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.