Famous and decisive battles of the world; . here at last he met vigorous re-sistance. All along the stream, too, his attempts to cross werefrustrated by the energy of the Roman general, Aetius, and hisally, King Theodoric, who were also busily recruiting to make a stand against the Huns. Aetius spared noable-bodied man. All were forced to enlist under the Romanstandard, and Theodoric, for his part, was no less active. Orleansbravely held out, and, before he could prevent it, Attila foundthat Aetius and Theodoric were united and marching north-ward against him with an army as great
Famous and decisive battles of the world; . here at last he met vigorous re-sistance. All along the stream, too, his attempts to cross werefrustrated by the energy of the Roman general, Aetius, and hisally, King Theodoric, who were also busily recruiting to make a stand against the Huns. Aetius spared noable-bodied man. All were forced to enlist under the Romanstandard, and Theodoric, for his part, was no less active. Orleansbravely held out, and, before he could prevent it, Attila foundthat Aetius and Theodoric were united and marching north-ward against him with an army as great as his entire force, nowmuch scattered. Quickly he abandoned the siege, fell back to Chalons, on theMarne, and called in his outlying troops, and on the broad, openplain, near where the little villages of Chape and Cuperly nowstand, he built a great intrenchment to surround his camp, andconfidently awaited the coming of the southern allies. It was,of all others, the very place where his strongest arm, the cavalry,would be most THE HUNS. (A. DeNeuville.\ A BLOODY CONFLICT BEGINS. 175 The grand army of allied Romans and Visigoths speedilymade its appearance. By this time it was probably much largerthan that of Attila. Aetius with the legions held the right;Theodoric the left; and the centre, which was somewhat ad-vanced, was placed under the King of the Alans, Sangipan byname, who was suspected by both Theodoric and Aetius of beinglukewarm .to the cause. Opposite them were ranged the wildforces of Attila; he himself commanding his centre, while theOstrogoths and other conquered subjects were placed on theflanks. Roman Aetius was a veteran soldier, and well knowingthe importance of seizing any rising ground as a protectionagainst cavalry attack, he had skillfully managed to secure andhold some abrupt slopes that really overlooked, if not com-manded, the left flank of the Huns—a fact that, most unaccount-ably, Attila had not properly appreciated. History is very sile
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