Editing Attila (section)

== Solitary kingship ==
In 447, Attila again rode south into the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] through [[Moesia]]. The [[Roman military history|Roman army]], under [[Goths|Gothic]] ''[[magister militum]]'' [[Arnegisclus]], met him in the [[Battle of the Utus]] and was defeated, though not without inflicting heavy losses. The Huns were left unopposed and rampaged through the Balkans as far as [[Thermopylae]].

Constantinople itself was saved by the [[Isauria]]n troops of ''[[magister militum per Orientem]]'' [[Zeno (consul 448)|Zeno]] and protected by the intervention of prefect [[Constantinus (consul 457)|Constantinus]], who organized the reconstruction of the walls that had been previously damaged by earthquakes and, in some places, to construct a new line of fortification in front of the old. Callinicus, in his ''Life of Saint Hypatius'', wrote:

{{blockquote|The barbarian nation of the Huns, which was in [[Thrace]], became so great that more than a hundred cities were captured and Constantinople almost came into danger and most men fled from it.&nbsp;... And there were so many murders and blood-lettings that the dead could not be numbered. Ay, for they took captive the churches and monasteries and slew the monks and maidens in great numbers.}}