king of the Huns, surnamed the Scourge of God, may be ranked amongst the greatest and fiercest of conquerors, since there was scarcely any province of Europe which did not feel the weight of his victorious arms. His death was attended with singular circumstances. He had married a beautiful virgin named Ildico. His nuptials were celebrated with great festivity at his palace beyond the Danube, and he retired late to bed oppressed with wine. In the night a blood-vessel burst in his lungs, and suffocated him. The bride was found in the morning sitting by the bedside, lamenting his death and her own danger. The body, inclosed in three coffins, of gold, silver, and iron, was interred in the night time; and to prevent the violation of his remains by the discovery of the place where he had been buried, all the captive slaves employed in the solemnity were massacred. This happened about the year 453. With Attila ended the empire of the Huns. His sons, by dissension and civil war, destroyed one another, or were dispossessed by more powerful chieftains.