UL'FILAS, Gothic WULFILA wolf) (e.311-e.381). Bishop of the Goths, and trans lator of the Bible into Gothic. He was born in Dacia. Tradition relates that his ancestors were Cappadocian Christians who had been taken captive by the Goths and had lived many years among them. Early in life he was a lector or reader of the Scriptures among his countrymen, and in 341 he was consecrated Bishop of the West Goths by Eusebius of Nicomedia (q.v.) at a Synod at Antioch. Ile was then and for the remainder of his life an Arian. For seven years he worked with much success as a missionary north of the Danube. In 34S the persecution of a heathen chief induced Ulfilas and his flock to emigrate. and. with the consent of the Emperor Constantine, they settled in 1thesia, in Byzan tine territory south of the Danube. For more than thirty years Ulfilas continued his activity as the apostle to the Goths; he died at Con stantinople. whither he had been summoned by the Emperor. probably in 381. Ulfilas had a good knowledge of Greek, Latin. and Gothic, and preached and wrote in all three languages. He is remembered chiefly for his translation of the Bible, which marks not only the beginning of Christianity among his people, but of Germanic literature as well. His plan is said to have in
cluded the entire Bible with the exception of the Books of Kings, which he thought contained too much about wars for the good of his fierce coun trymen. The portions of his work which have been preserved are most of the four Gospels, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and other fragments, comprising the greater portion of the New Testament : of the Old Testament, portions of the Books of Nehemiah and Genesis only. The chief manuscript is the so-called Codex Argenteus, written with silver letters on purple parchment and now in the library of the University of Upsala. Editions of all the fragments have been published by Von der Gabelenz and Lobe (3 vols., Leipzig, 1843-46) ; Uppstrom, Codex Argenteus, in facsimile (Upsala, 1854.57) ; Fragmenta Gothic(' Nelecta (ib., 1861) : Codices Gothic( Am brosiani (Stockholm, 186S) ; Bernhardt (Halle, 1875) ; and lleyne (9th ed., Paderborn, 1S96). For the life of Ulfilas consult \Vaitz (Hanover, 1840), Besse)! (Gottingen, 1860), and Scott (Cambridge, 1885).