place of kings, that is Fritigern, Alatheus and Safrac,
began to lament the plight of their army and begged
Lupicinus and Maximus, the Roman commanders, to
open a market. But to what will not the "cursed lust for
gold" compel men to assent? The generals, swayed by
avarice, sold them at a high price not only the flesh of
sheep and oxen, but even the carcasses of dogs and unclean
animals, so that a slave would be bartered for a loaf
of bread or ten pounds of meat. When their goods and 135
chattels failed, the greedy trader demanded their sons in
return for the necessities of life. And the parents consented
even to this, in order to provide for the safety of
their children, arguing that it was better to lose liberty
than life; and indeed it is better that one be sold, if he
will be mercifully fed, than that he should be kept free
only to die.

[Sidenote: TREACHERY OF THE ROMANS]

Now it came to pass in that troublous time that Lupicinus,
the Roman general, invited Fritigern, a chieftain
of the Goths, to a feast and, as the event revealed,
devised a plot against him. But Fritigern, thinking 136
evil came to the feast with a few followers. While
he was dining in the praetorium he heard the dying
cries of his ill-fated men, for, by order of the general,
the soldiers were slaying his companions who were shut
up in another part of the house. The loud cries of the
dying fell upon ears already suspicious, and Fritigern at
once perceived the treacherous trick. He drew his sword