Note 044
From Chapter 35 of the Decline & Fall

The expressions of Jornandes, or rather of Cassiodorus, are extremely strong.

Bellum atrox, multiplex, immane, pertinax, cui simile nulle usquam narrat antiquitas: ubi talia gesta referuntur, ut nihil esset quod in vita sua conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus miraculi privaretur aspectu [c. 40, p. 668].

Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 392, 393) attempts to reconcile the 162,000 of Jornandes with the 300,000 of Idatius and Isidore, by supposing that the larger number included the total destruction of the war, the effects of disease, the slaughter of the unarmed people etc.

« LAST » Note « NEXT »