Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/486

 464 THE DECLINE AND FALL Battle of The discipline and tactics of the Greeks and Romans form an Chalons, n i [sranmer interesting part of their national manners. The attentive study 451] 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 mag- nitude of the object ; since it was decided by the blind impetu- osity of Barbarians, and has been related by partial writers, whose civil or ecclesiastical profession secluded them from the know- ledge of military affairs. Cassiodorius, however, had familiarly con- versed with many Gothic warriors, who served in that memor- able engagement ; "a conflict," as they informed him, "fierce, various, obstinate and blood}- ; 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 eifective loss, sufficient to justifH' 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 infantiy 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 fi-om 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 ex- ulted in the confidence of victory, when the valiant Torismond descended from the hills, and verified the remainder of the •^ Theexpressionsofjornandes, or rather of Cassiodorius [Mommsen, Pref. toed, of Jordanes, p. x.xvi. , regards Priscus as the source], are extremely strong. Bellum atrox, multiplex, immane, pertinax, cui simili nulla usquam narrat antiquitas : ubi talia gesta referuntur, ut nihil esset quod in vita sua conspicere potuisset eg^egius, qui hujus miraculi privaretur aspectu. Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 392, 393) attempts to reconcile the 162,000 of Jornandes with the 300,000 of Idatius and Isidore, by supposing that the larger number included the total destruction of the war, the effects of disease, the slaughter of the unarmed people, &c.