The Age of Attila: Fifth-century Byzantium and the Barbarians

The author intends in his book "to give the reader with little or no Greek a chance to see for himself how the writers nearest to the events described their age," the fifth century, and specifically the dealings of the West and East Roman courts with the barbarians. For this purpose, he has translated those fragments of Olympiodorus, Priscus, Malchus, Candidus, and John of Antioch which have an immediate bearing on political events, distributed them over six chapters, and connected them with brief introductions and comments. Notes contain cross references, references to other ancient and a few modern writings, and textual criticism. The so-called general reader is bound to get a one-sided picture of the fifth century, unless he fits the fragments into the one he has already drawn for himself from Gibbon, Bury, Seeck, or Stein. Used with caution, as a supplement to textbooks, the volume may fulfill its purpose.