Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/457

OF THE ROMAN EMPIEE 437 seem to have been embarrassed by the singular politeness of Bleda's widow, who added to her other favours the gift, or at least the loan, of a sufficient number of beautiful and obsequious damsels. The sunshine of tlie succeeding day was dedicated to repose ; to collect and dry the baggage, and to the refreshment of the men and horses : but, in the evening, before they pursued their journey, the ambassadors expressed their gratitude to the bounteous lady of the village, by a very acceptable present of silver cups, red fleeces, dried fruits, and Indian pepper. Soon after this adventure, they rejoined the march of Attila, from Avhom they had been separated about six days ; and slowly pro- ceeded to the capital of an empire which did not contain, in the space of several thousand miles, a single city. As far as we mav ascertain the vajjue and obscure geography The royal of Priscus, this capital appears to have been seated between the palace Danube, the Theiss, and the Carpathian hills, in the plains of Upper Hungary, and most probably in the neighbourhood of Jazberin, Agria, or Tokay. ^^ In its origin it could be no more than an accidental camp, which, by the long and frequent residence of Attila, had insensibly swelled into a huge village, for the reception of his court, of the troops who followed his person, and of the various multitude of idle or industrious slr.ves and retainers. ^^ The baths, constructed by Onegesius, were the only edifice of stone ; the materials had been transported from Pannonia ; and, since the adjacent country was destitute even of large timber, it may be presumed that the meaner habitations of the royal village consisted of straw, of mud, or of canvas. The wooden houses of the more illustrious Huns were built and adorned with rude magnificence, according to the rank, the fortune, or the taste of the proprietors. They seem to have been distributed with some degree of order and symmetry ; and each spot became more honourable, as it approached the person ^ It is evident that Priscus passed the Danube and the Theiss, and that he did not reach the foot of the Carpathian Hills. Agria, Tokay, and Jazberin, are situated in the plains circumscribed by this definition. M. de Buat (Histoire des Peuples, &c. torn. vii. p. 461) has chosen Tokay ; Otrokosci(p. 180, apud Mascou, ix. 23), a learned Hungarian, has preferred Jazberin, a place about thirty-six miles westward of Buda and the Danube. [JAsz-Ber6ny.] •*3 The royal village of Attila may be compared to the city of Karacorum, the residence of the successors of Zingis ; which, though it appears to have been a more stable habitation, did not etiual the size or splendour of the town and abbeysof St. Denys, in thethirteenth century (see Rubruqviis, in the Histoire G^n^rale des Voyages, torn. vii. p. 286). The camp of Aurengzebe, as it is so agreeably described by Bernier (torn. ii. p. 217-235), blended the manners of Scythia with the rnagnificence and luxury of Hindostan.