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i8o HISTORY OF THE FRANKS the disgraceful scene and the service at the same time, being especially indignant that he had become so abusive before the very- tomb, without respect for the holy bishop. In these days I saw a vision which I told him in the holy church, saying : I thought that I was celebrating mass in this holy church and when the altar with the offerings was now covered with a silk cloth, I suddenly saw king Gunthram entering and he said in a loud voice, 'Drag out the enemy of my family, tear the murderer away from God's sacred altar.' And when I heard him I turned to you and said: 'Wretch, take hold of the altar-cloth with which the holy gifts are covered, lest you be cast out of here.' And although you laid hold of it you held it with a loose hand and not manfully. But I stretched out my hands and opposed my breast against the king's breast, saying : ' Do not cast this man out of the holy church lest you incur danger to your life, lest the holy bishop destroy you by his power. Do not kill yourself with your own weapon because if you do this you will lose the present life and the eternal one.' But when the king opposed me you let go the cloth and came behind me. And I was very much annoyed at you. And when you returned to the altar you took hold of the cloth, but again let go. And while you held it without spirit and I man- fully resisted the king I woke up in terror, not knowing what the dream meant." Now when I had told it to him he said : "It is a i true dream that you saw because it strongly agrees with my pur- pose." And I said to him: And what is your purpose?" He replied: "I have determined that if the king orders me to be dragged from this place I will hold to the altar-cloth with one hand and with the other draw my sword and first kill you and then as many clerks as I can reach. And after this it would not be a misfortune for me to die, if I first took vengeance on this saint's clerks." I heard this and was amazed, and wondered why it was that the devil spoke by his mouth. For he never had any fear of God. For while he was at liberty his horses and flocks were let go among the crops and vineyards of the poor. And if they were driven away by the men whose labor they were destroying these were at once beaten by his men. In this trouble in which he was he often told how many of the blessed bishop's possessions he had taken unjustly. In fact the year before he had urged on a certain