Attĭla

, a celebrated king of the Huns, a nation in the southern parts of Scythia, who invaded the Roman empire in the reign of Val ent in i an, with an army of 500,000 men, and laid waste the provinces. He took the town of Aquileia, and marched against Rome; but his retreat and peace were purchased with a large sum of money by the feeble emperor. Attila, who boasted in the appellation of the scourge of God , died A.D. 453, of an uncommon effusion of blood, the first night of his nuptials. He had expre ed his wish to extend his conquests over the whole world; and he often feasted his barbarity by dragging captive kings in his train. Jornandes , Getica .