lding to the Franks the
sovereignty of the countries beyond the Alps, which they already
possessed, absolved the provincials from their allegiance; and
established on a more lawful, though not more solid, foundation, the
throne of the Merovingians. [59] From that era they enjoyed the right
of celebrating at Arles the games of the circus; and by a singular
privilege, which was denied even to the Persian monarch, the gold coin,
impressed with their name and image, obtained a legal currency in the
empire. [60] A Greek historian of that age has praised the private and
public virtues of the Franks, with a partial enthusiasm, which cannot
be sufficiently justified by their domestic annals. [61] He celebrates
their politeness and urbanity, their regular government, and
orthodox religion; and boldly asserts, that these Barbarians could be
distinguished only by their dress and language from the subjects of
Rome. Perhaps the Franks already displayed the social disposition, and
lively graces, which, in every age, have disguised their vices, and
sometimes concealed their intrinsic merit. Perhaps Agathias, and the
Greeks, were dazzled by the rapid progress of their arms, and the
splendor of their empire. Since the conquest of Burgundy, Gaul, except
the Gothic province of Septimania, was subject, in its whole extent,
to the sons of Clovis. They had extinguished the German kingdom of
Thuringia, and their vague dominion penetrated beyond the Rhine, into
the heart of their native forests. The Alemanni, and Bavarians, who had
occupied the Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum, to the south of the
Danube, confessed themselves the humble vassals of the Franks; and the
feeble barrier of the Alps was incapable of resisting their ambition.
When the last survivor of the sons of Clovis united the inheritance
and conquests of the Merovingians, his kingdom extended far beyond the
limits of modern France. Yet modern France, such has been the progress
of arts and policy, far surpasses, in wealth, populousness, and power,
the spacious but savage realms of Clotaire or Dagobert. [62]

[Footnote 58: Under the Merovingian kings, Marseilles still imported
from the East paper, wine, oil, linen, silk, precious stones, spices,
&c. The Gauls, or Franks, traded to Syria, and the Syrians were
established in Gaul. See M. de Guignes, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xxxvii.
p. 471-475.]

[Footnote 59: This strong declaration of Procopius (de Bell. Gothic.
l. iii. cap