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ATTILA (d. 453 A.D.) King of the Huns from 434 to 453, he earned the name of the "Scourge of God," a
Christian appellation because of his rapacious cruelty. Attila was the son of the Hun King Mandiuch,
succeeding him in 434 along with his brother Bleda, whom he murdered in 444, from which time he
ruled alone.
By the 5th century, the Huns occupied an area of considerable size throughout DACIA, PANNONIA and
along the DANUBE. Attila used the first years of his rule (434-443) to solidify his position as king, to
extend his holdings in the East and to prepare for an invasion of the Roman Empire. In 443, Attila
defeated a Roman army and then demanded tribute and more land. He gained total control over the Huns
at the same time, by removing Bleda, and the next years of his life were spent earning his fabled, if
hideous, reputation. The attacks along the Danube were matched in 447 by the capture of Marcianopolis,
thus threatening Constantinople. That great city of the East was a formidable target, even for the Huns,
and a treaty was arranged, granting even more of the Danube to Attila to keep him pacified.
The Eastern Empire was well organized, but the West was weak. The last five years of Attila's life (448-
453) were centered in the West. He invaded Gaul through Belgica and there encountered, at Orleans, the
MAGISTER MILITUM Aetius and his Gothic allies. The Huns were in a difficult position strategically
(see CATALAUNIAN PLAIN), but in the imperial politics of the time, Aetius could not allow Attila to be
annihilated as the balance of power among the Germans would be disrupted.
Defeated, Attila invaded Italy, claiming that he was betrothed to Augusta Honoria, the sister of Emperor
Valentinian III. In 452, the city of AQUILEIA was destroyed, but in a famous episode, the bishop of
Rome, Pope Leo, convinced Attila that Rome should be left unmolested. The Huns departed, and one
year later Attila was dead. He burst an artery on the night of his wedding to the maid Ildico. Attila was
described as quintessentially Hunnish, with a broad, squat frame and the harsh features of his people. He
was remarkably cunning and dealt adroitly with the political demands of the imperial courts and his own
tribes. So central a part did he play as king of the Huns that with his death the Hun Empire collapsed.
¤ AUCTORITAS The power, unofficial but unquestionably real, that was possessed by the rulers of the
Early Empire with regard to matters of state or politics. The concept of auctoritas was grounded in the belief
that the holder of extensive or superior power possessed as well a natural, but not necessarily legal, capacity
to exert influence that was greater than that wielded by those around them.
Senatorial resolutions, before becoming legal through the process of consultum, carried a very real
political weight by virtue of auctoritas. Should such a resolution fail to become law, it was still recorded
in the ACTA SENATUS and was considered worthy of esteem. Augustus (ruled 27 B.C.-14 A.D.) was
granted supremacy in virtually all of the Republican institutions, especially in the title of PRINCEPS, and
auctoritas was added as well. The other emperors maintained the same sort of power until the reign of
Vespasian (69-79 A.D.), who assumed the power to do whatever he believed necessary for the good of
the state. His auctoritas thus came not from divine or inherited authority but from the needs of the time
and the inevitable emergence of imperial absolutism. See also IMPERIUM PROCONSULARES and
TRIBUNICIA POTESTAS.
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