146 THE DECLINE AND FALL legion, of a thousand Bohemians, closed the rear of the host. The resources of discipline and valour were fortified by the arts of superstition, which, on this occasion, may deserve the epithets of generous and salutary. The soldiers were purified with a fast ; the camp was blessed with the relics of saints and martyrs ; and the Christian hero girded on his side the sword of Constan- tine, grasped the invincible spear of Charlemagne, and waved the banner of St. Maurice, the praefect of the Thebaean legion. But his firmest confidence was placed in the holy lance,^^ whose point was fashioned of the nails of the cross, and which his father had extorted from the king of Burgundy by the threats of war and the gift of a province. The Hungarians were expected in the front ; ^'^ they secretly passed the Lech, a river of Bavaria that falls into the Danube ; turned the rear of the Christian army ; plundered the baggage and disordered the legions of Bohemia and Swabia. The battle was restored by the Franconians, whose duke, the valiant Conrad, was pierced with an arrow as he rested from his fatigues ; the Saxons fought under the eyes of their king ; and his victory surpassed, in merit and importance, the triumphs of the last two hundred years. The loss of the Hungarians was still greater in the flight than in the action ; they were encompassed by the rivers of Bavaria ; and their past cruelties excluded them from the hope of mercy. Three captive princes were hanged at Ratisbon, the multitude of prisoners was slain or mutilated, and the fugi- tives, who presumed to appear in the face of their country, were condemned to everlasting poverty and disgrace. ^^ Yet the spirit of the nation was humbled, and the most accessible passes of Hungary were foi'tified with a ditch and rampart. Adversity suggested the counsels of moderation and peace ; the robbers of the West acquiesced in a sedentary life ; and the next generation A.D. 972 was taught, by a discerning prince, that far more might be gained by multiplying and exchanging the produce of a fruitful soil. The native race, the Turkish or Fennic blood, was mingled with ■•8 See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. a.d. 929, No. 2-5. The lance of Christ is taken from the best evidence, Liutprand (I. iv. c. 12 [= c. 25]), Sigebert, and the acts of St. Gerard ; but the other military relics depend on the faith of the Gesta Anglorum post Bedam, 1. ii. c. 8. •"[The best account of the battle is in Widukind. The other sources are An- nales Sangallenses majores ; Flodoard ; Continuator Reginonis ; Ruotger ; and a later but noteworthy account in the Vita Udalrici by Gerhard. See E. Diimmler, Kaiser Otto der Grosse (in the Jahrbb. der deutschen Geschichte), 1876 (p. 256 s^t^.), and Giesebrecht, o/>. cit. (p. 418 sqq.), for details of the battle.] •■'^ Katona, Hist. Ducum Hungarine, p. 500, &.c.
