Book 7
3.11
As for the Getae, then, their early history must be left untold, but that which pertains to our own times is about as follows: BoerebistasAlso spelled Byrebistas (see 7. 3. 5 and footnote). a Getan, on setting himself in authority over the tribe, restored the people, who had been reduced to an evil plight by numerous wars, and raised them to such a height through training, sobriety, and obedience to his commands that within only a few years he had established a great empire and subordinated to the Getae most of the neighboring peoples. And he began to be formidable even to the Romans, because he would cross the Ister with impunity and plunder Thrace as far as Macedonia and the Illyrian country; and he not only laid waste the country of the Celti who were intermingledSee 7. 3. 2 and 7. 5. 1. with the Thracians and the Illyrians, but actually caused the complete disappearance of the BoiiAlso a Celtic tribe (7. 3. 2). who were under the rule of Critasirus,7. 5. 2. and also of the Taurisci.Also under the rule of Critasirus (7. 5. 2). To help him secure the complete obedience of his tribe he had as his coadjutor Decaeneus,See 7. 3. 5. a wizard, a man who not only had wandered through Egypt, but also had thoroughly learned certain prognostics through which he would pretend to tell the divine will; and within a short time he was set up as god (as I said when relating the story of Zamolxis).7. 3. 5. The following is an indication of their complete obedience: they were persuaded to cut down their vines and to live without wine. However, certain men rose up against Boerebistas and he was deposed before the Romans sent an expedition against him;Cp. 7. 3. 5. and those who succeeded him divided the empire into several parts. In fact, only recently, when Augustus Caesar sent an expedition against them, the number of parts into which the empire had been divided was five, though at the time of the insurrection it had been four. Such divisions, to be sure, are only temporary and vary with the times.
