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518 must have studied closely and wisely; from it he derives the plan and proportions, and the method of narration, in his biography. Succinct, clear, and picturesque, inspired with a sagacious perception of the greatness of its subject, it is a really worthy monument to the Emperor. "Nardulus" is an attractive personality as revealed in this work, and in the letters and poems of his friends. His own letters are rather jejune business-documents for the most part. A mention of Vitruvius is almost the only detail of literary interest; there is evidence, besides, of acquaintance with the letters of Pliny, and, elsewhere, with the Germania of Tacitus. More characteristic than the correspondence is his narrative of the translation or theft of the relics of SS. Marcellinus and Peter, which he procured from Rome for his abbey of Michelstadt. It is the classical instance of these pious conveyances, and an early one in the series. Of the documents which throw light upon Einhard's personality and his domestic relations, the best are the letters of condolence written to him by Servatus Lupus on the death of his wife. That Einhard took part in the compilation of the very valuable Lorsch annals – anonymous, as is the rule with that class of records – has been denied, but is affirmed by weighty opinion. His poems, and his lost work on the Saxons, can have no more than a bare mention here.

Theodulf, Spaniard by birth and education, ecclesiastic and statesman, Bishop of Orleans and Abbot of Fleury, stands out as by far the most skilful versifier – I think I would say poet – of his time. He has an astonishing facility in the elegiac metre. A very large mass of his writing has survived, though the only manuscript of the longer poems has disappeared since Sirmond printed them. If one were asked to single out the most successful piece, perhaps that addressed To Judges has the strongest claim. In this he describes an official journey of inspection which he took with Leidrad (afterwards Archbishop of Lyons) through Gallia Narbonensis. At one place he introduces an incident which is rather characteristic of his manner. Some one who wishes to curry favour with him calls him aside and offers him a piece of plate, evidently of antique workmanship: it is worn with age, and has in the centre a representation of Hercules and Cacus surrounded with others which shew Hercules and the snakes and the Twelve Labours: on the outside are the fight with Nessus and the deaths of Lichas and Hercules, as well as the story of Antaeus. Other suitors proffer Eastern fabrics with beasts woven upon them, and so forth. I call this characteristic, for we find several similar descriptions of works of art in the poems, as, for example, the Seven Liberal Arts depicted on a dish, and a picture, designed by Theodulf himself, of the Earth in the form of a woman suckling a child, and surrounded by many symbolic attributes. These things are interesting in themselves and as affording evidence of the survival of classical traditions and monuments.

Another ingenuity in which he evidently took pleasure, is the intro-