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 THE FIRST BOOK 17 outside, and placing it in a boat they went down the river Vienne with all their people and entered the channel of the Loire, and made their way to the city of Tours with great praises and plentiful psalm- singing, and the people of Poitiers were waked by their voices, and having no treasure to guard they returned to their own place greatly crestfallen. And if any one asks why there was only one bishop, that is, Litorius, after the death of bishop Gatianus to the time of Saint Martin, let him know that for a long time the city of Tours was without the blessing of a bishop, owing to the resistance of the heathen. For they who Kved as Christians at that time celebrated the divine office secretly and in hiding. For if any Chris- tians were found by the heathen they were punished with stripes or slain by the sword. Now from the suffering of the Lord to the passing of Saint Martin, 412 years are included. Here Ends the First Book Containing 5597 Years which ARE Reckoned from the Beginning of the World to the Death of the Holy Bishop Martin.