Tur.  lib.  ii.  c.  33.)  But  Clovis  was  not  the  sole  chieftain  of
his  tribe.  It  has  been  seen  that  he  enlarged  his  command
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  by  violent  measures  with  respect
to  other  kings  as  independent  apparently  as  himself,  and  some
of  whom  belonged  to  his  family.  Thus  the  Ripuarian  Franks,
who  occupied  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  came  under  his
sway.  And  besides  this,  the  argument  from  the  number  of
soldiers  baptized  with  Clovis  as-umes  that  the  whole  army
embraced  Christianity  with  their  king.  It  is  true  that  Greg-
ory seems  to  imply  this.  But,  even  in  the  seventh  century
the  Franks  on  the  Mease  and  Scheldt  were  still  chiefly  pagan,

rob  them  of  their  national  immunity;    sonal  authority  of  the  soyereign.    JHist
»nil  a  struggle  of  the  German  an*tocra-    dea  Inst.  Meroving.  i.  425,  et  post  )
ey  ensued,  which   annihilated  the  per-


282  ROMAN  NATIVES  OF  GAUL.  NOTES  TO

as  the  Lives  of  the  Saints  are  said  by  Thierry  to  prove.  We
have  only,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  a  declamatory  arid  super-
ficial history  for  this  period,  derived,  as  I  believe,  from  the
panegyrical  life  of  St.  Remy,  and  bearing  traces  of  legendary
incorrectness  and  exaggeration.  We  may,  however,  appeal
to  other  criteria.
