e, and directing each
horseman to carry behind him two sacks of flour, cut his way through the
intrenchments of the besiegers. The siege was immediately raised; and
the more decisive victory, which is ascribed to the personal conduct of
Aetius himself, was marked with the blood of eight thousand Goths. But
in the absence of the patrician, who was hastily summoned to Italy
by some public or private interest, Count Litorius succeeded to the
command; and his presumption soon discovered that far different talents
are required to lead a wing of cavalry, or to direct the operations of
an important war. At the head of an army of Huns, he rashly advanced to
the gates of Thoulouse, full of careless contempt for an enemy whom his
misfortunes had rendered prudent, and his situation made desperate.
The predictions of the augurs had inspired Litorius with the profane
confidence that he should enter the Gothic capital in triumph; and the
trust which he reposed in his Pagan allies, encouraged him to reject the
fair conditions of peace, which were repeatedly proposed by the bishops
in the name of Theodoric. The king of the Goths exhibited in his
distress the edifying contrast of Christian piety and moderation; nor
did he lay aside his sackcloth and ashes till he was prepared to arm
for the combat. His soldiers, animated with martial and religious
enthusiasm, assaulted the camp of Litorius. The conflict was obstinate;
the slaughter was mutual. The Roman general, after a total defeat,
which could be imputed only to his unskilful rashness, was actually
led through the streets of Thoulouse, not in his own, but in a hostile
triumph; and the misery which he experienced, in a long and ignominious
captivity, excited the compassion of the Barbarians themselves. [12]
Such a loss, in a country whose spirit and finances were long since
exhausted, could not easily be repaired; and the Goths, assuming, in
their turn, the sentiments of ambition and revenge, would have planted
their victorious standards on the banks of the Rhone, if the presence of
Aetius had not restored strength and discipline to the Romans. [13] The
two armies expected the signal of a decisive action; but the generals,
who were conscious of each other's force, and doubtful of their own
superiority, prudently sheathed their swords in the field of battle; and
their reconciliation was permanent and sincere. Theodoric, king of
the Visigoths, appears to have deserved the love of his subje