ltered a fleet of small vessels, which commanded the Lake of
Neufchatel. See Valesius, Notit. Galliarum, p. 503. D'Anville, Notice de
l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 284, 579.]

[Footnote 12: Salvian has attempted to explain the moral government of
the Deity; a task which may be readily performed by supposing that the
calamities of the wicked are judgments, and those of the righteous,
trials.]

[Footnote 13:

--Capto terrarum damna patebant
Litorio, in Rhodanum proprios producere fines,
Thendoridae fixum; nec erat pugnare necesse,
Sed migrare Getis; rabidam trux asperat iram
Victor; quod sensit Scythicum sub moenibus hostem
Imputat, et nihil estgravius, si forsitan unquam
Vincerecontingat, trepido.
--Panegyr. Avit. 300, &c.

Sitionius then proceeds, according to the duty of a panegyrist, to
transfer the whole merit from Aetius to his minister Avitus.]

[Footnote 14: Theodoric II. revered, in the person of Avitus, the
character of his preceptor.

Mihi Romula dudum
Per te jura placent; parvumque ediscere jussit
Ad tua verba pater, docili quo prisca Maronis
Carmine molliret Scythicos mihi pagina mores.
---Sidon. Panegyr. Avit. 495 &c.]

[Footnote 15: Our authorities for the reign of Theodoric I. are,
Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 34, 36, and the Chronicles of Idatius,
and the two Prospers, inserted in the historians of France, tom. i. p.
612-640. To these we may add Salvian de Gubernatione Dei, l. vii. p.
243, 244, 245, and the panegyric of Avitus, by Sidonius.]

The Franks, whose monarchy was still confined to the neighborhood of the
Lower Rhine, had wisely established the right of hereditary succession
in the noble family of the Merovingians. [16] These princes were
elevated on a buckler, the symbol of military command; [17] and the
royal fashion of long hair was the ensign of their birth and dignity.
Their flaxen locks, which they combed and dressed with singular care,
hung down in flowing ringlets on their back and shoulders; while the
rest of the nation were obliged, either by law or custom, to shave the
hinder part of their head, to comb their hair over the forehead, and
to content themselves with the ornament of two small whiskers. [18] The
lofty stature of the Franks, and their blue eyes, denoted a Germanic
origin; their close apparel accurately expressed the figure of their
limbs; a weighty sword was suspended from a broad belt; their bodies
were