defend the provinces
which Theodosius had intrusted to their arms: "For what fortress,"
(added Attila,) "what city, in the wide extent of the Roman empire, can
hope to exist, secure and impregnable, if it is our pleasure that
it should be erased from the earth?" He dismissed, however, the
interpreter, who returned to Constantinople with his peremptory demand
of more complete restitution, and a more splendid embassy.

His anger gradually subsided, and his domestic satisfaction in a
marriage which he celebrated on the road with the daughter of Eslam,
[4511] might perhaps contribute to mollify the native fierceness of his
temper. The entrance of Attila into the royal village was marked by a
very singular ceremony. A numerous troop of women came out to meet their
hero and their king. They marched before him, distributed into long
and regular files; the intervals between the files were filled by white
veils of thin linen, which the women on either side bore aloft in their
hands, and which formed a canopy for a chorus of young virgins, who
chanted hymns and songs in the Scythian language. The wife of his
favorite Onegesius, with a train of female attendants, saluted Attila
at the door of her own house, on his way to the palace; and offered,
according to the custom of the country, her respectful homage, by
entreating him to taste the wine and meat which she had prepared for his
reception. As soon as the monarch had graciously accepted her hospitable
gift, his domestics lifted a small silver table to a convenient height,
as he sat on horseback; and Attila, when he had touched the goblet with
his lips, again saluted the wife of Onegesius, and continued his march.
During his residence at the seat of empire, his hours were not wasted
in the recluse idleness of a seraglio; and the king of the Huns could
maintain his superior dignity, without concealing his person from the
public view. He frequently assembled his council, and gave audience
to the ambassadors of the nations; and his people might appeal to the
supreme tribunal, which he held at stated times, and, according to the
Eastern custom, before the principal gate of his wooden palace. The
Romans, both of the East and of the West, were twice invited to the
banquets, where Attila feasted with the princes and nobles of Scythia.
Maximin and his colleagues were stopped on the threshold, till they had
made a devout libation to the health and prosperity of the king of the
Huns; and w