anks; Ricimer was
a Suevian. The Roman generals, Bonifacius, Aetius, AEgidius, Syagrius, at
one time fought the barbarians, at another negotiated with such and such
of them, either to entice them to take service against other barbarians,
or to promote the objects of personal ambition; for the Roman generals
also, under the titles of patrician, consul, or proconsul, aspired to
and attained a sort of political independence, and contributed to the
dismemberment of the empire in the very act of defending it.

No later than A.D. 412 two German nations, the Visigoths and the
Burgundians, took their stand definitively in Gaul, and founded there
two new kingdoms: the Visigoths, under their kings Ataulph and Wallia,
in Aquitania and Narbonensis; the Burgundians, under their kings
Gundichaire and Gundioch, in Lyonnais, from the southern point of
Alsatia right into Provence, along the two banks of the Saone and the
left bank of the Rhone, and also in Switzerland. In 451 the arrival in
Gaul of the Huns and their king Attila--already famous, both king and
nation, for their wild habits, their fierce valor, and their successes
against the Eastern Empire--gravely complicated the situation. The
common interest of resistance against the most barbarous of barbarians,
and the renown and energy of Aetius, united, for the moment, the old and
new masters of Gaul; Romans, Gauls, Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks,
Alans, Saxons, and Britons formed the army led by Aetius against that of
Attila, who also had in his ranks Goths, Burgundians, Gepidians, Alans,
and beyond-Rhine Franks, gathered together and enlisted on his road. It
was a chaos and a conflict of barbarians, of every name and race,
disputing one with another, pell-mell, the remnants of the Roman Empire
torn asunder and in dissolution.

Attila had already arrived before Orleans, and was laying siege to it.
The bishop, St. Anianus, sustained awhile the courage of the besieged by
promising them aid from Aetius and his allies. The aid was slow to come;
and the bishop sent to Aetius a message: "If thou be not here this very
day, my son, it will be too late." Still Aetius came not. The people of
Orleans determined to surrender; the gates flew open; the Huns entered;
the plundering began without much disorder; "wagons were stationed to
receive the booty as it was taken from the houses, and the captives,
arranged in groups, were divided by lot between the victorious
chieftains." Suddenly a shou