on, was gratified by that singular honor;
and when the nation, at the end of four years, repented of the
injury which they had offered to the Merovingian family, he patiently
acquiesced in the restoration of the lawful prince. The authority of
Aegidius ended only with his life, and the suspicions of poison and
secret violence, which derived some countenance from the character of
Ricimer, were eagerly entertained by the passionate credulity of the
Gauls. [61]

[Footnote 57: Sidonius (Panegyr. Anthem. 317) dismisses him to
heaven:--Auxerat Augustus naturae lege Severus--Divorum numerum. And an
old list of the emperors, composed about the time of Justinian, praises
his piety, and fixes his residence at Rome, (Sirmond. Not. ad Sidon. p.
111, 112.)]

[Footnote 58: Tillemont, who is always scandalized by the virtues of
infidels, attributes this advantageous portrait of Marcellinus (which
Suidas has preserved) to the partial zeal of some Pagan historian,
(Hist. des Empereurs. tom. vi. p. 330.)]

[Footnote 59: Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191. In various
circumstances of the life of Marcellinus, it is not easy to reconcile
the Greek historian with the Latin Chronicles of the times.]

[Footnote 60: I must apply to Aegidius the praises which Sidonius
(Panegyr Majorian, 553) bestows on a nameless master-general, who
commanded the rear-guard of Majorian. Idatius, from public report,
commends his Christian piety; and Priscus mentions (p. 42) his military
virtues.]

[Footnote 61: Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 168. The Pere
Daniel, whose ideas were superficial and modern, has started some
objections against the story of Childeric, (Hist. de France, tom.
i. Preface Historique, p. lxxvii., &c.:) but they have been fairly
satisfied by Dubos, (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 460-510,) and by two
authors who disputed the prize of the Academy of Soissons, (p. 131-177,
310-339.) With regard to the term of Childeric's exile, it is necessary
either to prolong the life of Aegidius beyond the date assigned by
the Chronicle of Idatius or to correct the text of Gregory, by reading
quarto anno, instead of octavo.]

The kingdom of Italy, a name to which the Western empire was gradually
reduced, was afflicted, under the reign of Ricimer, by the incessant
depredations of the Vandal pirates. [62] In the spring of each year,
they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric
himself, though in a very advanc