History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0165/01653.txt

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$Title{History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Part I.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Gibbon, Edward}
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$Subject{tom
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$Date{1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)}
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Title:       History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Book:        Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.
Author:      Gibbon, Edward
Date:        1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)

Part I.

     Reign And Conversion Of Clovis. - His Victories Over The Alemanni,
Burgundians, And Visigoths. - Establishment Of The French Monarchy In Gaul. -
Laws Of The Barbarians. - State Of The Romans. - The Visigoths Of Spain. -
Conquest Of Britain By The Saxons.

     The Gauls, ^1 who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, received a
memorable lesson from one of the lieutenants of Vespasian, whose weighty sense
has been refined and expressed by the genius of Tacitus. ^2 "The protection of
the republic has delivered Gaul from internal discord and foreign invasions.
By the loss of national independence, you have acquired the name and
privileges of Roman citizens.  You enjoy, in common with yourselves, the
permanent benefits of civil government; and your remote situation is less
exposed to the accidental mischiefs of tyranny.  Instead of exercising the
rights of conquest, we have been contented to impose such tributes as are
requisite for your own preservation.  Peace cannot be secured without armies;
and armies must be supported at the expense of the people.  It is for your
sake, not for our own, that we guard the barrier of the Rhine against the
ferocious Germans, who have so often attempted, and who will always desire, to
exchange the solitude of their woods and morasses for the wealth and fertility
of Gaul.  The fall of Rome would be fatal to the provinces; and you would be
buried in the ruins of that mighty fabric, which has been raised by the valor
and wisdom of eight hundred years.  Your imaginary freedom would be insulted
and oppressed by a savage master; and the expulsion of the Romans would be
succeeded by the eternal hostilities of the Barbarian conquerors." ^3 This
salutary advice was accepted, and this strange prediction was accomplished.
In the space of four hundred years, the hardy Gauls, who had encountered the
arms of Caesar, were imperceptibly melted into the general mass of citizens
and subjects: the Western empire was dissolved; and the Germans, who had
passed the Rhine, fiercely contended for the possession of Gaul, and excited
the contempt, or abhorrence, of its peaceful and polished inhabitants.  With
that conscious pride which the preeminence of knowledge and luxury seldom
fails to inspire, they derided the hairy and gigantic savages of the North;
their rustic manners, dissonant joy, voracious appetite, and their horrid
appearance, equally disgusting to the sight and to the smell.  The liberal
studies were still cultivated in the schools of Autun and Bordeaux; and the
language of Cicero and Virgil was familiar to the Gallic youth.  Their ears
were astonished by the harsh and unknown sounds of the Germanic dialect, and
they ingeniously lamented that the trembling muses fled from the harmony of a
Burgundian lyre.  The Gauls were endowed with all the advantages of art and
nature; but as they wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned
to obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose clemency
they held their precarious fortunes and their lives. ^4

[Footnote 1: In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the Recueil des
Historiens des Gaules et de la France, Paris, 1738 - 1767, in eleven volumes
in folio.  By the labor of Dom Bouquet, and the other Benedictines, all the
original testimonies, as far as A.D. 1060, are disposed in chronological
order, and illustrated with learned notes.  Such a national work, which will
be continued to the year 1500, might provoke our emulation.]

[Footnote 2: Tacit. Hist. iv. 73, 74, in tom. i. p. 445.  To abridge Tacitus
would indeed be presumptuous; but I may select the general ideas which he
applies to the present state and future revelations of Gaul.]

[Footnote 3: Eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias libido atque
avaritiae et mutandae sedis amor; ut relictis paludibus et solitudinibus,
suis, fecundissimum hoc solum vosque ipsos possiderent .... Nam pulsis Romanis
quid aliud quam bella omnium inter se gentium exsistent?]

[Footnote 4: Sidonius Apollinaris ridicules, with affected wit and pleasantry,
the hardships of his situation, (Carm. xii. in tom. i. p. 811.)]

     As soon as Odoacer had extinguished the Western empire, he sought the
friendship of the most powerful of the Barbarians.  The new sovereign of Italy
resigned to Euric, king of the Visigoths, all the Roman conquests beyond the
Alps, as far as the Rhine and the Ocean: ^5 and the senate might confirm this
liberal gift with some ostentation of power, and without any real loss of
revenue and dominion.  The lawful pretensions of Euric were justified by
ambition and success; and the Gothic nation might aspire, under his command,
to the monarchy of Spain and Gaul.  Arles and Marseilles surrendered to his
arms: he oppressed the freedom of Auvergne; and the bishop condescended to
purchase his recall from exile by a tribute of just, but reluctant praise.
Sidonius waited before the gates of the palace among a crowd of ambassadors
and suppliants; and their various business at the court of Bordeaux attested
the power, and the renown, of the king of the Visigoths.  The Heruli of the
distant ocean, who painted their naked bodies with its coerulean color,
implored his protection; and the Saxons respected the maritime provinces of a
prince, who was destitute of any naval force. The tall Burgundians submitted
to his authority; nor did he restore the captive Franks, till he had imposed
on that fierce nation the terms of an unequal peace.  The Vandals of Africa
cultivated his useful friendship; and the Ostrogoths of Pannonia were
supported by his powerful aid against the oppression of the neighboring Huns.
The North (such are the lofty strains of the poet) was agitated or appeased by
the nod of Euric; the great king of Persia consulted the oracle of the West;
and the aged god of the Tyber was protected by the swelling genius of the
Garonne. ^6 The fortune of nations has often depended on accidents; and France
may ascribe her greatness to the premature death of the Gothic king, at a time
when his son Alaric was a helpless infant, and his adversary Clovis ^7 an
ambitious and valiant youth.

[Footnote 5: See Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 81.
The character of Grotius inclines me to believe, that he has not substituted
the Rhine for the Rhone (Hist. Gothorum, p. 175) without the authority of some
Ms.]

[Footnote 6: Sidonius, l. viii. epist. 3, 9, in tom. i. p. 800.  Jornandes (de
Rebus Geticis, c. 47 p. 680) justifies, in some measure, this portrait of the
Gothic hero.]

[Footnote 7: I use the familiar appellation of Clovis, from the Latin
Chlodovechus, or Chlodovoeus.  But the Ch expresses only the German
aspiration, and the true name is not different from Lewis, (Mem. de 'Academie
des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 68.)]

     While Childeric, the father of Clovis, lived an exile in Germany, he was
hospitably entertained by the queen, as well as by the king, of the
Thuringians.  After his restoration, Basina escaped from her husband's bed to
the arms of her lover; freely declaring, that if she had known a man wiser,
stronger, or more beautiful, than Childeric, that man should have been the
object of her preference. ^8 Clovis was the offspring of this voluntary union;
and, when he was no more than fifteen years of age, he succeeded, by his
father's death, to the command of the Salian tribe.  The narrow limits of his
kingdom were confined to the island of the Batavians, with the ancient
dioceses of Tournay and Arras; ^10 and at the baptism of Clovis the number of
his warriors could not exceed five thousand.  The kindred tribes of the
Franks, who had seated themselves along the Belgic rivers, the Scheld, the
Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine, were governed by their independent kings,
of the Merovingian race; the equals, the allies, and sometimes the enemies of
the Salic prince.  But the Germans, who obeyed, in peace, the hereditary
jurisdiction of their chiefs, were free to follow the standard of a popular
and victorious general; and the superior merit of Clovis attracted the respect
and allegiance of the national confederacy.  When he first took the field, he
had neither gold and silver in his coffers, nor wine and corn in his magazine;
^11 but he imitated the example of Caesar, who, in the same country, had
acquired wealth by the sword, and purchased soldiers with the fruits of
conquest.  After each successful battle or expedition, the spoils were
accumulated in one common mass; every warrior received his proportionable
share; and the royal prerogative submitted to the equal regulations of
military law.  The untamed spirit of the Barbarians was taught to acknowledge
the advantages of regular discipline. ^12 At the annual review of the month of
March, their arms were diligently inspected; and when they traversed a
peaceful territory, they were prohibited from touching a blade of grass.  The
justice of Clovis was inexorable; and his careless or disobedient soldiers
were punished with instant death.  It would be superfluous to praise the valor
of a Frank; but the valor of Clovis was directed by cool and consummate
prudence. ^13 In all his transactions with mankind, he calculated the weight
of interest, of passion, and of opinion; and his measures were sometimes
adapted to the sanguinary manners of the Germans, and sometimes moderated by
the milder genius of Rome, and Christianity.  He was intercepted in the career
of victory, since he died in the forty-fifth year of his age: but he had
already accomplished, in a reign of thirty years, the establishment of the
French monarchy in Gaul.

[Footnote 8: Greg. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. i. p. 168. Basina speaks the language
of nature; the Franks, who had seen her in their youth, might converse with
Gregory in their old age; and the bishop of Tours could not wish to defame the
mother of the first Christian king.]

[Footnote 9: The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique de l'Etablissement de la Monarchie
Francoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 630 - 650) has the merit of defining the
primitive kingdom of Clovis, and of ascertaining the genuine number of his
subjects.]

[Footnote 10: Ecclesiam incultam ac negligentia civium Paganorum praetermis
sam, veprium densitate oppletam, &c. Vit. St. Vedasti, in tom. iii. p. 372.
This description supposes that Arras was possessed by the Pagans many years
before the baptism of Clovis.]

[Footnote 11: Gregory of Tours (l v. c. i. tom. ii. p. 232) contrasts the
poverty of Clovis with the wealth of his grandsons.  Yet Remigius (in tom. iv.
p. 52) mentions his paternas opes, as sufficient for the redemption of
captives.]

[Footnote 12: See Gregory, (l. ii. c. 27, 37, in tom. ii. p. 175, 181, 182.)
The famous story of the vase of Soissons explains both the power and the
character of Clovis.  As a point of controversy, it has been strangely
tortured by Boulainvilliers Dubos, and the other political antiquarians.]

[Footnote 13: The duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has managed
weighty and delicate negotiations, ingeniously illustrates (Mem. de l'Acad.
des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 147 - 184) the political system of Clovis.]

     The first exploit of Clovis was the defeat of Syagrius, the son of
Aegidius; and the public quarrel might, on this occasion, be inflamed by
private resentment.  The glory of the father still insulted the Merovingian
race; the power of the son might excite the jealous ambition of the king of
the Franks.  Syagrius inherited, as a patrimonial estate, the city and diocese
of Soissons: the desolate remnant of the second Belgic, Rheims and Troyes,
Beauvais and Amiens, would naturally submit to the count or patrician: ^14 and
after the dissolution of the Western empire, he might reign with the title, or
at least with the authority, of king of the Romans. ^15 As a Roman, he had
been educated in the liberal studies of rhetoric and jurisprudence; but he was
engaged by accident and policy in the familiar use of the Germanic idiom.  The
independent Barbarians resorted to the tribunal of a stranger, who possessed
the singular talent of explaining, in their native tongue, the dictates of
reason and equity. The diligence and affability of their judge rendered him
popular, the impartial wisdom of his decrees obtained their voluntary
obedience, and the reign of Syagrius over the Franks and Burgundians seemed to
revive the original institution of civil society. ^16 In the midst of these
peaceful occupations, Syagrius received, and boldly accepted, the hostile
defiance of Clovis; who challenged his rival in the spirit, and almost in the
language, of chivalry, to appoint the day and the field ^17 of battle.  In the
time of Caesar Soissons would have poured forth a body of fifty thousand horse
and such an army might have been plentifully supplied with shields, cuirasses,
and military engines, from the three arsenals or manufactures of the city. ^18
But the courage and numbers of the Gallic youth were long since exhausted; and
the loose bands of volunteers, or mercenaries, who marched under the standard
of Syagrius, were incapable of contending with the national valor of the
Franks.  It would be ungenerous without some more accurate knowledge of his
strength and resources, to condemn the rapid flight of Syagrius, who escaped,
after the loss of a battle, to the distant court of Thoulouse.  The feeble
minority of Alaric could not assist or protect an unfortunate fugitive; the
pusillanimous ^19 Goths were intimidated by the menaces of Clovis; and the
Roman king, after a short confinement, was delivered into the hands of the
executioner.  The Belgic cities surrendered to the king of the Franks; and his
dominions were enlarged towards the East by the ample diocese of Tongres ^20
which Clovis subdued in the tenth year of his reign.

[Footnote 14: M. Biet (in a Dissertation which deserved the prize of the
Academy of Soissons, p. 178 - 226,) has accurately defined the nature and
extent of the kingdom of Syagrius and his father; but he too readily allows
the slight evidence of Dubos (tom. ii. p. 54 - 57) to deprive him of Beauvais
and Amiens.]

[Footnote 15: I may observe that Fredegarius, in his epitome of Gregory of
Tours, (tom. ii. p. 398,) has prudently substituted the name of Patricius for
the incredible title of Rex Romanorum.]

[Footnote 16: Sidonius, (l. v. Epist. 5, in tom. i. p. 794,) who styles him
the Solon, the Amphion, of the Barbarians, addresses this imaginary king in
the tone of friendship and equality.  From such offices of arbitration, the
crafty Dejoces had raised himself to the throne of the Medes, (Herodot. l. i.
c. 96 - 100.)]

[Footnote 17: Campum sibi praeparari jussit.  M. Biet (p. 226 - 251) has
diligently ascertained this field of battle, at Nogent, a Benedictine abbey,
about ten miles to the north of Soissons.  The ground was marked by a circle
of Pagan sepulchres; and Clovis bestowed the adjacent lands of Leully and
Coucy on the church of Rheims.]

[Footnote 18: See Caesar. Comment. de Bell. Gallic. ii. 4, in tom. i. p. 220,
and the Notitiae, tom. i. p. 126.  The three Fabricae of Soissons were,
Seutaria, Balistaria, and Clinabaria.  The last supplied the complete armor of
the heavy cuirassiers.]

[Footnote 19: The epithet must be confined to the circumstances; and history
cannot justify the French prejudice of Gregory, (l. ii. c. 27, in tom. ii. p.
175,) ut Gothorum pavere mos est.]

[Footnote 20: Dubos has satisfied me (tom. i. p. 277 - 286) that Gregory of
Tours, his transcribers, or his readers, have repeatedly confounded the German
kingdom of Thuringia, beyond the Rhine, and the Gallic city of Tongria, on the
Meuse, which was more anciently the country of the Eburones, and more recently
the diocese of Liege.]

     The name of the Alemanni has been absurdly derived from their imaginary
settlement on the banks of the Leman Lake. ^21 That fortunate district, from
the lake to the Avenche, and Mount Jura, was occupied by the Burgundians. ^22
The northern parts of Helvetia had indeed been subdued by the ferocious
Alemanni, who destroyed with their own hands the fruits of their conquest.  A
province, improved and adorned by the arts of Rome, was again reduced to a
savage wilderness; and some vestige of the stately Vindonissa may still be
discovered in the fertile and populous valley of the Aar. ^23 From the source
of the Rhine to its conflux with the Mein and the Moselle, the formidable
swarms of the Alemanni commanded either side of the river, by the right of
ancient possession, or recent victory.  They had spread themselves into Gaul,
over the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine; and their bold invasion of
the kingdom of Cologne summoned the Salic prince to the defence of his
Ripuarian allies.  Clovis encountered the invaders of Gaul in the plain of
Tolbiac, about twenty-four miles from Cologne; and the two fiercest nations of
Germany were mutually animated by the memory of past exploits, and the
prospect of future greatness.  The Franks, after an obstinate struggle, gave
way; and the Alemanni, raising a shout of victory, impetuously pressed their
retreat.  But the battle was restored by the valor, and the conduct, and
perhaps by the piety, of Clovis; and the event of the bloody day decided
forever the alternative of empire or servitude.  The last king of the Alemanni
was slain in the field, and his people were slaughtered or pursued, till they
threw down their arms, and yielded to the mercy of the conqueror.  Without
discipline it was impossible for them to rally: they had contemptuously
demolished the walls and fortifications which might have protected their
distress; and they were followed into the heart of their forests by an enemy
not less active, or intrepid, than themselves.  The great Theodoric
congratulated the victory of Clovis, whose sister Albofleda the king of Italy
had lately married; but he mildly interceded with his brother in favor of the
suppliants and fugitives, who had implored his protection.  The Gallic
territories, which were possessed by the Alemanni, became the prize of their
conqueror; and the haughty nation, invincible, or rebellious, to the arms of
Rome, acknowledged the sovereignty of the Merovingian kings, who graciously
permitted them to enjoy their peculiar manners and institutions, under the
government of official, and, at length, of hereditary, dukes.  After the
conquest of the Western provinces, the Franks alone maintained their ancient
habitations beyond the Rhine.  They gradually subdued, and civilized, the
exhausted countries, as far as the Elbe, and the mountains of Bohemia; and the
peace of Europe was secured by the obedience of Germany. ^24

[Footnote 21: Populi habitantes juxta Lemannum lacum, Alemanni dicuntur.
Servius, ad Virgil.  Georgic. iv. 278.  Don Bouquet (tom. i. p. 817) has only
alleged the more recent and corrupt text of Isidore of Seville.]

[Footnote 22: Gregory of Tours sends St. Lupicinus inter illa Jurensis deserti
secreta, quae, inter Burgundiam Alamanniamque sita, Aventicae adja cent
civitati, in tom. i. p. 648.  M. de Watteville (Hist. de la Confederation
Helvetique, tom. i. p. 9, 10) has accurately defined the Helvetian limits of
the Duchy of Alemannia, and the Transjurane Burgundy. They were commensurate
with the dioceses of Constance and Avenche, or Lausanne, and are still
discriminated, in modern Switzerland, by the use of the German, or French,
language.]

[Footnote 23: See Guilliman de Rebus Helveticis, l i. c. 3, p. 11, 12. Within
the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of Hapsburgh, the abbey of
Konigsfield, and the town of Bruck, have successively risen.  The philosophic
traveller may compare the monuments of Roman conquest of feudal or Austrian
tyranny, of monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly a
philosopher, he will applaud the merit and happiness of his own times.]

[Footnote 24: Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. 30, 37, in tom. ii. p. 176, 177, 182,)
the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 551,) and the epistle of Theodoric,
(Cassiodor. Variar. l. ii. c. 41, in tom. iv. p. 4,) represent the defeat of
the Alemanni.  Some of their tribes settled in Rhaetia, under the protection
of Theodoric; whose successors ceded the colony and their country to the
grandson of Clovis.  The state of the Alemanni under the Merovingian kings may
be seen in Mascou (Hist. of the Ancient Germans, xi. 8, &c.  Annotation
xxxvi.) and Guilliman, (de Reb. Helvet. l. ii. c. 10 - 12, p. 72 - 80.)]

     Till the thirtieth year of his age, Clovis continued to worship the gods
of his ancestors. ^25 His disbelief, or rather disregard, of Christianity,
might encourage him to pillage with less remorse the churches of a hostile
territory: but his subjects of Gaul enjoyed the free exercise of religious
worship; and the bishops entertained a more favorable hope of the idolater,
than of the heretics.  The Merovingian prince had contracted a fortunate
alliance with the fair Clotilda, the niece of the king of Burgundy, who, in
the midst of an Arian court, was educated in the profession of the Catholic
faith.  It was her interest, as well as her duty, to achieve the conversion
^26 of a Pagan husband; and Clovis insensibly listened to the voice of love
and religion.  He conesnted (perhaps such terms had been previously
stipulated) to the baptism of his eldest son; and though the sudden death of
the infant excited some superstitious fears, he was persuaded, a second time,
to repeat the dangerous experiment.  In the distress of the battle of Tolbiac,
Clovis loudly invoked the God of Clotilda and the Christians; and victory
disposed him to hear, with respectful gratitude, the eloquent ^27 Remigius,
^28 bishop of Rheims, who forcibly displayed the temporal and spiritual
advantages of his conversion.  The king declared himself satisfied of the
truth of the Catholic faith; and the political reasons which might have
suspended his public profession, were removed by the devout or loyal
acclamations of the Franks, who showed themselves alike prepared to follow
their heroic leader to the field of battle, or to the baptismal font.  The
important ceremony was performed in the cathedral of Rheims, with every
circumstance of magnificence and solemnity that could impress an awful sense
of religion on the minds of its rude proselytes. ^29 The new Constantine was
immediately baptized, with three thousand of his warlike subjects; and their
example was imitated by the remainder of the gentle Barbarians, who, in
obedience to the victorious prelate, adored the cross which they had burnt,
and burnt the idols which they had formerly adored. ^30 The mind of Clovis was
susceptible of transient fervor: he was exasperated by the pathetic tale of
the passion and death of Christ; and, instead of weighing the salutary
consequences of that mysterious sacrifice, he exclaimed, with indiscreet fury,
"Had I been present at the head of my valiant Franks, I would have revenged
his injuries." ^31 But the savage conqueror of Gaul was incapable of examining
the proofs of a religion, which depends on the laborious investigation of
historic evidence and speculative theology.  He was still more incapable of
feeling the mild influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the
heart of a genuine convert.  His ambitious reign was a perpetual violation of
moral and Christian duties: his hands were stained with blood in peace as well
as in war; and, as soon as Clovis had dismissed a synod of the Gallican
church, he calmly assassinated all the princes of the Merovingian race. ^32
Yet the king of the Franks might sincerely worship the Christian God, as a
Being more excellent and powerful than his national deities; and the signal
deliverance and victory of Tolbiac encouraged Clovis to confide in the future
protection of the Lord of Hosts.  Martin, the most popular of the saints, had
filled the Western world with the fame of those miracles which were
incessantly performed at his holy sepulchre of Tours.  His visible or
invisible aid promoted the cause of a liberal and orthodox prince; and the
profane remark of Clovis himself, that St.Martin was an expensive friend, ^33
need not be interpreted as the symptom of any permanent or rational
scepticism.  But earth, as well as heaven, rejoiced in the conversion of the
Franks.  On the memorable day when Clovis ascended from the baptismal font, he
alone, in the Christian world, deserved the name and prerogatives of a
Catholic king.  The emperor Anastasius entertained some dangerous errors
concerning the nature of the divine incarnation; and the Barbarians of Italy,
Africa, Spain, and Gaul, were involved in the Arian heresy.  The eldest, or
rather the only, son of the church, was acknowledged by the clergy as their
lawful sovereign, or glorious deliverer; and the armies of Clovis were
strenuously supported by the zeal and fervor of the Catholic faction. ^34

[Footnote 25: Clotilda, or rather Gregory, supposes that Clovis worshipped the
gods of Greece and Rome.  The fact is incredible, and the mistake only shows
how completely, in less than a century, the national religion of the Franks
had been abolished and even forgotten]

[Footnote 26: Gregory of Tours relates the marriage and conversion of Clovis,
(l. ii. c. 28 - 31, in tom. ii. p. 175 - 178.) Even Fredegarius, or the
nameless Epitomizer, (in tom. ii. p. 398 - 400,) the author of the Gesta
Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 548 - 552,) and Aimoin himself, (l. i. c. 13, in
tom. iii. p. 37 - 40,) may be heard without disdain.  Tradition might long
preserve some curious circumstances of these important transactions.]

[Footnote 27: A traveller, who returned from Rheims to Auvergne, had stolen a
copy of his declamations from the secretary or bookseller of the modest
archbishop, (Sidonius Apollinar. l. ix. epist. 7.) Four epistles of Remigius,
which are still extant, (in tom. iv. p. 51, 52, 53,) do not correspond with
the splendid praise of Sidonius.]

[Footnote 28: Hincmar, one of the succesors of Remigius, (A.D. 845 - 882,) had
composed his life, (in tom. iii. p. 373 - 380.) The authority of ancient MSS.
of the church of Rheims might inspire some confidence, which is destroyed,
however, by the selfish and audacious fictions of Hincmar. It is remarkable
enough, that Remigius, who was consecrated at the age of twenty-two, (A.D.
457,) filled the episcopal chair seventy-four years, (Pagi Critica, in Baron
tom. ii. p. 384, 572.)]

[Footnote 29: A phial (the Sainte Ampoulle of holy, or rather celestial, oil,)
was brought down by a white dove, for the baptism of Clovis; and it is still
used and renewed, in the coronation of the kings of France. Hincmar (he
aspired to the primacy of Gaul) is the first author of this fable, (in tom.
iii. p. 377,) whose slight foundations the Abbe de Vertot (Memoires de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 619 - 633) has undermined, with
profound respect and consummate dexterity.]

[Footnote 30: Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod incendisti, incende
quod adorasti.  Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 31, in tom. ii. p. 177.]

[Footnote 31: Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias ejus
vindicassem.  This rash expression, which Gregory has prudently concealed, is
celebrated by Fredegarius, (Epitom. c. 21, in tom. ii. p. 400,) Ai moin, (l.
i. c. 16, in tom. iii. p. 40,) and the Chroniques de St. Denys, (l. i. c. 20,
in tom. iii. p. 171,) as an admirable effusion of Christian zeal.]

[Footnote 32: Gregory, (l. ii. c. 40 - 43, in tom. ii. p. 183 - 185,) after
coolly relating the repeated crimes, and affected remorse, of Clovis,
concludes,perhaps undesignedly, with a lesson, which ambition will never hear.
"His ita transactis obiit."]

[Footnote 33: After the Gothic victory, Clovis made rich offerings to St.
Martin of Tours.  He wished to redeem his war-horse by the gift of one hundred
pieces of gold, but the enchanted steed could not remove from the stable till
the price of his redemption had been doubled.  This miracle provoked the king
to exclaim, Vere B. Martinus est bonus in auxilio, sed carus in negotio.
(Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 554, 555.)]

[Footnote 34: See the epistle from Pope Anastasius to the royal convert, (in
Com. iv. p. 50, 51.) Avitus, bishop of Vienna, addressed Clovis on the same
subject, (p. 49;) and many of the Latin bishops would assure him of their joy
and attachment.]

     Under the Roman empire, the wealth and jurisdiction of the bishops, their
sacred character, and perpetual office, their numerous dependants, popular
eloquence, and provincial assemblies, had rendered them always respectable,
and sometimes dangerous.  Their influence was augmented with the progress of
superstition; and the establishment of the French monarchy may, in some
degree, be ascribed to the firm alliance of a hundred prelates, who reigned in
the discontented, or independent, cities of Gaul. The slight foundations of
the Armorican republic had been repeatedly shaken, or overthrown; but the same
people still guarded their domestic freedom; asserted the dignity of the Roman
name; and bravely resisted the predatory inroads, and regular attacks, of
Clovis, who labored to extend his conquests from the Seine to the Loire.
Their successful opposition introduced an equal and honorable union.  The
Franks esteemed the valor of the Armoricans ^35 and the Armoricans were
reconciled by the religion of the Franks.  The military force which had been
stationed for the defence of Gaul, consisted of one hundred different bands of
cavalry or infantry; and these troops, while they assumed the title and
privileges of Roman soldiers, were renewed by an incessant supply of the
Barbarian youth.  The extreme fortifications, and scattered fragments of the
empire, were still defended by their hopeless courage.  But their retreat was
intercepted, and their communication was impracticable: they were abandoned by
the Greek princes of Constantinople, and they piously disclaimed all
connection with the Arian usurpers of Gaul.  They accepted, without shame or
reluctance, the generous capitulation, which was proposed by a Catholic hero;
and this spurious, or legitimate, progeny of the Roman legions, was
distinguished in the succeeding age by their arms, their ensigns, and their
peculiar dress and institutions.  But the national strength was increased by
these powerful and voluntary accessions; and the neighboring kingdoms dreaded
the numbers, as well as the spirit, of the Franks.  The reduction of the
Northern provinces of Gaul, instead of being decided by the chance of a single
battle, appears to have been slowly effected by the gradual operation of war
and treaty and Clovis acquired each object of his ambition, by such efforts,
or such concessions, as were adequate to its real value.  His savage
character, and the virtues of Henry IV., suggest the most opposite ideas of
human nature; yet some resemblance may be found in the situation of two
princes, who conquered France by their valor, their policy, and the merits of
a seasonable conversion. ^36

[Footnote 35: Instead of an unknown people, who now appear on the text of
Procopious, Hadrian de Valois has restored the proper name of the easy
correction has been almost universally approved. Yet an unprejudiced reader
would naturally suppose, that Procopius means to describe a tribe of Germans
in the alliance of Rome; and not a confederacy of Gallic cities, which had
revolted from the empire.

     Note: Compare Hallam's Europe during the Middle Ages, vol i. p. 2, Daru,
Hist. de Bretagne vol. i. p. 129 - M.]

[Footnote 36: This important digression of Procopius (de Bell. Gothic. l. i.
c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 29 - 36) illustrates the origin of the French monarchy.
Yet I must observe, 1. That the Greek historian betrays an inexcusable
ignorance of the geography of the West.  2. That these treaties and
privileges, which should leave some lasting traces, are totally invisible in
Gregory of Tours, the Salic laws, &c.]

     The kingdom of the Burgundians, which was defined by the course of two
Gallic rivers, the Saone and the Rhone, extended from the forest of Vosges to
the Alps and the sea of Marscilles. ^37 The sceptre was in the hands of
Gundobald.  That valiant and ambitious prince had reduced the number of royal
candidates by the death of two brothers, one of whom was the father of
Clotilda; ^38 but his imperfect prudence still permitted Godegesil, the
youngest of his brothers, to possess the dependent principality of Geneva. The
Arian monarch was justly alarmed by the satisfaction, and the hopes, which
seemed to animate his clergy and people after the conversion of Clovis; and
Gundobald convened at Lyons an assembly of his bishops, to reconcile, if it
were possible, their religious and political discontents. A vain conference
was agitated between the two factions.  The Arians upbraided the Catholics
with the worship of three Gods: the Catholics defended their cause by
theological distinctions; and the usual arguments, objections, and replies
were reverberated with obstinate clamor; till the king revealed his secret
apprehensions, by an abrupt but decisive question, which he addressed to the
orthodox bishops.  "If you truly profess the Christian religion, why do you
not restrain the king of the Franks?  He has declared war against me, and
forms alliances with my enemies for my destruction.  A sanguinary and covetous
mind is not the symptom of a sincere conversion: let him show his faith by his
works." The answer of Avitus, bishop of Vienna, who spoke in the name of his
brethren, was delivered with the voice and countenance of an angel.  "We are
ignorant of the motives and intentions of the king of the Franks: but we are
taught by Scripture, that the kingdoms which abandon the divine law are
frequently subverted; and that enemies will arise on every side against those
who have made God their enemy.  Return, with thy people, to the law of God,
and he will give peace and security to thy dominions." The king of Burgundy,
who was not prepared to accept the condition which the Catholics considered as
essential to the treaty, delayed and dismissed the ecclesiastical conference;
after reproaching his bishops, that Clovis, their friend and proselyte, had
privately tempted the allegiance of his brother. ^39

[Footnote 37: Regnum circa Rhodanum aut Ararim cum provincia Massiliensi
retinebant.  Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 32, in tom. ii. p. 178.  The province of
Marseilles, as far as the Durance, was afterwards ceded to the Ostrogoths; and
the signatures of twenty-five bishops are supposed to represent the kingdom of
Burgundy, A.D. 519.  (Concil. Epaon, in tom. iv. p. 104, 105.) Yet I would
except Vindonissa.  The bishop, who lived under the Pagan Alemanni, would
naturally resort to the synods of the next Christian kingdom.  Mascou (in his
four first annotations) has explained many circumstances relative to the
Burgundian monarchy.]

[Footnote 38: Mascou, (Hist. of the Germans, xi. 10,) who very reasonably
distracts the testimony of Gregory of Tours, has produced a passage from
Avitus (epist. v.) to prove that Gundobald affected to deplore the tragic
event, which his subjects affected to applaud.]

[Footnote 39: See the original conference, (in tom. iv. p. 99 - 102.) Avitus,
the principal actor, and probably the secretary of the meeting, was bishop of
Vienna.  A short account of his person and works may be fouud in Dupin,
(Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. v. p. 5 - 10.)]