Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part II

When Attila declared his resolution of supporting the cause of
his allies, the Vandals and the Franks, at the same time, and
almost in the spirit of romantic chivalry, the savage monarch
professed himself the lover and the champion of the princess
Honoria. The sister of Valentinian was educated in the palace of
Ravenna; and as her marriage might be productive of some danger
to the state, she was raised, by the title of Augusta, 28 above
the hopes of the most presumptuous subject. But the fair Honoria
had no sooner attained the sixteenth year of her age, than she
detested the importunate greatness which must forever exclude her
from the comforts of honorable love; in the midst of vain and
unsatisfactory pomp, Honoria sighed, yielded to the impulse of
nature, and threw herself into the arms of her chamberlain
Eugenius. Her guilt and shame (such is the absurd language of
imperious man) were soon betrayed by the appearances of
pregnancy; but the disgrace of the royal family was published to
the world by the imprudence of the empress Placidia who dismissed
her daughter, after a strict and shameful confinement, to a
remote exile at Constantinople. The unhappy princess passed
twelve or fourteen years in the irksome society of the sisters of
Theodosius, and their chosen virgins; to whose crown Honoria
could no longer aspire, and whose monastic assiduity of prayer,
fasting, and vigils, she reluctantly imitated. Her impatience of
long and hopeless celibacy urged her to embrace a strange and
desperate resolution. The name of Attila was familiar and
formidable at Constantinople; and his frequent embassies
entertained a perpetual intercourse between his camp and the
Imperial palace. In the pursuit of love, or rather of revenge,
the daughter of Placidia sacrificed every duty and every
prejudice; and offered to deliver her person into the arms of a
Barbarian, of whose language she was ignorant, whose figure was
scarcely human, and whose religion and manners she abhorred. By
the ministry of a faithful eunuch, she transmitted to Attila a
ring, the pledge of her affection; and earnestly conjured him to
claim her as a lawful spouse, to whom he had been secretly
betrothed. These indecent advances were received, however, with
coldness and disdain; and the king of the Huns continued to
multiply the number of his wives, till his love was awakened by
the more forcible passions of ambition and avarice. The invasion
of Gaul was preceded, and justified, by a formal demand of the
princess Honoria, with a just and equal share of the Imperial
patrimony. His predecessors, the ancient Tanjous, had often
addressed, in the same hostile and peremptory manner, the
daughters of China; and the pretensions of Attila were not less
offensive to the majesty of Rome. A firm, but temperate, refusal
was communicated to his ambassadors. The right of female
succession, though it might derive a specious argument from the
recent examples of Placidia and Pulcheria, was strenuously
denied; and the indissoluble engagements of Honoria were opposed
to the claims of her Scythian lover. 29 On the discovery of her
connection with the king of the Huns, the guilty princess had
been sent away, as an object of horror, from Constantinople to
Italy: her life was spared; but the ceremony of her marriage was
performed with some obscure and nominal husband, before she was
immured in a perpetual prison, to bewail those crimes and
misfortunes, which Honoria might have escaped, had she not been
born the daughter of an emperor. 30

28 (return) [ A medal is still extant, which exhibits the
pleasing countenance of Honoria, with the title of Augusta; and
on the reverse, the improper legend of Salus Reipublicoe round
the monogram of Christ. See Ducange, Famil. Byzantin. p. 67, 73.]

29 (return) [ See Priscus, p, 39, 40. It might be fairly alleged,
that if females could succeed to the throne, Valentinian himself,
who had married the daughter and heiress of the younger
Theodosius, would have asserted her right to the Eastern empire.]

30 (return) [ The adventures of Honoria are imperfectly related
by Jornandes, de Successione Regn. c. 97, and de Reb. Get. c. 42,
p. 674; and in the Chronicles of Prosper and Marcellinus; but
they cannot be made consistent, or probable, unless we separate,
by an interval of time and place, her intrigue with Eugenius, and
her invitation of Attila.]

A native of Gaul, and a contemporary, the learned and eloquent
Sidonius, who was afterwards bishop of Clermont, had made a
promise to one of his friends, that he would compose a regular
history of the war of Attila. If the modesty of Sidonius had not
discouraged him from the prosecution of this interesting work, 31
the historian would have related, with the simplicity of truth,
those memorable events, to which the poet, in vague and doubtful
metaphors, has concisely alluded. 32 The kings and nations of
Germany and Scythia, from the Volga perhaps to the Danube, obeyed
the warlike summons of Attila. From the royal village, in the
plains of Hungary his standard moved towards the West; and after
a march of seven or eight hundred miles, he reached the conflux
of the Rhine and the Neckar, where he was joined by the Franks,
who adhered to his ally, the elder of the sons of Clodion. A
troop of light Barbarians, who roamed in quest of plunder, might
choose the winter for the convenience of passing the river on the
ice; but the innumerable cavalry of the Huns required such plenty
of forage and provisions, as could be procured only in a milder
season; the Hercynian forest supplied materials for a bridge of
boats; and the hostile myriads were poured, with resistless
violence, into the Belgic provinces. 33 The consternation of Gaul
was universal; and the various fortunes of its cities have been
adorned by tradition with martyrdoms and miracles. 34 Troyes was
saved by the merits of St. Lupus; St. Servatius was removed from
the world, that he might not behold the ruin of Tongres; and the
prayers of St. Genevieve diverted the march of Attila from the
neighborhood of Paris. But as the greatest part of the Gallic
cities were alike destitute of saints and soldiers, they were
besieged and stormed by the Huns; who practised, in the example
of Metz, 35 their customary maxims of war. They involved, in a
promiscuous massacre, the priests who served at the altar, and
the infants, who, in the hour of danger, had been providently
baptized by the bishop; the flourishing city was delivered to the
flames, and a solitary chapel of St. Stephen marked the place
where it formerly stood. From the Rhine and the Moselle, Attila
advanced into the heart of Gaul; crossed the Seine at Auxerre;
and, after a long and laborious march, fixed his camp under the
walls of Orleans. He was desirous of securing his conquests by
the possession of an advantageous post, which commanded the
passage of the Loire; and he depended on the secret invitation of
Sangiban, king of the Alani, who had promised to betray the city,
and to revolt from the service of the empire. But this
treacherous conspiracy was detected and disappointed: Orleans had
been strengthened with recent fortifications; and the assaults of
the Huns were vigorously repelled by the faithful valor of the
soldiers, or citizens, who defended the place. The pastoral
diligence of Anianus, a bishop of primitive sanctity and
consummate prudence, exhausted every art of religious policy to
support their courage, till the arrival of the expected succors.
After an obstinate siege, the walls were shaken by the battering
rams; the Huns had already occupied the suburbs; and the people,
who were incapable of bearing arms, lay prostrate in prayer.
Anianus, who anxiously counted the days and hours, despatched a
trusty messenger to observe, from the rampart, the face of the
distant country. He returned twice, without any intelligence that
could inspire hope or comfort; but, in his third report, he
mentioned a small cloud, which he had faintly descried at the
extremity of the horizon. “It is the aid of God!” exclaimed the
bishop, in a tone of pious confidence; and the whole multitude
repeated after him, “It is the aid of God.” The remote object, on
which every eye was fixed, became each moment larger, and more
distinct; the Roman and Gothic banners were gradually perceived;
and a favorable wind blowing aside the dust, discovered, in deep
array, the impatient squadrons of Ætius and Theodoric, who
pressed forwards to the relief of Orleans.

31 (return) [ Exegeras mihi, ut promitterem tibi, Attilæ bellum
stylo me posteris intimaturum.... coeperam scribere, sed operis
arrepti fasce perspecto, taeduit inchoasse. Sidon. Apoll. l.
viii. epist. 15, p. 235]

32 (return) [

Subito cum rupta tumultu Barbaries totas in te transfuderat
Arctos,
Gallia. Pugnacem Rugum comitante Gelono, Gepida trux sequitur;
Scyrum Burgundio cogit:
Chunus, Bellonotus, Neurus, Basterna, Toringus,
Bructerus, ulvosa vel quem Nicer abluit unda

Prorumpit Francus. Cecidit cito secta bipenni Hercynia in
lintres, et Rhenum texuit alno. Et jam terrificis diffuderat
Attila turmis In campos se, Belga, tuos. Panegyr. Avit.]

33 (return) [ The most authentic and circumstantial account of
this war is contained in Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c. 36-41,
p. 662-672,) who has sometimes abridged, and sometimes
transcribed, the larger history of Cassiodorus. Jornandes, a
quotation which it would be superfluous to repeat, may be
corrected and illustrated by Gregory of Tours, l. ii. c. 5, 6, 7,
and the Chronicles of Idatius, Isidore, and the two Prospers. All
the ancient testimonies are collected and inserted in the
Historians of France; but the reader should be cautioned against
a supposed extract from the Chronicle of Idatius, (among the
fragments of Fredegarius, tom. ii. p. 462,) which often
contradicts the genuine text of the Gallician bishop.]

34 (return) [ The ancient legendaries deserve some regard, as
they are obliged to connect their fables with the real history of
their own times. See the lives of St. Lupus, St. Anianus, the
bishops of Metz, Ste. Genevieve, &c., in the Historians of
France, tom. i. p. 644, 645, 649, tom. iii. p. 369.]

35 (return) [ The scepticism of the count de Buat (Hist. des
Peuples, tom. vii. p. 539, 540) cannot be reconciled with any
principles of reason or criticism. Is not Gregory of Tours
precise and positive in his account of the destruction of Metz?
At the distance of no more than a hundred years, could he be
ignorant, could the people be ignorant of the fate of a city, the
actual residence of his sovereigns, the kings of Austrasia? The
learned count, who seems to have undertaken the apology of Attila
and the Barbarians, appeals to the false Idatius, parcens
Germaniae et Galliae, and forgets that the true Idatius had
explicitly affirmed, plurimae civitates effractoe, among which he
enumerates Metz.]

The facility with which Attila had penetrated into the heart of
Gaul, may be ascribed to his insidious policy, as well as to the
terror of his arms. His public declarations were skilfully
mitigated by his private assurances; he alternately soothed and
threatened the Romans and the Goths; and the courts of Ravenna
and Thoulouse, mutually suspicious of each other’s intentions,
beheld, with supine indifference, the approach of their common
enemy. Ætius was the sole guardian of the public safety; but his
wisest measures were embarrassed by a faction, which, since the
death of Placidia, infested the Imperial palace: the youth of
Italy trembled at the sound of the trumpet; and the Barbarians,
who, from fear or affection, were inclined to the cause of
Attila, awaited with doubtful and venal faith, the event of the
war. The patrician passed the Alps at the head of some troops,
whose strength and numbers scarcely deserved the name of an army.
36 But on his arrival at Arles, or Lyons, he was confounded by
the intelligence, that the Visigoths, refusing to embrace the
defence of Gaul, had determined to expect, within their own
territories, the formidable invader, whom they professed to
despise. The senator Avitus, who, after the honorable exercise of
the Prætorian præfecture, had retired to his estate in
Auvergne, was persuaded to accept the important embassy, which he
executed with ability and success. He represented to Theodoric,
that an ambitious conqueror, who aspired to the dominion of the
earth, could be resisted only by the firm and unanimous alliance
of the powers whom he labored to oppress. The lively eloquence of
Avitus inflamed the Gothic warriors, by the description of the
injuries which their ancestors had suffered from the Huns; whose
implacable fury still pursued them from the Danube to the foot of
the Pyrenees. He strenuously urged, that it was the duty of every
Christian to save, from sacrilegious violation, the churches of
God, and the relics of the saints: that it was the interest of
every Barbarian, who had acquired a settlement in Gaul, to defend
the fields and vineyards, which were cultivated for his use,
against the desolation of the Scythian shepherds. Theodoric
yielded to the evidence of truth; adopted the measure at once the
most prudent and the most honorable; and declared, that, as the
faithful ally of Ætius and the Romans, he was ready to expose
his life and kingdom for the common safety of Gaul. 37 The
Visigoths, who, at that time, were in the mature vigor of their
fame and power, obeyed with alacrity the signal of war; prepared
their arms and horses, and assembled under the standard of their
aged king, who was resolved, with his two eldest sons, Torismond
and Theodoric, to command in person his numerous and valiant
people. The example of the Goths determined several tribes or
nations, that seemed to fluctuate between the Huns and the
Romans. The indefatigable diligence of the patrician gradually
collected the troops of Gaul and Germany, who had formerly
acknowledged themselves the subjects, or soldiers, of the
republic, but who now claimed the rewards of voluntary service,
and the rank of independent allies; the Læti, the Armoricans,
the Breones, the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Sarmatians, or
Alani, the Ripuarians, and the Franks who followed Meroveus as
their lawful prince. Such was the various army, which, under the
conduct of Ætius and Theodoric, advanced, by rapid marches to
relieve Orleans, and to give battle to the innumerable host of
Attila. 38

36 (return) [

Vix liquerat Alpes Ætius, tenue, et rarum sine milite ducens
Robur, in auxiliis Geticum male credulus agmen Incassum propriis
praesumens adfore castris. —-Panegyr. Avit. 328, &c.]

37 (return) [ The policy of Attila, of Ætius, and of the
Visigoths, is imperfectly described in the Panegyric of Avitus,
and the thirty-sixth chapter of Jornandes. The poet and the
historian were both biased by personal or national prejudices.
The former exalts the merit and importance of Avitus; orbis,
Avite, salus, &c.! The latter is anxious to show the Goths in the
most favorable light. Yet their agreement when they are fairly
interpreted, is a proof of their veracity.]

38 (return) [ The review of the army of Ætius is made by
Jornandes, c. 36, p. 664, edit. Grot. tom. ii. p. 23, of the
Historians of France, with the notes of the Benedictine editor.
The Loeti were a promiscuous race of Barbarians, born or
naturalized in Gaul; and the Riparii, or Ripuarii, derived their
name from their post on the three rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse,
and the Moselle; the Armoricans possessed the independent cities
between the Seine and the Loire. A colony of Saxons had been
planted in the diocese of Bayeux; the Burgundians were settled in
Savoy; and the Breones were a warlike tribe of Rhaetians, to the
east of the Lake of Constance.]

On their approach the king of the Huns immediately raised the
siege, and sounded a retreat to recall the foremost of his troops
from the pillage of a city which they had already entered. 39 The
valor of Attila was always guided by his prudence; and as he
foresaw the fatal consequences of a defeat in the heart of Gaul,
he repassed the Seine, and expected the enemy in the plains of
Chalons, whose smooth and level surface was adapted to the
operations of his Scythian cavalry. But in this tumultuary
retreat, the vanguard of the Romans and their allies continually
pressed, and sometimes engaged, the troops whom Attila had posted
in the rear; the hostile columns, in the darkness of the night
and the perplexity of the roads, might encounter each other
without design; and the bloody conflict of the Franks and
Gepidae, in which fifteen thousand 40 Barbarians were slain, was
a prelude to a more general and decisive action. The Catalaunian
fields 41 spread themselves round Chalons, and extend, according
to the vague measurement of Jornandes, to the length of one
hundred and fifty, and the breadth of one hundred miles, over the
whole province, which is entitled to the appellation of a
champaign country. 42 This spacious plain was distinguished,
however, by some inequalities of ground; and the importance of a
height, which commanded the camp of Attila, was understood and
disputed by the two generals. The young and valiant Torismond
first occupied the summit; the Goths rushed with irresistible
weight on the Huns, who labored to ascend from the opposite side:
and the possession of this advantageous post inspired both the
troops and their leaders with a fair assurance of victory. The
anxiety of Attila prompted him to consult his priests and
haruspices. It was reported, that, after scrutinizing the
entrails of victims, and scraping their bones, they revealed, in
mysterious language, his own defeat, with the death of his
principal adversary; and that the Barbarians, by accepting the
equivalent, expressed his involuntary esteem for the superior
merit of Ætius. But the unusual despondency, which seemed to
prevail among the Huns, engaged Attila to use the expedient, so
familiar to the generals of antiquity, of animating his troops by
a military oration; and his language was that of a king, who had
often fought and conquered at their head. 43 He pressed them to
consider their past glory, their actual danger, and their future
hopes. The same fortune, which opened the deserts and morasses of
Scythia to their unarmed valor, which had laid so many warlike
nations prostrate at their feet, had reserved the joys of this
memorable field for the consummation of their victories. The
cautious steps of their enemies, their strict alliance, and their
advantageous posts, he artfully represented as the effects, not
of prudence, but of fear. The Visigoths alone were the strength
and nerves of the opposite army; and the Huns might securely
trample on the degenerate Romans, whose close and compact order
betrayed their apprehensions, and who were equally incapable of
supporting the dangers or the fatigues of a day of battle. The
doctrine of predestination, so favorable to martial virtue, was
carefully inculcated by the king of the Huns; who assured his
subjects, that the warriors, protected by Heaven, were safe and
invulnerable amidst the darts of the enemy; but that the unerring
Fates would strike their victims in the bosom of inglorious
peace. “I myself,” continued Attila, “will throw the first
javelin, and the wretch who refuses to imitate the example of his
sovereign, is devoted to inevitable death.” The spirit of the
Barbarians was rekindled by the presence, the voice, and the
example of their intrepid leader; and Attila, yielding to their
impatience, immediately formed his order of battle. At the head
of his brave and faithful Huns, he occupied in person the centre
of the line. The nations subject to his empire, the Rugians, the
Heruli, the Thuringians, the Franks, the Burgundians, were
extended on either hand, over the ample space of the Catalaunian
fields; the right wing was commanded by Ardaric, king of the
Gepidae; and the three valiant brothers, who reigned over the
Ostrogoths, were posted on the left to oppose the kindred tribes
of the Visigoths. The disposition of the allies was regulated by
a different principle. Sangiban, the faithless king of the Alani,
was placed in the centre, where his motions might be strictly
watched, and that the treachery might be instantly punished.
Ætius assumed the command of the left, and Theodoric of the
right wing; while Torismond still continued to occupy the heights
which appear to have stretched on the flank, and perhaps the
rear, of the Scythian army. The nations from the Volga to the
Atlantic were assembled on the plain of Chalons; but many of
these nations had been divided by faction, or conquest, or
emigration; and the appearance of similar arms and ensigns, which
threatened each other, presented the image of a civil war.

39 (return) [ Aurelianensis urbis obsidio, oppugnatio, irruptio,
nec direptio, l. v. Sidon. Apollin. l. viii. Epist. 15, p. 246.
The preservation of Orleans might easily be turned into a
miracle, obtained and foretold by the holy bishop.]

40 (return) [ The common editions read xcm but there is some
authority of manuscripts (and almost any authority is sufficient)
for the more reasonable number of xvm.]

41 (return) [ Chalons, or Duro-Catalaunum, afterwards Catalauni,
had formerly made a part of the territory of Rheims from whence
it is distant only twenty-seven miles. See Vales, Notit. Gall. p.
136. D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 212, 279.]

42 (return) [ The name of Campania, or Champagne, is frequently
mentioned by Gregory of Tours; and that great province, of which
Rheims was the capital, obeyed the command of a duke. Vales.
Notit. p. 120-123.]

43 (return) [ I am sensible that these military orations are
usually composed by the historian; yet the old Ostrogoths, who
had served under Attila, might repeat his discourse to
Cassiodorus; the ideas, and even the expressions, have an
original Scythian cast; and I doubt, whether an Italian of the
sixth century would have thought of the hujus certaminis gaudia.]

The discipline and tactics of the Greeks and Romans form an
interesting part of their national manners. The attentive study
of the military operations of Xenophon, or Caesar, or Frederic,
when they are described by the same genius which conceived and
executed them, may tend to improve (if such improvement can be
wished) the art of destroying the human species. But the battle
of Chalons can only excite our curiosity by the magnitude of the
object; since it was decided by the blind impetuosity of
Barbarians, and has been related by partial writers, whose civil
or ecclesiastical profession secluded them from the knowledge of
military affairs. Cassiolorus, however, had familiarly conversed
with many Gothic warriors, who served in that memorable
engagement; “a conflict,” as they informed him, “fierce, various,
obstinate, and bloody; such as could not be paralleled either in
the present or in past ages.” The number of the slain amounted to
one hundred and sixty-two thousand, or, according to another
account, three hundred thousand persons; 44 and these incredible
exaggerations suppose a real and effective loss sufficient to
justify the historian’s remark, that whole generations may be
swept away by the madness of kings, in the space of a single
hour. After the mutual and repeated discharge of missile weapons,
in which the archers of Scythia might signalize their superior
dexterity, the cavalry and infantry of the two armies were
furiously mingled in closer combat. The Huns, who fought under
the eyes of their king pierced through the feeble and doubtful
centre of the allies, separated their wings from each other, and
wheeling, with a rapid effort, to the left, directed their whole
force against the Visigoths. As Theodoric rode along the ranks,
to animate his troops, he received a mortal stroke from the
javelin of Andages, a noble Ostrogoth, and immediately fell from
his horse. The wounded king was oppressed in the general
disorder, and trampled under the feet of his own cavalry; and
this important death served to explain the ambiguous prophecy of
the haruspices. Attila already exulted in the confidence of
victory, when the valiant Torismond descended from the hills, and
verified the remainder of the prediction. The Visigoths, who had
been thrown into confusion by the flight or defection of the
Alani, gradually restored their order of battle; and the Huns
were undoubtedly vanquished, since Attila was compelled to
retreat. He had exposed his person with the rashness of a private
soldier; but the intrepid troops of the centre had pushed
forwards beyond the rest of the line; their attack was faintly
supported; their flanks were unguarded; and the conquerors of
Scythia and Germany were saved by the approach of the night from
a total defeat. They retired within the circle of wagons that
fortified their camp; and the dismounted squadrons prepared
themselves for a defence, to which neither their arms, nor their
temper, were adapted. The event was doubtful: but Attila had
secured a last and honorable resource. The saddles and rich
furniture of the cavalry were collected, by his order, into a
funeral pile; and the magnanimous Barbarian had resolved, if his
intrenchments should be forced, to rush headlong into the flames,
and to deprive his enemies of the glory which they might have
acquired, by the death or captivity of Attila. 45

44 (return) [ The expressions of Jornandes, or rather of
Cassiodorus, are extremely strong. Bellum atrox, multiplex,
immane, pertinax, cui simile nulla usquam narrat antiquitas: ubi
talia gesta referuntur, ut nihil esset quod in vita sua
conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus miraculi privaretur
aspectu. 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, &c.]

45 (return) [ The count de Buat, (Hist. des Peuples, &c., tom.
vii. p. 554-573,) still depending on the false, and again
rejecting the true, Idatius, has divided the defeat of Attila
into two great battles; the former near Orleans, the latter in
Champagne: in the one, Theodoric was slain in the other, he was
revenged.]

But his enemies had passed the night in equal disorder and
anxiety. The inconsiderate courage of Torismond was tempted to
urge the pursuit, till he unexpectedly found himself, with a few
followers, in the midst of the Scythian wagons. In the confusion
of a nocturnal combat, he was thrown from his horse; and the
Gothic prince must have perished like his father, if his youthful
strength, and the intrepid zeal of his companions, had not
rescued him from this dangerous situation. In the same manner,
but on the left of the line, Ætius himself, separated from his
allies, ignorant of their victory, and anxious for their fate,
encountered and escaped the hostile troops that were scattered
over the plains of Chalons; and at length reached the camp of the
Goths, which he could only fortify with a slight rampart of
shields, till the dawn of day. The Imperial general was soon
satisfied of the defeat of Attila, who still remained inactive
within his intrenchments; and when he contemplated the bloody
scene, he observed, with secret satisfaction, that the loss had
principally fallen on the Barbarians. The body of Theodoric,
pierced with honorable wounds, was discovered under a heap of the
slain: his subjects bewailed the death of their king and father;
but their tears were mingled with songs and acclamations, and his
funeral rites were performed in the face of a vanquished enemy.
The Goths, clashing their arms, elevated on a buckler his eldest
son Torismond, to whom they justly ascribed the glory of their
success; and the new king accepted the obligation of revenge as a
sacred portion of his paternal inheritance. Yet the Goths
themselves were astonished by the fierce and undaunted aspect of
their formidable antagonist; and their historian has compared
Attila to a lion encompassed in his den, and threatening his
hunters with redoubled fury. The kings and nations who might have
deserted his standard in the hour of distress, were made sensible
that the displeasure of their monarch was the most imminent and
inevitable danger. All his instruments of martial music
incessantly sounded a loud and animating strain of defiance; and
the foremost troops who advanced to the assault were checked or
destroyed by showers of arrows from every side of the
intrenchments. It was determined, in a general council of war, to
besiege the king of the Huns in his camp, to intercept his
provisions, and to reduce him to the alternative of a disgraceful
treaty or an unequal combat. But the impatience of the Barbarians
soon disdained these cautious and dilatory measures; and the
mature policy of Ætius was apprehensive that, after the
extirpation of the Huns, the republic would be oppressed by the
pride and power of the Gothic nation. The patrician exerted the
superior ascendant of authority and reason to calm the passions,
which the son of Theodoric considered as a duty; represented,
with seeming affection and real truth, the dangers of absence and
delay and persuaded Torismond to disappoint, by his speedy
return, the ambitious designs of his brothers, who might occupy
the throne and treasures of Thoulouse. 46 After the departure of
the Goths, and the separation of the allied army, Attila was
surprised at the vast silence that reigned over the plains of
Chalons: the suspicion of some hostile stratagem detained him
several days within the circle of his wagons, and his retreat
beyond the Rhine confessed the last victory which was achieved in
the name of the Western empire. Meroveus and his Franks,
observing a prudent distance, and magnifying the opinion of their
strength by the numerous fires which they kindled every night,
continued to follow the rear of the Huns till they reached the
confines of Thuringia. The Thuringians served in the army of
Attila: they traversed, both in their march and in their return,
the territories of the Franks; and it was perhaps in this war
that they exercised the cruelties which, about fourscore years
afterwards, were revenged by the son of Clovis. They massacred
their hostages, as well as their captives: two hundred young
maidens were tortured with exquisite and unrelenting rage; their
bodies were torn asunder by wild horses, or their bones were
crushed under the weight of rolling wagons; and their unburied
limbs were abandoned on the public roads, as a prey to dogs and
vultures. Such were those savage ancestors, whose imaginary
virtues have sometimes excited the praise and envy of civilized
ages. 47

46 (return) [ Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 41, p. 671. The
policy of Ætius, and the behavior of Torismond, are extremely
natural; and the patrician, according to Gregory of Tours, (l.
ii. c. 7, p. 163,) dismissed the prince of the Franks, by
suggesting to him a similar apprehension. The false Idatius
ridiculously pretends, that Ætius paid a clandestine nocturnal
visit to the kings of the Huns and of the Visigoths; from each of
whom he obtained a bribe of ten thousand pieces of gold, as the
price of an undisturbed retreat.]

47 (return) [ These cruelties, which are passionately deplored by
Theodoric, the son of Clovis, (Gregory of Tours, l. iii. c. 10,
p. 190,) suit the time and circumstances of the invasion of
Attila. His residence in Thuringia was long attested by popular
tradition; and he is supposed to have assembled a couroultai, or
diet, in the territory of Eisenach. See Mascou, ix. 30, who
settles with nice accuracy the extent of ancient Thuringia, and
derives its name from the Gothic tribe of the Therungi]