Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/177

 chap, xxxviii] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 145 without any interval of repose, the constant repetition of the same harvests. 100 On the false report that their lawful sovereign had been slain in Germany, the city and diocese of Auvergne were betrayed by the grandson of Sidonius Apollinaris. Childe- bert enjoyed this clandestine victory ; and the free subjects of Theodoric threatened to desert his standard, if he indulged his private resentment while the nation was engaged in the Bur- gundian war. But the Franks of Austrasia soon yielded to the persuasive eloquence of their king. " Follow me," said Theo- doric, "into Auvergne: I will lead you into a province where you may acquire gold, silver, slaves, cattle, and precious apparel, to the full extent of your wishes. I repeat my promise ; I give you the people, and their wealth, as your prey ; and you may transport them at pleasure into your own country." By the execution of this promise, Theodoric justly forfeited the allegi- ance of a people whom he devoted to destruction. His troops, reinforced by the fiercest Barbarians of Germany, 110 spread desolation over the fruitful face of Auvergne ; and two places only, a strong castle and a holy shrine, were saved, or redeemed, from their licentious fury. The castle of Meroliac 111 was seated on a lofty rock, which rose an hundred feet above the surface of the plain ; and a large reservoir of fresh water was inclosed, with some arable lands, within the circle of its fortifications. The Franks beheld with envy and despair this impregnable fortress ; but they surprised a party of fifty stragglers ; and, as they were oppressed by the number of their captives, they fixed, at a trifling ransom, the alternative of fife or death for these wretched victims, whom the cruel Barbarians were prepared to massacre on the refusal of the garrison. Another detach- 109 p or ^e description of Auvergne, see Sidonius (1. iv. epist. 21, in torn. i. p. 793) with the notes of Savaron and Sirmond (p. 279 and 51 of their respective editions), Boulainvilliers (Etat de la France, torn. ii. p. 242-268), and the Abbe" de la Longuerue (Description de la France, part i. p. 132-139). 110 Furorem gentium, quae de ulteriore Eheni amnis parte venerant, superare non poterat (Greg. Turon. 1. iv. c. 50, in torn. ii. 229) was the excuse of another king of Austrasia (a.d. 574) for the ravages which his troops committed in the neighbourhood of Paris. 111 From the name and situation, the Benedictine editors of Gregory of Tours (in torn. ii. p. 192) have fixed this fortress at a place named Castel Merliac, two miles from Mauriac, in the Upper Auvergne [Chastel-Marthac, in Department Cantal]. In this description, I translate infra as if I read intra ; the two pre- positions are perpetually confounded by Gregory, or his transcribers ; and the sense must always decide. [Infra is regularly used for intra by Gregory.] VOL. IV. — 10