Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/475

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 453 treasures for the African war ; and the cruelty of Genseric might have been fatal to himself, if the artful Vandal had not armed, in his cause, the formidable power of the Huns. His rich gifts and pressing solicitations inflamed the ambition of Attila ; and the designs of Aetius and Theodoric were prevented by the invasion of Gaul.^^ The Franks, whose monarchy was still confined to the neigh- TheFranks in bourhood of the Lower Rhine, had wisely established the right the Merovin- of hereditary succession in the noble family of the Merovingians. ^'^ a.d. 420451 These princes were elevated on a buckler, the symbol of military command ; '^" and the royal fashion of long hair was the ensign of their birth and dignity. Their flaxen locks, which they combed and dressed with singular care, hung down in flowing ringlets on their back and shoulders ; while the rest of the nation were obliged, either by law or custom, to shave the hinder part of their head, to comb their hair over the forehead, and to content themselves with the ornament of two small whiskers. ^'^ The lofty stature of the Franks, and their blue eyes, denoted a Germanic origin ; their close apparel accurately expressed the figure of their limbs ; a weighty sword was sus- pended from a broad belt ; their bodies were protected by a large' shield ; and these warlike Barbarians were trained, from their earliest youth, to run, to leap, to swim ; to dart the javelin or 15 Our authorities for the reign of Theodoric I. are : Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 34, 36, and the Chronicles of Idatius, and the two Prospers, inserted in the Historians of France, torn. i. p. 612-640. To these we may add Salvian de Gubernatione Dei, 1. vii. p. 243, 244, 245, and the Panegyric of Avitus, by Sidonius. 16 Reges Crinitos [super] se creavisse de prima, et ut ita dicam nobiliori suorum faniilia (Greg. Turon. 1. ii. c. 9, p. 166 of the second volume of the Historians of France). Gregory himself does not mention the Memviiii^iaii name, which may be traced; however, to the beginning of the seventh century as the distinctive appellation of the royal family, and even of the French monarchy. An ingenious critic has deduced the Merovingians from the great Maroboduus ; and he has clearly proved that the prince who gave his name to the first race was more ancient than the father of Childeric. See the M^moires de I'Acaddmie des Inscrip- tions, tom. XX. p. 52-90, tom. xxx. p. 557-587. I'This German custom, which may be traced from Tacitus to Gregory of Tours, was at length adopted by the emperors of Constantinople. From a Ms. of the tenth century Montfaucon has delineated the representation of a similar ceremony, which the ignorance of the age had applied to king David. See Monuments de la Monarchic FranQoise, tom. i. Discourse Preliminaire. 18 C^saries proHxa . . . crinium fiagellis per terga dimissis, &c. See the Preface to the third volume of the Historians of France, and the Abb6 Le Boeuf (Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 47-79). This peculiar fashion of the Merovingians has been remarked by natives and strangers ; by Priscus (tom. i. p. 608), by Agathias (tom. ii. p. 49 [i. c. 3]) and by Gregory of Tours, 1. iii. 18, vi. 24, viii. 10, tom. ii. p. 196, 278, 316. [For the short hair of the other Franks cp. Claudian's detonsa Sigambria (in Eutr. i. 383) and Sidon. Apoll. Epist. 8, 9.]