The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire - Ganino.com

10 THE FBANKS UNDEB THE [CH. XXXV.lofty stature of the Franks, and their blue eyes, denoteda Germanic origin ; their close apparel accurately expressedthe figure of their limbs ; a weighty sword was suspendedfrom a broad belt ; tlieir bodies were protected by a largeshield: and these warlike barbarians were trained, fromtheir earliest youth, to run, to leap, to swim ; to dart thejavelin or battle-axe with unerring aim ; to advance withouthesitation against a superior enemy; and to maintain, eitherin life or death, the invincible reputation of their ancestors.*Clodion, the first of their long-haired kings, whose nameand actions are mentioned in authentic history, held hisresidence at Dispargum,t a village or fortress, whose placemay be assigned between Louvain and Brussels. Fromthe report of bis spies, the king of the Franks was informedthat the defenceless state of the second Belgic must yield,on the slightest attack, to the valour of his subjects. Heboldly penetrated through the thickets and morasses of theCarbonarian forest,;}: occupied Tournay and Cambray, theonly cities which existed in the fifth century, and extendedhis conquests as far as the river Somme, over a desolatecountry, whose cultivation and populousness are the effectsof more recent industry.§ While Clodion lay encampedin the plains of Artois,T[ and celebrated, with vain andostentatious security, the marriage, perhaps of his son,natives and strangers ; by Priscus (torn, i, p. 608), by Agathias (torn,ii, p. 49), and by Gregory of Tours (1. 3. 18. 6. 24. 8. 10, torn, ii, p.196. 278. 316). * See an original picture of the figure, dress,arms, and temper of the ancient Franks in Sidonius Apollinaris(Panegyr. Majorian. 238— 254) ; and such pictures, though coarselydrawn, have a real and intrinsic value. Father Daniel (Hist, de laMilice Frangoise, torn, i, p. 2—7) has illustrated the description.+ Dubos, Hist. Critique, &c. tom. i, p. 271, 272. Some geographershave placed Dispargum on the German side of the Rhine. See a noteof the Benedictine editors to the Historians of France, tom. ii, p. 166.+ The Carbonarian wood was that part of the great forest of theArdennes, which lay between the Escaut, or Scheldt, and the Meuse.Vales. Notit. Gall. p. 126. § Gregor Turon. 1. 2, c. 9, in tom. ii,p. 166, 167. Fredegar. Epitom. c. 9, p. 395. Gesta Reg. Francor. c 5,in tom. ii, p. 544. Vit. St. Remig. ab Hincmar, in tom. iii, p. 373.% Francus qua Cloio patentesAtrebatum terras pervaseratPanegyr. Majorian. 212.The precise spot was a town, or village, called Vicus Helena, and botkthe name and the place are discovered by modern geographers at Lena.See Vales. Notit. GalL p. 246. Longuerue, Description de la Franc%torn, ii, p. 88.