Contents:
Impatient of his narrow limits, Theodoric aspired to the possession of Arles, the wealthy seat of government and commerce; but the city was saved by the timely approach of Aetius; and the Gothic king, who had raised the siege with some loss and disgrace, was persuaded, for an adequate subsidy, to divert the martial valour of his subjects in a Spanish war. Yet Theodoric still watched, and eagerly seized, the favourable moment of renewing his hostile attempts.
The Goths besieged Narbonne, while the Belgic provinces were invaded by the Burgundians; and the public safety was threatened on Edition: On every side, the activity of Aetius, and his Scythian cavalry, opposed a firm and successful resistance. Twenty thousand Burgundians were slain in battle; and the remains of the nation humbly accepted a dependent seat in the mountains of Savoy. The siege was immediately raised; and the more decisive victory, which is ascribed to the personal conduct of Aetius himself, was marked with the blood of eight thousand Goths.
But in the absence of the patrician, who was hastily summoned to Italy by some public or private interest, Count Litorius succeeded to the command; and his presumption soon discovered that far different talents are required to lead a wing of cavalry, or to direct the operations of an important war. At the head of an army of Huns, he rashly advanced to the gates of Toulouse, full of careless contempt for an enemy whom his misfortunes had rendered prudent and his situation made desperate.
The predictions of the augurs had inspired Litorius with the profane confidence that he should enter the Gothic capital in triumph; and the trust which he reposed in his Pagan allies encouraged him to reject the fair conditions of peace, which were repeatedly proposed by the bishops in the name of Theodoric.
The king of the Goths exhibited in his distress the edifying contrast of Christian piety and moderation; nor did he lay aside his sackcloth and ashes till he was Edition: His soldiers, animated with martial and religious enthusiasm, assaulted the camp of Litorius. The conflict was obstinate; the slaughter was mutual. The Roman general, after a total defeat, which could be imputed only to his unskilful rashness, was actually led through the streets of Toulouse, not in his own, but in a hostile triumph; and the misery which he experienced, in a long and ignominious captivity, excited the compassion of the Barbarians themselves.
Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, appears to have deserved the love of his subjects, the confidence of his allies, and the esteem of mankind. His throne was surrounded by six valiant sons, who were educated with equal care in the exercises of the Barbarian camp and in those of the Gallic schools; from the study of the Roman Edition: The queen of the Suevi bewailed the death of an husband, inhumanly massacred by her brother.
The princess of the Vandals was the victim of a jealous tyrant, whom she called her father. This horrid act, which must seem incredible to a civilised age, drew tears from every spectator; but Theodoric was urged, by the feelings of a parent and a king, to revenge such irreparable injuries. The Imperial ministers, who always cherished the discord of the Barbarians, would have supplied the Goths with arms and ships and treasures for the African war; and the cruelty of Genseric might have been fatal to himself, if the artful Vandal had not armed, in his cause, the formidable power of the Huns.
His rich gifts and pressing solicitations inflamed the ambition of Attila; and the designs of Aetius and Theodoric were prevented by the invasion of Gaul. The Franks, whose monarchy was still confined to the neighbourhood of the Lower Rhine, had wisely established the right of hereditary succession in the noble family of the Merovingians. Their flaxen locks, which they combed and dressed with singular care, hung down in flowing ringlets on their back and shoulders; while the rest of the nation were obliged, either by law or custom, to shave the hinder part of their head, to comb their hair over the forehead, and to content themselves with the ornament of two small whiskers.
From the report of his spies the king of the Franks was informed that the defenceless state of the second Belgic must yield, on the slightest attack, to the valour of his subjects. He boldly penetrated through the thickets and morasses of the Carbonarian forest; 21 occupied Tournay and Cambray, the only cities which existed in the fifth century; and extended his conquests as far as the river Somme, over a desolate country, whose cultivation and populousness are the effects of more recent industry.
The tables, which had been spread under the shelter of a hill, along the banks of a pleasant stream, were rudely overturned; the Franks were oppressed before they could recover their arms, or their ranks; and their unavailing valour was fatal only to themselves. The loaded waggons which had followed their march afforded a rich booty; and the virgin bride, with her female attendants, submitted to the new lovers who were imposed on them by the chance of war.
This advantage, which had been obtained by the skill and activity of Aetius, might reflect some disgrace on the military prudence of Clodion; but the king of the Franks soon regained his strength and reputation, and still maintained the possession of his Gallic kingdom from the Rhine to the Somme. The distress of Cologne was prolonged by the perpetual dominion of the same Barbarians, who evacuated the ruins of Treves; and Treves, which, in the space of forty years, had been four times besieged and pillaged, was disposed to lose the memory of her afflictions in the vain amusements of the circus.
Meroveus, the younger, 26 was persuaded to implore the protection of Rome; he was received at the Imperial court as the ally of Valentinian and the adopted son of the patrician Aetius; and dismissed to his native country with splendid gifts and the strongest assurances of friendship and support. During his absence, his elder brother had solicited, with equal ardour, the formidable aid of Attila: When Attila declared his resolution of supporting the cause of his allies, the Vandals and the Franks, at the same time, and almost in the spirit of romantic chivalry, the savage monarch professed himself the lover and the champion of the princess Honoria.
The sister of Valentinian was educated in the palace of Ravenna; and, as her marriage might be productive of some danger to the state, she was raised, by the title of Augusta, 28 above the hopes of the most presumptuous subject. But the fair Honoria had no sooner attained the sixteenth year of her age than she detested the importunate Edition: Her guilt and shame such is the absurd language of imperious man were soon betrayed by the appearances of pregnancy; but the disgrace of the royal family was published to the world by the imprudence of the empress Placidia; who dismissed her daughter, after a strict and shameful confinement, to a remote exile at Constantinople.
The unhappy princess passed twelve or fourteen years in the irksome society of the sisters of Theodosius, and their chosen virgins; to whose crown Honoria could no longer aspire, and whose monastic assiduity of prayer, fasting, and vigils she reluctantly imitated. Her impatience of long and hopeless celibacy urged her to embrace a strange and desperate resolution.
The name of Attila was familiar and formidable at Constantinople; and his frequent embassies entertained a perpetual intercourse between his camp and the Imperial palace. In the pursuit of love, or rather of revenge, the daughter of Placidia sacrificed every duty and every prejudice; and offered to deliver her person into the arms of a Barbarian, of whose language she was ignorant, whose figure was scarcely human, and whose religion and manners she abhorred.
By the ministry of a faithful eunuch, she transmitted to Attila a ring, the pledge of her affection; and earnestly conjured him to claim her as a lawful spouse, to whom he had been secretly betrothed. These indecent advances were received, however, with coldness and disdain; and the king of the Huns continued to multiply the number of his wives, till his love was awakened by the more forcible passions of ambition and avarice. The invasion of Gaul was preceded, and justified, by a formal demand of the princess Honoria, with a just and equal share of the Imperial patrimony.
His predecessors, the ancient Tanjous, had often addressed, in the same hostile and peremptory manner, the daughters of China; and the Edition: A firm, but temperate, refusal was communicated to his ambassadors. The right of female succession, though it might derive a specious argument from the recent examples of Placidia and Pulcheria, was strenuously denied; and the indissoluble engagements of Honoria were opposed to the claims of her Scythian lover.
A native of Gaul and a contemporary, the learned and eloquent Sidonius, who was afterwards bishop of Clermont, had made a promise to one of his friends that he would compose a regular history of the war of Attila. If the modesty of Sidonius had not discouraged him from the prosecution of this interesting work, 31 the historian would have related, with the simplicity of truth, those memorable events to which the poet, in vague and doubtful metaphors, has concisely alluded.
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 innumerable cavalry of the Huns required such plenty of forage and provisions, 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 provinces.
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, 35 their customary maxims of war. They involved, in a promiscuous massacre, the priests who served at the altar, and the infants, who, in the hour of danger, had been providently baptised by the bishop; the flourishing city was delivered to the flames, and a solitary chapel of St.
Stephen marked the place where it formerly stood. 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. He was desirous of securing his conquests by the possession of an advantageous post, which commanded the passage of the Lorie; and he depended on the secret invitation of Sangiban, king of the Alani, who had promised to betray the city, and to revolt from the service of the empire.
But this treacherous conspiracy was detected and disappointed; Orleans had been strengthened with recent fortifications; and the assaults of the Huns were vigorously repelled by the faithful valour of the soldiers, or citizens, who defended the place. Anianus, who anxiously counted the days and hours, despatched a trusty messenger to observe, from the rampart, the face of the distant country.
He returned twice without any intelligence that could inspire hope or comfort; but, in his third report, he mentioned a small cloud, which he had faintly descried at the extremity of the horizon. The facility with which Attila had penetrated into the heart of Gaul may be ascribed to his insidious policy as well as to the terror of his arms. Aetius was the sole guardian of the public safety; but his wisest measures were embarrassed by a faction which, since the death of Placidia, infested the Imperial palace; the youth of Italy trembled at the sound of the trumpet; and the Barbarians who, from fear or affection, were inclined to the cause of Attila awaited, with doubtful and venal faith, the event of the war.
The patrician passed the Edition: He represented to Theodoric that an ambitious conqueror, who aspired to the dominion of the earth, could be resisted only by the firm and unanimous alliance of the powers whom he laboured to oppress.
The lively eloquence of Avitus inflamed the Gothic warriors, by the description of the injuries which their ancestors had suffered from the Huns; whose implacable fury still pursued them from the Danube to the foot of the Pyrenees. He strenuously urged that it was the duty of every Christian to save from sacrilegious violation the churches of God and the relics of the saints; that it was the interest of every Barbarian who had acquired a settlement in Gaul to defend the fields and vineyards, which were cultivated for his use, against the desolation of the Scythian shepherds.
Theodoric yielded to the evidence of truth; adopted the measure at once the most prudent and the most honourable; and declared that, as the faithful ally of Aetius and the Romans, he was ready to expose his life and kingdom for the common safety of Gaul. The example of the Goths determined several tribes or nations that seemed to fluctuate between the Huns and the Romans.
Such was the various army, which, under the conduct of Aetius and Theodoric, advanced, by rapid marches, to relieve Orleans, and to give battle to the innummerable host of Attila. On their approach the king of the Huns immediately raised the siege, and sounded a retreat to recall the foremost of his troops from the pillage of a city which they had already Edition: The young and valiant Torismond first occupied the summit; the Goths rushed with irresistible weight on the Huns, who laboured to ascend from the opposite side; and the possession of this advantageous post inspired both the Edition: The anxiety of Attila prompted him to consult his priests and haruspices.
It was reported that, after scrutinising the entrails of victims and scraping their bones, they revealed, in mysterious language, his own defeat, with the death of his principal adversary; and that the Barbarian, by accepting the equivalent, expressed his involuntary esteem for the superior merit of Aetius. But the unusual despondency, which seemed to prevail among the Huns, engaged Attila to use the expedient, so familiar to the generals of antiquity, of animating his troops by a military oration; and his language was that of a king who had often fought and conquered at their head.
The same fortune which opened the deserts and morasses of Scythia to their unarmed valour, which had laid so many warlike nations prostrate at their feet, had reserved the joys of this memorable field for the consummation of their victories. The cautious steps of their enemies, their strict alliance, and their advantageous posts, he artfully represented as the effects, not of prudence, but of fear.
The Visigoths alone were the strength and nerves of the opposite army; and the Huns might securely trample on the degenerate Romans, whose close and compact order betrayed their apprehensions, and who were equally incapable of supporting the dangers or the fatigues of a day of battle. The doctrine of predestination, so favourable to martial virtue, was carefully inculcated by the king of the Huns, who assured his subjects that the warriors, protected by Heaven, were safe and invulnerable amidst the darts of the enemy; but that the unerring Fates would strike their victims in the bosom of inglorious peace.
At the head of his brave and faithful Huns he occupied in person the centre of the line. The disposition of the allies was regulated by a different principle. Sangiban, the faithless king of the Alani, was placed in the centre; where his motions might be strictly watched, and his treachery might be instantly punished. Aetius assumed the command of the left, and Theodoric of the right wing; while Torismond still continued to occupy the heights which appear to have stretched on the flank, and perhaps the rear, of the Scythian army.
The discipline and tactics of the Greeks and Romans form an interesting part of their national manners. After the mutual and repeated discharge of missile weapons, in which the archers of Scythia might signalise their superior dexterity, the cavalry and infantry of the two armies were furiously mingled in closer combat. The Huns, who fought under the eyes of their king, pierced through the feeble and doubtful centre of the allies, separated their wings from each other, and wheeling, with a rapid effort, to the left, directed their whole force against the Visigoths.
As Theodoric rode along the ranks to animate his troops, he received a mortal stroke from the javelin of Andages, a noble Ostrogoth, and immediately fell from his horse. The wounded king was oppressed in the general disorder, and trampled under the feet of his own cavalry; and this important death served to explain the ambiguous prophecy of the haruspices.
Attila already exulted in the confidence of victory, when the valiant Torismond Edition: The Visigoths, who had been thrown into confusion by the flight, or defection, of the Alani, gradually restored their order of battle; and the Huns were undoubtedly vanquished, since Attila was compelled to retreat. He had exposed his person with the rashness of a private soldier; but the intrepid troops of the centre had pushed forwards beyond the rest of the line; their attack was faintly supported; their flanks were unguarded; and the conquerors of Scythia and Germany were saved by the approach of the night from a total defeat.
They retired within the circle of waggons that fortified their camp; and the dismounted squadrons prepared themselves for a defence, to which neither their arms nor their temper were adapted. The event was doubtful; but Attila had secured a last and honourable resource.
The saddles and rich furniture of the cavalry were collected by his order into a funeral pile; and the magnanimous Barbarian had resolved, if his intrenchments should be forced, to rush headlong into the flames, and to deprive his enemies of the glory which they might have acquired by the death or captivity of Attila. But his enemies had passed the night in equal disorder and anxiety.
The inconsiderate courage of Torismond was tempted to urge the pursuit, till he unexpectedly found himself, with a few followers, in the midst of the Scythian waggons. In the confusion of a nocturnal combat, he was thrown from his horse; and the Gothic prince must have perished like his father, if his youthful strength, and the intrepid zeal of his companions, had not rescued him from this dangerous situation.
In the same manner, but on the left of the line, Aetius himself, separated from his allies, ignorant of their Edition: The Imperial general was soon satisfied of the defeat of Attila, who still remained inactive within his intrenchments; and, when he contemplated the bloody scene, he observed, with secret satisfaction, that the loss had principally fallen on the Barbarians.
The body of Theodoric, pierced with honourable wounds, was discovered under a heap of the slain: The Goths, clashing their arms, elevated on a buckler his eldest son Torismond, to whom they justly ascribed the glory of their success; and the new king accepted the obligation of revenge as a sacred portion of his paternal inheritance.
Yet the Goths themselves were astonished by the fierce and undaunted aspect of their formidable antagonist; and their historian has compared Attila to a lion encompassed in his den, and threatening his hunters with redoubled fury. The kings and nations, who might have deserted his standard in the hour of distress, were made sensible that the displeasure of their monarch was the most imminent and inevitable danger. All his instruments of martial music incessantly sounded a loud and animating strain of defiance; and the foremost troops who advanced to the assault were checked, or destroyed, by showers of arrows from every side of the intrenchments.
It was determined in a general council of war, to besiege the king of the Huns in his camp, to intercept his provisions, and to reduce him to the alternative of a disgraceful treaty or an unequal combat. But the impatience of the Barbarians soon disdained these cautious and dilatory measures; and the mature policy of Aetius was apprehensive that, after the extirpation of the Edition: The patrician exerted the superior ascendant of authority and reason, to calm the passions which the son of Theodoric considered as a duty; represented, with seeming affection, and real truth, the dangers of absence and delay; and persuaded Torismond to disappoint, by his speedy return, the ambitious designs of his brothers, who might occupy the throne and treasures of Toulouse.
Meroveus and his Franks, observing a prudent distance, and magnifying the opinion of their strength by the numerous fires which they kindled every night, continued to follow the rear of the Huns, till they reached the confines of Thuringia. The Thuringians served in the army of Attila; they traversed, both in their march and in their return, the territories of the Franks; and it was perhaps in this war that they exercised the cruelties which, about fourscore years afterwards, were revenged by the son of Clovis.
They massacred their hostages, as well as their captives: Neither the spirit nor the forces nor the reputation of Attila were impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition. In the ensuing spring, he repeated his demand of the princess Honoria and her patrimonial treasures. Those Barbarians were unskilled in the methods of conducting a regular siege, which, even among the ancients, required some knowledge, or at least some practice, of the mechanic arts.
But the labour of many thousand provincials and captives, whose lives were sacrificed without pity, might execute the most painful and dangerous work. The skill of the Roman artists might be corrupted to the destruction of their country. The walls of Aquileia were assaulted by a formidable train of battering-rams, moveable turrets, and engines, that threw stones, darts, and fire; 49 and the monarch of the Huns employed the forcible impulse of hope, fear, emulation, and interest, to subvert the only barrier which delayed the conquest of Italy.
Aquileia was at that period Edition: The Gothic auxiliaries, who appear to have served under their native princes Alaric and Antala, communicated their intrepid spirit; and the citizens still remembered the glorious and successful resistance, which their ancestors had opposed to a fierce, inexorable Barbarian, who disgraced the majesty of the Roman purple. Three months were consumed without effect in the siege of Aquileia; till the want of provisions, and the clamours of his army, compelled Attila to relinquish the enterprise, and reluctantly to issue his orders that the troops should strike their tents the next morning and begin their retreat.
But, as he rode round the walls, pensive, angry, and disappointed, he observed a stork preparing to leave her nest, in one of the towers, and to fly with her infant family towards the country. He seized, with the ready penetration of a statesman, this trifling incident, which chance had offered to superstition; and exclaimed, in a loud and cheerful tone, that such a domestic bird, so constantly attached to human society, would never have abandoned her ancient seats, unless those towers had been devoted to impending ruin and solitude.
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. The popular traditions of Comum, Turin, or Moderna may justly be suspected; yet they concur with more authentic evidence to prove that Attila spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy: The revenge which Attila inflicted on this monument of Roman vanity was harmless and ingenious.
He commanded a painter to reverse the figures and the attitudes; and the emperors were delineated on the same canvas, approaching in a suppliant posture to empty their bags of tributary gold before the throne of the Scythian monarch. It is a saying worthy of the ferocious pride of Attila, that the grass never grew on the spot where his horse had trod. Yet the savage destroyer undesignedly laid the foundations of a republic which revived, in the feudal state of Europe, the art and spirit of commercial industry.
Before the irruption of the Barbarians, fifty Venetian cities flourished in peace and prosperity; Aquileia was placed in the most conspicuous station; but the ancient dignity of Padua was supported by agriculture and manufactures; and the property of five hundred citizens, who were entitled to the equestrian rank, must have amounted, at the strictest computation, to one million seven hundred thousand pounds.
Many families of Aquileia, Padua, and the adjacent towns, who fled from the sword of the Huns, found a safe, though obscure, refuge in the neighbouring islands. But the manners of the Venetian fugitives, their arts and their government, were gradually formed by their new situation; and one of the epistles of Cassiodorius, 58 which describes their condition about seventy years afterwards, may be considered as the primitive monument of the republic.
The minister of Theodoric compares them, in his quaint declamatory style, to water-fowl, who had fixed their nests on the bosom of the waves; and, though he allows that the Venetian provinces had formerly contained many noble families, he insinuates that they were now reduced by misfortune to the same level of humble poverty. Fish was the common, and almost the universal, food of every rank; their only treasure consisted in the plenty of salt, which they extracted from the sea; and the exchange of that commodity, so essential to human life, was substituted in the neighbouring markets to the currency of gold and silver.
The map of Constantinople is folded with wide margins; it being more commonly found trimmed and bound sideways. Bound uniformly in early, most likely original, full polished, mottled calf, similar to tree calf and rebacked to sympathetic period style. Numerous tracts were published criticising his work. During his absence, his elder brother had solicited, with equal ardour, the formidable aid of Attila: Complete in six volumes, tracing the years 98 to Yet his dexterous policy prolonged the advantages of a salutary peace, and a numerous army of Huns and Alani, whom he had attached to his person, was employed in the defence of Gaul. His mild disposition, and useful talents, without alarming the jealousy, recommended Marcian to the esteem and favour, of his patrons; he had seen, perhaps he had felt, the abuses of a venal and oppressive administration; and his own example gave weight and energy to the laws which he promulgated for the reformation of manners.
A people, whose habitations might be doubtfully assigned to the earth or water, soon became alike familiar with the two elements; and the demands of avarice succeeded to those of necessity. The islanders, who, from Grado to Chiozza, were intimately connected with each other, penetrated into the heart of Italy Edition: Their vessels, which were continually increasing in size and number, visited all the harbours of the Gulf; and the marriage, which Venice annually celebrates with the Hadriatic, was contracted in her early infancy.
The ambiguous office of these magistrates is explained by the tradition that, in the twelve principal islands, twelve tribunes, or judges, were created by an annual and popular election. The existence of the Venetian republic under the Gothic kingdom of Italy is attested by the same authentic record, which annihilates their lofty claim of original and perpetual independence.
Amidst the general consternation, Aetius alone was incapable of fear; but it was impossible that he should achieve, alone and unassisted, any military exploits worthy of his former renown.
The Barbarians who had defended Gaul refused to march to the relief of Italy; and the succours promised by the Eastern emperor were distant and doubtful. Since Aetius, at the head of his domestic troops, still maintained the field, and harassed or retarded the march of Attila, he never shewed himself more truly great than at the time when his conduct Edition: But the timid grandson of Theodosius, instead of sharing the dangers, escaped from the sound, of war; and his hasty retreat from Ravenna to Rome, from an impregnable fortress to an open capital, betrayed his secret intention of abandoning Italy as soon as the danger should approach his Imperial person.
This shameful abdication was suspended, however, by the spirit of doubt and delay, which commonly adheres to pusillanimous counsels, and sometimes corrects their pernicious tendency. The Western emperor, with the senate and people of Rome, embraced the more salutary resolution of deprecating, by a solemn and suppliant embassy, the wrath of Attila. This important commission was accepted by Avienus, who, from his birth and riches, his consular dignity, the numerous train of his clients, and his personal abilities, held the first rank in the Roman senate.
The genius of Leo 62 was exercised and displayed Edition: The Roman ambassadors were introduced to the tent of Attila, as he lay encamped at the place where the slowwinding Mincius is lost in the foaming waves of the lake Benacus, 63 and trampled, with his Scythian cavalry, the farms of Catullus and Virgil.
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 freely 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 injuries of the Italians.
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 apparition of the two apostles, 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 indulgence is due to a fable which has been represented by the pencil of Raphael and the chisel of Algardi. Before the king of the Huns evacuated Italy, he threatened to return more dreadful and more implacable, if his bride, the princess Honoria, were not delivered to his ambassadors within the term stipulated by the treaty. Yet, in the meanwhile, Attila relieved his tender anxiety by adding a beautiful maid, whose name was Ildico, to the list of his innumerable wives.
His attendants continued to respect his pleasures, or his repose, the greatest part of the ensuing day, till the unusual silence alarmed their fears and suspicions; and, after attempting to awaken Attila by loud and repeated cries, they at length broke into the royal apartment. They found the trembling bride sitting by the bedside, hiding her face with her veil, and lamenting her own danger as well as the death of the king, who had expired during the night.
His body was solemnly exposed in the midst of the plain, under a silken pavilion; and the chosen squadrons of the Huns, wheeling round in measured evolutions, chanted a funeral song to the memory of a hero, glorious in his life, invincible in his death, the father of his people, the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the world. According to their national custom, the Barbarians cut off a part of their hair, gashed their faces with unseemly wounds, and bewailed their valiant leader as he deserved, not with the tears of women, but with the blood of warriors.
The remains of Attila were enclosed within three coffins, of gold, of silver, and of iron, and privately buried in the night: It was reported at Constantinople that on the fortunate night in which he expired Marcian beheld in a dream the bow of Attila broken asunder; and the report may be allowed to prove how seldom the image of that formidable Barbarian was absent from the mind of a Roman emperor.
The revolution which subverted the empire of the Huns established the fame of Attila, whose genius alone had sustained the huge and disjointed fabric. After his death, the boldest chieftains aspired to the rank of kings; the most powerful kings refused to acknowledge a superior; and the numerous sons, whom so many various mothers bore to the deceased monarch, divided and disputed, like a private inheritance, the sovereign command of the nations of Germany and Scythia. Ellac, the eldest son of Attila, lost his life and crown in the memorable battle of Netad: The Pannonian conquests, from Vienna to Sirmium, were occupied by the Ostrogoths; and the settlements of the tribes, who had so bravely asserted their native freedom, were irregularly distributed, according to the measure of their respective strength.
Within a fortnight the first edition was completely sold out. The first impression was exhausted within a few days; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to the demand, and the bookseller's property was twice invaded by the pyrates of Dublin. My book was on every table, and almost every toilette; the historian was crowned by the taste or fashion of the day.
The third edition appeared in , a year after the first and second printings. Issued in an edition of copies, it was more fully revised and corrected than the second which merely incorporated the errata. At the suggestion of Gibbon's friend, David Hume, the copious notes which previously had been gathered in the rear of the volume, were now transferred to the bottom of the page. This improved format was continued throughout the remaining volumes. In combining the third edition of the first volume with the first edition of the remainder as in the present case , a uniformly annotated set is thereby achieved.
In the frontis portrait of Gibbon, engraved by John Hall after a painting of Joshua Reynolds, was issued by the publisher. With the publication of the second and third volumes in , an enlarged table of contents was made available for the first volume, as well as 3 folding maps all present in this copy.
The map of Constantinople was frequently cropped to make it the same size as the printed page, and then bound in sideways. Fewer copies exist among them, the present where the wide margins were retained, and the map bound in folded and the right way up. A Bibliography of the Works of Ed. Volumes are very early issues, volumes are first issues of the first editions. With an engraved portrait frontispiece and 3 engraved maps, two of which are quite large and folding. Large 4to, in the very rare complete original bindings.
The books are very handsomely bound in fine contemporary full polished calf, the covers framed with elaborate gilt rolled borders surrounding borders made of multiple gilt tools, gilt ruled edges, the spines with handsome gilt decorated panel designs within compartments featuring elaborate borders and central gilt ornaments, black morocco lettering labels gilt decorated and stamped and with beautifully marbled end-leaves.
A fine and very handsome set, excellently preserved and internally still crisp and unusually clean and fresh. Finding sets of Gibbon which have not been re-backed or rebound is a daunting task.
Thus, copies in original calf of the period are truly elusive. This copy is especially well preserved and has only minor expert and very skillful strengthening or restoration. This binding work is nearly imperceptible and is not obtrusive in any way, but rather, restores the books to their original grandeur and strength. Volumes four through six are first editions, the first three volumes being very early printings. As the first volume was printed in a first edition of only copies the original plan was for only , it is rare to find complete sets of first editions.
The success of the work was immediate. The first impression was exhausted in a few days; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to the demand, and the bookseller's property was twice invaded by the pyrates of Dublin. My book was on every table, and almost on every toilette His investigations extended over almost the whole range of intellectual activity for nearly fifteen-hundred years.
It is still entitled to be esteemed as the greatest historical work ever written" Adams, Manual of Historical Literature, pp. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire; Strahan ; and T. Cadell, in the Strand. Volume 1, , second edition first edition was the same year.
Volume's 2 - 6, - , first editions. All volumes with a half title, and the original integral silk page marker. All Errata leaves present. Preface in vol 1 dated June 1, The three maps are by Thomas Kitchen Snr. Occasional sporadic light spotting and dusting at the start and end of each volume does not detract from the overall clean and bright condition of the contents. Small almost imperceptible tear in the title-page of vol. Contemporay calf very lightly rubbed, sometime expertly rebacked, the spines with five raised bands and contrasting red and dark green title and volume labels respectively, each panel with a gilt decoration incoprorating a sword, shield, Roman Eagle, and Centurion's helmet.
Overall a very good, attractive near fine set. This 6 volume quarto set is Gibbon's " Masterpiece of historical penetration and literary style [ which ] has remained one of the ageless historical works Printing and the Mind of Man Complete in six volumes. All First Editions except volume 1, which is a Second Edition. Full contemporary mid-brown calf with early 20th century rebacks vol. Tips worn and exposed, boards edge-worn. Sporadic light foxing throughout. A handful of small closed tears and marginal stains. An attractive set of Gibbons' magnificent history. Complete in 6 thick large quarto 4to volumes.
Half-title pages and errata present. Bound uniformly in early, most likely original, full polished, mottled calf, similar to tree calf and rebacked to sympathetic period style. Boards are bright, with modest wear at edges and corners. Dual contrasting leather spine labels, bright and unchipped. Spine compartments ornamented in gilt. Original heavy laid cotton rag endpapers, guarded by japan paper. Handmade laid paper throughout is high-quality rag stock. No library or ex-library markings. Original hand-sewn headbands and tailbands and silk ribbon placemarkers present some remnant only. Three original folding maps, large, well- struck on heavy stock, and clean.
Eastern Roman Empire map shows some professionally repaired paper weld repair of crease-wear-and-tear on reverse side. Western Roman Empire map reveals at least one paper weld repair on reverse side.
Light foxing to text and maps -- less than is often found for this set. Volume I is the revised third issue, which,though issued but one year after the first issue of Volume I in , it is the first with Gibbon's final revisions, and preferred footnotes at the bottoms of the pages. Further, one of his most important presentation copies to his benefactor of the complete set is recorded by Norton as, "A set made up of Vol. Whereas other eighteenth-century writers in this field such as Voltaire are still quoted with respect, the Decline and Fall is the only historical narrative prior to Macaulay which continues to be reprinted and actually read.
For the next 10 years he worked away at his great history, which traces the decadence of the late empire from the time of the Antonines and the rise of Western Christianity. The first edition of Gibbon's work was printed over time, the first three volumes being printed between and The engraved portrait of Gibbon here in Vol. In this set portrait is found as frontis illustration to Vol.
The first issue of Vol. An immediate commercial success, a second issue of a thousand copies, errors uncorrected, was printed released on June 3, Gibbon now agrees to take David Hume's advice and print the footnotes at the bottom of the pages. A postscript was added to the preface with Gibbon declaring his intention to complete the additional volumes. Bears the bookplates of William Sotheby, member of an important English literary family.
The - London Quarto Edition is recognized as a landmark of history and of literature in English. Only a handful of complete and collectible sets are offered worldwide. A lovely, restored set, the mixing of which constitutes the earliest authoritative edition of this monumental literary achievement. Very Good Plus Edition: With half-titles to all volumes except the first. Contemporary full calf, attractively rebacked with gilt ornaments flanked by gilt rules and dotted lines between raised bands, original red titling pieces retained gilt worn and numbering pieces replaced. Boards rubbed and scratched with a few minor stains, some corners restored, front free endpapers with minor gum residue from removal of bookplates, engraved portrait lightly offset onto title, light foxing to some endpapers, rear endpapers of first volume a little mildewed; but overall, a nice clean set in expertly restored bindings.
The present is a mixed set of "New Editions" of the first three volumes and First Editions of the last three volumes. The first three volumes incorporate the final additions and revisions Gibbon made to the quarto edition, including the relocation of the notes which were originally gathered at the rear of the first volume to the bottom of the page , the addition of the portrait frontis , an enlarged table of contents for the first volume , and the addition of the three maps In the present copy, as in most, the map of Constantinople has been cut down to the same size as the printed page, allowing it to be bound in sideways, rather than being folded like the other two maps.
Portrait frontispiece in volume I plus 3 folding maps. Contemporary quarter calf, speckled boards with some mild rubbing to edges, the set rebacked retaining the original backstrips, volumes I-III with similar but differing designs to volumes IV-VI. Gibbon brought a width of vision and a critical mastery of the available sources which have not been equalled to this day The map of Constantinople is folded with wide margins; it being more commonly found trimmed and bound sideways. Bow Windows Bookshop Published: New edition of volumes and first editions of volumes There was only one edition of the last three volumes dated and were issued at the same time.
A new edition of the first three volumes together was announced on March 5, There are no volumes II or III bearing the date as there must have been sufficient copies of the earlier printing to satisfy the demand until The edition of vol. I with this date is genuinely a new edition with the type differently set from that of the fourth edition. IV, V and VI.
This work by Gibbon is the only historical narrative prior to Macaulay which continues to be reprinted and actually read today. All bound in full contemporary calf, flat spines ruled and decorated in gilt, double blue spine labels gilt, early rebacking and renewed corners and endpapers beautifully done, occasional spots of foxing.
A very handsome set. The very rare first octavo editions of the twelve books, and an extremely early printing of the work in any format. With an engraved portrait frontispiece and three impressive engraved folding maps. A very handsome set, fresh and near to pristine internally, the contemporary bindings in good order and in completely original state with no restoration or sophistication whatsoever, some volumes with weakening to some hinges and some with minor chipping or other mellowing to the spines, in all a very well preserved set of these rare books.
This first octavo edition was printed similarly, the first six volumes in and the later six in Thus, this is not only the first octavo edition but also is one of only a tiny handful of editions of the first half printed prior to the completion of the work in total. Like the first edition it contains the three folding maps and the engraved portrait of Gibbon in volume one.
Very early and part first editions of Edward Gibbon's seminal work on the Roman Empire. Illustrated, with a frontispiece and three engraved maps. With the bookplate of Thomas Baring as well as the bookplate for Netley Castle to all volumes at the pastedowns. These books were likely to have been owned by Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet. Baring was a British banker and Member of Parliament. He also resided in Hampshire until his death. Netley Castle is a former artillery fort in the Hampshire village of Netley.
Two maps to volume II, one folding. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire traces the trajectory of Western civilisation from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium and therefore spans a nearly year period from 98 to of the Roman Empire. Therefore, Gibbon discusses the history of early Christianity, the Roman State Church as well as the history of Europe. The popularity of this work rests on Gibbon's objectivity and heavy use of primary sources.
In the eighteenth century the use of primary sources for historical was very rare which was why his work was extremely popular. His methodology also became a model for later historians. Edward Gibbon wrote many historical works, but is best known for this title. This is due to its quality, the use of primary sources as well as the open criticism of organised religions.
The work earned him a reputation as the first modern historian of Ancient Rome. A nice set of scarce early editions of these works. In full calf bindings. Externally, rubbed in places. Rubbing to the spine, boards and joints. Spotting to the boards of volume II. Several score marks and patched of rubbing to the boards.
Small damp stained patch to the front board of volume I. Split to the tail of rear joint to volume I resulting in the joint starting but firm. Both hinges to volume I are starting but firm. Rear hinge to volume III is tender and may fail with further handling. Small crack to the tail of front joint to volume III. Front hinge to volume IV has been reinforced.
Both hinges to volume V have been reinforced. Front joint to volume VI is starting but firm with the hinge tender after the front endpaper. Rear board is detached but present to volume VI. Tail of backstrip to volume I is lifting at the front hinge due to a tear. Backstrip to volume VI is lifting at the rear Loss to the head and tail of spine to volume I.
Loss to the tail of spine to volume III as well as to the volume number. Loss to the head and tail of spine to volume VI. Minor bumping to the extremities. Pages generally bright and clean volume I. Scattered spotting to volume II. Occasional scattered spots to the pages, heavier to the first and last few pages. Strahan, London, 1st edition volumes , 2nd edition volume 1.
Illustrated with 3 fold-out maps and an engraved portrait. Contemporary cloth with leather labels. Each volume measures Extremely rare first edition set the first volume is marked as a second edition , of the monumental Roman history. Beautiful engraved maps one of which is loose , as well as an engraving of Gibbon. Volume 2 with a cancel leaf on p. Each interior is intact; spots of foxing and some bubbling to the pages. Volume 1 with its spine missing, along with the first several pages being loose; volume 3 has a partially missing spine.
The leather labels are present on the others. Some cracking to the rest of the volumes; wear to all bindings. This would make an ideal set for the enterprising re-binder. Considering the volumes' date of publication, the text blocks look marvelous, and have remained unmarked..
Blue Roof Books Published: According to Gibbon, the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in large part due to the gradual loss of civic virtue among its citizens. He began an ongoing controversy about the role of Christianity, but he gave great weight to other causes of internal decline and to attacks from outside the Empire. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.
The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigour of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.
Like other Enlightenment thinkers and British citizens of the age steeped in institutional anti-Catholicism , Gibbon held in contempt the Middle Ages as a priest-ridden, superstitious Dark Age. It was not until his own era, the "Age of Reason," with its emphasis on rational thought, it was believed, that human history could resume its progress.
Gibbon's tone was detached, dispassionate, and yet critical. He can lapse into moralisation and aphorism: The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition , might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the throne and the altar , that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people.
If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery [of gunpowder ] with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind. Gibbon provides the reader with a glimpse of his thought process with extensive notes along the body of the text, a precursor to the modern use of footnotes. Gibbon's footnotes are famous for their idiosyncratic and often humorous style, and have been called "Gibbon's table talk.
This technique enabled Gibbon to compare ancient Rome to his own contemporary world. Gibbon's work advocates a rationalist and progressive view of history. Gibbon's citations provide in-depth detail regarding his use of sources for his work, which included documents dating back to ancient Rome. The detail within his asides and his care in noting the importance of each document is a precursor to modern-day historical footnoting methodology. The work is notable for its erratic but exhaustively documented notes and research. John Bury , following him years later with his own History of the Later Roman Empire , commended the depth and accuracy of Gibbon's work.
Unusually for 18th century historians, Gibbon was not content with second-hand accounts when the primary sources were accessible. Numerous tracts were published criticising his work. In response, Gibbon defended his work with the publication of, A Vindication Gibbon's comments on the Quran and Muhammad reflected his view of the secular, rather than divine, origin of the text. He outlined in chapter 33 the widespread tale, possibly Jewish in origin, of the Seven Sleepers , [16] and remarked "This popular tale, which Mahomet might learn when he drove his camels to the fairs of Syria, is introduced, as a divine revelation, into the Quran.
A special revelation dispensed him from the laws which he had imposed on his nation: Gibbon described the Jews as " a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but also of humankind ". Gibbon challenged Church history by estimating far smaller numbers of Christian martyrs than had been traditionally accepted. The Church's version of its early history had rarely been questioned before. Gibbon, however, knew that modern Church writings were secondary sources , and he shunned them in favor of primary sources.
Volume I was originally published in sections, as was common for large works at the time. The first two were well received and widely praised. Gibbon thought that Christianity had hastened the Fall, but also ameliorated the results:. As the happiness of a future life is the great object of religion, we may hear without surprise or scandal that the introduction, or at least the abuse of Christianity, had some influence on the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity; the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the last remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister: