d, instead of the rigid and illiberal confinement imposed by Asiatic
jealousy they politely admitted the Roman ambassadors to their presence,
their table, and even to the freedom of an innocent embrace. When
Maximin offered his presents to Cerca, [4411] the principal queen, he
admired the singular architecture on her mansion, the height of the
round columns, the size and beauty of the wood, which was curiously
shaped or turned or polished or carved; and his attentive eye was able
to discover some taste in the ornaments and some regularity in the
proportions. After passing through the guards, who watched before the
gate, the ambassadors were introduced into the private apartment of
Cerca. The wife of Attila received their visit sitting, or rather lying,
on a soft couch; the floor was covered with a carpet; the domestics
formed a circle round the queen; and her damsels, seated on the ground,
were employed in working the variegated embroidery which adorned the
dress of the Barbaric warriors. The Huns were ambitious of displaying
those riches which were the fruit and evidence of their victories: the
trappings of their horses, their swords, and even their shoes, were
studded with gold and precious stones; and their tables were profusely
spread with plates, and goblets, and vases of gold and silver, which had
been fashioned by the labor of Grecian artists.

The monarch alone assumed the superior pride of still adhering to the
simplicity of his Scythian ancestors. [45] The dress of Attila, his
arms, and the furniture of his horse, were plain, without ornament,
and of a single color. The royal table was served in wooden cups and
platters; flesh was his only food; and the conqueror of the North never
tasted the luxury of bread.

[Footnote 43: It is evident that Priscus passed the Danube and the
Teyss, and that he did not reach the foot of the Carpathian hills.
Agria, Tokay, and Jazberin, are situated in the plains circumscribed
by this definition. M. de Buat (Histoire des Peuples, &c., tom. vii.
p. 461) has chosen Tokay; Otrokosci, (p. 180, apud Mascou, ix. 23,)
a learned Hungarian, has preferred Jazberin, a place about thirty-six
miles westward of Buda and the Danube. * Note: M. St. Martin considers
the narrative of Priscus, the only authority of M. de Buat and of
Gibbon, too vague to fix the position of Attila's camp. "It is worthy of
remark, that in the Hungarian traditions collected by Thwrocz, l. 2, c.
17, precisely on the