than death itself--he decided to inquire into the
future through soothsayers. So, as was their custom, 196
they examined the entrails of cattle and certain streaks in
bones that had been scraped, and foretold disaster to the
Huns. Yet as a slight consolation they prophesied that
the chief commander of the foe they were to meet should
fall and mar by his death the rest of the victory and the
triumph. Now Attila deemed the death of Aetius a thing
to be desired even at the cost of his own life, for Aetius
stood in the way of his plans. So although he was disturbed
by this prophecy, yet inasmuch as he was a man
who sought counsel of omens in all warfare, he began
the battle with anxious heart at about the ninth hour of
the day, in order that the impending darkness might come
to his aid if the outcome should be disastrous.

[Sidenote: BATTLE OF THE CATALAUNIAN PLAINS A.D. 451]

XXXVIII The armies met, as we have said, in the 197
Catalaunian Plains. The battle field was a plain rising
by a sharp slope to a ridge, which both armies sought to
gain; for advantage of position is a great help. The
Huns with their forces seized the right side, the Romans,
the Visigoths and their allies the left, and then began a
struggle for the yet untaken crest. Now Theodorid with
the Visigoths held the right wing and Aetius with the
Romans the left. They placed in the centre Sangiban
(who, as said before, was in command of the Alani),
thus contriving with military caution to surround by a
host of faithful troops the man in whose loyalty they had
little confidence. For one who has difficulties placed in
the way of his flight readily submits to the necessity of 198
fighting. On the other side, however, the battle line of
the Huns was so arranged that Attila and his bravest
followers were stationed in the centre. In arranging
them thus the king had chiefly his own safety in view,
since by his position in the very midst of his race he
would be kept out of the way of threatening danger.
The innumerable peoples of divers tribes, which he had
subjected to his sway, formed the wings. Amid them 199
was conspicuous the army of the Ostrogoths under the
leadership of the brothers Valamir, Thiudimer and Vidimer,
nobler even than the king they served, for the might
of the family of the Amali rendered them glorious. The
renowned king of the Gepidae, Ardaric, was there also
with a countless host, and because of his great loyalty to
Atti