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This edition of the Getica of Jordanes is based upon the authoritative text and critical apparatus of Mommsen as found in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi 5 (Berlin 1882), with other material added. I have adhered closely to his spelling of proper names, especially Gothic names, except in a few words which are of common use in another form. I have carefully reviewed all the existing evidence on controverted points, dissenting in several instances from the conclusions of Mommsen, particularly in regard to the supposedly Gothic writer Ablabius, the ecclesiastical status of Jordanes, and the place of composition of the Getica. For the Latinity of Jordanes the studies of E. Wölfflin (Arch. f. lat. Lex. 11, 361), J. Bergmüller (Augsburg 1903), and Fritz Werner (Halle 1908) have been consulted, and for ready convenience of illustration in historical matters frequent reference is made in the commentary to Hodgkin’s “Italy and Her Invaders” (2nd. edition, Clarendon Press, 1892), Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (edited by J. B. Bury, London 1896), Bury’s “History of the Later Roman Empire” (MacMillan & Co., 1889), and “The Cambridge Medieval History” (The MacMillan Co., New York 1911).

The translation, already separately printed (Princeton University Press, 1908) and thus far the only existing English version, has been revised throughout, and a few slight changes have been made. As the Latin text of Mommsen is available elsewhere, it is not reprinted in this edition.

I desire to make especial acknowledgment of the many helpful criticisms received from Dean West and to express my gratitude for his constant and unfailing interest in this as in all my studies in the later Latin.

Princeton University.