Le lacrime dei barbari: Vandali e Goti di fronte alle guerre di Giustiniano

Justinian’s wars brought about the fall of the Vandal and the Ostrogothic Kingdom and led to the disappearance of two peoples who had been ruling for many years over the most prosperous provinces of the former Western Roman Empire. What was their response to such a traumatic downfall? This paper looks into sixth-century sources in order to point out analogies and differences in the reaction of these peoples when facing Justinian’s troops. Gelimer’s “tragic” behaviour, as narrated by Procopius, is compared with Theodahad’s complaints, Vitiges’ protests and Baduila’s defiance. At first, Vandals and Goths expressed their pain by crying and lamenting, but their reaction gradually evolved in a will to resist. In two decades, Gelimer’s tears became Baduila’s desperate courage at Busta Gallorum.