H U 
Under fuch circuniftances thefe two hoftile generals pre¬ 
pared to meet in tjie plains of Gaul, and the face ot the 
country was foon covered by the adverfe armies. The 
kings and nations of Germany and Scythia, from the Vol¬ 
ga to the Danube, obeyed the-warlike fummons of Attila. 
From the royal refidence in the .plains ot Hungary, his 
itandard moved towards the weft; and, after a march of 
fteven or eight hundred miles, he reached the conflux ot 
the "Rhine and the Necker, where he was joined by the 
Franks' who adhered to his ally, the elder of the fans of 
Clodion. A .troop of light barbarians, who roamed in 
quell of plunder, might chufe the winter for the conve¬ 
nience of prilling the river on.the ice; but the innumer¬ 
able cavalry of the Huns required iuch plenty of forage 
•and.provisions, as could be procured only in a milder fea- 
fon ; the Hercynian forelt fupplied materials for a bridge 
■of boats; and the hoftile myriads were poured' witlr relift- 
'iefs violence into the Belgic provinces. The confterna- 
tion of Gaul was univerfal; and its devoted cities were 
belieged and ftormed by the Huns, who praftiled, in the 
^example of Metz, their inexorable maxims of war. They 
involved in a promiicuous midi a ere the priefts who ferved 
at the altar, and the infants who, in the hour of danger, 
had been providently baptized by the bilhop; the flou- 
ri filing city was delivered to the flames, and a folitary 
chapel of St. Stephen marked the place where it formerly 
flood. From the Rhine and the Mofelle, Attila advanced 
into the heart of Gaul ; crofted the Seine at Auxerre ; 
and, after a long and laborious march, fixed his camp un¬ 
der the walls of Orleans. He was deftroils of fecuring his 
conquefts by the pofleflion of an advantageous poft, which 
commanded the paflageof the Loire; and he depended on 
the fecret invitation of Sangiban, king of the Alani, who 
had promifed to betray the city and to revolt from thefer- 
-vice of the empire. But this treacherous confpiracy was 
detected and ,di (appointed ; Orleans had been flrengthened 
-with recent fortifications-^ and the alftaultsof the Huns were 
■yigoroufly repelled by the faithful valour of the loldiers 
who defended the place. The paftofal diligence of Ani- 
lUHis-, a bilhop of confummate prudence, exhauited every 
art of religious policy to l’upport their courage till the ar¬ 
rival of the expected fuccours. After an obllinate liege 
the walls were fliaken by the battering-rams ; the Huns 
had already occupied the fuburbs; and the people who 
were incapable of bearing arms lay protlrate in prayer. 
Anianus, who anxioufly counted the days and hours, dif- 
patched a fruity meftenger to oblerve from the rampart 
the face of the diflant countiy. He returned twice with¬ 
out any intelligence that could infpire hope or comfort; 
blit in his third report he mentioned afmall cloud which 
he had faintly delcried at the extremity of the horizon. 
“ It is the aid of God,” exclaimed the bilhop in a tone 
of pious confidence; and the whole multitude repeated 
.after him, “ It is the aid of God.” The remote objeft on 
which every eye was fixed became each moment larger, 
and more diltinft; the Roman and Gothic banners were 
gradually perceived ; and a favourable wind, blowing afide 
the duft, difeovered in deep array the impatient Roman 
legions under Astius, and the undaunted Vifigotlis under 
their king Theodoric, with their independent allies, the 
Lmti, the Armoricans, the Breones, the Saxons, the Bur¬ 
gundians, the Sarmatians, or Alani, the Ripuarians, and 
the Franks, who followed MeroVeus as their lawful prince. 
Such was the various army which, under the conduft of 
AEtius and Theodoric, advanced by rapid marches to re¬ 
lieve Orleans, and to give battle to the innumerable holt 
of Attila. On their approach the king of the Huns im¬ 
mediately railed the liege, repaired the Seine, and expect¬ 
ed the enemy in the plains of Chalons, where that bloody 
and ever-memorable battle took place in which Attila 
was defeated, as already recited under the article Goths, 
vob yiH, p, 7313, to which we beg to refer the reader. 
. But neither the fpirit nor the forces nor the reputa¬ 
tion of Attila, were impaired by the failure of the Gallic 
expedition. He had on a former occalion demanded the 
Vol.-X. No. 677. 
N S, 477 
princefs Honoria in marriage as a pledge of future friend- 
fhip and good underftanding; but this unnatural alliance 
was eluded by the innocent 'artifice of pretended indif- 
polition. Now however he imperioufly repeated his de¬ 
mand of the royal princefs and her patrimonial treafures. 
The demand was again rejected or eluded ; and the in¬ 
dignant lover immediately took the field, pafted the Alps, 
invaded Italy, and belieged Aquileia with an innumera¬ 
ble holt, A. D. 452. The walls of the city were allaulfcd 
by a formidable train of battering-rams, moveable turrets, 
and engines that threw itones, darts, and fire; and the. 
monarch of the Huns employed the forcible impulfe of 
hope, fear, emulation, and interefl, to ftubvert the only 
barrier which delayed the conquelt of Italy. Aquileia 
was at that period one of the richelt, the molt populous, 
and the Itrongeft, of the maritime cities of the Adriatic 
coaft. Three months were continued without eflebt in 
the liege, till the want of provifions and the clamours of 
his army compelled Attila to relinquifli the enterprile, 
and reluctantly to iffne his orders that the troops lliould 
ftrike their tents the next morning and begin their re¬ 
treat. But, as he rode round the walls, penfive, angry, 
and difappointed, he obferved a ltork preparing toleave 
her neft in one of the towers, and to fly with her infant 
family towards the country. He ieized with the ready 
penetration of a ltatelinan this trifling incident which 
chance had offered to fuperftition; and exclaimed, in a 
loud and cheerful tone, that Iuch a domeftic bird, ib con- 
ftantly attached to human lociety, would never have aban¬ 
doned her ancient feats unlefts thole towers had been de¬ 
voted to impending ruin. The favourable omen infpired 
an affurance of victory; the liege was proiecuted with 
frelh vigour; a large breach was made in the part of the 
wall from whence the ltork had taken her flight; the Huns 
mounted to the aflault with irreiiftible fury ; and the 
fucceeding generation could fcarcely dilcover the ruins 
of Aquileia, 
After this dreadful chaftifement, Attila purfued his 
march; and, as he palled, the cities of Altjnum, Corcor- 
dia, and Padua, were reduced into heaps of ftones and 
allies. The inland towns, Vicenza, Verona, and Berga¬ 
mo, were expoled to the rapacious cruelty ot the Huns. 
Milan and Pavia lubmitted without refiftance to the lofs 
of their wealth, and applauded the unufual clemency 
which preferred from the flames the public as well as pri¬ 
vate buildings, and ipared the lives of the captive mul¬ 
titude. The popular traditions of Comum, Turin, or 
Modena, may jultly be fufpeCted; yet they concur with 
more authentic evidence to prove that Attila ftp read his 
ravages over the plains of modern Lombardy, which are 
divided by the Po, and bounded b)r the Alps and Apen- 
nine. When he took pofleflion of the royal palace ot Mi¬ 
lan, lie was furprifed and offended at the light of a pic¬ 
ture which reprel’ented the Cseftars leafed on their-.throne, 
and the princes of Scythia proftrate at their feet. I he 
revenge which Attila inflicted on this monument of Ro r 
man vanity was harm! efts and ingenious. He command¬ 
ed a painter to reverie the figures and the attitudes ; 
and the emperors were delineated on the fame canvas ap¬ 
proaching in a fuppliant pofture to empty tlieir bags or 
tributary gold betore the throne of the Scythian monarch. 
It is a laying worthy of the ferocious pride of Attila, 
that the grafts never grew on the l'pot where his horfe had 
trod. Yet the lavage deltroyef undefignedly laid the 
foundations of a republic’, which revived in the feudal 
Hate of Europe the art and fpirit of commercial induftry. 
The celebrated name of Venice, or Venetia, was formerly 
diffufted over a large and fertile province of Italy, from 
the confines of Pannoiiia to the river Addna, and from 
the Po to the Rhretian and Julian Alps. Before the ir¬ 
ruption of the Huns, fifty Venetian cities flourilhed in 
peace and profperity, Aquileia was placed in the niolt 
conftpicuous flation : but the ancient dignity of Padua 
was litpported- by agriculture and manufactures ; ant l die, 
property of .five hundred citizens, who were entitled to 
6 P tlfe 
