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136 HISTORY OF THE FRANKS my advice in taking his property. But after doing me damage he again repeated his oath and gave a cloth from the tomb of the blessed Martin as security that he would never oppose me. 49. But as it is a tedious thing to relate in order his perjuries and other crimes, let us come to the story of how he wished by vile and wicked calumnies to oust me from my place, and how the divine vengeance fell upon him, so that the saying was fulfilled, ^* Every supplanter shall be supplanted," and again; "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein." After the many wrongs he did to me and mine, after many plunderings of the church property, he united to himself the priest Riculf, as perverse and wicked as himself, and went so far as to say that I had made a charge against queen Fredegunda, asserting that if my archdeacon Plato or my friend Galien should be subjected to torture they would certainly convict me of such words. It was then that the king was angry, as I have stated above, and after beating and kicking him ordered him to be loaded with chains and thrust into prison. Now he said that he had Riculf, a cleric, on whose authority he said this. But this Riculfus was a sub-deacon, as unstable as Leudast, who a year before had entered into this design with Leudast, and had looked for causes of offense in order, forsooth, to go over to Leudast be- cause I was angry, and he found them and went to him, and for four months they prepared all their tricks and laid their traps, and then he came back to me with Leudast and begged me to pardon and take him back. I did it, I confess, and publicly received a secret enemy into my household. And when Leudast went away, Riculf threw himself at my feet and said: "Unless you come quickly to my help I shall perish. Behold, at Leudast's urging I have said what I should not have. Now send me to another kingdom ; if you do not I shall be seized by the king's men and suffer the punishment of death." And I said to him: "If you have said anything out of the way your words shall be on your own head ; for I will not send you to another kingdom, lest I be held in suspicion by the king." After this Leudast became his accuser, saying that he had the words already mentioned from Riculf, the subdeacon. And he was bound and put under guard and Leudast was released. And Riculf said that Galien and the archdeacon Plato were present on the same day when the bishop said this.