ed with
such respect and liberality: and the offensive distinction which
was implied, between his civil office 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 [4111] 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. [4112] 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 towa