of the king of Burgundy.
Clovis no longer possessed those advantages which had assured the
success of the preceding war; and his rival, instructed by adversity,
had found new resources in the affections of his people. The Gauls or
Romans applauded the mild and impartial laws of Gundobald, which almost
raised them to the same level with their conquerors. The bishops were
reconciled, and flattered, by the hopes, which he artfully suggested, of
his approaching conversion; and though he eluded their accomplishment
to the last moment of his life, his moderation secured the peace, and
suspended the ruin, of the kingdom of Burgundy.

I am impatient to pursue the final ruin of that kingdom, which was
accomplished under the reign of Sigismond, the son of Gundobald. The
Catholic Sigismond has acquired the honors of a saint and martyr; but
the hands of the royal saint were stained with the blood of his innocent
son, whom he inhumanly sacrificed to the pride and resentment of a
step-mother. He soon discovered his error, and bewailed the irreparable
loss. While Sigismond embraced the corpse of the unfortunate youth, he
received a severe admonition from one of his attendants: "It is not his
situation, O king! it is thine which deserves pity and lamentation."
The reproaches of a guilty conscience were alleviated, however, by
his liberal donations to the monastery of Agaunum, or St. Maurice, in
Vallais; which he himself had founded in honor of the imaginary
martyrs of the Thebaean legion. A full chorus of perpetual psalmody
was instituted by the pious king; he assiduously practised the austere
devotion of the monks; and it was his humble prayer, that Heaven would
inflict in this world the punishment of his sins. His prayer was
heard: the avengers were at hand: and the provinces of Burgundy were
overwhelmed by an army of victorious Franks. After the event of an
unsuccessful battle, Sigismond, who wished to protract his life that
he might prolong his penance, concealed himself in the desert in a
religious habit, till he was discovered and betrayed by his subjects,
who solicited the favor of their new masters. The captive monarch, with
his wife and two children, was transported to Orleans, and buried
alive in a deep well, by the stern command of the sons of Clovis; whose
cruelty might derive some excuse from the maxims and examples of their
barbarous age. Their ambition, which urged them to achieve the conquest
of Burgundy, was inflamed,