The Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine, The Gallic Chronicle of 452, The Chronicle of Marius of Avenches

Such wns the life I led from about the time I unr iâ,EntEEn Ëntil I war twenüy. Finally my parrnts' senre of responsibility eompclled mc, âgainrt my will, I confess, to give up the allurements of the soft ltib rnd forced me to take a wife. The ancient name of her house rves rnore impresrive than its estate, which at the tirre was burdened with problems becausc of lack of attention from its aged owner. A young grandchild who had survived her father succeeded to it, and later yielded to my nuptial torches. Once I had decided to bear the burden laid upon me, in only a few days I \Mas content, aided by the ardor of youth and a zealous spirit, to enjoy the establishment I had acquired. Quickly I forced myself and my people to exchange seductive idleness for unaccustomed activity. Some of them I challenged with the example of my own labor, but others I compelled against their will with the severity of a master. And so, actively pursuing the duties of my new situation, I immediately took action to bring the fallow lands under cultivation and to renew the exhausted vineyards with prompt attention, once I had learned how. And I was first to pây my tax obligations ât the appointed something that seems to many â time, willingly and of my orü/n accord particulaù bitter pill to swallow; but thereby I quickly assured myself of leisure to expend later upon private relaxation. Paulinus describes the luxury of his household. As much as I enjoyed pleasing and welcome amenities, the great devotion I had for my parents was dearer still and outweighed them all. It bound me with a tie of overwhelming love, so thât for the greâter part of a year we kept them company, ân ârrangement we all wanted and found rewarding. Would that this way of life granted to us might have lasted longer by the bountiful gift of Christ and that also the earlier period of peace might have continued. In so many rrr/ays my youth could have done with the constant attention of my father's experience, and my education could have been furthered by good models. But the completion of the third decade of life [a. 4o6] was marked by the unhappy onset of wvo afflictions. In a public câtâstrophe mourned by everyone, enemies were poured into the guts of the Roman realm. This coincided with a private misfortune, the death and funeral of my father. For the last days of the end of his life accorded almost exacdy with the time when the peace was broken. But for me the.destruction caused to my home by the ravages of the enemy, though in itself considerable, was lighter by far than the immeasurable grief caused by the death of my father. He made both homeland and home itself dear to me. For we had such genuine mutual respect for each other that we lived as if there were no age difference between us and our friendship surpassed that of friends of the same age.

TER FOUR

ANTIOUE CHRON TCLE TR.ADNTXONI I N TI..NE FIFTH AND SNXTI_N CENTUR.NES

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,rrc uo extensiue nanatiue histories Jor the fifth century. Coitemporary historians tuith euents under the western emperors during this period, but their works,

ild tlul

,0r,,rli,?,(§ o.f eastern provefiance, suruiue as fragments embedded

ilt

27,

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.litr many of that period\ events and much of its chronology

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For complete examples oJ western historical writing

iltnntilcs.

in

later sources

in thefiJth

-

ce,xtu{y

(see

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we haue to loole to

()hronicles became a signficant form oJ historical writing in the western empire in the .liurth century under the infiuence of the work l