Φράβιθος
Frabithos, Fravithos, Fravithus, Fravitta, Fravittas
Translated by Ronald Allen10 Jun 2009Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
"This man was a general of the East,1 who, [though] abounding in virtue was sickly in the body, [but] full of a healthy spirit. At any rate, with his body already weakened and unglued into dissolution, he was nailing together and interweaving [it]2 into some constitution and harmony, in order that it might satisfy his excellence. [It was he] who easily annihilated the brigands,3 so that the word 'brigandage' almost faded from the memory of men. In religious worship he was a Hellene."4
Greek original · Adler’s text
Φράβιθος· οὗτος στρατηγὸς ἦν τῆς ἀνατολῆς, ὃς ἀκμάζων τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐνόσει τὸ σῶμα, τῆς ψυχῆς ὑγιαινούσης πλέον. καὶ τό γε σῶμα διαλυόμενον ἤδη καὶ ἀποκολλώμενον εἰς τὴν λύσιν συνεγόμφου καὶ διέπλεκεν εἰς πῆξίν τινα καὶ ἁρμονίαν, ὅπως ἂν ἀρκέσειε τῷ καλῷ. ὃς τοὺς λῃστὰς ῥᾳδίως συνεῖλεν, ὥστε μικροῦ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς λῃστείας ἐκ τῆς μνείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκπεσεῖν. ἦν δὲ Ἕλλην τὴν θρησκείαν.
Betacode
*fra/biqos: ou(=tos strathgo\s h)=n th=s a)natolh=s, o(\s a)kma/zwn th\n a)reth\n e)no/sei to\ sw=ma, th=s yuxh=s u(giainou/shs ple/on. kai\ to/ ge sw=ma dialuo/menon h)/dh kai\ a)pokollw/menon ei)s th\n lu/sin sunego/mfou kai\ die/pleken ei)s ph=ci/n tina kai\ a(rmoni/an, o(/pws a)\n a)rke/seie tw=| kalw=|. o(\s tou\s lh|sta\s r(a|di/ws sunei=len, w(/ste mikrou= kai\ to\ o)/noma th=s lh|stei/as e)k th=s mnei/as tw=n a)nqrw/pwn e)kpesei=n. h)=n de\ *(/ellhn th\n qrhskei/an.
Notes (4)
- The headword does not occur in the passage as quoted, from Eunapius (see n. 4 below), but no doubt surrounds the attribution.
Flavius Fravitta (d. 401 CE) was the leader of a Gothic faction, one of a few loyal to the emperor Theodosius I (The Great) (346-395; OCD(4) s.v. Theodosius(2) and theta 144), appointed magister militum per Orientum by Arcadius (emperor in the east 383-408; OCD(4) s.v. Arcadius(2)) in 395, and consul from 401; see Heather, pp. 186-90; PLRE, pp. 372-3; Mitchell, p. 96; and n.2. He was assassinated in 401. - 1In her critical apparatus Adler reports that ms F lacks the rest of the quotation. ↩
- 2For 'nailing together' cf. sigma 1475. In context here, both of these imperfects may be conative, i.e. 'sought to ...'. ↩
- 3Probably referring to Fravitta's suppression (in 400) of bandits from Cilicia (a coastal region of southern Asia Minor: Barrington Atlas map 66 grid D4; cf. kappa 1605, kappa 1606, kappa 1607, kappa 1608) east and south through Phoenicia (Barrington Atlas map 69 grid C2) and Palestine (Barrington Atlas map 70 grid F3, cf. pi 66); cf. Zosimus 5.20.1; Burns, p. 345. Adler notes that Kuster substituted
a)nei=len (destroyed; aorist indicative active, third person singular form ofa)naire/w , I take up, destroy; see generally LSJ s.v.) forsunei=len (annihilated), which is less common. ↩ - 4That is, he was a pagan. Eunapius fr. 80 FHG (4.49); cf. Blockley, pp. 108-9 and sigma 1475. [Adler reports that, instead of
mnei/as (memory, genitive singular ofmnei/a ) printed by her from ms A, mss GVM readmnh/mhs (remembrance).] ↩
References
P.J. Heather, Goths and Romans: 332-489, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991
A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. I, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971
S. Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641: The Transformation of the Ancient World, Oxford: Blackwell, 2007
T.S. Burns, Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425 A.D., Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995
R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1983
A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. I, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971
S. Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641: The Transformation of the Ancient World, Oxford: Blackwell, 2007
T.S. Burns, Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425 A.D., Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995
R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1983
Neighbouring entries
Revision history5 revisions · last 26 Mar 2023
- expanded note — Catharine Roth
- fixed note number — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- augmented notes; pruned keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen