The New Student's Reference Work/Attila

At'tila, the Scourge of God, born about 406 A. D., was son of the king of the Huns, and in 434 succeeded his uncle as king of countless hordes scattered over the north of Asia and Europe. He was regarded by the Huns with reverence but by the Christians with dread. He is said to have received the title Scourge of God from a hermit in Gaul. His power at one time reached from the Rhine to the frontiers of China. In 447 he laid waste the entire region between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. All the people, it is related, were either destroyed or forced to follow him against his enemies. The Emperor Theodosius was completely defeated by him, and seventy large cities were destroyed. A few years later, in 451, Attila marched westward against Gaul. There he was met in the valley of the Marne by Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, and by Aëtius, leader of the Romans. After a terrible battle, Attila was completely defeated and barely escaped with his life. The old historians speak of the battle as one of the most bloody the world ever saw, and it was of the greatest importance, because it prevented the inferior races of the east from destroying the beginnings of new civilization in the west. Not less than 252,000 men are said to have been left dead upon the field. Attila resolved to fire his wagons and cast himself into the flames rather than be taken captive, but Aëtius allowed him to retreat without harm.

The next year he made a raid into Italy, destroying many cities and driving the people into the mountains. Rome itself was saved only by the bravery of Pope Leo I, who visited Attila and is said to have so awed him by the majesty of his appearance that he gave up his intention of burning the city. He died in 453, while preparing for another attack upon Italy, from the rupture of a blood-vessel on the day of his marriage. His body was put into three coffins, the first of gold, the second of silver and the third of iron, and the men who made his grave were put to death, that no one might know where he was buried. He is described as of very short stature, with large head and flowing hair, small piercing eyes and broad shoulders.