579. 'The death of Attila took place in 453. The commonly received account
is that given by Jornandes, that he died by the bursting of a blood-vessel
on the night of his marriage with a beautiful maiden, whom he added to his
many other wives; some, with a natural suspicion, impute it to the hand of
his bride. Priscus observes, that no one ever subdued so many countries in
so short a time.... Jornandes, De Rebus Geticis, and Priscus, Excerpta de
Legationibus, furnish the best existing materials for the history of
Attila. For modern compilations, see Buat, Histoire des Peuples de
l'Europe; De Guignes, Hist. des Huns; and Gibbon, capp. xxxiv and xxxv';
English Cyclopaedia. And see Amédée Thierry, Histoire d'Attila.
Mr. Jephson (in Bell's Chaucer) quotes the account of Attila's death given
by Paulus Diaconus, Gest. Rom. lib. xv: 'Qui reuersus ad proprias sedes,
supra plures quas habebat uxores, valde decoram, indicto nomine, sibi in
matrimonium iunxit. Ob cuius nuptias profusa conuiuia exercens, dum tantum
uini quantum nunquam antea insimul bibisset, cum supinus quiesceret,
eruptione sanguinis, qui ei de naribus solitus erat effluere, suffocatus et
extinctus est.'
The older account in Jornandes, De Rebus Geticis, § 82, is of more [282]
interest. 'Qui [Attila], ut Priscus historicus refert, extinctionis suae
tempore puellam, Ildico nomine, decoram valde, sibi in matrimonium post
innumerabiles uxores, vt mos est gentis illius, socians: eiusque in nuptiis
magna hilaritate resolutus, vino somnoque grauatus, resupinus iacebat;
redundansque sanguis, qui ei solitè de naribus effluebat, dum consuetis
meatibus impeditur, itinere ferali faucibus illapsus eum extinxit.'
585. _Lamuel_, i. e. King Lemuel, mentioned in Prov. xxxi. 1, q. v.; not to
be confused, says Chaucer, with Samuel. The allusion is to Prov. xxxi. 4,
5; and not (as Mr. Wright suggests) to Prov. xxiii. In fact, in the margin
of MSS. E. and Hn. is written 'Noli uinum dare,' words found in Prov. xxxi.
4. See note to l. 561.