This fortunate prognostic was confirmed on the
banks of the Vienne. The army was at a loss where to pass that river,
when a hind plunged into the stream in sight of the whole camp, and
showed them a ford which still retains the name of the Passage of the
Hind.

The two armies met in the plains of Vouille, near Poictiers. Soon
after the commencement of the battle, the monarchs of either nation
perceiving each other, rushed forward at the same instant, and
engaged in single combat, when the superior skill and strength of
Clovis decided the victory in his favor; he dismounted his adversary,
and slew him on the spot. Nothing now remained to impede the progress
of the conqueror, who extended his empire from the banks of the Loire
to the Pyrenean mountains. Clovis then withdrew to Paris, and fixed
his residence in a palace in the southern part of the capital, which
had formerly been inhabited by the emperors Julian and Valentinian the
First. Success had hitherto attended all the plans of Clovis, and
allowing for the ferocious and martial spirit which then prevailed, he
had preserved his fame from any material pollution.

The assembling of the Council of Orleans was the last remarkable event
of the reign of Clovis, who died the same year, A.D. 511, at the age
of forty-five, and was buried in the church of Saint Peter and Saint
Paul, which he had caused to be built. It has been a subject of
dispute with historians, whether the military or the political talents
of this prince were the most eminent. Gaul, subdued by his arms,
preserved by his prudence, affords a proof that he was equally
skillful in the cabinet and formidable in the field.

BELISARIUS[8]

By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE

(505-565)

[Footnote 8: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

Few men have performed greater achievements than this general, to whom
it was given to be conqueror again and again over nations hitherto
invincible, and to arrest, during his own lifetime, the disintegration
of the Roman Empire. He lived in the early part of the sixth century
of the Christian era, though the date of his birth is not certainly
known, and he was in the prime of life about 530. He is believed to
have been the son of a peasant of Thrace, probably of Slavonian
descent, as his name, stripped of its classical form, would belong to
that language and would be Beli-than, or the White Prince. Apparently
he began life as a common soldier, and gradually rose by courag