He enlisted every subject of the Roman
Empire whom patriotism, courage, or compulsion could collect beneath the
standards; and round these troops, which assumed the once proud title of
the legions of Rome he arrayed the large forces of barbaric auxiliaries,
whom pay, persuasion, or the general hate and dread of the Huns brought
to the camp of the last of the Roman generals. King Theodoric exerted
himself with equal energy. Orleans resisted her besiegers bravely as in
after-times. The passage of the Loire was skilfully defended against the
Huns; and Aetius and Theodoric, after much manoeuvring and difficulty,
effected a junction of their armies to the south of that important
river.
On the advance of the allies upon Orleans, Attila instantly broke up the
siege of that city and retreated toward the Marne. He did not choose to
risk a decisive battle with only the central corps of his army against
the combined power of his enemies, and he therefore fell back upon his
base of operations, calling in his wings from Arras and Besancon, and
concentrating the whole of the Hunnish forces on the vast plains of
Chalons-sur-Marne.
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