hindered from approaching by a shower of arrows from
the bowmen placed within the confines of the Roman
camp. But it was said that the king remained supremely
brave even in this extremity and had heaped up a funeral
pyre of horse trappings, so that if the enemy should attack
him, he was determined to cast himself into the
flames, that none might have the joy of wounding him
and that the lord of so many races might not fall into
the hands of his foes.

[Sidenote: RESULTS OF THE BATTLE]

XLI Now during these delays in the siege, the Visigoths 214
sought their king and the king's sons their father,
wondering at his absence when success had been attained.
When, after a long search, they found him where the
dead lay thickest, as happens with brave men, they honored
him with songs and bore him away in the sight of
the enemy. You might have seen bands of Goths shouting
with dissonant cries and paying the honors of death
while the battle still raged. Tears were shed, but such
as they were accustomed to devote to brave men. It was
death indeed, but the Huns are witness that it was a
glorious one. It was a death whereby one might well
suppose the pride of the enemy would be lowered, when
they beheld the body of so great a king borne forth with
fitting honors. And so the Goths, still continuing the 215
rites due to Theodorid, bore forth the royal majesty with
sounding arms, and valiant Thorismud, as befitted a son,
honored the glorious spirit of his dear father by following