the threshing-floor of countless races. The two hosts
bravely joined battle. Nothing was done under cover,
but they contended in open fight. What just cause can 193
be found for the encounter of so many nations, or what
hatred inspired them all to take arms against each other?
It is proof that the human race lives for its kings, for it is
at the mad impulse of one mind a slaughter of nations
takes place, and at the whim of a haughty ruler that
which nature has taken ages to produce perishes in a
moment.

[Sidenote: THE BEGINNING OF THE STRIFE]

XXXVII But before we set forth the order of the 194
battle itself, it seems needful to relate what had already
happened in the course of the campaign, for it was not
only a famous struggle but one that was complicated and
confused. Well then, Sangiban, king of the Alani, smitten
with fear of what might come to pass, had promised
to surrender to Attila, and to give into his keeping Aureliani,
a city of Gaul wherein he then dwelt. When Theodorid 195
and Aëtius learned of this, they cast up great earthworks
around that city before Attila's arrival and kept
watch over the suspected Sangiban, placing him with his
tribe in the midst of their auxiliaries. Then Attila, king
of the Huns, was taken aback by this event and lost confidence
in his own troops, so that he feared to begin the
conflict. While he was meditating on flight--a greater
calamity than death itself--he decided to inquire into the
future through soothsayers. So, as was their custom, 196