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