Attila 448]

During this peace Attila was lord over all the Huns 178
and almost the sole earthly ruler of all the tribes of
Scythia; a man marvellous for his glorious fame among
all nations. The historian Priscus, who was sent to him
on an embassy by the younger Theodosius, says this
among other things: "Crossing mighty rivers--namely,
the Tisia and Tibisia and Dricca--we came to the place
where long ago Vidigoia, bravest of the Goths, perished
by the guile of the Sarmatians. At no great distance
from that place we arrived at the village where King
Attila was dwelling,--a village, I say, like a great city
in which we found wooden walls made of smooth-shining
boards, whose joints so counterfeited solidity that the
union of the boards could scarcely be distinguished by
close scrutiny. There you might see dining halls of 179
large extent and porticoes planned with great beauty,
while the courtyard was bounded by so vast a circuit that
its very size showed it was the royal palace." This was
the abode of Attila, the king of all the barbarian world;
and he preferred this as a dwelling to the cities he
captured.

[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF ATTILA KING OF THE HUNS]

[Sidenote: Attila and Bleda joint kings 433-445]

[Sidenote: Attila sole king 445-453]

XXXV Now this Attila was the son of Mundiuch, 180
and his brothers were Octar and Ruas who are said to
have ruled before Attila, though not over quite so many
tribes as he. After their death he succeeded to the throne
of the Huns, together with his brother Bleda. In order
that he might first be equal to the expedition he was
preparing, he sought to increase his strength by murder.
Thus he proceeded from the destruction of his own kindred
to the menace of all others. But though he increased 181
his power by this shameful means, yet by the balance of
justice he received the hideous consequences of his own
cruelty. Now when his brother Bleda, who ruled over
a great part of the Huns, had been slain by his treachery,
Attila united all the people under his own rule. Gathering
also a host of the other tribes which he then held
under his sway, he sought to subdue the foremost nations
of the world--the Romans and the Visigoths. His army 182
is said to have numbered five hundred thousand men.
He was a man born into the world to shake the nations,
the scourge of all lands, who in some way terrified all
mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning