The valley of the Po was now wasted to the heart's content of the
invaders. Should they cross the Apennines and blot out Rome as they had
blotted out Aquileia from among the cities of the world? This was the
great question that was being debated in the Hunnish camp, and, strange
to say, the voices were not all for war. Already Italy began to strike
that strange awe into the hearts of her northern conquerors which so
often in later ages has been her best defence. The remembrance of
Alaric, cut off by a mysterious death immediately after his capture of
Rome, was present in the mind of Attila, and was frequently insisted
upon by his counsellors, who seem to have had a foreboding that only
while he lived would they be great and prosperous.
While this discussion was going forward in the barbarian camp, all
voices were hushed, and the attention of all was aroused by the news of
the arrival of an embassy from Rome. What had been going on in that city
it is not easy to ascertain. The Emperor seems to have been dwelling
there, not at Ravenna. Aetius shows a strange lack of courage or of
resource, and we find it difficult to recognize in him the victor of the
Mauriac plains.
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