[24]
The immense territory north of the Danube and Black Sea and eastward of
Caucasus, over which Attila ruled, first in conjunction with his brother
Bleda, and afterward alone, cannot be very accurately defined, but it
must have comprised within it, besides the Huns, many nations of Slavic,
Gothic, Teutonic, and Finnish origin. South also of the Danube, the
country, from the river Sau as far as Novi in Thrace, was a Hunnish
province. Such was the empire of the Huns in A.D. 445; a memorable year,
in which Attila founded Buda on the Danube as his capital city, and rid
himself of his brother by a crime which seems to have been prompted not
only by selfish ambition, but also by a desire of turning to his purpose
the legends and forebodings which then were universally spread
throughout the Roman Empire, and must have been well known to the
watchful and ruthless Hun.
The year 445 of our era completed the twelfth century from the
foundation of Rome, according to the best chronologers. It had always
been believed among the Romans that the twelve vultures, which were said
to have appeared to Romulus when he founded the city, signified the time
during which the Roman power should endure.
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