History Of The Lombards. Paolo Diacono – Paulus Diaconus

rapidly towards the source for many miles and the sweet waters becoming bitter. The island of Evodia is thirty miles from the beaches of the Sequania but its inhabitants claim to hear the roar of the waters that pour into that of Cariddi. I have heard from a person who enjoys great esteem among the Gauls that many ships, which were overwhelmed by a storm, ended up swallowed by this vortex. Only one of those men who was on those ships escaped there, found himself still floating, unique among his own, dragged by the violent currents towards the precipice, arrived on the edge of that terrible abyss, already dead of fear, he saw that very deep endless chasm, when he had already lost hope, was thrown on a boulder, clung to it. All the water had flowed into the whirlpool leaving the bottom of the sea uncovered, and while he waited anxiously and full of fear for the inevitable end, suddenly, he saw large mountains of water coming, these rose from the bottom; he first saw the ships that had been swallowed up emerge, so when one was near him, he attacked it with all his might. In an instant, quickly, it flew close to the beach, so it escaped the cruel fate and could later tell the danger. Even our sea, the Adriatic, even if in a lesser way, invades the beaches of Venice and Istria, so there is to be thought that there are whirlpools, certainly small and hidden, which swallow and reject the Adriatic waters and of the other Italian seas. After reporting these things, it's time to resume the story.

       7.

       Under the guidance of Ibore and Aione the Winili left Scandinavia and arrived in a region called Scoringa, where they stayed for a few years. In those times Ambri and Assi, leaders of the Vandals, followed all the neighbouring populations with continuous wars. Emboldened by the many victories, they sent messengers to the Winili with a request for a tribute, giving war as an alternative. So, Ibore and Aione, driven by their mother Gambara, decided that it was better to defend freedom with weapons rather than accept the infamy of paying the tribute. So they sent messengers with the answer to the Vandals, this said they would fight rather than submit. In those times the Winili were all in the prime of their youth but scarce in number, as they were only a third of a people living on an island not very large.

       8.

       At this point the ancients tell a ridiculous tale. The Vandals went to Godan to ask for the victory over the Winili, but the God replied that he would give the victory to those he had seen first at sunrise. Gambara instead went to Freia, Godan's wife, and asked for the victory for the Winili, the Goddess gave her advice: she said that the women had to untie their hair and adjust it around the face like a beard, then they had to join the men and place themselves with the battle in a place where they were visible from that window from which Godan used to look to the east. So the Winili did and, at sunrise, Godan saw the women dressed like that and not seeing the ingot He did not ask his wife, "Who are those Lungibarbi?" Then Freia asked him to give the victory to those to whom he had just given the name. Thus the God gave the victory to the Winili. These are trivial and ridiculous things, where victory is not the merit of men but given by the gods.

       9.

       In any case, it is certain that, from that moment, the Winili were called Lombards because of the particularity of their long, never cut beard. Moreover, in their language "lang" means long, and "bard", beard.

       Wotan, who changed a letter becomes Gotan, is the same that the Romans call Mercury and is worshiped as God by all the peoples of Germany. It is said that in ancient times this God was not in Germany but in Greece.

       10.

       So the Winili, also called Longobards, attacked battle, with fury, fighting for the glory of being free, won the victory.

       Subsequently, affected by famine in that province called Scoringa, they lost much of their courage.

       11.

       Emigrating from those regions, while preparing to enter Mauringa, they found the road closed by Assipitti, these were determined not to grant transit to their lands under any conditions. The Lombards, given the large number of enemies and the small number of their army, dared not fight. Deciding what to do, in need, they devised a stratagem, made the enemies believe that they had in their field of Cynocephalic, dog-headed men who fight relentlessly and drink the blood of killed enemies or, in case they cannot grab an enemy, quench their thirst with their own. To give credit to these voices they expand the camp and tents, as well as lighting many fires. The enemies fell into deception and no longer dared to try their luck in the war that they were looking for before.

       12.

       The Assipitti, however, had among them a warrior considered very strong, and with this very strong champion they wanted to win. They therefore proposed to the Lombards to choose their own champion to compete in a duel with their own. The strict pact was that if the Assopitto warrior had won, the Lombards would have retraced their steps, renouncing to go through those lands, if the Lombard had won they would have had the green light. The Lombards were uncertain on which to choose between them to send against that very strong warrior. Then, a servile condition man offered to fight on behalf of the Lombards on condition that he and all his descendants be removed from the bondage of slavery. What else to say? The Lombards, grateful, accepted and promised to grant him what he asked for. The latter, out of the Lombard ranks, faced the enemy, won, obtained the right of passage for the Lombards and for himself and his loved ones freedom.

       13.

       Finally arrived in Mauringa, the Lombards decided to remove slavery from many in order to increase the number of fighters. The elevation of these to the status of free men involved a ceremony with the gift of an arrow and the murmuring of an ancient formula in the language of their fathers. After this act they left the Mauringa and entered Golanda where they stopped for some time, it is said indeed, a few years. They occupied Anthab, Banthaib and Vurgundaib, we can believe they are villages or places of little importance.

       14.

       In the fourth century after Christ.

       Dead at the same time Ibore and Aione, who had led the Lombards out of Scandinavia and governed up to this point, not wanting to be submissive only to the Dukes imitating the other Germanic lineages, elected their King. First Agelmondo, son of Aione, reigned his dignity from the Gugingi, a lineage that was the most noble among them. The ancestors handed down that he reigned for thirty-three years.

       15.

       In those days a harlot, who had given birth to seven babies, a cruel mother more than a beast, threw them into a pond to make them die. If this seems strange, and someone believes it impossible, reread the writings of the ancients where he will find that not only seven, but also nine children were generated at one time, this was typical especially among the Egyptians. The King Agelmondo, passing through that pond, seeing the poor children, stopped the horse and with the spear tried to remove them, one of them reached out and grabbed the rod of the King. Agelmondo, deeply affected, declared that he would become a great and having him removed from the water, he entrusted him to the care of a nurse, also gave orders that he should be bred with every care and since he had been extracted from a pond, which in their language is called "lama", gave him the name Lamissione. Growing up, the Mission became brave and also the most valiant in war, so much so that he became regent at the death of Agelmondo. It is said that one day, while the Lombards were marching with their King, they arrived on the banks of a river, there they found the step blocked by the Amazons. LamissionE threw himself into the river and went to fight with the strongest of them, killed her and gained glory for himself and the passage for the Lombards. In fact, a pact had been established between the two hosts, if the Amazon had beaten Lamissione, the Lombards would have withdrawn from the river, if instead, as happened, Lamissione had won, the Lombards would have had the right to cross the river. However, the chronology of this story seems hardly credible, those who know the stories of the ancients know that the race of the Amazons was exterminated long ago, and that it was located in places other than these. However, considering that the ancient stories were hardly and vaguely and imprecisely preserved, it can be assumed that a part of them continued to exist in those remote wild lands of Germany. Moreover, I have also heard that a tribe of such women still lives in the remote internal regions of Germany.

       16.

       Crossed the river,