Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/27

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 5 that the heroic youth, who had shared the dangers of the field, might be admitted to the feast of victory. "You are not un- mindful," replied the inflexible Audoin, " of the wise customs of our ancestors. Whatever may be his merit, a prince is incap- able of sitting at table with his father till he has received his arms from a foreign and royal hand." Alboin bowed with reverence to the institutions of his country, selected forty companions, and boldly visited the court of Turisund king of the Gepid^e, who embraced and entertained, according to the laws of hospitality, the murderer of his son. At the banquet, whilst Alboin oc- cupied the seat of the youth whom he had slain, a tender remembrance arose in the mind of Turisund. " How dear is that place — how hateful is that person ! " were the words that escaped, with a sigh, from the indignant father. His grief exasperated the national resentment of the (iepidae ; and Cunimund, his surviving son, was provoked by wine, or fraternal affection, to the desire of vengeance. " The Lombards," said the rude barbarian, "resemble, in figure and in smell, the mares of our Sarmatian plains." And this insult was a coarse allusion to the white bands Avhich enveloped their legs. " Add another resemblance," replied an audacious Lombard ; "you have felt how strongly they kick. Visit the plain of Asfeld, and seek for the bones of thy brother ; they are mingled with those of the vilest animals." The Gepida?, a nation of warriors, started from their seats, and the fearless Alboin, with his forty companions, laid their hands on their swords. The tunmlt was appeased by the venerable interposition of Turisund. He saved his own honour, and the life of his guest ; and, after the solemn rites of in- vestiture, dismissed the stranger in the bloody arms of his son, the gift of a weeping parent. Alboin returned in triumpli ; and the Lombards, who celebrated his matchless intrepidity, were compelled to praise the virtues of an enemy.i" In this extra- ordinary visit he had probably seen the daughter of Cunimund, who soon after ascended the throne of the Gepidac. Her name was Rosamond, an appellation expressive of female beauty, and which our own history or romance has consecrated to amorous tales. The king of the Lombards (the father of Alboin no longer lived) was contracted to the grand-daughter of Clovis ; but the restraints of faith and policy soon yielded to the hope '" P.iul Warnefiid, the deacon of Fikili, de Gest. Langobard. 1. i. c. 23, 24. His pictures of national manners, though rudely sketched, are uiure lively and faithful than those of Bede or Gregory of Tours.