The Origin and Deeds of the Goths | Page 3

wooded plains, and sometimes it rises into
mountain peaks. The island is surrounded by a sluggish sea, which
neither gives readily to the stroke of the oar nor runs high under the
blasts of the wind. I suppose this is because other lands are so far
removed from it as to cause no disturbance of the sea, which indeed is
of greater width here than anywhere else. Moreover Strabo, a famous
writer of the Greeks, relates that the island exhales such mists from its
soil, soaked by the frequent inroads of Ocean, that the sun is covered
throughout the whole of their disagreeable sort of day that passes as fair,
and so is hidden from sight.
Cornelius also, the author of the Annals, says that in 13 the farthest part
of Britain the night gets brighter and is very short. He also says that the
island abounds in metals, is well supplied with grass and is more
productive in all those things which feed beasts rather than men.
Moreover many large rivers flow through it, and the tides are borne
back into them, rolling along precious stones and pearls. The Silures
have swarthy features and are usually born with curly black hair, but

the inhabitants of Caledonia have reddish hair and large loose-jointed
bodies. They are like the Gauls or the Spaniards, according as they are
opposite either nation. Hence some 14 have supposed that from these
lands the island received its inhabitants, alluring them by its nearness.
All the people and their kings are alike wild. Yet Dio, a most celebrated
writer of annals, assures us of the fact that they have all been combined
under the name of Caledonians and Maeatae. They live in wattled huts,
a shelter used in common with their flocks, and often the woods are
their home. They paint their bodies with iron-red, whether by way of
adornment or perhaps for some other reason. They often wage war with
one another, either 15 because they desire power or to increase their
possessions. They fight not only on horseback or on foot, but even with
scythed two-horse chariots, which they commonly call essedae. Let it
suffice to have said thus much on the shape of the island of Britain.
(SCANDZA)
III Let us now return to the site of the island of 16 Scandza, which we
left above. Claudius Ptolemaeus, an excellent describer of the world,
has made mention of it in the second book of his work, saying: "There
is a great island situated in the surge of the northern Ocean, Scandza by
name, in the shape of a juniper leaf with bulging sides that taper down
to a point at a long end." Pomponius Mela also makes mention of it as
situated in the Codan Gulf of the sea, with Ocean lapping its shores.
This island lies in front of the river Vistula, which rises 17 in the
Sarmatian mountains and flows through its triple mouth into the
northern Ocean in sight of Scandza, separating Germany and Scythia.
The island has in its eastern part a vast lake in the bosom of the earth,
whence the Vagus river springs from the bowels of the earth and flows
surging into the Ocean. And on the west it is surrounded by an
immense sea. On the north it is bounded by the same vast unnavigable
Ocean, from which by means of a sort of projecting arm of land a bay
is cut off and forms the German Sea. Here also there are said to 18 be
many small islands scattered round about. If wolves cross over to these
islands when the sea is frozen by reason of the great cold, they are said
to lose their sight. Thus the land is not only inhospitable to men but

cruel even to wild beasts.
Now in the island of Scandza, whereof I speak, there 19 dwell many
and divers nations, though Ptolemaeus mentions the names of but seven
of them. There the honey-making swarms of bees are nowhere to be
found on account of the exceeding great cold. In the northern part of
the island the race of the Adogit live, who are said to have continual
light in midsummer for forty days and nights, and who likewise have
no clear light in the winter season for the same number of days and
nights. By 20 reason of this alternation of sorrow and joy they are like
no other race in their sufferings and blessings. And why? Because
during the longer days they see the sun returning to the east along the
rim of the horizon, but on the shorter days it is not thus seen. The sun
shows itself differently because it is passing through the southern signs,
and whereas to us the sun seem to rise from