Should banish'd Chloe cease to reign,
And Lydia her lost power regain?

Lydia. Though Hesper be less fair than he,
Thou wilder than the raging sea,

Lighter than down; yet gladly I

With thee would live, with thee would die.
-Translated by F. ATTERBURY.

HORACE'S STORY OF HIS EDUCATION.
(From Satire VI.-To Mæcenas).

Nor yet to chance my happiness I owe;
Friendship like yours it had not to bestow.
First, my best Virgil, then my Varius, told
Among my friends what character I hold;
When introduced, in few and faltering words
(Such as an infant modesty affords)

I did not tell you my descent was great,
Or that I wander'd round my country seat
On a proud steed in richer pastures bred;
But what I really was, I frankly said.

Short was your answer, in your usual strain;
I take my leave, nor wait on you again,
Till, nine months past, engaged and bid to hold
A place among your nearer friends enroll'd.
An honor this, methinks, of nobler kind,
That innocent of heart and pure of mind,
Though with no titled birth, I gain'd his love,
Whose judgment can discern, whose choice approve.
If some few venial faults deform my soul,
(Like a fair face when spotted with a mole),
If none with avarice justly brand my fame
With sordidness, or deeds too vile to name:
If pure and innocent: if dear (forgive
These little praises) to my friends I live,

My father was the cause, who, though maintain'd
By a lean farm but poorly, yet disdain'd
The country schoolmaster, to whose low care
The mighty captain sent his high-born heir,
With satchel, copy-book, and pelf to pay
The wretched teacher on th' appointed day.

To Rome by this bold father was I brought, To learn those arts which well-born youth are taught; So dress'd and so attended, you would swear I was some senator's expensive heir; Himself my guardian, of unblemish'd truth, Among my tutors would attend my youth, And thus preserv'd my chastity of mind, (That prime of virtue in its highest kind), Not only pure from guilt, but even the shame That might with vile suspicion hurt my fame: Nor fear'd to be reproach'd, although my fate Should fix my fortune in some mea:ier state, From which some trivial perquisites arise, Or make me, like himself, collector of excise. For this my heart, far from complaining, pays A larger debt of gratitude and praise; Nor, while my senses hold, shall I repent Of such a father, nor with pride resent, As many do, th' involuntary disgrace Not to be born of an illustrious race. But not with theirs my sentiments agree Or language; for if Nature should decree That we from any stated point might live Our former years, and to our choice should give The sires, to whom we wished to be allied, Let others choose to gratify their pride; While I, contented with my own, resign The titled honors of an ancient line.

CLOVIS, the first Christian King of the Franks, was an ambitious and powerful monarch. His name was properly written Chlodwig, which was shortened to Ludwig, the German form, and finally softened to Louis, the present French form. He was a son of King Childeric and his queen, Basina, and was born about 466 A.D. The Franks were then pagans, and Clovis was educated as an idolater. In 481 A.D. he succeeded his father, who reigned over the Salian tribe. That kingdom was then limited to the island of the Batavians, or the marshes at the mouth of the Rhine, with the ancient dioceses of Tournay and Arras.

When Clovis began his career of conquest, he had neither money in his treasury nor grain and wine in his magazines. In the primitive style described by Homer, fifteen hundred years earlier, after each successful battle or expedition, the spoils were accumulated in a common mass, and every soldier received his proper share. Himself a barbarian, Clovis yet taught his barbarous subjects to acknowledge the advantages of a rude discipline. His justice was inexorable, and careless or disobedient soldiers were punished with instant death. His valor appears to have been directed by prudence. In all his transactions he calculated the weight of passion, of interest, and of opinion.

His first important exploit was the defeat of Syagrius,

who reigned at Soissons. In 486 A.D., Clovis challenged Syagrius in the spirit and almost in the language of chivalry to appoint the day and the field of battle. After this victory, Clovis chose Soissons for his capital. "The Belgic cities," says Gibbon, "surrendered to the King of the Franks; and his dominions were enlarged towards the East by the ample diocese of Tongres, which Clovis subdued in the tenth year of his reign." In 493 he married Clotilda, a Christian princess, a daughter of Chilperic, King of Burgundy. She persuaded him to profess her religion, and he avowed his conversion in 496. His subjects also then changed their religion, and burned the idols which they had formerly adored.

But this acceptance of the mild yoke of Christ made little change in their character. "His ambitious reign," says Gibbon, "was a perpetual violation of moral and Christian duties his hands were stained with blood, in peace as well as in war; and as soon as Clovis had dismissed a Synod of the Gallican Church, he calmly assassinated all the princes of the Merovingian race." He was then the only Catholic or orthodox king in Christendom, the other Christian kings being Arians, and his power was zealously supported by the bishops who reigned in the cities of Gaul. In 497 the cities of Armorica submitted to Clovis, perhaps because he was a Catholic. They accepted without shame the generous capitulation which was proposed by a Catholic hero.

About 496 the Alemanni, the great tribe to which Germany owes its modern French name, invaded the dominions of Clovis and his allies. Clovis encountered the invaders in the plain of Tolbiac, about twenty miles from Cologne. The Franks, after an obstinate struggle, gave way; but the battle was restored by the valor and the conduct of Clovis. The King of the Alemanni was slain in the field, and Clovis gained a decisive victory. "The Gallic territories which were possessed by the Alemanni became the prize of their conqueror, and the haughty nation, invincible or rebellious to the arms of Rome, acknowledged the sovereignty of the Merovingian kings." Clovis defeated in battle Gundobald, King of Burgundy, who was an uncle of Clotilda, in 500 A.D., and soon after that event formed an alliance with him.

The

Paris became the capital of his kingdom about 507. Goths or Visigoths viewed his rapid progress with jealousy and alarm, and some disputes arose on the edge of their contiguous dominions. At Paris Clovis declared to an assembly

the pretence and the motive of a Gothic war. "It grieves me," he said, "to see that the Arians still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against them with the aid of God, and, having vanquished the heretics, we will possess and divide their fertile provinces." In 507 Clovis attacked the army of Alaric, King of the Visigoths, who reigned over the region between the Loire and the Pyrenees. The two kings encountered each other in single combat, and Alaric was killed near Poitiers. Clovis gained a decisive victory, which was followed by the conquest of Aquitaine, which was indissolubly united to the kingdom of France.

Clovis besieged Arles; but the Visigoths, aided by Theodoric, King of Italy, compelled him to raise the siege. In 510 Clovis accepted the honor of the Roman consulship. The Emperor Anastasius bestowed the title and ensigns of that dignity on the most powerful rival of Theodoric. Clovis died in 511 A.D., leaving four sons-Thierri, Clodomir, Childeric, and Clotaire, among whom France was divided. His descendants are called Merovingians, from Merovig or Mérovée, the grandfather of Clovis.

CLOVIS EMBRACES CHRISTIANITY.

Clovis was still only chief of the petty tribe of the Franks of Tournai, when numerous bands of Suevi, under the designation of All-men (Alemanni), threatened to pass the Rhine. The Franks, as usual, flew to arms, to oppose their passage. It similar emergencies the different tribes were accustomed to unite under the bravest chief, and Clovis reaped the honor of the common victory. This was the occasion of his embracing the worship of Roman Gaul, which was that of his wife Clotilda, niece of the King of the Burgundians. He had vowed, he said, during the battle, to worship the god of Clotilda if he gained the day. Three thousand of his warriors followed his example. There was great joy among the clergy of Gaul, who thenceforward placed their hopes of deliverance in the