pitiated the god of war with the victims which he continually offered
in the field of battle, the favorite of Mars soon acquired a sacred
character, which rended his conquests more easy and more permanent;
and the Barbarian princes confessed, in the language of devotion or
flattery, that they could not presume to gaze, with a steady eye, on
the divine majesty of the king of the Huns. [11] His brother Bleda, who
reigned over a considerable part of the nation, was compelled to resign
his sceptre and his life. Yet even this cruel act was attributed to a
supernatural impulse; and the vigor with which Attila wielded the sword
of Mars, convinced the world that it had been reserved alone for his
invincible arm. [12] But the extent of his empire affords the only
remaining evidence of the number and importance of his victories; and
the Scythian monarch, however ignorant of the value of science and
philosophy, might perhaps lament that his illiterate subjects were
destitute of the art which could perpetuate the memory of his exploits.

[Footnote 5: Priscus, p. 39. The modern Hungarians have deduced his
genealogy, which ascends, in the thirty-fifth degree, to Ham, the son
of Noah; yet they are ignorant of his father's real name. (De Guignes,
Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 297.)]

[Footnote 6: Compare Jornandes (c. 35, p. 661) with Buffon, Hist.
Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 380. The former had a right to observe, originis
suae sigua restituens. The character and portrait of Attila are probably
transcribed from Cassiodorus.]

[Footnote 7: Abulpharag. Pocock, p. 281. Genealogical History of the
Tartars, by Abulghazi Bahader Khan, part iii c. 15, part iv c. 3. Vie
de Gengiscan, par Petit de la Croix, l. 1, c. 1, 6. The relations of the
missionaries, who visited Tartary in the thirteenth century, (see
the seventh volume of the Histoire des Voyages,) express the popular
language and opinions; Zingis is styled the son of God, &c. &c.]

[Footnote 8: Nec templum apud eos visitur, aut delubrum, ne tugurium
quidem culmo tectum cerni usquam potest; sed gladius Barbarico ritu humi
figitur nudus, eumque ut Martem regionum quas circumcircant praesulem
verecundius colunt. Ammian. Marcellin. xxxi. 2, and the learned Notes of
Lindenbrogius and Valesius.]

[Footnote 9: Priscus relates this remarkable story, both in his own
text (p. 65) and in the quotation made by Jornandes, (c. 35, p. 662.) He
might have explained the tradition, or fable, which charact