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 486 THE DECLINE AND FALL selves, had been treacherously disclosed to the public enemy. On his refusal to comply with such ignominious terms, the Im- perial envoy was commanded instantly to de])art ; the order was recalled ; it was again repeated ; and the Huns renewed their ineffectual attempts to subdue the patient firmness of Maximin. At length, by the intercession of Scotta, the brother of Onege- sius, whose friendship had been purchased by a liberal gift, he was admitted to the royal presence : but, instead of obtaining a decisive answer, he was compelled to undertake a remote journey towards the North, that Attila might enjoy the proud satisfaction of receiving, in the same camp, the ambassadors of the Eastern and Western empires. His journey was regulated by the guides, who obliged him to halt, to hasten his march, or to deviate from the common road, as it best suited the con- venience of the King. The Romans who traversed the plains of Hungary suppose that they passed several navigable rivers, either in canoes or portable boats ; but there is reason to suspect that the winding stream of the Theiss, or Tibiscus, might present itself in different places, under different names. From the contiguous villages they received a plentiful and regular supply of })rovisions ; mead instead of wine, millet in the place of bread, and a certain liquor named camus, which, according to the report of Priscus, was distilled from barley.^^ Such fare might appear coarse and indelicate to men who had tasted the luxury of Con- stantinople : but, in their accidental distress, they were relieved by the gentleness and hospitality of the same Barbarians, so terrible and so merciless in war. The ambassadors had en- camped on the edge of a large morass. A violent tempest of wind and rain, of thunder and lightning, overturned their tents, immersed their baggage and furniture in the water, and scattered their retinue, who wandered in the darkness of the night, un- certain of their road, and apprehensive of some unknown danger, till they awakened by their cries the inhabitants of a neighbour- ing village, the property of the widow of Bleda. A bright illumination, and, in a few moments, a comfortable fire of reeds, was kindled by their officious benevolence ; the wants, and even the desires, of the Romans were liberally satisfied ; and they ''•■'The Huns themselves still continued to despise the labours of agriculture; they abused the privilege of a victorious nation ; and the Goths, their industrious subjects who cultivated the earth, dreaded their neighbourhood, like that of so many ravenous wolves (Priscus, p. 45 [p. 108]). In the sani2 manner the Sarts and Tadgics provide for their own subsistence, and for that of the Usbec Tartars, their lazy and rapacious sovereigns. See Genealogical History of the Tartars, P- 423. 455. Sic.