Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/441

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 421 cities, who cultivated the earth, and the hunters and shepherds, who dwelt in tents ; Attila might aspire to the title of supreme and sole monarch of the Barbarians. ^^ He alone, among the conquerors of ancient and modern times, united the two mighty kingdoms of Germany and Scythia ; and those vague appella- tions, when they are applied to his reign, may be understood with an ample latitude. Thuringia, which stretched beyond its actual limits as far as the Danube, was in the number of his provinces ; he interposed, with the weight of a powerful neigh- bour, in the domestic affairs of the Franks ; and one of his lieutenants chastised, and almost exterminated, the Burgundians of the Rhine. He subdued the islands of the ocean, the king- doms of Scandinavia, encompassed and divided by the waters of the Baltic ; and the Huns might derive a tribute of furs from that northern region which has been protected from all other con- querors by the severity of the climateandthe courageofthe natives. Towards the East,it is difficult to circumscribe the dominion of Attila over the Scythian deserts ; yet we may be assured that he reigned on the banks of the Volga ; that the king of the Huns was dreaded, not only as a warrior, but as a magician ; ^* that he insulted and vanquished the Khan of the formidable Geougen ; and that he sent ambassadors to negotiate an equal alliance with the empire of China. In the proud review of the nations who acknowledged the sovereignty of Attila, and who never enter- tained, during his lifetime, the thought of a revolt, the Gepidae and the Ostrogoths were distinguished by their numbers, their bravery, and the personal merit of their chiefs. The renowned Ardaric, king of the Gepida?, was the faithful and sagacious counsellor of the monarch, who esteemed his intrepid genius, whilst he loved the mild and discreet virtues of the noble Wala- mir, king of the Ostrogoths. The crowd of vulgar kings, the leaders of so many martial tribes, who served under the standard of Attila, were ranged in the submissive order of guards and domestics, round the person of their master. They watched his nod ; they trembled at his frown ; and, at the first signal of his 13 Fortissimarura gentium doniinus, qui, inauditaante se potentiH, solus Scythica et Germanica regna possedit. Jornandes, c. 49, p. 684. Pnscus, p. 64, 65 [F. H. G. iv. p. 90]. M. de Guignes, by his knowledge of the Chinese, has acquired (torn. ii. p. 295-301) an adequate idea of the empire of Attila. w See Hist, des Huns, torn. ii. p. 296. The Geougen believed that the Huns could excite at pleasure storms of wind and rain. This phenomenon was produced by the stone Gezi ; to whose magic power the loss of a battle was ascribed by the Mahometan Tartars of the fourteenth century. See Cherefeddin Ali, Hist, de Timur Bee, torn. i. p. 82, 83.