For I saw fifteen standards flickering at once; each of them had a hundred lesser standards, and after each of these could have been seen twenty; and the captains in their order were equal in number to the standards." Now when Frode asked wherewithal he was to resist so many, Erik instructed him that he must return home and suffer the enemy first to perish of their own hugeness.

His counsel was obeyed, the advice being approved as heartily as it was uttered.

But the Huns went on through pathless deserts, and, finding provisions nowhere, began to run the risk of general starvation; for it was a huge and swampy district, and nothing could be found to relieve their want.

At last, when the beasts of burden had been cut down and eaten, they began to scatter, lacking carriages as much as food.

Now their straying from the road was as perilous to them as their hunger.