ndermined, with profound respect and consummate dexterity.]

[Footnote 30: Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod incendisti,
incende quod adorasti. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 31, in tom. ii. p. 177.]

[Footnote 31: Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias
ejus vindicassem. This rash expression, which Gregory has prudently
concealed, is celebrated by Fredegarius, (Epitom. c. 21, in tom. ii. p.
400,) Ai moin, (l. i. c. 16, in tom. iii. p. 40,) and the Chroniques de
St. Denys, (l. i. c. 20, in tom. iii. p. 171,) as an admirable effusion
of Christian zeal.]

[Footnote 32: Gregory, (l. ii. c. 40-43, in tom. ii. p. 183-185,) after
coolly relating the repeated crimes, and affected remorse, of Clovis,
concludes, perhaps undesignedly, with a lesson, which ambition will never
hear. "His ita transactis obiit."]

[Footnote 33: After the Gothic victory, Clovis made rich offerings to
St. Martin of Tours. He wished to redeem his war-horse by the gift of
one hundred pieces of gold, but the enchanted steed could not remove
from the stable till the price of his redemption had been doubled. This
miracle provoked the king to exclaim, Vere B. Martinus est bonus in
auxilio, sed carus in negotio. (Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 554,
555.)]

[Footnote 34: See the epistle from Pope Anastasius to the royal convert,
(in Com. iv. p. 50, 51.) Avitus, bishop of Vienna, addressed Clovis on
the same subject, (p. 49;) and many of the Latin bishops would assure
him of their joy and attachment.]

Under the Roman empire, the wealth and jurisdiction of the bishops,
their sacred character, and perpetual office, their numerous dependants,
popular eloquence, and provincial assemblies, had rendered them always
respectable, and sometimes dangerous. Their influence was augmented
with the progress of superstition; and the establishment of the French
monarchy may, in some degree, be ascribed to the firm alliance of a
hundred prelates, who reigned in the discontented, or independent,
cities of Gaul. The slight foundations of the Armorican republic had
been repeatedly shaken, or overthrown; but the same people still guarded
their domestic freedom; asserted the dignity of the Roman name; and
bravely resisted the predatory inroads, and regular attacks, of Clovis,
who labored to extend his conquests from the Seine to the Loire. Their
successful opposition introduced an equal and honorable union. The
Franks esteemed the valor of the Armoricans [35] and the