Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/476

 454 THE DECLINE AND FALL battle-axe with unerring aim ; to advance, without hesitation, against a superior enemy ; and to maintain, either in hfe or death, the invincible reputation of their ancestors.^^ Clodion, the first of the long-haired kings whose name andactionsare men- tioned in authentic history, lield his residence at Dispargum,-'^ a village or fortress whose place may be assigned between Louvain and Brussels. From the report of his spies the king of the Franks was informed that the defenceless state of the second Belgic must yield, on the slightest attack, to the valour of his subjects. He boldly penetrated through the thickets and morasses of the cameraciun, Carbonarian forest ; -^ occupied Tournay and Cambray, the only omacmn ^.jj-jgg ^yhich existed in the fifth century ; and extended his con- quests as far as the river Somme, over a desolate country, whose cultivation and populousness are the effects of more recent in- dustry.-- While Clodion lay encamjjed in the plains of Artois,-*' and celebrated with vain and ostentatious security the marriage, perhaps, of his son, the nuptial feast was inteiTupted by the unexpected and unwelcome presence of Aetius, who had passed the Somme at the head of his light cavalry. The tables, which had been spread under the shelter of a hill, along the banks of a pleasant stream, were rudely overturned ; the Franks were oppressed before they could recover their arms, or their ranks ; and their unavailing valour was fatal only to themselves. The loaded waggons which had followed their march afforded a rich booty ; and the virgin bride, with her female attendants, sub- mitted to the new lovers who were imposed on them by the 19 See an original picture of the figure, dress, arms, and temf>er of the ancient Franks in Sidonius Apollinaris (PanegjT. Majorian. 238-254) ; and such pictures, though coarsely drawn, have a real and intrinsic value. Father Daniel (Hist, de la Milice Fran(oise, torn. i. p. 2-7) has illustrated the description. 20 Dubos, Hist. Critique, &:c. torn. i. p. 271, 272. Some geographers have placed Dispargum on the German side of the Rhine. See a note of the Benedic- tine Editors to the Historians of France, torn. ii. p. 166. [Greg. ii. 9 (p. 77, ed. M. G. H.). The site of Dispargum is uncertain. Cp. Longnon, G6ogr. de la Gaule, p. 619. Some identify it with Duisburg.] 21 The Carbonarian wood was that part of the great forest of the Ardennes, which lay between the Escaut, or Scheld, and the Meuse. Vales. Notit. Gall. p. 126. [Cp. Longnon, op. cit. p. 154.] 22 Gregor. Turon. 1. ii. c. 9, in torn. ii. p. 166, 167. Fredegar. Epitom. c. 9, p. 395. Gesta Reg. Francor. c. 5, in torn. ii. p. 544. Vit. St. Remig. ab Hincmar, in torn. iii. p. 373. 23 — — ■ Francus qua Cloio patentes Atrebatum terras pervaserat. Panegyr. Majorian. 212. The precise spot was a town or village called Vicus Helena [ik 215] ; and both the name and the place are discovered by modem geographers at Lens. [Longnon suggests H61enne. Sirmond sought the place at Vieil-Hesdin.] See Vales. Notit. Gall. p. 246. Longuerue, Description de la France, torn. ii. p. 88.