Stelle Interea cum a Theodosio imperatore ...; (Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418), Lib. 7, Cap. 37, 1-7 (Vol. III, pp. 107-8, trans. Fear, pp. 396-7)) [2224]

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ID 2224
Text Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418) Orosius
Quotation Interea cum a Theodosio imperatore seniore singulis potissimis infantum cura et disciplina utriusque palatii commissa esset, hoc est Rufino orientalis aulae, Stiliconi occidentalis imperii, quid uterque egerit, quidue agere conatus sit, exitus utriusque docuit, cum alius sibi, alius filio suo affectans regale fastigium, ut rebus repente turbatis necessitas reipublicae scelus ambitus tegeret, barbaras gentes ille inmisit, hic fouit. 2 Taceo de Alarico rege cum Gothis suis saepe uicto, saepe concluso semperque dimisso. taceo de infelicibus illis apud Pollentiam gestis, cum barbaro et pagano duci, hoc est Sauli, belli summa commissa est, cuius inprobitate reuerentissimi dies et sanctum pascha uiolatum est cedentique hosti propter religionem, ut pugnaret, extortum est: cum quidem, ostendente in breui iudicio Dei et quid fauor eius possit et quid ultio exigeret, pugnantes uicimus, uictores uicti sumus. 3 Taceo de ipsorum inter se barbarorum crebris dilacerationibus, cum se inuicem Gothorum cunei duo, deinde Alani atque Huni uariis caedibus populabantur. 4 Radagaisus, omnium antiquorum praesentiumque hostium longe immanissimus, repentino impetu totam inundauit Italiam. nam fuisse in populo eius plus quam ducenta milia Gothorum ferunt. 5 Hic, supra hanc incredibilem multitudinem indomitamque uirtutem, paganus et Scytha erat, qui, ut mos est barbaris huiusmodi gentibus, omnem Romani generis sanguinem diis suis propinare deuouerat. 6 Hoc igitur Romanis arcibus imminente fit omnium paganorum in Vrbe concursus: "hostem adesse cum utique copia uirium tum maxime praesidio deorum potentem, Vrbem autem ideo destitutam et mature perituram quia deos et sacra perdiderit". 7 Magnis querellis ubique agitur et continuo de repetendis sacris celebrandisque tractatur, feruent tota Vrbe blasphemiae, uulgo nomen Christi tamquam lues aliqua praesentium temporum probris ingrauatur.
Translation 1. Now after the care of the two children and the affairs of the two palaces had been entrusted by the old emperor Theodosius to the two most powerful men in the state: namely Rufinus at the court of the east and Stilicho in the western empire, their ends show what each did and tried to do. One tried to take royal power for himself, the other to take it for his son. The former brought barbarians into the empire and the latter helped him to do so in order that after the state had suddenly been thrown into disorder, their criminal ambitions could be covered up by pleading the necessity of the state. 2. I shall say nothing about how King Alaric and his Goths were often defeated and often trapped, but always allowed to go free. I shall say nothing about those terrible acts done at Pollentia, when supreme command was given to a barbarian, pagan general, namely Saul, who in his wickedness violated the most revered days of the year and Holy Easter, forcing the enemy, who had withdrawn in respect for religion, to fight. Then God showed in a brusque judgment what His favour can do and what His vengeance exacts, for we won the battle, but were vanquished in our victory. 3. I shall say nothing about the savage fighting between the barbarians themselves, when two formations of Goths, followed by the Vandals and Huns, ripped each other apart in varied acts of slaughter. 4. Radagaisus, who was by far the most barbarous of all Rome’s present and past foes, suddenly launched an invasion into all of Italy. They say that there were more than 200,000 Goths among his people.5. Apart from the incredible size of his host and his own indomitable courage, because he was a pagan and a Scythian, he had vowed, as is the custom among barbarous nations of this kind, to placate his gods by sacrificing every last drop of Roman blood to them. 6. When this danger loomed over Rome’s defences, all the pagans gathered together in the City, saying, ‘An enemy has arrived who is powerful because of the size of his forces, but more than this, because he has the protection of the gods, while the City has been abandoned by them and will soon perish because she has lost her gods and their sacred rites.’ 7. This sort of moaning was heard everywhere, and straightaway there was talk of beginning to sacrifice again. The whole City seethed with blasphemy, and everywhere the name of Christ was insulted as if it were the plague of the times.
Quotation source Lib. 7, Cap. 37, 1-7 (Vol. III, pp. 107-8, trans. Fear, pp. 396-7)
Temporal Coverage 405 - 406
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Spatial Coverage Objects
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