“Still it is incomprehensible how he recovered from his defeat on the Catalaunian Plain.”
“Everything is incomprehensible that has to do with this man, if he is a man at all.”
“You are right. He is said to have succeeded his father’s brother, Rua, of whom we know nothing; he has murdered his brother Bleda. For twenty years we have had him held over us like an iron rod, and yet lately, when he was before Rome, he turned back.”
“But he has promised his soldiers to give them Rome some day.”
“Why did he spare Rome?”
“No one knows. No one knows anything about this man, and he himself seems to be ignorant about himself. He comes from the East, he says; that is all. People say the Huns are the offspring of witches and demons in the wilderness. If anyone asks Attila what he wants, and who he is, he answers, ‘The Scourge of God.’ He founds no kingdom, builds no city, but rules over all kingdoms and destroys all cities.”
“To return to his bride: she is called Ildico; is she then a Christian?”
“What does Attila care? He has no religion.”
“He must have one if he calls himself ‘the Scourge of God,’ and declares that he has found the War-God’s sword.”
“But he is indifferent as regards forms of religion. His chief minister, Onegesius, is a Greek and a Christian.”