Attila by Ross Laidlaw

Author:Ross Laidlaw
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2011-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Titus sighed as he searched through the jumble of papers in Aetius’ office at his headquarters near Ravenna. Promotion within the courier service to the rank of curiosus, or inspector for the imperial post, meant that one of Titus’ tasks was to check the warrants of those using it. Locating the documents in the chaos to which the Master of Soldiers regularly reduced the tablinum could be a time-consuming business. Presiding over the clutter were bronze busts, one at either end of the office, of Valentinian and Placidia. They had replaced an earlier bust, of Boniface, and had been installed for the same reason: ‘Know thy enemy’. Typically, Aetius was marching up and down the room, consulting then discarding papers, while dictating to the unfortunate scribe who was trying to keep pace with him and simultaneously take down the message.

A slave entered and announced that a courier had arrived from Gaul with a letter requiring the general’s immediate attention.

‘Tell him to wait,’ replied Aetius, then, ‘Gaul, did you say? No, better send him in.’

Idly, Titus broke off his search to watch, while Aetius unfurled the scroll the dusty messenger handed to him, and began to peruse it. Suddenly, the general’s face blanched and he swayed on his feet. ‘Tell Avitus I’ll make all speed to join him!’ he cried hoarsely. Dismissing the courier, also the scribe, he stood in the middle of the room staring at the letter and muttered, ‘I should have seen that this might happen.’

‘Bad news, sir?’ ventured Titus.

‘What’s that?’ said the general distractedly, looking up. Seeing Titus, he exclaimed, ‘Disaster! It seems Litorius may have lost us Provincia. Listen to what Avitus says.

‘“I felt that the man had become dangerously unstable, – perhaps some of the things he had to do in Aremorica had affected him. You’ll have heard, of course, about the incident on my estate. That in itself wouldn’t have indicated that the count was unbalanced, only that he had difficulty controlling the Huns – admittedly, not an easy task. But when Quintus, his second-in-command, came to me privately and confided his doubts regarding Litorius (not from disloyalty – Quintus is the most faithful of subordinates – but out of genuine concern), I became seriously worried. Then came his brilliant relief of Narbo Martius. We were all tremendously impressed, and I began to think that I had judged the man too hastily. (Although in hindsight, there was, I think, an element of reckless bravado about the operation; it could so easily have gone badly wrong.) All things considered, when you appointed him commander-in-chief during your absence in Italia, I allowed my fears to become lulled. After all, the task you entrusted to Litorius was scarcely a demanding one. The Visigoths had been badly mauled and wanted nothing more than to be left to lick their wounds. Litorius, as I distinctly recall you making clear to him, was to be a vigilant policeman, nothing more.

‘“So when the count announced that he intended to invade the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.