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 124 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xxxviii accused them of preferring the dominion of the Franks ; and their zealous adherent Quintianus, bishop of Kodez, 53 preached more forcibly in his exile than in his diocese. To resist these foreign and domestic enemies, who were fortified by the alliance of the Burgundians, Alaric collected his troops, far more numerous than the military powers of Clovis. The Visigoths resumed the exercise of arms, which they had neglected in a long and luxurious peace ; 54 a select band of valiant and robust slaves attended their masters to the field;" and the cities of Gaul were compelled to furnish their doubtful and reluctant aid. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who reigned in Italy, had laboured to maintain the tranquillity of Gaul ; and he assumed, or affected for that purpose, the impartial character of a mediator. But the sagacious monarch dreaded the rising empire of Clovis, and he was firmly engaged to support the national and religious cause of the Goths, victory of The accidental, or artificial, prodigies, which adorned the a.d. 5oV expedition of Clovis, were accepted, by a superstitious age, as the manifest declaration of the Divine favour. He marched from Paris ; and, as he proceeded with decent reverence through the holy diocese of Tours, his anxiety tempted him to consult the shrine of St. Martin, the sanctuary and the oracle of Gaul. His messengers were instructed to remark the words of the Psalm, which should happen to be chaunted at the precise moment when they entered the church. Those words most fortunately expressed the valour and victory of the champions of Heaven, and the application was easily transferred to the new Joshua, the new Gideon, who went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord. 56 Orleans secured to the Franks a 53 It is singular enough, that some important and authentic facts should be found in a life of Quintianus, composed in rhyme in the old Patois of Rouergue (Dubos, Hist. Critique, &c. torn. ii. p. 179). 54 Quamvis fortitudini vestrse confidentiam tribuat parentum vestrorum in- numerabilis multitudo ; quamvis Attilam potentem reminiscamini Visigotharum viribus inclinatum ; tamen quia populorum ferocia corda longa pace mollescunt, cavete subito in aleam raittere, quos constat tantis temporibus exercitia non habere. Such was the salutary, but fruitless, advice of peace, of reason, and o' Theodoric (Cassiodor. 1. iii. ep. 2 [leg. ep. 1 (ed. Mommsen, p. 78)]). 55 Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, 1. xv. c. 14) mentions and approves the law of the Visigoths (1. ix. tit. 2, in torn. iv. p. 425) which obliged all masters to arm, and send, or lead into the field a tenth of their slaves. 56 This mode of divination, by accepting as an omen the first sacred words, which in particular circumstances should be presented to the eye or ear, was derived from the Pagans ; and the Psalter, or Bible, was substituted to the Poems of