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106 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap xxxviii CHAPTER XXXVIII Reign and Conversion of Clovis — Bis Victories over the Alemanni, Burgandians, and Visigoths — Establishment of the French Monarchy in Gaul — Laws of the Barbarians — State of the Romans — The Visigoths of Spain — Conquest of Britain by the Saxons Therevoiu- r~T~^HE Gauls, 1 who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, Gaui received a memorable lesson from one of the lieuten- T ants of Vespasian, whose weighty sense has been re- fined and expressed by the genius of Tacitus. 2 << The protec- tion of the republic has delivered Gaul from internal discord and foreign invasions. By the loss of national independence, you have acquired the name and privileges of Roman citizens. You enjoy, in common with ourselves, the permanent benefits of civil government ; and your remote situation is less ex- posed to the accidental mischiefs of tyranny. Instead of exer- cising the rights of conquest, we have been contented to im- pose such tributes as are requisite for your own preservation. Peace cannot be secured without armies ; and armies must be supported at the expense of the people. It is for your sake, not for our own, that we guard the barrier of the Rhine against the ferocious Germans, who have so often attempted, and who will always desire, to exchange the solitude of their woods and morasses for the wealth and fertility of Gaul. The fall of Rome would be fatal to the provinces ; and you 1 In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the Keoueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, Paris, 1738-1767, in eleven volumes in folio. By the labour of Dom Bouquet and the other Benedictines, all the original testimonies, as far as a.d. 1060, are disposed in Chronological order and illustrated with learned notes. Such a national work, which will be continued to the year 1500, might pro- voke our emulation. [For Gregory of Tours, &c, see Appendix 1.] 2 Tacit. Hist. iv. 73, 74, in torn. i. p. 445. To abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous ! but I may select the general ideas which he applies to the present state and future revolutions of Gaul.