e.
Attila commanded his centre in person, at the head of his own
countrymen, while the Ostrogoths, the Gepidae, and the other subject
allies of the Huns were drawn up on the wings.

Some manoeuvring appears to have occurred before the engagement, in
which Aetius had the advantage, inasmuch as he succeeded in occupying a
sloping hill which commanded the left flank of the Huns. Attila saw the
importance of the position taken by Aetius on the high ground, and
commenced the battle by a furious attack on this part of the Roman line,
in which he seems to have detached some of his best troops from his
centre to aid his left. The Romans, having the advantage of the ground,
repulsed the Huns, and while the allies gained this advantage on their
right, their left, under King Theodoric, assailed the Ostrogoths, who
formed the right of Attila's army. The gallant King was himself struck
down by a javelin as he rode onward at the head of his men; and his own
cavalry, charging over him, trampled him to death in the confusion. But
the Visigoths, infuriated, not dispirited, by their monarch's fall,
routed the enemies opposed to them, and then wheeled upon the flank of
the Hunnish centre, which had been engaged in a sanguinary and
indecisive contest with the Alans.

In this peril Attila made his centre fall back upon his camp; and when
the shelter of its intrenchments and wagons had once been gained, the
Hunnish archers repulsed, without difficulty, the charges of the
vengeful Gothic cavalry. Aetius had not pressed the advantage which he
gained on his side of the field, and when night fell over the wild scene
of havoc Attila's left was still undefeated, but his right had been
routed and his centre forced back upon his camp.

Expecting an assault on the morrow, Attila stationed his best archers in
front of the cars and wagons, which were drawn up as a fortification
along his lines, and made every preparation for a desperate resistance.
But the "Scourge of God" resolved that no man should boast of the honor
of having either captured or slain him, and he caused to be raised in
the centre of his encampment a huge pyramid of the wooden saddles of his
cavalry; round it he heaped the spoils and the wealth that he had won;
on it he stationed his wives who had accompanied him in the campaign;
and on the summit Attila placed himself, ready to perish in the flames
and balk the victorious foe of their choicest booty should they succeed
in storming