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 2 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. dukes and kings of Paris. Besides France, the kingdom of Belgium, the Confederation of Switzerland, and a con- siderable part of the German Empire, all lie within the bounds of the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul. It must therefore be always borne in mind that Ffatice, in the sense in which we now use the word, does not translate either Gallia as used by the Roman writers, or Francia as used by the writers of the aays of the Frankish dominion. The history of France therefore, in the modern sense, begins with the growth of the power of the dukes of the French in the ninth centur)'. The earlier history of the lands which formed modern France belongs to the history, first of the Roman and then of the Frankish dominion. It is therefore given in the volumes which deal with Roman and German history. Here there is no need to do more than to give such a sketch as to make the growth of the strictly French power intelligible. 1. Importance of Paris. — It is well to mention at the very beginning that the capital of France stands in a special historical relation to the whole kingdom, unlike that of the capitals of most other kingdoms. The French dominion has not indeed been, hke the Roman dominion, the dominion of a ruling city ; yet the capital of France has always been something more than the capitals of other kingdoms. In most of the European kingdoms the seat of government has been changed, sometimes several times, according to caprice or convenience. But Paris is strictly the birthplace of the French nation. It was the lords of Paris who grew into kings of all that is now France, and the city has always kept that place in the kingdom which it had from the beginning. It is worth noticing that more than once in earlier times things looked as if Paris were going to become the head of Gaul. But the course of events which at last made it the head of the greater part of Gaul begin only with the growth of the French duchy in the ninth century. 3. Roman Gaul. — We will now give such a short account of Gaul under the Roman and Frankish dominion as. is needful for our purpose. The Gallia of the Romans at first vaguely meant that northern country, on both sides of the Alps, which poured forth swarms of Celts, threat- ening, and once actually mastering, Rome herself. Then, with clearer knowledge, Gaul meant the northern portion of the Italian peninsula, and a tract beyond the Alps, where a few Greek cities had been built on the Mediter-