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THE SECOND BOOK 31 hastily into Italy, and was slain at the river Mincio by assassins sent to meet him by the emperor." And a Httle later the same writer says: At the same time Decimus Rusticus, prefect of the tyrants, Agroetius, one of the chief secretaries of Jovinus, and many nobles, were captured in Auvergne by the commanders of Honorius and cruelly put to death. The city of Treves was plun- dered and burnt in a second inroad of the Franks." And when Asterius had been made a patrician by an imperial letter, he adds this: "At the same time Castinus, count of the body-guard, undertook an expedition against the Franks and was sent into the Gauls." This is what these have told of the Franks. And the historian Horosius says in the seventh book of his work: "Stilico gathered the nations, crushed the Franks, crossed the Rhine, wandered through the Gauls, and made his way as far as the Pyrenees." This is the evidence that the historians who have been named have left us about the Franks, and they have not mentioned kings. Many relate that they came from Pannonia and all dwelt at first on the bank of the Rhine, and then crossing the Rhine they passed into Thuringia, and there among the villages and cities appointed long-haired kings over them from their first or, so to speak, noblest family. This title Clovis' victories afterwards made a lasting one, as we shall see later on. We read in the Fasti Consulares that Theodomer, king of the Franks, son of Richimer, and Ascyla his mother, were once on a time slain by the sword. They say also that Chlogio, a man of ability and high rank among his people, was king of the Franks then, and he dwelt at the stronghold of Dispargum which is within the borders of the Thuringians. And in these parts, that is, towards the south, the Romans dwelt as far as the Loire. But beyond the Loire the Goths were in control ; the Burgundians also, who belonged to the sect of the Arians, dwelt across the Rhone in the district which is adjacent to the city of Lyons. And Chlogio sent spies to the city of Cambrai, and they went everywhere, and he himself followed and overcame the Romans and seized the city, in which he dwelt for a short time, and he seized the land as far as the river Somme. Certain authorities assert that king Merovech, whose son was Childeric, was of the family of Chlogio.