Attila: The Judgement

Attila: The Judgement is the third volume of William Napier's engrossing telling of the conflict between the nomadic tribes of the steppes and the divided Roman Empire. The outline of the saga is, I am sure, known to most readers. Attila, inspired by his fanatical hatred of Rome and the civilisation it headed, brings together the normaly divided tribes of the steppes and launches a savage war not of conquest but destruction. The Roman Empire now divided between East and West suffers weak and ineffectual leadership. The Eastern Emperor, Theodosius, is a scholar who believes that negotiation and reasoned argument is the way to solve all disputes and cannot or will not understand that Attila is impervious to reason. In the West Valentinian is at the centre of a corrupt court and spends his time in ever more obscene religious rituals that he hopes will turn Attila away. One thing that both Emporers have in common is a distrust of the one man who can save the situation, Aetius the Master General of the Legions. Although urged by his friends Aetius refuses to do the one thing that could have saved the Western Empire which is to depose the raving lunatic Valentinian and take the throne himself. Had he not been so scrupulous the history of Western Europe could have been changed for the better. In the event he manages to defeat Attila but only at the cost of the destruction of the Roman Army. His reward from a grateful Emperor Valentinian is to be murdered and his body thrown into an unmarked grave. So that is the story of Attila. The West threatened by a rapacious horde contemptuous of the civilised values it stood for lead by a fanatic who believed he was on a God given mission of destruction. Opposing him a divided Europe whose leaders could not or would not grasp the size of the threat they faced and exiling or executing any who advocated serious defensive action. Does this not seem depressingly like todays headlines? Oh well on to the next book.