ed on the
most powerful rival of Theodoric the title and ensigns of that eminent
dignity; yet, from some unknown cause, the name of Clovis has not been
inscribed in the Fasti either of the East or West. On the solemn day,
the monarch of Gaul, placing a diadem on his head, was invested, in the
church of St. Martin, with a purple tunic and mantle. From thence he
proceeded on horseback to the cathedral of Tours; and, as he passed
through the streets, profusely scattered, with his own hand, a donative
of gold and silver to the joyful multitude, who incessantly repeated
their acclamations of _Consul_ and _Augustus_. The actual or legal
authority of Clovis could not receive any new accessions from the
consular dignity. It was a name, a shadow, an empty pageant; and if the
conqueror had been instructed to claim the ancient prerogatives of
that high office, they must have expired with the period of its annual
duration. But the Romans were disposed to revere, in the person of their
master, that antique title which the emperors condescended to assume:
the Barbarian himself seemed to contract a sacred obligation to respect
the majesty of the republic; and the successors of Theodosius, by
soliciting his friendship, tacitly forgave, and almost ratified, the
usurpation of Gaul.

Twenty-five years after the death of Clovis this important concession
was more formally declared, in a treaty between his sons and the emperor
Justinian. The Ostrogoths of Italy, unable to defend their distant
acquisitions, had resigned to the Franks the cities of Arles and
Marseilles; of Arles, still adorned with the seat of a Praetorian
praefect, and of Marseilles, enriched by the advantages of trade and
navigation. This transaction was confirmed by the Imperial authority;
and Justinian, generously yielding to the Franks the sovereignty of the
countries beyond the Alps, which they already possessed, absolved the
provincials from their allegiance; and established on a more lawful,
though not more solid, foundation, the throne of the Merovingians. From
that era they enjoyed the right of celebrating at Arles the games of
the circus; and by a singular privilege, which was denied even to the
Persian monarch, the _gold_ coin, impressed with their name and image,
obtained a legal currency in the empire. A Greek historian of that age
has praised the private and public virtues of the Franks, with a partial
enthusiasm, which cannot be sufficiently justified by their