| Keywords |
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| ID |
5693 |
| Text |
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae (475 - 489) Victor of Vita |
| Quotation |
Sed quis congruo sermone possit exsequi aut coacervare diversitates poenarum, quas ex iussu regis sui etiam ipsi Wandali in suos homines exercuerunt? In ipsa quoque quae gesta sunt Carthagine si nitatur scriptor singillatim astruere, etiam sine ornatu sermonis nec ipsa nomina tormentorum poterit edicere. Quae res hodieque posita in promptu demonstrat. Alios sine manibus, alios sine oculis, alios absque pedibus, alios truneos naribus auribusque intendas, aliosque videas nimio suspendio palis evulsis, caput, quod eminere solebat, in medio scapularum fuisse demersum, dum iugiter in altis aedibus suspendio eruciantes, impulsione manuum funibus agitatis, per vacuum aerem hue atque illuc faciebant vagari pendentem. Qui nonnumquam diruptis funibus de illa altitudine suspensionis ietu valido conruentes, plurimi areem cerebri eum oeulis amiserunt: alii confraetis ossibus spiritum continuo reddiderunt, alii post paululum exalaverunt. Sed qui hoe fabulosum putat, Uranium Zenonis legatum interroget, cuius praesentia praecipue gesta sunt, illa seilicet eausa, quia veniens Carthaginem sese pro defensione ecclesiarum catholicarum venisse iaetabat. Et ut illi ostenderet tyrannus neminem formidare, in illis plateis vel vicis pluriores tortores et erudeliores statuit, in quibus legatis moris est ascendendo ad palatium et descendendo transire: ad obprobrium videlicet ipsius reipublicae et in nostri iam deficientis temporis faecem. |
| Translation |
31 But who could describe in fitting language or confine himself to just a brief account of the different punishments which the Vandals, on the order of the king, inflicted on their own people? If a writer tried to recount the things which were done in Carthage itself one by one, without any ornament of speech, he would not even be able to indicate the names of the torments. The evidence can easily be viewed today. You can look upon people without hands, others without eyes, others who have no feet, others whose noses and ears have been cut off; and you can see others, left hanging for too long a period, whose heads, which used to be held normally, have been plunged between their shoulders, and who have protruding shoulder blades. This occurred because they tortured some by hanging them from high buildings and swinging them to and fro through the empty air by jerking ropes with their hands. In some cases the ropes broke, and those who had been hung so high fell down with great force. many of these people lost their skulls, together with their eyes; others died immediately, their bones broken; while others expired shortly afterwards.
32 But if anyone thinks this is just a story, he should ask Uranius, the legate of Zeno, in whose presence these things were chiefly done. The reason, this is clear, was as follows: when he came to Carthage, he boasted that he had come to defend the Catholic churches. And the tyrant, to show him that he was afraid of no-one, stationed torturers, greater in number and more cruel, in those streets and quarters which legates generally pass through as they go up to the palace and come down. This conduct was clearly to the opprobrium of the empire and of our age, now nearing its end. |
| Quotation source |
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, III, 31-2 (p. 48), translation: Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution, translation by John Moorhead, Translated Texts for Historians, vol. 10 (Liverpool University Press: 1992), p. 77 |
| Temporal Coverage |
477 - 484 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
End - keyword |
