"I myself,"
continued Attila, "will throw the first javelin, and the wretch who
refuses to imitate the example of his sovereign is devoted to inevitable
death."
The spirit of the barbarians was rekindled by the presence, the voice,
and the example of their intrepid leader; and Attila, yielding to their
impatience, immediately formed his order of battle. At the head of his
brave and faithful Huns, he occupied in person the centre of the line.
The nations subject to his empire, the Rugians, the Heruli, the
Thuringians, the Franks, the Burgundians, were extended on either hand,
over the ample space of the Catalaunian fields; the right wing was
commanded by Ardaric, king of the Gepidae; and the three valiant brothers
who reigned over the Ostrogoths were posted on the left to oppose the
kindred tribes of the Visigoths. The disposition of the allies was
regulated by a different principle. Sangiban, the faithless King of the
Alani, was placed in the centre, where his motions might be strictly
watched, and his treachery might be instantly punished. Aetius assumed
the command of the left, and Theodoric of the right wing; while
Torismond still continued to occupy the heights which appear to have
stretched on the flank, and perhaps the rear, of the Scythian army.
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