Attila set up a camp north of the Danube. He continually harassed the empire’s northern marches and collected tribute — “protection money” —from Constantinople.

Professor O’Donnell quotes from a fragment surviving from the writings of Priscus, a visitor to Attila’s capital, and concludes: “This story says not that Hunnic splendor was somehow superior to Roman splendor but that it offered enough civilities to provide an alternative world for malcontents.” (p. 94)

The emperor Marcian (r. 450-457) canceled tribute and pressured Attila in the east. Attila promptly moved west, across the Rhine and into northern Gaul, where he was defeated by Aetius’ alliance in 451.

Attila and his allies did not know a good thing when they saw it, and they became a historical footnote to enthrall the bloody-minded.

The Huns did not disappear, and those bearing similar names and some relationship to the diverse groups that had assembled under Attila would crop up long after; but in that moment, the greatest force outside the empire that had both supported and threatened it crumbled. (p. 96)