t reechoed through the streets: it was
Aetius, Theodoric, and Torismund, his son, who were coming with the
eagles of the Roman legions and with the banners of the Visigoths. A
fight took place between them and the Huns, at first on the banks of the
Loire, and then in the streets of the city. The people of Orleans joined
their liberators; the danger was great for the Huns, and Attila ordered
a retreat.

It was the 14th of June, 451, and that day was for a long while
celebrated in the church of Orleans as the date of a signal deliverance.
The Huns retired toward Champagne, which they had already crossed at
their coming into Gaul; and when they were before Troyes, the bishop,
St. Lupus, repaired to Attila's camp, and besought him to spare a
defenceless city, which had neither walls nor garrison. "So be it,"
answered Attila; "but thou shalt come with me and see the Rhine; I
promise then to send thee back again." With mingled prudence and
superstition the barbarian meant to keep the holy man as a hostage. The
Huns arrived at the plains hard by Chalons-sur-Marne; Aetius and all his
allies had followed them; and Attila, perceiving that a battle was
inevitable, halted in a position for delivering it. The Gothic historian
Jornandes says that he consulted his priests, who answered that the Huns
would be beaten, but that _the general of the enemy_ would fall in the
fight. In this prophecy Attila saw predicted the death of Aetius, his
most formidable enemy; and the struggle commenced. There is no precise
information about the date; but "it was," says Jornandes, "a battle
which for atrocity, multitude, horror, and stubbornness has not the like
in the records of antiquity."

Historians vary in their exaggerations of the numbers engaged and
killed: according to some, three hundred thousand, according to others
one hundred and sixty-two thousand, were left on the field of battle.
Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, was killed. Some chroniclers name
Meroveus as king of the Franks, settled in Belgica, near Tongres, who
formed part of the army of Aetius. They even attribute to him a
brilliant attack made on the eve of the battle upon the Gepidians,
allies of the Huns, when ninety thousand men fell according to some, and
only fifteen thousand according to others. The numbers are purely
imaginary, and even the fact is doubtful. However, the battle of Chalons
drove the Huns out of Gaul, and was the last victory in Gaul, gained
still in the n