Page:History of the Franks.djvu/186

 154 HISTORY OF THE FRANKS were rains and heavy thunder and Hghtning ; blossoms appeared on the trees. The star which I called above the comet, appeared in such a way that there was a great blackness all around it and it was placed as it were in a hole and gleamed in the darkness, spar- kling and scattering rays of light. And a ray of wonderful size extended from it which appeared like the smoke of a great fire a long way off. It appeared in the west in the first hour of the night. At Soissons on the day of holy Easter the heavens were seen to be on fire, and there appeared to be two fires, one greater and the other less. And after the space of two hours they united and formed a great flame and vanished. In the territory of Paris real blood fell from the clouds and dropped on the gar- ments of many men and so defiled them with gore that they shuddered at their own clothes and put them away from them. This prodigy appeared in three places in the territory of that city. In the territory of Senlis a certain man's house when he rose in the morning appeared to have been sprinkled with blood from within. There was a great plague that year among the people. The sickness took various forms and was severe with pimples and tumors which brought death to many. Still many who were care- ful escaped. We heard that at Narbonne in that year the bubonic plague was very fatal, so that when a man was seized by it he had no time to live. 15. Felix, bishop of Nantes, was stricken by this plague and began to be seriously sick. Then he called the neighboring bishops to him and begged them to give the influence of their signatures to the choice which he had made of his nephew Burgundio. Then they sent him to me. At that time Burgundio was about twenty- five years old. He came and asked that I would consent to go to Nantes and give him the tonsure and consecrate him bishop in place of his uncle who was still living. This I refused to do since I knew it was not in accordance with the canons. Still I gave him advice saying : ''We have it written in the canons, my son, that no one can rise to the office of bishop unless he first passes through the grades of the clergy in regular order. You then, dearly beloved, must return thither and request him who has made choice of you, to give you the tonsure ; and when you reach the office of priest, be regular in attendance at church ; and when God wills that he pass