These kinds of people can make a comeback.
“Once again, however, he sent the same men, advising us to go away unless we had something to say beyond what they already knew...”
~~~
Basically, Atilla had all the military leverage, and felt that the Romans were probably nothing more than afraid but full of guile, and he had no motivation to bother with speaking to what he felt were lowly ambassadors and emissaries. If they wouldn’t at the very least declare the nature of their business and what they have to offer, they should leave.
Interesting account. Thanks for posting.
The closing sentence about Romans voluntarily defecting to the Huns reminded me of a Roman history course from my undergraduate days. When the timeline got to the Byzantine period, there was significant discussion of the heavy taxation of freemen by the state. I particularly remember two items:
1. Freemen were actually going to wealthy landowners and asking to be enslaved because their tax burdens would be lighter.
(There was also a period of depopulation throughout the Roman Empire where extensive areas, once under cultivation, were allowed to become overgrown.)
2. That Byzantine rule was so abusive and heavy-handed for cities in Mesopotamia and Persia that Muslim armies were often welcomed as liberators.
A worthy moral to carry through every day in life :)