Now as long as he was in command of the Roman x55 army both in Libya and in Italy, he was continually victorious and always acquired whatever lay before him. But when he had been brought back to Byzantium by imperial summons, his ability was recognized still more fully than in previous times and received most generous appreciation. For since by his own outstanding merit in every field he was prominent above all his fellows, and surpassed the generals of all time in the vastness of his wealth and the number of his bodyguards and spearmen, he was naturally looked upon by all officers and soldiers alike as a formidable person. For no one, I am sure, had the hardihood to resist his commands, and his men never refused to carry out whatever orders he gave, both respecting as they did his ability and fearing his power. For he used to equip seven thousand horsemen from his own household, and not one of these was an inferior man, but each of them could claim to stand first in the line of battle and to challenge the best of the enemy. Indeed, when Rome was beleaguered by the Goths, and the Roman elders were watching the progress of the struggle through the various engagements, they marvelled greatly and cried out that one man’s household was destroying the power of Theoderic.
So Belisarius, having become, as was noted above, a man of power, both because of the respect accorded him and because of his sound judgment, continued to advise such measures as would prove in the interest of the emperor’s cause and to carry out with independent judgment the decisions reached. But the other commanders, being, unlike him, on an equality with one another, and having no single thought in mind except to make sure of their own personal gain, had already begun both to plunder the Romans and to put the civil population at the mercy of the soldiers, and neither were they themselves any longer giving heed to the requirements of the situation, nor could they secure obedience to their commands on the part of the soldiers. Consequently, many blunders were committed by them, and the entire fabric of the Roman power was utterly destroyed in a short space of time. And I shall now proceed to recount the story of these events as best I can.
When Ildibadus learned that Belisarius had departed from Ravenna and was on his way, he began to gather about him all the barbarians and as many of the Roman soldiers as were inclined to favour a revolution. And he sought by every means to strengthen his rule, and laboured diligently to recover for the Gothic nation the sovereignty of Italy. Now at the first not more than a thousand men followed him and they held only one city, Ticinum, but little by little all the inhabitants of Liguria and Venetia came over to his side.
Now there was a certain Alexander in Byzantium who held the office of comptroller of the state treasury; this official the Romans call “logothete,” using a Greek name. This man was always making charges against the soldiers for the losses they caused to the treasury of the state. And by subjecting them to trial for offences of this sort, he on his part quickly rose from obscurity to fame and from poverty to immense wealth, and not only this, but he also succeeded in collecting great sums of money for the emperor, surpassing all predecessors in this; but it was he, more than any other man, who was chiefly responsible for the deterioration of the army, in that the soldiers were both few and poor and reluctant to face the perils of war. The Byzantines indeed went so far as to call him by the name “ Snips,” because it was an easy feat for him to cut off the edge all around a golden coin, and while thus making it as much smaller as he wished, still to preserve the circular shape it originally had. For they call the tool with which such work is done “snips.” This Alexander, then, it was whom the emperor sent to Italy after summoning Belisarius to return. And directly upon his arrival at Ravenna, he published an altogether unreasonable financial reckoning. For though the Italians had neither laid hands upon the emperor’s money nor committed any offence against the state, he summoned them, first of all, to face an investigation, laying to their charge the wrongs they had done Theoderic and the other Gothic rulers, and compelling them to pay whatever gains they had made, as he alleged, by deceiving the Goths. In the second place, he disappointed the soldiers by the niggardliness of the reckoning with which he repaid them for their wounds and dangers. Hence not only did the Italians become disaffected from the Emperor Justinian, but not one of the soldiers was willing any longer to undergo the dangers of war, and by wilfully refusing to fight, they caused the strength of the enemy to grow continually greater.
While the other commanders were remaining quiet on account of this situation, Vitalius alone (for he happened to have in Venetia a numerous army comprising with others a great throng of barbarian Eruli) had the courage to do battle with Ildibadus, fearing, as actually happened, that at a later time when his power had grown greatly they would be no longer able to check him. But in the fierce battle which took place near the city of Tarbesium, Vitalius was badly defeated and fled, saving some few men, but losing the most of them there. In this battle many Eruli fell and among them Visandus, the leader of the Eruli, was killed. And Theudimund, the son of Mauricius and grandson of Mundus, a mere lad at the time, came indeed into danger of death, but succeeded in making his escape in company with Vitalius. As a result of this achievement the name of Ildibadus reached the emperor and spread over the whole world.
But after a time it so fell out that enmity sprang up between Uraïas and Ildibadus for the following reason. Uraïas had a wife who in wealth and personal beauty was adjudged first among all the women of these barbarians. This woman once went down to the bath clad in great magnificence of ornament and taking with her a very notable company of attendants. And seeing the wife of Ildibadus there in plain garments, she not only did her no obeisance as the consort of the king but otherwise too ignored and did her insult. For Ildibadus was still in poverty, having by no means come into royal wealth. And the wife of Ildibadus, being very much offended by the uncalled-for insult, came to her husband in tears and demanded that he avenge her for the outrageous treatment she had received from the wife of Uraïas. Accordingly Ildibadus first slandered Uraïas to the barbarians, imputing to him that he was intending to desert to the enemy, but a little later he put him to death by treachery, and thereby incurred the enmity of the Goths. For it was by no means in accordance with their wish that Uraïas should be thus unceremoniously removed from the world. And forthwith a large number of them formed a party and began to denounce Ildibadus vehemently as having committed an unholy deed. However, no one was willing to exact vengeance from him for this murder.
But there was one among them, Velas by name, who, though a Gepid by birth, had attained the dignity of serving among the king’s guards. This man had wooed a woman fair to look upon, and he loved her with an extraordinary love; but while he was off on an expedition against the enemy, in order to make some attack upon them in company with certain others, Ildibadus, meantime, either through ignorance or prompted by some other motive, married his intended bride to someone else among the barbarians. And when Velas, returning from the army, heard this, being passionate by nature, he could not bear the insult thus done him, but decided immediately to kill Ildibadus, thinking that he would thereby render a welcome service to all the Goths. And so, when the king on a certain occasion was entertaining the noblest of the Goths at a banquet, he watched for an opportunity and put his plot into execution. For while the king is dining, it is customary for many persons to stand about him and among them his bodyguards. So when he had stretched out his hand to the food as he lay reclining upon the couch, Velas suddenly smote his neck with his sword. And so, while the food was still grasped in the man’s fingers, his head was severed and fell upon the table, and filled all those present with great consternation and amazement. Such, then, was the vengeance which overtook Ildibadus for the murder of Uraïas. And the winter drew to a close and the sixth year ended in this war, the history of which Procopius has written. [541 A.D.]
Ἐράριχος δὲ ἦν τις ἐν τῷ Γότθων στρατῷ Ῥογὸς μὲν γένος, δύναμιν δὲ περιβεβλημένος ἐν τούτοις δὴ τοῖς β�
�ρβάροις μεγάλην. οἱ δὲ Ῥογοὶ οὗτοι ἔθνος μέν εἰσι Γοτθικόν, αὐτόνομοί τε τὸ παλαιὸν ἐβίουν. [2] Θευδερίχου δὲ αὐτοὺς τὸ κατ̓ ἀρχὰς ἑταιρισαμένου σὺν ἄλλοις τισὶν ἔθνεσιν, ἔς τε τὸ Γότθων ἀπεκέκριντο γένος καὶ ξὺν αὐτοῖς ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους ἅπαντα ἔπρασσον. [3] γυναιξὶ μέντοι ὡς ἥκιστα ἐπιμιγνύμενοι ἀλλοτρίαις, ἀκραιφνέσι παίδων διαδοχαῖς τὸ τοῦ ἔθνους ὄνομα ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς διεσώσαντο. [4] τοῦτον Ἐράριχον, ἐπεὶ ἐς ταραχὴν ἐπὶ τῷ Ἰλδιβάδου φόνῳ καθεστήκει τὰ πράγματα, βασιλέα ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου οἱ Ῥογοὶ ἀνεῖπον. [5] ὅπερ τοῖς Γότθοις οὐδαμῶς ἤρεσκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς πολλὴν οἱ πλεῖστοι ἀθυμίαν κατέστησαν ἅτε τῶν ἐλπίδων σφίσι διεφθαρμένων ἅσπερ ἐπι Ἰλδιβάδῳ τὰ πρότερα ἔσχον, ὃς δὴ τήν τε ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸ Ἰταλίας κράτος Γότθοις ἀνασώσασθαὶ ἱκανὸς ἦν. [6] Ἐράριχος μέντοι οὐδὲν ὅ τι καὶ λόγου ἄξιον ἔδρασε: μῆνας γὰρ πέντε ἐπιβιοὺς ἐτελεύτησε τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. [7] Τουτίλας ἦν τις, Ἰλδιβάδου ἀνεψιός, ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ξυνέσεως ἥκων καὶ τὸ δραστήριον ὡς μάλιστα ἔχων καὶ λόγου ἐν Γότθοις πολλοῦ ἄξιος. οὗτος ὁ Τουτίλας Γότθων μὲν τηνικαῦτα τῶν ἐν Ταρβησίῳ ἄρχων ἐτύγχανεν. [8] ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανισθῆναι Ἰλδίβαδον οὕτως, ὥσπερ ἐρρήθη, ἐπύθετο, πέμψας πρὸς Κωνσταντιανὸν ἐς Ῥάβενναν, τὰ πιστά οἱ δοθῆναι ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας ἐδεῖτο, ἐφ̓ ᾧ αὑτὸν τε καὶ Γότθους, ὧν ἦρχε, ξὺν Ταρβησίῳ παραδώσει Ῥωμαίοις. [9] ἅπερ Κωνσταντιανὸς ἀσμένως ἀκούσας ὤμοσεν ἅπαντα καθάπερ ὁ Τουτίλας ᾔτησε, τακτή τε ἡμέρα ἐς τὸ ἔργον ἀμφοτέροις ξυνέκειτο, ἐν ᾗ ἔμελλε Τουτίλας τε καὶ Γότθοι οἱ ἐν Ταρβησίῳ φρουρὰν ἔχοντες δέξασθαι τῇ πόλει τινὰς τῶν Κωνσταντιανῷ ἐπιτηδείων καὶ σφᾶς γε αὐτοὺς ξὺν αὐτῇ ἐγχειρίσαι. [10] Ἤδη δὲ Γότθοι τῇ Ἐραρίχου ἀρχῇ ἤχθοντο, οὐκ ἀξιόχρεων τὸν ἄνδρα ὁρῶντες τὸν πόλεμον πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διενεγκεῖν, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἐμφανοῦς οἱ πλεῖστοι ἐκάκιζον ἅτε μεγάλων ἔργων ἐμπόδιον γεγονότα σφίσιν, ὅτι δὴ ἐκποδὼν Ἰλδίβαδον πεποίηται. [11] τέλος δὲ ξυμφρονήσαντες πέμπουσι παρὰ Τουτίλαν ἐς Ταρβήσιον, ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρακαλοῦτες. πολὺν γὰρ ἤδη πόθον τῆς Ἰλδιβάδου ἀρχῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔχοντες τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς νίκης ἐπὶ Τουτίλαν τὸν ἐκείνου ξυγγενῆ ἔτρεπον, εὐέλπιδες ἐπὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γενόμενοι τῷ βούλεσθαι ταὐτά. [12] ὁ δὲ τοῖς παῤ αὐτὸν ἥκουσιν ἄντικρυς τὴν ἐς Ῥωμαίους ὁμολογίαν ἀποκαλύψας ἔφασκεν ὡς, ἢν Γότθοι Ἐράριχον τῆς κυρίας ἐντὸς κτείνουσιν, ἕψεταί τε αὐτοῖς καὶ πάντα ἐπιτελῆ ποιήσει ᾗ αὐτοὶ βούλοιντο. [13] ταῦτα ἐπεὶ οἱ βάρβαροι ἤκουσαν, ἐπιβουλῇ ἐς τὴν Ἐραρίχου καταστροφὴν εἴχοντο. ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τῷ Γότθων στρατοπέδῳ ἐγίνοντο. [14] Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ὁ Ῥωμαίων στρατὸς ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἀπολαύοντες ἀσχολίας οὔτε ξυνίσταντο οὔτε τι δρᾶν ἐς τοὺς βαρβάρους διενοοῦντο. [15] Ἐράριχος δὲ Γότθους ἅπαντας συγκαλέσας πρέσβεις ἀνέπεισε πρὸς Ἰουστινιανὸν βασιλέα πέμψαι, δεησομένους ἐφ̓ ᾧ εἰρήνην πρὸς αὐτοὺς θήσεται, ἐφ̓ οἷσπερ Οὐιττίγιδι τὰ πρότερα σπένδεσθαι ἤθελεν: ὥστε τὰ ἐκτὸς Πάδου ποταμοῦ Γότθους ἔχοντας ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι Ἰταλίας τῆς ἄλλης. [16] καὶ ἐπεὶ Γότθοι ταῦτα ἐπῄνεσαν, ἀπολέξας τινὰς τῶν οἱ ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ἐπιτηδείων, πρέσβεις ἔπεμψεν ἄλλους τε καὶ Καβαλλάριον ὄνομα. [17] οἱ δὲ πρὸς βασιλέα ταῦτα δῆθεν τῷ λόγῳ πράξειν ἔμελλον ἅπερ μοι ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, λάθρα δὲ αὐτοῖς ἄλλο μηδὲν πρὸς βασιλέα πράσσειν ἐπέστελλε, πλήν γε δὴ ὅπως χρήματά τε αὐτὸς πολλὰ λήψεται καὶ ἐς πατρικίους ἀνάγραπτος εἴη ἐφ̓ ᾧ Ἰταλίαν παραδοὺς ξύμπασαν τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς κατάθοιτο σχῆμα. [18] οἱ μὲν οὖν πρέσβεις ἐπειδὴ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἐγένοντο, κατὰ ταῦτα ἔπρασσον. ἐν τούτῳ Γότθοι Ἐράριχον κτείνουσι δόλῳ. τελευτήσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ παρέλαβε κατὰ τὰ ξυγκείμενα σφίσι τὴν ἀρχὴν Τουτίλας.
II
THERE was a certain Eraric in the Gothic army, one of the Rogi by birth, a man possessed of great power among these barbarians. Now these Rogi are indeed a Gothic nation, but in ancient times they used to live as an independent people. But Theoderic had early persuaded them, along with certain other nations, to form an alliance with him, and they were absorbed into the Gothic nation and acted in common with them in all things against their enemies. But since they had absolutely no intercourse with women other than their own, each successive generation of children was of unmixed blood, and thus they had preserved the name of their nation among themselves. This Eraric, in the midst of the turmoil consequent upon the murder of Ildibadus, was suddenly proclaimed king by the Rogi. This act pleased the Goths not at all; however, the most of them had in fact fallen into great despondence be-
cause the hopes they had formerly placed in Ildibadus had been frustrated; for he, they felt, would have been able to recover the kingdom and the sovereignty of Italy for the Goths. Eraric, however, did nothing at all worthy of note; for after living in office five months he died in the following manner. There was a certain Totila, a nephew of Ildibadus, a man gifted with remarkable discretion, energetic in the extreme, and held in high esteem among the Goths. This Totila happened at that time to be in command of the Goths in Tarbesium. But when he learned that Ildibadus had been removed from among men in the manner described, he sent to Constantianus at Ravenna asking that pledges be given him for his safety, on condition that he hand over to the Romans both himself and the Goths whom he commanded along with Tarbesium. This proposal Constantianus heard gladly and swore to everything just as Totila requested, and a fixed day for the transaction was agreed upon by both, on which Totila and the Goths who were keeping guard in Tarbesium were to receive into the city some of the associates of Constantianus and put themselves and the city into their hands.
But already the Goths were becoming dissatisfied with the rule of Eraric, seeing the man to be incompetent to carry on the war against the Romans, and t
he most of them were openly abusing him as one who had stood in their way to great achievements, alleging that he had done away with Ildibadus. And finally they made an agreement among themselves and sent to Totila at Tarbesium, urging him to assume the royal power. For by now they were beginning to feel generally a keen sense of regret for the lost rule of Ildibadus, and so they began to turn their hope of victory toward his relative Totila, having come to feel confidence in the man because his wish was the same as theirs. As for Totila, when the messengers came before him, he, without any concealment, disclosed his agreement with the Romans, but said that, if the Goths should kill Eraric before the appointed day, he would both follow them and carry out everything in accordance with their desires. When the barbarians heard this, they set about forming a plot to compass the destruction of Eraric. Such was the progress of events in the Gothic camp.
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