Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/351

 1092 HUNNI. a distinction between them and the closely allied Alani» The Ahini were tall and good-looking (" pro- ceri, palcri ") .with yellow hair — ^ Hunninqae per omnia suppares, verum victu mitiores et calta" (§ 21). The Huns were '* imberbes"— " spadonibos eimiles — pandi ut bipedes ezistimes bestias " (2). When Ainmianos wrote, the geographical rehtions of the HunB to the populations arouixl them seem to have been as follows. The Alans occupied the pre- sent government of Gaucasos. and the frontier of Circassia. Due north and west of the Alans came the Huns themselves, concerning whom Ammianns tells us that ** monumentis veteribos leviter nota, ultra paludes MaoticasGladalcm Oeeanam acoolensyomnem modum feritatis excedit." He tells us this; but we must remark the loose character of his geography in respect to tlie leg Oceany and also the likelihood of his views concerning their original migralions being mere inferences from the phenomena of their sudden appearance. The western part of the govern- ment of Caucasus, Taurida, and Gherson formed the area of the Huns of Ammianns at the time before us, viz. A. D. 375, in the joint reigns of Valens, Grutian, and Valentuiian II. It is just in the midst of these notices that the necessity for criticism upon the text of Ammianns is so necessary. Between his notice of the Huns and his notice of the Alans, in each of which he speaks in his own proper person, as a contempoivy inquirer with sufficient means of information, be brings in the account from Herodotus of the Neuri, Geloni, Aga- thyrsi, Melanchlaeni, Anthropophagi, and Anuuones. This archaic and semi-fiibulous part must be sepa- rated from the rest However, next come the Grutungi, conterminous with the Alani of the Don. How near the Grutungi came to the Tanais is uncertain. They spread, at least, to the valley of the Dniester. Here was the "vttllis Gruthungorum." TheThervings lay between the Dniester and the Danube ; and besides the Ther- viiYgs, the Thaifalse on the R. Gerasus (the Sereth), The ethnological connection seems to have been between the Huns and Alans on the one side, and the Thei-vings and Gmlungs on the other — the Thaifalae being uncertain. The political alliaooes generally coincided with the ethnologicaL The Huns drove the Gnitungs and Tbervings (the Goths, as they are mostly called) across the Danube — from Dada into Moesia and Thraoe, from the modem Mcildama or Bettarobia into Bulgaria and RumeHa. Thu is the first great event in their usual history; for the conquests and migrations previous to their appearance on the Dneister are un- authenticated. The quarrels between the Goths of Moesia and the Romans begun, and the Huns and Alans — no longer enemies but allies-^side with the former. So at least it appears from the loose and unsatisfactoiy notices which apply to the period he< tween the histoiy of the Huns of Ammianns and that of the Huns of Priscu& — A dear light is thrown over the reign of Attihi, the son of Mundzak. He began to reign a.d. 43i3, and, over and above the notices of his battles, we find in Priscus references to as many as five embassies, viz. in a.d. 438 (just after Ruas' death), 441, 448, 449, 450,— this bst being abortive and incomplete. In the one a.d. 448 Priscus took a part Gibbon has abridged the ac- count of it. A.D. 448 was the time, and the royal camp or court of Attila, between the Theiss and the Danube, the pkce. In a.d. 453 Attila died. HITNNL What were his acts, and what his power? Both have been much exaggerated, — by Gibbon as modi as by any one. He ovenan Italy, Graeee, Thnce, the countries on the Lower Danube, and penetrated as far into Gaul as Ghftlons. He cUuined cither a subsidy or a tribute from the Romans of the EaiAen Empire. He seems to have entertained the pUn of an incursion into Persia, — at least, the practiadbifity of making one was one of the topics which Prison heard discussed during the embassy. He spread his n^otiatioos as far as A£tica ; and so goi the co- opeimtion of Gooseric. In these we have the measure of his operatk They were undoubtedly great ; though Doi than those of AJaric, and Genaeric, and other qnerora of the time. Hb method was that o( a politidan quite as mod as that of a soldier. We bear of more fmbaiwin than campaigns during the reign of Attilm. The nations thi^ fought under his banner were numerous ; but some (if not several) fought as allies, not as subjects. These allies and snbjecls — collectively — fell into 2 divisions. ist The particular populatioD to which ffm» was given as a generic name, t. e. the H%mt themselves in detail. 2nd. The populations other than Hun* L e. Gothic, Alan, &C. The latter will be noticed fint; the fonner will find a place hereafter. Sidonius Apollinaris writes : — Barbaries tofaes in te transfuderat Aretos Gallia, pugnaoem Rugnm, comitante Gekmo; Gepida trux sequitur, Suevum Burgundio cogH : Ghunus, Bellonotns, Nenrus, Bastema, Toringna, Bracterus ulvosa vel quern Nicer abluit unda Prorumpit Francus." — viL 820. This applies to the invasion of GauL From Jomandes we get the additional names of Sannatae, " Gemandri, Marcomanni, Soevi, Qondi, Heruli, Turcilingi." These lists give Attila an inordinately large, er a moderate-sized kingdom, according to tiie inter- pretation we give to each name, and aococifi^g to the character of the dominion over the popnla- tiona which bore them, which we attribnte to the invader of Gaul. He might have mled them as an absolute master ; he might have availed himseif of their arms as simple coodSederates; he might have taken up some portion of some of them in paasii^ through theur conntiy. Another point may be oolleoted in its fnll detafls from Gibbon,— viz. the relationa between the Roman general AStius and Attila. Aetius was hy Uood a Scythian, and it b possible that the langnage of hia childhood was a dialect of the Hnn. Until the last year of his life, he was the firiend and guest of the Hun kings — Rngebs (Ruas), Bleda and Attila. In the afliur of the usurper Johio, he intriigoed with the Huns. He settled a colony of Alana in Ganl ; and the Alans and Huns only differed in their polities, not in their language and ethnokf^kal affinities. The chief meroenaries of AStina vrers Huns. * With these he eflbcted some of his chief conquests, and to these he made over several con- siderable districts. Hence, when we hear of certain Hun conquests, we hear of the conquests of Aetias as well ; and when we read cf such or soch anas being occu|Hed, and such or such enemies being reduced, by Aetius and the Huns, we are in donfai