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146 HISTORY OF THE FRANKS and Bertefred. And at length they made an agreement to kill him and they marched against him. But queen Brunhilda heard of it, and grieving at the unjust attacks on her loyal supporter she armed herself like a man and rushed into the midst of the opposing forces and cried: "Do not, O warriors, do not do this evil ; do not attack the innocent ; do not for one man engage in a battle which will destroy the welfare of the district." Ursio an- swered her: "Leave us, woman; let it suffice for you to have ruled under your husband ; but now your son rules and his king- dom will be maintained not by your support but by ours. Leave us or our horses' hooves will trample you to the earth." When they had continued such talk as this a long time the queen's de- termination that they should not fight prevailed. However, on leaving that locaHty they burst into Lupus's houses, seized all his property and took it home, pretending they were going to place it in the king's treasury, and they threatened Lupus and said : "He will never escape alive from our hands." Lupus saw he was in danger and, placing his wife in safety within the walls of the city of Laon, he fled to king Gunthram, and being welcomed by him he remained in hiding, waiting till Childebert should come of age. 5. While king Chilperic was still at the villa mentioned above, he directed his baggage to be moved and made arrangements to go to Paris. And when I went to see him to say good-by, a certain Jew named Priscus came in who was on friendly terms with him and helped him buy costly articles. The king took him by the hair in a gentle way and said to me: "Come, bishop of God, and lay your hands on him." But he struggled and the king said to him : "O obstinate-minded and ever disbelieving race, which does not recognize the Son of God promised to it by the voices of its prophets and does not recognize the mysteries of the church prefigured in its own sacrifices." To these words the Jew replied : "God never married nor was blessed with offspring nor allowed any one to share his power, but he said by the mouth of Moses : ' See, see that I am the Lord and except me there is no God. I shall kill and I shall make alive ; I shall wound and I shall heal.' " ^ . . . Although I said this and more, the wretched man felt no remorse and ^ The argument is continued at length along this line between the Jew on the one hand and Chilperic and Gregory on the other.