sidence
in Thuringia was long attested by popular tradition; and he is supposed
to have assembled a couroultai, or diet, in the territory of Eisenach.
See Mascou, ix. 30, who settles with nice accuracy the extent of ancient
Thuringia, and derives its name from the Gothic tribe of the Therungi]

Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.--Part III.

Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputation, of Attila, were
impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition In the ensuing spring
he repeated his demand of the princess Honoria, and her patrimonial
treasures. The demand was again rejected, or eluded; and the indignant
lover immediately took the field, passed the Alps, invaded Italy,
and besieged Aquileia with an innumerable host of Barbarians. Those
Barbarians were unskilled in the methods of conducting a regular siege,
which, even among the ancients, required some knowledge, or at least
some practice, of the mechanic arts. But the labor of many thousand
provincials and captives, whose lives were sacrificed without pity,
might execute the most painful and dangerous work. The skill of the
Roman artists might be corrupted to the destruction of their country.
The walls of Aquileia were assaulted by a formidable train of battering
rams, movable turrets, and engines, that threw stones, darts, and fire;
[48] and the monarch of the Huns employed the forcible impulse of hope,
fear, emulation, and interest, to subvert the only barrier which delayed
the conquest of Italy. Aquileia was at that period one of the richest,
the most populous, and the strongest of the maritime cities of the
Adriatic coast. The Gothic auxiliaries, who appeared to have served
under their native princes, Alaric and Antala, communicated their
intrepid spirit; and the citizens still remembered the glorious and
successful resistance which their ancestors had opposed to a fierce,
inexorable Barbarian, who disgraced the majesty of the Roman purple.
Three months were consumed without effect in the siege of the Aquileia;
till the want of provisions, and the clamors of his army, compelled
Attila to relinquish the enterprise; and reluctantly to issue his
orders, that the troops should strike their tents the next morning, and
begin their retreat. But as he rode round the walls, pensive, angry, and
disappointed, he observed a stork preparing to leave her nest, in one
of the towers, and to fly with her infant family towards the country.
He seized, with the ready