THE HUNS OF ATTILA. 221 



The charge to the conflict was given by Attila, who ordered 

 Yalimer, the giant king of the Ostrogoths, to seize on the 

 eminence occupied by the Visigoths. And by the rancorous 

 struggle of these rival tribes of Goths was commenced the san- 

 guinary battle of Chalons. Not an uplifted arm was stayed by 

 the ties of brotherhood ; not an arrow shunned its mark for 

 kindly memories of the olden time. Fierce and remorseless was 

 the contest, as is always the warfare of kindred tribes or nations. 



For a time the remainder of either army paused motionless at 

 sight of such deadly strife. T3ut not long could the warriors 

 be restrained, now panting for the carnage. No longer could the 

 restless chargers be curbed, as they snuffed the battle afar off. 

 On came the Romans and their Gallic allies. On swept the Huns 

 and their Scythian horsemen. A cloud of arrows darkened the 

 sky and fell pattering like a storm of hail. At length the long 

 spears reached opposing spears ; swords clashed against swords ; 

 and all were mingled in one vast melee of carnage. 



In the action we have undertaken to describe, there was little 

 of military skill or generalship to relieve the story of blood, 

 since the battle was decided by the blind impetuosity of bar- 

 barians. The Huns, "almost with their first charge, pierced 

 through the ranks of the Alans and Sicambres, and wheeling by 

 a rapid movement to the left, encountered the Visigoths. While 

 the Romans, cut off from their right wing, were left almost alone 

 in conflict with the barbarians of Attila's right. Although they 

 bore themselves bravely that day, and the gallant Aetius was 

 seen riding the foremost wherever the strife was the fiercest or 

 danger the most imminent, yet night closed on the scene while the 

 issue on this side was still undecided. The main interest there- 

 fore, as well as the decision of the battle, rested with the opposite 

 extreme of the armies, where the Huns and the Goths side by 

 side were toiling up that low hill, a task made difficult by the 

 disadvantage of the ground and the ferocious obstinacy of the 

 Visigoths who defended it. Again and again the dark masses of 

 warriors charged up the ascent ; again and again they rolled back 

 as they met the resistless tide from above. Yet still the fight 

 waxed fiercer, and deeds of single handed daring and brutal 

 passion were there enacted which the chroniclers even were loth 



