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Title: Attila and the Huns
Author: Edward Hutton
Release date: November 4, 2023 [eBook #72031]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Constable & Co, 1915
Credits: Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATTILA AND THE HUNS ***
ATTILA AND THE HUNS
BY
EDWARD HUTTON
AUTHOR OF “RAVENNA”
LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD.
1915
TO
BELOVED ITALY
WITH WHOM
IN THIS HOUR
OF RENEWED PERIL
ONCE MORE
WE FIGHT
THE BARBARIANS
A.D. 401-1915
INTRODUCTION
“There is a race on Scythia’s verge extreme
Eastward beyond the Tauris’ chilly stream.
The Northern Bear looks on no uglier crew;
Bare is their garb, their bodies foul to view,
Their souls are ne’er subdued to sturdy toil
Or Ceres’ webs. Their sustenance is spoil.
With horrid wounds they gash their brutal brows
And o’er their murdered parents bind their vows....”
In these words, Claudian the poet of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, describes the Huns of the fifth century, the brood of Attila to
whom the German Kaiser appealed before the whole world when he sent his
brother to China to meet the Boxers:--
“When you meet the foe you will defeat him. No quarter will be given,
no prisoners will be taken. Let all who fall into your hands be at
your mercy. Just as the Huns a thousand years ago under the leadership
of Attila gained a reputation in virtue of which they still live in
historic tradition, so may the name of Germany become known in such
a manner in China that no Chinaman will ever again dare even to look
askance at a German.”
These words will never be forgotten, for they have since been
translated into action not only upon the Chinese but upon the body of
Europe, upon the Belgians and the people of Northern France as upon the
long martyred people of Poland.
That appeal to the Hun startled Europe, and yet had we remembered the
history of Prussia, had we recalled the ethnology of that race we ought
not to have been surprised, for the Hun and the Prussian have certainly
much in common even racially, and Attila, or Etzel, as the Germans call
him, has ever played his part in the Nibelungenlied and the legends of
the Prussian people.
We know so little of the Huns of the fifth century: who they were,
whence indeed they came and whither they went, that it is impossible
definitely to assert or to deny that the Prussians of to-day are their
actual descendants. We must, it seems, give up the old theory which
Gibbon took from De Guignes that this savage people were identical with
the Hioung-nou whose ravages are recorded in the history of China; but
of this at least it seems we may be sure, that they were a Turanian
race, a race to which the Finns, Bulgarians and Magyars also belong as
well as the Croatians and the Turks. Can we with any certainty claim
that the Prussians also are of this family?
Quatrefages has demonstrated that the population of the Prussias is by
its ethnological origin essentially Finno-Slavian. In every respect, he
asserts, and history bears him out, Prussia is ethnologically distinct
from the peoples she now rules over under the pretence of a unity of
race with them. Identity of language may mask this truth, but it cannot
alter it, for the difference is real and fundamental.
Teutonic Germany has accepted Prussia as its sovereign, and no one can
question her right to do so; but being what she is, she has been led
astray by an anthropological error. Not content with subordinating
herself to these Finno-Slavs the real Germany has adopted their hatred
and worked out the brutal instincts of these strangers whose iron yoke
she has placed upon her nobler spirit. Her union with Prussia has been
founded by the sword and by blood, cemented by war and crowned by
spoliation. It is a crime not less than the crime of that Attila to
whom Prussia appeals as her true and original hero, and now, as then,
we have the right to believe in a divine Nemesis. What shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
It would seem, then, that as well physically as spiritually the
Prussians in so far as they are Finnic[1] are of the same Turanian
stock to which the Huns belonged and if only thus related to them.
That the relationship is closer still a thousand things of which we
are witnesses to-day, as for many hundred years past, would lead us to
surmise. And if they are not the same Barbarians, their barbarism is
the same.
It was at any rate Attila’s name that Kaiser Wilhelm II flung across
an astonished world a decade ago as the French might cry out upon
Charlemagne or Blessed Joan of Arc or Napoleon. And since he has
appealed to the Huns, to the Huns let him go.
For us there remain these facts to be considered, if, as is so
difficult, we are to benefit from the lessons of History.
Rome always defeated the Barbarians, but never succeeded in destroying
their power to renew the attack. Stilicho defeated Alaric whenever
he met him, yet Alaric at last entered Rome. Aetius broke Attila
repeatedly, yet Attila at last was able to threaten Italy. Belisarius
and Narses broke Vitiges and Totila, yet these Barbarians ruined the
peninsula. In spite of defeat the attack was always renewed, because
Rome had never really broken the Barbarian power. And if we to-day
spare the Germanies the uttermost price and the last, if we fail to
push this war to the bitter and the necessary end, in twenty years or
in fifty they will fall upon us again and perhaps in an hour for us
less fortunate. Delenda est Carthago.
It was perhaps not within the power of Rome to break once and for all
the advance of the Barbarians. Time has been upon our side. To-day
if our courage and our endurance are strong enough, if we set our
face like a flint, we may once for all rid Europe of this Barbarian
peril, which, now as always intent on the destruction and the loot of
civilisation, pleads necessity, invokes its gods, and knows neither
justice nor mercy.
Rome could not mobilise: we can. In the old days the Barbarians could
break off first the point, as it were, of civilisation, then a little
more, and so on till the butt choked them. They can no longer do that.
The railway and the automobile, the telegraph and the telephone have
endowed us with such a power of mobilisation that we can compel the
Barbarians to meet the butt of civilisation first instead of last.
If we have the will we may destroy once and for all the power of the
Barbarians, who have attempted to destroy civilisation, not only under
Alaric, Attila, and Totila, but under Frederick of Hohenstaufen and
Luther, and having finally overcome them we may erect once more in
Europe the Pax Romana and perhaps--who knows?--even the old unity of
Christendom.
_May, 1915._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Godron says with truth: “The Prussians are neither Germans nor
Slavs; the Prussians are the Prussians. But one must remember that they
were of Finno-Slavonic race, not Teutonic, and were subject to the King
of Poland till comparatively recent times. They remained heathen long
after the rest of Germany was Christianised.”
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE EMPIRE AND THE BARBARIANS 3
CHAPTER II
THE HUNS AND ATTILA 21
CHAPTER III
ATTILA AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 37
CHAPTER IV
THE IMPERIAL EMBASSY AT THE COURT OF ATTILA 61
CHAPTER V
THE ATTACK UPON THE WEST 77
CHAPTER VI
ATTILA’S ADVANCE FROM THE RHINE TO ORLEANS 93
CHAPTER VII
THE RETREAT OF ATTILA AND THE BATTLE OF
THE CATALAUNIAN PLAINS 111
CHAPTER VIII
ATTILA’S ATTACK UPON AND RETREAT FROM
ITALY 127
CHAPTER IX
ATTILA’S HOME-COMING 145
MAIN SOURCES
I. AMMIANI MARCELLINI RERUM GESTARUM,
LIBER XXXI 153
II. EX HISTORIA BYZANTINA PRISCI RHETORIS
ET SOPHISTAE 159
EX HISTORIA GOTHICA PRISCI RHETORIS ET
SOPHISTAE 170
III. JORNANDES: DE REBUS GETICIS 207
IV. EX VITA MS. SANCTI ANIANI EPISCOPI
AURELIANENSIS 225
I
THE EMPIRE AND THE BARBARIANS
At the opening of the fifth century of our era the Roman Empire had
long been not only the civilised world but Christendom. The four
centuries which had passed since the birth of Our Lord had seen in fact
the foundation of Europe, not as we know it to-day a mosaic of hostile
nationalities, but as one perfect whole in which all that is worth
having in the world lay like a treasure. There were born and founded
that they might always endure, the culture, the civilisation and the
Faith which we enjoy and by which we live. There were established for
ever the great lines upon which our art was to develop, to change and
yet not to die. There was erected the supremacy of the idea that it
might always renew our lives, our culture, and our polity, that we
might always judge everything by it and fear neither revolution, nor
defeat nor decay. There we Europeans were established in the secure
possession of our own souls; so that we alone in the world develop
from within to change but never to die, and to be, alone in the world,
Christians.
The outward and visible sign of the Empire, which above everything else
distinguished it from the world which surrounded it, as an island is
surrounded by an unmapped sea, was the Pax Romana. This was domestic
as well as political. It ensured a complete and absolute order, the
condition of civilisation, and, established through many generations,
it seemed immutable and unbreakable. Along with it went a conception
of law and of property more fundamental than anything we are now able
to appreciate, while free exchange was assured by a complete system of
communication and admirable roads. There is indeed scarcely anything
that is really fundamental in our lives and in our politics that was
not there created. It was there our religion, the soul of Europe, was
born and little by little became the energy and the cause of all that
undying but changeful principle of life and freedom which rightly
understood is Europe. Our ideas of justice, our ideas of law, our
conception of human dignity and the structure of our society were there
conceived, and with such force that while we endure they can never
die. In truth, the Empire which it had taken more than a millennium
to build was the most successful and perhaps the most beneficent
experiment in universal government that has ever been made.
The Empire fell. Why?
We cannot answer that question. The causes of such a catastrophe,
spiritual and material, are for the most part hidden from us in the
darkness that followed the catastrophe, in which civilisation in the
West all but perished. All we can do is to note that the administration
of this great State became so expensive that when Alaric came over
the Alps in 401 it was probably already bankrupt and in consequence
the population was declining; and that the military problem before
the Empire, the defence of its frontiers against the outer welter
of barbarism, was so expensive and so naturally insecure that it
was difficult to ensure and impossible with due economy. Finally we
ought to be sure that though the Empire decayed and fell, it was not
overthrown by the Barbarians. As in this book we are concerned not
indeed with the Barbarian invasions as a whole but nevertheless with
the most frightful and perhaps the most destructive among them, we
shall do well to consider more particularly here for a moment one of
the causes of that fall, though not the chief one as we have said; the
insecurity of the frontiers, namely, and the problem this proposed
which the Empire was, alas, unable to solve.
The Empire was confined on the west by the ocean, on the south by
the desert of Africa, on the east by the Caspian Sea and the Persian
Gulf, on the north by the Rhine and the Danube, the Black Sea and the
Caucasus.
It was that northern frontier which was a fundamental weakness and
which at least from the middle of the third century continually
occupied the mind of the Roman administration. How to hold it?
Beyond that frontier lay a world largely unknown, a mere wilderness of
barbarians, tribes always restless, always at war, always pressing upon
the confines of civilisation. Within lay all that is worth having in
our lives, the hope of the world. It was this which, then as now, had
to be defended and against the same enemy--barbarism. For barbarism
does not become less barbarous when it becomes learned, a savage is a
savage even in professorial dress. For this cause it is written: change
your hearts and not your garments.
The defence, then, of the frontier had been the chief problem of
the Empire perhaps from its foundation by Augustus and certainly
for two hundred years before Alaric crossed the Alps. Its solution
was attempted in various ways, before, in the year 292, Diocletian
attempted to deal with it by the revolutionary scheme of dividing the
Empire. But the division he made was, and perhaps unavoidably, rather
racial than strategic, the two parts of the Empire met at a critical
point on the Danube and by force of geography the eastern part was
inclined to an Asiatic outlook and to the neglect of the Danube, while
the western was by no means strong enough to hold the tremendous line
of the two rivers. Nevertheless the West made an heroic attempt to
fulfil its too onerous duty. The capital of the vicariate of Italy was
removed from Rome to Milan. This tremendous act was purely strategical.
It was thought, and rightly, that the frontier would be more readily
secured from Milan, which held, as it were, all the passes of the Alps
in its hands, than from Rome in the midst of the long peninsula of
Italy. It was a change more amazing than the removal of the capital
of the British Empire from London to Edinburgh would be; but it was
not enough. In 330, seventeen years after Christianity had become the
official religion of the Empire, Constantine the Great for the same
reasons of defence removed the seat of the Empire to Byzantium, the new
Rome on the Bosphorus, which he renamed Constantinople.
That move, which has been so strongly condemned, would seem in any
right apprehension of what followed to have saved what could be saved
out of the foreseen and perhaps inevitable _débâcle_. Constantinople
remained till 1453 the secure capital of the Eastern Government and of
a Roman civilisation; it endured, and in more than one critical period
held up the citadel of the West--Italy--in its hands.
It may be that nothing could have secured the West; that the foundation
of Constantinople saved the East is certain. Because the West was the
weaker and the richer, because the name of Rome was so tremendous, the
West, as we know, bore the full brunt of the Barbarian assault. That
assault was a much looser and more haphazard affair than we have been
wont to believe. The West was rather engulfed than defeated. For a time
it was lost in a sea of barbarism; that it emerged, that it rearose,
and that we are what we are, we owe to the foundation of Constantinople
and to the Catholic Church.
I say that the Empire was rather engulfed than defeated. Let us
consider this.
In the year 375 the frontiers were secure; nevertheless before then the
defence had failed. Long before then it had become obvious that the
vast hordes of Barbarians beyond the Rhine and the Danube could not be
held back if anything should occur to drive them on. If they came on
they would have to be met, not beyond, or even upon the rivers, but
within the Empire itself.
If anything should occur to drive them on.... In the year 375 this
befell. Ammianus Marcellinus, the contemporary Roman historian, writing
of the incursions of the Barbarians, asserts that all the evils which
befell the Empire at that time were due to one people--the Huns. In the
year 375 the Huns were finally victorious over the Goths who in 376 in
utter despair appealed to the Eastern Emperor Valens for protection.
“Suppliant multitudes of that warlike nation,” we read of the Goths,
“whose pride was now humbled in the dust, covered a space of many miles
along the banks of the Danube. With outstretched arms and pathetic
lamentations they loudly deplored their past misfortunes and their
present danger; acknowledged that their only hope of safety was in the
clemency of the Roman Government; and most solemnly protested that if
the gracious liberality of the Emperor would permit them to cultivate
the waste lands of Thrace they would ever hold themselves bound by
the strongest obligations of duty and gratitude to obey the laws and
guard the tenets of the republic.” Their prayers were granted and their
service was accepted by the Imperial Government. They were transported
over the Danube into the Roman Empire. In some ways this act and its
date 376 are among the most momentous in the history of Europe.
Undisciplined and restless this nation of near a million Barbarians
suddenly introduced into civilisation was a constant anxiety and
danger. Ignorant of the laws they had sworn to keep, as well as of
the obligations and privileges of civilisation, the Goths were at
the mercy of their masters, who exploited them without scruple, till
driven to madness they revolted and began the fatal march through
Moesia, entering Thrace at last not as the guests of the Empire but
as its victorious enemy. They encamped under the walls of Hadrianople
which presently they besieged, laying waste the provinces; and it was
not till Theodosius had ascended the Imperial throne that they were
successfully dealt with, forced to submit, and settled in Thrace and
Asia Minor.
But such a result could not endure. The Barbarians but awaited a
leader, and when he appeared, as he did in the person of Alaric, after
the death of Theodosius, they turned on Constantinople itself, which
they were able to approach but not to blockade. In 396 Alaric marched
southward into Greece; from Thermopylae to Sparta he pursued his
victorious way, avoiding Athens rather from superstition than from fear
of any mortal foe. Early in 396, however, Stilicho, who was later to
win such fame in the Italian campaign, set sail from Italy, met Alaric
in Arcadia, turned him back and seemed about to compel his surrender
in the prison of the Peloponnesus. In this, however, he was not
successful. Alaric was able to cut his way out and by rapid marches to
reach the Gulf of Corinth and to transport his troops, his captives and
his spoil to the opposite shore. There he succeeded in negotiating a
treaty with Constantinople whereby he entered its pay and was declared
Master General of Eastern Illyricum. This befell in 399.
The intervention of Stilicho, successful though it had been, had
proved one thing before all others; the political separation of the
East and the West. The sailing of Stilicho and his army was the
intervention of the West to save the East, for it was the East that was
then in danger. The West was betrayed. The East made terms with the
Barbarian and employed him. It behoved the West to look to itself, for
it was obvious that the East would save itself at last by sacrificing
the West.
The West was ready. A scheme of defence had been prepared which, as
we shall see, was the best that could in the circumstances have been
devised. With a directness and a clarity worthy of Rome the advisers of
Honorius, then in Milan, determined to sacrifice everything if need be
to the defence of the European citadel, of Italy that is; and, after
all, considering the position of Alaric in Illyricum, it was that which
was chiefly threatened. If it fell it was certain that the whole of the
West must collapse.
The problem before the advisers of Honorius was not an easy one. To
solve it with certainty enormous sacrifices were necessary, but to
solve it meant the salvation of the world. It was therefore determined
to abandon the Rhine and the Danube, for already Alaric was within
those lines. It was determined--and this was the decisive thing--to
abandon the Alps, to make, that is to say, Cisalpine Gaul, or as we say
the Lombard Plain, the battlefield, and to hold Italy proper along the
line of the Apennines. I have examined and explained this strategy at
length elsewhere;[2] here it is only necessary to say that its amazing
success justified a policy so realistic.
The theory of the commanders of Honorius was that the Apennines were
by nature impregnable save at one place, the narrow pass between them
and the Adriatic, which they had long designed Ravenna to hold. Their
intention to hold this line was determined not only by this theory,
but by this, too, that they were something more than uncertain of the
attitude of the Eastern Empire. Their strategy meant the abandonment
of the richest province south of the Alps, the richest and the most
ancient; but if the military theory which regarded the Apennines as
impassable were right it meant the certain and immediate salvation of
the soul of the West and the eventual salvation of the whole.
Honorius and his ministers had not long to wait. Having looted the
provinces of Europe within the dominion of the Eastern Emperor, Alaric
“tempted by the power, the beauty and the wealth of Italy ... secretly
aspired to plant the Gothic standard on the walls of Rome, and to
enrich his army with the accumulated spoils of an hundred triumphs.”
In November, 401, Alaric entered Venetia by the Julian Alps and passed
by Aquileia without taking it, intent on the spoil of the South. As
he came on Honorius retired from Milan to Ravenna; the gates of Italy
were barred. Then came Stilicho over the Cisalpine Plain, met Alaric,
who had crossed the Po, at Pollentia, and defeated him and, following
his retreat, broke him at Asta so that he compelled him to recross the
Alps. In 403 Alaric again entered Venetia. Stilicho met him at Verona
and once more hurled him back. The barred gates of Italy had scarce
been questioned.
It was not Alaric, after all, but another Barbarian, Radagaisus,
who was first to demand an entrance. In 405 he traversed the same
Alpine passes as Alaric had used, passed Aquileia, crossed the Po and
shunning the Via Emilia, which led through the pass Ravenna barred,
adventured over the Apennines which the Roman generals had conceived
as impassable by a Barbarian army. They were right. When Radagaisus saw
the South he was starving. Stilicho found him at Fiesole and cut him to
pieces. But the remnant of his army escaped as Alaric had done, it was
not annihilated; it returned through Cisalpine Gaul and fell upon Gaul
proper. Then in 408 Stilicho was murdered in Ravenna by order of the
Emperor.
This last disaster was the cause of what immediately followed. When
in 408 Alaric invaded Venetia he looted and destroyed as he wished,
for there was no one to meet him. He took the great road southward
and found the gate open; passed Ravenna without opposition, marched
to Rome and after three sieges entered and pillaged it and was on his
way southward to enjoy and to loot the South and Sicily, Placidia, the
Emperor’s sister, a captive in his train, when he died at Cosenza in
410. His brother-in-law Adolphus, erected as king upon the shields of
the Goths--there by the monstrous grave of his predecessor--concluded
a peace with Honorius similar to that which years before Alaric had
made with Constantinople. He was received into the Imperial service,
consented to cross the Alps, and, what was to become a precedent
for a yet more outrageous demand, received the hand of Placidia, the
Emperor’s sister, in marriage. Thus the retreat of the Barbarian was
secured, the peace of Italy restored and a repose obtained which
endured for some forty-two years.
It is interesting to observe the extraordinary likeness between
Alaric’s attack upon the East and his invasion of the West. Indeed, the
only difference between them is the fact that Constantinople was never
really in danger, whereas Rome was entered and looted. The intention
of both invasions was the same--loot; the result of both was the
same--tribute and service in return for the evacuation of the immediate
provinces by the Barbarian.
The Imperial failure East and West was a failure in morale and in
politics; it was not rightly understood a military failure: Alaric had
always been defeated when he was attacked. It was the failure of the
West to attack him that gave him Rome at last. The Imperial advisers
perhaps thought they had solved the question he had propounded to
them, when, after Alaric’s death, they had obtained the retreat of the
Barbarian across the Alps--a retreat he was as glad to carry out as
they to order, for he was in a sort of trap--and had secured at least
his neutrality by admitting him into the service of the Empire. But
the peace of more than a generation which followed their act was as
illusory as it was contemptible.
The whole Empire had received from Alaric a moral blow from which it
was never really to recover. It is true that much which happened in the
years that immediately followed the retreat of Adolphus was fortunate.
Placidia the spoil and the bride and later the fugitive widow of
Alaric’s successor returned in triumph to Ravenna to be the unwilling
bride of her deliverer Constantius. Largely through her influence,
after the death of Honorius, when she ruled in Ravenna with the title
of Augusta as the guardian of her son, the young Cæsar Valentinian,
between East and West, a new, if unsubstantial, cordiality appeared.
Italy at least was restored to prosperity, while in Aetius she
possessed a general as great as the great Stilicho. But if Italy was
safe the provinces were in peril and she herself saw Africa betrayed by
Boniface and ravaged by and lost to the Vandals under Genseric. Nor was
the domestic state of her household and court such as to inspire her
with confidence in the future. If her son Valentinian was a foolish
and sensual boy, her daughter Honoria was discovered in a low intrigue
with a chamberlain of the palace, and when in exile at Constantinople
sent, perhaps longing for the romantic fate of her mother, her ring to
the new and youthful King of the Huns, soon to be famous as Attila,
inviting him to carry her off as Adolphus, the Goth, had carried off
Placidia.
Such was the condition of things in the royal household of the West. In
Constantinople things were not more promising. Theodosius, the young
Emperor, called the Calligrapher, was a dilettante of the fine arts,
not a statesman. Those who surrounded him were mediocrities intent
rather on theological controversies than on the safety of the State,
or sunk in a cynical corruption in which everything noble was lost. No
one East or West seemed able to grasp or to realise that there was any
danger. Had the Imperial Governments failed altogether to understand
the fundamental cause of the Gothic advance, the Vandal attack, indeed
of all their embarrassments? Had they failed to remember what was there
beyond the Rhine and the Danube? Had they forgotten the Huns?
FOOTNOTES:
[2] See my “Ravenna” (Dent, 1913), pp. 1-10.
II
THE HUNS AND ATTILA
The people called the Huns, “scarcely mentioned in other records,”
are fully described by that Ammianus Marcellinus[3] whom I have
already quoted. He lived at the end of the fourth century, was a Roman
historian born of Greek parents at Antioch, and after fighting in
Gaul, in Germany and the East, settled in Rome and devoted himself to
history. He describes the Huns as “living beyond the Sea of Azov on
the borders of the Frozen Ocean.” And adds that they were a people
“savage beyond all parallel.” He then gives us the following careful
description of them:--
“In their earliest infancy deep incisions are made in the cheeks of
their boys[4] so that when the time comes for the beard to grow the
sprouting hairs may be kept back by the furrowed scars, and therefore
they grow to old age as beardless as eunuchs. At the same time all have
strong and well-built limbs and strong necks; they are indeed of great
size, but so short-legged that you might fancy them to be two-legged
beasts, or the figures which are hewn out in a rude manner with an axe
on the posts at the end of bridges.[5]
“They do, however, just bear the likeness of men (horribly ugly though
they be), but they are so little advanced in civilisation that they
make no use of fire, nor of seasoned food, but live on roots which they
find in the fields, or on the half raw flesh of any animal which they
merely warm a little by placing it between their own thighs and the
backs of their horses.
“They do not live under roofed houses but look upon them as tombs and
will only enter them of necessity. Nor is there to be found among them
so much as a cabin thatched with reed; but they wander about over the
mountains and through the woods training themselves to bear from their
infancy the extremes of frost and hunger and thirst.
“They wear linen clothes or else the skins of field mice sewn
together, and this both at home and abroad. When once such a tunic is
put on, it is never changed till from long decay it falls to pieces.
Their heads are covered with round caps and their hairy legs with goat
skins and their shoes which are ignorant of any last are so clumsy as
to hinder them in walking.
“For this cause they are not well suited for infantry; but, on the
other hand, they are almost one with their horses, which are poorly
shaped but hardy; often they sit them like women. In truth they can
remain on horseback night and day; on horseback they buy and sell, they
eat and drink, and bowed on the narrow neck of their steeds they even
sleep and dream. On horseback too they discuss and deliberate. They are
not, however, under the authority of a king, but are content with the
loose government of their chiefs.
“When attacked they sometimes engage in regular battle formed in a
solid body and uttering all kinds of terrific yells. More often,
however, they fight irregularly, suddenly dispersing, then reuniting
and after inflicting huge loss upon their enemy will scatter over
the plains hither and thither, avoiding a fortified place or an
entrenchment. It must be confessed that they are very formidable
warriors....
“None of them ploughs or even touches a plough-handle; for they have
no settled abode, but are alike homeless and lawless, continually
wandering with their waggons which indeed are their homes. They seem to
be ever in flight.... Nor if he is asked can any one tell you where he
was born; for he was conceived in one place, born in another far away,
and bred in another still more remote.
“They are treacherous and inconstant and like brute beasts are utterly
ignorant of the distinction between right and wrong. They only express
themselves with difficulty and ambiguously, have no respect for any
religion or superstition, are immoderately covetous of gold, and are so
fickle and cantankerous that many times in a day they will quarrel with
their comrades without cause and be reconciled without satisfaction.”[6]
Such were the people who according to Ammianus were “the original cause
of all the destruction and manifold calamities” which descended upon
the Roman Empire, in the fifth century of our era.
Fifty-six years before they began directly to menace civilisation
and the Roman Empire, they had, as we have seen, in 376 A.D., driven
the Goths before them to the first of those famous assaults upon the
frontiers of the Roman world. They themselves, utter barbarians as they
were, attempted then no direct attack upon our civilisation, though in
396 they crossed the Caucasus, raided Armenia and as Claudius notes,
“laid waste the pleasant fields of Syria.” In 409, however, Alaric
being then intent on Italy, they crossed the Danube and pushed on into
Bulgaria, Uldis, their chief, boasting in true Barbarian fashion,
“All that the sun shines upon I can conquer if I will.” It was the
first claim of the Barbarian, vocal and explicit, to “a place in the
sun”--someone else’s place. Uldis’ boast, however, had been but the
prelude to his flight and fall. Amid the welter of Barbarians less
barbarous than he, Visigoths, Vandals, Suevi, Alani, the Hun in fact
was unable to do much more than drive them on. When they had passed
into the Empire, into Gaul and Spain and Africa, he, worse than them
all, was free at last to threaten Christendom and its capitals,
Constantinople and Rome.
It was not till the two brothers Attila and Bleda ascended the Hunnish
throne, if throne it can be called, in the year 423, that the Huns
really became immediately and directly dangerous to civilisation.
That civilisation already half bankrupt and in transition had, as we
have seen, been bewildered and wounded by the actual incursion of
Barbarian armies south of the Danube and the Rhine, nay within the
heart of the Empire, within reach of Constantinople, within the very
walls of Rome. It was now to be assaulted by a savage horde, wholly
heathen, intent on murder and rape, loot and destruction.
The contrast between the two attacks, the attack of Alaric and that
of Attila, is very striking. To admire Alaric, even to defend him, is
obviously not impossible, since so many historians have been found
ready to do both. No voice unless it be Kaiser Wilhelm’s has ever been
raised in behalf of Attila. Here was the Empire, Christendom; he fell
upon it like a wild beast. At least the Goths were Christian--though
Arian--the Huns were pagan heathen. At least Alaric had revered the
Roman name and sought to assume it; Attila despised and hated it and
would have destroyed it utterly. But if there is this moral contrast
between the Gothic and the Hunnish attacks upon the Empire, militarily
they are alike in this above all that both were directed first upon
the East and were only turned upon the West after a sort of failure.
Happily for us the attacks of Attila, while infinitely more damaging,
were not nearly so dangerous as those of Alaric. The Empire was
assaulted by an assassin; it was delivered.
The Roman system with regard to the Barbarians had long been
established when Theodosius II ascended the Eastern throne. It
consisted not only in employing Barbarians as auxiliaries--thus Uldis
and his Huns had fought under Stilicho against Radagaisus at the battle
of Fiesole; but in setting the different Barbarian tribes and races one
against another. The Huns especially had been favoured by the Empire in
this way, Stilicho knew them well and Aetius who was at last to defeat
them upon the Catalaunian plains owed them perhaps his life in the
crisis that followed the death of his rival Boniface in 433. But that
policy, always dangerous, and the more so if it were inevitable, was
already bankrupt. The dispersal through the provinces of the Goths,
the Vandals, the Alani, Suevi and other tribes left the Empire face to
face upon its northern frontier with the real force which had driven
them on. In 432 we find Roua, King of the Huns, in receipt of an annual
subsidy, scarcely to be distinguished from a tribute, of 350 pounds’
weight of gold. He it was who perhaps first broke the old Roman policy.
When the Empire, according to its custom, made alliances with certain
Barbarian tribes his neighbours, he claimed them as his subjects and
immediately swore that he would denounce all his treaties with the
Empire unless the Emperor broke off these alliances. Moreover, he
demanded that all those of his subjects then within the Empire should
be restored to him; for many had entered the Roman service to escape
his harsh rule. These demands could not be ignored or refused. In 433
Theodosius was on the point of sending an embassy to treat with Roua,
when he heard that he was dead and that his two nephews, still young
men, Attila and Bleda, had succeeded him. It was they who received the
Imperial ambassadors.
The conference met on the right bank of the Danube within the Empire,
that is near the Roman town of Margus or Margum, a city of Moesia,
where the Danube and the Morava meet. The place was known as the
_Margum planum_ on account of the character of the country, and was
famous as the spot where Diocletian had defeated Carinus.[7]
The Byzantine historian Priscus has left us an account of this strange
meeting. The Huns it seems came on horseback and as they refused to
dismount the Roman ambassadors also remained on their horses. It
was thus they heard the arrogant demands of the Hunnish kings: the
denunciation by Theodosius of his alliance with the Barbarians of the
Danube, the expulsion of all the Huns serving in the Imperial armies or
settled within the Empire, an undertaking not to assist any Barbarian
people at war with the Huns, and the payment by the Empire as tribute,
_tributi nomine_, of seven hundred pounds’ weight of gold instead of
the three hundred and fifty given hitherto. To all these demands the
ambassadors were forced to agree as Attila insisted either upon their
acceptance or upon war, and Theodosius preferred any humiliation to
war. The famous conference of Margus was thus a complete victory for
the Huns, a victory Attila never forgot.
That Theodosius was ready to accept any terms which Attila might insist
upon is proved by the fact that he immediately delivered up to him his
two guests, young princes of the Huns, and made no protest when Attila
crucified them before the eyes of his ambassadors.
This act seems to symbolise at the outset the character of Attila
and his reign. He was then, we may suppose, between thirty and forty
years old, and although the younger always the master of his brother
Bleda, whom he was soon to murder. Of the place of his birth we know
nothing,[8] but he grew up on the Danube and there learned the use of
arms, perhaps in the company of the young Aetius, who had been a Roman
hostage of Roua and who was one day to conquer Attila. If we look for
a portrait of him we shall unhappily not find it in any contemporary
writer; but Jornandes, probably repeating a lost passage of some
earlier writer, perhaps Priscus himself, tells us that he was short,
with a mighty chest, a large head, eyes little and deep-set, a scant
beard, flat nose and dark complexion. He thrust his head forward as
he went and darted his glances all about, going proudly withal, like
one destined to terrify the nations and shake the earth. Hasty and
quarrelsome, his words, like his acts, were sudden and brutal, but
though in war he only destroyed, and left the dead unburied in their
thousands for a warning; to those who submitted to him he was merciful,
or at least he spared them. He dressed simply and cleanly, ate as
simply as he dressed, his food being served on wooden dishes; indeed
his personal temperance contrasted with the barbaric extravagance he
had about him. Nevertheless he was a Barbarian with the instincts of a
savage. Constantly drunk he devoured women with a ferocious passion,
every day having its victim, and his bastards formed indeed a people.
He knew no religion but surrounded himself with sorcerers, for he was
intensely superstitious.[9] As a general he was seldom in the field, he
commanded rather than led and ever preferred diplomacy to battle.[10]
His greatest weapon was prevarication. He would debate a matter
for years and the continual embassies of Theodosius amused without
exhausting him and his patience. He played with his victims as a cat
does with a mouse and would always rather buy a victory than win it.
He found his threat more potent than his deed, and in fact played with
the Empire which had so much to lose, very much as Bismarck played with
Europe. Like Bismarck too his business was the creation of an Empire.
His idea, an idea that perhaps even Roua had not failed to understand,
was the creation of an Empire of the North, a Hunnish Empire, in
counterpoise against the Roman Empire of the South, to the south that
is of the Rhine and the Danube. For this cause he wished to unite the
various Barbarian tribes and nations under his sceptre, as Bismarck
wished to unite the tribes of the Germans under the Prussian sword. He
was to be the Emperor of the North as the Roman Emperors were Emperors
of the South. Had he lived in our day he would have understood that
famous telegram of the Kaiser to the Tsar of Russia--“the Admiral of
the Atlantic....”
It was the business of Theodosius to prevent the realisation of this
scheme, nor did he hesitate to break the treaty of Margus to achieve
this. His emissaries attempted to attach to the Empire the Acatziri,
a Hunnish tribe that had replaced the Alani on the Don. Their chief,
however, fearing for his independence, or stupidly handled, sent word
to Attila of the Roman plot. The Hun came down at the head of a great
army, and though he spared the Acatziri, for their chief was both wily
and a flatterer, he brought all the Barbarians of that part within his
suzerainty and, returning, soon found himself master of an Empire which
stretched from the North Sea to the Caucasus, and from the Baltic to
the Danube and the Rhine, an Empire certainly in extent comparable with
that of Rome.
It was in achieving this truly mighty purpose that Attila exhibits two
of his chief characteristics, his superstition and his cruelty.
It seems that the ancient Scythians on the plain to the east of the
Carpathians had for idol and perhaps for God a naked sword, its hilt
buried in the earth, its blade pointed skyward. To this relic the
Romans had given the name of the sword of Mars. In the course of ages
the thing had been utterly forgotten, till a Hunnish peasant seeing his
mule go lame, and finding it wounded in the foot, on seeking for the
cause, guided by the blood, found this sword amid the undergrowth and
brought it to Attila who recovered it joyfully as a gift from heaven
and a sign of his destined sovereignty over all the peoples of the
earth. So at least Jornandes relates.[11]
The other episode exhibits his cruelty. In founding his empire Attila
had certainly made many enemies and aroused the jealousy of those of
his own house. At any rate he could not remember without impatience
that he shared his royalty with Bleda. To one of his subtlety such
impatience was never without a remedy. Bleda was accused of treason,
perhaps of plotting with Theodosius, and Attila slew his brother or had
him assassinated; and alone turned to enjoy his Barbary and to face
Rome.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] In the thirty-first book of his History of Rome: see Appendix I.
[4] The Prussian student is even to-day famous for the scars on his
face inflicted in the duels at the Universities.
[5] Cf. the physique of the ordinary Prussian at its most
characteristic in Von Hindenberg, who really seems to have been hewn
out of wood.
[6] It was a modern and famous German who not long since declared that
the Prussians were such quarrelsome and disagreeable brutes that it was
only their propensity to drink beer and that continually that mollified
them sufficiently to be regarded as human beings.
[7] It is curious to remember that this first encounter of Attila with
the Imperial power took place in what is now Servia only fifty miles
further down the Danube than Belgrade.
[8] It has been suggested that his name Attila is that of the Volga in
the fifth century and that therefore he was born upon its banks; but as
well might one say that Roua was born there because one of the ancient
names of that river was Rha.
[9] For all this see Appendix: Jornandes, _R. Get._, 35 and especially
for his dress and food, Priscus, _infra_.
[10] Cf. Jorn., _R. Get._, 36: “Homo subtilis antequam arma gereret,
arte pugnabat....”
[11] See Appendix, Jornandes, _R. Get._, 35.
III
ATTILA AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE
When Attila had achieved the hegemony of the North he turned his
attention upon the Empire; and it is curious for us at this moment
to note the coincidence that this first attack upon civilisation was
delivered at the very spot upon the Danube where the Germanic powers
in August, 1914, began their offensive. Attila directed his armies
upon the frontiers of modern Servia at the point where the Save joins
the Danube, where the city of Singidunum rose then and where to-day
Belgrade stands.
The pretext for this assault was almost as artificial and manufactured
as that which Austria put forward for her attack upon Servia. Attila
asserted that the Bishop of that same frontier town of Margus, on the
Morava, where he had made treaty with the Empire, had crossed the
Danube, and having secretly obtained access to the sepulchre of the
Hunnish kings had stolen away its treasures. The Bishop, of course,
eagerly denied this strange accusation, and it seemed indeed so
unlikely that he was guilty that Theodosius was exceedingly reluctant
to sacrifice him. The people of Moesia clamoured for a decision; if
the Bishop were guilty then he must be delivered to Attila, but if not
Theodosius must protect both him and them. For Attila had waited for
nothing; he had crossed the Danube before making his accusation and had
occupied Viminacium, one of the greater towns upon the frontier.
Meanwhile the Bishop, seeing the hesitation of Theodosius and expecting
to be sacrificed, made his way to the camp of the Huns and promised in
return for his life to deliver Margus to them, and this he did upon
the following night. Then, dividing his forces into two armies, Attila
began his real attack upon the Empire.
The first of these armies was directed upon Singidunum, the modern
Belgrade, which was taken and ruined, and when that was achieved it
proceeded up the Save to Sirmium, the ancient capital of Pannonia,
which soon fell into its hands. The second crossed the Danube further
eastward and besieged Ratiaria, a considerable town, the head-quarters
of a Roman Legion and the station of the fleet of the Danube.
[Illustration: THE ATTACK OF ATTILA UPON THE EAST.]
Having thus, with this second army, secured the flank, Attila marched
his first army from Singidunum up the Morava to Naissus (Nisch),
precisely as the Austrians tried to do but yesterday. They failed, but
he succeeded and Naissus fell. Thence he passed on to Sardica where
he was met by his second army which had taken Ratiaria. Sardica was
pillaged and burnt.
Attila thus possessed himself in the year 441 of the gateways of the
Balkans, almost without a protest from Theodosius. Five years later,
in 446, he was ready to advance again. In that year and the next he
destroyed two Roman armies, took and pillaged some seventy towns, and
pushed south as far as Thermopylae, and eastward even to Gallipoli;
only the walls of Constantinople saved the capital. Theodosius was
forced to buy a disgraceful peace at the price of an immediate payment
of 6000 pounds’ weight of gold, an annual tribute, no longer even
disguised, of 2000 pounds, and an undertaking that the Empire would
never employ or give refuge to any of those whom Attila claimed as his
subjects.
It was easier to agree to such terms than to fulfil them. The
provinces were ruined, the whole fiscal system of the East in
confusion, and even what wealth remained was, as Priscus tells us,
“spent not in national purposes, but on absurd shows and gaudy
pageants, and all the pleasures and excesses of a licentious society
such as would not have been permitted in any properly governed State,
even in the midst of the greatest prosperity.” Attila, who marked
the decay and the embarrassment of the Imperial Government, forewent
nothing of his advantage. He became more and more rapacious. When he
did not obtain all he desired he sent an embassy to Constantinople to
intimidate the government, and this became a regular means of blackmail
with him, a means more humiliating than war and not less successful.
The first of these embassies arrived in Constantinople immediately
after the terms of peace had been agreed upon. It made further demands,
and was treated with the most extravagant hospitality. Three times
within a single year other embassies arrived; they were a means of
blackmail and were assured of an ever-increasing success.
The most famous and the most important of these embassies was that
which arrived in Constantinople in 449. The ambassadors then employed
by Attila are worthy of notice, for in them we see not only the
condition of things at that time, but also the naive cunning of the
Hun. The two chief legates whom Attila dispatched to Constantinople
upon this occasion were Edecon and Orestes. Edecon was a Scythian or
Hun by birth, a heathen of course, and a Barbarian, the commander of
the guard of Attila, and the father of Odoacer, later to be so famous.
Orestes, on the other hand, who was one of Attila’s chief ministers,
was a Roman provincial of Pannonia, born at Petavium (probably Pettau
on the Drave), who had made a fortunate marriage as a young man when
he allied himself with Romulus, a considerable Roman personage of that
province. He had, however, deserted the Imperial service, certainly
open to him, for that of the Barbarians, and had made his fortune. Nor
was his part in history to be played out in the service of Attila,
for his son Romulus was to be the last of the Western Emperors,
contemptuously known to history as Romulus Augustulus.
Orestes was then an adventurer pure and simple, but in sending him with
the Barbarian Edecon, we see the system of Attila in his blackmail of
the Empire. The employment of a Roman provincial was a check upon the
Barbarian envoy. A bitter jealousy subsisted between them, each spied
on the other, and thus Attila was well served. The fact that the Hun
was able to command the services of such as Orestes is a sufficient
comment upon the condition of the frontier provinces.
It was these two jealous envoys that, in the early months of 449,
appeared in Constantinople bringing, of course, new demands. Their
mission, indeed, was the most insolent that Attila had so far dared
to send. It demanded three main things; first, that all the country
to the south of the Danube as far as Naissus should be regarded as a
part of the Hunnish Empire; second, that in future Theodosius should
send to the Hunnish court only the most illustrious ambassadors, but if
this were done Attila for his part would consent to meet them on the
frontier at Sardica; third, that the refugees should be delivered up.
This last demand was a repetition of many that had gone before it. As
before Attila threatened if his requests were not granted he would make
war.
The ambassadors Edecon and Orestes came to Constantinople where a
“Roman” named Vigilas acted as their guide and interpreter, an
indiscreet and vulgar fellow of whom we shall hear more presently.
Received in audience by Theodosius in the famous palace on the
Bosphorus, the ambassadors with the interpreter later visited the chief
minister, the eunuch Chrysaphius. On their way they passed through the
noble halls of Constantine decorated with gold and built of marble, the
whole a vast palace, perhaps as great as the Vatican. Edecon, the Hun,
was stupefied by so much splendour, he could not forbear to express
his amazement; Vigilas was not slow to mark this naive astonishment
nor to describe it to Chrysaphius, who presently proposed to put it to
good use. Taking Edecon apart from Orestes as he talked he suggested
to him that he also might enjoy such splendour if he would leave the
Huns and enter the service of the Emperor. After all it was not more
than Orestes had done. But Edecon answered that it would be despicable
to leave one’s master without his consent. Chrysaphius then asked what
position he held at the court of Attila, and if he was so much in the
confidence of his master as to have access freely to him. To which
Edecon answered that he approached him when he would, that he was
indeed the chief of his captains and kept watch over his person by
night. And when Chrysaphius heard this he was content and told Edecon
that if he were capable of discretion he would show him a way to grow
rich without trouble, but that he must speak with him more at leisure,
which he would do presently if he would come and sup with him that
evening alone without Orestes or any following. Already in the mind of
the eunuch a plan was forming by which he hoped to rid the Empire once
for all of the formidable Hun.
Edecon accepted the invitation. Awaiting him he found Vigilas with
Chrysaphius, and after supper heard apparently without astonishment the
following amazing proposal. After swearing him to secrecy, Chrysaphius
explained that he proposed to him the assassination of Attila. “If you
but succeed in this and gain our frontiers,” said he, “there will be no
limit to our gratitude, you shall be loaded with honours and riches.”
The Hun was ready in appearance at least to agree, but he insisted
that he would need money for bribery, not much, but at least fifty
pounds’ weight of gold. This he explained he could not carry back with
him as Attila was wont upon the return of his ambassadors to exact a
most strict account of the presents they had received, and so great
a weight of gold could not escape the notice of his own companion and
servants. He suggested then that Vigilas should accompany him home
under the pretext of returning the fugitives and that at the right
moment he should find the money necessary for the project. Needless to
say, Chrysaphius readily agreed to all that Edecon proposed. He does
not seem either to have been ashamed to make so Hunnish a proposal or
to have suspected for a moment that Edecon was deceiving him. He laid
all before Theodosius, won his consent and the approval of Martial his
minister.
Together they decided to send an embassy to Attila, to which the better
to mask their intentions Vigilas should be attached as interpreter.
This embassy they proposed to make as imposing as possible, and to
this end they appointed as its chief a man of a high, but not of
consular rank, and of the best reputation. In this they showed a
certain ability, for as it seemed to them if their plot failed they
could escape suspicion by means of the reputation of their ambassador.
The man they chose was called Maximin, and he fortunately chose as his
secretary Priscus, the Sophist, to whose pen we are indebted for an
account of all these things. He asserts, and probably with truth, that
neither Maximin nor he himself was aware of the plot of assassination.
They conceived themselves to be engaged in a serious mission and were
the more impressed by its importance in that its terms were far less
subservient to the Hun than had been the custom in recent times. Attila
was told that henceforth he must not evade the obligations of his
treaties nor invade at all the Imperial territories. And with regard
to the fugitives he was informed that beside those already surrendered
seventeen were now sent but that there were no more. So ran the letter.
But Maximin was also to say that the Hun must look for no ambassador of
higher rank than himself since it was not the Imperial custom towards
the Barbarians; on the contrary, Rome was used to send to the North
any soldier or messenger who happened to be available. And since he
had now destroyed Sardica his proposal to meet there any ambassador of
consular rank was merely insolent. If indeed the Hun wished to remove
the differences between Theodosius and himself he should send Onegesius
as ambassador. Onegesius was the chief minister of Attila.
Such were the two missions, the one official, the other secret, which
set out together from Constantinople.
The great journey seems to have been almost wholly uneventful as far
as Sardica, 350 miles from Constantinople, which was reached after
a fortnight of travel. They found that town terribly pillaged but
not destroyed, and the Imperial embassy bought sheep and oxen, and
having prepared dinner invited Edecon and his colleagues to share
it with them, for they were still officially within the Empire. But
within those ruins, even among the ambassadors, peace was impossible.
Priscus records the ridiculous quarrel which followed. The Huns began
to magnify the power of Attila,--was not his work around them? The
Romans knowing the contents of the letter they bore sang the praises
of the Emperor. Suddenly Vigilas, perhaps already drunk, asserted
that it was not right to compare men with the gods, nor Attila with
Theodosius, since Attila was but a man. Only the intervention of
Maximin and Priscus prevented bloodshed, nor was harmony restored till
Orestes and Edecon had received presents of silk and jewels. Even
these gifts were not made altogether without an untoward incident.
For Orestes in thanking Maximin exclaimed that he, Maximin, was not
like those insolent courtiers of Constantinople “who gave presents and
invitations to Edecon, but none to me.” And when Maximin, ignorant of
the Chrysaphian plot, demanded explanations, Orestes angrily left him.
Already the plan of assassination was beginning to fester.
The ambassadors went on from ruined Sardica to desolate Naissus (Nisch)
utterly devoid of inhabitants, full only of horror and ruins. They
crossed a plain sown with human bones whitening in the sun, and saw
the only witness to the Hunnish massacre of the inhabitants--a vast
cemetery. “We found,” Priscus tells us, “a clean place above the river
where we camped and slept.”
Close to this ruined town was the Imperial army, commanded by
Agintheus, under whose eagles five of the seventeen refugees to be
surrendered had taken refuge. The Roman general, however, was obliged
to give them up. Their terror as they went on in the ambassadorial
train towards the Danube may well be imagined.
The great river at length came in sight; its approaches lined and
crowded with Huns, the passages served by the Barbarians in dug-outs,
boats formed out of the hollowed trunks of trees. With these boats the
whole Barbarian shore was littered as though in readiness for the
advance of an army. Indeed, as it appeared Attila was in camp close by,
and intent on hunting within the Roman confines to the south of the
river, a means certainly of reconnaissance as habitually used by the
Huns as commerce has been for the same end by the Germans.
We do not know with what feelings Maximin and Priscus saw all this and
crossed the great river frontier at last and passed into Barbary. To
their great chagrin, for they had made the way easy for the Hunnish
ambassadors on the road through the Imperial provinces, Edecon and
Orestes now left them brusquely enough. For several days they went on
alone but for the guides Edecon had left them, till one afternoon they
were met by two horsemen who informed them that they were close to
the camp of Attila who awaited them. And indeed upon the morrow they
beheld from a hill-top the Barbarian tents spread out innumerable at
their feet, and among them that of the King. They decided to camp there
on the hill; but a troop of Huns at once rode up and ordered them to
establish themselves in the plain. “What,” cried they, “will you dare
to pitch your tents on the heights when that of Attila is below?”
They were scarce established in their appointed place when to their
amazement Edecon and Orestes and others appeared and asked their
business, the object of their embassy. The astonished ambassadors
looked at one another in amaze. When the question was repeated Maximin
announced that he could not disclose his mission to any other than
Attila to whom he was accredited. Scotta, the brother of Onegesius,
then announced angrily that Attila had sent them and they must have an
answer. When Maximin again refused the Huns galloped away.
The Romans, however, were not left long in doubt of the reception they
were to get. Scotta and his friends soon returned without Edecon,
and to the further amazement of Maximin repeated word for word the
contents of the Imperial letter to Attila. “Such,” said they, “is your
commission. If this be all depart at once.” Maximin protested in vain.
Nothing remained but to prepare for departure. Vigilas who knew what
Chrysaphius expected was particularly furious; better have lied than to
return without achieving anything, said he. What to do? It was already
night. They were in the midst of Barbary, between them and the Danube
lay leagues of wild unfriendly country. Suddenly as their servants
loaded the beasts for their miserable journey other messengers arrived
from the Hun. They might remain in their camp till dawn. In that uneasy
night, had Vigilas been less of a fool, he must have guessed that
Edecon had betrayed him.
It was not the barbarous Vigilas, however, who found a way out of the
difficulty, for at dawn the command to depart was repeated, but that
Priscus who has left us so vivid an account of this miserable affair.
He it was who, seeing the disgrace of his patron, sought out Scotta,
the brother of Onegesius, the chief minister of Attila, in the Hunnish
camp. With him went Vigilas as interpreter, and so cleverly did the
Sophist work upon the ambition of Scotta, pointing out to him not only
the advantages of peace between the Huns and the Romans, but also the
personal advantage Scotta would gain thereby in honour and presents,
and at last feigning to doubt Scotta’s ability to achieve even so small
a matter as the reception of the embassy that he had his way. Scotta
rode off to see Attila, Priscus returned to his patron, and soon after
Scotta returned to escort them to the royal tent.
The reception must have been a strange spectacle. The tent of Attila
was quite surrounded by a multitude of guards; within, upon a stool
of wood, was seated the great Hun. Priscus, Vigilas and the servants
who attended them bearing the presents remained upon the threshold.
Maximin alone went forward and gave into Attila’s hands the letter of
Theodosius saying: “The Emperor wishes Attila and all that are his
health and length of days.” “May the Romans receive all they desire for
me,” replied the instructed Barbarian. And turning angrily to Vigilas
he said: “Shameless beast, why hast thou dared to come hither knowing
as thou dost the terms of peace I made with thee and Anatolius. Did I
not then tell thee that I would receive no more ambassadors till all
the refugees had been surrendered!” Vigilas replied that they brought
seventeen fugitives with them and that now there remained no more
within the Empire. This only made Attila more furious: “I would crucify
thee and give thee as food for the vultures but for the laws regarding
envoys,” cried he. As for the refugees, he declared there were many
still within the Empire, and bade his people read out their names, and
this done he told Vigilas to depart with Eslas, one of his officers, to
inform Theodosius that he must forthwith return all the fugitives who
had entered the Empire from the time of Carpilio, son of Aetius, who
had been his hostage. “I will never suffer,” said he, “that my slaves
shall bear arms against me, useless though they be to aid those with
whom they have found refuge.... What city or what fortress have they
been able to defend when I have determined to take it?” When he had
said these words he grew calmer; informed Maximin that the order of
departure only concerned Vigilas, and prayed the ambassador to remain
and await the reply to the letter of the Emperor. The audience closed
with the presentation and acceptance of the Roman presents.
Vigilas must surely have guessed now what his dismissal meant. Perhaps,
however, he was too conceited and too stupid to notice it. At any rate
he did not enlighten his companions but professed himself stupefied
by the change of Attila’s demeanour towards him. The whole affair was
eagerly discussed in the Roman camp. Priscus suggested that Vigilas’
unfortunate indiscretion at Sardica had been reported to Attila and had
enraged him. Maximin did not know what to think. While they were still
debating Edecon appeared and took Vigilas apart. The Hun may well have
thought he needed reassurance. He declared that he was still true to
the plan of Chrysaphius. Moreover, seeing what a fool Vigilas was, he
told him that his dismissal was a contrivance of his own to enable the
interpreter to return to Constantinople and fetch the money promised,
which could be introduced as necessary to the embassy for the purchase
of goods. Vigilas, however, can scarcely have believed him, at any rate
for long; a few hours later Attila sent word that none of the Romans
were to be allowed to buy anything but the bare necessities of life
from the Huns, neither horses, nor other beasts, nor slaves, nor to
redeem captives. Vigilas departed with the order ringing in his ears,
upon a mission he must have known to be hopeless.
Two days later Attila broke camp and set out for his capital, the
Roman ambassadors following in his train under the direction of guides
appointed by the Hun. They had not gone far on their way northward when
they were directed to leave the train of Attila and to follow another
route, because, they were told, the King was about to add one more to
his innumerable wives, Escam, the daughter of a chief in a neighbouring
village.
Very curious is Priscus’ description of the way followed by the patron
and his embassy. They journeyed across the Hungarian plain, across
horrible marshes and lakes which had to be traversed sometimes on
rafts; they crossed three great rivers, the Drave, the Temes, and the
Theiss in dug-outs, boats such as they had seen on the Danube hollowed
out of the trunks of trees. They lived for the most part on millet
which their guides brought or took from the wretched inhabitants, they
drank mead and beer, and were utterly at the mercy of the weather,
which was extremely bad. On one occasion, indeed, their camp was
entirely destroyed by tempest, and had it not been for the hospitality
of the widow of Bleda they would perhaps have perished.
For seven days they made their way into the heart of Hungary till they
came to a village where their way joined the greater route by which
Attila was coming. There they were forced to await the King, since they
must follow and not precede him. It was in this place that they met
another Roman embassy, that of the Emperor in the West, Valentinian
III, who was quarrelling with Attila about the holy vessels of Sirmium.
It seems that the Bishop of Sirmium in 441, seeing his city invested,
had gathered his chalices and patens and plate, sacred vessels of his
church, and had sent them secretly to a certain Constantius, a Gaul, at
that time Attila’s minister. In case the city fell they were to be used
as ransom, first of the Bishop, and in case of his death of any other
captives. Constantius was, however, untrue to the trust placed in him
by the Bishop, and sold or pawned the plate to a silversmith in Rome.
Attila hearing of it when Constantius was beyond his reach claimed the
booty as his own. It was upon this miserable business that Valentinian
had sent an embassy to Attila from Ravenna.
It is certainly a shameful and an amazing spectacle we have here. In
that little village of Barbary the ambassadors of the Emperors, East
and West, of the Courts of Constantinople and Ravenna, of New Rome
and of Old, wait in a marsh the passage of a savage that they may be
allowed to follow in his train and humbly seek an audience. Surely
Attila himself had arranged that meeting, and as he rode on to his
capital, the two embassies following in his dust, he must have enjoyed
the outrageous insult to civilisation, the triumph of brute force over
law.
IV
THE IMPERIAL EMBASSY AT THE COURT OF ATTILA
The entry of Attila into his capital was witnessed by Priscus and has
been recorded by him with much naive care, for it evidently excited his
curiosity and interest. The Hun was met by a procession of maidens who
passed in groups of seven under long veils of white linen, upheld by
the matrons on either side of the way, singing as they passed Scythian
songs. So they went on towards the palace past the house of the chief
minister Onegesius, where the wife of the favourite, surrounded by her
servants and slaves, awaited the King to present him with a cup filled
with wine, which he graciously consented to receive at her hands. Four
huge Huns lifted up a tray of silver loaded with viands that the King
might eat also, which he did without alighting from his horse. Then
he passed on to his own house. Maximin pitched his camp, it seems,
between the house of Onegesius and the palace of the King.
This palace, built on an eminence, commanded the whole town or village,
and was remarkable on account of its high towers. It seems to have
consisted of a vast circular enclosure within which were many houses,
that of the King and those of his wives and children. All was of wood,
both enclosures and houses, but admirably built and polished and
ornamented with carving. The harem was of a lighter construction from
the palace and had no towers, but was on all sides ornamented with
carvings. Not far away from the royal enclosure stood the house of
Onegesius, similarly constructed but not so large and fine. But here
the minister, a remarkable personage, had constructed, and that in
stone, a bath on the Roman model. It seems that in the sack of Sirmium
an architect had been taken captive. Now Onegesius forced him to build
in the manner of the Romans a complete _balnea_, and this the captive
did as speedily as possible hoping for his freedom. Stone was brought
from Pannonia and all was contrived and finished; but when the builder
claimed his liberty, Onegesius, seeing that no one among the Huns
understood the use of this thing, appointed him _balneator_, so that
the wretched architect was forced to remain to serve the bath he had
built.
Onegesius had only just returned from an important expedition when
Attila arrived in his capital with the Imperial envoys. He had been
engaged in finishing the conquest of Acatziri and was immediately
closeted with the King on his return, so that Maximin was not received
by him on that first day. In his anxiety the ambassador grew impatient,
and very early upon the following morning he dispatched Priscus with
presents to wait upon the minister. Priscus found the enclosure shut
and no one stirring and while he waited for the house to awake he
walked up and down in the dawn to keep himself warm. Suddenly he was
greeted with the Greek salutation Χαῖρε, “Hail,” or, as we should say,
“Good morning.” Startled to hear a civilised tongue in the midst of
Barbary he returned the greeting. And there followed one of the most
interesting discussions of which we have any record, of the respective
merits of civilisation and barbarism, a debate that must have filled
in the minds of many at that time. Priscus at last asked the stranger
how he was come to be amongst the Barbarians. “Why do you ask me?”
answered the unknown. “Because you speak Greek like a native,” answered
Priscus. But the stranger only laughed. “Indeed,” said he, “I am Greek.
I came for the sake of business to Viminacium on the Danube in Moesia,
and there I lived many years and married a rich wife. But when the Huns
stormed the city I lost all my fortune and became the slave of this
Onegesius whom you are waiting to see. For it is the custom of the
Huns to give the richest to their princes. My new master took me to
the wars where I did well not without profit. I have fought with the
Romans and the Acatziri and have bought my liberty. I am now become a
Hun, I have married a Barbarian wife and have children by her; I am
often the guest of Onegesius, and to tell you the truth I consider my
present station preferable to my past. For when war is over one lives
here decently without worries, one enjoys one’s own. War nourishes us;
but destroys those who live under the Roman Government. Under Rome one
has to trust to others for one’s safety, since the law forbids one to
bear arms even in self-defence, and those who are allowed to fight are
betrayed by the ignorance and corruption of their leaders. And even
so the evils of war under the Romans are as nothing to the evils of
peace, the insupportable taxations, the robbery of the tax-gatherers,
and the oppression of the powerful. How can it be otherwise since
there is there one law for the rich and another for the poor? If a
rich man commits a crime he knows how to profit by it; but if a poor
man transgresses the law, perhaps in ignorance, he knows not the
formalities and is ruined. Justice can only be obtained at a great
price, and this in my opinion is the worst of evils. You must buy an
advocate to plead for you, and only after depositing a sum of money as
security can you plead at all or obtain sentence.”
Thus for a long time the renegade from civilisation defended himself
and the Barbarians, and when at length he was silent Priscus begged him
to listen patiently while he defended what, after all, was the future
of the world. What appears most to have excited the animosity of the
apostate was, as we might expect, the Roman law and its processes,
and it is these that Priscus first defends. He explains the division
of labour and responsibility peculiar to civilisation, the structure
of the Roman State and society, divided, according to him, into three
classes; those concerned with the making and administration of the
law; those concerned with national and public safety; and those who
till the soil. He defends all this nobly and eloquently, the logic
and clarity of its complexity against the appalling promiscuity and
confusion of Barbarian anarchy. He shows the individual as a part of
society, and in the main his view of civilisation is ours, we can
applaud and understand it. Even the apostate stranger is moved at
last. There in the Hunnish land at dawn one morning, carried back by
the eloquence of Priscus to all he had lost, he weeps and exclaims:
“The law of the Romans is good; their Republic nobly ordered, but evil
magistrates have corrupted it.” He might have said more but that just
then a servant of Onegesius appeared and Priscus left him never to see
him again.
In instructing Maximin especially to negotiate with Onegesius,
Theodosius and Chrysaphius doubtless hoped to win this man by diplomacy
as they thought they had won Edecon, by corruption. Their calculations
were doomed to disappointment; for both Onegesius and Edecon seem to
have been loyal to their master, and Edecon had already acquainted him
with the plot against his life. It might seem certain that Onegesius
also was now aware of this. Having accepted the presents sent him,
and learnt that Maximin desired to see him, he decided to visit him at
once, and without delay repaired to the Roman encampment. There Maximin
opened his business. He explained the necessity for peace between the
Huns and the Empire, the honour of establishing which he hoped to share
with Attila’s minister, to whom he prophesied every sort of honour and
benefit if he should succeed. But the Hun was not convinced. “How can
I arrange such a peace?” he asked. “In short, by deciding the points
in dispute between us with justice,” as naively replied Maximin. “The
Emperor will accept your decision.” “But,” answered Onegesius, “I have
no will but that of my master.” He did not understand the difference
between civilisation and barbarism any more than the modern German
sees the gulf fixed between Civilisation and “Kultur.” “Slavery,”
said he, “would be sweeter to me in the kingdom of Attila than all
the honours and all the wealth of the Roman Empire.” Then as though
to soften what he had said, he added that he could serve the cause of
peace which Maximin had at heart better at the Court of Attila than at
Constantinople.
But it was now time to present the Queen--a favourite wife of
Attila--with her gifts. This embassy was again entrusted to Priscus.
He found her in her apartments seated on cushions surrounded by her
women and slaves on either side, the women at work embroidering clothes
for the men. It was on coming out from these apartments that Priscus
saw Attila for the first time since his arrival. Hearing a great noise
he went to see what was the cause and soon perceived the Hun with
Onegesius on the way to administer justice before the gate of his
palace. There too within the enclosure he found the Roman ambassadors
from Ravenna. With them he compared notes, and soon learned that they
had been no more successful than Maximin. But presently Onegesius sent
for him and informed him that Attila was determined to receive no more
ambassadors from Theodosius unless they were of consular rank, and he
named three persons who would be acceptable. Priscus naively answered
that thus to designate ambassadors must necessarily render them suspect
to their own Government, forgetting that Maximin had done the same but
a few hours before. But Onegesius answered roughly: “It must be so or
there will be war.” Much disheartened Priscus made his way back to the
Roman camp and there found Tatallus, the father of Orestes, who had
come to inform Maximin that Attila expected him to dine with him.
This dinner to which the ambassadors of Valentinian were also invited
took place in a large _salone_ furnished with little tables for four
or five persons each, at three o’clock in the afternoon. Upon the
threshold the ambassadors were offered cups of wine in which to drink
the health of the King, who reclined in the midst before a table, on
a couch set upon a platform or dais, so that he was set up above his
guests; beside him but lower sat Ellak his heir, who dared not lift
his eyes from the ground. Upon his right were Onegesius and two other
sons of the King, upon his left were placed the ambassadors. When all
were assembled Attila drank to Maximin who stood up to acknowledge
his condescension and drank in return. A like ceremony was performed
by all the ambassadors in turn. Then the feast was served upon plates
and dishes of silver and the wine in cups of gold; only Attila ate
and drank from wooden dishes and a wooden cup. Before each course
the drinking ceremony of salutation was performed again, and as the
banquet lasted well on into the darkness, when torches were lighted
and Hunnish poets sang or chanted their verses in the Barbarian tongue
celebrating the glories of war and victory to the delight of the
assembly whose eyes shone with emotion, the young with tears of desire
and the old with fright, few can have been sober when a buffoon and
then the famous dwarf Zercan began to set the tables in a roar; though
Attila remained grave and unmoved.
So the days passed without anything being accomplished. The impatient
ambassadors were compelled to attend a similar dinner given in their
honour by the Queen Kerka, and again they dined with Attila; but
nothing was discussed or decided. Several times, indeed, Attila spoke
to Maximin of a matter he apparently had at heart, namely, the marriage
of his secretary Constantius, who some years earlier had been sent
to Constantinople, and whom Theodosius had promised a rich wife on
condition that peace was not broken. The wife chosen, however, was
spirited away and this had become a grievance, Attila being so enraged
that he sent word to Theodosius that if he could not keep order in his
own house, he, Attila, would come and help him. Of course Constantius
was promised another and a richer heiress, and it was this matter that
Attila preferred to discuss with Maximin rather than the letter he had
brought from the Emperor.
At last, in despair, Maximin demanded leave to depart, and this
appears to have been granted as soon as Attila knew that Vigilas was
on his way back from Constantinople. It is possible that the Hun had
only detained the ambassadors as hostages, or to satisfy himself that
they were ignorant of the plot against his life. They went at last
without satisfaction, but not empty-handed. Attila had them loaded
with presents, skins, horses, embroideries, nor was their journey back
without incident. A few days’ march on their way, near the frontier,
Priscus tells us they saw the horrid and ill-omened spectacle of a
refugee crucified beside the road. A little further on they saw two
Romans put to death with every sort of barbarous cruelty before their
eyes. These were the reminders of Attila. Not far from the Danube they
met Vigilas and his Hunnish companion, in reality his guard, Esla.
This conceited fool, for indeed he was as much a fool as a villain, had
with him twice the weight of gold promised to Edecon, and, moreover,
he brought also his only son, a youth of six-and-twenty years. He had
altogether delivered himself into Attila’s hands. Leaving Maximin and
his embassy to make their way back to Constantinople Vigilas went
on into Barbary, intent on the assassination of Attila, and had no
sooner set foot in the Hunnish capital than he was seized, his baggage
opened and the gold discovered. When asked to explain these riches, he
answered that they were for his own use and that of his entourage, and
that he proposed to ransom the Roman captives and to purchase horses,
skins and embroideries. “Evil beast,” shouted Attila, “thou liest, but
thy lies deceive none.” Then he bade seize the youth Vigilas’ son, and
swore to have him killed there and then if the father did not confess.
Then Vigilas, seeing his child in so great a peril, became demented
and cried out: “Do not kill my son, for he is ignorant and innocent of
all; I alone am guilty.” And he confessed all the plot to kill Attila
that Chrysaphius had devised with him. And Attila heard him out, and
seeing what he said agreed with the report of Edecon he knew he heard
the truth. After a little he bade loose the youth and sent him back to
Constantinople to bring him another hundred pounds’ weight of gold for
the ransom of Vigilas his father, whom he loaded with chains, and flung
into prison. And with the young man he sent two ambassadors, Orestes
and Esla, with his demands to the Emperor.
They came to Constantinople; they had audience of Theodosius. Round
the neck of Orestes hung the sack in which Vigilas had brought the
price of assassination to Barbary. Esla, as he stood there, demanded of
Chrysaphius if he recognised it, and when he answered not, turned to
the Emperor and said, “Attila, son of Moundzoukh, and Theodosius are
two sons of noble fathers; Attila has remained worthy of his parent,
but Theodosius has betrayed his because in paying tribute to Attila
he has owned himself his slave. Nor as a slave has he been faithful
to his master, nor will Attila cease to proclaim his iniquity, for he
has become the accomplice of Chrysaphius the eunuch since he does not
deliver him to punishment as he deserves.”
There was no answer. Humiliated and afraid the Emperor did everything
according to the bidding of Attila, save only he refused him the head
of Chrysaphius. The greatest officers of the Empire were sent as
ambassadors and Attila humiliated them at his pleasure; a rich widow
was found for Constantius, gold and silver were poured out at Attila’s
feet. Yet he demanded the head of Chrysaphius. At last, in the year
450, two Gothic messengers, it is said, arrived from the Hun, the one
at Constantinople, the other at Ravenna. Upon the same day and at the
same hour they appeared before Theodosius and Valentinian and delivered
this message: “Attila, my master and thine, bids thee prepare a palace
for him.” Imperat per me Dominus meus et Dominus tuus Attilas, ut sibi
palatium instruas.
That insolent message, if indeed it was ever delivered, fell upon
deaf ears. Upon July 25, 450, Theodosius died, and three months later
Placidia the mother and good genius of Valentinian, the real ruler of
the West, died also. A new Emperor, Marcian, reigned at Constantinople.
Chrysaphius was put to death, and Marcian, an old soldier, at once
faced Attila with something of the ancient Roman energy. The Barbarian
turned away to consider how he might loot the West.
V
THE ATTACK UPON THE WEST
In turning from the East, where he did not like the look of Marcian, to
the West, where the weak and sensual Valentinian, then thirty-one years
old, seemed to offer himself as a prey, the universal robber needed
a pretext for his attack. The matter of the plate of Sirmium he had
either forgotten or he feared that concerning it he would be met and
satisfied. He needed a bone of contention which it would be impossible
for Valentinian to yield. He found it in Honoria, the Emperor’s sister.
It will be remembered that in 435, fifteen years before, this wild and
passionate girl, in disgrace at Constantinople, had sent her ring to
Attila and had offered herself to him, to be his bride, as her mother
had been the bride of Adolphus, the successor of Alaric. For fifteen
years the Barbarian had forgotten this romantic proposal, and though
he had kept her ring he had made no overtures or demands of any sort
for the lady. Upon the death of Placidia in 450 he recalled the affair,
and at once sent a message to Valentinian claiming both Honoria and her
property as his, and with her a half of the Western Empire. He asserted
that he learned with the greatest surprise that his betrothed was on
his account treated with ignominy and even imprisoned. For his part
he could see nothing unworthy in her choice which in fact should have
flattered the Emperor, and he insisted that she should at once be set
at liberty and sent to him with her portion of the inheritance of her
father, and the half of the Western Empire as her dowry.
To this amazing proposition Valentinian made answer that Honoria was
already married, and that therefore she could not be the wife of the
Hun, since unlike the Barbarians the Romans did not recognise polygamy
or polyandry; that his sister had no claim to the Empire which could
not be governed by a woman and was not a family inheritance. To all
this Attila made no reply; only he sent Honoria’s ring to Ravenna and
persisted in his demands.
The insincerity of Attila’s claims, the fact that they were but a
pretext, is proved by this that suddenly he dropped them altogether
and never referred to them again. Honoria was as utterly forgotten as
the plate of Sirmium. He tried another way to attain his end, became
suspiciously friendly, swore that the Emperor had no friend so sure as
he, the Empire no ally more eager to serve it.
The truth was that a pretext for attack far better than the withholding
of Honoria had suddenly appeared. The province of Africa had been lost
to the Romans by the invasion of the Vandals who were now governed
by a man not unlike Attila himself, Genseric. It is true he was not
a pagan like the Hun, but he was an Arian, and he had gathered under
his banner all the Barbarians that surged among the ruins of the Roman
cities of Africa. Genseric had married his son to the daughter of
Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, but as this alliance did not bring
him all he hoped, he returned the girl to her father minus her ears and
her nose, which he had cut off. Fearing lest Theodoric should invoke
the aid of the Empire against him for this unspeakable deed, Genseric
had sought the alliance of Attila. A new vision opened before the Hun;
he saw a new alliance, if not a new suzerainty, offered him with whose
aid he might attack the Empire both north and south, so that while he
descended upon the richest of the European provinces of Rome--Gaul,
Genseric should fall upon Italy herself. In this scheme for the final
loot of the West Attila was still further encouraged by the fact that
the Franks, the most warlike of the Barbarian tribes in Europe (that
which was destined first to become Catholic and later to refound the
Empire), were in anarchy by reason of the death of their chief, whose
inheritance was in dispute between his two sons. The elder of these had
appealed to Attila for his assistance, while the younger had turned to
Rome and had become indeed the protégé, if not the adopted son, of the
great Roman general Aetius. This young man at Aetius’ suggestion went
to Rome to petition the Emperor, and there Priscus saw him “a beardless
boy, his golden hair floating on his shoulders.”
Here was a quarrel after Attila’s own heart. The Vandals should
invade Italy from Africa, he would fall upon Gaul, the passages of
the Rhine being opened for him by the Franks. He forgot all about
Honoria. At once he sent a message to Valentinian informing him of his
determination to attack the Visigoths and bidding him not to interfere.
The Visigoths, he declared, were his subjects, subjects who had
escaped from his dominion, but over whom he had never abandoned his
rights. He pointed out too how dangerous they were to the peace of the
Empire, on whose behalf, as much as on his own, he now proposed to
chastise them.
Valentinian replied that the Empire was not at war with the Visigoths,
and that if it were it would conduct its own quarrels in its own way.
The Visigoths, said he, dwelt in Gaul as the guests and under the
protection of the Roman Empire, and in consequence to strike at them
was to strike at the Empire. But Attila would not hear or understand.
He insisted that he was about to render Valentinian a service, and
then, confirming us in our opinion that his object was merely loot,
sent to Theodoric bidding him not to be uneasy, for that he was about
to enter Gaul to free him from the Roman yoke.
At the same time that the Visigoth received this message he also
received one from Valentinian, greeting him as the “bravest of the
Barbarians,” and bidding him resist “the tyrant of the universe” who,
like the modern Prussian, “knows only his necessity, regards whatever
suits him as lawful and legitimate, and is determined to bring the
whole world under his domination.” Theodoric, in much the same position
as modern Belgium, according to Jornandes, cried out, as King Albert
might have done in August last: “O Romans, you have then at last your
desire; you have made Attila at last our enemy also.” But the Romans
were as little to blame or able to help it as England or France.
Attila, “the tyrant of the universe,” had prepared and was intent upon
war. All Theodoric could do was to be ready to defend himself.
Attila prepared to attack the West, but the same problem confronted the
defenders then as yesterday, namely, by which road that attack would
come. The Hun thundered against the Visigoths, but on this very account
Aetius, like the French, thinking more subtly than the enemy, remained
uncertain whether after all Italy would not be the victim rather than
Gaul. He was wrong, like his representatives of to-day; the Barbarian
was a barbarian, he believed in his own boasts.
An enormous army of every kind of Barbarian was gathered upon the
Danube and in the provinces to the south of that river. This host may
have numbered anything from half a million men upward; it was not less
than half a million strong. Each tribe had its chief, among which
the two most famous were the kings of the Gepidae and the Ostrogoths;
but all alike trembled before Attila, who had thus beneath his hands
the most formidable and numerous hosts that had ever yet threatened
civilisation. It was barbarism itself in all its innumerable multitude
which was about to fling itself upon Gaul.
The plan of Attila--if plan it can be called--was well chosen. Gaul was
more easily attacked than Italy and was little less essential to the
future of Roman civilisation. It was then, as it has been ever since,
the very heart of Europe. To destroy it was to destroy the future.
Gathering his innumerable peoples upon the borders of the Danube,
Attila divided his armies into two parts. The first army was to march
to the Rhine by the right or southern bank of the Danube, by the great
Roman military way, past all the Roman fortresses of the frontier of
the Empire, each of which was to be destroyed as it advanced. The
second army was to march by the left or northern bank of the Danube,
and to meet the first near the sources of that river where, in the
great forests of Germany, the two armies were to provide themselves
with the materials necessary for their transport into Gaul. There,
while they hewed down the trees in thousands, they were met by the
Franks who had deserted or killed their young king the protégé of
Aetius, and now flocked to his brother under the standard of Attila;
certain of the Thuringians and the Burgundians also made common cause
with them.
The chief business immediately before Attila was the passage of the
Rhine, and it was in order to furnish material for bridges for this
purpose that his armies had hewn down the trees by thousands in the
ancient “Hercynian” forest. That passage would perhaps have been
impossible and certainly very difficult if it had been contested. It
was not contested, and to understand the reason why, we must understand
the political condition of Gaul.
In the course of the last half-century the great province of Gaul
had suffered grievously, though not so grievously as Britain, which
had almost lost its identity, nor so hopelessly as Africa, which was
completely lost to civilisation. What had happened was this: all the
further parts of Gaul had fallen into the occupation of the Barbarians
as well as that violated corner enclosed on the west by the Jura,
where the Burgundians had established themselves. In northern Gaul,
in what we now call Picardy, Belgium and Luxembourg, the Franks were
settled, the Salian Franks to the west about the cities of Tongres,
Tournay, Arras, Cambrai, Amiens; the Ripuarian Franks to the east on
either side the Rhine about Cologne, Mentz, Coblenz and Treves. To the
south of the Salian Franks the Saxons held the coast and the lower
reaches of the Seine, to the south of them lay Armorica, as far as
the Loire, an isolated province of Bretons to the south of them as
far as the Pyrenees, occupying all Aquitaine were the Visigoths under
Theodoric. Central Gaul, however, with its cities of Metz, Strasburg,
Troyes, Langres, Orleans, Lyons, Vienne, Arles, Narbonne, and the town
of Lutetia or Paris, remained within the Roman power and administration
which though in decay and very largely clericalised, as we shall see,
was still a reality.
If Attila was bent on chastising the Visigoths it was obviously
across this still Roman and Christian province of Central Gaul that
he must march, and experience both in the East and the West had
taught the Imperial Government that such a march meant the complete
ruin, devastation and depopulation of every city on the way. The
natural frontiers of Gaul upon the East were and are the Rhine and
the mountains. To hold them is the safety of Gaul, to lose them is
destruction. Unfortunately, the Rhine could not be held against Attila.
It could not be held because the chief crossing place at Confluentes
(Coblenz) was in the power of the Franks, while a secondary crossing at
Augst, now a village between Bâle and Mulhouse, was in the power of the
Burgundians. Those gates were flung wide, and it was through them that
Attila at last entered the heart of the West.
Confluentes (Coblenz) stood at the junction of the Moselle with the
Rhine, and thence upon the left of the Moselle a great Roman road ran
south-west to Augusta Treverorum (Treves), whence a whole series of
roads set forth to traverse Gaul in every direction. From Confluentes,
too, running north along the left bank of the Rhine, a road pushed on
northward through Bonn to Cologne, whence again a great highway ran
west and south across what is now Belgium and Picardy. This would seem
to have been the main route of Attila’s advance. At the southern entry
at Augst his armies could await, meet and perhaps cut off or defeat any
attack from Italy.
[Illustration: THE ATTACK OF ATTILA UPON GAUL AND THE RETREAT FROM
ORLEANS]
It was January when Attila set out, it was March when he found himself
at last before the gates of Gaul upon the Rhine. The spring and summer
lay all before him in which to ruin and to destroy what after all he
could not understand.
VI
ATTILA’S ADVANCE FROM THE RHINE TO ORLEANS
In the ruin of the secular Roman administration which the last fifty
years had seen, in the terror which the threat of Attila’s armies upon
the Rhine roused everywhere in the great and noble province of Gallia,
it would appear that many, if not all, of the cities still Roman, and
above all Christian, found in some constant and dominating mind a
substitute for, and a successor to, their ruined institutions. We see
this in Tongres, in Metz, in Rheims, in Orleans, above all we see it,
as we might expect, in Paris. The fate of these cities, the way they
met their fate is illuminating; and if it is inexplicable and to our
scepticism almost incredible, it is none the less certainly indicative
of the condition, spiritual and political, of that still Roman society.
It was Christianity which defeated Attila in Gaul as certainly as it
alone was able later to turn him back from the destruction of Italy.
The real victory, in spite of the great strokes of Aetius, was a
spiritual victory; a victory of Christianity over heathenism.
I forbear to draw the parallel with the struggle in which we are at
present engaged. Happily the most striking fact of the present contest
is that the Allies have at once seen through and cast from them the
brutal and hopeless philosophy of blasphemy and bosh, of “necessity”
and “frightfulness” which is the most violent form of atheism that has
yet attacked European society. Germany will perish by her “Kultur” as
certainly as the Huns did by their heathenism. Indeed, in action they
are identical and rest upon the same hopelessness, the denial of the
divinity not of God only but of man.
That the defeat of Attila was a Christian victory is obvious at once,
if we follow his footsteps. He began his attack from the crossing of
the Rhine at Confluentes and fell upon Belgic Gaul. Metz fell. “On the
very vigil of the blessed Easter,” says Gregory of Tours, “the Huns
crossing out of Pannonia, burning as they came, entered Metz. They
gave the city to the flames, massacred the people, putting all to the
sword, killing even the priests before the altar of God. In all the
city nothing remained save the oratory of the blessed Stephen the
Protomartyr and Levite.” He asserts further that this chapel was spared
only because St. Stephen himself invoked the aid of SS. Peter and Paul,
who here already had superseded Romulus and Remus, it might seem, as
the representatives of Rome, as Rome herself was about to become less
the capital of the world than of the Catholic Church.
All Lorraine lay under the torch of the Hun. He passed on into
Champagne. Rheims fell. The inhabitants had fled to the woods. St.
Nicasius the bishop was cut down before the altar as he recited a
part of the 118th Psalm: _Adhaesit pavimento anima mea; vivifica
me secundum verbum tuum._ His sister, named Eutropia, fearing the
brutality of the invaders, struck the murderer in the face and was cut
down with her brother. Suddenly, we read, the church was filled with
a strange thunder, the Huns fled in superstitious fear, deserting the
half-destroyed town. On the following day the inhabitants returned to
their ruins.
From Rheims the Hunnish flood swept on to St. Quentin and even to
Tongres; all northern Gaul from the Marne to the Rhine was laid waste,
everyone was a fugitive,--ruined, helpless. The peoples of the smaller
towns fled first to the greater, and then with the peasants fled into
the hills and the woods. It is in the fate of one of these little towns
later to be so famous, indeed the capital of the West, Lutetia or
Paris, that we have the most characteristic as it is the most amazing
episode of the defence.
Of St. Geneviève’s life we know little apart from the legend which has
transformed the wonderful reality into a delightful tale. St. Germanus
of Auxerre found her under the hill of Valerian, a little girl of
seven years, and his delight in her was but the first example of the
influence her character was to have upon men and events. She was the
spirit of Christian France incarnate. Joan of Arc is, as it were, but
a repetition of her, and over that later and more famous maid she has
this advantage; she was of Paris when Paris only had meaning, as it
were, in her and her act.
Of her legend one can never have enough; but here I will only give
that part of it which concerns this moment. “Tidings came to Paris,”
says Voragine, who has summed up in his marvellous narrative all the
earlier hagiographers: “Tidings came to Paris that Attila the felon
king of the Huns had enterprised to destroy and waste parts of France
and to subdue them to his domination. The burgesses of Paris, for great
dread that they had, sent their goods into other cities more sure. St.
Geneviève warned and admonished the good women of the town that they
should wake in fastings and in orisons by which they might assuage the
ire of Our Lord and eschew the tyranny of their enemies, like as did
sometime the holy women Judith and Esther. They obeyed her and were
long and many days in the church in wakings, fastings and in orisons.
She said to the burgesses that they should not remove their goods, nor
send them out of the town of Paris, for the other cities that they
supposed should be more sure, should be destroyed and wasted, but by
the Grace of God Paris should have no harm. And some had indignation at
her and said that a false prophet had arisen and appeared in their time
and began among them to ask and treat whether they should not drown her
or stone her. Whilst they were thus treating, as God would, came to
Paris after the decease of St. Germain, the archdeacon of Auxerre, and
when he understood that they treated together of her death he came to
them and said: ‘Fair sirs, for God’s sake do not this mischief, for
she of whom ye treat, St. Germain witnesseth that she was chosen of
God in her mother’s belly and lo, here be letters that he hath sent to
her in which he recommendeth him to her prayers.’ When the burgesses
heard these words recited by him of St. Germain and saw the letters,
they marvelled and feared God and left their evil counsel and did no
more thereto. Thus Our Lord kept her from harm, which keepeth always
them that be his, and defendeth after that the apostle saith, and for
her love did so much that the Tyrants approached not Paris, Thanks and
glory to God and honour to the Virgin.”
That is, as I say, the most characteristic and the most significant
episode, as it is the most amazing, of the defence. Paris was not
to fall, was not even to be attacked. Attila was surfeited with
destruction and loot, he was forced now to concentrate his attention
upon the attack on the Visigoths of the south lest Rome and Aetius
should stand in his way and imperil his whole campaign. His plan must
be to defeat the Visigoths before he was forced to face Aetius coming
up out of Italy, and with this on his mind he set out from Metz with
his main army, passed through Toul and Rheims, which were gutted,
through Troyes and Sens, which he was in too great haste to destroy,
and over the Sologne, held then by his ally the King of the Alans,
Sangibanus, and marched directly upon Orleans. That march represented
the work of a whole month. He left Metz in the early days of April, he
arrived before Orleans in the early days of May.
Orleans stands upon the most northern point of the Loire, the great
river which divides Gaul east and west into a northern and a southern
country. It has been the point around which the destinies of the Gauls
have so often been decided--one has only to recall the most famous
instance of all, the deliverance under Joan of Arc--that it is without
surprise we see it fulfilling its rôle in the time of Attila also.
From time immemorial, before the beginning of history, it had been an
important commercial city, for it stood not only on one of the greatest
and most fruitful rivers of western Europe, but, as I have said, upon
the marches of the north and south, whose gate it was. No one could
pass without its leave, at least in safety. Anciently it was known
as Genabum and there had been planned and conceived the great revolt
which so nearly engulfed Julius Cæsar, who burnt it to the ground. It
stood then, as later when it rose again, upon the northern bank of the
river and was joined with the south by a great bridge. The resurrection
after that burning was not long delayed, but it seems to have been less
magnificent than might have been expected and it certainly suffered
much from war, so that in 272, in the time of Aurelian, it was rebuilt
with a wall about it, and for this cause took the name of the Emperor.
Times, however, were sadly changed with the great city when Attila came
into Gaul. Much certainly was in ruin, the municipal government in full
decadence or transition and it was therefore with a dreadful fear in
her heart that Orleans watched the oncoming of the Huns. Nevertheless
the city put herself into a state of defence. The first direct assault
upon her was made by that Sangibanus, King of the Alans, and Attila’s
ally, who requested to be allowed to garrison it. Orleans refused and
closed her gates. At the same time she sent forth her bishop (and this
is as significant of the true state of affairs of government in Gaul as
the facts about Tongres, Rheims and Paris) into the south, still Roman,
to Arles to learn when Aetius might be expected in relief and how far
the Visigoths would move, not for their own defence only, but against
the common enemy.
Anianus, for such was the bishop’s name, thus appears as the
representative, the ambassador and the governor of the city. In Arles,
to his delight, he found not only a secure and even splendid Roman
government, but the great general himself, Aetius, who received him
with impress. Anianus urged the necessity of an immediate assistance.
He reckoned that it would be possible to hold out till the middle of
June, but no longer. Aetius heard him patiently and promised that by
then he would relieve the city. Anianus was not too soon, he had scarce
returned to Orleans when Attila began the siege.
It will be asked, and with reason, why it was that Rome had waited so
long before interfering to defend her great western province against
this “wild beast”? Why had Aetius not marched out of Italy at the head
of his armies months before? why had he waited till all the North
was a ruin before he carried the eagles over the Alps and confronted
this savage and his hordes with the ordered ranks of the army of
civilisation? The answer may be found in the war we are fighting
to-day against a similar foe. The French failed to defend the North
against the modern Attila because they were too long uncertain which
way he would come and where he would strike hardest. They could not
be sure which was the decisive point of the German attack. This it
was that kept so great a proportion of their armies in Alsace and
upon that frontier. They credited the German with more subtlety
than he possessed. They failed to grasp the gigantic simplicity of
the Barbarian plan; the mighty hammer-stroke that shattered Belgium
and plunged in to destroy all the North of France. They looked for
something less blindly brutal and more wise. They could not believe
that the German would destroy his whole case and outrage the moral
consciousness of the world by violating the neutrality of Belgium. They
failed to comprehend the essential stupidity of the Barbarian. They
were wrong.
Aetius was wrong also, but with perhaps more excuse. He could not make
up his mind where the real attack of Attila upon the Empire was to be
delivered. What if the descent upon Gaul were but a feint and Italy
were the real objective, Lombardy the true battlefield? There was this
also; in Africa, Genseric, Attila’s ally, waited and threatened to
descend upon the coast. Aetius overrated the intelligence of his enemy
as much as did Joffre. Neither understood the force which opposed him,
which it was to be their business and their glory to meet and to break.
Like Joffre, too, when Aetius at last found himself face to face with
the reality of the situation he must have dared only not to despair.
The successes of the Huns had decided the Visigoths to remain on the
defence within their own confines; they refused to attack. Everywhere
the Roman delay had discovered treason among the tribes who should have
been their allies against a common foe. Aetius could only not despair.
He addressed the Visigoths, though perhaps with more right, much as we
might address to-day the Americans. “If we are beaten you will be the
next to be destroyed; while if you help us to win yours will be the
glory.” The Visigoths replied as America is doing to-day: “It is not
our business; see you to it.”
They were wrong, the victory of Rome was as necessary for the future as
our victory is to-day.
Much indeed was already achieved to that end by the mere presence of
Aetius in Gaul. Suddenly the whole country was changed, everywhere the
peoples sprang to arms, the noble and the peasant, the bourgeois of the
cities, the bond and the free. From Armorica came an heroic company,
the Ripuarian Franks and the Salian Franks having seen the ruin of the
Roman cities of the country they had been permitted to occupy, the
Burgundians also returned to, if they had indeed ever left, their old
allegiance. So successful at last was the diplomacy of Rome that when
even Sangibanus appeared Aetius feigned to be ignorant of his treason.
The great general prepared with a good heart for the attack, but was
determined to do everything possible to mobilise the Visigoths with his
other forces. It was with this object that at last he sought the aid
of Avitus, the senator, a very great Gaulish nobleman who lived in the
city of Clermont, the chief town of the Auvergne.
In Avitus we have a figure which at once arrests our attention amid all
the welter of Barbarians of which even Gaul was full. In him we see,
and are assured, that the civilisation of Rome was still a living thing
in the West, that it had not been overwhelmed by savages or lost in a
mist of superstition. Avitus indeed seems to have stepped suddenly
out of the great Roman time, he reminds us of what we have learned to
expect a Roman noble of the time of Marcus Aurelius, or for that matter
of St. Ambrose, to be. In him we see one we can greet as a brother; we
should have been able to discuss with him the decline of the Empire.
A rich man, coming of a noble family which for long had enjoyed the
highest honour and the heaviest official responsibility, a scholar, a
connoisseur, above all a somewhat bored patriot, he was also a soldier
distinguished for his personal courage. He had already in 439 been
successful in arranging a treaty for Rome with the Visigoths, and it
was to him in this hour of enormous peril that Aetius turned again. He
found him in his beautiful, peaceful and luxurious villa of Avitacum
amid the foothills of the mountains of Auvergne, living as so many of
our great nobles of the eighteenth century lived, half a farmer, half a
scholar, wholly epicurean and full of the most noble self-indulgence,
surrounded by his family, his son and daughter, and his friends, poets
and scholars and delightful women. His son Ecdicius was the heir both
of his wealth and his responsibilities, his daughter Papianella had
married Sidonius Apollinaris of Lyons, a man already famous as a poet
and coming of a distinguished Gallo-Roman family. It was this man who
in the moment of crisis appeared on behalf of civilisation at the
Visigoths’ Court--we could not have had a more noble representative.
His mission was wholly successful; but the time spent in showing the
Visigoths where their interests lay was to cost Orleans dear. The
devoted city wholly surrounded and every day submitted to the assaults
and the clouds of arrows of the Huns, hearing no news of any relief,
was in despair. In vain the Bishop Anianus went in procession through
the streets, and even among the troops on the ramparts, bearing the
relics of his church; they called him traitor. Still firm in his faith
in God and in the promise of Aetius, daily he made men climb the last
high tower in expectation of deliverance. None came, no sign of the
armies of Aetius could be discerned. Day after day the mighty roads
southward lay in the sun white and empty of all life. At last he sent
by stealth a messenger to Aetius with this message: “My son, if you
come not to-day it will be too late.” That messenger never returned.
Anianus himself began to doubt and at last heard counsels of surrender
almost without a protest; indeed consented himself to treat with the
Huns. But Attila was beside himself at the length of the resistance, he
would grant no terms. Nothing remained but death or worse than death.
Upon the following morning, the week having been full of thunder,
the first rude cavalry of the Huns began to enter the city through
the broken gates. The pillage and massacre and rape began, and, as
to-day in Belgium, we read with a certain order and system. Nothing
was spared, neither the houses of the citizens, nor their holy places,
neither age nor sex. It seemed as though all would perish in a vast and
systematic vandalism and murder.
Suddenly a cry rose over the noise of the butchery and destruction.
The Eagles! The Eagles! And over the mighty bridge that spans the
Loire thundered the cavalry of Rome, and the tumultuous standards of
the Goths. They came on; nothing might stop them. Step by step they
won the bridge head, they fought upon the shore, in the water, through
the gates. Street by street, fighting every yard, the Imperial troops
pushed on, the glistening eagles high overhead. House by house, alley
by alleyway was won and filled with the dead; the Huns broke and fled,
the horses stamped out their faces in the byways, in the thoroughfares
there was no going, the Barbarian carrion was piled so high; Attila
himself was afraid. He sounded the retreat.
That famous and everlasting day was the 14th of June, for Aetius had
kept his word. Orleans had begun the deliverance of Gaul and of the
West.
VII
THE RETREAT OF ATTILA AND THE BATTLE OF THE CATALAUNIAN PLAINS
The retreat of Attila from Orleans would seem to have been one of
the most terrible of which we have any record. The Gothic chronicler
Jornandes, writing a hundred years after the events he describes,
wholly or almost wholly at the mercy of a Gothic and so a Barbarian
legend, would seem, though poorly informed as to facts and details, to
be fully justified in the general impression he gives of the horror and
disaster which befell the Hunnish host. It is certain that Attila’s
withdrawal of his army must have been not only difficult but impossible
without disaster: too many and too brutal crimes had been committed for
the ruined population of northern Gaul to permit it an easy passage
in retreat. The devastated country could no longer supply its needs,
everywhere ruined men awaited revenge: it can have been little less
than a confused flight that Attila made with his thousands towards the
Rhine, with Aetius and Theodoric ever upon his flanks.
Nor was he to escape without battle. The Imperial armies pressing
on behind him gained upon him daily, a sufficient comment upon his
state, and it was really in despair that he reached at last the city
of Troyes, more than a hundred miles from Orleans, an open city which
there might, he hoped, be time to loot, and so to restore to some
extent the confidence and the condition of his people. That he was not
able to loot Troyes is the best evidence we could have of the energy of
the Imperial pursuit; but here again we meet with one of those almost
incredible interpositions of the spiritual power that we have already
seen at Tongres, at Rheims, at Paris, and not least at Orleans. It must
have meant almost everything to Attila on his hurried and harassed
road north-east out of Gaul to be able to feed and to rest his army at
Troyes, where the great road by which he had come crossed the Seine.
That he was not able to do this was doubtless due fundamentally to
the pressure of Aetius upon his flanks, but there was something more,
we are told. Just as Anianus of Orleans had by his prayers saved his
city, so Lupus of Troyes defended his town in the same way. He, the
Bishop, and now perhaps the governor, of Troyes went forth to Attila,
faced and outfaced him, and indeed so impressed and even terrified the
superstitious Barbarian that he left Troyes alone and passed on, taking
only the Bishop himself with him a prisoner in his train. “For,” said
he, mocking him even in his fear, “if I take a man so holy as you with
me I cannot fail of good luck even to the Rhine.”
Attila passed on; he had crossed the Seine; before him lay the passage
of the Aube, and it was here that the advance guard of the Imperial
armies first got into touch with their quarry. It was night. Attila
had left the Gepidae to hold the crossing, and it was they who felt
the first blows of Aetius whose advance guard was composed of Franks;
the fight endured all night and at dawn the passage was won and some
15,000[12] dead and wounded lay upon the field. Attila had crossed into
Champagne, but the Imperial army was already at his heels; he would
have to fight. The battle which followed, one of the most famous as it
is one of the most important in the history of Europe, whose future was
there saved and decided, would seem to have been fought all over that
wide and bare country of Champagne between the Aube and the Marne, and
to have been finally focussed about the great earthwork still called
the Camp of Attila by Châlons; it is known to history as the battle of
the Catalaunian plains.
It may well be that the fight at the passage of the Aube had given
Attila time to reach that great earthwork, one of the most gigantic and
impressive things in Europe, which rises out of that lost and barren
country of Champagne like something not wholly the work of man. There
he halted; convinced at last that he could not escape without battle,
he encamped his army and made ready for the conflict.
In this terrible and tragic place he held council, and superstitious
as ever in the supreme moment of his career, began to consult an
endless procession of soothsayers, augurs and prophets upon the coming
battle. From the entrails of birds, or the veins upon the bones of
sheep, or the dying gestures of some animal, his sorcerers at last
dared to proclaim to him his coming defeat, but to save their heads,
perhaps, they added that the general of his enemies would perish in
the conflict. It is sufficient witness to the genius of Aetius, to
the fear he inspired in the Hun, and should be a complete answer to
his enemies and traducers, that Attila, when he heard this, from
despair passed immediately to complete joy and contentment. If after
all Aetius defeated him at the price of his life, what might he not
recover when his great adversary was no more! He therefore made ready
with a cheerful heart for the conflict. Jornandes, whom we are bound to
follow, for he is our chief, if not quite our only authority for all
this vast onslaught of the Hun upon the Gaul, describes for us, though
far from clearly, the configuration and the development of the battle.
In following this writer, however, it is necessary to remember that he
was a Goth, and relied for the most part upon Gothic traditions; also,
above all, it is necessary not to abandon our common sense, protest he
never so insistently.
Jornandes tells us that Attila put off the fight as long as possible
and at last attacked, or so I read him, not without fear and
trepidation, about three o’clock in the afternoon, so that if fortune
went against him the oncoming of night might assist him to escape.
He then sketches the field. Between the two armies, if I read him
aright, was a rising ground which offered so much advantage to him who
should occupy it that both advanced towards it, the Huns occupying it
with their right and the Imperialists with their right, composed of
auxiliaries.
On the right wing of the Romans Theodoric and his Visigoths held the
field, on the left wing Aetius and the Romans; between them holding the
centre and himself held by Aetius and Theodoric was the uncertain Alan
Sangiban.
The Huns were differently arranged. In the midst, surrounded by his
hardest and best warriors, stood Attila considering as ever his
personal safety. His wings were wholly composed of auxiliaries, among
them being the Ostrogoths with their chiefs; the Gepidae with their
King; and Walamir the Ostrogoth; and Ardaric, King of the Gepidae,
whom Attila trusted and loved more than all others. The rest, a crowd
of kings and leaders of countless races, waited the word of Attila.
For Attila, king of all kings, was alone in command and on him alone
depended the battle.
The fight began, as Jornandes insists, with a struggle for the
rising ground between the two armies. The advantage in which seems
to have rested with the Visigoths, under Thorismund, who thrust back
the Huns in confusion. Upon this Attila drew off, and seeing his
men discouraged, seized this moment to harangue them, according to
Jornandes, somewhat as follows:
“After such victories over so many nations, after the whole world has
been almost conquered, I should think it ridiculous to rouse you with
words as though you did not know how to fight. I leave such means to a
new general, or to one dealing with raw soldiers. They are not worthy
of us. For what are you if not soldiers, and what are you accustomed to
if not to fight; and what then can be sweeter to you than vengeance and
that won by your own hand? Let us then go forward joyfully to attack
the enemy, since it is always the bravest who attack. Break in sunder
this alliance of nations which have nothing in common but fear of us.
Even before they have met you fear has taught them to seek the higher
ground and they are eager for ramparts on these wide plains.
“We all know how feebly the Romans bear their weight of arms; it is
not at the first wound, but at the first dust of battle they lose
heart. While they are forming, before they have locked their shields
into the _testudo_, charge and strike, advance upon the Alans and press
back the Visigoths. Here it is we should look for speedy victory. If
the nerves are cut the members fail and a body cannot support itself
upright when the bones are dragged out of it. Lift up your hearts and
show your wonted courage, quit you like Huns and prove the valour of
your arms, let the wounded not rest till he has killed his enemy, let
him who remains untouched steep himself in slaughter. It is certain
that nothing can touch him who is fated to live, while he will die
even without war who will surely die. And wherefore should fortune
have made the Huns the vanquishers of so many nations if it were not
to prepare them for this supreme battle? Why should she have opened to
our ancestors a way through the marshes of Azov unknown till then if
it were not to bring us even to this field? The event does not deceive
me; here is the field to which so much good fortune has led us, and
this multitude brought together by chance will not look into the eyes
of the Huns. I myself will be the first to hurl my spear against the
enemy, and if any remain slothful when Attila fights, he is but dead
and should be buried.”
These words, says Jornandes, warmed the hearts of the Huns so that they
all rushed headlong into battle.
We know really nothing of the tremendous encounter which followed, the
result of which saved the Western world. It is true that Jornandes
gives us a long account of it, but we are ignorant how far it is likely
to be true, whence he got it, and how much was his own invention.
That the battle was immense, we know; Jornandes asserts that it had
no parallel and that it was such that, if unseen, no other marvel in
the world could make up for such a loss. He tells us that there was a
tradition that a stream that passed over the plain was swollen with
blood into a torrent: “they who drank of it in their thirst drank
murder.” It was by this stream, according to Jornandes, that Theodoric,
King of the Visigoths, was thrown from his horse and trampled under
foot and slain, and so fulfilled the prophecy which Attila’s sorcerers
had declared to him. The fall of the King appears so to have enraged
the Visigoths--and here we must go warily with Jornandes--that they
engaged the enemy more closely and almost slew Attila himself in their
fury. Indeed, it was their great charge which flung him and his guard,
the Hunnish centre, back into the mighty earthwork which before them
seemed but a frail barrier so enormous was their rage. Night fell upon
the foe beleaguered and blockaded within that mighty defence.
In that night Thorismund, the son of Theodoric, was lost and found
again. Aetius, too, separated in the confusion of the night from his
armies, found himself, as Thorismund had done, among the waggons of the
enemy, but like Thorismund again found his way back at last and spent
the rest of the night among the Goths.
When day dawned, what a sight met the eyes of the allies. The vast
plains were strewn with the dying and the dead, 160,000 men had fallen
in that encounter, and within that terrible earthwork lay what was left
of the Huns, wounded and furious, trapped as Alfred trapped Guthrum
later upon the Wiltshire downs.
The battle had cost the Imperialists dear enough. Nor was their loss
all. The death of Theodoric brought with it a greater anxiety and
eventually cost Aetius his Gothic allies. A council of war was called.
It was determined there to hold Attila and starve him within his
earthwork. In the meantime search was made for the body of Theodoric.
After a long time this was found, “where the dead lay thickest,” and
was borne out of the sight of the enemy, the Goths “lifting their harsh
voices in a wild lament.” It is to be supposed that there Theodoric
was buried. And it is probable that the bones and swords and golden
ornaments and jewels which were found near the village of Pouan by
the Aube in 1842 may well have been the remains of Theodoric and his
funeral, for the fight doubtless raged over a great territory, and it
is certain that the king would be buried out of sight of the foe. On
the other hand, these bones may have belonged to a Frankish chief who
had fallen in the fight for the passage of the Aube.
But it is in his account of the events that followed the burial of
Theodoric that we most doubt our guide Jornandes. He declares that
Thorismund, Theodoric’s son and successor, wished to attack the Hun
and avenge his father’s death; but that he consulted Aetius as the
chief commander, who “fearing if the Huns were destroyed, the Goths
might still more hardly oppress the Empire, advised him to return to
Toulouse and make sure of his kingdom lest his brothers should seize
it. This advice Thorismund followed without seeing the duplicity of
Aetius.” Such an explanation of the treason of the Goths was doubtless
accepted by the Gothic traditions and especially comfortable to
Jornandes. It is incredible, because any observer could see that Attila
was not so badly beaten that he was not a far greater danger to the
Empire than ever the Visigoths could be. To let him escape, and that is
what the departure of Thorismund meant, was treason, not to the Goths,
but to the Empire. It served the cause not of Aetius but of Thorismund,
not of Rome but of the Goths, whose loyalty was never above suspicion
and whose slow adhesion to the Imperial cause had been the talk of Gaul
and the scandal of every chancellery.
But Aetius could not have been much astonished by the desertion, and
it was no less, of Thorismund. Rome was used to the instability of her
Barbarian allies who if they really could have been depended upon, if
they had really possessed the quality of decision, and known their own
minds would no longer have been Barbarians. It was Attila who was
amazed. He had given himself up for lost when looking out from that
dark earthwork at dawn he saw the Visigothic camp empty and deserted,
and at the sight “his soul returned into his body.” Without a moment’s
hesitation, broken as he was, he began a retreat that Aetius was not
able to prevent or to turn into a rout, which he could only ensure and
emphasise. Upon that long march to the Rhine all the roads were strewn
with the Hunnish sick and wounded and dead, but the main army, what was
left of the half-million that had made the invasion, escaped back into
the forests of Germany. Gaul was saved, and with Gaul the future of the
West and of civilisation. But Attila was not destroyed.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Jornandes, _R. Get._, 41. According to the Abbe Dubos the “XC
millibus” which appears in the text of Jornandes is the mistake of a
copyist for “XV millibus.”
VIII
ATTILA’S ATTACK UPON AND RETREAT FROM ITALY
It might seem to be a hard question to answer whether Attila was
really beaten or not in Gaul. This at least is certain, the retreat
from Orleans to the Camp by Châlons was a disaster for him, and the
great battle which followed was only not annihilating because of the
desertion of the Visigoths. Attila saved what that retreat and battle
had left of his army, and without delay, for necessity pushed him on,
turned to prove upon the body of Italy itself that he was still the
“universal tyrant” and the “scourge of God.”
Historians of the decline and fall of the Empire, of the invasions of
the Barbarians, have consistently expressed surprise, often not unmixed
with contempt and derision, that Attila was allowed to escape. But it
must be remembered that it is the almost unbroken characteristic of the
Barbarian wars that the invaders did escape; so Alaric continually
avoided destruction at the hands of Stilicho; and if the Visigoths were
thus able to save themselves how much more was Attila whose armies were
so largely composed of mounted men. It might seem that the superiority
of the Barbarian lay in just that, mobility; the rude and savage men
that composed their armies were content and able to live upon the
country they ravaged, they were not dependent as were the Imperial
armies upon their bases and their supply; they were always a bolt shot
at a venture. Their success is paralleled in our own day by that of
the Boers in South Africa. We do not blame Roberts and Kitchener that
they allowed De Wet to escape them for so long; we understand that
it was inevitable it should be so. Not thus argued the Romans. Full
of discontent, rotten with intrigue and corruption as the Imperial
Government was, there were many who from personal hatred and ambition,
or mere treason, blamed and traduced Aetius for the escape of Attila
which they had planned and prayed for in their hearts. Any weapon was
good enough to use against the great general who apparently suffered
neither fools nor traitors gladly, and was as ambitious if as able as
Stilicho. Every sort of calumny was used against him. It was recalled
that he had had intimate relations with Roua, the uncle of Attila, it
was suggested that he had purposely spared the Huns.
To all this bitterness much was added by the acts of Aetius himself.
Immeasurably proud, like Stilicho, he pretended to claim the hand
of the Princess Eudoxia, the daughter of the Emperor Valentinian,
for his son; moreover, among his other preparations against a new
attack of Attila was a plan to remove the Emperor into Gaul; that he
might replace him himself, his enemies declared. So violent grew the
opposition to this last project that it had to be abandoned. Aetius was
content to send Valentinian to Rome, while he himself, with his army,
held Ravenna and the line of the Po.
In the first chapter of this book I have briefly explained the Imperial
theory of the defence of Italy; that theory I have at greater length,
and I think for the first time, set forth in a previous work.[13] Here
I must very briefly recapitulate in saying that the valley of the Po,
the whole Cisalpine Plain between the Alps and the Apennines, was in
the Imperial theory, and rightly, the defence of Italy. That defence
was barred again upon the inward or southern side by the barren and
therefore impassable range of the Apennines,--impassable, that is,
save at the eastern extremity, where the Via Emilia ran between the
mountains and the sea into the city of Rimini. That narrow pass was
commanded and held not by Rimini, which was indefensible, but by
Ravenna which, on account of its position in the marshes, could not be
taken and scarcely attacked. It was the due and wise recognition of
these facts that caused the Emperor Honorius to take up his residence
in Ravenna when Alaric crossed the Alps. That city had been the key to
the defence of Italy ever since; it remained so now, therefore Aetius
went thither gathering his army along the Via Emilia behind the line of
the Po to await the final adventure of Attila.
Having failed to destroy the Eastern Empire, having failed in his
attack upon the western provinces, the only thing that remained for
Attila to attempt was the destruction and rape of the soul of all,
the citadel of civilisation, Italy and Rome. It was the hardest task
of all, therefore in his prudence, and he was always prudent, he had
not tried it till now. It was his last throw. It was to fail, and that
so contemptibly that his campaigns East and West in comparison
seem like triumphs. Like Kaiser Wilhelm II., what Attila lacked in
real force he strove to supply with blasphemy and boasting. He was
as ill-informed and as ignorant of the real nature and strength of
the forces opposed to him as the German statesmen of our day; he
exaggerated and relied upon the corruption of the Empire; above all,
like the Kaiser, he failed to see that the future frowned against him
dark and enormous as the Alps.
[Illustration: CISALPINE GAUL AND THE DEFENCE OF ITALY]
Tradition rightly imposed upon Aetius the defence of Italy at the
expense as it were of Cisalpine Gaul; it insisted that Cisalpine Gaul
was to be the scene of the encounter. He determined to hold the line of
the Po as he had held the line of the Loire; there was no need to be
doubtful of his success. Already so many Barbarian invaders had found
destruction in the immensity of that great plain. Nevertheless Aetius
reinsured himself and Rome; he reinsured himself with Constantinople.
It was no longer Theodosius the Calligrapher who sat on the Eastern
throne, but Marcian the soldier. To him Valentinian sent ambassadors;
Marcian heard them and promised an army. If, then, Aetius could lure
Attila on far enough, but not too far for the safety of Italy, if he
could hold him in the Cisalpine Plain, Marcian coming into Pannonia
would be in time to cut off his retreat, and so at last the Hun would
be utterly destroyed, and the bones of his great host might bleach
beside the rivers of Lombardy. There at any rate we have the best
explanation of what followed.
Before the winter was over, the winter of 451-452, Attila was already
moving south-west out of Barbary over the Danube, and at last by the
great Roman road through Pannonia, crossing the Julian Alps as Alaric
had done before him to cross the Isonzo, to lay siege to the first
great Italian fortress, then perhaps, save Ravenna, the strongest place
in all Italy, Aquileia, the capital of the province of Venetia. The
walls of this mighty stronghold which was some sixty stadia from the
sea were washed by the rivers Natiso and Turrus. I say it was, save
Ravenna, the strongest place in Italy. It had been made so about the
end of the fourth century, but it had much longer ranked third among
Italian fortresses, only outstripped by Milan and Capua. Though set
in the plain it was so strongly held with walls and towers that it
enjoyed the reputation of being impregnable. Both Alaric and Radagaisus
had passed it by; in the early spring of 452 Attila laid siege to
it. For three months he laboured in vain; no engine he possessed, no
contrivance he could command, no labour he could compel, were enough
to break those Roman walls and to batter down the gates of this virgin
fortress. He hoped to starve it out, but in three months the number of
his armies, their depredations and ravages of the countryside began to
tell far more against him than against the beleaguered city. Living on
the country as he must do he was himself like to go hungry; moreover
the spring heats in the marshy plains were already due, his hosts were
discontented, they expected the loot of Italy, they began to remember
the siege of Orleans and the battle of Châlons.
Furious at being denied, enraged with his people, and perhaps most
of all with himself, the Hun was about to pass on as Alaric had done
in spite of the danger which was greater far now than in the time of
the Goth, when one evening, so it is said, as he moodily rode within
sight of the walls and towers of his inaccessible prey after the heat
of the day he saw by chance a stork preparing to leave her nest on
one of the towers of the great city, and to fly with her young into
the country. In this he saw an assurance of victory. On the morrow
once more he hounded his Huns to the assault: and no man since that
day has found even the ruins of Aquileia.[14] It was not defeat, it
was extermination, complete pillage, and fire. So horrible were the
cruelties there committed that they can only be compared with what the
Germans have done, and in our day, in Belgium. History records the fate
of a young and beautiful woman, Dougna by name, who, pursued by a band
of Huns, wrapped her head in her veil and flung herself from the walls
into the Natiso.
The fall of Aquileia, the extermination of its inhabitants and the
horrors that were committed terrorised all Venetia. It was the Prussian
doctrine of “frightfulness” carried out with as little scruple as,
though more excuse than, that we have seen at work with so great an
amazement, and rage, and disgust here in the West upon the body of our
Godchild Belgium. Attila marched on; Altinum and Concordia suffered
the same fate; they too disappear from the pages of history; Padua and
Modena were ravaged and burnt. Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, Milan
and Pavia opened their gates, they were but spoiled, their inhabitants
exchanged death for slavery. In that long night such as might flee fled
away doubtless demanding of God whither they should go. God led them to
the lagoons.
That Attila thought he was already victorious when he looked on his
ruins as Kaiser Wilhelm did when his “heart bled for Louvain” (blood
from a stone indeed!) an incident twice recorded by Suidas bears
witness. It seems that in Milan, among the mural decorations of the
palace, was one representing two Roman Emperors enthroned and clothed
in the purple with certain Barbarians, Huns or Scythians, prostrate,
demanding mercy at their feet. This work Attila ordered to be effaced
and in its stead to be painted one in which he himself sat enthroned,
while before him the two Roman Emperors poured gold from great sacks
which they bore on their backs. A witty, if brutal jest; futile, too,
since along the Po still flashed the eagles of Aetius and already over
the Alps came the rumour of the armies of Byzantium.
And, indeed, in the heart of Attila there was more fear than hope, fear
of the gods of this strange and lovely country he had ruined, of the
gods of the marshes and the heats that were already devastating his
armies with fever, of those gods Peter and Paul whom he had already
learnt to dread in Gaul and whose City, the most ancient and the most
holy in the world, it was in his heart next to ravage and to sack; fear
of his own armies now heavy with loot and riches, anxious for home and
already on the verge of starvation in a country they had made utterly
barren; fear most of all, perhaps, of his own destiny. “What,” he asked
himself, “if I conquer like Alaric only to die as he did?”
That the very name of Rome was still terrible to the Barbarians is
certain. They feared her name. Nevertheless the pride of Attila and
his ambition conquered his fear of his army, of his destiny, of the
name of Rome. He was determined to go on, and with this intention he
ordered his troops to concentrate from Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia,
Bergamo, Milan and Pavia upon Mantua, whence he proposed to cross the
Po, probably at Hostilia, and so to descend upon the Via Emilia at
Bologna.
This move seems to have disturbed Rome profoundly. The enemies of
Aetius were there in the ascendant with the Emperor, and their
influence with the government was enough to cause a deep disquietude
with regard to the strategy of the great general. They remembered
Alaric; they remembered Radagaisus; they recalled the fate of Orleans,
and the escape after the battle of Châlons, above all they whispered
of Aquileia, Altinum and Concordia which were no more. In this state
of panic they left Aetius out of account, they forgot the army of
Marcian already on the move, they repudiated the whole strategy of
their general and with it their own traditions. They decided to send an
especial and unprecedented embassy to Attila, to offer a price for the
safety of Italy. The ambassador they chose was the Pope.
Perhaps this amazing act ought not to astonish us, for we have seen
the like so often in Gaul. The acts of Anianus of Orleans, of Lupus
of Troyes, should have prepared us for the supreme act of S. Leo the
Great. That they have not done so is sufficient to prove to us that
we have failed to understand the time. Moreover, this great embassy
was not the first Leo had undertaken on behalf of the Imperial Court.
During the pontificate of Sixtus III (432-40), when Leo was Roman
Deacon, Valentinian III had sent him to Gaul to settle a dispute and
bring about a reconciliation between Aetius their chief military
commander in that province and Albinus the chief magistrate. Sixtus
III died on August 19, 440, while Leo was in Gaul, and the ambassador
was chosen as his successor.
The great Pope did not go alone upon this his last great mission, with
him were two illustrious nobles, the Consul Gennadius Avienus, who
after the Emperor was the greatest noble in the West, and the Prefect
Trigetius. They set out from Rome by the Via Flaminia and met Attila
as they had intended before he crossed the Po, on the Mincio near
Mantua--in a place called the Campus Ambuleius. It was there one of the
most grave and famous conferences that have ever been held in Europe
met.
The ambassadors were all in official dress, Leo wore his pontifical
vestments, the golden mitre, a chasuble of purple with the pallium.
It was he who dealt with Attila, in what manner we know not, but with
complete success. It was not the armies of Aetius after all that saved
Italy, and with Italy all that was worth having in the world, but an
old and unarmed man, Leo our Pope, for above him in the sky the Hun
perceived, so he declared, the mighty figures of S. Peter and S. Paul;
his eyes dazzled, he bowed his head. Yielding, he consented to retreat
and evacuate Italy and the Empire. It is as though the new head and
champion of civilisation, of Christendom, had declared himself. It was
the Pope.
The terms of the treaty then made were doubtless shameful enough to
old Roman ideas, for they certainly involved an annual tribute to
the Hun, from whom, moreover, no indemnity was exacted for the ruin
of the Transpadana. But the great fact of the situation created by
Leo overshadowed all this; Italy, the soul of the West, was saved.
If, as we have a right to suppose, Aetius had no direct part in this
achievement, both he and Marcian were probably indirectly responsible
for it and in fact had far more to do with it than Leo. Were the
Roman armies nothing, then, or the Byzantine threat against Attila’s
communications only a dream?
Not so. Attila retreated because like another Barbarian he “could do no
other,” and even so he dared not retrace his way over the Julian Alps,
for Marcian was already in Moesia, and ready and anxious to meet and to
punish him. He retreated instead upon that Verona which he had ruined,
crossed the Alps there, and after pillaging Augsburg, was lost, as it
proved for ever, in the storm of the north and the darkness of his
Barbary.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] See my “Ravenna; a Study” (Dent), 1912.
[14] So Jornandes who asserts that Aquileia was so utterly destroyed
“ita ut vix ejus vestigia ut appareant reliquerint.”
IX
ATTILA’S HOME-COMING
Such was the return, such was the failure of Attila. He had looked to
hold the world in fee; he returned for the last time across the Danube
his desire unaccomplished, his hopes dead. He had struck first the East
and perhaps ruined it, but he had failed to take Constantinople. He had
struck Gaul and left its cities shambles, but he had not destroyed the
armies of Aetius. He had desired Rome for his plunder and his pride,
but Leo had turned him back before he crossed the Po. Every attack
had ended in a long retreat; if he brought ruin to a hundred Imperial
cities, at last he but achieved his own. He returned to his wooden
stockade in the heart of Hungary with all his hopes unfulfilled, all
his achievements undone, a ruined man.
That he did not realise his failure is but to emphasise the fact that
he was a Barbarian. To him, doubtless, destruction and booty, ruin and
loot seemed the end of war, he had not even in this his last hour
begun to understand what the Empire was. And so if we ask ourselves
what in reality the enormous energy of the Hunnish onslaught achieved
in the first half of the fifth century, we are compelled to answer,
nothing; nothing, that is, consciously and directly. Unconsciously
and indirectly, however, the restless brutality of Roua and of Attila
brought to pass these two great and even fundamental things; it was
the cause of the passing of Britain into England, and it founded the
republics of the lagoons which were to produce Venice the Queen of the
Adriatic.
Of all this, of his failure as of those strange achievements, Attila
was wholly unaware. He came home like a conqueror to his wooden palace
in the midst of a great feast prepared for him, to be greeted as
Priscus describes he had been greeted before, on his return from the
ruin of the East and his failure to reach Constantinople. He had made
the West his tributary; he was laden with the gold and the spoil of
northern Italy. It was enough for him, and so he made ready with joy to
marry yet another wife, to add yet one more to his concubines; not that
Honoria who would have been the sign of his victory, but one rather a
prey than a prize, pitiful in her youth and helpless beauty, Ildico,
or as the German legends call her Hildegrude, perhaps a Frankish or a
Burgundian princess.
It is said, we know not with how much truth, that upon that long and
last retreat as he crossed the river Lech by Augsburg an old woman with
streaming hair, a witch or a sorceress, cried out to him thrice as he
passed, “Retro Attila!” It is part of the legend which makes so much of
his history.
Upon the night of his last orgy or wedding he had feasted and drunk
beyond his wont and he was full of wine and of sleep when he sought the
bed of the beautiful and reluctant Ildico, the last of his sacrifices
and his loot. What passed in that brutal nuptial chamber we shall never
know. In the morning there was only silence, and when his attendants
at last broke into the room they found Attila dead in a sea of blood,
whether murdered by his victim or struck down by apoplexy cannot be
known. It is said that Ildico had much to avenge--the murder of her
parents and her brothers as well as her own honour.
From that dreadful, characteristic chamber the Huns bore the body of
their King, singing their doleful uncouth songs, to bury him in a
secret place prepared by slaves who were duly murdered when their work
was accomplished. Jornandes has preserved or invented for us the great
funeral dirge which accompanied the last Barbarian rite. It celebrated
Attila’s triumphs over Scythia and Germany which bore his yoke so
meekly, and over the two Emperors who paid him tribute.
He left no memorial but his terror written in the fire and smoke of
burning cities, and that tradition of “frightfulness” to which Kaiser
Wilhelm II first appealed to his troops on their departure for China,
and which he is practising upon the body of Europe to-day. For upon
his death Attila’s vast and barbaric hegemony fell to pieces. Enormous
revolts broke it in sunder, and e’er many years had passed the very
memory of it was forgotten.
“Kingless was the army left:
Of its head the race bereft.
Every fury of the pit
Tortured and dismembered it.
Lo, upon a silent hour,
When the pitch of frost subsides,
Danube with a shout of power
Loosens his imprisoned tides:
Wide around the frighted plains
Shake to hear his riven chains,
Dreadfuller than heaven in wrath,
As he makes himself a path:
High leap the ice-cracks, towering pile
Floes to bergs, and giant peers
Wrestle on a drifted isle;
Island on ice-island rears;
Dissolution battles fast:
Big the senseless Titans loom,
Through a mist of common doom
Striving which shall die the last:
Till a gentle-breathing morn
Fires the stream from bank to bank,
So the Empire built of scorn
Agonized, dissolved and sank.”
SOURCES
I
AMMIANI MARCELLINI RERUM GESTARUM LIBER XXXI
II. 1. Totius autem sementem exitii et cladum originem diversarum, quas
Martius furor incendio solito miscendo cuncta concivit, hanc comperimus
causam. Hunnorum gens, monumentis veteribus leviter nota, ultra paludes
Maeoticas glacialem oceanum accolens, omnem modum feritatis excedit. 2.
Ubi quoniam ab ipsis nascendi primitiis infantum ferro sulcantur altius
genae, ut pilorum vigor tempestivus emergens corrugatis cicatricibus
hebetetur senescunt imberbes absque ulla venustate, spadonibus
similes: compactis omnes firmisque membris, et opimis cervicibus:
prodigiosae formae et pandi, ut bipedes existimes bestias, vel quales
in commarginandis pontibus effigiati stipites dolantur incompte. 3.
In hominum autem figura licet insuavi ita visi sunt asperi, ut neque
igni, neque saporatis indigeant cibis, sed radicibus herbarum agrestium
et semicruda cuiusvis pecoris carne vescantur, quam inter femora sua
et equorum terga subsertam, fotu calefaciunt brevi. 4. Aedificiis
nullis umquam tecti: sed haec velut ab usu communi discreta sepulchra
declinant. Nec enim apud eos vel arundine fastigatum reperiri tugurium
potest. Sed vagi montes peragrantes et silvas, pruinas, famem, sitimque
perferre ab incunabulis adsuescunt. Peregre tecta nisi adigente
maxima necessitate non subeunt; nec enim apud eos securos existimant
esse sub tectis. 5. Indumentis operiuntur linteis, vel ex pellibus
silvestrium murium consarcinatis: nec alia illis domestica vestis est,
alia forensis. Sed semel obsoleti coloris tunica collo inserta non
ante deponitur aut mutatur, quam diuturna carie in pannulos defluxerit
defrustata. 6. Galeris incurvis capita tegunt: hirsuta crura coriis
munientes haedinis: eorumque calcei formulis nullis aptati, vetant
incedere gressibus liberis. Qua causa ad pedestres parum accommodati
sunt pugnas: verum equis prope adfixi, duris quidem, sed deformibus,
et muliebriter iisdem nonnumquam insidentes, funguntur muneribus
consuetis. Ex ipsis quivis in hac natione pernox et perdius emit
et vendit, cibumque sumit et potum, et inclinatus cervici angustae
iumenti, in altum soporem adusque varietatem effunditur somniorum.
7. Et deliberatione super rebus proposita seriis, hoc habitu omnes
in commune consultant. Aguntur autem nulla severitate regali, sed
tumultuario optimatum ductu contenti, perrumpunt, quidquid inciderit.
8. Et pugnant nonnumquam lacessiti, sed ineuntes proelia cuneatim
variis vocibus sonantibus torvum. Utque ad pernicitatem sunt leves et
repentini; ita subito de industria dispersi vigescunt, et incomposita
acie cum caede vasta discurrunt: nec invadentes vallum, nec castra
inimica pilantes prae nimia rapiditate cernuntur. 9. Eoque omnium
acerrimos facile dixeris bellatores, quod procul missilibus telis,
acutis ossibus pro spiculorum acumine arte mira coagmentatis, sed
distinctis: cominus ferro sine sui respectu confligunt, hostesque, dum
mucronum noxias observant, contortis laciniis illigant, ut laqueatis
resistentium membris equitandi vel gradiendi adimant facultatem. 10.
Nemo apud eos arat, nec stivam aliquando contingit. Omnes enim sine
sedibus fixis, abseque lare vel lege, aut ritu stabili dispalantur,
semper fugientium similes: cum carpentis, in quibus habitant: ubi
coniuges taetra illis vestimenta contexunt, et coërunt cum maritis,
et pariunt, eo adusque pubertatem nutriunt pueros. Nullusque apud
eos interrogatus, respondere, unde oritur, potest, alibi conceptus,
natusque procul, et longius educatus. 11. Per indutias infidi,
inconstantes, ad omnem auram incidentis spei novae perquam mobiles,
totum furori incitatissimo tribuentes. Inconsultorum animalium ritu,
quid honestum inhonestumve sit, penitus ignorantes: flexiloqui et
obscuri, nullus religionis vel superstitionis reverentia aliquando
districti: auri cupidine immensa flagrantes: adeo permutabiles, et
irasci faciles, ut eodem aliquoties die a sociis nullo irritante
saepe desciscant, itidemque propitientur nemine leniente. 12. Hoc
expeditum indomitumque hominum genus, externa praedandi aviditate
flagrans immani, per rapinas finitimorum grassatum et caedes, adusque
Alanos pervenit, veteres Massagetas: qui unde sint, vel quas incolant
terras (quoniam huc res prolapsa est) consentaneum est demonstrare,
geographica perplexitate monstrata, quae diu multa luda..., et
varia, tandem reperit veritatis interna ...* ...* ad.... 13. Hister
advenarum magnitudine fluenti Sauromatas praetermeat adusque amnem
Tanaim pertinentes, qui Asiam terminat ab Europa. Hoc transito, in
immensum extentas Scythiae solitudines Alani inhabitant, ex montium
adpellatione cognominati, paullatimque nationes conterminas crebritate
victoriarum attritas ad gentilitatem sui vocabuli traxerunt ut Persae.
14. Inter hos Neuri mediterranea incolunt loca, vicini verticibus
celsis, quos praeruptos geluque torpentes aquilones adstringunt. Post
quos Budini sunt, et Geloni perquam feri, qui detractis peremptorum
hostium cutibus indumenta sibi, equisque termina conficiunt, bellatrix
gens. Gelonis Agathyrsi collimitant, interstincti colore caeruleo
corpora simul et crines: et humiles quidem minutis atque raris, nobiles
vero latis, fucatis et densioribus notis. 15. Post hos Melanchlaenas
et Anthropophagos palari accepimus per diversa, humanis corporibus
victitantes: quibus ob haec alimenta nefanda desertis, finitimi omnes
longa petiere terrarum. Ideoque plaga omnis Orienti aestivo obiecta,
usque dum venitur ad Seras, inhabitabilis mansit. 16. Parte alia prope
Amazonum sedes Alani sunt Orienti acclines, diffusi per populosas
gentes et amplas, Asiaticos vergentes in tractus, quas dilatari adusque
Gangen accepi fluvium, intersecantem terras Indorum, mareque inundantem
australe.
17. Ibi partiti per utramque mundi plagam Alani (quorum gentes
varias nunc recensere non refert) licet dirempti spatiis longis, per
pagos, ut Nomades, vagantur immensos: aevi tamen progressu ad unum
concessere vocabulum, et summatim omnes Alani cognominantur mores
et media et efferatam vivendi, sed iam immaturam. 18. Nec enim ulla
sunt illisce tuguria, aut versandi vomeris cura, sed carne et copia
victitant lactis, plaustris supersidentes, quae operimentis curvatis
corticum per solitudines conferunt sine fine distentas. Cumque ad
graminea venerint, in orbiculatam figuram locatis sarracis ferino
ritu vescuntur: absumptisque pabulis, velut carpentis civitates
impositas vehunt, maresque supra cum feminis coëunt, et nascuntur in
his et educantur infantes: et habitacula sunt haec illis perpetua;
et quocumque ierint, illic genuinum existimant larem. 19. Armenta
prae se agentes cum gregibus pascunt: maximeque equini pecoris
est eis sollicitior cura. Ibi campi semper herbescunt, intersitis
pomiferis locis: atque ideo transeuntes quolibet, nec alimentis nec
pabulis indigent: quod efficit humectum solum et crebri fluminum
praetermeantium cursus. 20. Omnis igitur aetas et sexus imbellis circa
vehicula ipsa versatur, muniisque distringitur mollibus: iuventus vero
equitandi usu a prima pueritia coalescens, incedere pedibus existimat
vile: et omnes multiplici disciplina prudentes sunt bellatores. Unde
etiam Persae, qui sunt originitus Scythae, pugnandi sunt peritissimi.
21. Proceri autem Alani paene sunt omnes et pulchri, crinibus
mediocriter flavis, oculorum temperata torvitate terribiles, et
armorum levitate veloces, Hunnisque per omnia suppares, verum victu
mitiores et cultu: latrocinando et venando adusque Maeotica stagna
et Cimmerium Bosporon, itidemque Armenios discurrentes et Mediam.
22. Utque hominibus quietis et placidis otium est voluptabile; ita
illos pericula iuvant et bella. Iudicatur ibi beatus, qui in proelio
profuderit animam: senescentes enim et fortuitis mortibus mundo
digressos, ut degeneres et ignavos conviciis atrocibus insectantur:
nec quidquam est, quod elatius iactent, quam homine quolibet occiso;
proque exuviis gloriosis, interfectorum avulsis capitibus detractas
pelles pro phaleris iumentis accommodant bellatoriis. 23. Nec templum
apud eos visitur, aut delubrum, ne tugurium quidem culmo tectum cerni
usquam potest: sed gladius barbarico ritu humi figitur nudus, eumque
ut Martem, regionum, quas circumcircant, praesulem verecundius colunt.
24. Futura miro praesagiunt modo: nam rectiores virgas vimineas
colligentes, easque cum incantamentis quibusdam secretis praestituto
tempore discernentes, aperte, quid protendatur, norunt. 25. Servitus
quid sic ignorabant, omnes generoso semine procreati: iudicesque etiam
nunc eligunt, diuturno bellandi usu spectatos. Sed ad reliqua textus
propositi revertamur.
II
EX HISTORIA BYZANTINA PRISCI RHETORIS ET SOPHISTAE
_Excerpta de Legationibus Gentium ad Romanos._
(Niebuhr. Bonn. 1829.)
1. Scythae, quo tempore mercatus Scytharum et Romanorum frequenti
multitudine celebrabatur, Romanos cum exercitu sunt adorti, et multos
occiderunt. Romani ad Scythas miserunt, qui de praesidii expugnatione
et foederum contemptu cum eis expostularent. Hi vero se non ultro
bellum inferentes, sed factas iniurias ulciscentes, haec fecisse
responderunt. Margi enim episcopum in suos fines transgressum, fiscum
regium et reconditos thesauros indagatum expilasse. Hunc nisi dederent
una cum transfugis, ut foederibus convenerit, (esse enim apud eos
plures,) bellum illaturos. Quae cum Romani vera esse negarent, barbari
vero in eorum, quae dicebant, fide perstarent, iudicium quidem de his,
quae in contentione posita erant, subire minime voluerunt, sed ad
bellum conversi sunt. Itaque transmisso Istro, oppidis et castellis
ad ripam sitis plurima damna intulerunt, et inter cetera Viminacium,
quae Moesorum urbs est in Illyrico, ceperunt. His gestis, cum multi
in sermonibus dictitarent, episcopum dedi oportere, ne unius hominis
causa universa Romanorum respublica belli periculum sustineret:
ille se deditum iri suspicatus, clam omnibus civitatem incolentibus
ad hostes effugit, et urbem traditurum, si sibi Scytharum reges
liberalitate sua consulerent, pollicitus est. Ad ea cum beneficium
omni ratione se repensuros promitterent, si rem ad exitum perduceret,
datis dextris et dictis iureiurando utrinque praestito firmatis, ille
cum magna barbarorum multitudine in fines Romanorum est reversus. Eam
multitudinem cum ex adverso ripae in insidiis collocasset, nocte dato
signo exsiliit, et urbem in manus hostium traduxit. Et ab eo tempore
barbarorum res in diem auctiores melioresque fuerunt.
2. Sub Theodosio Iuniore Imperatore Attilas Hunnorum rex delectum ex
suis habuit, et litteras ad Imperatorem scripsit de transfugis et de
tributis, ut, quaecumque occasione huius belli reddita non essent,
quam citissime ad se mitterentur, de tributis autem in posterum
pendendis legati secum acturi ad se venirent: nam si cunctarentur aut
bellum pararent, ne se ipsum quidem Scytharum multitudinem diutius
contenturum. His litteris lectis, Imperator nequaquam Scythas, qui
ad se confugissent, traditurum dixit, sed una cum illis in animo
sibi esse, belli eventum exspectare. Ceterum se legatos missurum qui
controversias dirimerent. Ea sicuti Romani decreverant, ubi Attilas
rescivit, ira commotus Romanorum fines vastavit, et castellis quibusdam
dirutis, in Ratiariam urbem magnam et populi multitudine abundantem
irruptionem fecit.
3. Post pugnam in Chersoneso commissam Romani cum Hunnis pacem per
Anatolium legatum fecerunt, et in has conditiones convenerunt: profugos
Hunnis reddi, sex millia auri librarum pro praeteritis stipendiis
solvi; duo millia et centum in posterum singulis annis tributi nomine
pendi. Pro unoquoque captivo Romano, qui in Romanorum fines, non
soluto redemptionis pretio, evasisset, duodecim aureorum mulctam
inferri. Quae si non solveretur, qui captivum recepisset, restituere
teneri. Romanos neminem ex barbaris ad se confugientem admittere. In
has quidem foederum leges Romani sponte consensisse videri volebant:
sed necessitate coacti, superante metu, qui Romanorum ducum mentes
occupaverat, quantumvis duras et iniquas conditiones sibi impositas
summo pacis consequendae studio ducti lubentibus animis susceperunt,
et gravissimum tributum pendere non recusabant, quamquam opes
imperii et regii thesauri non ad necessarios usus, sed in absurda
spectacula, in vanos honorum ambitus, in immodicas voluptates et
largitiones consumptae fuerant, quales nemo sanae mentis vel in maxime
affluentibus divitiarum copiis sustineret, nedum Romani isti, qui
rei militaris studium adeo neglexerant, ut non solum Scythis, sed et
reliquis barbaris, qui proximas imperii Romani regiones incolebant,
vectigales facti essent. Itaque tributa et pecunias, quas ad Hunnos
deferri oportebat, Imperator omnes conferre coegit: nulla etiam eorum
immunitatis habita ratione, qui terrae onere, tanquam nimis gravi ad
tempus, sive Imperatorum benignitate, seu iudicum sententia, levati
erant. Conferebant etiam aurum indictum qui in Senatum ascripti
erant, ultra quam facultates ferre poterant, et multis splendida et
illustris fortuna vitae commutationem attulit. Conficiebantur enim
pecunias, quae unicuique imperatae erant, cum acerbitate et contumelia
ab iis, quibus huius rei cura ab Imperatore erat demandata. Ex quo,
qui a maioribus acceptas divitias possidebant, ornamenta uxorum et
pretiosam suam supellectilem in foro venum exponebant. Ab hoc bello tam
atrox et acerba calamitas Romanos excepit, ut multi aut abstinentia
cibi, aut aptato collo laqueo vitam finierint. Tunc igitur, parvo
temporis momento exhaustis thesauris, aurum et exules (nam Scotta,
qui susciperet, advenerat,) ad Scythas missi sunt. Romani vero multos
ex profugis, qui dedi reluctabantur, trucidarunt, inter quos aliqui
fuerunt e regiis Scythis, qui militare sub Attila renuerant et Romanis
se adiunxerant. Praeter has pacis conditiones Attilas Asimuntiis quoque
imperavit, ut captivos, quos penes se habebant, sive Romanos, sive
barbaros, redderent. Est autem Asimus oppidum validum, non multum ab
Illyrico distans, quod parti Thraciae adiacet, cuius incolae gravibus
damnis hostes affecerunt. Non illi quidem se murorum ambitu tuebantur,
sed extra propugnacula certamina sustinebant contra infinitam Scytharum
multitudinem et duces magni apud eos nominis et existimationis. Itaque
Hunni omissa spe ab oppugnando oppido destiterunt. Illi autem vagantes
et a suis longius aberrantes, si quando hostes exisse et praedas ex
Romanis egisse, exploratores denuntiabant, inopinantes aggressi parta
ab eis spolia sibi vindicabant, numero quidem inferiores adversariis,
sed robore et virtute praestantes. Itaque Asimuntii plurimos ex Scythis
in hoc bello necaverunt, et multos Romanorum in libertatem asseruerunt,
et hostium transfugas receperunt. Quamobrem Attilas, se exercitum
non ante moturum, aut foederis conditiones ratas habiturum professus
est, quam Romani, qui ad Asimuntios pervenissent, redderentur, aut pro
his mulcta conventa solveretur, et liberarentur abducti in servitutem
barbari. Quum, quae contra ea dissereret, non haberet Anatolius
legatus, neque Theodulus, praesidiariorum Thraciae militum dux, (nihil
enim rationibus suis barbarum movebant, qui recenti victoria elatus,
promte ad arma ferebatur, ipsi contra propter recens acceptam cladem
animis ceciderant,) Asimuntiis per litteras significarunt, ut Romanos
captivos, qui ad se perfugissent, restituerent, aut pro unoquoque
captivo duodecim aureos penderent, et Hunnos captivos liberarent.
Quibus litteris lectis, Romanos, qui ad se confugissent, liberos
se abire sivisse, Scythas vero, quotquot in suas manus venissent,
trucidasse responderunt. Duos autem captivos retinere, propterea quod
hostes, obsidione omissa, in insidiis collocati, nonnullos pueros, qui
ante munitiones greges pascebant, rapuissent, quos nisi reciperent,
captivos iure belli sibi acquisitos, minime restituros. Haec
renuntiarunt qui ad Asimuntios missi fuerant. Quibus auditis, Scytharum
regi et Romanis principibus placuit exquiri pueros, quos Asimuntii
raptos esse querebantur. Sed nemine reperto, barbari ab Asimuntiis
capti sunt dimissi, prius tamen fide a Scythis accepta, non esse
apud ipsos pueros. Iuraverunt etiam Asimuntii, se Romanos, qui ad se
effugissent, libertate donasse, quamvis adhuc multos in sua potestate
haberent. Nec enim sibi perierasse videbantur, modo suos a barbarorum
servitute salvos et incolumes praestarent.
4. Pace facta, Attilas rursus legatos ad Romanos Orientales mittit,
qui transfugas repeterent. At illi legatos plurimis donis ornatos,
cum nullos perfugas apud se esse asseverassent, dimiserunt. Misit
et iterum Attilas alios, quibus non minus amplis muneribus ditatis,
tertia ab eo, post illam itidem quarta legatio advenit. Ille enim
Romanorum liberalitatem, qua utebantur, veriti, ne a foederibus barbari
discederent, ludibrio habens, novas subinde causas fingebat, et vanas
occasiones legatorum mittendorum excogitabat, et ad suos necessarios,
quos liberalitate ornare volebat, eas legationes deferebat. Romani vero
in omnibus rebus Attilae dicto audientes erant, et quae praecipiebat,
domini iussa ducebant. Non solum enim a bello contra eum suscipiendo
eorum rationes abhorrebant, sed et Parthos, qui bellum apparabant,
et Vandalos, qui maritimas oras vexabant, et Isauros, qui praedis
et rapinis grassabantur, et Saracenos, qui regiones ad Orientem
excursionibus vastabant, metuebant. Praeterea gentes Aethiopum in
armis erant. Itaque Romani animis fracti Attilam colebant, sed ceteris
gentibus resistere conabantur, dum exercitus comparabant, et duces
sortiebantur.
5. Edecon, vir Scytha, qui maximas res in bello gesserat, venit
iterum legatus cum Oreste. Hic genere Romanus Paeoniam regionem,
ad Saum flumen sitam, incolebat, quae ex foedere inito cum Aetio,
Romanorum Occidentalium duce, barbaro parebat. Itaque Edecon in
palatium admissus, Imperatori litteras Attilae tradidit, in quibus de
transfugis non redditis querabatur, qui nisi redderentur, et Romani a
colenda terra abstinerent, quam bello captam suae ditioni adiecerat,
ad arma se iturum minabatur. Ea vero secundum Istrum a Paeonibus ad
Novas usque in Thracia sitas in longitudinem extendebatur. Latitudo
autem erat quinque dierum itinere. Neque vero forum celebrari, ut
olim, ad ripam Istri volebat, sed in Naisso, quam urbem a se captam
et dirutam quinque dierum itinere expedito homini ab Istro distantem,
Scytharum et Romanorum ditionis limitem constituebat. Legatos quoque
ad se venire iussit controversa disceptaturos, non ex quolibet hominum
genere et ordine, sed ex consularibus illustriores, quos si mittere
intermiserint, se ipsum ad eos arcessendos in Sardicam descensurum. His
litteris lectis, digresso ab Imperatore Edecone, cum Bigila, qui ea,
quae Attilas verbis Imperatori denuntiari voluit, interpretatus erat,
cum reliquas quoque domos obiret, ut in conspectum Chrysaphii spatharii
Imperat. veniret, qui plurimum auctoritate et gratia apud Imperatorem
valebat, admirabatur barbarus regiarum domuum magnificentiam. Bigilas
autem, simulatque barbarus in colloquium venit cum Chrysaphio,
interpretans retulit, quantopere laudasset Imperatorias aedes, et
Romanos beatos duceret propter affluentes divitiarum copias. Tum
Edeconi Chrysaphius dixit, fore eum huiusmodi domuum, quae aureis
tectis praefulgerent, compotem et opibus abundaturum, si, relicta
Scythia, ad Romanos se conferret. “Sed alterius domini servum,
Edecon ait, nefas est eo invito tantum facinus in se admittere.”
Quaesivit ex eo eunuchus, an facilis illi ad Attilam pateret aditus,
et num qua potestate apud Scythas esset. Ille sibi necessitudinem
intercedere cum Attila, respondit, et decretam sibi cum nonnullis
aliis Scythiae primoribus eius custodiam. Nam per vices unumquemque
eorum praescriptis diebus cum armis circa Attilam excubias agere. Tum
eunuchus, si fide interposita se obstringeret, inquit, se maximorum
bonorum illi auctorem futurum. Cui rei tractandae otio opus esse.
Hoc vero sibi fore, si ad coenam rediret sine Oreste et reliquis
legationis comitibus. Facturum se pollicitus barbarus coenae tempore
ad eunuchum pergit. Tum per Bigilam interpretem datis dextris et
iureiurando utrimque praestito, ab eunucho, se de rebus, quae Edeconi
minime damno, sed fructui et commodo essent, verba facturum, ab
Edecone, se, quae sibi crederentur, non enuntiaturum, etiamsi exsequi
nollet. Tunc eunuchus Edeconi dixit, si in Scythiam rediens Attilam
sustulerit, et Romanorum partibus accesserit, vitam in magnis opibus
beate traducturum. Eunucho Edecon assensus est. Ad hanc rem peragendam
opus esse pecuniis, non quidem multis, sed quinquaginta auri libris,
quas militibus, quibus praeesset, qui sibi ad rem impigre exsequendam
adiumento essent, divideret. Cum eunuchus, nulla mora interposita, dare
vellet, dixit barbarus, se prius ad renuntiandam legationem dimitti
oportere, et una secum Bigilam, qui Attilae de transfugis responsum
acciperet; per eum enim se illi, qua ratione aurum sibi mitteret,
indicaturum. Etenim Attilam se, simulatque redierit, percunctaturum,
ut reliquos omnes, quae munera sibi et quantae pecuniae a Romanis dono
datae sint. Neque id celare per collegas et comites licitum fore. Visus
est eunucho barbarus recta sentire, et eius est amplexus sententiam.
Itaque eo a coena dimisso, ad Imperatorem consilium initum detulit, qui
Martialium, magistri officiorum munere fungentem, ad se venire iussum
docuit conventionem cum barbaro factam: id enim illi credi et committi
iure magistratus, quem gerebat, necesse fuit. Nam omnium Imperatoris
consiliorum magister est particeps, sub cuius cura sunt tabellarii,
interpretes et milites, qui palatii custodiae deputati sunt. Imperatore
autem et Martialio de tota re consultantibus placuit, non solum
Bigilam, sed et Maximinum legatum mittere ad Attilam.
6. Bigila insidiarum in Attilam manifeste convicto, Attilas, ablatis ab
eo centum auri libris, quas a Chrysaphio acceperat, extemplo Orestem
et Eslam Constantinopolim misit, iussitque Orestem, crumena, in quam
Bigilas aurum, quod Edeconi daretur, coniecerat, collo imposita, in
conspectum Imperatoris venire atque eunuchum interrogare, num hanc
crumenam nosset; deinde Eslam haec verba proferre, Theodosium quidem
clari patris et nobilis esse filium, Attilam quoque nobilis parentis
esse stirpem, et patrem eius Mundiuchum acceptam a patre nobilitatem
integram conservasse. Sed Theodosium tradita a patre nobilitate
excidisse, quod tributum sibi pendendo suus servus esset factus.
Non igitur iustam rem facere eum, qui praestantiori et ei, quem
fortuna dominum ipsi dederit, tanquam servus improbus clandestinas
paret. Neque se prius criminari illum eo nomine destiturum, quam
eunuchus ad supplicium sit traditus. Atque hi quidem cum his
mandatis Constantinopolim pervenerunt. Eodem quoque tempore accidit,
ut Chrysaphius a Zenone ad poenam deposceretur. Maximinus enim
renuntiaverat, Attilam dicere, decere Imperatorem promissis stare,
et Constantio uxorem, quam promiserit, dare, hanc enim, invito
Imperatore, nemini fas fuisse desponderi: aut enim eum, qui contra
ausus fuisset, poenas daturum fuisse, aut eo Imperatoris res deductas
esse, ut ne servos quidem suos coercere posset, contra quos, si vellet,
se auxilium ferre paratum. Sed Theodosius, iracundiam suam palam fecit,
cum bona puellae in publicum redegit.
7. Cum primum Attilae nuntiatum est, Martianum post Theodosii mortem
ad imperium pervenisse, et quae Honoriae accidissent, ad eum, qui in
Occidente rerum potiebatur, misit, qui contenderent, Honoriam nihil
se indignum admisisse, quam matrimonio suo destinasset; seque illi
auxilium laturum, nisi summa quoque imperii ei deferretur. Misit et
ad Romanos Orientales tributorum constitutorum gratia. Sed re infecta
legati utrimque sunt reversi. Etenim qui Occidentis imperio praeerat,
respondit, Honoriam illi nubere non posse, quod iam alii nupsisset.
Neque imperium Honoriae deberi. Virorum enim, non mulierum, Romanum
imperium esse. Qui in Oriente imperabat, se minime ratam habere tributi
illationem, quam Theodosius consensisset: quiescenti munera largiturum;
bellum minanti viros et arma obiecturum ipsius opibus non inferiora.
Itaque Attilas in varias distrahebatur sententias, et illi in dubio
haerebat animus, quos primum aggrederetur. Tandem melius visum est ad
periculosius bellum prius sese convertere, et in Occidentem exercitum
educere. Illic enim sibi rem fore non solum cum Italis, sed etiam cum
Gothis et Francis: cum Italis, ut Honoriam cum ingentibus divitiis
secum abduceret: cum Gothis, ut Genserichi gratiam promereretur.
8. Et Francos quidem bello lacessendi illi causa fuit regum ipsorum
obitus et de regno inter liberos controversia, quum maior natu
Attilam auxilio vocasset, Aëtium minor, quem Romae vidimus legationem
obeuntem, nondum lanugine efflorescente, flava coma, et capillis propter
densitatem et magnitudinem super humeros effusis. Hunc etiam Aëtius
filii loco adoptaverat, et plurimis donis ornatum ad Imperatorem, ut
amicitiam et societatem cum eo faceret, miserat. Quamobrem Attilas
antequam in eam expeditionem ingrederetur, rursus legatos in Italiam
misit, qui Honoriam poscerent: eam enim secum matrimonium pepigisse:
cuius rei ut fidem faceret, annulum ab ea ad se missum per legatos,
quibus tradiderat, exhiberi mandavit. Etiam dimidiam imperii partem
sibi Valentinianum debere, quum ad Honoriam iure paternum regnum
pertineret, quo iniusta fratris cupiditate privata esset. Sed quum
Romani Occidentales in prima sententia persisterent et Attilae mandata
reiicerent, ipse toto exercitu convocato maiore vi bellum paravit.
9. Attilas, vastata Italia, ad sua se retulit, et Romanorum
Imperatoribus in Oriente bellum et populationem denuntiavit, propterea
quod tributum sibi a Theodosio constitutum non solveretur.
EX HISTORIA GOTHICA PRISCI RHETORIS ET SOPHISTAE
_Excerpta de Legationibus Romanorum ad Gentes._
(Niebuhr. Bonn. 1829.)
1. Cum Rua, Hunnorum rex, statuisset cum Amalsuris, Itimaris,
Tonosuribus, Boiscis ceterisque gentibus, quae Istrum accolunt, quod
ad armorum societatem cum Romanis iungendam confugissent, bello
decertare, Eslam componendis Romanorum et Hunnorum controversiis
adhiberi solitum misit, qui Romanis denuntiaret, se a foedere, quod
sibi cum illis esset, recessurum, nisi omnes Scythas, qui ad eos se
contulissent, redderent. Romanis vero consilium de mittendis ad Hunnos
legatis capientibus, Plinthas et Dionysius, hic ex Thracia, ille ex
Scythia oriundus, ambo exercituum duces, et qui consulatus dignitatem
apud Romanos gesserant, hanc legationem obire voluerunt. Ut vero
visum est non ante legatos proficisci, quam Eslas ad Ruam rediisset,
Plinthas una cum Esla misit Singulachum, unum ex suis necessariis, qui
Ruae persuaderet cum nullo alio Romanorum, quam cum ipso, colloquium
inire. Cum autem, Rua mortuo, Hunnorum regnum ad Attilam pervenisset,
Senatus decrevit Plintham legationem ad Attilam exsequi. Quo S.C.
Imperatoris suffragio comprobato, Plintham cupido incessit, Epigenem,
qui sapientiae laude celebris erat et quaesturae dignitatem obtinebat,
socium legationis sibi adsciscere. Qua de re lato quoque suffragio
ambo in eam legationem profecti sunt, et Margum pervenerunt. Est autem
Margus urbs in Illyrico Mysorum ad Istrum sita, ex adverso Constantiae
arcis, ad alteram fluminis ripam collocatae, quo et regii Scythae
convenerant. Extra civitatem equis insidentes utrique congressi sunt.
Nec enim barbaris de plano verba facere placuit, et legati Romani suae
dignitatis memores eodem quoque apparatu in Scytharum conspectum venire
statuerunt, ne sibi peditibus cum equitibus disserendum foret. Itaque
placuit, profugos omnes, etiam qui multo ante profugerant, una cum
captivis Romanis, qui non soluto redemtionis pretio ad sua redierant,
dedi: aut pro unoquoque captivo Romano his, qui eum bello ceperant,
octo aureos dari, Romanos belli societatem cum barbara gente, quae
bellum cum Hunnis gerat, non facere. Conventus ad mercatus paribus
legibus celebrari, et in tuto Romanos e Hunnos esse. Foedera rata
manere et observari, si quoque anno septingentae auri librae tributi
nomine Scythis regiis a Romanis penderentur, cum antea tributum annuum
non fuisset nisi trecentarum quinquaginta librarum. His conditionibus
pacem Romani et Hunni pepigerunt, qua iureiurando patrio ritu utrimque
praestito firmata, utrique ad sua redierunt. Itaque qui ex barbaris ad
Romanos transierant redditi sunt, de quorum numero erant filii Mama
et Attacam ex regio genere, quos Scythae receptos in Carso, Thraciae
castello, crucis supplicio affecerunt, et hanc ab his fugae poenam
exegerunt. Pace cum Romanis facta, Attilas et Bleda ad subigendas
gentes Scythicas profecti sunt, et contra Sorosgos bellum moverunt.
2. Theodosius misit Senatorem, virum consularem, ad Attilam legationem
obiturum. Et ille quidem quamvis legati nomen adeptus esset, minime
tamen est ausus terrestri itinere Hunnos adire: sed iter per Pontum
Euxinum instituit, et in Odessenorum civitatem navigavit, in qua
Theodulus dux commorabatur.
3. Chrysaphius eunuchus suasit Edeconi Attilam de medio tollere. Super
ea re, habito ab Imperatore Theodosio cum Martialio magistro consilio,
decreverunt non solum Bigilam, sed et Maximinum legatum ad Attilam
ire, et Bigilam quidem specie interpretis, quo munere fungebatur, quae
Edeconi viderentur, exsecuturum, Maximinum vero, qui minime eorum,
quae in consilio Imperatoris agitata erant, conscius esset, litteras
ab eo Attilae redditurum. Scripserat enim Imperator legatorum causa,
Bigilam interpretis munus obiturum, et Maximinum legatum mitti, qui
quidem Bigilam dignitate superaret, et genere illustris et sibi valde
familiaris esset. Ad haec minime decere Attilam foedera transgredientem
Romanorum regionem invadere. Et antea quidem ad eum plures, nunc vero
decem et septem transfugas mittere. Nec enim plures apud se esse. Et
haec quidem litteris continebantur. Coram autem Maximinum suis verbis
iusserat Attilae dicere, ne postula et maioris dignitatis viros ad se
legatos transire. Hoc enim neque ipsius maioribus datum esse, neque
ceteris Scythiae regibus, sed quemlibet militem aut alium nuntium
legationis munus obiisse. Ceterum ad ea, quae inter ipsos in dubietate
versabantur, diiudicanda sibi videri, Onegesium mitti debere. Qui
enim fieri posset, ut in Serdicam, quae diruta esset, Attilas cum
viro consulari conveniret? In hac legatione Maximinus precibus mihi
persuasit, ut illi comes essem. Atque ita cum barbaris iter facere
coepimus, et in Serdicam pervenimus trium et decem dierum itinere
expedito homini a Constantinopoli distantem. Ibi commorantes ad cibum
nobiscum sumendum Edecona et ceteros barbaros invitandos duximus.
Bobus igitur et ovibus, quas incolae nobis suppeditaverant, iugulatis,
instructo convivio epulati sumus. Inter epulas barbari Attilam, nos
Imperatorem admirari et extollere. Ad quae Bigilas dixit, minime iustum
esse, deum cum homine comparare, hominem Attilam, deum Theodosium
vocans. Id aegre tulerunt Hunni, et sensim ira accensi exasperabantur.
Nos vero alio sermonem detorquere, et eorum iram blandis verbis
lenire. A coena ut surreximus, Maximinus Edeconem et Orestem donis
conciliaturus, sericis vestibus et gemmis Indicis donavit. Orestes
deinde praestolatus Edeconis discessum verba faciens cum Maximino,
sibi quidem, ait, illum probum et prudentem videri, qui non ut alii
ministri regii peccasset. Etenim nonnulli, spreto Oreste, Edeconem ad
coenam invitaverant et donis coluerant. Nos autem harum omnium rerum
ignari, quo pertinerent Orestis verba, non satis percipientes, cum
ex eo sciscitaremur, quomodo et qua in re despectui esset habitus et
Edecon honore affectus, nihil respondit, et discessit. Postridie cum
iter faceremus, Bigilae, quae Orestes dixerat, retulimus. Ille vero
ait, Orestem non debere iniquo animo ferre, si eadem, quae Edecon,
minime esset consecutus. Orestem enim comitem et scribam Attilae,
Edeconem vero bello clarissimum, ut in gente Hunnorum, longe illum
dignitate antecellere. Quae cum loqueretur, patrio sermone Edeconem
affatus, non multo post nobis confirmavit, seu vera proferret, seu
fingeret, se Edeconi ea, quae prius illi dixeramus, exposuisse, et
aegre iram eius ob dicta Orestis lenivisse. Venimus Naissum, quae ab
hostibus fuerat eversa et solo aequata: itaque eam desertam hominibus
offendimus, praeterquam quod in ruderibus sacrarum aedium erant quidam
aegroti. Paulo longius a flumine ad vacua lota divertentes (omnia enim
circa ripam erant plena ossibus eorum, qui bello ceciderant), postridie
ad Agintheum, copiarum in Illyrico ducem, qui non longe a Naisso
habitabat, accessimus, ut, traditis Imperatoris mandatis, reciperemus
ab eo quinque transfugas, qui septemdecim numerum, de quibus ad Attilam
scripserat, explerent. Hominem igitur convenimus, et quinque profugos
Hunnos tradere praecepimus, quos verbis consolatus, nobiscum dimisit.
Nocte transacta, a montibus Naissi Istrum versus pergentes, in angustam
convallem per obliquos flexus et circuitus multos deferimur. Hic cum
in ea opinione essemus, ut in occasum iter tendere existimaremus,
simulataque illuxit, sol exoriens sese ex adverso oculis nostris
obiecit. Itaque qui loci situm ignorabant, exclamare, tanquam sol
contrarium solito cursum conficeret, et abhorrentia a constituto
rerum ordine designaret: sed propter loci inaequalitatem via ea parte
ad Orientem spectat. Ex illo difficili et arduo loco ad plana et
uliginosa devenimus. Hic nos barbari portitores in scaphis unico ligno
constantibus, quas arboribus sectis et cavatis adornant, exceperunt,
et flumen transmiserunt. Et lembi quidem minime ad nos traducendos,
sed ad multitudinem barbarorum traiiciendam erant praeparati, quae
nobis in via occurreret, quia Attilas ad venationem in Romanorum
fines transgredi volebat. Revera autem bellum contra Romanos paravit,
cuius gerendi occasionem sumebat, quod transfugae non redderentur.
Transmisso Istro, septuaginta fere stadiorum iter cum barbaris emensi
in campo quodam subsistere coacti sumus, tantisper dum Edecon Attilam
nostri adventus certiorem faceret, manentibus interea nobiscum ex
barbaris, qui nos erant deducturi. Circa vesperam nobis coenantibus,
auditus est strepitus equorum ad nos venientium. Et duo viri Scythae
advenerunt, qui nos ad Attilam venire iusserunt. Nobis vero prius eos
ad coenam accedere rogantibus, de equis descendentes una convivium
inierunt, et postridie viam praeeuntes demonstrarunt. Qua die hora
fere nona ad Attilae tentoria pervenimus: nam erant ei plurima. Et cum
in colle quodam tentoria figere vellemus, obvii barbari prohibuerunt,
quoniam Attilae tentorium esset in planitie positum. Quamobrem ad
barbarorum arbitrium locum tentorii collocandi cepimus. Huc Edecon,
Orestes, Scotta et alii ex Scythis primores mox advenerunt, et ex
nobis quaesierunt, quarum rerum consequendarum gratia hanc legationem
suscepissemus. Nos vero invicem intueri, et tam ineptam percunctationem
admirari. Illi nihilominus perseverare, et nobis, ut responderemus,
instabant. At quum soli Attilae, non aliis Imperatorem mandata
exponere iussisse respondissemus, Scotta offensus, hoc sibi a suo duce
praeceptum esse dixit, neque sua sponte se ad nos venisse. Nos vero
obtestari, nusquam hanc legem legatis impositam, ut per alios mandata
edant et palam faciant, antequam eos, ad quos missi sint, adierint,
et in conspectum eorum venerint. Neque hoc Scythas nescire, qui
saepenumero legatos ad Imperatorem miserint. Idem et nobis contingere
par esse, neque aliter nos mandata esse dicturos. Quibus auditis ad
Attilam perrexerunt, unde non multo post sine Edecone reversi, omnia,
quae cum illis agere in mandatis habebamus, dixerunt, confestimque,
nisi quid aliud nobis cum illis rei esset, discedere iusserunt. Quae
ubi audivimus, animis dubii suspensique haesimus. Nec enim satis
intelligere poteramus, qua ratione occulta Imperatoris consilia
patefacta essent. Quamobrem potius esse duximus, nihil quicquam de
mandatis nostris efferre, priusquam nobis Attilam adeundi potestas
fieret: itaque respondimus: “Sive ea, quae Scythae modo protulerunt,
sive alia nuntiaturi venerimus, neminem nisi ducem vestrum quaerere
decet, neque de his cum aliis ullo pacto disserere constituimus.” Ille
vero nos quam primum abire iusserunt. Dum reditum parabamus, Bigilas
nos propter responsionem Scythis factam increpavit. Longe enim potius
fuisse in mendacio deprehendi, quam re infecta domum reverti. “Si
enim, inquit, cum Attila collocutus fuissem, facile illi a contentione
cum Romanis discedere persuasissem, quippe qui antea familiaritatem
cum illo in legatione cum Anatolio suscepta contraxi.” Atque inde
Edeconem quoque bene sibi velle dixit, ideoque specie legationis et
eorum, quae vere aut falso dicturi essent, ope viam se inventuros esse
speravit, qua compositas in Attilam insidias exsequerentur, et aurum,
quo Edecon sibi ad eam rem opus esse eunucho dixerat, adferretur,
quod certis hominibus divideretur. Sed Bigilam latebat, se proditum:
Edecon enim, sive simulate cum Eunucho pactus, sive ut ab Oreste
sibi caveret, ne ob eam causam, quam in Serdica inter coenandum
nobis indicaverat, iratus ad Attilam deferret, quod sine se secretos
sermones cum Imperatore et eunucho habuisset, Attilae comparatam in
ipsum coniurationem aperuit, et auri summam, quam in eam rem mitti
convenerat, simul et ea, quae per nos in ista legatione tractanda
erant, enuntiavit. Iumentis iam adornatis et necessitate ad iter
tempore noctis carpendum adacti, occurrere ex barbaris, qui dicerent,
Attilam iubere nos propter tempus noctis intempestivum remanere. In
eundem igitur locum, unde proficiscebamur, praesto fuere, qui bovem
agebant et pisces fluviatiles nobis ab Attila missos adferebant.
Coenati nos dormitum contulimus. Luce orta in spem adducebamur, Attilam
se ad lenitatem daturum, et aliquod mite responsum ad nos ab ipso
emanaturum. Ille vero denuo eosdem misit, iussitque abire, si nihil
aliud negotii, nisi quod iam omnibus cognitum erat, nobis cum illo
intercederet. Nullo dato responso ad iter nos accinximus, etsi Bigilas
omni ope contenderet, ut responderemus nos alia dicenda habere. Ego
vero cum Maximinum moerore confici viderem, assumto Rusticio, qui
barbarorum linguae peritus erat, et nobiscum in Scythiam venerat non
legationis, sed privatae rei causa, ad Constantium ex Italia oriundum,
quem ad Attilam Aëtius, Occidentalium Romanorum dux, ut illi ab
epistolis esset, miserat, Scottam adii, (nec enim aderat Onegesius,)
et cum illo per Rusticium interpretem collocutus, eum plurima dona
a Maximino laturum dixi, si illi aditus ad Attilam copiam faceret.
Legatum enim venire de rebus, quae non solum Romanis et Hunnis maximam
essent utilitatem allaturae, sed etiam ipsi Onegesio. Imperatorem
enim poscere, illum ad se legatum ab Attila mitti, qui diiudicaret
controversias inter utramque gentem, unde nonnisi ingentibus donis
cumulatus esset rediturus. Oportere igitur illum, cum Onegesius non
adsit, in tam praeclara actione nos aut potius fratrem ipsum adiuvare.
Et ipsi quoque Attilam plurimum fidere dixi me accepisse. Sed non
satis firma esse audita, nisi re ipsa notum faceret quantum illi
Attila tribueret. Atque ille: “Ne amplius, inquit, dubii sitis. Aeque
ac frater apud Attilam valeo auctoritate, seu verbis, seu facto opus
est.” Et ascenso equo, ad Attilae tentorium contendit. Ego vero ad
Maximinum rediens, qui una cum Bigila angebatur animo, et incertus erat
quid constituendum esset, narravi sermones, quos habueram cum Scotta,
et quae ab ipso audieram. Atque adeo illum excitavi ad praeparanda
munera, quibus Scottam remuneraretur, et praemeditandum, quibus verbis
Attilam affaretur. Surrexerunt igitur (offenderam enim illos in solo
herbido iacentes), et operam a me egregie navatam laudarunt, et eos,
qui se iam cum iumentis itineri accinxerant, revocarunt. Tum etiam qua
oratione Attilam aggrederentur, et quo modo dona Imperatoris, et quae
Maximinus ipse adferebat, traderent, inter se agitarunt. Dum in harum
rerum cura versabamur, Attilas nos per Scottam arcessivit: itaque ad
eius tentorium iter direximus, quod barbarorum multitudine, qui in
orbem excubias agebant, erat circumdatum. Introducti Attilam sedentem
in sella lignea invenimus. Stetimus paulo remotius ab eius solio: mox
processit Maximinus et salutavit barbarum. Et Imperatoris litteras
tradens dixit, salvum et incolumem illum suosque precari Imperatorem.
Et barbarus, “Sit et Romanis quemadmodum et mihi cupiunt,” inquit.
Statimque ad Bigilam convertit orationem, feram impudentem vocans,
quaerebat, qua re impulsus ad ipsum venisset, cum sibi eorum, quae et
ipse et Anatolius de pace sensissent, conscius esset: non enim prius
ad se legatos accedere debuisse, quam omnes profugi, qui apud Romanos
exstarent, redditi essent. Bigila vero respondente, nullum amplius apud
Romanos reperiri transfugam Scythici generis; omnes enim redditos esse;
magis exasperatus Attilas, in eum multa probra et convitia ingessit.
Et cum clamore dixit, se illum in crucem acturum et praedam vulturibus
praebiturum fuisse, nisi leges legationis hac impudentis eius orationis
et temeritatis poena offendere vereretur. Etenim restare adhuc apud
Romanos plures transfugas, quorum nomina, ut erant in charta descripta,
iussit scribas recitare. Hi ubi omnia legerant, Attilas Bigilam una
cum Esla sine mora proficisci iussit Romanis denuntiatum, ut omnes
transfugas Scythicae nationis, quotquot in eorum potestate essent,
redderent, a tempore Carpilionis, filii Aëtii, Romanorum Occidentalium
ducis, qui obses apud eum fuerat. Non enim se servos suos secum manus
conserere passurum esse, quamquam ne iis quidem, qui suae ditionis
custodiam illis promiserint, prodesse possint. Quae enim urbs, quod
castellum ab illis possit defendi, quod evertere aut diruere apud se
constitutum habuerit? Postquam exposuerint a se de transfugis decreta,
redire eos quamprimum iussit renuntiatum, utrum transfugas reddere,
an bellum eo nomine malint suscipere. Non multo ante Maximinum paulum
exspectare iusserat, dum ad ea, quae Imperator scripserat, per se
responsum daret, munera petiit. Quae postquam dedimus, in tentorium
nostrum nos recepimus, et de singulis, quae dicta fuerant, inter nos
disseruimus. Cum autem Bigilas admiraretur, qui fieret, ut Attilas,
qui sibi iampridem, cum legatus ad illum veniret, comis et perhumanus
visus esset, tunc se acerbis contumeliis affecisset, dixi, vereri me,
ne qui ex barbaris, qui in Serdica nobiscum epulati erant, Attilam
infensum nobis reddidissent, et Bigilam Romanorum Imperatorem deum,
Attilam vero hominem appellasse, retulissent. Quam orationem Maximinus
ut verisimilem est amplexus, quia coniurationis in Attilam ab eunucho
initae particeps non fuerat. Sed Bigilas ambiguus animi erat, neque
causam suspicari posse videbatur, quare Attilas eum tam acerbis
convitiis insectatus esset. Nec enim in animum suum inducere poterat,
ut nobis postea retulit, enuntiata fuisse, quae in convivio in Serdica
dicta fuerant, nec coniurationem in Attilam detectam, cum nemo ex omni
multitudine, quae Attilam circumstabat, excepto Edecone, prae metu,
qui omnium mentes pervaserat, cum Attila sermonem instituere auderet,
Edeconem autem studiose operam daturum censeret, omnia silentio
transigere, tum propter iusiurandum, tum propter negotii gravitatem:
ne, quia clandestinis in Attilam consiliis interfuerat, reus iudicatus,
poena mortis afficeretur. Haec cum ambigua mente volveremus, Edecon
supervenit, et abducto a nostro coetu Bigila (fingebat enim velle vere
et serio de praemeditatis inter eos insidiis agere), ubi aurum adferri
praecepit, quod his daretur, qui exsequendo facinori operam navaturi
essent, discessit. Ego vero cum Bigilam curiosius inquirerem, quos
sermones secum Edecon habuisset, decipere conatus est, deceptus et
ipse, et veram causam occultans commentus est sibi Edeconem dixisse,
Attilam illi quoque propter transfugas succensuisse. Oportuisse enim
aut omnes restitui, aut legatos summa auctoritate praeditos ad illum
venire. Haec dum loquebamur, advenere ab Attila, qui Bigilam et nos
prohiberent, captivum Romanum, aut barbarum mancipium, aut equos, aut
quicquam aliud emere, praeterquam quae ad victum necessaria erant,
donec inter Romanos et Hunnos de rebus controversis convenisset. Haec
callide et praemeditato consilio barbarus faciebat, quo facilius
Bigilam in consilio contra se exsequendo deprehenderat, cum nullam
satis idoneam causam comminisci posset, cur aurum adferret. Nos
quoque praetenta causa responsi, quod ad legationem editurus erat,
Onegesium opperire coëgit, ut munera, quae ad eum Imperator miserat,
et tradere volebamus, acciperet. Etenim tum forte Onegesius una cum
seniore ex Attilae liberis ad Acatziros missus fuerat. Ea gens est
Scythica, quae in potestatem Attilae hac de causa venit. In eam gentem
plures secundum populos et gentes imperium exercebant, quos Imperator
Theodosius, firmata inter eos concordia, ab Attilae societate ad
colendam cum Romanis pacem et societatem muneribus traducere conatus
est. Qui ea munera attulerat non pro cuiusque gentis regis merito et
gradu ea distribuerat. Caridachus enim secundo loco acceperat, qui
regum antiquior, primus accipere debuerat. Ille, tanquam contemptus
et sibi debitis praemiis frustratus, Attilam contra ceteros reges
auxilio vocaverat. Is nihil cunctatus, magno exercitu emisso eorum
alios sustulit, alios ad deditionem compulit. Deinde Caridachum ad se
vocat, tanquam illi victoriam, et quae ex victoria consecutus fuerat,
impertiturus. Sed iste dolum et insidiis suspicatus, difficile et
grave esse homini respondit, in dei conspectum venire. Si enim immotis
oculis solis orbem intueri nemo potest, quomodo quis sine sensu doloris
cum deorum maximo congrediatur? Atque ita Caridachus regnum suaque
omnia salva sibi et integra conservavit, et reliqua omnis Acatzirorum
regio in ius ditionemque Attilae concessit. Ei genti cum seniorem ex
filiis regem Attilas constituere decrevisset, ad hanc rem conficiendam
Onegesium miserat. Itaque nos exspectare, ut dictum est, iubens,
Bigilam cum Esla ad Romanos amandavit, specie quidem transfugarum
repetendorum, sed revera, ut aurum Edeconi promissum adferret.
Post Bigilae discessum unum tantum diem in his locis commorati,
postridie una cum Attila ad loca magis ad septentrionem vergentia
profecti sumus. Haud longum viae spatium cum barbaris progressi, alio
iter vertimus, Scythis, qui viam ducebant, nos id facere iubentibus.
Attilas interea in quodam vico substitit, in quo filiam Escam uxorem,
etsi plures alias haberet. Scytharum legibus id permittentibus, ducere
voluit. Illinc facili et aequali via, per planitiem iter fecimus, et
in multos fluvios navigabiles incidimus. Quorum post Istrum maximi
sunt Drecon dictus, et Tigas, et Tiphisas. Et hos quidem naviculis
unico ligno confectis, quas in quotidiano usu habent qui ad flumina
habitant, relinquos lembis ex propinquo desumptis, quos barbari
curribus imponunt, et per loca restagnantia important, traiecimus.
Congerebantur vero nobis ex vicis commeatus, pro frumento milium,
pro vino medus; sic enim locorum incolae vocant. Servi quoque,
qui nos comitabantur, milium secum portabant, potionem ex hordeo
praebentes, quam camum barbari appellant. Longavia confecta, die ad
noctem inclinante, ad paludem quandam, ad quam aquatum (erat enim
eius aqua potui apta) proximi vici incolae ibant, tentoria fiximus.
Ingens ventus et procella derepente exorta cum tonitru et crebris
fulguribus et multo imbre tentorium nostrum disiecit, et omnia nostra
utensilia in proximam paludem volvit. Turbinibus in aëre excitatis,
et casu, qui contigerat, perterrefacti, locum illum deseruimus, et
dissociati, huc illuc palantes, viam unusquisque nostrum, quam sibi
commodam duxit, sub tenebris et imbribus est persecutus. Tandem tuguria
vici subeuntes, (illuc enim divisis itineribus omnes diverteramus,)
convenimus, et ea, quae nobis deerant, cum clamore perquisivimus. Ad
quem strepitum Scythae exilientes calamos, quibus ad ignem utuntur,
usserunt: et accenso lumine, interrogarunt, quid nobis vellemus, qui
tantos clamores ederemus. Barbari, qui nos comitabantur, responderunt,
nos tempestate perculsos turbari. Itaque nos liberaliter invitatos
hospitio exceperunt, et calamis siccis ignem accenderunt. Vici
domina una ex Bledae uxoribus erat. Haec nobis cibaria et mulieres
formosas, cum quibus amori indulgeremus (hoc enim apud Scythas honori
ducitur,) suppeditavit. Mulieribus pro cibis praebitis gratias
egimus, et sub tectis nostris somnum capientes, ab earum consuetudine
abstinuimus. Simul atque illuxit, ad ea, quae ex nostra supellectile
desiderabantur, perquirenda curam convertimus. Haec partim in eo
loco, ubi pridie consederamus, partim in ripa paludis, partim in ipsa
palude reperta recepimus. In his desiccandis totum diem in illo vico
(tempestas enim desierat, et clarus sol apparebat,) contrivimus. Deinde
curatis equis et reliquis iumentis, reginam salutatum ivimus. Hanc
vicissim donis remunerati sumus tribus pateris argenteis, velleribus
rubris, pipere Indico, palmulis et variis cupediis, quae omnia a
barbaris, ut ignota, magni aestimantur. Nec multo post omnia fausta
feliciaque illis hospitalitatis ergo precati, discessimus. Septem
dierum itinere emenso, Scythae, qui nos ducebant, in quodam vico nos
consistere iusserunt, quia post Attilam, qui hac via proficisceretur,
iter nobis faciendum esset. Hic obvios habuimus legatos a Romanis
occidentalibus, etiam ad Attilam missos. Erant autem praecipui Romulus
Comitis dignitate decoratus et Primutus, Noricae regionis praefectus,
et Romanus, militaris ordinis ductor. His aderat Constantius, quem
Aëtius ad Attilam, ut illi in conscribendis epistolis deserviret,
miserat, et Tatullus, Orestis eius, qui cum Edecone erat, pater,
non legationis causa, sed privati officii et familiaritatis ergo.
Constantio enim in Italiis agenti magnus cum illis usus intercesserat:
Tatullum affinitas movebat. Orestes enim, eius filius, Romuli filiam
e Patavione, Norici civitate, uxorem duxerat. Legati autem veniebant,
ut Attilam lenirent, qui sibi Sylvanum, Armii mensae Romae praefectum,
tradi postulabat, propterea quod pateras aureas a Constantio quodam
acceperat. Hic Constantius, ex Galliis Occidentalibus ortus, ad
Attilam et Bledam, ut illis in conscribendis epistolis operam daret,
quemadmodum et post illum alter Constantius, missus fuerat. Ille vero,
quo tempore Sirmium oppidum, in Paeonia situm, Scythae obsidebant,
aurea vasa a civitatis episcopo acceperat, ut ex eorum pretio, si se
superstite urbem capi contigisset, quoad satis esset, pro sua libertate
solveretur: sin periisset, cives in servitutem abducti redimerentur.
Sed Constantius post urbis excidium de pacto illo parum sollicitus.
Romam cuiusdam negotii causa profectus, vasa ad Sylvanum detulit, et
aurum ab eo accepit, conventique, ut, si intra tempus praefinitum aurum
mutuo sumtum redderet, vasa reciperet: ni fecisset, Sylvanus vasa
sibi haberet et his pro arbitrio uteretur. Hunc Constantium Attilas
et Bleda, cum illis proditionis nomine suspectus esset, in crucem
egerunt. Ex quo, ut de poculis aureis iudicium ad Attilam est delatum,
sibi tradi Sylvanum, tanquam furem eorum, quae sua essent, flagitavit.
Legati igitur ab Aëtio et Romanorum occidentalium Imperatore venerant,
qui decerent, Sylvanum Constantii creditorem vasa aurea pro credito
oppignerata, non furto ablata, penes se habuisse, quae sacerdotibus,
qui primi se obtulissent, nummis argenteis permutasset. Nec enim fas
esse hominibus pocula Deo consecrata propriis usibus applicare. Itaque
nisi tam iusta causa aut divini numinis reverentia a petendis poculis
dimoveatur, retento Sylvano, aurum se pro pateris praebiturum. Hominem
enim, qui nihil deliquerit, minime se dediturum esse. Haec erat igitur
horum virorum legationis causa, qui barbarum sequebantur, ut responsum
ferrent, et dimitterentur. Cum vero nobis eadem via eundem esset,
qua Attilas incedebat, parumper morati, dum praecederet, non multo
post secuti, cum reliqua multitudine, traiectis quibusdam amnibus,
ad quendam magnum vicum pervenimus. Hic erant Attilae aedes, quae
reliquis omnibus ubicumque locorum praestantiores esse ferebantur.
Erant hae ex lignis et tabulis eximie politis exstructae et ambitu
ligneo circumdatae, non ad munimentum, sed ad ornatum comparato.
Proxima regiae erat Onegesii domus, et ipsa quoque ambitu ligneo
constans, non tamen aeque, ac Attilae, turribus insignis. Haud longo
intervallo a circuitu domus distabat balneum, quod Onegesius, qui
secundum Attilam plurimum apud Scythas opibus valebat, lapidibus ex
Paeonia advectis aedificaverat. Nec enim apud eos, qui in ea parte
Scythae habitant, ullus est aut lapis, aut arbos, sed materia aliunde
advecta utuntur. Huius autem balnei architectus, e Sirmio captivus
abductus, mercedem operis sui libertatem se consecuturum sperans,
falsus sua spe, cum nihil minus cogitaret, in longe duriorem apud
Scythas incidit servitutem. Balneatorem enim cum Onegesius instituit,
ut sibi totique suae familiae, cum lavarentur, operas praestaret. In
hunc vicum adventanti Attilae puellae obviam prodierunt, quae per
series incedebant, sub linteis tenuibus et candidis, quam maxime in
longitudinem extensis, ita ut sub unoquoque linteo, manibus mulierum
ab utraque parte in altum sublato, septem puellae aut etiam plures
progredientes, (erant autem multi huiusmodi mulierum sub illis
linteis ordines,) Scythica carmina canerent. Iam proxime Onegesii
domum accesserat, (per ipsam enim via ducebat ad regiam,) cum foras
prosiliret Onegesii uxor, magna ancillarum comitata multitudine,
quae opsonia et vinum ferebant, qui maximus est apud Scythas honos.
Haec Attilam salutavit rogavitque, ut ex cibis desumeret, quos cum
summa testificatione suae erga illum voluntatis attulerat. Itaque
uxori hominis sibi necessarii gratificaturus, comedit, equo insidens,
barbaris, qui in eius comitatu erant, suspensam tabulam (erat autem
argentea) attollentibus. Deinde degustato calice, qui illi fuerat
oblatus, in regiam se recepit. Erat autem illa reliquis conspectior
et in altiori loco sita. Nos vero in aedibus Onegesii (sic ille
praeceperat; redierat enim cum Attilae filio;) remansimus. Illic
coenam sumpsimus, excipiente nos eius uxore comitata illustrioribus,
qui eum genere contingebant. Illi enim animum nobiscum convivio
exhilarare per otium minime licuit; quia quae gesserat in negotio, ad
quod missus fuerat, et adversum, qui filio Attilae contigerat, casum
(dextram enim delapsus fregerat) renuntiaturus, tum primum a reditu in
Attilae conspectum venerat. Post coenam, aedibus Onegesii relictis,
propius Attilae aedes tentoria posuimus, ut Maximinus, quem Attilam
convenire, et cum his, qui ei a consiliis erant, colloquia facere
oportebat, minime longo ab Attila distaret intervallo. Illic igitur,
quo primum devertimus, noctem transegimus. Luce orta misit me Maximinus
ad Onegesium, ut illi tum quae ipse dabat, tum ab Imperatore missa
munera traderem et ut ipse cognosceret, an illi secum et quo tempore
colloquium inire luberet. Perrexi igitur ad Onegesium cum famulis,
qui dona portabant: quum ianuae clausae essent, exspectavi, donec
aperirentur, et aliquis exiret, qui eum mei adventus certiorem faceret.
Itaque tempus mihi terenti et circa murorum ambitum domus Onegesii
ambulanti, progressus nescio quis, quem barbarum ex Scythico vestitu
esse rebar, Graeca voce me salutavit dicens “χαιρε.” Mirari ego, qui
fieret, ut Graece loqueretur vir Scytha: etenim ex variis gentibus
commixti, barbaricam linguam colunt, sive Hunnorum, sive Gothorum,
aut etiam Romanam, hi scilicet, quibus cum Romanis frequentius est
commercium. Neque quisquam eorum facile loquitur Graece, nisi si
qui sint captivi e Thracia aut Illyrico maritimo. Sed illi ab obvio
quoque dignosci possunt et a vestibus laceris et capitis squalore,
tanquam qui in miseram inciderint fortunam. Hic vero opulenti Scythae
speciem prae se ferebat: erat enim bene et eleganter vestitus, capite
in rotundum raso. Hunc resalutans interrogavi, quis esset, et unde in
terram barbaram veniens, vitae Scythicae institutum sequi delegisset.
Ille quam ob causam hoc ex ipso quaererem, rogavit “Mihi vero, inquam,
haec a te ut sciscitarer, causa fuit, quod Graece locutus es.” Tum
ridens ait, se Graecum esse genere, ad mercaturam faciendam Viminacium,
Mysorum ad Istrum urbem, accessisse, in ea domicilium longo tempore
habuisse, uxorem quoque divitem duxisse; parta illic felicitate capta
urbe exutum fuisse, et propterea quod dives erat, se suaque omnia in
praedae divisione Onegesio cessisse. Etenim esse apud eos in more
positum, ut praecipui ab Attila Scythiae principes captivos ditiores
sibi seponant, quoniam plurimum auctoritate valent. Postea ubi adversus
Romanos et Acatzirorum gentem fortissime dimicasset, libertatem se
ex more Scytharum, omnibus, quae bello acquisierat, barbaro domino
traditis, recuperasse. Uxorem quoque barbaram duxisse, et ex ea
liberos sustulisse, et Onegesii mensae participem, hoc vitae genus
longe potius priore ducere. “Qui enim apud Scythas degunt, inquit,
tolerato bellorum labore, sine ulla sollicitudine vitam peragunt.
Tum unusquisque bonis, quae sibi fortuna indulsit, fruitur, neque
quisquam illi ulla in re molestus est. Qui vero sub Romanis aetatem
agunt, facile in bello pereunt. Hos enim in aliis sui conservandi
spem collocare necesse est, quandoquidem per tyrannos minime licet
arma, quibus unusquisque se tueatur, gestare. Atque adeo his, quibus
id iure licet, valde est perniciosa ducum ignavia, qui bellum minime
gnaviter gerunt. At in pace longe acerbiora sunt, quae accidunt, quam
calamitates, quae ex bello proveniunt et propter duram exactionem
tributorum, et propter improborum vexationes, quum leges non in omnes
valeant. Si quis dives aut potens eas sit transgressus, ille quidem
iniquitatis suae poenas non luet: sin aliquis inops, qui negotia gerere
nesciat, hunc poena a legibus statuta manet. Nisi forte eum priusquam
sententia feratur, longo in litibus continuato tempore, multis
praeterea exhaustis opibus, vita defecerit. At mercede et pretio,
quod legum et iuris est obtinere, omnium iniquissimum est. Nec enim
iniuria affecto quisquam fori iudicialis potestatem faciet, priusquam
pecuniam iudicis et eius ministrorum commodo cessuram deponat.” Haec
atque huiusmodi multa cum in medium proferret, ego precatus, ut quod
sentirem, patienter et benigne audiret, respondi, reipublicae Romanae
auctores, sapientes et optimos viros, ne quidquam temere ageretur,
alios legum custodes fecisse, aliis armorum curam commisisse, ut, ad
nullam aliam rem intenti, quam ut se ad pugnam praepararent, militaria
opera exercerent, et propulsata per assiduam belli meditationem omni
formidine, consueta militiae exercitatione, animis firmati, in aciem
descenderent. “Alios, inquam, qui agris colendis et culturae terrae
operam darent, annona militari ab his exacta, eos alere voluerunt, quo
pro sua salute dimicarent. Constituerunt quoque, qui iniuria affectis
prospicerent, et iura eorum, qui propter naturae infirmitatem sibi ipsi
consulere non valerent, tuerentur, quique iure dicendo, quae leges
iuberent, servarent. Neque vero sua providentia destitutos reliquerunt
eos, qui iudicibus adsunt, sed horum esse partes prospicere, qua
ratione ius assequatur, qui sententia iudicum obtinuit, et iniurius
iudicatus, id solum, quod iudicii calculus fert, et nihil praeterea,
facere cogatur. Si enim non essent huic rei praepositi, aut victore
insolentius insurgente, aut eo, qui adversam sententiam reportavit,
in preversa mente perstante, ex una lite alterius litis nasceretur
exordium. Est autem his constitutum argentum ab illis, qui litibus
certant, ut militibus ab agricolis. Quid enim aequius, quam eum,
qui opituletur et auxilium ferat, alere et officium mutuo officio
rependere? quemadmodum equiti emolumento est equi, pastori boum et
venatori canum cura, et reliquorum animantium, quae homines custodiae
et utilitatis causa alunt. Cum enim sumptus in litem factos qui causa
cadunt solvant, damnum nulli alii rei, quam suae iniquitati, imputent
oportet. Quod ad longum tempus attinet, quod in litibus consumitur, si
quando id evenit, id iuris providentius dicendi gratia fit, ne iudices
properantes ab accurata iudicandi ratione aberrent. Sic enim iudicant
melius esse, tardius finem litibus imponere, quam festinantes non
solum iniquum ius in hominem statuere, verum etiam in deum, iustitiae
inventorem, peccare. Leges autem in omnes positae sunt, ut illis etiam
ipse Imperator pareat. Neque, id quod tua accusatione continetur,
potentiores si tenuioribus vim inferant, id illis est impune, nisi quis
forte latens poenam effugerit; quod non solum divitibus, sed etiam
inopibus plerumque usu venit: nam hi quoque, si argumenta deficiunt,
peccatorum poenas non solvunt. Quod non solum apud Romanos, sed etiam
ubique gentium accidit. Gratiam vero plurimam ipsum pro recepta
libertate fortunae debere, neque eam domino acceptam referre. Cum enim
eum in bellum eduxerit, potuisse ab hostibus propter rei militaris
imperitiam occidi, aut si fugisset, ab eo, in cuius dominio erat,
puniri. Longe autem Romani benignius servis consuluerunt. Patrum enim,
aut praeceptorum affectum erga eos exhibent, et ut a malis abstineant,
curant, et eorum, quae honesta ducunt, participes efficiunt. Denique
corrigunt eos in his, quae delinquunt, sicut et suos liberos. Nec enim
servos morte officere, sicut apud Scythas, fas est. Libertatis vero
adipiscendae plures sunt modi. Non enim solum qui vita fruuntur, sed
etiam qui e vivis excedunt, libertatem tribuere possunt, quum de bonis
suis, ut cuique placeat, statuere liceat, et quodcunque quis moriens
de rebus domesticis iusserit, lex sit.” Tum ille plorans inquit, leges
apud Romanos bonas et rem publicam praeclare constitutam esse, sed
magistratus, qui non aeque ac prisci probi et prudentes sunt, eam
labefactant et pervertunt.
Haec inter nos disserentibus aliquis ex domesticis Onegesii septorum
domus fores aperuit. Ego statim accurrere et quaerere; quas res
ageret Onegesius; me enim habere a Maximino, qui legatus a Romanis
venisset, quod illi dicerem. Ille vero Onegesium mihi sui facturum
copiam respondit, si paullum opperirer; exiturum enim esse. Nec multo
temporis spatio interiecto, ut ipsum exeuntem vidi, progressus dixi:
“Te Romanorum legatus salutat, et dona tibi ab ipso una cum auro ab
Imperatore misso adfero.” Et quum maxime ille eum convenire cuperet,
ubi et quando vellet colloqui, quaesivi. Ille suos, qui aderant, iussit
aurum et munera recipere, et me Maximino renuntiare, se protinus ad eum
accedere. Reverti igitur ad Maximinum, et renuntiavi, Onegesium ad eum
venturum esse: nec mora, in tentorium nostrum advenit, et Maximinum
affatus dixit, se Imperatori et illi pro muneribus gratias agere, et
percunctatus est, quandoquidem se arcessisset, quid esset, quod illum
vellet: tum Maximinus, instare tempus, ait, quo posset maiorem gloriam
apud homines adipisci, si ad Imperatorem accedens, quae sunt inter
Romanos et Hunnos controversa, sua prudentia componeret, et inter
utramque gentem concordiam stabiliret: quae res non solum utilitati
utriusque gentis esset cessura, sed etiam eius domui tanta bona
praebitura, ut ipse una cum suis liberis in posterum Imperatori totique
imperatorio generi in perpetuum devinctus foret. Tum Onegesius dixit,
qua in re gratificaretur Imperatori, et per se contentiones dirimeret.
Maximinus respondit, si in rem praesentem descendens, Imperatori
gratiam referret, et dissidiorum causas sedulo perscrutans, de rebus
controversis secundum conditiones foederibus adscriptas iudicium suum
interponeret. Tum Onegesius dixit, se Imperatori et iis, qui ei a
consiliis essent, ea dicturum esse, quae Attilas sibi praeciperet.
“An Romani existimant, inquit, se ullis precibus exorari posse, ut
prodat dominum suum, et nihili faciat educationem apud Scythas,
uxores et liberos suos, neque potiorem ducat apud Attilam servitutem,
quam apud Romanos ingentes opes?” Ceterum se domi remanentem maiori
eorum rebus adiumento futurum, quippe qui domini iram placaret, si
quibus in rebus irasceretur, quam si ad eos accedens criminationi
se obiiceret, si forte quid contra quam Attilae rationibus commodum
videretur faceret. Quae cum dixisset et mihi veniam dedisset eum de
his, quae ex ipso intelligere cuperemus, adeundi, (Maximino enim in
dignitate constituto parum decorus erat continuus congressus,) abiit.
Postridie ad domus Attilae interiora septa me contuli dona ferens eius
uxori, quae Cerca vocabatur. Ex ea tres illi liberi, quorum maximus
natu iam tum Acatzirorum et reliquarum gentium, qua Scythia ad Pontum
patet, regnum tenebat. Intra illa septa erant multa aedificia, partim
ex tabulis sculptis et eleganter compactis, partim ex trabibus opere
puro et in rectitudinem affabre dolatis, in quibus ligna in circulos
curvata imposita erant. Circuli autem a solo incipientes paullatim in
altum assurgebant. Hic habitabat Attilae uxor, ad quam a barbaris,
qui circa ianuas erant, nactus aditum, ipsam deprehendi in molli
stragula iacentem. Erat autem pavimentum laneis tapetibus stratum, in
quibus constitimus. Eam famulorum multitudo in orbem circumstabat, et
ancillae ex adverso humi sedentes telas coloribus variegabant, quae
vestibus barbarorum ad ornatum superiniiciuntur. Cerca salutata, et
muneribus traditis, egressus, exspectans dum Onegesius regia exiret,
(iam enim e domo sua illuc venerat,) ad reliqua aedificia, ubi Attilas
commorabatur, processi. Hic dum ego starem cum reliqua multitudine,
(nec enim accessu ullius loci prohibebar, quippe qui Attilae custodibus
et barbaris, qui eum assectabantur, eram notus,) vidi magnam turbam,
qua prodibat, currentem, tumultum et strepitum excitantem. Attilas domo
egressus, gravi vultu, omnium oculis quaqua versus in eum conversis,
incedens cum Onegesio, pro aedibus substitit. Hic eum multi, quibus
erant lites, adierunt, et eius iudicium exceperunt. Deinde domum
repetiit, et barbararum gentium legatos, qui ad se venerant, admisit.
Me vero, dum Onegesium exspectabam, Romulus, Promutus et Romanus,
legati de vasis aureis ex Italia ad Attilam missi, una cum Rusticio,
qui in comitatu Constantii erat, et Constantiolo ex Paeonum regione,
quae Attilae parebat, me sunt sermone adorti, et interrogaverunt,
utrum dimissi, an manere coacti essemus. “Id ipsum, inquam, ut sciam
ex Onegesio, intra ista septa opperior.” Tum ego illos vicissim
percunctari, an aliquod mite responsum ad ea, de quibus legati
venerant, ab Attila tulissent. Nequaquam aiunt illum deduci a
sententia, sed bellum minari et denuntiare, ni Sylvanus aut pocula
dedantur. Nos vero cum barbari miraremur animi impotentiam, Romulus,
vir multis honorificentissimis legationibus functus et multo rerum usu
praeditus, ait, secunda fortuna et potentia inde collecta adeo illum
efferri, ut iustis sermonibus nullum apud si locum relinqueret, nisi
eos ex re sua esse censeret. Nemo unquam eorum, qui in Scythia, vel
alibi regnarunt, tantas res tam brevi tempore gessit. Totius Scythiae
dominatum sibi comparavit, et ad Oceani insulas usque imperium suum
extendit, ut etiam a Romanis tributa exigat. Nec his contentus, ad
longe maiora animum adiecit, et latius imperii sui fines protendere et
Persas bello aggredi cogitat. Uno ex nobis quaerente, qua via e Scythia
in Persas tendere posset, Romulus dixit, non longo locorum intervallo
Medos dissitos esse a Scythis, neque Hunnos hanc viam nescire, sed
olim, fame per eorum regionem grassante, cum Romani propter bellum,
quod tunc temporis gerebant, minime cum illis proelio decertarent,
hac irrupisse, et ad Medos usque Bazicum et Cursicum, duces ipsorum,
e regiis Scythis oriundos, penetrasse, qui postea cum magna hominum
multitudine Romam ad contrahendam armorum societatem venissent. Hos
narrasse, per quandam desertam regionem illis iter fuisse, et paludem
trajecisse, quam Romulus existimabat esse Maeotidem: deinde, quindecim
diebus elapsis, per montes quosdam, quos superassent, in Mediam
descendisse. Ibi praedas agentibus et excursionibus agros vastantibus
Persicum agmen superveniens telis aëra replevisse. Itaque imminentis
periculi metu retro abscessisse, et per montes regressos, pauxillum
praedae abegisse. Magnam enim partem Medos extorsisse: ipsos autem, ut
persequentium hostium impetum evitarent, ad aliam viam deflexisse. Et
per loca, ubi ex petra maritima flamma ardet, illinc profectos, ...
dierum itinere in sedes suas revertisse. Atque ex eo satis vidisse,
non magno intervallo Scythiam a Medis distare. Quamobrem si Attilam
cupido ceperit Medos invadendi, non multum operae et laboris in eam
invasionem consumpturum, neque magnis itineribus defatigatum iri, ut
Medos, Parthos et Persas adoriatur, et cogat tributi illationi se
submittere. Adesse enim illi magnas copias, quas nulla gens sustinere
possit. Nobis vero optantibus, ut Persis arma inferret, et a nobis in
illos belli molem averteret: “Verendum est, inquit Constantiolus, ne,
Persis facile devictis, non iam amplius amicus, sed dominus in nos
revertatur.” Nunc enim auro accepto pro dignitate eum contentum esse.
Quodsi Medos, Parthos et Persas domuerit, minime eum Romanorum a suo
seiunctum regnum sed eos manifesto servos suos reputantem, gravia illis
et intolerabilia imperaturum esse. Dignitas autem, cuius mentionem
Constantiolus fecit, erat Romanorum exercituum ducis, quam Attilas ab
Imperatore acceperat, et stipendia eius, qui exercitus regebat, missa
sibi non recusabat. Innuebat igitur, Attilam, Medis, Parthis et Persis
subactis, hoc nomen, quo Romanis illum vocare lubet, et dignitatem,
quam illi ornamenti loco esse existimant, repudiaturum, et pro duce
coacturum eos se regem appellare. Iam tum enim indignatus dicebat, illi
servos esse exercituum duces, sibi vero viros Imperatoribus Romanis
dignitate pares. Et brevi quidem sibi potentiae accessionem fore, quod
et deus, Martis ense in lucem protracto, portenderit. Hic tanquam sacer
et deo bellorum praesidi dedicatus, a Scytharum regibus olim colebatur,
et mulsit saeculis non visus, bovis ministerio fuerat tunc temporis
erutus.
Dum ita de praesenti rerum statu confabulamur, Onegesius foras prodiit,
ad quem, ut ex eo disceremus, quae nostrae curae commissa fuerant,
accessimus. Ille vero prius cum nescio quibus barbaris collucutus,
quarere me ex Maximino iussit, quem Romani ex consularibus legatum ad
Attilam essent missuri. Ut in tentorium veni, et Maximino, quae mihi
Onegesius dixerat, retuli, habita de eo, quod barbaris respondendum
esset, deliberatione, redii, dixique Onegesio, Romanos magnopere
desiderare, illum suarum cum Attila controversiarum disceptatorem ad
se accedere. Qua spe si exciderint, Imperatorem, quem sibi libuerit,
legatum missurum. Extemplo me Maximinum arcessere iussit, quem, ut
venit, ad Attilam deduxit. Unde non multo post Maximinus reversus,
narravit, barbarum velle, Imperatorem ad se mittere legatos aut
Nomum, aut Anatolium, aut Senatorem, neque ullos alios praeter hos
admissurum. Et cum Maximinus obiiceret, minime convenire, legatos, qui
ad se mittantur, designando, suspectos Imperatori reddere, Attilam
respondisse, si haec abnuerint, armis se controversias disceptaturum.
Reversis nobis in tentorium, ecce ad nos Orestis pater, “Vos ambos,
inquit, ad convivium invitat Attilas, fiet vero illud ad nonam diei
horam.” Tempore condicto observato, ut venimus, et una quoque Romanorum
Occidentalium legati, stetimus in limine coenaculi coram Attila. Hic
pincernae, ut mos est in illis regionibus, calicem tradiderunt, ut
ante accubitum vota faceremus. Quo facto, et calice degustato, ipsa
solia, in quibus nos sedentes coenare oportebat, ascendimus. Omnia
sedilia circa parietes cubiculi ab utraque parte disposita erant:
medius in lecto sedebat Attilas, altero lecto a tergo strato, pone quem
erant quidam gradus, qui ad eius cubile ferebant, linteis candidis
et variis tapetibus ornatus gratia contectum, simile cubilibus, quae
Romani et Graeci nubentibus adornare pro more habent. Et primum quidem
convivarum locum eius habebant, qui ad Attilae dextram sedebat,
secundum eius, qui ad laevam: in quo nos et Berichus, vir apud Scythas
nobilis, sed Berichus superiore loco. Nam Onegesius in sella ad dextram
regii thori, et e regione Onegesii duo ex Attilae filiis sedebant.
Senior enim in eodem, quo pater, throno, non prope, sed multum infra
accumbebat, oculis prae pudore propter patris praesentiam semper in
terram coniectis. Omnibus ordine sedentibus, qui Attilae erat a poculis
ingrediens pateram vini tradit. Hanc ubi suscepit, proximum ordine
salutavit, qui salutatione honoratus surrexit, neque prius eum sedere
fas erat, quam merum degustans, aut etiam ebibens, poculum pocillatori
redderet. Sedenti autem Attilae eodem modo, qui convivio intererant,
pocula suscipientes et post salutationem degustantes, honorem
exhibebant. Unicuique vero unus pocillator aderat, quem, quum pincerna
Attilae exiret, introire suo ordine oportuit. Secundo et reliquis
deinceps ad hunc modum honore affectis, Attilas nos quoque eodem modo
salutavit secundum ordinem sellarum. Tum omnibus salutationis honore
delato, pincernae recesserunt. Mensae vero iuxta Attilae mensam erant
erectae, excipiendis tribus et quatuor, aut etiam pluribus convivis
idoneae, quorum unusquisque poterat minime transgressus sedium ordines
ex ferculis, quod sibi libitum erat, desumere. Deinde primus in medium
accessit Attilae minister, patinam carnibus plenam ferens. Post ipsum
qui panem ministrabant et opsonia mensis apposuerunt. Sed ceteris
quidem barbaris et nobis lautissima coena praeparata erat et in discis
argenteis reposita, Attilae in quadra lignea, et nihil praeter carnes.
Moderatum pariter in reliquis omnibus sese praebebat. Convivis aurea et
argentea pocula suppeditabantur, Attilae poculum erat ligneum. Simplex
admodum illius vestis nulla re, nisi munditie, ornata erat. Neque eius
ensis, neque calceorum barbarorum ligamina, neque eius equi frena,
ut reliquorum Scytharum, auro aut lapidibus aut alia quacunque re
pretiosa erant ornata. Ut opsonia primorum ferculorum fuere consumpta,
surreximus, neque prius quisquam nostrum ad sedem suam est reversus,
quam sibi traditam pateram vini plenam, servato priore ordine, Attilam
salvum et incolumem precatus, ebibisset. Eo ad hunc modum honore
culto, sedimus. Tum nova fercula cuique mensae sunt illata, quae
alia continebant esculenta, ex quibus ubi omnes, quoad satis esset,
comedissent, eodem modo surreximus, et epoto calice rursus consedimus.
Adveniente vespere, facibusque accensis, duo Scythae coram Attila
prodierunt, et versus a se factos, quibus eius victorias et bellicas
virtutes canebant, recitarunt. In quos convivae oculos defixerunt; et
alii quidem versibus delectabantur, aliis bellorum recordatio animos
excitabat, aliis manabant lacrymae, quorum corpus aetate debilitatum
erat, et vigor animi quiescere cogebatur. Post cantus et carmina
Scytha nescio quis mente captus absurda et inepta nec sani quicquam
habentia effundens risum omnibus commovit. Postremo Zercon Maurusius
introivit. Edecon enim illi persuaserat, ut ad Attilam veniret, omnem
operam et studium pollicitus, quo uxorem recuperaret. Hanc enim, cum
illi Bleda faveret, in barbarorum regione acceperat, eamque in Scythia,
ab Attila ad Actium dono missus, reliquerat. Sed hac spe frustratus
est, quia Attilas illi succensuit, quod ad sua remigrasset. Itaque
tunc arrepta festivitatis occasione progressus, et forma et habitu
et pronuntiatione et verbis confuse ab eo prolatis, Romanae Hunnorum
et Gothorum linguam intermiscens, omnes laetitia implevit et effecit,
ut in vehementem risum prorumperent. Sed Attilas semper eodem vultu,
omnis mutationis expers, et immotus permansit, neque quicquam facere,
aut dicere, quod iocum, aut hilaritatem prae se ferret, conspectus est:
praeter quam quod iuniorem ex filiis introeuntem et adventatem, nomine
Irnach, placidis et laetis oculis est intuitus, et eum gena traxit.
Ego vero cum admirarer, Attilam reliquos suos liberos parvi facere, ad
hunc solum animum adiicere, unus ex barbaris, qui prope me sedebat et
Latinae linguae usum habebat fide prius accepta, me nihil eorum, quae
dicerentur, evulgaturum, dixit, vates Attilae vaticinatos esse, eius
genus, quod alioquin interiturum erat, ab hoc puero restauratum iri.
Ut vero convivium ad multam noctem protraxerunt, non diutius nobis
compotationi indulgendum esse rati exivimus.
Die exorto, Onegesium adivimus dicentes, nos dimitti oportere, neque
nobis diutius tempus terendum esse. Ille, Attilam quoque in ea esse
voluntate, et nos dimittere constituisse, respondit. Itaque non multo
post consilium procerum de his, quae Attilas statuerat, habuit, et
litteras, quae Imperatori redderentur, digessit. Aderant quoque, quorum
curae epistolas scribere incumbebat, inter quos erat Rusticius, vir e
superiore Mysia ortus, qui ab hostibus captus, cum dicendi facultate
valeret, barbaro operam in conscribendis epistolis navabat. Dimisso
consilio, ab Onegesio precibus contendimus, ut Syllae uxori et eius
liberis, qui in expugatione urbis Ratiariae una cum matre in servitutem
redacti erant, libertatem restitueret. Et vero ab his liberandis
minime abhorrebat, sed eorum libertatem magna pecuniae summa a nobis
emptam volebat. Itaque nos eum supplices orare et obtestari, ut, habita
eorum pristinae fortunae ratione, praesentis calamitatis commiseratione
moveretur. Ille, ut Attilam adiit, mulierem pro quingentis aureis
liberam dimisit et eius filios dono ad Imperatorem misit. Interea
Recan, Attilae uxor, in aedes Adamis, qui eius res domesticas curabat,
nos ad coenam invitavit. Ab eo una cum pluribus Scythiae principibus
comiter excepti sumus et iucundis sermonibus et magnifico epularum
apparatu. Tum unusquisque eorum, qui aderant, surgens, Scythica
comitate poculum plenum nobis porrexit, et eum, qui ante se biberat,
amplexus et exosculatus, illud excepit. A coena nos in tentorium
nostrum recipientes, somnum cepimus. Postridie iterum nos Attilas ad
coenam invitavit, et eodem, quo prius, ritu ad eum accessimus et ad
hilaritatem nos convertimus. Tum autem non senior ex filiis Attilae
in eius thoro una cum ipso accumbebat, sed Oebarsius, eius patruus.
Per totum convivii tempus nos blandis sermonibus appellans Imperatori
dicere iussit, ut Constantio, quem ad eum Aetius, ut ab epistolis
esset, miserat, uxorem daret eam, quam illi promisisset. Etenim
Constantius una cum Attilae legatis ad Theodosium venerat, et se operam
daturum, ut pax longo tempore inter Romanos et Hunnos servaretur,
dixerat, modo sibi uxorem locupletem matrimonio copularet. Huic
petitioni Imperator annuerat, et Saturnini filiam, viri et opibus, et
genere clari et ornati, se illi nuptui daturum promiserat. Saturninum
autem interemerat Athenais seu Eudocia, (utroque enim nomine
vocabatur,) neque Imperatori ad exitum perducere, quod promiserat,
per Zenonem, virum consularem, licuit. Is enim olim magna Isaurorum
multitudine stipatus, urbi Constantinopoli, quae bello premebatur,
praesidio fuerat. Qui quum orientalium exercituum dux esset, puellam
custodia eduxit, et Rufo cuidam, uni ex suis necessariis, despondit.
Hac puella sibi subtracta, Constantius barbarum orabat, ne sibi factam
contumeliam negligeret, sed perficeret, ut sibi uxor daretur aut ea,
quae erepta fuerat, aut etiam alia, quae dotem adferret. Quamobrem per
coenae tempus barbarus Maximinum Imperatori dicere iussit, non oportere
Constantium spe ab ipso excitata falli, et ab Imperatoris dignitate
alienum videri, mendacem esse. Haec Attilas Maximino mandavit,
propterea quod Constantius illi ingentem pecuniae summam pollicitus
erat, si uxorem e Romanis puellis locupletem duceret. Sub nocte a coena
discessimus.
Tribus deinde diebus elapsis, muneribus donati dimissi sumus. Attilas
quoque Berichum, virum e Scythiae primoribus, multorum vicorum in
Scythia dominum, et qui in convivio superiore loco sederat, nobiscum
legatum ad Imperatorem misit. Hunc enim et alias Romani pro legato
admiserant. Nobis autem iter conficientibus et in vico quodam
commorantibus, captus est vir Scytha, qui a Romanis explorandi gratia
in barbaram regionem descenderat, quem crucis supplicio affici Attilas
praecepit. Postridie etiam dum per alios vicos progrederemur, duo,
qui apud Scythas serviebant, manibus vincti post terga trahebantur,
quod his, quos belli casus dominos fecisset, vitam eripuissent. Hos,
immissis inter duo ligna uncis praedita capitibus, in cruce necarunt.
Berichus vero, quamdiu Scythiam peragravimus, eadem via nobiscum
iverat, et placidus et amicus visus erat. Ut Istrum traiecimus, propter
quasdam vanas causas, a servis ortas, nos inimicorum loco habuit. Et
primum quidem equum, quem Maximino dono dederat, ad se revocavit.
Etenim Attilas omnes Scythiae principes, qui in ipsius comitatu
erant, donis Maximinum ornare iusserat, et unusquisque certatim illi
equum miserat, inter quos et Berichus. At ille cum moderationis
gloriam sibi comparare studeret, ex equis oblatis paucos acceperat,
reliquos reiecerat. Berichus igitur equum, quem Maximino dederat,
ademit, neque deinceps eadem via ire aut coenari nobiscum voluit.
Itaque hospitalitatis tessera, in barbara regione contracta, eo usque
progressa est. Hinc per Philippopolim ad Adrianopolim nobis iter fuit.
In hac civitate quiescentes, Berichum rursus allocuti cum eo, quod
tamdiu erga nos silentium tenuisset, expostulavimus. Nec enim ullam
fuisse causam cur nobis irasceretur, quandoquidem in nulla re cum
offenderamus. Itaque eo placato et ad coenam invitato, ab Adrianopoli
movimus. In itinere Bigilam, qui in Scythiam revertebatur, obvium
habuimus: quo edocto, quae Attilas ad legationem nostram responderat,
coeptum iter continuavimus. Ut Constantinopolim venimus, Berichum
existimabamus iram abiecisse, sed agrestis et ferae suae naturae minime
est oblitus. Nam Maximinum insimulavit dixisse, quum in Scythiam
transiisset, Areobindi et Asparis, exercituum ducum, auctoritatem apud
Imperatorem nullius esse ponderis, et cum barbarorum levitatem et
inconstantiam notasset, eorum gesta in nullo pretio habuisse.
Reversum Bigilam, quum in iis locis advenisset, ubi tum Attilas
commorabatur, circumstantes barbari ad id praeparati comprehenderunt,
et manus in pecunias, quas Edeconi adferebat, iniecerunt. Quam ipsum ad
Attilam adduxissent, is ex eo quaesivit, cuius rei gratia tantum auri
asportasset. Illi respondit, ut suis et comitum suorum necessitatibus
provideret, ne rerum necessariarum inopia, aut equorum, aut aliorum
animalium vecturae aptorum penuria, quae per longa itinera deperierant,
a studio obeundarum legationum avocaretur. Praeterea ad redemptionem
captivorum pecuniam paratam esse. Multos enim ex Romanis a se magnopere
petiisse, ut propinquos suos redimeret. Cui Attilas: “Sed neque iam,
o turpis bestia, Bigilam appellans, ullum tibi tuis cavillationibus
iudicii subeundi patebit effugium: neque ulla satis idonea causa
erit, qua meritum supplicium evitare possis. Longe enim maior summa
est, quam qua tibi sit opus ad sustentandam familiam, vel etiam quam
impendas in emptionem equorum, vel iumentorum, vel liberationem
captivorum, quam iamdudum Maximino, quum huc veniebat, interdixi.”
Haec dicens, filium Bigilae (is tum primum patrem secutus in barbaram
regionem venerat) ense occidi iubet, nisi pater, quem in usum et quam
ob causam tantum auri advexisset, aperiret. Ille ut vidit filium morti
addictum, ad lacrymas conversus, ius implorare, et ensem in se mitti
debere, non in filium, qui nihil commeruisset. Nec cunctatus omnia
clandestina consilia, quae a se, ab Edecone, ab eunucho et Imperatore
in Attilam composita fuerant, aperuit, et ad preces prolapsus, orare
et obtestari, ut se occideret, et filium nihil promeritum liberaret.
Cum autem Attilas ex his, quae Edecon sibi detexerat, Bigilam nihil
mentitum perspiceret, in vincula duci praecepit, e quibus non prius
eum exsoluturum minatus est, quam eius filius in eam dimissus alias
quinquaginta auri libras pro utriusque liberatione exsolvisset, et
Bigilas quidem in vincula est coniectus, filius autem ad Romanos
rediit. Misit etiam Attilas Orestem et Eslam Constantinopolim.
4. Hinc Attilas, illinc Zeno Chrysaphium ad poenam deposcebant.
Omnium autem in eum animis et studiis inclinatis, visum est ad Attilam
legatos, mittere Anatolium et Nomum: Anatolium quidem magistrum militum
praesentalem, et qui pacis cum barbaro initae conditiones proposuerat:
Nomum veri magistri dignitatem gerentem, et in numerum patriciorum una
cum Anatolio allectum, quae dignitas ceteris omnibus antecellit. Missus
vero est cum Anatolio Nomus nom solum propter dignitatis amplitudinem,
sed etiam quia erat benevolo in Chrysaphium animo, et apud barbarum
gratia et auctoritate plurimum valebat. Nam si quid perficiendum sibi
proposuerat, minime pecuniis parcendum esse censebat. Et illi quidem
mittebantur, quo Attilam ira dimoverent et pacis conditiones observare
persuaderent, illud quoque dicturi, Constantio nuptum datum iri puellam
minime Saturnini filiae genere et opibus inferiorem. Illam enim minime
gratum huiusmodi matrimonium habuisse: itaque secundum legem alteri
nupsisse. Nec enim apud Romanos fas esse, mulierem invitam viro
collocare. Misit et eunuchus aurum ad barbarum, quo mollitus ab ira
deduceretur.
5. Anatolius et Nomus, Istro transmisso, ad Drenconem fluvium usque
(sic enim appellant) in Scythiam penetrarunt. Illic Attilas reverentia
tantorum virorum motus, ne longioribus itineribus defatigarentur, cum
illis convenit. Initio quidem multa superbe et insolenter disserens,
tandem magnitudine munerum aequior factus est et blanda legatorum
oratione delinitus, se pacem servaturum secundum conventiones,
iuravit; se quoque omni regione trans Istrum, tanquam Romanorum iuris
ditionisque cedere, neque porro Imperatori de profugis reddendis
molestum futurum, modo Romani in posterum a transfugis admittendis
temperarent. Liberavit et Bigilam, numeratis quinquaginta auri libris,
quas Bigilae filius cum legatis in Scythiam veniens attulerat. Tum et
Anatolio et Nomo gratificans, quam plurimos captivos illis sine ullo
pretio concessit. Postremo donatos equis et ferarum pellibus, quibus
Scythae regii ad ornatum utuntur, dimisit. Comitem illis addidit
Constantium, ut Imperator ipse re confirmaret, quae verbis promiserat.
Ut legati redierunt, et cum Attila ultro citroque acta retulerunt,
Constantio nuptui datur quondam uxor Armatii, filii Plinthae, qui apud
Romanos exercituum dux fuerat et consulatum inierat. Ille in Lybiam
profectus acie cum Ausorianis decertaverat et prospere pugnarat:
mox morbo correptus vitam finierat. Eius uxori, genere et divitiis
conspicuae, post mariti obitum Imperator nubere Constantio persuaserat.
Sed sopitis omnibus ad hunc modum cum Attila controversiis, Theodosium
novus timor occupavit, ne Zeno tyrannidem invaderet.
III
JORNANDES: DE REBUS GETICIS
_Muratori: Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (1723) Vol. I._
CAPUT XXXIV
Theodericus V. Vesegotharum Rex. In hunc Romani cum Auxiliaribus
Hunnis rupta pace exercitum ducunt. Foedera firmantur. Attila pacatur.
Item de Attilae aula.
Defuncto Valia, ut superiùs quod diximus repetamus, qui parum fuerant
felix Gallis,[15] prosperrimus, feliciorque Thodoricus successit
in regno: homo summa moderatione, compositus animi, corporisque
virilitate[16] abundans. Contra quem Theodosio, et Festo Consulibus,
pace rupta Romani Hunnis auxiliaribus secum junctis, in Gallias arma
moverunt. Turbaverat namque eos Gothorum foederatorum manus, quae
cum Caina Comite Constantinopolim se foederasset.[17] Aetius ergo
Patricius tunc praeerat militibus, fortissimorum Moesiorum stirpe
progenitus, in Dorastena[18] civitate, à patre Gaudentio, labores
bellicos tolerans, Reipub. Romanae singulariter natus, qui superbiam
Suevorum, Francorumque barbariem immensis caedibus servire Romano
Imperio coegisset.[19] Hunnis quoque auxiliariis, Litorio ductante,
contra Gothos Romanus exercitus movit procinctum, diuque ex utraque
parte acie ordinata, quum utrique fortes, & neuter firmior esset,[20]
datis dextris in pristinam concordiam redierunt, foedereque firmato,
ab alterutro fida pace peracta, recessit uterque.[21] Qua pacatur
Attila Hunnorum omnium dominus, & penè totius Scythiae gentium solus
in mundo regnator, qui erat famosâ inter omnes gentes claritate
mirabilis. Ad quem in legationem remissus[22] à Theodosio juniore
Priscus tali voce inter alia refert. Ingenita siquidem flumina, idest
Tysiam, Tibisiamque, & Driccam transeuntes, venimus in locum illum,
ubi dudum Vidicula[23] Gothorum fortissimus Sarmatum dolo occubuit.
Indeque non longè ad vicum, in quo Rex Attila morabatur, accessimus:
vicum inquam ad instar civitatis amplissimae, in quo lignea moenia ex
tabulis nitentibus fabricata reperimus, quarum compago ita solidum
mentiebatur, ut vix ab intento posset junctura tabularum comprehendit.
Videres triclinia ambitu prolixiore distenta, porticusque in omni
decore dispositas. Area verò curtis[24] ingenti ambitu cingebatur,
ut amplitudo ipsa regiam aulam ostenderet. Hae sedes erant Attilae
Regis barbariam totam tenentis,[25] haec captis civitatibus habitacula
praeponebat.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] A. Gallus.
[16] Garetius al. utilitate, ita in Ambros.
[17] Garetius al. efferasset, ita in Ambros.
[18] A. Dorestana.
[19] A. coegit.
[20] A. infirmior esset.
[21] A. secessit uterque. Qua pace Attila.
[22] A. se missum.
[23] A. & Garetius Vidigoja.
[24] A. Cortis.
[25] A. Hae sedes erant Attilae Regi barbariem totam tenenti.
CAPUT XXXV
De Attilae Regis Hunnorum Patre, Fratribus, deque ipsius statura,
forma, & moribus. Item de gladio Martis, quem ipse usurpavit. Locus
insignis è Prisco historico.
Is namque Attila patre genitus Mundzucco, cujus fuere germani, Octar
et Roas, qui ante Attilam regnum Hunnorum tenuisse narrantur, quamvis
non omnino cunctorum. Eorum ipse post obitum cum Bleta[26] germano
Hunnorum successit in regnum, et ut antè expeditioni, quam parabat,
par foret, augmentum virium parricidio quaerit, tendens ad discrimen
omnium nece suorum. Sed librante justitia detestabili[27] remedio
crescens, deformes exitus suae crudelitatis invênit. Bletae[28]
enim fratre fraudibus perempto, qui magnae parti regnabat Hunnorum,
universum sibi populum subjugavit,[29] aliarumque gentium, quas tunc
in ditione tenebat, numerositate collectas primas mundi gentes,
Romanos, Vesegotasque subdere peroptabat. Cujus exercitus quingentorum
millium esse numerus ferebatur. Vir in concussionem gentis[30] natus
in mundo, terrarum omnium metus, qui nescio qua sorte terrebat cuncta,
formidabili de se opinione vulgatâ. Erat namque superbus incessu, huc
atque illuc circumferens oculos, ut elati potentia ipso quoque motu
corporis appareret. Bellorum quidem amator, sed ipse manu temperans,
consilio validissimus, supplicantibus exorabilis, propitius in fide
semel receptis. Formâ brevis, lato pectore, capite grandiori minutis
oculis, rarus barbâ, canis aspersus, simo[31] naso, teter colore,
originis suae signa restituens. Qui quamvis hujus esset naturae, ut
semper magna confideret, addebat ei tamen confidentiam gladius Martis
inventus, sacer apud Scytharum reges semper habitus. Quem Priscus
historicus tali refert occasione detectum. Cùm pastor, inquiens, quidam
gregis unam buculam conspiceret claudicantem; nec causam tanti vulneris
inveniret, solicitus vestigia cruoris insequitur, tandemque venit ad
gladium, quem depascens herbas bucula incautè calcaverat, effossumque
protinus ad Attilam defert. Quo ille munere gratulatus, ut erat
magnanimus, arbitratur se totius mundi Principem constitutum, & per
Martis gladium potestatem sibi concessam esse bellorum.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] A. quorum ipse post quorum obitum cum Bleda, &c. Garet. al. legit
Bledam. Prosper Budam.
[27] A. Justitiae remedio.
[28] A. Bleda, Garetius al. Buda.
[29] A. adunavit.
[30] A. gentium.
[31] A. simeo.
CAPUT XXXVI
Attila, suapte natura ad vastandum orbem paratus, & Gizerico
Wandalorum Rege multis muneribus ad id instigatur. Is omni ratione
discordiam inter Romanos, & Gothos serere conatur; sed frustra.
Epistola Valentiniani Imp. ad Vesegothas, eorumque responsum.
Hujus ergo mentem ad vastationem orbis paratam comperiens Gizericus
Rex Wandalorum, quem paulo ante memoravimus, multis muneribus ad
Vesegotharum bella praecipitat, metuens ne Theodericus Vesegotharum Rex
filiae[32] ulcisceretur injuriam, quae Hunericho Gizerici filio juncta,
prius quidem tanto conjugio laetaretur; sed postea, ut erat ille & in
sua pignora truculentus, ob suspicionem tantummodo veneni ab ea parati,
eam naribus abscissis, truncatisque auribus spolians decore naturali,
patri suo ad Gallias remiserat, ut turpe[33] funus miseranda semper
offerret, & crudelitas, qua etiam moverentur externi, vindictam patris
efficaciùs impetraret. Attila igitur dudum bella concepta Gizerici
redemptione parturiens, legatos in Italiam ad Valentinianum Principem
misit serens Gothorum Romanorumque discordiam: ut quos praelio non
poterat concutere, odiis internis elideret, adserens se Reipub. ejus
amicitias in nullo violare, sed contra Theodericum Vesegotharum Regem
sibi esse certamen, unde eum excipi libenter optaret. Caetera epistolae
usitatis salutationum blandimentis oppleverat, studens fidem adhibere
mendacio. Pari etiam modo ad Regem Vesegotharum Theodericum dirigit
scriptum, hortans ut à Romanorum societate discederet, recoleretque
praelia, quae paulò ante contra eum fuerunt concitata sub nimia
feritate. Homo subtilis, antequam bella gereret, arte pugnabat. Tunc
Valentinianus Imperator ad Vesegothas, eorumque Regem Theodericum in
his verbis legationem direxit. Prudentiae vestrae est, fortissime
gentium, adversùs urbis[34] conspirare tyrannum, qui optat mundi
generale habere servitium, qui causas praelii non requirit, sed
quicquid commiserit, hoc putat esse legitimum. Ambitum suum brachio
metìtur, superbiam licentia satiat, qui jus fasque contemnens, hostem
se exhibet naturae cunctorum. Etenim meretur hic odium, qui in commune
omnium se approbat inimicum. Recordamini quaeso, quod certè non potest
oblivisci. Ab Hunnis casus est fusus, sed quod graviter agit, insidiis
agit appetitum. Unde[35] ut de nobis taceamus potestis hanc inulti
ferre superbiam? Armorum potentes,[36] favete propriis doloribus,
& communes jungite manus. Auxiliamini etiam Reipub. cujus membrum
tenetis. Quàm sit autem nobis expetenda, vel amplexanda societas,
hostes[37] interrogate consilia. His & similibus legati Valentiniani
Regem permovêre Theodericum. Quibus ille respondit: Habetis, inquit
Romani, desiderium vestrum: fecistis Attilam, & nobis hostem. Sequimur
illum quocunque vocaverit, & quamvis infletur de diversis superbarum
gentium victoriis, norunt tamen Gothi confligere cum superbis. Nullum
bellum dixerim grave, nisi quod causa debilitat, quando nil triste
pavet, cui majestas arriserit. Acclamant responso comites Ducis,
laetum sequitur vulgus. Fit omnibus ambitus pugnae, hostes jam Hunni
desiderantur. Producitur itaque à Rege Theoderico Vesegotharum
innumerabilis[38] multitudo, qui quatuor filiis domi dismissis idest
Friderico, & Turico, Rotemero, & Himmerit,[39] secum tantùm Thorismund,
& Theodericum majores natu participes laboris assumit. Felix procinctus
auxiliantium suave collegium habere, & solatia illorum, quos delectat
ipsa etiam simul subire discrimina. A parte verò Romanorum tanta
Patricii Aetii providentia fuit, cui tunc innitebatur Respub. Hesperiae
plagae, ut undique bellatoribus congregatis, adversùs ferocem,
& infinitam multitudinem non impar occurreret. His enim adfuere
auxiliares[40] Franci, Sarmatae, Armoritiani, Litiani, Burgundiones,
Saxones, Riparioli, Ibriones,[41] quondam milites Romani, tunc verò
jam in numero auxiliariorum exquisiti, aliaeque nonnullae Celticae,
vel Germanicae nationes. Convenitur itaque in campos Catalaunicos, qui
& Mauricii nominantur C.[42] leugas,[43] ut Galli vocant, in longum
tenentes, & LXX. in latum. Leuga autem Gallica mille & quingentorum
passuum quantitate metìtur. Fit ergo area innumerabilium populorum
pars illa terrarum. Conseruntur acies utraeque fortissimae, nihil
subreptionibus agitur, sed aperto marte certatur. Quae potest digno
causa tantorum motibus inveniri? Aut quod odium in se cunctos animavit
armari? Probatum est humanum genus Regibus vivere, quando unius mentis
insano impetu strages sit facta populorum, & arbitrio superbi Regis
momento dejicitur, quod tot saeculis natura progenuit.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] A. filiae suae.
[33] A. scilicet ut turpe.
[34] A. fortissimi gentium adversùs orbis, & ita Garetius.
[35] A. Ab Hunnis non per bella, ubi communis casus est fusum, sed quod
graviter anget insidiis appetitum, ut de nobis, &c.
[36] A. potestates.
[37] A. hos interrogate, &c.
[38] A. innumerabilis exercitus.
[39] A. Teurico, Retemere, & Irmnerit.
[40] A. Hi enim adfuerunt auxiliatores Franci.
[41] A. Liticiani, Burgundiones, Saxones, Riparii, Olibriones.
[42] A. in campis Catalaunicis, qui et Mauriaci vocantur.
[43] Leuga verbum, Gallorum est, & merè Francicum, ut constat ex D.
Hieronymò in Joelem, Paulo Diacono lib. 15, & Amm. Marcel. lib. 15,
pag. 68 & lib. 16, pag. 91. ex legibus Bajomar, & Rutelio lib. 2.
Itiner. ut enim Romani milliaribus, sic Galli leugis metiri soliti
sunt, Juret.
CAPUT XXXVII
De iis rebus, quae in ipsorum bellorum motibus, priusquam praelium
inter Romanos, & Hunnos committeretur, acciderunt.
Sed antequam pugnae ipsius ordinem referamus, necessarium videretur
edicere quae in ipsis bellorum motibus accidêre, quia sicut famosum
praelium, ita multiplex, atque perplexum. Sangibanus namque Rex
Alanorum metu futurorum perterritus, Attilae se tradere pollicetur,
& Aurelianam civitatem Galliae, ubi tunc consistebat, in ejus jura
transducere.[44] Quod ubi Theodericus, & Aetius agnovere, magnis
aggeribus eandem urbem ante adventum Attilae destruunt, suspectumque
custodiunt Sangibanum, & inter suos auxiliares medium statuunt cum
propria gente. Igitur Attila Rex Hunnorum tali perculsus eventu,
diffidens suis copiis, metuens inire conflictum, intusque fugam
revolvens, ipso funere tristiorem, statuit per haruspices futura
inquirere. Qui more solito nunc pecorum fibras, nunc quasdam venas
in abrasis ossibus intuentes, Hunnis infausta denuntiant. Hoc
tamen quantulum praedixere solatii, quod summus hostium ductor de
parte adversa occumberet, relictâque victoriâ, sua morte triumphum
foedaret. Cùmque Attila necem Aetii, quod ejus motibus obviabat, vel
cum sua perditione duceret expetendam, tali praesagio solicitus,
ut erat consiliorum in rebus bellicis exquisitor, circa nonam diei
horam praelium sub trepidatione committit, ut, si non secus cederet,
nox imminens subveniret. Convenere partes, ut diximus, in Campos
Catalaunicos.
FOOTNOTES:
[44] A. contradere.
CAPUT XXXVIII
Positio loci, quo in Catalaunicis campis praelium inter Romanos, &
Hunnos est commissum, & descriptio utriusque aciei.
Erat autem positio loci declivi tumore, in modum collis[45] excrescens,
quem uterque cupiens exercitus obtinere, quia loci opportunitas
non parvum beneficium conferret, dextram partem Hunni cum suis,
sinistram Romani, & Vesegothae cum auxiliariis occuparunt. Relictoque
de cacuminis ejus jugo certamine, dextrum cornu[46] cum Vesegothis
Theodoricus tenebat, sinistrum Aetius cum Romanis, collocantes in medio
Sangibanum, quem superiùs retulimus praefuisse Alanis, providentes
cautione militari, ut eum, de cujus animo minus praesumebant, fidelium
turba concluderent. Facilè namque adsumit pugnandi necessitatem, cui
fugiendi imponitur difficultas. E diverso verò fuit Hunnorum acies
ordinata, ut in medio Attila cum suis fortissimis locaretur, sibi
potiùs Rex hac ordinatione prospiciens, quatenus inter gentis suae
robur positus, ab imminenti periculo redderetur exceptus. Cornua
verò ejus multiplices populi, & diversae nationes, quas ditioni suae
subdiderat, ambiebant. Inter quos Ostrogotharum praeeminebat exercitus,
Walamire, & Theodemire, & Widemire germanis ductantibus, ipso etiam
Rege, cui tunc serviebant, nobilioribus: quia Amalorum generis eos
potentia illustrabat, eratque & Gepidarum agmine innumerabili Rex
ille fortissimus, & famosissimus Ardaricus, qui ob nimiam suam
fidelitatem erga Attilam, ejus consiliis intererat. Nam perpendens
Attila sagacitatem suam,[47] eum, & Walamirem Ostrogotharum Regem
super caeteros regulos diligebat. Erat namque Walamir secreti tenax,
blandus alloquio, doli ignarus, Ardaricus fide, & consilio, ut
diximus, clarus. Quibus non immeritò contra parentes Vesegothas debuit
credere pugnatoribus.[48] Reliqua autem, si dici fas est, turba regum,
diversarumque nationum ductores, ac si satellites, nutibus Attilae
attendebant, & ubi oculo annuisset, absque aliqua murmuratione cum
timore, & tremore unusquisque adstabat, aut certè quod jussus fuerat,
exsequebatur. Sed solus Attila Rex omnium regum, super omnes, & pro
omnibus solicitus erat. Fit ergo de loci, quem diximus, opportunitate
certamen. Attila suos dirigit, qui cacumen montis invaderent, sed a
Thorismundo, & Aetio praeventus est, qui eluctati collis excelsa ut
conscenderent, superiores effecti sunt, venientesque Hunnos montis
beneficio facilè turbavere.
FOOTNOTES:
[45] A. in editum collis.
[46] A. Relicto de cacumine ejus jugo certamini; dextrum itaque cornu.
[47] A. societate sua.
[48] Pugnaturis, Garetius al. pugnaturus.
CAPUT XXXIX
Attilae oratio ad Hunnos, quâ eos ad praelium adversùs Romanos
ineundum exhortatur.
Tunc Attila, cum videret exercitum causa praecedente turbatum, eum
tali ex tempore credit alloquio confirmandum. Post victorias tantarum
gentium, post orbem, si consistatis, edomitum, ineptum judicaverim,
tanquam ignaros rei, verbis acuere. Quaeret hoc aut novus ductor, aut
inexpertus exercitus. Nec mihi fas est aliquid vulgare dicere, nec
vos oportet audire. Quid autem aliud vos quàm bellare consueti[49]?
Aut quid forti[50] suavius, quàm vindictam manu quaerere? Magnum munus
à natura animum ultione satiare. Aggrediamur ergo hostem alacres,
audaciores sunt semper, qui inferunt bellum. Adunatas despicite
dissonas gentes. Indicium pavoris est societate defendi. En ante
impetum terroribus jam feruntur, excelsa quaerunt, tumulos capiunt,
& sera poenitudine in campis munitiones efflagitant. Nota vobis
sunt, quàm sint levia Romanorum arma: primo etiam non dico vulnere,
sed ipso pulvere gravantur. Dum inordinatè[51] coëunt, & acies,
testudinemque connectunt, vos confligite, praestantibus animis, ut
soletis, despicientesque eorum acies, Alanos invadite, in Vesegothas
incumbite. Inde nobis est citam victoriam quaerere, unde se continet
bellum. Abscissa[52] autem nervis mox membra relabuntur,[53] nec
potest stare corpus, cui ossa subtraxeris. Consurgant animi, furor
solitus intumescat. Nunc consilia Hunni, nunc arma depromite, aut
vulneratus quis adversarii mortem deposcat, aut illaesus hostium
clade satietur. Victuros nulla tela convenient,[54] morturos, & in
otio fato praecipitant, postremò cur fortuna Hunnos tot gentium
victores adsereret,[55] nisi ad certaminis hujus gaudia praeparasset?
Quis denique Maeotidarum iter aperiret majoribus nostris tot seculis
clausum, ac secretum?[56] Quis adhuc inermibus cedere faciebat
armatos? Faciem Hunorum non poterit ferre adunata collectio.
Non fallor eventu: hic campus est,[57] quem nobis tot prospera
promiserant.[58] Primus in hostes tela conjiciam. Si quis potuerit
Attila pugnante ocium ferre, sepultus est. His verbis accensi, in
pugnam cuncti praecipitantur.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] A vobis, quàm bellare consuetum est.
[50] A. aut quid viro forti.
[51] A. in ordine.
[52] Garetius fortè abscissis, & ita in A.
[53] A. dilabuntur.
[54] A. victuris nulla tela conveniunt.
[55] A. asseret.
[56] A. Quis denique Meotidarum inter majores nostros aperuit tot
saeculis clausum secretum.
[57] A. Nisi fallor.
[58] A. Quem nobis tot prospera promiserunt.
CAPUT XL
Successus praelii commissi inter Romanos, & Vesegothas adversùs
Hunnos. Theoderici Regis mors. Attila se plaustris vallat.
Et quamvis haberent res ipsae formidinem, praesentia tamen Regis
cunctationem haerentibus auferebat. Manu manibus congrediuntur, 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. Nam si senioribus credere fas est, rivulus memorati campi
humili ripa prolabens, peremptorum vulneribus sanguine multo provectus,
non auctus imbribus, ut solebat, sed liquore concitatus insolito,
torrens factus est cruoris augmento. Et quos illic coëgit in aridam
sitim vulnus inflictum, fluenta mixta clade traxerunt:[59] ita
constricti sorte miserabili sordebant, potantes sanguinem, quem fudere
sauciati. Hic Theodericus Rex dum adhortans discurreret exercitum,
equo depulsus, pedibusque suorum conculcatus, vitam matura senectute
conclusit. Alii verò dicunt eum interfectum telo Andagis de parte
Ostrogotharum, qui tunc Attila num sequebantur regimen.[60] Hoc fuit,
quod Attilae praesagio haruspices priùs dixerant, quamquam ille de
Aetio suspicaretur. Tunc Vesegothae dividentes se ab Alanis, invadunt
Hunnorum catervas, & penè Attilam trucidassent: nisi priùs providus
fugisset, & se, suosque illico intra septa castrorum, quae plaustris
vallata habebat, reclusisset. Quamvis fragile mumimentum, tamen
quaesierunt subsidium vitae,[61] quibus paulò ante nullus poterat
muralis agger obsistere. Thorismund autem Regis Theoderici filius, qui
cum Aetio collem anticipans, hostes de superiori loco proturbaverat,
credens se ad agmina propria pervenire, nocte caeca ad hostium carpenta
ignarus incurrit. Quem fortiter dimicantem quidam capite vulnerato equo
dejecit, suorumque providentiâ[62] liberatus, à praeliandi intentione
desiit. Aetius verò similiter noctis confusione divisus, cum inter
hostes medios vagaretur, trepidus ne quid incidisset adversi Gothis,
inquirens,[63] tandemque ad socia castra perveniens, reliquum noctis
scutorum defensione transegit. Postera die luce orta, cùm cadaveribus
plenos campos aspicerent, nec audere Hunnos erumpere, suam arbitrantur
esse victoriam, scientesque Attilam non nisi magna clade confusem,
bello confugisse,[64] eùm tamen nihil ageret, vel prostratus abjectum,
sed strepens[65] armis tubis canebat, incussionemque minabatur;
velut leo venabulis pressus, speluncae aditus obambulans, nec audet
insurgere, nec desinit fremitibus vicina terrere, sic bellicosissimus
Rex victores suos turbabat inclusus. Conveniunt itaque Gothi,
Romanique, & quid agerent de superato Attila deliberant. Placet eum
obsidione fatigari, qui annonae copiam non habebat, quando ab ipsius
sagittariis intra septua castrorum locatis, crebris ictibus arceretur
accessus. Fertur autem desperatis in rebus praedictum. Regem adhuc &
in supremo magnanimem, equinis sellis construxisse pyram, seseque, si
adversarii irrumperent, flammis injicere voluisse, ne aut aliquis ejus
vulnere laetaretur, aut in potestatem tantorum hostium gentium dominus
perveniret.[66]
FOOTNOTES:
[59] A. detraxerunt.
[60] A. Qui tunc Attilae sequebatur regimen.
[61] A. enim fragili munimine eorum quaesierit, subsidium vitae.
[62] A. prudentia.
[63] A. adversi, Gothos inquirit.
[64] A. magna clade confossum bella fugere.
[65] A. velut prostratus, aut abjectum se demonstrabat, sed strepens.
[66] Fortè legendum, aut in potestatem hostium tantarum gentium
dominus, &c., ita A.
CAPUT XLI
Thorismund Theoderico Regi patri suo exsequias parat, & consilio Ætii
Patricii, qui Hunnis funditus interemptis, malè à Gothis metuebat
Imperio Romano se recipit, & Patri succedit; Franci, & Gepidae mutua
clade se atterunt, numerus caesorum in praelio inter Romanos, &
Attilam.
Verùm inter has obsidionum moras Vesegothae Regem filii patrem
requirunt, admirantes ejus absentiam, dum felicitas fuerit subsequuta.
Cùmque diutiùs exploratum, ut viris fortibus mos est, inter densissima
cadavera reperissent, cantibus honoratum,[67] inimicis spectantibus
abstulerunt. Videres Gothorum globos dissonis vocibus confragosos,
adhuc inter bella furentia funeri reddidisse culturam. Fundebantur
lacrymae, sed quae viris fortibus impendi solent: nostra mors[68]
erat, sed Hunno teste gloriosa, unde hostium putaretur inclinata fore
superbia, quando tanti Regis efferre cadaver cum suis insignibus
inspiciebant. At Gothi Theoderico adhuc justa solventes, armis
insonantibus regiam deserunt majestatem, fortissimusque Thorismund
benè gloriosus, ad manes[69] carissimi patris, ut decebat filium,
exequias est prosequutus. Quod postquam peractum est, orbitatis
dolore commotus, & virtutis impetu, qua valebat, dum inter reliquias
Hunnorum, mortem patris vindicare contendit: Aetium Patricium, ac si
seniorem, prudentiâque maturum, de hac parte consuluit, quid sibi
esset in tempore faciendum. Ille verò metuens ne Hunnis funditus
interemptis,[70] à Gothis Romanorum premeretur Imperium, praebet hac
suasione consilium, ut ad sedes proprias remearet, regnumque quod
pater reliquerat, arriperet: ne germani ejus opibus sumptis paternis.
Vesegotharum regnum pervaderent,[71] graviterque dehinc cum suis, &
quod pejus est, miserabiliter pugnaret. Quo responso non ambigue, ut
datum est, sed pro sua potiùs utilitate suscepto, relictis Hunnis,
redit ad Gallias. Sic humana fragilitas dum suspicionibus occurrit,
magna rerum agendarum occasione intercipitur. In hoc enim famosissimo,
& fortimissimarum gentium bello ab utrisque partibus CLXII,[72] millia
caesa referuntur, exceptis XC,[73] millibus Gepidarum, & Francorum,
qui ante congressionem publicam noctu sibi occurrentes, mutuis
concidêre vulneribus, Francis pro Romanorum, Gepidis pro Hunnorum
parte pugnantibus. Attila igitur discessione cognita Gothorum, quod
de inordinatis[74] colligi solet, & inimicorum magìs aestimans dolum,
diutius se intra castra[75] continuit. Sed ubi hostium absentia[76]
sunt longa silentia consecuta, erigitur mens ad victoriam, gaudia
praesumuntur, atque potentis Regis animus in antiqua fata revertitur.
Thorismund ergo patre mortuo, in campis statim Catalaunicis, ubi &
pugnaverat regia majestate subvectus, Tholosam ingreditur. Hic licèt
fratrum, & fortium turba gauderet, ipse tamen sic sua initia moderatus
est, ut nullius reperiret de regni successione certamen.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] A. honoribus.
[68] A. nam mors, &c.
[69] A. bene gloriosus manens, carissimi, &c.
[70] A. eversis.
[71] A. germanus ejus, opibus assumptis paternis, regnum invaderet.
[72] A. CLXV.
[73] A. XV.
[74] Garet. alias inopinatis, ita A.
[75] A. claustra.
[76] A. absentiam.
CAPUT XLII
Attila de Vesegotharum recessu à Romanis certior factus, ad
oppressionem Romanorum omnibus viribus se confert. Aquilejam,
Mediolanum, Ticinum vastat. Leo Papa ad eum accedit, & pacem Italiae
certis conditionibus impetrat. Attila ad suas sedes ultra Danubium
remeat.
Attila verò nacta occasione de recessu Vesegotharum, & quod saepè
optaverat, cernens hostium solutionem per partes, mox jam securus
ad oppressionem Romanorum movit procinctum, primaque aggressione
Aquilejensem obsedit civitatem, quae est metropolis Venetiarum, in
mucrone, vel lingua Adriatici posita sinus. Cujus ab oriente muros
Natissa amnis fluens, à monte Picis elambit, ibique cùm diu, multoque
tempore obsidens, nihil penitùs praevaleret, fortissimis intrinsecus
Romanorum militibus resistentibus: exercitu jam murmurante, & discedere
cupiente, Attila deambulans circa muros, dum utrum solveret castra, an
adhuc moraretur deliberat, animadvertit candidas aves, idest ciconias,
quae in fastigio domorum nidificant, de civitate foetus suos trahere,
atque contra morem per rura forinsecus comportare. Et ut hoc, sicut
erat sagacissimus inquisitor, persensit, ad suos inquit: Respicite aves
futurarum rerum providas perituram relinquere civitatem, casurasque
arces periculo imminente deserere. Non hoc vacuum, non hoc credatur
incertum: rebus praesciis consuetudinem mutat ventura formido. Quid
plura? Animus suorum rursus ad oppugnandum Aquilejam inflammatur. Qui
machinis constructis, omnibusque tormentorum generibus adhibitis, nec
mora invadunt civitatem, spoliant, dividunt, vastantque crudeliter,
ita ut vix ejus vestigia ut appareant,[77] reliquerint. Ex hinc jam
audaciores, & necdum Romanorum sanguine satiati, per reliquas Venetûm
civitates Hunni bacchabantur. Mediolanum quoque Liguriae metropolim, &
quondam regiam urbem pari tenore devastant, necnon & Ticinum aequali
sorte dejicunt, vicinaque loca saevientes allidunt, demoliunturque
paenè totam Italiam. Cùmque ad Romam animus fuisset ejus attentus
accedere, sui eum (ut Priscus refert historicus) removêre, non Urbi,
cui inimici erant, consulentes, sed Alarici quondam Vesegotharum Regis
objicientes exemplum, veriti Regis suis[78] fortunam, quia ille post
fractam Romam diu non supervixerat, sed protinus rebus excessit[79]
humanis. Igitur dum ejus animus ancipiti negotio inter ire, & non ire
fluctuaret, secumque deliberans tardaret, placita[80] ei legatio à Roma
advenit. Nam Leo Papa per se ad eum accedit in Acroventu Mambolejo,[81]
ubi Mincius amnis commeantium frequentatione transitur. Qui mox[82]
deposito exercitus furore, & rediens quà venerat, idest, ultra
Danubium, promissa pace discessit: illud prae omnibus denuncians, atque
interminando discernens,[83] graviora se in Italiam illaturum, nisi ad
se Honoriam Valentiniani Principis germanam, filiam Placidiae Augustae,
cum portione sibi regalium opum debita mitteret.[84] Ferebatur enim
quia haec Honoria, dum propter aulae decus, ac[85] castitatem teneretur
nutu fratris inclusa, clandestino[86] eunucho misso Attilam invitasset,
ut contra fratris potentiam ejus patrociniis uteretur: prorsus indignum
facinus, ut licentiam libidinis malo publico compararet.
FOOTNOTES:
[77] A. ut apparet.
[78] A. sui.
[79] A. excesserit.
[80] A. placida.
[81] Garet. alias agro Venetum Ambulejo. ita Ambros.
[82] A. Qui mox deposuit exercitatus furorem, & rediens quo venerat &c.
[83] A. decernens.
[84] A. mitterent.
[85] A. ad castitatem.
[86] A. clam.
IV
EX VITA MS. SANCTI ANIANI EPISCOPI AURELIANENSIS
_Du Chesne: Historiae Francorum Scriptores Coaetanei (1636), Vol. I, p.
521._
Hunorum gens perfida vaginâ suae habitationis egressa, crudelitate
saevissima in plurimarum gentium frendebat pericula. Cuius ad satiandam
rabiem, truculentus Attila tenebat regiam dignitatem. Cúmque vulgatum
esset in populo, quòd suae ferocitatis impetu Gothis obviam properans,
extenderet ad amnem Ligericum, ut subversis Aurelianensium moenibus,
satiaret suae malitiae incrementa. Tunc vir Domini Anianus, non ut in
defensione hominum speraret elegit, sed Apostolicae memor sententiae,
qua per beatum Petrum praecipimur, Subditi estote propter Dominum, sive
Regi quasi praecellenti, sive Ducibus, quasi ab eo missis ad vindictam
malefactorum, laudem verò bonorum. Arelatensem urbem expetere decrevit,
et Aiecium Patritium, qui sub Romano Imperio in Galliis Rempublicam
gubernabat, videndum expetuit, ut ei furorem rebellium cum periculo
suorum civium intimaret.
Itaque Arelatum veniens, multos Domini repperit Sacerdotes, qui ob
varias necessitates adventantes, videre non poterant faciem Iudicis ob
fastum potentiae secularis. Sed cùm sanctus advenisset ibidem Anianus,
divina gratiâ inspirante commonitus, protinus egressus est obviam
supplex Aiecius. Et quem pompa regia Imperialibus fascibus reddebat
inclytum, Sacerdotalis gratia reddidit ad sibi conciliandum subiectum.
Quem cùm ille benigniter inquisisset, cur vir sanctus laborem tam
longi itineris assumpsisset, ille prudenti usus alloquio, vel egregii
praedicatoris exemplo, priùs pro aliorum utilitatibus omnia petens
obtinuit, et tunc demum causam adventus sui auribus principalibus
intimavit. Simulque plenus prophetiae spiritu, VIII. Kal. Iulii diem
esse praedixit, quo bestia crudelis gregem sibi creditum laniandum
decerneret. Petens ut tunc praedictus Patricius veniendo succurreret.
Videns Aiecius florem torrentis eloquii, acumen ingenii in viro Dei
sanctitatis gratiâ comitante, omnia praestitit, quicquid Sacerdos
expetiit, et benignè se venire ut ille suggesserat repromisit. Quo
obtento, vir Domini valedicens seculi Principi, ad propriam regressus
est civitatem: et plebem suam, quae de Pastoris moerebat absentia,
spiritalia confortabat in gaudia; praeparante populo iterum omnia,
quae ad repellenda hostium iacula, portis, muris, vel turribus fuerant
opportuna.----:.
Nec post longum interim intervallum cruentus Attila murorum vallans
ambitum, omne suae malitiae argumentum in iamdictae civitatis convertit
interitum. Sed Pontifex fixus in Domino, per muri ambulatorium
Sanctorum gestans pignora, suavi vocis organo more cantabat Catholico.
Interim hostilis exercitus tela iactabat instantiùs, atque cum
arietibus latera muri crebris quatiebat impulsibus. Tunc fugiente
ad Ecclesiam populo, sanctus Anianus forti eos animo esse monebat
in Domino, numquam fuisse deceptum quicumque firmiter sperasset in
Christo. Ipse verò festinanter murum ascendit, et tacitus respexit ad
coelum, ac pias aures Domini intima prece pulsavit. Cúmque sibi divinum
auxilium adesse sensisset, repentè contra barbaros expuit. Tantáque
subitò cum sputo eodem moles pluviae descendit, et impiorum impetum
triduana inundatione compressit, ut nequaquam se ullus pugnaturus ex
hostibus transferre in locum alterum potuisset.----:.
Cessante igitur nimbo profluo, sanctus Anianus ad Attilae pergit
tentorium, pro sibi commisso rogaturus populo. Spretus à perfido
responso contrario, civitatis sese retulit claustro. Postera autem die,
apertis portarum repagulis, Attilae Proceres ingressi sunt Aurelianis.
Sortéque ad dividendum populum missa, onerabat plaustra innumera
de plebis capta substantia. Iubens crudelis impietas, ut immineret
subditis dura captivitas. Cúmque sanctus Anianus populum ammoneret,
ut nec sic quoque desperarent de Domino, nihílque esse Deo invalidum,
qui suos tueri praevalet etiam sub momento: repentè more prophetico
sanctus Anianus est translatus à Domino, atque in eodem loco, ubi
Aiecius Patricius cum suo degebat exercitu, secum pariter Torsomodo[87]
Rege Gothorum, ostensus militi talia dedit mandata Patricio. “Vade,
inquit, et dic filio meo Aiecio, quia si hodie ad civitatem adesse
distulerit venire, iam crastina nihil proderit.” His dictis, statim
recessit. Et quia divina virtute hoc opus actum fuerat, miles sapiens
recognovit. Statímque ad Aiecium pergens, rem per ordinem pandit.
Tunc ille laetus redditus, et victoria iam securus, utpote divina
revelatione commonitus, unà cum Theodoro et Torsomodo[88] Regibus,
vel suo ac Gothorum exercitu, equum ascendit, ac concitus pergit. Nec
mora Aurelianis pervenit, hostes imparatos repperit. Tantaeque caedis
stragem super eos exercuit, ut nulli dubium fieret, quin meritis Aniani
Pontificis flexus ad misericordiam Dominus Rex coelestis vindictam hanc
exerceret per suos satellites, quos honore ditaverat Regiae dignitatis.
Itáque alii succubuerunt gladiis, alii coacti timore tradebant se
gurgiti Ligeris, sortituri finem mortis. Sanctus verò Anianus plures
per suam precem eripuit, quos coram se trucidandos aspexit. Reddens
scilicet bona pro malis, multi ne morerentur obtinuit, nisi quos
repentinus hostium furor oppressit. Reliqua pars Hunorum, quae ibidem
prostrata non cecidit, fugae praesidium expetunt: donec iudicante
Domino, in loco qui vocatur Mauriacus trucidanda gladiis mortis
sententiam expectaret.----:.
FOOTNOTES:
[87] Al. Torismodo.
[88] Torismodo.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PLYMOUTH
[Illustration: EUROPE
(A.D. 450)
At end of book.]
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