In the year 1168 from the founding of the City, Count Constantius, stationed at Arles, a city of Gaul, with great energy in the conduct of affairs drove the Goths from Narbonne and forced them to go off into Spain, chiefly by forbidding and cutting off all traffic of ships and the use of foreign trade.
1 Anno ab urbe condita MCLXVIII Constantius comes apud Arelatem Galliae urbem consistens, magna rerum gerendarum industria Gothos a Narbona expulit atque abire in Hispaniam coegit interdicto praecipue atque intercluso omni commeatu nauium et peregrinorum usu commerciorum.
At that time King Athaulf ruled over the peoples of the Goths; after the breaking into the City and the death of Alaric he had succeeded Alaric in the kingship, having taken as his wife, as I said, the captive Placidia, the emperor’s sister.
2 Gothorum tunc populis Athaulfus rex praeerat: qui post inruptionem urbis ac mortem Alarici Placidia, ut dixi, captiua sorore imperatoris in uxorem adsumpta Alarico in regnum successerat.
He, as was often heard and as was proved by his final end, being an earnest enough follower of peace, preferred to serve the emperor Honorius faithfully and to spend the strength of the Goths in defending the Roman commonwealth.
3 is, ut saepe auditum atque ultimo exitu eius probatum est, satis studiose sectator pacis militare fideliter Honorio imperatori ac pro defendenda Romana republica inpendere uires Gothorum praeoptauit.
For I myself, too, heard a certain man of Narbonne, who had held a distinguished military post under Theodosius, and was moreover devout, prudent and serious, relate to the most blessed presbyter Jerome at Bethlehem, a town of Palestine, that he had been on very intimate terms with Athaulf at Narbonne, and had often learned from him, with solemn assurance, what Athaulf — a man great beyond measure in spirit, strength and intellect — was in the habit of saying:
4 nam ego quoque ipse uirum quendam Narbonensem inlustris sub Theodosio militiae, etiam religiosum prudentemque et grauem, apud Bethleem oppidum Palaestinae beatissimo Hieronymo presbytero referentem audiui, se familiarissimum Athaulfo apud Narbonam fuisse ac de eo saepe sub testificatione didicisse, quod ille, cum esset animo uiribus ingenioque nimius, referre solitus esset:
that at first he had ardently longed to blot out the Roman name and to make all the Roman soil an empire of the Goths, and to call it so, so that — to use the common speech — what had been Romania should be Gothia, and Athaulf should now become what Caesar Augustus had once been;
5 se inprimis ardenter inhiasse, ut oblitterato Romano nomine Romanum omne solum Gothorum imperium et faceret et uocaret essetque, ut uulgariter loquar, Gothia quod Romania fuisset et fieret nunc Athaulfus quod quondam Caesar Augustus,
but that when he had proved by long experience that the Goths could in no way obey laws, because of their unbridled barbarism, and that the laws of the commonwealth ought not to be done away with, since without them a commonwealth is not a commonwealth, he had chosen at least to seek for himself the glory of restoring the Roman name to its full strength and increasing it by the might of the Goths, and to be held by posterity as the author of Rome’s restoration, since he had not been able to be its transformer.
6 at ubi multa experientia probauisset neque Gothos ullo modo parere legibus posse propter effrenatam barbariem neque reipublicae interdici leges oportere, sine quibus respublica non est respublica, elegisse saltim, ut gloriam sibi de restituendo in integrum augendoque Romano nomine Gothorum uiribus quaereret habereturque apud posteros Romanae restitutionis auctor, postquam esse non potuerat immutator.
For this reason he strove to abstain from war, for this reason to long for peace, being guided towards all the works of good government above all by the persuasion and counsel of his wife Placidia, a woman truly of the keenest intelligence and of sound enough religion.
7 ob hoc abstinere a bello, ob hoc inhiare paci nitebatur, praecipue Placidiae uxoris suae, feminae sane ingenio acerrimae et religione satis probae, ad omnia bonarum ordinationum opera persuasu et consilio temperatus.
And while he was pressing most earnestly to seek and to offer this same peace, he was killed at Barcelona, a city of Spain, through the treachery of his own men, as it is said.
8 cumque eidem paci petendae atque offerendae studiosissime insisteret, apud Barcinonam Hispaniae urbem dolo suorum, ut fertur, occisus est.
After him Sigeric was made king by the Goths; and although he too, by the judgement of God, was inclined towards peace, he was nonetheless killed by his own men.
9 Post hunc Segericus rex a Gothis creatus cum itidem iudicio Dei ad pacem pronus esset, nihilominus a suis interfectus est.
Then Wallia succeeded to the kingship, chosen by the Goths for this purpose, to break the peace, but ordained by God for this, to confirm it.
10 Deinde Vallia successit in regnum ad hoc electus a Gothis, ut pacem infringeret, ad hoc ordinatus a Deo, ut pacem confirmaret.
He, then — terrified above all by the judgement of God, because in the year before a great band of Goths, equipped with arms and ships, had attempted to cross into Africa and, caught by a storm twelve miles out in the strait of Cadiz, had perished in a pitiable end;1
11 hic igitur - territus maxime iudicio Dei, quia cum magna superiore abhinc anno Gothorum manus instructa armis nauigiisque transire in Africam moliretur, in duodecim milibus passuum Gaditani freti tempestate correpta, miserabili exitu perierat,
1The strait of Cadiz (fretum Gaditanum) is the Strait of Gibraltar.
mindful also of that disaster suffered under Alaric, when the Goths, attempting to cross into Sicily, were pitiably swept away and drowned in the sight of their own people — concluded a most favourable peace with the emperor Honorius, giving hostages of the highest rank; he restored to her brother Placidia, the emperor’s sister, whom he had kept with him in honour and propriety;
12 memor etiam illius acceptae sub Alarico cladis, cum in Siciliam Gothi transire conati, in conspectu suorum miserabiliter arrepti et demersi sunt - pacem optimam cum Honorio imperatore, datis lectissimis obsidibus pepigit; Placidiam imperatoris sororem honorifice apud se honesteque habitam fratri reddidit;
and he offered his own danger for the security of Rome, undertaking to fight against the other nations which had settled throughout the Spanish provinces — fighting on his own account, but conquering for the Romans.
13 Romanae securitati periculum suum obtulit, ut aduersus ceteras gentes, quae per Hispanias consedissent, sibi pugnaret et Romanis uinceret.
And the other kings, too, of the Alans, the Vandals and the Suebi had bargained with us on the same terms, sending word to the emperor Honorius: “Be at peace with all, and receive hostages from all; we fight among ourselves, we perish at our own cost, we conquer for you — and with undying gain to your commonwealth, if both sides of us perish.”
14 quamuis et ceteri Alanorum Vandalorum Sueborumque reges eodem nobiscum placito depecti forent mandantes imperatori Honorio: "tu cum omnibus pacem habe omniumque obsides accipe; nos nobis confligimus, nobis perimus, tibi uincimus, immortali uero quaestu reipublicae tuae, si utrique pereamus."
Who would believe these things, if the facts did not show them? And so now, every day, we learn from frequent and reliable reports that wars between the nations are being waged in the Spanish provinces, and that the barbarians are making slaughter of one another; and they say that Wallia, king of the Goths, is above all pressing on to bring about peace.
15 quis haec crederet, nisi res doceret? itaque nunc cottidie apud Hispanias geri bella gentium et agi strages ex alterutro barbarorum crebris certisque nuntiis discimus, praecipue Valliam Gothorum regem insistere patrandae paci ferunt.
On this account I would grant, after a fashion, that the Christian times may be censured freely — if anyone can show that anything has been done with like good fortune from the creation of the world until now.
16 ex quo utcumque concesserim, ut licenter Christiana tempora reprehendantur, si quid a conditione mundi usque ad nunc simili factum felicitate doceatur.
We have made plain, I think, and have shown, scarcely more by word than by pointing a finger, that countless wars have been laid to rest, a great many tyrants destroyed, and the most savage nations checked, confined, made subject and brought to nothing, with the least bloodshed, without any contest, and almost without slaughter.
17 manifestauimus, ut arbitror, atque ostendimus non magis uerbo paene quam digito innumera bella sopita, plurimos extinctos tyrannos, conpressas coangustatas addictas exinanitasque immanissimas gentes minimo sanguine, nullo certamine ac paene sine caede.
It remains only for our detractors to repent of their schemes, to blush before the truth, and to believe, fear, love and follow the true and only God, who can do all things — all of whose works, even those they think evil, they have learned to be good.
18 superest ut obtrectatores nostros molitionum suarum paeniteat ueritatique erubescant Deumque uerum et solum, qui potest omnia, credant timeant diligant et sequantur, cuius omnia, et quae mala putant, bona esse didicerunt.
With the help of Christ, and as you instructed me, most blessed father Augustine, I have set out, from the beginning of the world to the present day — that is, over 5,618 years — the passions and the punishments of sinful men, the conflicts of the world and the judgements of God, as briefly and as simply as I could; yet I have set the Christian times apart from that confusion of unbelief, because the grace of Christ is more present in them.
19 Explicui adiuuante Christo secundum praeceptum tuum, beatissime pater Augustine, ab initio mundi usque in praesentem diem, hoc est per annos quinque milia sescentos decem et octo, cupiditates et punitiones hominum peccatorum, conflictationes saeculi et iudicia Dei quam breuissime et quam simplicissime potui, Christianis tamen temporibus propter praesentem magis Christi gratiam ab illa incredulitatis confusione discretis.
So now I enjoy the sure fruit of my obedience, the only one I ought to have desired. As for the quality of these little works, that is for you to see, who commanded them: if you publish them, they must be counted yours; if you destroy them, they will have been judged by you.
20 ita iam ego certo et solo, quem concupiscere debui, oboedientiae meae fructu fruor; de qualitate autem opusculorum tu uideris qui praecepisti, tibi adiudicanda si edas, per te iudicata si deleas.