PD 3.23 - 3.29
History of the Langobards by Paul the Deacon
Translation and footnotes by William Foulke
[The following posts are abridged excerpts. RR]

Chapter XXIII.
At this time [1] there was a deluge of water in the territories of Venefia and
Liguria, and in other regions of Italy such as is believed not to have existed
since the time of Noah. Ruins were made of estates and country seats, and at the
same time a great destruction of men and animals. The paths were obliterated,
the highways demolished, and the river Athesis (Adige) then rose so high that
around the church... which is situated outside the walls of the city of Verona,
the water reached the upper windows. Likewise the walls of the city of Verona
itself were partly demolished by the same inundation. And this inundation
occurred on the 16th of the calends of November (Oct. 17th), yet there were so
many flashes of lightning and peals of thunder as are hardly wont to occur even
in the summer time. Also after two months this city of Verona was in great part
consumed by fire.

[1] 589

Chapter XXIV.
In this outpouring of the flood, the river Tiber at the city of Rome rose so
much that its waters flowed in over the walls of the city and filled great
regions in it. Then through the bed of the same stream a great multitude of
serpents, and a dragon also of astonishing size passed by the city and descended
to the sea. Straightway a very grievous pestilence called inguinal [1] followed
this inundation, and it wasted the people with such great destruction of life
that out of a countless multitude barely a few remained.

[1] Of the groin. In 589 the inundation mentioned at the beginning of this
chapter occurred, and in 590 the plague ravaged Italy.

Chapter XXV.
At this time the same blessed Gregory sent Augustine and Mellitus and John with
many other monks who feared God into Britain and he converted the Angles to
Christ by their preaching.

Chapter XXVII.
At this time king Authari sent an army to Istria, which army Euin, duke of
Tridentum (Trent), commanded. [1] And they, after plunderings and burnings, when
peace had been made for one year, brought back a great sum of money to the king.
Other Langobards too, besieged in the island of Comacina, [2] Francio, master of
soldiers, who had been hitherto of the party of Narses and had already
maintained himself for twenty years. This Francio, after he had been besieged
six months, surrendered that island to the Langobards but he himself was
released by the king, as he had desired, and hastened with his wife and his
household goods to Ravenna. In this island many riches were found which had been
deposited there by particular cities.

[1] Probably 587.
[2] Comacina was a small island in lake Como, a little Roman stronghold amid
Langobard surroundings.

Chapter XXVIII.
The king Flavius Authari sent an embassy to Childepert asking that the sister of
the latter should be united to him in marriage. But while Childepert accepted
gifts from the ambassadors of the Langobards, and promised to give his sister to
their king, yet when
ambassadors of the Goths came from Spain he promised this same sister over
again, because he had learned that that nation had been converted to the
Catholic faith. [1]

[1] This was probably due to the intrigues of the queen mother Brunihilde, who,
after suppressing an insurrection of the nobles of Austrasia, pursued a policy
of alliance with the empire and the church rather than with the Langobards.

Chapter XXIX.
In the meantime he dispatched an embassy to the emperor Maurice sending him word
that he would now undertake the war against the nation of the Langobards, which
he had not done before, and in concert with the emperor, he would drive them out
of Italy. And without delay he dispatched his army into Italy for the
subjugation of the Langobards.[1] King Authari and the troops of the Langobards
quickly went forth to meet him and fought bravely for their freedom. In that
fight the Langobards won the victory; the Franks were vanquished by main force,
many were captured, very many also escaped by flight and returned with
difficulty to their own country. So great a slaughter was there made of the army
of the Franks as is not related anywhere else. And it is truly astonishing why
Secundus, who wrote a number of things concerning the doings of the Langobards,
should pass over so great a victory of theirs as this, since these things of
which we have spoken concerning the destruction of the Franks may be read in
their own history, described in almost these very words.[2]

[1] Probably in 588.
[2] Hartmann suggests that the silence of Secundus is due to the fact that the
latter narrates principally the events that occurred in his own immediate
neighborhood (in the valley of the Adige) and that the Franks probably crossed
the Alps by some other route.