o
revolt from the service of the empire. But this treacherous conspiracy
was detected and disappointed: Orleans had been strengthened with recent
fortifications; and the assaults of the Huns were vigorously repelled by
the faithful valor of the soldiers, or citizens, who defended the place.
The pastoral diligence of Anianus, a bishop of primitive sanctity and
consummate prudence, exhausted every art of religious policy to support
their courage, till the arrival of the expected succors. After an
obstinate siege, the walls were shaken by the battering rams; the Huns
had already occupied the suburbs; and the people, who were incapable of
bearing arms, lay prostrate in prayer. Anianus, who anxiously counted
the days and hours, despatched a trusty messenger to observe, from the
rampari, the face of the distant country. He returned twice, without
any intelligence that could inspire hope or comfort; but, in his third
report, he mentioned a small cloud, which he had faintly descried at the
extremity of the horizon. "It is the aid of God!" exclaimed the bishop,
in a tone of pious confidence; and the whole multitude repeated after
him, "It is the aid of God." The remote object, on which every eye
was fixed, became each moment larger, and more distinct; the Roman and
Gothic banners were gradually perceived; and a favorable wind blowing
aside the dust, discovered, in deep array, the impatient squadrons of
Aetius and Theodoric, who pressed forwards to the relief of Orleans.

[Footnote 31: Exegeras mihi, ut promitterem tibi, Attilae bellum stylo
me posteris intimaturum.... coeperam scribere, sed operis arrepti fasce
perspecto, taeduit inchoasse. Sidon. Apoll. l. viii. epist. 15, p. 235]

[Footnote 32:

Subito cum rupta tumultu
Barbaries totas in te transfuderat Arctos,

Gallia. Pugnacem Rugum comitante Gelono,
Gepida trux sequitur; Scyrum Burgundio cogit:

Chunus, Bellonotus, Neurus, Basterna, Toringus,

Bructerus, ulvosa vel quem Nicer abluit unda

Prorumpit Francus. Cecidit cito secta bipenni Hercynia in lintres, et
Rhenum texuit alno. Et jam terrificis diffuderat Attila turmis In campos
se, Belga, tuos. Panegyr. Avit.]

[Footnote 33: The most authentic and circumstantial account of this war
is contained in Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c. 36-41, p. 662-672,) who
has sometimes abridged, and sometimes transcribed, the larger history
of Cassiodorus. Jornandes, a quotation which it would be super