Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/495

 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 473 trampled, with his Scythian cavalry, the farms of Catullus and Virgil. "^^ The Barbarian monarch listened with favourable, and even respectful, attention ; and the deliverance of Italy was purchased by the immense ransom, or dowry, of the princess Honoria. The state of his army might facilitate the treaty, and hasten his retreat. Their martial spirit was relaxed by the wealth and indolence of a warm climate. The shepherds of the North, whose ordinary food consisted of milk and raw flesh, indulged themselves too fi'eely in the use of bread, of wine, and of meat prepared and seasoned by the arts of cookery ; and the progress of disease revenged in some measure the in- juries of the Italians.*^^ When Attila declared his resolution of carrying his victorious arms to the gates of Rome, he was ad- monished by his friends, as well as by his enemies, that Alaric had not long survived the conquest of the eternal city. His mind, superior to real danger, was assaulted by imaginary terrors ; nor could he escape the influence of superstition, which had so often been subservient to his designs.*'*^ The pressing eloquence of Leo, his majestic aspect and sacerdotal robes, ex- cited the veneration of Attila for the spiritual father of the Christians. The apparition of the two apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, who menaced the Barbarian with instant death, if he rejected the prayer of their successor, is one of the noblest legends of ecclesiastical tradition. The safety of Rome might deserve the interposition of celestial beings ; and some indul- gence is due to a fable which has been represented by the pencil of Raphael and the chisel of Algardi.''" ^The Marquis Maffei (Verona Illustrata, part i. p. 95, 129, 221, part ii. p. ii. 6) has illustrated with taste and learning this interesting topography. He places the interview of Attila and St. Leo near Ariolica, or Ardelica, now Peschiera, at the conflux of the lake and river ; ascertains the villa of Catullus, in the delightful peninsula of Sirmio ; and discovers the Andes of Virgil, in the village of Bandes, precisely situate qua se subducere colles incipiunt, where the Veronese hills imperceptibly slope down into the plain of Mantua. [Muratori (Ann. d' Italia, iii. 154) placed the interview at Governolo, a village situated where the Mincio joins the Po.] ~ 65 Si statim infesto agmine urbem petiissent, grande discrimen asset: sad in Venetia quo fere tractu Italia mollissima est, ipsa soli caslique dementia robur elanguit. Ad hoc panis usu carnisque coctse, et dulcedine vini mitigatos, &c. This passage of Florus (iii. 3) is still more applicable to the Huns than to the Cimbri, and it may serve as a commentary on the celestial plague, with which Idatius and Isidore have afflicted the troops of Attila. 66 The historian Priscus had positively mentioned the effect which this example produced on the mind of Attila. Jornandes, c. 42, p. 673. 6" The picture of Raphael is in the Vatican ; the basso (or perhaps the alto) relievo of Algardi, on one of the altars of St. Peter (see Dubos, Reflexions sur la Persia et sur la Peinture, tom. i. p. 519, 520). Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 452, No. 57, 58) bravely sustains the truth of the apparition ; which is rejected, however, by the most learned and pious Catholics.