issons, Paris,
and Orleans, which formed, after their father's death, the inheritance
of his three brothers. The king of Paris, Childebert, was tempted by
the neighborhood and beauty of Auvergne. The Upper country, which rises
towards the south into the mountains of the Cevennes, presented a rich
and various prospect of woods and pastures; the sides of the hills
were clothed with vines; and each eminence was crowned with a villa or
castle. In the Lower Auvergne, the River Allier flows through the fair
and spacious plain of Limagne; and the inexhaustible fertility of the
soil supplied, and still supplies, without any interval of repose, the
constant repetition of the same harvests. On the false report, that
their lawful sovereign had been slain in Germany, the city and diocese
of Auvergne were betrayed by the grandson of Sidonius Apollinaris.
Childebert enjoyed this clandestine victory; and the free subjects of
Theodoric threatened to desert his standard, if he indulged his private
resentment, while the nation was engaged in the Burgundian war. But the
Franks of Austrasia soon yielded to the persuasive eloquence of their
king. "Follow me," said Theodoric, "into Auvergne; I will lead you into
a province, where you may acquire gold, silver, slaves, cattle, and
precious apparel, to the full extent of your wishes. I repeat my
promise; I give you the people and their wealth as your prey; and you
may transport them at pleasure into your own country." By the execution
of this promise, Theodoric justly forfeited the allegiance of a people
whom he devoted to destruction. His troops, reenforced by the fiercest
Barbarians of Germany, spread desolation over the fruitful face of
Auvergne; and two places only, a strong castle and a holy shrine, were
saved or redeemed from their licentious fury. The castle of Meroliac was
seated on a lofty rock, which rose a hundred feet above the surface of
the plain; and a large reservoir of fresh water was enclosed, with some
arable lands, within the circle of its fortifications. The Franks beheld
with envy and despair this impregnable fortress; but they surprised a
party of fifty stragglers; and, as they were oppressed by the number
of their captives, they fixed, at a trifling ransom, the alternative of
life or death for these wretched victims, whom the cruel Barbarians were
prepared to massacre on the refusal of the garrison. Another detachment
penetrated as far as Brivas, or Brioude, where the inha