458 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Elpnarlan Fra ■ - Franlu] [Trlcasses] [Tungrl] [Parlsll] [Hettls] and nations of Gennans and Scythia, from the 'oIga perhaps to the Danube, obeyed the warlike summons of Attihi. 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 ; where he was joined by the Franks, who adhered to his ally, the elder of the sons of Clodion. A troop of light Barbarians, who roamed in quest of plunder, might choose the winter for the convenience of passing the river on the ice ; but the innumer- able cavalry of the Huns required such plenty of forage and pro- visions, as could be procured only in a milder season ; the Hercynian forest supplied materials for a bridge of boats ; and the hostile myriads were poured, with resistless violence, into the Belgic pi'ovinces.^^ The consternation of Gaul was uni- versal ; and the various fortunes of its cities have been adorned by tradition with martyrdom and miracles. ^-^ Troyes was saed by the merits of St. Lupus ; St. Servatius was removed from the world, that he might not behold the ruin of Tongres ; and the prayers of St. Genevieve diverted the march of Attila from the neighbourhood of Paris. But, as the greatest part of the Gallic cities were alike destitute of saints and soldiers, they were besieged and stormed by the Huns ; who practised, in the example of Metz,^ their customary maxims of war. They in- 33 The most authentic and circumstantial account of this war is contained in Jornandes (de Reb. Geticis, c. 36-41, p. 662-672), who has sometimes abridged, and sometimes transcribed, the larger history of Cassiodorius. Jornandes, a quotation which it would be superfluous to repeat, may be corrected and illus- trated by Gregory of Tours, 1. 2, c. 5, 6, 7, and the Chronicles of Idatius, Isidore, and the two Prospers. All the ancient testimonies are collected and inserted in the Historians of France ; but the reader should be cautioned against a supposed extract from the Chronicle of Idatius (among the fragments of Fredegarius, torn. ii. p. 462), which often contradicts the genuine text of the Gallician bishop.
- The ancient legendaries deserve some regard, as they are obliged to connect
their fables with the real history of their own times. See the lives of St. Lupus, St. Anianus, the bishops of Metz, St. Genevieve, &c. , in the Historians of France, torn. i. p. 644, 645, 649, tom. iii. p. 369. [Mr. Hodgkin places the visit of the Huns to Troyes on their retreat eastward after the relief of Orleans (ii. 122). It is impossible to base any certainty on the vague narrative of our authority (Life of St. Lupus), but he thinks that the words: " Rheni etiani fluenta visurum " look "as if Attila's face was now set Rhinewards ". 3SThe scepticism of the Count de Buat (Hist, des Peuples, tom. vii. p. 539, 540) cannot be reconciled with any principles of reason or criticism. Is not Gregory of Tours precise and positive in his account of the destruction of Metz ? At the distance of no more than 100 years, could he be ignorant, could the people be ignorant, of the fate of a city, the actual residence of his sovereigns, the kings of .■ustrasia? The learned Count, who seems to have undertaken the apology of Attila and the Barbarians, appeals to the false Idatius, parcens civitatibus Germaniae et Galliae, and forgets that the true Idatius had explicitly affirmed,
