drawn, escaped from the feast not without great recklessness and haste, and his own companions, who having been rescued from threatening death, he incited to the murder of the Romans. These most stout heroes, who having gained the prayed-for opportunity, elected to perish in war rather than in hunger, and immediately they armed themselves in order for the killing of the leaders Lupicius and Maximus. Thus that day took away the hunger of the Goths and the tranquility of the Romans and the Goths soon began to rule, not as foreigners and travelers, but as citizens and lords with possession, and began to hold for their own jurisdiction the whole northern part as far as the Danube. When he found out in Antioch, the emperor Valens immediately set out with an armed force in the direction of Thrace: when in a woeful war engaged against the conquering Goths, he himself wounded, Valens took refuge in a certain estate in the vicinity of Adrianople, and becuase the emperor took refuge in so cheap a cottage, in ignorance the Goths set fire to it, as is custom with a cruel foe. Valens was cremated with the royal retinue, and in having been burned, it is hardly otherwise than by the utter judgment of God that he himself should be consumed in fire by those, whom he had led astray in treachery from seeking the true faith. From this time the Visigoths, after such glory of victory, began to inhabit Thrace and Dacia along the river, having obtained possession as if their native land. |