| Quotation |
24. Remoto igitur Valentiniani imperatoris jussu a potestate militari Aetio, dum Theuderedus Narbonensi urbi diutina obsidione ac fame esset infestus, rursus a Litorio, Romanae militiae duce, Hunnis auxiliantibus, effugatur. Litorius autem, dum primum res prosperas adversus Gothos gessisset, denuo daemonum signis aruspicumque responsis deceptus, bellum cum Gothis imprudenter iniit, amissoque Romano exercitu, miserabiliter superatus interiit. Fecitque intelligi quantum illa quae cum eodem periit multitudo prodesse potuerit, si fide potius quam fallacibus daemoniorum ostentis uti maluisset.
25. Exstincto igitur Litorio, pace deinde Theuderedus cum Romanis inita, denuo adversus Hunnos, Galliarum provincias saeva populatione vastantes, atque urbes plurimas evertentes, in campis Catalaunicis, auxiliante Aetio, duce Romano, aperto Marte conflixit, ibique praeliando victor occubuit. Gothi autem, dimicante Thurismundo, Theuderedi regis filio, adeo fortiter congressi sunt, ut inter primum praelium et postremum trecenta fere millia hominum in eo certamine prostrarentur.
26. Multa eodem tempore coeli et terrae signa praecesserunt, quorum prodigiis tam crudele bellum significaretur. Nam, assiduis terraemotibus factis, a parte Orientis luna fuscata est, a solis occasu stella cometes apparuit, atque ingenti magnitudine aliquandiu fulsit. Ab Aquilonis plaga coelum rubens, sicut ignis aut sanguis effectum est, permistis per igneum ruborem lineis clarioribus in speciem hastarum rutilantium deformatis. Nec mirum ut tam ingenti caesorum strage divinitus tam multa signorum demonstraretur ostensio.
27. Hunni autem, usque ad internecionem pene caesi cum rege suo Athila, relictis Galliis, Italiam perfugiunt, aliquantis civitatibus irruptis. Qui et ibi partim fame, partim coelestibus plagis percussi, interierunt. Misso insuper a Marciano imperatore exercitu, forti plaga caeduntur, affectique nimium ac diminuti, sedes proprias repetunt, ad quas rex eorum Attila, mox, ut remeavit, occubuit.
28. Post ejus obitum Hunnorum gens proprio se insuper excidio devastavit. Statimque inter filios ejus de obtinendo regno magna sunt exorta certamina. Atque ita Hunni, qui tot cladibus antea diminuti fuerant, rursum mutuis sese gladiis conciderunt. In quibus illud mirum est, ut, dum omne praelium detrimentum habeat populorum, isti vice versa cadendo proficiant. Sed proinde est quia in disciplinam fidelium positi sunt, sicut populus est gentis Persarum.
29. Virga enim furoris Dei sunt, et quoties indignatio ejus adversus fideles procedit, per eos flagellantur, ut, eorum afflictionibus emendati, a saeculi cupiditate et peccato semetipsos coerceant, et coelestis regni haereditatem possideant. Adeo autem haec gens horrida est, ut cum famem in bello fuerit passa, venam tangat equi, et sic excludat hausto sanguine famem. |
| Translation |
Aetius was then removed from military authotity by order of the Emperor Valentinian, and when Theudered attacked the city of Narbonne with a long siege and with famine, he was again put to flight by Litorius, the leader of the Roman soldiers, with the help of the Huns. But Litorius, after first being successful against the Goths, inconsiderately went to war with them a second time, deceived by the signs of demons and the responses of sooth-sayers. The Roman army was lost and he perished afterbeing pitiably defeated, and caused it to be realized of how much avail that multitude which died with him could have been if he had chosen to make use of faith rather than the treacherous portents of demons.
25. Then Theudered, after concluding peace with the Romans, again fought against the Huns who were laying waste the provinces of Gaul with savage pillaging and destroying very many cities; he fought against them in open battle on the plains of Chalons with the help of the Roman general Aetius, and there he died in the course of the battle while he was winning. But the Goths, under the
leadership of Thurismund, the son of King Theudered, fought so bravely that between the first battle and the last about three hundred thousand men were laid low.
26. At the same time many signs appeared in heaven and on earth, by whose portents such a cruel war might be indicated .Continuous earthquakes occurred, and in the East the moon was darkened. In the west a comet appeared and shone for some time with a huge size. In the North the sky became reddish like fire to blood, and mixed with the fiery redness there were brighter lines in the form of reddish spears. Not was it astonishing that in the case of such a large mass of slaughteted men such a manifold demonstration of signs should be shown by God.
27. The Huns indeed, after having been slaughtered almost to the point of extermination left Gaul with their king Attila and fled to ltaly, breaking into several cities. There some, died of hunger and others after being struck by heaven-sent plagues. When, moreover, an army was sent by the Emperor Marcianus, they were cut down by a violent plague, and having suffered greaty from it, re-turned to their own lands; and soon after their king Attila returned, he died.
28. Immediately great struggles for the possession of the kingdom began among his sons. And so the Huns, who had previously suffered losses by so many disasters, again slaughtered each other with the heat of weapons. With regard to them it is astonishing that whereas every little entails a loss for nations, this people, or the other should be of service by dying: but this is so because are used to discipline the faithful, just like the people the Persian nation.
29. For they are the scourge of God's fury, and as often his indignation goes forth against the faithful, the latter scourged by them in order that, corrected by they may restrain themselves from worldly desires from sin and possess the inheritance of the kingdom, of heaven. But this nation is so savage that when they, suffer hunger during war they open the veins of horses and so remove their hunger by drinking blood. |
