between them. And among the islands Britain, which is outside the
Pillars of Heracles and by far the largest of all islands, was counted,
as is natural, with the West; and inside the Pillars, Ebusa,[13] which
lies in the Mediterranean in what we may call the Propontis, just inside
the opening where the ocean enters, about seven days' journey from the
opening, and two others near it, Majorica and Minorica, as they are
called by the natives, were also assigned to the Western empire. And
each of the islands in the Sea itself fell to the share of that one of
the two emperors within whose boundaries it happened to lie.


II

Now while Honorius was holding the imperial power in the West,
barbarians took possession of his land; and I shall tell who they were
and in what manner they did so. [395-423 A.D.] There were many Gothic
nations in earlier times, just as also at the present, but the greatest
and most important of all are the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, and
Gepaedes. In ancient times, however, they were named Sauromatae and
Melanchlaeni;[14] and there were some too who called these nations
Getic. All these, while they are distinguished from one another by their
names, as has been said, do not differ in anything else at all. For they
all have white bodies and fair hair, and are tall and handsome to look
upon, and they use the same laws and practise a common religion. For
they are all of the Arian faith, and have one language called Gothic;
and, as it seems to me, they all came originally from one tribe, and
were distinguished later by the names of those who led each group. This
people used to dwell above the Ister River from of old. Later on the
Gepaedes got possession of the country about Singidunum[15] and
Sirmium,[16] on both sides of the Ister River, where they have remained