and the hereditary rank of his
colleague seems to have made Edecon a doubtful friend, and Orestes an
irreconcilable enemy. After this entertainment, they travelled about one
hundred miles from Sardica to Naissus. That flourishing city, which has
given birth to the great Constantine, was levelled with the ground: the
inhabitants were destroyed or dispersed; and the appearance of some
sick persons, who were still permitted to exist among the ruins of
the churches, served only to increase the horror of the prospect. The
surface of the country was covered with the bones of the slain; and the
ambassadors, who directed their course to the north-west, were obliged
to pass the hills of modern Servia, before they descended into the flat
and marshy grounds which are terminated by the Danube. The Huns were
masters of the great river: their navigation was performed in large
canoes, hollowed out of the trunk of a single tree; the ministers of
Theodosius were safely landed on the opposite bank; and their Barbarian
associates immediately hastened to the camp of Attila, which was equally
prepared for the amusements of hunting or of war. No sooner had Maximin
advanced about two miles from the Danube, than he began to experience
the fastidious insolence of the conqueror. He was sternly forbid to
pitch his tents in a pleasant valley, lest he should infringe the
distant awe that was due to the royal mansion. The ministers of Attila
pressed them to communicate the business, and the instructions, which he
reserved for the ear of their sovereign When Maximin temperately urged
the contrary practice of nations, he was still more confounded to find
that the resolutions of the Sacred Consistory, those secrets (says
Priscus) which should not be revealed to the gods themselves, had been
treacherously disclosed to the public enemy. On his refusal to comply
with such ignominious terms, the Imperial envoy was commanded instantly
to depart; the order was recalled; it was again repeated; and the Huns
renewed their ineffectual attempts to subdue the patient firmness
of Maximin. At length, by the intercession of Scotta, the brother of
Onegesius, whose friendship had been purchased by a liberal gift, he was
admitted to the royal presence; but, in stead of obtaining a decisive
answer, he was compelled to undertake a remote journey towards the
north, that Attila might enjoy the proud satisfaction of receiving, in
the same camp, the ambassadors of the Eastern a