Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-03-14
From the Home Journll.
ATTILA AND THE HUNS.
BY J. o. MOVES, NJ. D.

inhabiting Europe and Asia. When {
student of medicine at Vienna, otter
counted, in the great hall of the Univer
sity, the representatives of twenty-five
different nations, speaking as many Ian
guages, and exhibiting almost every type
of the human race. Hungary, as wei
as the Danubian Principalities, lay ex
actly in the path which the nomades o.
Asia followed in their migrations to the
West. All of these wandering nations
of whom the complete history remains tc
be written, left behind them, in the region
of the Lower Danube, traces of theiI
nationality, their Eastern institutions, then
nomadic and semi-barbaric life. say
semi-barbaric; for their history, especially
that Of the Huns, was written by then
enemies, the Latins, who were ultimately
obliged to succumb to the impetuous force
of the Eastern conquerors. At the ac-
cessiOn of Attila to the Hunnic throne
their empire extended from the Western
confines of Asia to the bases of the A lips.
A barbarous and ferocious character was
given them, as also to the other nomadic
nations from the East, by the enervated
descendants of the brave old Romans,
who, in their time, would have defed
Attila, as they did Hannibal, even at the
gates of Rome. The so-called " Scourge
Of COD erected his " iron throne" near
Buda in Hungary. This name was given
him by the priests; but, On the other
hand, Attila was wise and generous
ruler, cruel only to his worst enemies
His court was one of unusual splendor
for those early times. The Roman Pris-
Gus has left us full description of the
palace Of Attila at Josbereny. There he
collected around him the wisest and most
polite men Of the age, and treated them
with royal magnifcence. There is rea-
son to believe that certain alphabetical
signs were already employed to represent
the sounds Of the Hunnic language
signs which afterwards disappeared amid
the ruins Of the empire Of Attila. Even
the art of engraving in relief was well
known among them.
The great Hunnic king was a person
Of remarkable sobriety and simplicity
There is no better proof of his not hay
ing been what the Latin authors repre-
sented, than that Honoria, the sister of
Valentinian III. requested his hand in
ii''--'"oe. The proud sister of the EN-
P0ioi' liIl'ateo - his not permitting her
to espouse a noble Roman, secretly sent
a courier to the court of Attila, with q
message Of love, inviting, at the same
r;tb L. 20 Hunnic king to repair to Rome
where she would become
his BRIDE. She also -
as a pledge Of her affection, and TIit liiiss'
which she desired to contract. Attiia
supposing, at frs, that it was merely 6
TuSe on the part of the Roman Emperor
gave cold response to the singular re.
quest Of Honoria. Sixteen years later
however, inspired more by political con.
siderations than by the tender passion. he
demanded her of the courts of Ravenn;
and Constantinople as a bride, togethe.
with goodly portion of the Roman
Empire, as dowry. VaIentinian III
responded that Honoria was married. and
moreover, that she had no right to an,
part Of the empire-an answer that diC
not satisfy Attila. The signal of wa
was given, and, at the voice of their king
the peupt0de Of the coasts of the Baltic
the banks of the Volga and the Danub,
assembled at the confluence of the Rim,
and the Neckar, to reduce the Western
Empire. The Hunnic nation itself be
, came dismembered soon after the dealt
of Attila, in the year A. D. 453.
,, The Huns, like most of the Orientals
had a plurality of wives. Attila con
ceived a passion for the daughter of Er
rick, King Of Burgundy. The marriag,
with her proved fatal to the conqueror
in whose royal train marched a crowd O
kings and princes, and who, on the bank
OF the Mincio, had settled the fate O
! Rome herself, with Pope Leo and tn,
Consular Avinus. Hilgunde repaired t,
the court of Attila, to become his bride
She was received with all the circum
stances and surroundings of magnifcenc
! that could be afforded by the Occiden
and the Orient. Hardly had the nuptia
feasts begun, when Attila, fresh from
conquest, and with the laurels of victo
ries gained over the Romans, on hi
> brow, fell by the hand of this treacherou
diigunde, who plunged a dagger into hi
breast !" AS with the Huns, not ordi
nary tears, but tears Of 6loOd," were re
garded as an homage most worthy O
such chief. They enclosed his remain
: 1 in a maonifcep+ oo4,.,