n of
Chalons; but many of these nations had been divided by faction or
conquest or emigration; and the appearance of similar arms and ensigns,
which threatened each other, presented the image of a civil war.

The discipline and tactics of the Greeks and Romans form an interesting
part of their national manners. The attentive study of the military
operations of Xenophon or Caesar or Frederic, when they are described by
the same genius which conceived and executed them, may tend to
improve--if such improvement can be wished--the art of destroying the
human species. But the battle of Chalons can only excite our curiosity
by the magnitude of the object; since it was decided by the blind
impetuosity of barbarians, and has been related by partial writers,
whose civil or ecclesiastical profession secluded them from the
knowledge of military affairs. Cassiodorus, however, had familiarly
conversed with many Gothic warriors who served in that memorable
engagement; "a conflict," as they informed him, "fierce, various,
obstinate, and bloody; such as could not be paralleled either in the
present or in past ages." The number of the slain amounted to one
hundred and sixty-two thousand, or, according to another account, three
hundred thousand persons; and these incredible exaggerations suppose a
real and effective loss sufficient to justify the historian's remark
that whole generations may be swept away, by the madness of kings, in
the space of a single hour.

After the mutual and repeated discharge of missile weapons, in which the
archers of Scythia might signalize their superior dexterity, the cavalry
and infantry of the two armies were furiously mingled in closer combat.
The Huns, who fought under the eyes of their King, pierced through the
feeble and doubtful centre of the allies, separated their wings from
each other, and wheeling, with a rapid effort, to the left, directed
their whole force against the Visigoths. As Theodoric rode along the
ranks to animate his troops, he received a mortal stroke from the
javelin of Andages, a noble Ostrogoth, and immediately fell from his
horse. The wounded King was oppressed in the general disorder and
trampled under the feet of his own cavalry; and this important death
served to explain the ambiguous prophecy of the haruspices.

Attila already exulted in the confidence of victory, when the valiant
Torismund descended from the hills and verified the remainder of the
prediction. The Visigoths