IORDANIS GETICA (DE) ORIGINE

ACTIBUSQUE GETARUM

Cassiodorus Senator (c. 487-583), a man prominent both in letters and in the political life of his time, was secretary to Theodoric and to his grandson Athalaric. At the behest of his great master Theodoric, he wrote a monumental work on the origin and history of the Goths, in twelve books. This work is irretrievably lost; but we have an abridgment made by Iordanes, a much less learned man, himself a secretary and ultimately probably a bishop, and, it is believed, a Goth. The work of Iordanes was probably written in Constantinople, in 551 A.D., under the reign of the great Justinian, in the hope that it might contribute to the better amalgamation of the Roman and Gothic Iordanes wrote also a sort of universal history commonly known as the Romana.

races.

Although Iordanes frequently refers to various authorities for his statements, it is probable that he knew nothing of most of these, except as they were cited by Cassiodorus Senator. While the work is not always trustworthy as history, it is invaluable as our only important early source of information about the Goths and Huns. It is, moreover, written in an interesting style, so far as the subject matter is concerned. In its Latin we see the handiwork of a barbarian who has never become master of his new language. In spelling, syntax, sentence structure, forms and inflections, and diction, we see how in the east, as well as in the west, the language was already definitely abandoning classical models.

The best edition of the Getica is that of Mommsen, published at Berlin in 1882. An English version by Charles Christopher Mierow, published by the Princeton University Press in 1915,

contains also an account of the historian, his sources, and his style, as well as a bibliography.

ATTILA, KING OF THE HUNS

Is namque Attila patre genitus Mundzuco, cuius fuere germani Octar et Roas, qui ante Attilam regnum tenuisse narrantur, quamvis non omnino cunctorum quorum ipse. Post quorum obitum cum Bleda germano Hunnorum successit in regno, et, ut ante expeditionis quam parabat par 5 foret, augmentum virium parricidio quaerit, tendens ad discrimen omnium nece suorum. Sed, librante iustitia, detestabili remedio crescens, deformes exitus suae crudelitatis invenit. Bleda enim fratre fraudibus interempto, qui magnae parti regnabat Hunnorum, universum 10 sibi populum adunavit, aliarumque gentium quas tunc in dicione tenebat numerositate collecta, primas mundi gentes Romanos Vesegothasque subdere praeoptabat. Cuius exercitus quingentorum milium esse numero ferebatur. Vir in concussione gentium natus in mundo, 15 terrarum omnium metus, qui, nescio qua sorte, terrebat cuncta formidabili de se opinione vulgata. Erat namque superbus incessu, huc atque illuc circumferens oculos, ut elati potentia ipso quoque moto corporis appareret; bellorum quidem amator, sed ipse manu temperans, consilio 20 validissimus, supplicantium exorabilis, propitius autem in fide semel susceptis; forma brevis, lato pectore, capite

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1. genitus genitus est. -3. cunctorum: sc. regnum tenuerunt. -ipse: sc. tenuit. - 5. expeditionis . . . par: i.e. able to cope with its difficulties.-7. librante iustitia: causal.-8. detestabili ... crescens: concessive. 10. magnae parti: 3A (1).—11. adunavit: 'united.' 12. numerositate: abstract for concrete; 1B (1). 15. in concussione: Acc.; 2 (7). 19. elati: sc. spiritus. 20. manu: Dat. - 21. supplicantium: instead of Dat.; 3A(1).

grandiore, minutis oculis, rarus barba, canis aspersus, semo nasu, teter colore, origenis suae signa restituens.

Qui quamvis huius esset naturae ut semper magna confideret, addebat ei tamen confidentia gladius Martis in5 ventus, sacer apud Scytharum reges semper habitus, quem Priscus istoricus tali refert occasione detectum: "Cum pastor," inquiens, "quidam gregis unam boculam conspiceret claudicantem nec causam tanti vulneris inveniret, sollicitus vestigia cruoris insequitur tandemque venit ad 10 gladium, quem depascens herbas incauta calcaverat, effossumque protinus ad Attilam defert. Quo ille munere gratulatus, ut erat magnanimis, arbitratur se mundi totius principem constitutum et per Martis gladium potestatem. sibi concessam esse bellorum." - Chap. XXXV.

15

ATTILA INVADES ITALY, BUT IS HALTED BY

POPE LEO (A.D. 452)

Attila vero, nancta occasione de secessu Vesegotharum, et, quod saepe optaverat, cernens hostium solutione per partes, mox iam securus ad oppressionem Romanorum movit procinctum, primaque adgressione Aquileiensem obsidet civitatem, quae est metropolis Venetiarum, in 20 mucrone vel lingua Atriatici posita sinus, cuius ab oriente murus Natissa amnis fluens a monte Piccis elambit.

Ibique cum diu multumque obsidens nihil paenitus praevaleret, fortissimis intrinsecus Romanorum militibus resistentibus, exercitu iam murmurante et discedere cupi25 ente, Attila deambulans circa muros, dum utrum solveret

2. semo = simo; 2 (1). - teter = taeter; 2 (1). — origenis: 2(1). 4. confidentia confidentiam; 2 (7).-6. istoricus

=

=

=

historicus; buculam.

2 (4). 7. inquiens: for inquit; 3E (4) (a). - boculam 12. magnanimis = magnanimus (the classical form of the adj.). 16. solutione: for solutionem; 2 (7). — 21. murus: for muros; elambit: licks away'. - 22. paenitus

2 (9).

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penitus; 2 (1).

castra an adhuc remoraretur deliberat, animadvertit candidas aves, id est ciconias, qui in fastigia domorum nidificant, de civitate foetos suos trahere atque contra morem per rura forinsecus conportare. Et, ut erat sagacissimus inquisitor, presensit et ad suos: "Respicite," 5 inquid, "aves futurarum rerum providas perituram relinquere civitatem casurasque arces periculo imminente deserere. Non hoc vacuum, non hoc credatur incertum; rebus presciis consuetudinem mutat ventura formido." Quid plura? Animos suorum rursus ad oppugnandam 10 Aquileiam inflammat. Qui machinis constructis omniaque genera tormentorum adhibita, nec mora et invadunt civitatem, spoliant, dividunt vastantque crudeliter, ita ut vix eius vestigia ut appareat reliquerunt.

Exhinc iam audaciores et necdum Romanorum sanguine 15 satiati, per reliquas Venetorum civitates Hunni bacchantur. Mediolanum quoque, Liguriae metropolim et quondam regiam urbem, pari tenore devastant nec non et Ticinum aequali sorte deiciunt vicinaque loca saevientes allidunt demoliuntque pene totam Italiam. Cumque ad Romam 20 animus fuisset eius adtentus accedere, sui eum, ut Priscus istoricus refert, removerunt, non urbi, cui inimici erant, consulentes, sed Alarici quondam Vesegotharum regis obicientes exemplo, veriti regis sui fortunam, quia ille post fractam Romam non diu supervixerit, sed protinus rebus 25 humanis excessit.

Igitur dum eius animus ancipiti negotio inter ire et non

2. fastigia: for fastigiis; 3A (1). — 3. nidificant: 'nest.' foetos: for fetus; 2 (1) & 2 (9). — 4. forinsecus: 'outside.'-6. inquid : 2 (2).— 11. omniaque adhibita 3A (2). — 12. nec mora:

15. Exhinc: 'then.'

Sc. est. - 14. appareat: for appareant. 24. obicientes: sc. sibi, i.e.' remembering.' — exemplo: for exemplum. - 26. excessit: consistency would demand excesserit. 27. inter ire: Infin. used as a noun in Acc. with prep.

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ire fluctuaret secumque deliberans tardaret, placida ei legatio a Roma advenit. Nam Leo papa per se ad eum accedens in agro Venetum Ambuleio, ubi Mincius amnis commeantium frequentatione transitur. Qui mox de5 posuit exercitatu furore et rediens quo venerat, iter ultra Danubium promissa pace discessit, illud pre omnibus denuntians atque interminando decernens, graviora se in Italia inlaturum, nisi ad se Honoriam Valentiniani principis germanam, filiam Placidiae Augustae, cum portione 10 sibi regalium opum debita mitterent. Ferebatur enim quia haec Honoria, dum propter aulae decus ad castitatem teneretur nutu fratris inclusa, clam eunucho misso Attilam invitasse, ut contra fratris potentiam eius patrociniis uteretur, prorsus indignum facinus, ut licentiam libidinis 15 malo publico conpararet. -Chap. XLII.

THE DEATH OF ATTILA (A.D. 453)

Qui, ut Priscus istoricus refert, exitus sui tempore puellam Ildico nomine decoram valde sibi in matrimonio post innumerabiles uxores, ut mos erat gentis illius, socians eiusque in nuptiis hilaritate nimia resolutus, vino somno20 que gravatus resupinus iaceret, redundans sanguis, qui ei solite de naribus effluebat, dum consuetis meatibus impeditur, itinere ferali faucibus illapsus extinxit. Ita glorioso per bella regi temulentia pudendos exitos dedit.

Sequenti vero luce cum magna pars diei fuisset exempta,

1. placida: i.e. causa pacis petendae. -2. Leo: Leo the Great. 3. accedens: for accedit; 3E (4) (a). — 5. exercitatu furore: Acc.; 2 (7). exercitatu, 'customary.' 6. pre prae; 2 (1).

8. Italia: 2 (7). — 11. quia: commonly used in mediaeval Latin to introduce an indirect quotation, as in English, in the sense of 'that,' but not usually with the Infinitive; 3E (3) (b). — 13. eius: Attila's, modifying patrociniis. —20. iaceret: sc. cum. — 21. solite : 'usually.' - 23. exitos: 2 (9).