Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Procopius History of the Wars, Books V. and VI. By: Procopius |
---|
![]()
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
H.B. DEWING IN SEVEN VOLUMES
III HISTORY OF THE WARS, BOOKS V AND VI LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
First printed 1919
Printed in Great Britain
CONTENTS
PAGE HISTORY OF THE WARS BOOK V. THE GOTHIC WAR 1
BOOK VI. THE GOTHIC WAR ( continued ) 287 INDEX 427 PLAN OF WALLS AND GATES OF ROME facing 185
PROCOPIUS OF CAESAREA HISTORY OF THE WARS: BOOK V THE GOTHIC WAR
I
Such, then, were the fortunes of the Romans in Libya. I shall now
proceed to the Gothic War, first telling all that befell the Goths and
Italians before this war. During the reign of Zeno[A] in Byzantium the power in the West was held
by Augustus, whom the Romans used to call by the diminutive name
Augustulus because he took over the empire while still a lad,[B] his
father Orestes, a man of the greatest discretion, administering it as
regent for him. Now it happened that the Romans a short time before had
induced the Sciri and Alani and certain other Gothic nations to form an
alliance with them; and from that time on it was their fortune to suffer
at the hand of Alaric and Attila those things which have been told in
the previous narrative.[1] And in proportion as the barbarian element
among them became strong, just so did the prestige of the Roman soldiers
forthwith decline, and under the fair name of alliance they were more
and more tyrannized over by the intruders and oppressed by them; so that
the barbarians ruthlessly forced many other measures upon the Romans
much against their will and finally demanded that they should divide
with them the entire land of Italy. And indeed they commanded Orestes to
give them the third part of this, and when he would by no means agree to
do so, they killed him immediately.[C] Now there was a certain man among
the Romans named Odoacer, one of the bodyguards of the emperor, and he
at that time agreed to carry out their commands, on condition that they
should set him upon the throne. And when he had received the supreme
power in this way, [D] he did the emperor no further harm, but allowed
him to live thenceforth as a private citizen. And by giving the third
part of the land to the barbarians, and in this way gaining their
allegiance most firmly, he held the supreme power securely for ten
years.[2] DATES:
[A]474 491 A.D.
[B]July 31, 475 A.D.
[C]July 28, 476 A.D.
[D]July 28, 476 A.D. It was at about this same time that the Goths also, who were dwelling in
Thrace with the permission of the emperor, took up arms against the
Romans under the leadership of Theoderic, a man who was of patrician
rank and had attained the consular office in Byzantium. But the Emperor
Zeno, who understood how to settle to his advantage any situation in
which he found himself, advised Theoderic to proceed to Italy, attack
Odoacer, and win for himself and the Goths the western dominion. For it
was better for him, he said, especially as he had attained the
senatorial dignity, to force out a usurper and be ruler over all the
Romans and Italians than to incur the great risk of a decisive struggle
with the emperor. Now Theoderic was pleased with the suggestion and went to Italy, and he
was followed by the Gothic host, who placed in their waggons the women
and children and such of their chattels as they were able to take with
them. And when they came near the Ionian Gulf,[3] they were quite unable
to cross over it, since they had no ships at hand; and so they made the
journey around the gulf, advancing through the land of the Taulantii and
the other nations of that region. Here the forces of Odoacer encountered
them, but after being defeated in many battles, they shut themselves up
with their leader in Ravenna and such other towns as were especially
strong... Continue reading book >>
|
Genres for this book |
---|
History |
Languages |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Procopius |
Wikipedia – Procopius History of the Wars, Books V. and VI. |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|