persecuting the Catholics; the
bishops, at the opening of the council, offered prayers for the King;
but Alaric did not forget that immediately after the conversion of
Clovis, Volusian, bishop of Tours, had conspired in favor of the
Frankish King, and the bishops of Aquitania regarded Volusian as a
martyr, for he had been deposed, without trial, from his see, and taken
as a prisoner first to Toulouse, and afterward into Spain, where in a
short time he had been put to death. In vain did the glorious chief of
the race of Goths, Theodoric the Great, king of Italy, father-in-law of
Alaric, and brother-in-law of Clovis, exert himself to prevent any
outbreak between the two kings. In 498 Alaric, no doubt at his
father-in-law's solicitation, wrote to Clovis, "If my brother consent
thereto, I would, following my desires and by the grace of God, have an
interview with him."

The interview took place at a small island in the Loire, called the Ile
d'Or or de St. Jean, near Amboise. "The two kings," says Gregory of
Tours, "conversed, ate, and drank together, and separated with mutual
promises of friendship." The positions and passions of each soon made
the promises of no effect. In 505 Clovis was seriously ill; the bishops
of Aquitania testified warm interest in him; and one of them, Quintian,
bishop of Rodez, being on this account persecuted by the Visigoths, had
to seek refuge at Clermont, in Auvergne. Clovis no longer concealed his
designs. In 507 he assembled his principal chieftains; and "It
displeaseth me greatly," said he, "that these Arians should possess a
portion of the Gauls; march we forth with the help of God, drive we them
from that land, for it is very goodly, and bring we it under our own
power."

The Franks applauded their King; and the army set out on the march in
the direction of Poitiers, where Alaric happened at that time to be. "As
a portion of the troops was crossing the territory of Tours," says
Gregory, who was shortly afterward its bishop, "Clovis forbade, out of
respect for St. Martin, anything to be taken, save grass and water. One
of the army, however, having found some hay belonging to a poor man,
said, 'This is grass; we do not break the King's commands by taking it';
and, in spite of the poor man's resistance, he robbed him of his hay.
Clovis, informed of the fact, slew the soldier on the spot with one
sweep of his sword, saying, 'What will become of our hopes of victory,
if we offend St. Martin?'