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 472 THE DECLINE AND FALL ungrateful people.^*^ If the mind of 'alentinian had been susceptible of any generous sentiments, he would have chosen such a general for his example and his guide. But the timid grandson of Theodosius, instead of sharing the dangers, escaped from the sound, of war ; and his hasty retreat from Ravenna to Rome, from an impregnable fortress to an open capital, betrayed his secret intention of abandoning Italy as soon as the danger should approach his Imperial person. This shameful abdication was suspended, however, by the spirit of doubt and delay, which commonly adheres to pusillanimous counsels, and some- times corrects their pernicious tendency. The Western emperor, A^-ith the senate and people of Rome, embraced the more salutary resolution of deprecating, by a solemn and suppliant embassy, the wrath of Attila. This important commission was accepted by Avienus, who, from his birth and riches, his consular dignity, the numerous train of his clients, and his personal abilities, held the first rank in the Roman senate. The specious and artful character of Avienus "^'^ was admirably qualified to conduct a negotiation either of public or private interest ; his colleague Trigetius had exercised the Praetorian praefecture of Italy ; and Leo, bishop of Rome, consented to expose his life for the safety of his flock. The genius of Leo i'- was exercised and displayed in the public misfortunes ; and he has deserved the appellation of Great by the successful zeal with which he laboured to establish his opinions and his authority, under the venerable names of orthodox faith and ecclesiastical discipline. The Roman ambassadors were introduced to the tent of Attila, as he lay encamped at the place where the slow-winding [Mincio] Mincius is lost in the foaminff waves of the lake Benacus,*^^ and [L. Garda] =» ' fiOSirmond (Not. ad Sidon. ApoUin. p. 19) has published a curious passage from the Chronicle of Prosper. Attila redintegratis viribus, quas in Gallia amiserat, Italian! ingredi per Pannonias intendit : nihil duce nostro Aetio secundum prioris belli opera prospiciente, &c. He reproaches Aetius with neglecting to guard the Alps, and with a design to abandon Italy ; but this rash censure may at least be counterbalanced by the favourable testimonies of Idatius and Isidore. [Isidore, Hist. Goth. 27, merely repeats Idatius, but leaves out the words Aetio didce.^ •>! See the original portraits of Avienus and his rival Basilius, delineated and contrasted in the epistles (i. 9, p. 22) of Sidonius. He had studied the characters of the two chiefs of the senate ; but he attached himself to Basilius, as the more solid and disinterested friend. ^The character and principles of Leo may be traced in one hundred and forty- one original epistles, which illustrate the ecclesiastical history of his long and busy pontificate, from ..d. 440 to 461. See Dupin, Bibliofh^que Eccl^siaslique, torn. iii. part ii. p. 120-165. 63 tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius, et tenerd praste.xit arundine ripas Anne lacus tantos, te Lari maxime, teque Fluctibus, et fremitu assurgens Benace marino.