artificial barriers; and the easy condescension of the emperors invited, without satisfying, the insolent demands of the Barbarians, who had acquired an eager appetite for the luxuries of civilized life. The Hungarians, who ambitiously insert the name of Attila among their native kings, may affirm with truth, that the hordes, which were subject to his uncle Roas, or Rugilas, had formed their encampments within the limits of modern Hungary (2), in a fertile country, which liberally supplied the wants of a nation of hunters and shepherds. In this advantageous situation, Rugilas, and his valiant brothers, who continually added to their power and reputation, commanded the alternative of peace or war with the two empires. His alliance with the Romans of the West was cemented by his personal friendship for the great Ætius; who was always secure of finding, in the Barbarian camp, a hospitable reception, and a powerful support. At his solicitation, and in the name of John the usurper, sixty thousand Huns advanced to the confines of Italy; their march and their retreat were alike expensive to the state; and the grateful policy of Etius abandoned the possession of Pannonia to his faithful confederates. The Romans of the East were not less apprehensive of the arms of Rugilas, which threatened the provinces, or even the capital. Some ecclesiastical historians have destroyed the Barbarians with lightning and pestilence (3); but Theodosius was reduced to the more humble expedient of stipulating an annual payment of three hundred and fifty pounds of gold, and of disguising this dishonourable tribute by the title of general, which the King of the Huns condescended to accept. The public tranquillity was frequently interrupted by the fierce impatience of the Barbarians, and the perfidious intrigues of the Byzantine court. Four dependent nations, among whom we may distinguish the Bavarians, disclaimed the sovereignty of the Huns; and their revolt was encouraged and protected by a Roman alliance; till the just claims, and formidable power of Rugilas, were effectually urged by the voice of Eslaw his ambassador. Peace was the unanimous wish of the senate their decree was ratified by the emperor; and two (2) Hungary has been successively occupied by three Scythian colonies. 1. The Huns of Attila ; 2. The Abares, in the sixth century; and, 3. The Turks or Magyars, A. D. 889; the immediate and genuine ancestors of the modern Hungarians, whose connection with the two former is extremely faint and remote. The Prodromus and Notitia of Matthew Belius appear to contain a rich fund of information concerning ancient and modern Hungary. I have seen the extracts in Bibliothèque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. xxii. p. 1–51. and Bibliothèque Raisonnée, tom. xvi. p. 127-175.* (3) Socrates, 1. vii. c. 43. Theodoret, l. v. c. 36. Tillemont, who always depends on the faith of his ecclesiastical authors, strenuously contends (Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 136. 607,), that the wars and personages were not the same. * Mailath (in his Geschichte der Magyaren) considers the question of the origin of the Magyars as still undecided. The old Hungarian chronicles unanimously derive them from the Huns of Attila. See note, vol. iii. pp. 246, 246. The later opinion, adopted by Schlözer, Belnay, and Dankow sky, ascribes them, from their language, to the Finnish race. Fessler in his History of Hungary agrees with Gibbon, in supposing them Turks. Mailath has inserted an ingenious dissertation of Fejer, which attempts to connect them with the Parthians. Vol. i. Anmerkungen, p. 50.—M. Reign of Attila, A. D. 433-453. His figure and ambassadors were named, Plinthas, a general of Scythian extraction, but of consular rank; and the quæstor Epigenes, a wise and experienced statesman, who was recommended to that office by his ambitious colleague. The death of Rugilas suspended the progress of the treaty. His two nephews, Attila and Bleda, who succeeded to the throne of their uncle, consented to a personal interview with the ambassadors of Constantinople; but as they proudly refused to dismount, the business was transacted on horseback, in a spacious plain near the city of Margus, in the Upper Mæsia. The kings of the Huns assumed the solid benefits, as well as the vain honours, of the negociation. They dictated the conditions of peace, and each condition was an insult on the majesty of the empire. Besides the freedom of a safe and plentiful market on the banks of the Danube, they required that the annual contribution should be augmented from three hundred and fifty to seven hundred pounds of gold; that a fine, or ransom, of eight pieces of gold, should be paid for every Roman captive, who had escaped from his Barbarian master; that the emperor should renounce all treaties and engagements with the enemies of the Huns; and that all the fugitives, who had taken refuge in the court, or provinces, of Theodosius, should be delivered to the justice of their offended sovereign. This justice was rigorously inflicted on some unfortunate youths of a royal race. They were crucified on the territories of the empire, by the command of Attila: and, as soon as the king of the Huns had impressed the Romans with the terror of his name, he indulged them in a short and arbitrary respite, whilst he subdued the rebellious or independent nations of Scythia and Germany (4). Attila, the son of Mundzuk, deduced his noble, perhaps his regal, character. descent (5) from the ancient Huns, who had formerly contended with the monarchs of China. His features, according to the observation of a Gothic historian, bore the stamp of his national origin; and the portrait of Attila exhibits the genuine deformity of a modern Calmuck (6); a large head, a swarthy complexion, small deepseated eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a beard, broad shoulders, and a short square body, of nervous strength, though of a disproportioned form. The haughty step and demeanour of the king of the Huns expressed the consciousness of his superiority above the rest of mankind; and he had a custom of fiercely rolling his eyes, as if he wished to enjoy the terror which he inspired. (4) See Priscus, p. 47, 48. and Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vii. c. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. (5) Priscus, p. 39. The modern Hungarians have deduced his genealogy, which ascends, in the thirty-fifth degree, to Ham the son of Noah: yet they are ignorant of his father's real name. (De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 297.) (6) Compare Jornandes (c. 35. p. 661.) with Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 380. The former had a right to observe, originis suæ signa restituens. The character and portrait of Attila are probably transcribed from Cassiodorus. Yet this savage hero was not inaccessible to pity; his suppliant enemies might confide in the assurance of peace or pardon; and Attila was considered by his subjects as a just and indulgent master. He delighted in war; but, after he had ascended the throne in a mature age, his head, rather than his hand, achieved the conquest of the North; and the fame of an adventurous soldier was usefully exchanged for that of a prudent and successful general. The effects of personal valour are so inconsiderable, except in poetry or romance, that victory, even among Barbarians, must depend on the degree of skill, with which the passions of the multitude are combined and guided for the service of a single man. The Scythian conquerors, Attila and Zingis, surpassed their rude countrymen in art, rather than in courage; and it may be observed, that the monarchies, both of the Huns and of the Moguls, were erected by their founders on the basis of popular superstition. The miraculous conception, which fraud and credulity ascribed to the virgin-mother of Zingis, raised him above the level of human nature; and the naked prophet, who, in the name of the Deity; invested him with the empire of the earth, pointed the valour of the Moguls with irresistible enthusiasm (7). The religious arts of Attila were not less skilfully adapted to the character of his age and country. It was natural enough, that the Scythians should adore, with peculiar devotion, the god of war; but as they were incapable of forming either an abstract idea, or a corporeal representation, they worshipped their tutelar deity under the symbol of an iron cimeter (8). One He discovers of the shepherds of the Huns perceived, that a heifer, who was Mars, grazing, had wounded herself in the foot, and curiously followed the track of the blood, till he discovered, among the long grass, the point of an ancient sword; which he dug out of the ground, and presented to Attila. That magnanimous, or rather that artful, prince accepted, with pious gratitude, this celestial favour; and, as the rightful possessor of the sword of Mars, asserted his divine and indefeasible claim to the dominion of the earth (9). If the rites of Scythia were practised on this solemn occasion, a lofty altar, or rather pile of faggots, three hundred yards in length and in breadth, was raised in a spacious plain; and the sword of Mars was placed (7) Abulpharag. Dynast. vers. Pocock, p. 281. Genealogical History of the Tartars, by Abulghazı Bahader Khan, part iii. c. 15. part iv. c. 3. Vie de Gengiskan, par Petit de la Croix, 1. i. c. 1. 6. The relations of the missionaries, who visited Tartary in the thirteenth century (see the seventh volume of the Histoire des Voyages), express the popular language and opinions; Zingis is styled the son of God, &c. &c. (8) Nec templum apud eos visitur, aut delubrum, ne tugurium quidem culmo tectum cerni usquam potest; sed gladius Barbarico ritu humi figitur nudus, eumque ut Martem regionum quas circumcircant præsulem verecundius colunt. Ammian. Marcellin. xxxi. 2. and the learned Notes of Lindenbrogius and Valesius. (9) Priscus relates this remarkable story, both in his own text (p. 65.), and in the quotation made by Jornandes (c. 35. p. 662.). He might have explained the tradition, or fable, which characterized this famous sword, and the name, as well as attributes, of the Scythian deity, whom he has translated into the Mars of the Greeks and Romans. the sword of and acquires the empire of erect on the summit of this rustic altar, which was annually consecrated by the blood of sheep, horses, and of the hundredth captive (10). Whether human sacrifices formed any part of the worship of Attila, or whether he propitiated the god of war with the victims which he continually offered in the field of battle, the favourite of Mars soon acquired a sacred character, which rendered his conquests more easy and more permanent; and the Barbarian princes confessed, in the language of devotion or flattery, that they could not presume to gaze, with a steady eye, on the divine majesty of the king of the Huns (11). His brother Bleda, who reigned over a considerable part of the nation, was compelled to resign his sceptre, and his life. Yet even this cruel act was attributed to a supernatural impulse; and the vigour with which Attila wielded the sword of Mars, convinced the world, that it had been reserved alone for his invincible arm (12). But the extent of his empire affords the only remaining evidence of the number, and importance, of his victories; and the Scythian monarch, however ignorant of the value of science and philosophy, might, perhaps, lament, that his illiterate subjects were destitute of the art which could perpetuate the memory of his exploits. If a line of separation were drawn between the civilized and the Scythia and savage climates of the globe; between the inhabitants of cities, who Germany. cultivated the earth, and the hunters and shepherds who dwelt in tents, Attila might aspire to the title of supreme and sole monarch of the Barbarians (13). He alone, among the conquerors of ancient and modern times, united the two mighty kingdoms of Germany and Scythia; and those vague appellations, when they are applied to his reign, may be understood with an ample latitude. Thuringia, which stretched beyond its actual limits as far as the Danube, was in the number of his provinces : he interposed, with the weight of a powerful neighbour, in the domestic affairs of the Franks; and one of his lieutenants chastised, and almost exterminated, the Burgundians of the Rhine. He subdued the islands of the ocean, the kingdoms of Scandinavia, encompassed and divided by the waters of the Baltic; and the Huns might derive a tribute of furs from that northern region, which has been protected from all other conquerors by the severity of the climate, and the courage of the natives. Towards the East, it is difficult to circumscribe (10) Herodot. 1. iv. c. 62. For the sake of oeconomy, I have calculated by the smallest stadium. In the human sacrifices, they cut off the shoulder and arm of the victim, which they threw up into the air, and drew omens and presages from the manner of their falling on the pile. (11) Priscus, p. 55. A more civilized hero, Augustus himself, was pleased, if the person on whom he fixed his eyes seemed unable to support their divine lustre. Sueton. in August. c. 79. (12) The count de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vii. p. 428, 429.) attempts to clear Attila from the murder of his brother; and is almost inclined to reject the concurrent testimony of Jornandes, and the contemporary Chronicles. (13) Fortissimarum gentium dominus, qui inaudita ante se potentia, solus Scythica et Germanica regna possedit. Jornandes, c. 49. p. 684. Priscus, p. 64, 65. M. de Guignes, by his knowledge of the Chinese, has acquired (tom. ii. p. 295–301.) an adequate idea of the empire of Attila. the dominion of Attila over the Scythian deserts; yet we may be assured, that he reigned on the banks of the Volga; that the king of the Huns was dreaded, not only as a warrior, but as a magician (14); that he insulted and vanquished the khan of the formidable Geougen; and that he sent ambassadors to negociate an equal alliance with the empire of China. In the proud review of the nations who acknowledged the sovereignty of Attila, and who never entertained, during his life-time, the thought of a revolt, the Gepida and the Ostrogoths were distinguished by their numbers, their bravery, and the personal merit of their chiefs. The renowned Ardaric, king of the Gepida, was the faithful and sagacious counsellor of the monarch, who esteemed his intrepid genius, whilst he loved the mild and discreet virtues of the noble Walamir, king of the Ostrogoths. The crowd of vulgar kings, the leaders of so many martial tribes, who served under the standard of Attila, were ranged in the submissive order of guards and domestics round the person of their master. They watched his nod; they trembled at his frown; and at the first signal of his will, they executed, without murmur or hesitation, his stern and absolute commands. In time of peace, the dependent princes, with their national troops, attended the royal camp in regular succession; but when Attila collected his military force, he was able to bring into the field an army of five, or, according to another account, of seven hundred thousand Barbarians (15). invade Persia, A. D. 430-440. The ambassadors of the Huns might awaken the attention of The Huns Theodosius, by reminding him, that they were his neighbours both in Europe and Asia; since they touched the Danube on one hand, and reached, with the other, as far as the Tanais. In the reign of his father Arcadius, a band of adventurous Huns had ravaged the provinces of the East; from whence they brought away rich spoils and innumerable captives (16). They advanced, by a secret path, (14) See Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 296. The Geougen believed, that the Huns could excite, at pleasure, storms of wind and rain. This phenomenon was produced by the stone Gezi; to whose magic power the loss of a battle was ascribed by the Mahometan Tartars of the fourteenth century. See Cherefeddin Ali, Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i. p. 82, 83. (15) Jornandes, c. 35. p. 661. c. 37. p. 667. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 129. 138. Corneille has represented the pride of Attila to his subject kings; and his tragedy opens with these two ridiculous lines. Ils ne sont pas venus, nos deux rois? Qu'on leur die Qu'ils se font trop attendre, et qu'Attila s'ennuie. The two kings of the Gepida and the Ostrogoths are profound politicians and sentimental lovers; and the whole piece exhibits the defects, without the genius, of the poet. (16) alii per Caspia claustra Armeniasque nives, inopino tramite ducti Cappadocum, volucrumque parens Argæus equorum. Claudian, in Rufin. 1. ii. 28-35. See, likewise, in Eutrop. 1. i. 243-251. and the strong description of Jerom, who wrote from his |
