Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/161

 Chap, xxxviii] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 129 transaction was confirmed by the Imperial authority; and Justinian, generously yielding 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. 64 From that aera, they enjoyed the right of celebrating, at Aries, 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. 65 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. 66 He celebrates their politeness and urbanity, their regular govern- ment, and orthodox religion ; and boldly asserts that these Barbarians could be distinguished only by their dress and language from the subjects of Kome. 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 splendour 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 Syria, and the Syrians were established in Gaul. See M. de Guignes, Mem. de l'Academie, torn, xxxvii. p. 471-475. 64 Ou yap irore tftovro TaWias |uf t£ a<r<pae? KeKrrjcrOat $pdyyoi, fii) rod ai/TOKparopos rh epyou iiriacppaylffavros rovro yt- This strong declaration of Pro- copius (de Bell. Gothic. 1. iii. cap. 33, in torn. ii. p. 41) would almost suffice to justify the Abbe Dubos. 65 The Franks, who probably used the mints of Treves, Lyons, and Aries, imitated the coinage of the Koman emperors of seventy-two solidi, or pieces, to the pound of gold [thus 72 solidi = £45]. But, as the Franks established only a decuple proportion of gold and silver, ten shillings will be a sufficient valuation of their solidus of gold. It was the common standard of the Barbaric fines, and con- tained forty denarii, or silver threepences. Twelve of these denarii made a solidus or shilling, the twentieth part of the ponderal and numeral lime, or pound of silver, which has been so strangely reduced in modern France. See Le Blanc, Traite Historique des Monnoyes de France, p. 37-43, &c. 66 Agathias, in torn. ii. p. 47 [i. 2]. Gregory of Tours exhibits a very different picture. Perhaps it would not be easy, within the same historical space, to find more vice and less virtue. We are continually shocked by the union of savage and corrupt manners. VOL. IV. — 9