As they crossed this section of hell they were accompanied by a centaur whose task was to keep watch and prevent the dead from rising from the river of blood (176). The centaur pointed out to Dante “the deepest meeting place where tyrants groan” and claimed that “it is there that the justice of heaven strikes its blow against Attila” (180:132-133). Attila, the leader of the Huns, was once described as the “Barbarian Terror” (Whitby 344). Attila was the ruler of the hordes in Europe, his reign was short but his tyranny lasted. “The fact that Attila imposed his authority so widely throughout Central Europe in less than a decade is an impressive achievement” (Whitby 344). Attila was chosen to represent the seventh circle of hell because of the cruelty he caused during his life, “Attila was a man of action whose control was built on the sheer terror of his personality…” (Whitby 344). It was chosen to be in the seventh circle to represent where the cruelest and most violent tyrants would spend their lives