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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 467 prudent distance, and magnifying the opinion of their strength by the numerous fires which they kindled every night, con- tinued to follow the rear of the Huns, till they reached the confines of Thuringia. The Thuringians served in the army of Attila ; they traversed, both in their march and in their return, the territories of the Franks ; and it was perhaps in this war that they exercised the cruelties which, about fourscore years after- wards, were revenged by the son of Clovis. They massacred their hostages, as well as their captives : two hundred young maidens were tortured with exquisite and unrelenting rage ; their bodies were torn asunder by wild horses, or their bones were crushed under the weight of rolling waggons ; and their unburied limbs were abandoned on the public roads, as a prey to dogs and vultures. Such were those savage ancestors, whose imaginary virtues have sometimes excited the praise and envy of civilised ages.^'^ Neither the spirit nor the forces nor the reputation of Attila jj^^*^° °' were impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition. In the ^""|^2 ensuing spring, he repeated his demand of the princess Honoria and her patrimonial treasures.'*^" The demand was again re- jected, or eluded ; and the indignant lover immediately took the field, passed the Alps, invaded Italy, and besieged Aquileia with an innumerable host of Barbarians. Those Barbarians were un- skilled in the methods of conducting a regular siege, which, even among the ancients, required some knowledge, or at least some practice, of the mechanic arts. But the labour of many thousand provincials and captives, whose lives were sacrificed without pity, might execute the most painful and dangerous work. The skill of the Roman artists might be corrupted to the destruction of their country. The walls of Aquileia were assaulted by a formidable train of battering rams, moveable turrets, and engines, that threw stones, darts, and fire ; ^'■^ and •*8 These cruelties, which are passionately deplored by Theodoric, the son of Clovis (Gregory of Tours, 1. iii. c. lo, p. 190), suit the time and circumstances of the invasion of Attila. His residence in Thuringia was long attested by popular tradition ; and he is supposed to have assembled a coiiroultai, or diet, in the terri- tory of Eisenach. See Mascou, ix. 30, who settles with nice accuracy the e.xtent of ancient Thuringia, and derives its name from the Gothic tribe of the Thervingi. ■'Sa [There seems to be no authority for this statement.] •*9 Machinis constructis, omnibusque tormentorum generibus adhibilis. Jor- nandes, c. 42, p. 673. In the thirteenth century, the Moguls battered the cities of China with large engines constructed by the Mahometans or Christians in their service, which threw stones from 150 to 300 pounds weight. In the defence of their country, the Chinese used gunpowder, and even bombs, above an hundred years before they were known in Europe ; yet even those celestial, or infernal, arms were insufficient to protect a pusillanimous nation. See Gaubil, Hist, des Mongous, p. 70, 71, 155, 157, &c.