you have made Attila our foe also. We will pursue
him wherever he summons us, and though he is puffed
up by his victories over divers races, yet the Goths know
how to fight this haughty foe. I call no war dangerous
save one whose cause is weak; for he fears no ill on
whom Majesty has smiled." The nobles shouted assent 190
to the reply and the multitude gladly followed. All were
fierce for battle and longed to meet the Huns, their foe.
And so a countless host was led forth by Theodorid, king
of the Visigoths, who sent home four of his sons, namely
Friderich and Eurich, Retemer and Himnerith, taking
with him only the two elder sons, Thorismud and Theodorid,
as partners of his toil. O brave array, sure defense
and sweet comradeship! having as its solace the
peril of those whose one joy is the endurance of the same
dangers.

On the side of the Romans stood the Patrician Aëtius, 191
on whom at that time the whole Empire of the West depended;
a man of such wisdom that he had assembled
warriors from everywhere to meet them on equal terms.
Now these were his auxiliaries: Franks, Sarmatians,
Armoricians, Liticians, Burgundians, Saxons, Riparians
Olibriones (once Roman soldiers and now the flower of
the allied forces), and some other Celtic or German tribes.
And so they met in the Catalaunian Plains, which are 192
also called Mauriacian, extending in length one hundred
_leuva_, as the Gauls express it, and seventy in width. Now
a Gallic _leuva_ measures a distance of fifteen hundred
paces. That portion of the earth accordingly became