adversary face to face on the ample battleground of the Châlons plains.
Aetius commanded on the right of the allies; King Theodoric on the left;
and Sangipan, King of the Alans, whose fidelity was suspected, was
placed purposely in the centre, and in the very front of the battle.
Attila commanded his centre in person, at the head of his own
countrymen, while the Ostrogoths, the Gepidæ, and the other subject
allies of the Huns were drawn up on the wings.
Some manoeuvring appears to have occurred before the engagement, in
which Aetius had the advantage, inasmuch as he succeeded in occupying a
sloping hill which commanded the left flank of the Huns. Attila saw the
importance of the position taken by Aetius on the high ground, and
commenced the battle by a furious attack on this part of the Roman line,
in which he seems to have detached some of his best troops from his
centre to aid his left. The Romans, having the advantage of the ground,
repulsed the Huns, and while the allies gained this advantage on their
right, their left, under King Theodoric, assailed the Ostrogoths, who
formed the right of Attila's army. The gallant King was himself struck
down by a javelin as he rode onward at the head of his men; and his own
cavalry, charging over him, trampled him to death in the confusion. But
the Visigoths, infuriated, not dispirited, by their monarch's fall,
routed the enemies opposed to them, and then wheeled upon the flank of
the Hunnish centre, which had been engaged in a sanguinary and
indecisive contest with the Alans.
In this peril Attila made his centre fall back upon his camp; and when
the shelter of its intrenchments and wagons had once been gained, the
Hunnish archers repulsed, without difficulty, the charges of the
vengeful Gothic cavalry. Aetius had not pressed the advantage which he
gained on his side of the field, and when night fell over the wild scene
of havoc Attila's left was still undefeated, but his right had been
routed and his centre forced back upon his camp.
Expecting an assault on the morrow, Attila stationed his best archers in
front of the cars and wagons, which were drawn up as a fortification
along his lines, and made every preparation for a desperate resistance.
But the "Scourge of God" resolved that no man should boast of the honor
of having either captured or slain him, and he caused to be raised in
the centre of his encampment a huge pyramid of the wooden saddles of his
cavalry; round it he heaped the spoils and the wealth that he had won;
on it he stationed his wives who had accompanied him in the campaign;
and on the summit Attila placed himself, ready to perish in the flames
and balk the victorious foe of their choicest booty should they succeed
in storming his defences.
But when the morning broke and revealed the extent of the carnage with
which the plains were heaped for miles, the successful allies saw also
and respected the resolute attitude of their antagonist. Neither were
any measures taken to blockade him in his camp, and so to extort by
famine that submission which it was too plainly perilous to enforce with
the sword. Attila was allowed to march back the remnants of his army
without molestation, and even with the semblance of success.
It is probable that the crafty Aetius was unwilling to be too
victorious. He dreaded the glory which his allies the Visigoths had
acquired, and feared that Rome might find a second Alaric in Prince
Torismund, who had signalized himself in the battle, and had been chosen
on the field to succeed his father Theodoric. He persuaded the young
King to return at once to his capital, and thus relieved himself at the
same time of the presence of a dangerous friend as well as of a
formidable though beaten foe.
Attila's attacks on the Western Empire were soon renewed, but never with
such peril to the civilized world as had menaced it before his defeat at
Châlons; and on his death, two years after that battle, the vast empire
which his genius had founded was soon dissevered by the successful
revolts of the subject nations. The name of the Huns ceased for some
centuries to inspire terror in Western Europe, and their ascendency
passed away with the life of the great King by whom it had been so
fearfully augmented.[25]
EDWARD GIBBON
The facility with which Attila had penetrated into the heart of Gaul may
be ascribed to his insidious policy as well as to the terror of his
arms. His public declarations were skilfully mitigated by his private
assurances; he alternately soothed and threatened the Romans and the
Goths; and the courts of Ravenna and Toulouse, mutually suspicious of
each other's intentions, beheld with supine indifference the approach of
their common enemy. Aetius was the sole guardian of the public safety;
but his wisest measures were embarrassed by a faction which, since the
death of Placidia, infested the imperial palace; the youth of Italy
trembled at the sound of the trumpet; and the barbarians, who, from fear
or affection, were inclined to the cause of Attila, awaited with
doubtful and venal faith the event of the war. The patrician passed the
Alps at the head of some troops, whose strength and numbers scarcely
deserved the name of an army. But on his arrival at Aries, or Lyons, he
was confounded by the intelligence that the Visigoths, refusing to
embrace the defence of Gaul, had determined to expect, within their own
territories, the formidable invader, whom they professed to despise.
The senator Avitus, who, after the honorable exercise of the prætorian
prefecture, had retired to his estate in Auvergne, was persuaded to
accept the important embassy, which he executed with ability and
success. He represented to Theodoric that an ambitious conqueror, who
aspired to the dominion of the earth, could be resisted only by the firm
and unanimous alliance of the powers whom he labored to oppress. The
lively eloquence of Avitus inflamed the Gothic warriors by the
description of the injuries which their ancestors had suffered from the
Huns, whose implacable fury still pursued them from the Danube to the
foot of the Pyrenees. He strenuously urged that it was the duty of every
Christian to save from sacrilegious violation the churches of God and
the relics of the saints; that it was the interest of every barbarian
who had acquired a settlement in Gaul, to defend the fields and
vineyards, which were cultivated for his use, against the desolation of
the Scythian shepherds. Theodoric yielded to the evidence of truth,
adopted the measure at once the most prudent and the most honorable, and
declared that, as the faithful ally of Aetius and the Romans, he was
ready to expose his life and kingdom for the common safety of Gaul. The
Visigoths, who at that time were in the mature vigor of their fame and
power, obeyed with alacrity the signal of war, prepared their arms and
horses, and assembled under the standard of their aged King, who was
resolved, with his two eldest sons, Torismond and Theodoric, to command
in person his numerous and valiant people.
The example of the Goths determined several tribes or nations that
seemed to fluctuate between the Huns and the Romans. The indefatigable
diligence of the patrician gradually collected the troops of Gaul and
Germany, who had formerly acknowledged themselves the subjects or
soldiers of the republic, but who now claimed the rewards of voluntary
service and the rank of independent allies; the Læti, the Armoricans,
the Breones, the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Sarmatians or Alani, the
Ripuarians, and the Franks who followed Meroveus as their lawful prince.
Such was the various army which, under the conduct of Aetius and
Theodoric, advanced, by rapid marches, to relieve Orleans and to give
battle to the innumerable host of Attila.
On their approach, the king of the Huns immediately raised the siege,
and sounded a retreat to recall the foremost of his troops from the
pillage of a city which they had already entered. The valor of Attila
was always guided by his prudence; and as he foresaw the fatal
consequences of a defeat in the heart of Gaul, he repassed the Seine,
and expected the enemy in the plains of Châlons, whose smooth and level
surface was adapted to the operations of his Scythian cavalry. But in
this tumultuary retreat, the vanguard of the Romans and their allies
continually pressed, and sometimes engaged, the troops whom Attila had
posted in the rear; the hostile columns, in the darkness of the night
and the perplexity of the roads, might encounter each other without
design; and the bloody conflict of the Franks and Gepidæ, in which
fifteen thousand barbarians were slain, was a prelude to a more general
and decisive action.
The Catalaunian fields spread themselves round Châlons, and extend,
according to the vague measurement of Jornandes, to the length of one
hundred and fifty and the breadth of one hundred miles, over the whole
province, which is entitled to the appellation of a _champaign_ country.
This spacious plain was distinguished, however, by some inequalities of
ground; and the importance of a height which commanded the camp of
Attila was understood and disputed by the two generals. The young and
valiant Torismond first occupied the summit; the Goths rushed with
irresistible weight on the Huns, who labored to ascend from the opposite
side; and the possession of this advantageous post inspired both the
troops and their leaders with a fair assurance of victory. The anxiety
of Attila prompted him to consult his priests and haruspices. It was
reported that, after scrutinizing the entrails of victims and scraping
their bones, they revealed, in mysterious language, his own defeat, with
the death of his principal adversary; and that the barbarian, by
accepting the equivalent, expressed his involuntary esteem for the
superior merit of Aetius.
But the unusual despondency, which seemed to prevail among the Huns,
engaged Attila to use the expedient, so familiar to the generals of
antiquity, of animating his troops by a military oration; and his
language was that of a king who had often fought and conquered at their
head. He pressed them to consider their past glory, their actual danger,
and their future hopes. The same fortune which opened the deserts and
morasses of Scythia to their unarmed valor, which had laid so many
warlike nations prostrate at their feet, had reserved the _joys_ of this
memorable field for the consummation of their victories. The cautious
steps of their enemies, their strict alliance, and their advantageous
posts he artfully represented as the effects, not of prudence, but of
fear. The Visigoths alone were the strength and nerves of the opposite
army; and the Huns might securely trample on the degenerate Romans,
whose close and compact order betrayed their apprehensions, and who were
equally incapable of supporting the dangers or the fatigues of a day of
battle. The doctrine of predestination, so favorable to martial virtue,
was carefully inculcated by the king of the Huns, who assured his
subjects that the warriors, protected by heaven, were safe and
invulnerable amid the darts of the enemy, but that the unerring Fates
would strike their victims in the bosom of inglorious peace. "I myself,"
continued Attila, "will throw the first javelin, and the wretch who
refuses to imitate the example of his sovereign is devoted to inevitable
death."
The spirit of the barbarians was rekindled by the presence, the voice,
and the example of their intrepid leader; and Attila, yielding to their
impatience, immediately formed his order of battle. At the head of his
brave and faithful Huns, he occupied in person the centre of the line.
The nations subject to his empire, the Rugians, the Heruli, the
Thuringians, the Franks, the Burgundians, were extended on either hand,
over the ample space of the Catalaunian fields; the right wing was
commanded by Ardaric, king of the Gepidæ; and the three valiant brothers
who reigned over the Ostrogoths were posted on the left to oppose the
kindred tribes of the Visigoths. The disposition of the allies was
regulated by a different principle. Sangiban, the faithless King of the
Alani, was placed in the centre, where his motions might be strictly
watched, and his treachery might be instantly punished. Aetius assumed
the command of the left, and Theodoric of the right wing; while
Torismond still continued to occupy the heights which appear to have
stretched on the flank, and perhaps the rear, of the Scythian army. The
nations from the Volga to the Atlantic were assembled on the plain of
Châlons; but many of these nations had been divided by faction or
conquest or emigration; and the appearance of similar arms and ensigns,
which threatened each other, presented the image of a civil war.
The discipline and tactics of the Greeks and Romans form an interesting
part of their national manners. The attentive study of the military
operations of Xenophon or Cæsar or Frederic, when they are described by
the same genius which conceived and executed them, may tend to
improve--if such improvement can be wished--the art of destroying the
human species. But the battle of Châlons can only excite our curiosity
by the magnitude of the object; since it was decided by the blind
impetuosity of barbarians, and has been related by partial writers,
whose civil or ecclesiastical profession secluded them from the
knowledge of military affairs. Cassiodorus, however, had familiarly
conversed with many Gothic warriors who served in that memorable
engagement; "a conflict," as they informed him, "fierce, various,
obstinate, and bloody; such as could not be paralleled either in the
present or in past ages." The number of the slain amounted to one
hundred and sixty-two thousand, or, according to another account, three
hundred thousand persons; and these incredible exaggerations suppose a
real and effective loss sufficient to justify the historian's remark
that whole generations may be swept away, by the madness of kings, in
the space of a single hour.
After the mutual and repeated discharge of missile weapons, in which the
archers of Scythia might signalize their superior dexterity, the cavalry
and infantry of the two armies were furiously mingled in closer combat.
The Huns, who fought under the eyes of their King, pierced through the
feeble and doubtful centre of the allies, separated their wings from
each other, and wheeling, with a rapid effort, to the left, directed
their whole force against the Visigoths. As Theodoric rode along the
ranks to animate his troops, he received a mortal stroke from the
javelin of Andages, a noble Ostrogoth, and immediately fell from his
horse. The wounded King was oppressed in the general disorder and
trampled under the feet of his own cavalry; and this important death
served to explain the ambiguous prophecy of the haruspices.
Attila already exulted in the confidence of victory, when the valiant
Torismund descended from the hills and verified the remainder of the
prediction. The Visigoths, who had been thrown into confusion by the
flight or defection of the Alani, gradually restored their order of
battle; and the Huns were undoubtedly vanquished, since Attila was
compelled to retreat. He had exposed his person with the rashness of a
private soldier; but the intrepid troops of the centre had pushed
forward beyond the rest of the line; their attack was faintly supported;
their flanks were unguarded; and the conquerors of Scythia and Germany
were saved by the approach of the night from a total defeat. They
retired within the circle of wagons that fortified their camp; and the
dismounted squadrons prepared, themselves for a defence, to which
neither their arms nor their temper was adapted. The event was doubtful:
but Attila had secured a last and honorable resource. The saddles and
rich furniture of the cavalry were collected, by his order, into a
funeral pile; and the magnanimous barbarian had resolved, if his
intrenchments should be forced, to rush headlong into the flames, and to
deprive his enemies of the glory which they might have acquired by the
death or captivity of Attila.
But his enemies had passed the night in equal disorder and anxiety. The
inconsiderate courage of Torismund was tempted to urge the pursuit, till
he unexpectedly found himself, with a few followers, in the midst of the
Scythian wagons. In the confusion of a nocturnal combat he was thrown
from his horse; and the Gothic prince must have perished like his
father, if his youthful strength, and the intrepid zeal of his
companions, had not rescued him from this dangerous situation. In the
same manner, but on the left of the line, Aetius himself, separated from
his allies, ignorant of their victory and anxious for their fate,
encountered and escaped the hostile troops that were scattered over the
plains of Châlons, and at length reached the camp of the Goths, which he
could only fortify with a slight rampart of shields till the dawn of
day. The imperial general was soon satisfied of the defeat of Attila,
who still remained inactive within his intrenchments; and when he
contemplated the bloody scene, he observed, with secret satisfaction,
that the loss had principally fallen on the barbarians. The body of
Theodoric, pierced with honorable wounds, was discovered under a heap of
the slain; his subjects bewailed the death of their king and father; but
their tears were mingled with songs and acclamations, and his funeral
rites were performed in the face of a vanquished enemy.
The Goths, clashing their arms, elevated on a buckler his eldest son
Torismund, to whom they justly ascribed the glory of their success; and
the new King accepted the obligation of revenge as a sacred portion of
his paternal inheritance. Yet the Goths themselves were astonished by
the fierce and undaunted aspect of their formidable antagonist; and
their historian has compared Attila to a lion encompassed in his den and
threatening his hunters with redoubled fury. The kings and nations who
might have deserted his standard in the hour of distress were made
sensible that the displeasure of their monarch was the most imminent and
inevitable danger. All his instruments of martial music incessantly
sounded a loud and animating strain of defiance; and the foremost troops
who advanced to the assault were checked or destroyed by showers of
arrows from every side of the intrenchments. It was determined, in a
general council of war, to besiege the King of the Huns in his camp, to
intercept his provisions, and to reduce him to the alternative of a
disgraceful treaty or an unequal combat. But the impatience of the
barbarians soon disdained these cautious and dilatory measures; and the
mature policy of Aetius was apprehensive that, after the extirpation of
the Huns, the republic would be oppressed by the pride and power of the
Gothic nation.
The patrician exerted the superior ascendants of authority and reason to
calm the passions, which the son of Theodoric considered as a duty;
represented, with seeming affection and real truth, the dangers of
absence and delay; and persuaded Torismond to disappoint, by his speedy
return, the ambitious designs of his brothers, who might occupy the
throne and treasures of Toulouse. After the departure of the Goths and
the separation of the allied army, Attila was surprised at the vast
silence that reigned over the plains of Châlons: the suspicion of some
hostile stratagem detained him several days within the circle of his
wagons, and his retreat beyond the Rhine confessed the last victory
which was achieved in the name of the Western Empire. Meroveus and his
Franks, observing a prudent distance, and magnifying the opinion of
their strength by the numerous fires which they kindled every night,
continued to follow the rear of the Huns till they reached the confines
of Thuringia. The Thuringians served in the army of Attila: they
traversed, both in their march and in their return, the territories of
the Franks; and it was perhaps in this war that they exercised the
cruelties which, about fourscore years afterward, were revenged by the
son of Clovis. They massacred their hostages, as well as their captives:
two hundred young maidens were tortured with exquisite and unrelenting
rage; their bodies were torn asunder by wild horses or their bones were
crushed under the weight of rolling wagons, and their unburied limbs
were abandoned on the public roads as a prey to dogs and vultures. Such
were those savage ancestors whose imaginary virtues have sometimes
excited the praise and envy of civilized ages!
FOOTNOTES:
[24] In the _Nibelungenlied_, the old poet who describes the reception
of the heroine Chrimhild by Attila [Etsel], says that Attila's dominions
were so vast that among his subject warriors there were Russian, Greek,
Wallachian, Polish, _and even Danish knights_.
[25] If I seem to have given fewer of the details of the battle itself
than its importance would warrant, my excuse must be that Gibbon has
enriched our language with a description of it too long for quotation
and too splendidly for rivalry. I have not, however, taken altogether
the same view of it that he has.
FOUNDATION OF VENICE
A.D. 452
THOMAS HODGKIN JOHN RUSKIN
The foundation of Venice (Venetia) is an incident in the history of
Attila's incursions, at the head of his Huns, into Italy after his
defeat at the battle of Châlons-sur-Marne. Venetia was then a large
and fertile province of Northern Italy, and fifty Venetian cities
flourished in peace and safety under the protection of the Empire.
After Attila's remorseless hordes had taken and destroyed Aquileia,
near the head of the Adriatic, they swept, with resistless fury,
through Venetia, whose cities were so utterly destroyed that their
very sites could henceforth scarcely be identified. The inhabitants
fled in large numbers to the shores of the Adriatic, where, at the
extremity of the gulf, a group of a hundred islets is separated by
shallows from the mainland of Italy. Here the Venetians built their
city on what had hitherto been uncultivated and almost uninhabited
sand-banks. Under such unfavorable circumstances was started the
career of that wonderful city which afterward became "Queen of the
Adriatic" and mother of art, science, and learning.
The two greatest authorities on Venice are Thomas Hodgkin, who made
a life study of Italy and her invaders, and the immortal Ruskin,
whose grandly descriptive articles were written in the atmosphere
of Venice and the Adriatic Sea.
THOMAS HODGKIN
The terrible invaders, made wrathful and terrible by the resistance of
Aquileia, streamed through the trembling cities of Venetia. Each earlier
stage in the itinerary shows a town blotted out by their truly Tartar
genius for destruction. At the distance of thirty-one miles from
Aquileia stood the flourishing colony of Tulia Concordia, so named,
probably, in commemoration of the universal peace which, four hundred
and eighty years before, Augustus had established in the world.
Concordia was destroyed, and only an insignificant little village now
remains to show where it once stood. At another interval of thirty-one
miles stood Altinum, with its white villas clustering round the curves
of its lagoons, and rivalling Baiæ in its luxurious charms. Altinum was
effaced as Concordia and as Aquileia. Yet another march of thirty-two
miles brought the squalid invaders to Patavium, proud of its imagined
Trojan origin, and, with better reason, proud of having given birth to
Livy. Patavium, too, was levelled with the ground. True, it has not like
its sister towns remained in the nothingness to which Attila reduced it.
It is now
"Many-domed Padua proud,"
but all its great buildings date from the Middle Ages. Only a few broken
friezes and a few inscriptions in its museum exist as memorials of the
classical Patavium.