.]

[Footnote 135: Zosim. l. vi. p. 383. Orosius, (l. vii. c. 40, p. 576,)
and the Chronicles of Marcellinus and Idatius, seem to suppose, that the
Goths did not carry away Placidia till after the last siege of Rome.]

[Footnote 136: See the pictures of Adolphus and Placidia, and the
account of their marriage, in Jornandes, de Reb. Geticis, c. 31, p. 654,
655. With regard to the place where the nuptials were stipulated, or
consummated, or celebrated, the Mss. of Jornandes vary between two
neighboring cities, Forli and Imola, (Forum Livii and Forum Cornelii.)
It is fair and easy to reconcile the Gothic historian with Olympiodorus,
(see Mascou, l. viii. c. 46:) but Tillemont grows peevish, and swears
that it is not worth while to try to conciliate Jornandes with any good
authors.]

[Footnote 137: The Visigoths (the subjects of Adolphus) restrained by
subsequent laws, the prodigality of conjugal love. It was illegal for
a husband to make any gift or settlement for the benefit of his wife
during the first year of their marriage; and his liberality could not
at any time exceed the tenth part of his property. The Lombards were
somewhat more indulgent: they allowed the morgingcap immediately after
the wedding night; and this famous gift, the reward of virginity might
equal the fourth part of the husband's substance. Some cautious maidens,
indeed, were wise enough to stipulate beforehand a present, which they
were too sure of not deserving. See Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l.
xix. c. 25. Muratori, delle Antichita Italiane, tom. i. Dissertazion,
xx. p. 243.]

[Footnote 138: We owe the curious detail of this nuptial feast to the
historian Olympiodorus, ap. Photium, p. 185, 188.]

The hundred basins of gold and gems, presented to Placidia at her
nuptial feast, formed an inconsiderable portion of the Gothic treasures;
of which some extraordinary specimens may be selected from the history
of the successors of Adolphus. Many curious and costly ornaments of pure
gold, enriched with jewels, were found in their palace of Narbonne, when
it was pillaged, in the sixth century, by the Franks: sixty cups, caps,
or chalices; fifteen patens, or plates, for the use of the communion;
twenty boxes, or cases, to hold the books of the Gospels: this
consecrated wealth [139] was distributed by the son of Clovis among the
churches of his dominions, and his pious liberality seems to upbraid
some former sacrilege of the Goths. They possessed, with