Armoricans were
reconciled by the religion of the Franks. The military force which
had been stationed for the defence of Gaul, consisted of one hundred
different bands of cavalry or infantry; and these troops, while they
assumed the title and privileges of Roman soldiers, were renewed by an
incessant supply of the Barbarian youth. The extreme fortifications, and
scattered fragments of the empire, were still defended by their hopeless
courage. But their retreat was intercepted, and their communication
was impracticable: they were abandoned by the Greek princes of
Constantinople, and they piously disclaimed all connection with the
Arian usurpers of Gaul. They accepted, without shame or reluctance, the
generous capitulation, which was proposed by a Catholic hero; and this
spurious, or legitimate, progeny of the Roman legions, was distinguished
in the succeeding age by their arms, their ensigns, and their peculiar
dress and institutions. But the national strength was increased by these
powerful and voluntary accessions; and the neighboring kingdoms dreaded
the numbers, as well as the spirit, of the Franks. The reduction of the
Northern provinces of Gaul, instead of being decided by the chance of
a single battle, appears to have been slowly effected by the gradual
operation of war and treaty and Clovis acquired each object of his
ambition, by such efforts, or such concessions, as were adequate to its
real value. His savage character, and the virtues of Henry IV., suggest
the most opposite ideas of human nature; yet some resemblance may be
found in the situation of two princes, who conquered France by their
valor, their policy, and the merits of a seasonable conversion. [36]

[Footnote 35: Instead of an unknown people, who now appear on the text
of Procopious, Hadrian de Valois has restored the proper name of
the easy correction has been almost universally approved. Yet an
unprejudiced reader would naturally suppose, that Procopius means
to describe a tribe of Germans in the alliance of Rome; and not a
confederacy of Gallic cities, which had revolted from the empire. *
Note: Compare Hallam's Europe during the Middle Ages, vol i. p. 2, Daru,
Hist. de Bretagne vol. i. p. 129--M.]

[Footnote 36: This important digression of Procopius (de Bell. Gothic.
l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 29-36) illustrates the origin of the French
monarchy. Yet I must observe, 1. That the Greek historian betrays
an inexcusable ignorance of the geograph