Uldis and the Huns Turned Back

About the same time it happened that the Huns who were camped in Thrace retreated in disgrace and abandoned many of their own number, although no one had attacked or pursued them. Uldis, the leader of the barbarian tribes living near the Danube, crossed that river at the head of a large army and camped on the borders of Thrace. He took a city of Moesia called Castra Martis by treachery, and from there he raided the rest of Thrace, and he arrogantly refused to make a treaty with the Romans. The commander of the soldiers in Thrace made him offers of peace, but he answered by pointing to the sun and declaring that, if he wished, it would be easy for him to conquer every land on earth that the sun shines on. While Uldis was making threats like these, and demanding as large a tribute as he pleased, on the terms that either peace could be made with the Romans on this condition or the war would go on, things looked hopeless. Then God gave clear proofs of special favor toward the present reign. Shortly afterward, Uldis’s closest attendants and the leaders of his tribes were talking over the Roman form of government, the emperor’s kindness, and how promptly and generously he rewarded the best and the good. It was not without God that they came to love what they had been talking about and went over to the Romans, joining their camp together with the troops under their command. Finding himself deserted like this, Uldis barely escaped to the far bank of the river. Many of his troops were killed, among them the whole of the barbarian tribe called the Sciri. This tribe had been very numerous before this misfortune fell on it. Some of them were killed, and others were taken prisoner and brought in chains to Constantinople. The governors thought that if they were allowed to stay together they would probably rise in revolt. So some of them were sold cheaply, and others were given away as slaves for presents, on condition that they should never be allowed to return to Constantinople or to Europe, but be cut off by the sea from the places they knew. A number of them were left unsold, and these were ordered to settle in different places. I have seen many of them in Bithynia near Mount Olympus, living apart from one another and farming the hills and valleys of that region. [a]