44. The expressions of Jornandes, or rather of Cassiodorus,
are extremely strong. Bellum atrox, multiplex, immane,
pertinax, cui simile nulle usquam narrat antiquitas: ubi
talia gesta referuntur, ut nihil esset quod in vita sua
conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus miraculi privaretur
aspectu [c. 40, p. 668]. Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p.
392, 393) attempts to reconcile the 162,000 of Jornandes
with the 300,000 of Idatius and Isidore, by supposing that
the larger number included the total destruction of the war,
the effects of disease, the slaughter of the unarmed people
etc.