on Alaric, the ninth in succession
from the famous Alaric the Great to receive the kingdom
of the Visigoths. For even as it happened to the line of
the Augusti, as we have stated above, so too it appears in
the line of the Alarici, that kingdoms often come to an
end in kings who bear the same name as those at the
beginning. Meanwhile let us leave this subject, and
weave together the whole story of the origin of the Goths,
as we promised.

(The Divided Goths: Ostrogoths)

[Sidenote: THE OSTROGOTHS AND THEIR SUBJECTION TO THE HUNS]

[Sidenote: Death of Hermanaric 375 or 376]

XLVIII Since I have followed the stories of my 246
ancestors and retold to the best of my ability the tale of
the period when both tribes, Ostrogoths and Visigoths,
were united, and then clearly treated of the Visigoths
apart from the Ostrogoths, I must now return to those
ancient Scythian abodes and set forth in like manner the
ancestry and deeds of the Ostrogoths. It appears that at
the death of their king, Hermanaric, they were made a
separate people by the departure of the Visigoths, and
remained in their country subject to the sway of the
Huns; yet Vinitharius of the Amali retained the insignia
of his rule. He rivalled the valor of his grandfather 247
Vultuulf, although he had not the good fortune of Hermanaric.
But disliking to remain under the rule of the
Huns, he withdrew a little from them and strove to show
his courage by moving his forces against the country of
the Antes. When he attacked them, he was beaten in the
first encounter. Thereafter he did valiantly and, as a
terrible example, crucified their king, named Boz, together
with his sons and seventy nobles, and left their bodies
hanging there to double the fear of those who had surrendered.
When he had ruled with such license for 248
barely a year, Balamber, king of the Huns, would no
longer endure it, but sent for Gesimund, son of Hunimund
the Great. Now Gesimund, together with a great
part of the Goths, remained under the rule of the Huns,
being mindful of his oath of fidelity. Balamber renewed
his alliance with him and led his army up against Vinitharius.
After a long contest, Vinitharius prevailed in
the first and in the second conflict, nor can any say how
great a slaughter he made of the army of the Huns. But 249
in the third battle, when they met each other unexpectedly
at the river named Erac, Balamber shot an arrow and
wounded Vinitharius in the hea