Danube on one hand, and reached, with the other,
as far as the Tanais. In the reign of his father Arcadius, a band of
adventurous Huns had ravaged the provinces of the East; from whence they
brought away rich spoils and innumerable captives. [16] They advanced,
by a secret path, along the shores of the Caspian Sea; traversed the
snowy mountains of Armenia; passed the Tigris, the Euphrates, and
the Halys; recruited their weary cavalry with the generous breed of
Cappadocian horses; occupied the hilly country of Cilicia, and disturbed
the festal songs and dances of the citizens of Antioch. Egypt trembled
at their approach; and the monks and pilgrims of the Holy Land prepared
to escaped their fury by a speedy embarkation. The memory of this
invasion was still recent in the minds of the Orientals. The subjects
of Attila might execute, with superior forces, the design which these
adventurers had so boldly attempted; and it soon became the subject of
anxious conjecture, whether the tempest would fall on the dominions of
Rome, or of Persia. Some of the great vassals of the king of the Huns,
who were themselves in the rank of powerful princes, had been sent to
ratify an alliance and society of arms with the emperor, or rather with
the general of the West. They related, during their residence at Rome,
the circumstances of an expedition, which they had lately made into the
East. After passing a desert and a morass, supposed by the Romans to be
the Lake Maeotis, they penetrated through the mountains, and arrived,
at the end of fifteen days' march, on the confines of Media; where they
advanced as far as the unknown cities of Basic and Cursic. [1611]
They encountered the Persian army in the plains of Media and the air,
according to their own expression, was darkened by a cloud of arrows.
But the Huns were obliged to retire before the numbers of the enemy.
Their laborious retreat was effected by a different road; they lost the
greatest part of their booty; and at length returned to the royal camp,
with some knowledge of the country, and an impatient desire of revenge.
In the free conversation of the Imperial ambassadors, who discussed,
at the court of Attila, the character and designs of their formidable
enemy, the ministers of Constantinople expressed their hope, that his
strength might be diverted and employed in a long and doubtful contest
with the princes of the house of Sassan. The more sagacious Italians
admonished their Eastern