Eagles in the Dust

by Adrian Coombs-Hoar

  When the Getae beheld this active race that had invaded many nations, they took fright and consulted with their king how they might escape from such a foe. Now although Hermanaric, king of the Goths, was the conqueror of many tribes, as we have said above, yet while he was deliberating on this invasion of the Huns, the treacherous tribe of the Rosomoni, who at that time were among those who owed him their homage, took this chance to catch him unawares. For when the king had given orders that a certain woman of the tribe I have mentioned, Sunilda by name, should be bound to wild horses and torn apart by driving them at full speed in opposite directions (for he was roused to fury by her husband’s treachery to him), her brothers Sarus and Ammius came to avenge their sister’s death and plunged a sword into Hermanaric’s side. Enfeebled by this blow, he dragged out a miserable existence in bodily weakness. Balamber, king of the Huns, took advantage of his ill health to move an army into the country of the Ostrogoths, from whom the Visigoths had already separated because of some dispute. Meanwhile Hermanaric, who was unable to endure either the pain of his wound or the inroads of the Huns, died full of days at the great age of one hundred and ten years. The fact of his death enabled the Huns to prevail over those Goths who, as we have said, dwelt in the East and were called Ostrogoths.

  The Visigoths, who were their other allies and inhabitants of the western country, were terrified as their kinsmen had been, and knew not how to plan for safety against the race of the Huns. After long deliberation by common consent they finally sent ambassadors into Romania to the Emperor Valens, brother of Valentinian, the elder Emperor, to say that if he would give them part of Thrace or Moesia to keep, they would submit themselves to his laws and commands. That he might have greater confidence in them, they promised to become Christians, if he would give them teachers who spoke their language. When Valens learned this, he gladly and promptly granted what he had himself intended to ask. He received the Getae into the region of Moesia and placed them there as a wall of defence for his kingdom against other tribes. And since at that time the Emperor Valens, who was infected with the Arian perfidy, had closed all the churches of our party, he sent as preachers to them those who favored his sect. They came and straightway filled a rude and ignorant people with the poison of their heresy. Thus the Emperor Valens made the Visigoths Arians rather than Christians. Moreover, from the love they bore them, they preached the gospel both to the Ostrogoths and to their kinsmen the Gepidae, teaching them to reverence this heresy, and they invited all people of their speech everywhere to attach themselves to this sect. They themselves as we have said, crossed the Danube and settled Dacia Ripensis, Moesia and Thrace by permission of the Emperor.

  Soon famine and want came upon them, as often happens to a people not yet well settled in a country. Their princes and the leaders who ruled them in place of kings, that is Fritigern, Alatheus and Safrac, began to lament the plight of their army and begged Lupicinus and Maximus, the Roman commanders, to open a market. But to what will not the ‘cursed lust for gold’ compel men to assent? The generals, swayed by avarice, sold them at a high price not only the flesh of sheep and oxen, but even the carcasses of dogs and unclean animals, so that a slave would be bartered for a loaf of bread or ten pounds of meat. When their goods and chattels failed, the greedy trader demanded their sons in return for the necessities of life. And the parents consented even to this, in order to provide for the safety of their children, arguing that it was better to lose liberty than life; and indeed it is better that one be sold, if he will be mercifully fed, than that he should be kept free only to die.

  Now it came to pass in that troublious time that Lupicinus, the Roman general, invited Fritigern, a chieftain of the Goths, to a feast and, as the event revealed, devised a plot against him. But Fritigern, thinking no evil, came to the feast with a few followers. While he was dining in the praetorium he heard the dying cries of his ill-fated men, for, by order of the general, the soldiers were slaying his companions who were shut up in another part of the house. The loud cries of the dying fell upon ears already suspicious, and Fritigern at once perceived the treacherous trick. He drew his sword and with great courage dashed quickly from the banqueting-hall, rescued his men from their threatening doom and incited them to slay the Romans. Thus these valiant men gained the chance they had longed for--to be free to die in battle rather than to perish of hunger--and immediately took arms to kill the generals Lupicinus and Maximus. Thus that day put an end to the famine of the Goths and the safety of the Romans, for the Goths no longer as strangers and pilgrims, but as citizens and lords, began to rule the inhabitants and to hold in their own right all the northern country as far as the Danube.

  When the Emperor Valens heard of this at Antioch, he made ready an army at once and set out for the country of Thrace. Here a grievous battle took place and the Goths prevailed. The Emperor himself was wounded and fled to a farm near Hadrianople. The Goths, not knowing that an emperor lay hidden in so poor a hut, set fire to it (as is customary in dealing with a cruel foe), and thus he was cremated in royal splendor. Plainly it was a direct judgment of God that he should be burned with fire by the very men whom he had perfidiously led astray when they sought the true faith, turning them aside from the flame of love into the fire of hell. From this time the Visigoths, in consequence of their glorious victory, possessed Thrace and Dacia Ripensis as if it were their native land.

  Abbreviations

  Amm – Ammianus Marcellinus

  Anon. Val. – Anonymus Valesianus Pt1

  Aur. Vic. – Aurelius Victor

  Claud. – Claudian

  SHA – Scriptores Historiae Augustae

  Jord. – Jordanes

  Pang. Lit. – Panegyrici Latini

  Soc. – Socrates Scholasticus

  Soz. – Salaminius Hermias Sozomen

  Zon. – Zonaras

  Zos. – Zosimus

  Notes

  Chapter 1

  1. Wolfram, History of the Goths pp. 98–99.

  2. Procopius, The Gothic Wars.

  3. The drawings of the Column of Theodosius are to be found in the Musee du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins. The drawings by Mathieu Lorichs and others of the Column of Arcadius are in Trinity College, Cambridge, Department of Drawings, Copenhagen and the Bibliotheqe Nationale, Paris. They can also be found in Barbarians And Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom, Liebeschuetz (1990), and can also be found on the internet.

  4. Amm BkXXXI, 2, 18.

  5. McLynn, p. 53–56. Bigger wagons could be used pulled by as many as eight oxen (Miller & Firman p. 71).

  6. McLynn, p. 423.

  7. Ibid p. 55.

  8. Claudian stated that the Goths during the fifth century began to use ditch and bank defences to protect their settlements, very similar to that of their Roman counterparts. This was likely down to the Goths in Roman service bringing back knowledge of field defences when they returned to their settlements on leave.

  9. The surviving fragments of the Gothic Bible consist of codices containing a large part of the New Testament and some parts of the Old Testament that were written down from the original text during the sixth to eighth century AD.

  10. During the third century AD the Goths were not only able to take cities by storm but also by besieging them. They appeared to have had the use not only of scaling ladders but other siege equipment, possibly siege engines, as well. By the fourth century they appear to have lost both the knowledge of the use of siege engines and also the siege engines themselves as at Adrianople they only had the use of hastily made scaling ladders when attempting to storm that city after the Battle of Adrianople.

  11. Unruh (1993).

  Chapter 2

  1. Kulikowski, (2007) p.18.

  2. Amm BkXXXI, 5, 15–17; Jord. BkXVI-XVIII; Zon. BkXII, 20; Zos. BkI, 22–24.

  3. Amm BkXXXI, 5, 15; Zos. BkI, 24–36.

  4. Zos. BkI, 37.

  5. Aur. Vic. 33; Europius BkIV, VIII; SHA Vita Valerians 1–3, Vi
ta Gallieni V-VI, XIII; Jord BkXX; Zon BkXII, 21–25; Zos. BkI, 37–40.

  6. SHA Div. Claud VI-XI; Zos. BkI, 42.

  7. Zos. BkI, 43.

  8. Aur. Vic. 33; SHA Div. Claud. XI-XII; Zon. BkXII, 26; Zos. BkI, 46.

  9. SHA Div. Aurel XXX (Aurelian was noted as being acclaimed as Gothicus); Zos. BkI, 48–56.

  10. Aur. Vic. 35; SHA Div. Aurel XXXVII; Zon. BkXII, 27; Zos. BkI, 62.

  11. Aur. Vic. 36; SHA Vita Tacitus XIII; Zon. BkXII, 28; Zos. BkI, 63.

  12. Aur. Vic. 37; SHA Vita Probi; Zon. BkXII, 29; Zos. BkI, 64–71.

  13. Aur. Vic. 38; SHA Vita Carus; Zon. BkXII, 30.

  14. Aur. Vic. 39; Zon. BkXII, 30.

  15. Aur. Vic. 39; Zon. BkXII, 31.

  16. Pang. Lit. 8(5) & 11(3).

  17. Vegetius BkI, 17.

  18. Pang. Lit. 10(2).

  19. Anon. Val. 5, 27; Zos. BkII, 15–28.

  20. Zos. BkII, 21.

  21. Zosimus claimed that a Gothic tribe, the Thaiphalians (Taifali) sent 500 cavalry against Constantine and his army and routed him. Zos. BkII, 31.

  22. Although this victory is attributed to Constantine, it was actually his son Constantius, later to become Constantius II, who took the field against the Goths. Constantius had been acclaimed ‘Gothicus’ (CIL 3705) at some stage and this must have been prior to when Ammianus’ surviving histories begins, AD 354, as Ammianus does not mention Constantius embarking on any campaigns against the Goths, nor did Julian or any of the other surviving histories. Zonaras stated that the Goths were joined by the Sarmatians and Constantine defeated both of those tribes in Thrace (Zon. BkXIII, 21).

  23. Jord. BkXXI.

  24. Ibid BkXXII.

  25. Ibid BkXXIII.

  26. Anon. Val. 5, 31–32; Aur. Vic. 41, 13; Eutropius BkX, VII; Festus BkXXVI;

  27. Amm BkXVII, 13, 19–20. Ammianus also recorded that Constantius II had ‘asked the Scythians for auxiliaries, either for pay or as a favour’ in the winter of AD 360 (Amm BkXX, 8, 1). This may be the same approach that Libanius recorded (Libanius Oration XII, 62).

  28. Constantius had been accused of murdering large numbers of his family after Constantine’s death and whilst there is scant proof of this, the death of Gallus would have further cemented suspicions against Constantius. It would be much better if Julian were to be seen to have died a noble death in battle than to increase resentment against Constantius even further!

  29. Amm BkXX, 4, 12–21; Zos. BkIII, 9. Julian had penned several panegyrics to Constantius, The Heroic Deeds of Constantius and In Honour of the Emperor Constantius. The tone of these works indicated that Julian had at one time held his uncle with some esteem, if not affection.

  30. Amm BkXXI, 16, 18–19.

  31. Amm BkXXIII, 3, 4–5. Julian divided his invasion army into two parts and sent 30,000 northward towards Armenia under Procopius and Sebastianus, where they would then launch another attack upon the Sassanids. It’s highly doubtful Julian would have handed over more than half of his troops to those two generals and this must have meant the rest of the army under his command was at least 30,000 strong.

  32. Amm BkXXIII, 2, 7; Zos. BkIII, 26. Libanius was obviously bending the truth when he claimed Julian had not hired Gothic auxiliaries or raised large armies (Libanius Oration XVIII, 169).

  33. Amm BkXXV, 3–23; Zon BkXIII; Zos. BkIII, 29.

  34. Amm BkXXV, 5, 4–9; Eutropius BkX, XVII-XVIII; Zos. BkIII, 30–36. See Chapter 3 for the accession of Valentinian and Valens.

  Chapter 3

  1. Amm BkXXVI, 4, 4; Zos. BkIV, 1.

  2. Amm BkXXVI, 5, 1–6; Soz. BkVI, 6; Zon. BkXIII, 15, 130; Zos. BkIV, 2.

  3. Amm BkXXVI, 4, 5–6.

  4. Amm BkXXVI, 5, 7; Zos. BkIV, 3.

  5. Amm BkXXVI, 8–14; Soc BkIV, III. However, see Zos. BkIV, 4–6 for a different perspective on this.

  6. Amm XXIII, 3, 2; Amm BkXXVI, 6, 2; Zos. BkIV, 4.

  7. Amm BkXXVI, 6, 11; Zos. BkIV, 7.

  8. Amm BkXXVI, 6, 12–13. The two legions were probably the two Palatine legions by that name that appear in the Notitia Dignitatum, an official document dated between AD 395 and AD 420 that listed the various units of the Late Roman army and the field armies and commands they were attached to and where those units were stationed.

  9. Amm BkXXVI, 10, 3.

  10. Zos. BkIV, 7.

  11. Amm BkXXVI, 7, 11–12.

  12. Amm BkXXVI, 7, 13–17, Amm BkXXVI, 8, 1–5; Zos. BkIV, 7.

  13. Amm BkXXVI, 8, 6–15.

  14. Amm BkXXVI, 9, 1–11; Soc BkIV, V; Zos. BkIV, 8. Sozomen’s account of Procopius’ death was far more graphic! (Soz. BkVI, 8), Zonaras gives a very similar account to that of Sozomen’s (Zon. BkXIII, 16, 140).

  15. Amm BkXXVI, 10, 1–5.

  Chapter 4

  1. Amm BkXXVII, 5, 1; Zos. BkIV, 10.

  2. Amm BkXXVII, 5, 2.

  3. Ibid BkXXVII, 5, 5.

  4. Ibid BkXXVII, 5, 5.

  5. Ibid BkXXVII, 5, 6. Although Ammianus called Athanaricus the ‘most powerful ruler’ of the Greuthungi Goths, he was later to become the ruler of the Tervingi Goths, as was discussed in Chapter Five. How this situation came about is unknown.

  6. Amm BkXXVII, 5, 6. However Zosimus does not record a battle between Valens and Athanaricus and gives a different account of the Roman campaign and the defeat of the Goths (Zos. BkIV, 10–11).

  7. Amm BkXXVII, 5, 7–9; Them Or 10 (in Heather & Matthews 1991).

  8. Amm BkXXVII, 5, 9; Zos. BkIV, 11; Them Or 10.

  Chapter 5

  1. Soc. Bk4, 33.

  2. Soc. Bk4, 33.

  3. Amm BkVII, 5, 10; Soc BkIV, 33; Soz. BkVI, 37. Jordanes also appeared to indicate that the Goths’ conversion to Christianity happened after they had crossed the Danube in AD 376 (Jord. BkXXV).

  4. Heather, (1996) p. 98; 2005 pp. 146–150; Thompson (1996), pp. 1–2, pp. 13,14.

  5. Jord. BkXXIV.

  6. Amm BkXXXI, 2, 1–2.

  7. Thompson (1996) Chapter 3.

  8. Amm BkXXXI, 3, 2.

  9. Ibid BkXXXI, 3, 3.

  10. Ibid BkXXXI, 3, 3.

  11. Ibid BkXXXI, 3, 4–6.

  12. Ibid BkXXXI, 3, 7–8.

  13. Heather, (2006) The Fall of the Roman Empire p. 152.

  14. Amm BkXXXI, 3, 8.

  15. Amm BkXXXI, 3, 8; Soc. Bk34; Soz. BkVI, 37; Zos. BkIV, 20.

  Chapter 6

  1. Amm BkXXVII, 8, 1.

  2. Ibid BkXXVII, 8, 2, Amm BkXXVII, 8, 5.

  3. Amm BkXXVII, 8, 3.

  4. Amm BkXXVII, 8, 6–7.

  5. Amm BkXXVII, 8, 7–10.

  6. Amm BkXXVII, 9, 1–2, Amm BkXXVIII, 6, 1–4.

  7. Ibid BkXXVIII, 2, 11–14.

  8. Amm XIV, 2, 1–20.

  9. Amm XXVII, 9, 6. Ammianus used Diogmiae to describe a scratch force made up of armed citizens, infantry that were lightly armed for such operations were generally called expediti.

  10. Amm BkXXVII, 9, 7. Zosimus placed the Isaurian incursion to after the death of Valentinian (Zos. BkIV, 20).

  11. Ibid BkXXVII, 10, 1–2.

  12. Ibid BkXXVII, 10, 3–4.

  13. Ibid BkXXVII, 10, 6–16; Zosimus appeared to claim that Valentinian was in fact defeated at Solicinium (Zos. BkIV, 9).

  14. Amm BkXXVIII, 2, 1–4.

  15. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 1–3.

  16. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 4–8.

  17. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 10.

  18. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 11–12.

  19. Ibid Bk XXVII, 12. 13–14.

  20. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 15.

  21. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 16.

  22. Ibid BkXXVII, 12, 16–18.

  23. Ibid BkXXVIII, 5, 1.

  24. Ibid BkXXVIII, 5, 2.

  25. Ibid BkXXVIII, 5, 3–4.

  26. Ibid BkXXVIII 5, 5–7.

  27. Ibid BkXXVIII, 5, 8–11.

  28. Ibid BkXXVIII, 5, 12–13.

  29. Ibid BkXXVIII, 5, 13–15.

  30. Amm BkXXVIII, 1, 1–57. Valentinian was forced to rescind the decree af
ter being petitioned by a group of ex-Prefects and Governors (Amm XXVIII, 1, 24–25).