118 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period I. 



by some of his best troops, which were detached from 

 the centre for the purpose. The Romans having the 

 advantage of the ground, maintained their line and 

 repulsed the enemy. Theodoric, the gallant old king of 

 the Visigoths, led a splendid attack with the left wing 

 against the Ostrogoths on Attila's right.* The charge 

 was vigorous in the extreme ; the aged monarch, struck 

 down by a javelin as he charged at the head of his men, 

 was trampled to death by the rush of his advancing 

 squadrons, who swept aU before them, and then, 

 wheeling to the right, fell full upon the flank of the 

 Hunnish centre, which was closely engaged with the 

 Alans. Defeated upon his two wings, and with his 

 centre outflanked, Attila retired to the shelter of his 

 camp, where his archers dismounted, and protected by 

 the barrier of waggons, soon checked with their arrows 

 the advance of the pursuing horsemen. 



Attila remained sullenly in his camp the next day, 

 expecting an attack, and prepared for a desperate 

 resistance. The plain was covered with dead and dying, 

 the cai'nage on both sides having been fearful ; and the 

 victorious allies, impressed with the resolute attitude of 

 their enemy, deemed it prudent to avoid an attack, and 

 allowed him to retire without molestation. 



This victory was won by cavalry, and although the 

 records of it are very obscure, we can trace in the plans 

 of ^tius a resemblance to the tactics of Scipio at Iling. 

 -^tius, like Scipio, had a large contingent of allies that 

 he could not trust, and he adopted the same policy of 

 placing them in the centre, while with his best troops 

 he attacked the two wings of his opponent's army. 

 Attila, like Asdrubal, placed his best troops in the 

 centre, and when the flanks were defeated, these soldiers 

 covered the retreat, saved the remains of the army, and 

 prevented a check becoming a disaster. This victory is 

 interesting as the last one ever gained by imperial Rome. 



We have now traced the history of cavalry from the 

 earliest times down to the period when the Roman 



^ Jomandes, xl. 



