History of the Wars, Books III and IV | Page 8

since the eunuchs who were in
attendance upon the emperor were well-disposed toward him, he
persuaded the emperor by their devices that Aetius was setting on foot
a revolution. And Valentinian, judging by nothing else than the power
and valour of Aetius that the report was true, put the man to death.
[Sept. 21, 454 A.D.] Whereupon a certain Roman made himself famous
by a saying which he uttered. For when the emperor enquired of him
whether he had done well in putting Aetius to death, he replied saying
that, as to this matter, he was not able to know whether he had done
well or perhaps otherwise, but one thing he understood exceedingly
well, that he had cut off his own right hand with the other.
So after the death of Aetius,[24] Attila, since no one was a match for
him, plundered all Europe with no trouble and made both emperors
subservient and tributary to himself. For tribute money was sent to him
every year by the emperors. At that time, while Attila was besieging
Aquileia, a city of great size and exceedingly populous situated near the
sea and above the Ionian Gulf, they say that the following good fortune
befell him. For they tell the story that, when he was able to capture the
place neither by force nor by any other means, he gave up the siege in
despair, since it had already lasted a long time, and commanded the
whole army without any delay to make their preparations for the
departure, in order that on the morrow all might move from there at

sunrise. And the following day about sunrise, the barbarians had raised
the siege and were already beginning the departure, when a single male
stork which had a nest on a certain tower of the city wall and was
rearing his nestlings there suddenly rose and left the place with his
young. And the father stork was flying, but the little storks, since they
were not yet quite ready to fly, were at times sharing their father's flight
and at times riding upon his back, and thus they flew off and went far
away from the city. And when Attila saw this (for he was most clever at
comprehending and interpreting all things), he commanded the army,
they say, to remain still in the same place, adding that the bird would
never have gone flying off at random from there with his nestlings,
unless he was prophesying that some evil would come to the place at
no distant time. Thus, they say, the army of the barbarians settled down
to the siege once more, and not long after that a portion of the wall--the
very part which held the nest of that bird--for no apparent reason
suddenly fell down, and it became possible for the enemy to enter the
city at that point, and thus Aquileia was captured by storm. Such is the
story touching Aquileia.
Later on Maximus slew the emperor with no trouble and secured the
tyranny, and he married Eudoxia by force. [455 A.D.] For the wife to
whom he had been wedded had died not long before. And on one
occasion in private he made the statement to Eudoxia that it was all for
the sake of her love that he had carried out all that he had done. And
since she felt a repulsion for Maximus even before that time, and had
been desirous of exacting vengeance from him for the wrong done
Valentinian, his words made her swell with rage still more against him,
and led her on to carry out her plot, since she had heard Maximus say
that on account of her the misfortune had befallen her husband. And as
soon as day came, she sent to Carthage entreating Gizeric to avenge
Valentinian, who had been destroyed by an unholy man, in a manner
unworthy both of himself and of his imperial station, and to deliver her,
since she was suffering unholy treatment at the hand of the tyrant. And
she impressed it upon Gizeric that, since he was a friend and ally and so
great a calamity had befallen the imperial house, it was not a holy thing
to fail to become an avenger. For from Byzantium she thought no
vengeance would come, since Theodosius had already departed from

the world and Marcian had taken over the empire. [Mar. 17, 455 A.D.]
V
And Gizeric, for no other reason than that he suspected that much
money would come to him, set sail for Italy with a great fleet. And
going up to Rome, since no one stood in his way, he took possession of
the palace. Now while Maximus was trying to flee, the Romans threw
stones at him and killed him, and they cut off his