wealth, to be sure, yet pleased at heart because he was
now a sort of kinsman of his. Upon his arrival the 161
neighboring tribes who had long made cruel raids into
Gaul,--Franks and Burgundians alike,--were terrified
and began to keep within their own borders. Now the
Vandals and the Alani, as we have said before, had been
dwelling in both Pannonias by permission of the Roman
Emperors. Yet fearing they would not be safe even here
if the Goths should return, they crossed over into Gaul.
But no long time after they had taken possession of Gaul 162
they fled thence and shut themselves up in Spain, for they
still remembered from the tales of their forefathers what
ruin Geberich, king of the Goths, had long ago brought
on their race, and how by his valor he had driven them
from their native land. And thus it happened that Gaul
lay open to Athavulf when he came. Now when the 163
Goth had established his kingdom in Gaul, he began to
grieve for the plight of the Spaniards and planned to
save them from the attacks of the Vandals. So Athavulf
left at Barcelona his treasures and the men who were
unfit for war, and entered the interior of Spain with a
few faithful followers. Here he fought frequently with
the Vandals and, in the third year after he had subdued
Gaul and Spain, fell pierced through the groin by the
sword of Euervulf, a man whose short stature he had
been wont to mock. After his death Segeric was appointed
king, but he too was slain by the treachery of his
own men and lost both his kingdom and his life even more
quickly than Athavulf. 164