¹ In this paper, I use the terms Nicene/orthodox(y) and Arian/Arianism in their widest possible senses to denote two basic dispositions toward the trinitarian question. I am, of course, aware of the differences between and inside each, but for the purpose of this paper, these umbrella terms should suffice. For a lengthy exploration of the subject, see Hanson, Richard Patrick Crosland, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988)Google Scholar.

² Thompson, Edward Arthur, The Visigoths in the Time of Ulfila (Oxford: Clarendon, 1966),Google Scholar still provides the most readable introduction to the subject of both the bishop and Gothia. Among more recent contributions the lengthy introduction of Gryson, Roger (Scolies ariennes sur le Concile d'Aquilee [SC 267; Paris: Cerf, 1980])Google Scholar to Auxentius's Vita Ulfilae is invaluable.

³ , TheodoretHistoria ecclesiastica 4.33Google Scholar.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ , Ammianus (Res Gestae 31.4–5)Google Scholar describes the crossing in graphic and dramatic details. Whether or not the conversion can be as accurately dated has been a subject of much modern controversy. For an excellent survey of both ancient and modern sources, see Rubin, Zeev, “The Conversion of the Visigoths to Christianity,” Museum Helveticum 38 (1981) 34–54Google Scholar.

⁷ , SocratesHistoria ecclesiastica 4.33–34Google Scholar.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid. 2.41.

¹⁰ , SozomenHistoria ecclesiastica 6.37Google Scholar.

¹¹ , AmmianusRes Gestae 31.4–5Google Scholar; Eunapius frag. 42 (Blockley, Roger C., The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire [2 vols.; Liverpool: Cairns, 1981-1983])Google Scholar are the most important. See Wolfram, Herwig (History of the Goths [trans. Dunlap, T. J.; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988] 423 n. 2)Google Scholar for a fuller list of ancient and modern sources.

¹² , SozomenHistoria ecclesiastica 6.37.6–7Google Scholar.

¹³ Ibid., 6.37.8-9.

¹⁴ Ibid., 6.37.9; This embassy undoubtedly has no link with the one in 376 which sought land for the Goths within the empire. Sozomen not only clearly distinguishes between the two but makes the earlier one (in the 360s) the occasion for Ulfila's conversion.

¹⁵ Chrysos, Euangelos (τό Βυςάντιον καί οί Γόθοι[Thessaloniki: Hetaireia Makedonikon, 1972] 113–14)Google Scholar ascribes the similarities between Socrates and Sozomen to the latter's borrowing from the former. But as Heather, Peter J. (“The Crossing of the Danube and the Gothic Conversion,” GRBS 27 [1986] 298)Google Scholar demonstrates, however, Sozomen used another source in addition. On the relationships among the three historians, see Chesnut, Glenn F., The First Christian Histories: Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret and Evagrius (2d ed.; Macon, GA: Mercer Unviersity Press, 1986)Google Scholar.

¹⁶ See n. 2 above. See also Heather, Peter J. and Matthews, John, “The Life and Work of Ulfila,”Google Scholar in idem, The Goths in the Fourth Century (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1991) 133-43.

¹⁷ Auxentius's letter which contains the biography appears in the critical edition by Roger Gryson. An English translation appears in , Heather and , Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, 146–47.Google Scholar, PhilostorgiusHistoria ecclesiastica 2.5Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Semper credidi (“I always believed”) is the phrase that Auxentius uses to explicate Ulfila's credo (Vita Ufilae 63). One should note that Auxentius knew his hero only during the late phase of the latter's episcopal career.

¹⁹ , PhilostorgiusHistoria ecclesiastica 2.5.Google Scholar, Socrates (Historia ecclesiastica 1.18)Google Scholar claims that Constantine intended to send missionaries to the Goths after he signed a treaty with them in 332. It is unlikely, however, that Philostorgius invented both greater antiquity for Christianity in Gothia as well as Cappadocian connections. See also Sivan, Hagith, “The Making of an Arian Goth: Ulfila Reconsidered,” Revue benedictine 105 (1995) 280–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁰ See Nautin, Pierre, “Firmilian of Caesarea,” Encyclopedia of the Early Church 1 (1992) 324Google Scholar.

²¹ Although it is not entirely clear whether Theophilus represented the Danubian Goths or the Crimean Goths at Nicaea, his link with Ulfila points to the former.

²² , SocratesHistoria ecclesiastica 2.41Google Scholar.

²³ , SozomenHistoria ecclesiastica 6.37.5–6Google Scholar.

²⁴ , AmmianusRes Gestae 31.2–4Google Scholar; Eunapius frag. 42; , Wolfram, History of the Goths, 117–18.Google Scholar, Heather, “Crossing of the Danube,” 316–17Google Scholar.

²⁵ Eunapius (frag. 48.2) suspects that the Goths pretended to be Christians. He may have been wrong.

²⁶ See , AmmianusRes Gestae 31.12.8Google Scholar on the priest; but Ammianus's account is problematic. The priest appeared cum aliis humilibus (“with a few low class men”), an odd company for so critical and delicate a mission, and one hardly calculated to inspire Valens with confidence or a desire to cooperate. The Romans insisted on embassies worth their dignity.

²⁷ , SozomenHistoria ecclesiastica 4.24.1-6.37.8; 6.37.9Google Scholar.

²⁸ , PhilostorgiusHistoria ecclesiastica 2.5Google Scholar.

²⁹ Auxentius, curiously, ignores Eusebius of Nicomedia, thus strengthening the impression that the historian was either surprisingly ignorant or highly selective regarding the facts of Ulfila's early career.

³⁰ Barnes, Timothy David, “The Consecration of Ulfila,” JTS 41 (1990) 541–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³¹ Compare , Heather and , Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, 142–43Google Scholar, who also disagree with Barnes.

³² , AmmianusRes Gestae 31.12.8.Google Scholar This presbyter carried two letters from Fritigern to the emperor: one repeating the terms of the 376 foedus (“treaty”) between the Roman government and the Goths, the other proposing a strategy for resisting anti-Roman groups. Ammianus states that the man was a close confidant of Fritigern. This claim echoes what all the Nicene ecclesiastical historians assert about the nature of the relationship between the Gothic chieftain and Ulfila. Was the ambassador possibly the venerable bishop himself?

³³ Ibid., 22.7.5.

³⁴ See , Wolfram (History of the Goths, 61–63)Google Scholar for details of this arrangement.

³⁵ , EusebiusVita Constantini 70Google Scholar.

³⁶ Such tactics accord well with the tenor of politics at court during the years of Arian emperors. My reconstruction also can shed light on the prominence that the Nicene descriptions of Ulfila's conversion accord to Eudoxius. In their tale, Eudoxius apparently ensured that all recipients of the grain dole in the capital had to enter communion with the Arians unless they wished to forgo their rations. Not surprisingly, this collusion between church and court brought many new adherents to Arianism. Telfer, William, “Paul of Constantinople,” HTR 43 (1950) 40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³¹ CIL 3.3705 (ILS 732). See also Arnaldi, Adelina, “I cognomina devictarum gentium dei successori di Constantino il grande,” Epigraphica 39 (1977) 93–95Google Scholar.

³⁸ Unless, as seems unlikely, the persecution of Christians in Gothia was the result of hostilities with Rome. This assumption derives from an analysis of the Passio Sancti Sabae, which seems to record three waves of the persecution of Christians in Gothia, the first resulting in the expulsion of Ulfila. See , Rubin, “Conversion of the Visigoths,” 44.Google Scholar An inscription dated to 338-340 refers to the Gothic menace along the Danube and to fortifications erected for the security of the inhabitants (CIL 3.12483 [ILS 724]). A Gothic victory would need to have taken place between 338 and 354, if at all. See , Arnaldi, “I cognomina devictarum,” 95 n. 18Google Scholar.

³⁹ , AmmianusRes Gestae 27.5Google Scholar, and at much greater length, , ThemistiusOrs. 8 and 10Google Scholar(both translated and discussed in , Heather and , Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, 13–50)Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ It is a vexed question whether Ulfila was appointed as a bishop of the Christians in Gothia or as a bishop of the Goths in general. The former appears more plausible. For rival missions in Gothia, see , Sivan, “Making of an Arian Goth,” 287–88Google Scholar.

⁴¹ For the text and an English translation, see , Heather and , Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, 128–30Google Scholar.

⁴² See Delehaye, Hippolyte, “Saints de Thrace et de Mesie,” Analecta Bollandiana 31(1912) 216–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar for the text; , Heather and , Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, 111–12Google Scholar for translation; and , Rubin, “Conversion of the Visigoths,” 36–37 for discussionGoogle Scholar.

⁴³ , JordanesGetica 267Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ , OrosiusHistoria adversum paganos 7.33.19.Google Scholar The translation is that of , Rubin, “Conversion of the Visigoths,” 50–51Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ See, for example, , Heather and , Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, 137–38Google Scholar; Fernandez, Gonzalez, “Wulfila y el sinodo de Constantinople del ano 360,” Antiguedad y Cristianismo 3 (1986) 47–51Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ I am grateful to the anonymous reader of HTR for useful criticism. My belated thanks go t o Zeevic Rubin for introducing me to Ulfila, many, many years ago.