The following comes from rom Þee

The following comes from rom Þeedrich Yeat's wonderful website translation of the entire Jordanes "Getica". I am most grateful to him for allowing me to use his wonderful work. I am sure that by reading this short section, you will become fascinated by Jordanes' book and Mr. Yeat's interesting notes and translation. You can see it in entirety at : http://www.harbornet.com/folks/theedrich/Goths/Goths1.htm

Now when the aforesaid Philip {"the Arab," 244-249} - who, with his son Philip, was the only Christian emperor before Constantine {307-337} - ruled over the Romans, in the second year of his reign Rome completed its one thousandth year {A.D. 247}. 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? Austra-guta 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. Having thus inflicted on his soldiers what, namely, was just punishment, 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 Austra-guta, 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 Hazdingos {"men with long women's hair," "the Long-haired"} 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 {Emperor of the East, 284-305} and Maximian {Emperor of the West, 285-305} were Emperors, the Caesar {= vice-emperor} Galerius Maximianus {293-305} conquered them and made them tributary to the Roman Empire.

Besides these tribes, Austra-guta had Goths and Peukini from the island of Peuke, which lies in the mouths of the Danube where they empty into the Sea of Pontus. He placed in command Arg-aiðs {(perhaps) "Leadership oath," "Oath of command"} and Gunþi-reik {"Battle prince"}, the noblest leaders of his race.

They speedily crossed the Danube, devastated Moesia a second time and attacked Marcianople {modern Preslav, Bulgaria}, the famed capital 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 Marcia's daughter 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 marveled 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.

XVII

From this city, then, as we were saying, the Goths returned after a long siege to their own land, enriched by the ransom they had received.

Now the race of the Gibiðos {"The Givers", teasingly misnamed as Gipidos, "The Slow, Dull ones"} 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 Goths and Gibiðos 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 Scandia with Baírika, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the hither shore of Ocean, namely to Gutisk-Andja.

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 gipanta means "sluggish."

Hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption the name "Gibiðos " was coined for them out of a term of reproach.

For undoubtedly they too trace their origin from the stock of the Goths, but because, as I have said, gipanta means something slow and stolid, the word "Gibiðos" arose as a spontaneous slur. I do not believe the name itself is very far from wrong, for they are slow of thought and too sluggish for quick movement of their bodies.

These Gibiðos 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, Gibið-aujos {"Gibid Waterlands"}; but it is now inhabited by the race of the Wiði-warii {= inhabitants of Wid-land, OE Wit-land}, since the Gibiðos themselves have moved to better lands. The Wiði-warii 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 {"The Upholder," "Guardian"}, king of the Gibiðos, stirred up his quiet people to enlarge their boundaries by war.

He overwhelmed the Baúrgundjans {Burgundians, "The Fortress-dwellers"}, 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 vainglory, 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 Gibiðos 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 {= perhaps the Transylvanian town of Galt on the Aluta river}, 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 had 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 Gibiðos were giving way. Then Fastida, king of the Gibiðos, 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 Gibiðos, and dwelt in peace and happiness in their own land so long as Ostrogotha was their leader.

After his death, Kniwa {"Knees" (perhaps childhood nickname, cf. Latin Caligula "Little Boots")} divided the army into two parts and sent some to waste Moesia, knowing that it was undefended through the neglect of their emperors. He himself with seventy thousand men encamped at Euscia, that is, Novae {= modern Novo-grad on the Danube}.

When driven from this place by the general Gallus {= Gajus Vibius Trebonianus Gallus, governor of Moesia Inferior in 251, Emperor 251-253}, he approached Nicopolis {= modern Nikopol}, a very famous town situated near the Iatrus river {= modern Jantra, a tributary of the Danube}. This city Trajan built when he conquered the Sarmatians and named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius {249-251} drew near, Kniwa at last withdrew to the regions of Haemus {= the Balkans}, which were not far distant. Thence he hastened to Philippopolis {modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria} with his materiel in good shape.

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 {(in Thrace) also called Augusta Trajana, modern Stara-Zagora, Bulgaria}.

While he was resting his horses and his weary army in that place, all at once Kniwa 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 {= Ulpia Oescus, a city on the Danube, near the mouth of a river (now Iskur) of the same name}, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war.

But Kniwa 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 Abritus {= modern Razgrad}, 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. To this day that place is still called the Altar of Decius, because there he had offered strange sacrifices to idols before the battle.

Then upon the death of Decius, Gallus {251-253} and Volusianus {251-253; son of Gallus} succeeded to the Roman Empire. At this time a destructive plague, almost like death itself, such as we suffered nine years ago {i.e., in 542}, blighted the face of the whole earth and especially devastated Alexandria and all the land of Egypt. The historian Dionysius {Bishop of Alexandria, 248-265} gives a mournful account of it and Cyprian {Bishop of Carthage 248-258, martyred in the persecution started by Decius}, 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, due to the neglect of the Emperors. When a certain Aemilianus {Emperor, 253 A.D.} 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 both his life and the power he lusted after.

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 {253-268 A.D.} usurped the throne.