hilderic, that man should
have been the object of her preference. [8] Clovis was the offspring
of this voluntary union; and, when he was no more than fifteen years of
age, he succeeded, by his father's death, to the command of the Salian
tribe. The narrow limits of his kingdom were confined to the island of
the Batavians, with the ancient dioceses of Tournay and Arras; [10] and
at the baptism of Clovis the number of his warriors could not exceed
five thousand. The kindred tribes of the Franks, who had seated
themselves along the Belgic rivers, the Scheld, the Meuse, the Moselle,
and the Rhine, were governed by their independent kings, of the
Merovingian race; the equals, the allies, and sometimes the enemies of
the Salic prince. But the Germans, who obeyed, in peace, the hereditary
jurisdiction of their chiefs, were free to follow the standard of
a popular and victorious general; and the superior merit of Clovis
attracted the respect and allegiance of the national confederacy. When
he first took the field, he had neither gold and silver in his coffers,
nor wine and corn in his magazine; [11] but he imitated the example of
Caesar, who, in the same country, had acquired wealth by the sword, and
purchased soldiers with the fruits of conquest. After each successful
battle or expedition, the spoils were accumulated in one common
mass; every warrior received his proportionable share; and the royal
prerogative submitted to the equal regulations of military law.
The untamed spirit of the Barbarians was taught to acknowledge the
advantages of regular discipline. [12] At the annual review of the month
of March, their arms were diligently inspected; and when they traversed
a peaceful territory, they were prohibited from touching a blade
of grass. The justice of Clovis was inexorable; and his careless or
disobedient soldiers were punished with instant death. It would be
superfluous to praise the valor of a Frank; but the valor of Clovis was
directed by cool and consummate prudence. [13] In all his transactions
with mankind, he calculated the weight of interest, of passion, and
of opinion; and his measures were sometimes adapted to the sanguinary
manners of the Germans, and sometimes moderated by the milder genius
of Rome, and Christianity. He was intercepted in the career of victory,
since he died in the forty-fifth year of his age: but he had already
accomplished, in a reign of thirty years, the establishment of the
French monarchy