The Origin and Deeds of the Goths

The Origin and Deeds of the
Goths, by
by Charles C.
Mierow

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, by
Jordanes, Translated by Charles C. Mierow
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Origin and Deeds of the Goths
Author: Jordanes
Release Date: January 26, 2005 [eBook #14809] [Date last updated:
July 5, 2006]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS ***
E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, SuperCrispy, David King, and the
Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Transcriber's Note:
The numbers in the right margin of the text are from the original book;
although nothing in the book says so, it appears that they might be page
numbers from the manuscript of which this is a translation. They are
preserved in this transcription in the hope that they are indeed page
numbers.

THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS
by
JORDANES
in English Version
Part of a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Princeton University for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy
by CHARLES C. MIEROW
Princeton
1908

NOTE
For the first time the story of the Goths recorded in the Getica of
Jordanes, a Christian Goth who wrote his account in the year 551,
probably in Constantinople, is now put in English form, as part of an
edition of the Getica prepared by Mr. Mierow. Those who care for the
romance of history will be charmed by this great tale of a lost cause and
will not find the simple-hearted exaggerations of the eulogist of the
Gothic race misleading. He pictured what he believed or wanted to

believe, and his employment of fable and legend, as well as the naïve
exhibition of his loyal prejudices, merely heightens the interest of his
story. Those who want coldly scientific narrative should avoid reading
Jordanes, but should likewise remember the truthful, words of
Delbrück: "Legende und Poesie malen darum noch nicht falsch, weil
sie mit anderen Farben malen als die Historie. Sie reden nur eine andere
Sprache, und es handelt sich darum, aus dieser richtig ins Historische
zu übersetzen."
ANDREW F. WEST.

PREFACE
The following version of the Getica of Jordanes is based upon the text
of Mommsen, as found in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica,
Auctores Antiquissimi 5 (Berlin 1882). I have adhered closely to his
spelling of proper names, especially the Gothic names, except in the
case of a very few words which are in common use in another form
(such as Gaiseric and Belisarius).
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dean Andrew F. West of the
Princeton Graduate School for his unfailing interest in my work. It was
in one of his graduate courses that the translation was begun, three
years ago, and at his suggestion that I undertook the composition of the
thesis in its present form. He has read the entire treatise in the
manuscript, and has been my constant adviser and critic. Thanks are
also due to Dr. Charles G. Osgood of the English Department of
Princeton University for reading the translation.
CHARLES C. MIEROW.
Classical Seminary, Princeton University, July 1908.

THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS

(Preface)
Though it had been my wish to glide in my little boat 1 by the shore of
a peaceful coast and, as a certain writer says, to gather little fishes from
the pools of the ancients, you, brother Castalius, bid me set my sails
toward the deep. You urge me to leave the little work I have in hand,
that is, the abbreviation of the Chronicles, and to condense in my own
style in this small book the twelve volumes of the Senator on the origin
and deeds of the Getae from olden time to the present day, descending
through the generations of the kings. Truly a hard command, 2 and
imposed by one who seems unwilling to realize the burden of the task.
Nor do you note this, that my utterance is too slight to fill so
magnificent a trumpet of speech as his. But above every burden is the
fact that I have no access to his books that I may follow his thought.
Still--and let me lie not--I have in times past read the books a second
time by his steward's loan for a three days' reading. The words I recall
not, but the sense and the deeds related I think I retain entire. To 3 this I
have added fitting matters from some Greek and Latin histories. I have
also put in an introduction