She died July 18, 453. That same year saw the death of her
youthful acquaintance, Attila the Hun, that fierce barbarian whom
men had called the "Scourge of God." His mighty empire stretched
from the great wall of China to the Western Alps; but, though he
ravaged the lands of both eastern and western Rome, he seems to
have been so managed or controlled by the wise and peaceful
measures of the girl regent, that his destroying hordes never
troubled the splendid city by the Golden Horn which offered so
rare and tempting a booty.
It is not given to the girls of to-day to have any thing like the
magnificent opportunities of the young Pulcheria. But duty in
many a form faces them again and again, while not unfrequently
the occasion comes for sacrifice of comfort or for devotion to a
trust. To all such the example of this fair young princess of old
Constantinople, who, fifteen centuries ago, saw her duty plainly
and undertook it simply and without hesitation, comes to
strengthen and incite; and the girl who feels herself overwhelmed
by responsibility, or who is fearful of her own untried powers,
may gather strength, courage, wisdom, and will from the story of
this historic girl of the long ago--the wise young Regent of the
East, Pulcheria of Constantinople.
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