stian
world, deserved the name and prerogatives of a Catholic king. The
emperor Anastasius entertained some dangerous errors concerning the
nature of the divine incarnation; and the Barbarians of Italy, Africa,
Spain, and Gaul, were involved in the Arian heresy. The eldest, or
rather the only, son of the church, was acknowledged by the clergy as
their lawful sovereign, or glorious deliverer; and the armies of Clovis
were strenuously supported by the zeal and fervor of the Catholic
faction. [34]

[Footnote 25: Clotilda, or rather Gregory, supposes that Clovis
worshipped the gods of Greece and Rome. The fact is incredible, and the
mistake only shows how completely, in less than a century, the national
religion of the Franks had been abolished and even forgotten]

[Footnote 26: Gregory of Tours relates the marriage and conversion of
Clovis, (l. ii. c. 28-31, in tom. ii. p. 175-178.) Even Fredegarius,
or the nameless Epitomizer, (in tom. ii. p. 398-400,) the author of the
Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 548-552,) and Aimoin himself, (l. i.
c. 13, in tom. iii. p. 37-40,) may be heard without disdain. Tradition
might long preserve some curious circumstances of these important
transactions.]

[Footnote 27: A traveller, who returned from Rheims to Auvergne, had
stolen a copy of his declamations from the secretary or bookseller
of the modest archbishop, (Sidonius Apollinar. l. ix. epist. 7.) Four
epistles of Remigius, which are still extant, (in tom. iv. p. 51, 52,
53,) do not correspond with the splendid praise of Sidonius.]

[Footnote 28: Hincmar, one of the successors of Remigius, (A.D. 845-882,)
had composed his life, (in tom. iii. p. 373-380.) The authority of
ancient MSS. of the church of Rheims might inspire some confidence,
which is destroyed, however, by the selfish and audacious fictions of
Hincmar. It is remarkable enough, that Remigius, who was consecrated
at the age of twenty-two, (A.D. 457,) filled the episcopal chair
seventy-four years, (Pagi Critica, in Baron tom. ii. p. 384, 572.)]

[Footnote 29: A phial (the Sainte Ampoulle of holy, or rather celestial,
oil,) was brought down by a white dove, for the baptism of Clovis; and
it is still used and renewed, in the coronation of the kings of France.
Hincmar (he aspired to the primacy of Gaul) is the first author of
this fable, (in tom. iii. p. 377,) whose slight foundations the Abbe de
Vertot (Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 619-633)
has u