turally attracted by the wealth and fertility of these provinces."* The trumpet sounded. "The kings and nations of Germany and Scythia, from the Volga perhaps to the Danube, obeyed the warlike summons of Attila. From the royal village in the plains of Hungary, his standard moved towards the west; and, after a march of seven or eight hundred miles, he reached the conflux of the Rhine and the Necker.+ The hostile myriads were poured with resistless violence into the Belgic provinces. The consternation of Gaul was universal." "From the Rhine and the Moselle, Attila advanced into the heart of Gaul; crossed the Seine at Auxerre; and, after a long and laborious march, fixed his camp under the walls of Orleans.-An alliance was formed between the Romans and Visigoths. The hostile armies approached. I myself,' said Attila, will throw the first javelin, and the wretch who refuses to imitate the example of his sovereign, is devoted to inevitable death.' The spirit of the barbarians was rekindled by the presence, the voice, and the example, of their intrepid leader; and Attila, yielding to their impatience, immediately formed his order of battle. At the head of his brave and faithful Huns, Attila occupied in person the centre of the line. The nations from the Volga to the Atlantic were assembled on the plain of Chalons. The number of the slain amounted to one hundred and sixty-two thousand, or according to another account, three hundred thousand persons; and these incredible exaggerations suppose a real or effective loss, sufficient to justify the historian's remark, that whole generations may be swept away, by the madness of kings, in the space of a single hour."‡ The course of the fiery meteor was changed, not stayed; and, touching Italy for the first time, the great star, after having burned as it were a lamp, fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. "Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputation of Attila, were impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition. He passed the Alps, invaded Italy, and besieged Aquileia with an innumerable host of barbarians.-The suc ceeding generation could scarcely discover the ruins of Aquileia. After this dreadful chastisement, Attila pursued his march; and, as he passed, the cities of Altinum, Concordia, and Padua were reduced into heaps of stones and + Ibid. p. 106. * Gibbon's Hist. p. 88, chap, 35. ashes. The inland towns, Vicenza, Verona, and Bergamo, were exposed to the rapacious cruelty of the Huns. Milan and Pavia submitted, without resistance, to the loss of their wealth; and applauded the unusual clemency, which preserved from the flames the public as well as private buildings, and spared the lives of the captive multitude. Attila spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy; which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Appenine. He took possession of the royal palace of Milan. It is a saying worthy of the ferocious pride of Attila, that the grass never grew on the spot where his horse had trod."* "The western emperor, with the senate and people of Rome, embraced the most salutary resolution of deprecating by a solemn and suppliant embassy, the wrath of Attila. The Roman ambassadors were introduced to the tent of Attila, as he lay encamped at the place where the slowwinding Mincius (Mincio) is lost in the foaming waves of the lake Benacus, and 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."+ Alaric advanced not farther into Italy than the plains of Lombardy, and the banks of the Po. He reduced the cities, situated on that river and its tributary streams, to heaps of stones and ashes. But there his ravages ceased. The great star, which burned as it were a lamp, no sooner fell upon the fountains and rivers of waters and turned cities into ashes, than it was extinguished. Unlike to the great mountain burning with fire, the great star that fell from heaven, after suddenly scorching a part of Italy, rapidly disappeared. During the same year in which Attila first invaded the Italian territories, and spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy, which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Appenine, without advancing beyond the rivers and fountains of waters, he concluded a treaty with the Romans "at the conflux of the lake + Ibid. pp. 130, 131. of peace * Gibbon's Hist. pp. 122-124. uthor or the instrument, and to the terror that was nspired by his name. Our appeal is still to Gibbon. Gibbon's Hist. Ibid. pp. 41, 42. chap. 34. 246 ashes were and 1 wealt serve ings, sprea which Appe Milar that t trod." "T the fa listen the de som, AJ plain duce strea ravag were rivers was e ing w after appea first i ravag which Alps river: uj waters, he concluded a treat of peace with the Romans " at the conflux of the lak * Gibbon's Hist. pp. 122-124. f Ibid. pp. 130, 131. and river," on the spot where the Mincius issues from lake Benacus (L. di Garda). One paragraph in the history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, describes "the invasion of Italy by Attila, A. D. 452." Another is entitled, under the same date, "Attila gives peace to the Romans." The next paragraph describes the death of Attila, A. D. 453;" and the very next records, without any interval," the destruction of his empire."* There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. Its greatness, its burning course, the place, the severity, and suddenness of its fall, leave nothing more to be here explained, while its falling from heaven seems obviously to imply that it came from beyond the bounds of the Roman empire, on part of which it fell. Allusion will afterwards be made to the significancy of the term third part, which so repeatedly occurs. The annexed sketch-map exhibits the rivers and fountains of waters. But another verse is added, under the third trumpet, which, having thus seen the significancy of the former, we cannot pass over with any vague and general exposition, without calling on history to discharge its task, in expounding the full meaning of the words, which sum up the decline, and are the immediate prelude to the fourth trumpet, the deathknell of the western empire. -- And the name of the star is called wormwood. These words, which are more intimately connected with the preceding verse, as even the punctuation in our version denotes,-recall us for a moment to the character of Attila, to the misery of which he was the author or the instrument, and to the terror that was inspired by his name. Our appeal is still to Gibbon. Gibbon's Hist. Ibid. pp. 41, 42. chap. 34. |