The gradual encroachments of the Huns on the northern frontiers of
the Roman domain led to a terrific war in 441. Attila was king. His
first assault upon the Roman power was directed against the
Eastern Empire. The court at Constantinople had been duly
obsequious to him, but he found a pretext for war. The dreadful
ravages of his hordes and the shameful treaty which he forced upon
the empire form a thrilling yet terrible chapter in the history of
the world.
The western world was oppressed by the Goths and Vandals, who fled
before the Huns; but the achievements of the Huns themselves were not
adequate to their power and prosperity. Their victorious hordes had
spread from the Volga to the Danube; but the public force was exhausted
by the discord of independent chieftains; their valor was idly consumed
in obscure and predatory excursions; and they often degraded their
national dignity by condescending, for the hopes of spoil, to enlist
under the banners of their fugitive enemies. In the reign of Attila the
Huns again became the terror of the world; and I shall now describe the
character and actions of that formidable Barbarian; who alternately
insulted and invaded the East and the West, and urged the rapid downfall
of the Roman Empire.
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