| Keywords |
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| ID |
5684 |
| Text |
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae (475 - 489) Victor of Vita |
| Quotation |
Sexagensimus nunc, ut clarum est, agitur annus ex eo quo populus ille crudelis ac saevus Wandalicae gentis Africae miserabilis attigit fines, transvadans facili transitu per angustias maris, quod iter Hispaniam Africamque acquor hoc magnum et spatiosum bis senis milibus angusto se limite coartavit.
Transiens igitur quantitas universa calliditate Geiserici ducis, ut famam suae terribilem faceret gentis, ilico statuit omnem multitudinem numerari, usque ad illam diem quam huic luci uterus profuderat ventris. Qui reperti sunt senes, iuvenes, parvuli, servi vel domini, octoginta milia numerati.
Quae opinio divulgata, usque in hodiernum a nescientibus armatorum tantus numerus aestimatur, cum sit nunc exiguus et infirmus.
Invenientes igitur pacatam quietamque provinciam, speciositatem totius terrae florentis quaquaversum, impietatis agminibus impetebant, devastando depopulabantur, incendio atque homicidiis totum exterminantes. Sed nec arbustis fructiferis omnino parcebant, ne forte quos antra montium aut praerupta terrarum vel seclusa quaeque occultaverant, post corum transitum illis pabulis nutrirentur: et sic eadem atque iterum tali crudelitate furentes, ab eorum contagione nullus remansit locus inmunis.
Praesertim in ecclesiis basilicisque domus orationis magis quem urbes cunctaque oppida concremarent. Ubi forte venerabilis aulae clausas reppererant portas, certati, ictibus dextralium aditum reserabant, ut recte tunc diceretur: 'quasi in silva lignorum securibus consciderunt ianuas eius in id ipsum: in securi et ascia deiecerunt eam: incenderunt igni sanctuarium tuum: in terra polluerunt tabernaculum nominis tui'. |
| Translation |
1 It is evident that this is now the sixtieth year since the cruel and savage people of the Vandal race set foot on the territory of wretched Africa. They made an easy passage across the straits, because the vast and broad sea becomes narrow between Spain and Africa, which are separated by only twelve miles.
2 A large number made the crossing, and in his cunning duke Geiseric, intending to make the reputation of his people a source of dread, ordered then and there that the entire crowd was to be counted, even those who had come from the womb into the light that very day. Including old men, young men and children, slaves and masters, there was to be found to be a total of 80,000. news of this has spread widely, until today those ignorant of the matter think that this is the number of their armed men, although now their number is small and feeble.
3 Finding a province which was at peace and enjoying quiet, the whole land beautiful and flowering on all sides, they set to work on it with their wicked forces, laying waste by devastation and bringing everything to ruin with fire and murders. They did not even spare the fruit-bearing orchards, in case people who had hidden in the caves of mountains or steep places or any remote areas would be able to eat the foods produced by them after they had passed. So it was that no place remained safe from being contaminated by them, as they raged with cruelty, unchanging and relentless.
4 In particular, they gave vent to their wicked ferocity with great strength against the churches and basilicas of the saints, cemeteries and monasteries, so that they burned houses of prayer with fires greater that those they used against the cities and all the towns. When they happened to find the doors of a sacred building closed they were keen to open up a way with the blows of their hatchets, so that of them it could be rightly said: 'They broke its doors in pieces with their axes as if they were in a forest of trees; they cast it down with axe and hatchet: they set your sanctuary on fire: they cast the tabernacle of your name to the ground and defiled it.' (Ps 73:5-7 Vulg) |
| Quotation source |
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae,´I, 1-3 (p. 2-3), translation: Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution, translation by John Moorhead, Translated Texts for Historians, vol. 10 (Liverpool University Press: 1992), p. 3-4 |
| Temporal Coverage |
429 - 431 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
The number 80,000 is rightly contested, contemporary authors suggest smaller numbers (although no precise number is given), however, their opinions vary |
