ed in the confidence
of victory, when the valiant Torismond descended from the hills, and
verified the remainder of the prediction. The Visigoths, who had been
thrown into confusion by the flight or defection of the Alani,
gradually restored their order of battle; and the Huns were undoubtedly
vanquished, since Attila was compelled to retreat. He had exposed his
person with the rashness of a private soldier; but the intrepid troops
of the centre had pushed forwards beyond the rest of the line; their
attack was faintly supported; their flanks were unguarded; and the
conquerors of Scythia and Germany were saved by the approach of the
night from a total defeat. They retired within the circle of wagons that
fortified their camp; and the dismounted squadrons prepared themselves
for a defence, to which neither their arms, nor their temper, were
adapted. The event was doubtful: but Attila had secured a last and
honorable resource. The saddles and rich furniture of the cavalry
were collected, by his order, into a funeral pile; and the magnanimous
Barbarian had resolved, if his intrenchments should be forced, to rush
headlong into the flames, and to deprive his enemies of the glory which
they might have acquired, by the death or captivity of Attila. [45]

[Footnote 44: The expressions of Jornandes, or rather of Cassiodorus,
are extremely strong. Bellum atrox, multiplex, immane, pertinax, cui
simile nulla usquam narrat antiquitas: ubi talia gesta referuntur, ut
nihil esset quod in vita sua conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus
miraculi privaretur aspectu. Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 392,
393) attempts to reconcile the 162,000 of Jornandes with the 300,000 of
Idatius and Isidore, by supposing that the larger number included the
total destruction of the war, the effects of disease, the slaughter of
the unarmed people, &c.]

[Footnote 45: The count de Buat, (Hist. des Peuples, &c., tom. vii. p.
554-573,) still depending on the false, and again rejecting the true,
Idatius, has divided the defeat of Attila into two great battles; the
former near Orleans, the latter in Champagne: in the one, Theodoric was
slain in the other, he was revenged.]

But his enemies had passed the night in equal disorder and anxiety. The
inconsiderate courage of Torismond was tempted to urge the pursuit, till
he unexpectedly found himself, with a few followers, in the midst of the
Scythian wagons. In the confusion of a nocturnal combat, he was thro