法蘭克人史 第 1 章 第 7/38 段

When his monks perceived one wedge of the enemy approaching the monastery, they besought the abbot to go out from his cell to pray to them. And while he delayed, these, smitten with fear, with the door opened, brought him forth from his cell. But he, undaunted, went out to meet the enemy, as though about to ask for peace. Now one of these, drawing his sword to aim a blow at his head, his hand, raised aloft, stiffened, and the sword fell backward. But he himself, asking pardon, prostrated himself at the feet of the blessed man. Seeing this, the rest, with the greatest fear, returned to the army, fearing lest they too should perish together.

But the blessed confessor, handling this man's arm with blessed oil, and applying the sign of the Cross, restored it sound; and by his intercession the monastery remained unharmed. He wrought many other miracles also, which, if anyone diligently inquire, reading the book of his Life, he will find all. Meanwhile King Clovis met with Alaric, king of the Goths, on the plain of Vouillé, at the tenth milestone from the city of Poitiers; and while these fought at a distance, those resisted at close quarters. And when the Goths, according to their custom, had turned their backs, King Clovis himself, with the Lord's help, obtained the victory. Now he had as a help to himself the son of Sigibert the Lame, named Chloderic.

This Sigibert, fighting against the Alamanni at the town of Tolbiac, having been struck in the knee, limped. Moreover the king, when, the Goths having been put to flight, he had slain King Alaric, two men suddenly coming up from the opposite side struck him on both sides with their lances. But by the help both of his coat of mail and of his swift horse he was rescued, that he might not perish. There then fell a very great number of the Arvernian people, who had come with Apollinaris, and the foremost [perhaps the greater part] who were of the senators. From this battle Amalaric, son of Alaric, fled into Spain, and shrewdly occupied his father's kingdom. But Clovis directed his son Theuderic through the cities of Albi and Rodez to the Arverni.

He, going forth, subjected those cities, from the borders of the Goths up to the boundary of the Burgundians, to his father's dominion. Now Alaric reigned twenty-two years. But Clovis, spending the winter at the city of Bordeaux, carrying off all the treasures of Alaric from Toulouse, came to Angoulême. To him the Lord granted such grace that, at his mere contemplation, the walls fell down of their own accord. Then, the Goths being shut out, he subjected the city to his own dominion. After this victory accomplished, he returned to Tours, offering many gifts to the holy basilica of the blessed Martin. XXXVIII.

So then Clovis received from the Emperor Anastasius diplomas of the consulship, and in the basilica of the blessed Martin was clad in a purple tunic and a chlamys, placing a diadem upon his head. Then, having mounted his horse, he scattered gold and silver with his own hand along that road which lies between the gate of the atrium of the basilica of the blessed Martin and the church of the city, in the presence of the peoples, and with most benign will bestowed it; and from that day he was styled as consul or Augustus. Going out from Tours, he came to Paris; and there he established the seat of his kingdom. There too Theuderic came to him. XXXIX. Finally, Eustochius, bishop of Tours, having departed, Licinius, the eighth after Saint Martin, was ordained bishop of Tours.

In his time the war recorded above was waged. And in his time King Clovis came to Tours. He is said to have been in the East and to have visited the holy places, and to have approached Jerusalem itself, and often to have seen the places of the Lord's passion and resurrection which we read of in the Gospels. 40. Now while King Clovis was tarrying at Paris, he secretly sent to the son of Sigibert, saying: 「Behold, your father has grown old and limps on a weak foot. If he were to die,」 he said, 「his kingdom would rightly pass to you, together with our friendship.」 Led astray by this greed, the son set about to slay his father.

And when his father, having gone out from the city of Cologne and crossed the Rhine, was preparing to walk through the Buconia forest, at noon as he slept in his tent, the son set assassins upon him and slew him there, thinking thus to possess his kingdom. But by the judgment of God he fell into the very pit which he had dug in enmity for his father. He therefore sent messengers to King Clovis, announcing his father's death and saying: 「My father is dead, and I hold his treasures together with his kingdom in my keeping. Send your men to me, and I will gladly transmit to you whatever of his treasures pleases you.」 And Clovis replied: 「I thank you for your goodwill, and I ask that you display these treasures to my envoys when they come, after which you yourself shall possess everything.」

When these men came, the son opened up his father's treasures to them. And while they were examining the various things, he said: 「Into this little chest my father used to gather his gold coins.」 「Thrust in your hand,」 they said to him, 「down to the bottom, that you may find everything.」 When he had done so and was stooping very low, one of them raised his hand and drove a battle-axe into his skull; and thus he himself, unworthy man, fell upon that which he had brought about against his father. When Clovis heard of this—that is, that both Sigibert and his son had been killed—he came to that same place, summoned all the people, and said: 「Hear what has happened.」

「While I,」 he said, 「was sailing on the river Scheldt, Chloderic, the son of my kinsman, was pursuing his own father, spreading the word that I wished to kill him. And while he was leading him through the Buconia forest, he set assassins upon him and gave him over to death and slew him. He himself too, while he was opening up his treasures, was struck down by some man I know not and perished. But in these matters I am in no way an accomplice. For I cannot shed the blood of my kinsmen, which it is wrong to do. But since these things have come to pass, I give you my counsel, if it seem acceptable: turn to me, that you may be under my protection.」 When they heard this, applauding both with their shields and with their voices, they raised him upon a shield and set him over themselves as king.

Having received the kingdom of Sigibert together with its treasures, he brought those people too under his dominion. For day by day God laid his enemies low beneath his hand, and increased his kingdom, because he walked with an upright heart before Him and did the things that were pleasing in His sight. 41. After this he turned against King Chararic. Now when Clovis had fought against Syagrius, this Chararic, summoned to his aid, had stood apart at a distance, helping neither side, but awaiting the outcome of the matter, so that with whichever the victory should fall, with that one he too might join in friendship.

For this cause Clovis, being indignant against him, marched out, and having encircled him with cunning, took him captive together with his son, and bound them and shaved their heads, and ordered Chararic to be ordained a priest and his son a deacon. And when Chararic was lamenting and weeping over his humiliation, his son is said to have spoken thus: 「These branches,」 he said, 「have been cut from a green tree, and they do not wholly wither, but will quickly sprout forth so that they may grow again: would that he who has done these things might perish as swiftly.」 This sounded in the ears of Clovis as a threat—namely, that they were threatening to let their hair grow long again so as to slay him. So he ordered them both to be beheaded together. When they were dead, he acquired their kingdom together with their treasures and people. 42.

Now at that time Ragnachar was king at Cambrai, so unbridled in his debauchery that he scarcely spared even his near kinsfolk. He had a counsellor named Farro, befouled with like filthiness; of whom it is said that, whenever anything of food, or of gift, or of any other thing was brought to the king, he was wont to say: 「This is enough for himself and for his Farro.」 For which reason the Franks swelled with the greatest indignation. Hence it came about that Clovis gave them golden armlets and belts—but all only made to look like gold (for it was bronze gilded, made deceitfully)—and gave these to Ragnachar's retainers, so that they might be stirred up against him.

Then when he had moved his army against him, and Ragnachar repeatedly sent out scouts to gather intelligence, on the messengers' return he asked how strong this force was. They answered: 「For you and your Farro it is a very ample reinforcement.」 So Clovis came and drew up his forces in battle against him. But Ragnachar, seeing his army defeated, prepared to slip away in flight; yet he was seized by the army, and with his hands bound behind his back was led into the presence of Clovis together with his brother Richar. To him Clovis said: 「Why have you disgraced our race, by allowing yourself to be bound? It would have been better for you to die.」 And he raised an axe and fixed it in his head. Then turning to his brother, he said: 「If you had given aid

to your brother, he would not have been bound as he was.」 Likewise he struck this one too with an axe and killed him. After their death, their betrayers discovered that the gold which they had received from the king was counterfeit. When they told the king of it, he is said to have replied: 「Rightly,」 he said, 「does he receive such gold who of his own will leads his lord to death.」 He said that it ought to be enough for them that they were alive, lest they perish amid torments, paying the evil penalty for the betrayal of their lords. When they heard this, they begged to obtain his favour, declaring that it was enough for them if they might deserve to live. Now the aforesaid kings were kinsmen of this man:

of whom a brother, named Rignomer, was slain at the city of Le Mans by command of Clovis. When they were dead, Clovis received all their kingdom and their treasures. And having killed many other kings, as well as his own nearest kinsmen, of whom he was jealous lest they take away his kingdom, he extended his realm over all the Gauls. Yet, when his followers were gathered together, he is once said to have spoken thus concerning the kinsmen whom he himself had destroyed: 「Woe is me, who have remained like a stranger among foreigners, and have none of my kindred who, if adversity should come, might be able to give me any help.」 But he said this not out of grief at their death, but by guile, in case he might perchance still find some kinsman to kill.

43. When these things had thus been accomplished, he died at Paris, and was buried in the basilica of the Holy Apostles which he had himself built together with Queen Clotild. He departed in the fifth year after the battle of Vouillé. All the days of his reign were thirty years. His whole life was forty-five years. From the passing of Saint Martin, then, until the passing of King Clovis—which was the eleventh year of the episcopate of Licinius, bishop of Tours—there are reckoned one hundred and twelve years. After the death of her husband, Queen Clotild came to Tours, and there, serving at the basilica of Saint Martin, with the utmost chastity and kindness she dwelt in this place all the days of her life, rarely visiting Paris.

Here ends the second book. Here begin the chapter-headings of the third book. 1. Of the sons of Clovis. 2. Of the episcopate of Dinifius, Apollinaris, and Quintianus. 3. That the Danes attacked the Gauls. 4. Of the kings of the Thuringians. 5. That Sigismund killed his own son. 6. Of the death of Chlodomer. 7. Of the war against the Thuringians and their slaughter. 8. Of the death of Hermenefrid. 9. That Childebert went to the Auvergne. 10. Of the death of Amalaric. 11. That Childebert and Chlothar went into Burgundy, and Theuderic went to the Auvergne. 12. Of the devastation of the region of the Auvergne. 13. Of Lovolautrum and the fort of Méroliac. 14. Of the death of Munderic. 15. Of the captivity of Attalus. 16. Of Sigivald. 17. Of the bishops of Tours. 18.

Of the death of the sons of Chlodomer. 19. Of Saint Gregory of Langres, and the situation of the fort of Dijon. 20. That Theudebert was betrothed to Wisigard. 21. That Theudebert went into Provence. 22. That afterward he took Deoteria. 23. Of the death of Sigivald, and the flight of Givald. 24. That Childebert bestowed gifts upon Theudebert. 25. Of the goodness of Theudebert. 26. Of the death of the daughter of Deoteria. 27. That Theudebert took Wisigard. 28. That Childebert went with Theudebert against Chlothar. 29. That Childebert and Chlothar went into Spain. 30. Of the kings of the Spaniards. 31. Of the daughter of Theodoric, king of Italy. 32.

That Theudebert went into Italy. 33. Of Astetiolus and Secundinus. 34. Of Theudebert's gift toward the citizens of Verdun. 35. Of the death of Sirivald. 36. Of the death of Theudebert, and the death of Parthenius. 37. Of a severe winter. BOOK THREE. Prologue. I would gladly, if it please you, compare for a little while what prosperity has befallen those Christians who confess the blessed Trinity, and what has come to ruin those heretics who divide that same Trinity. But let us pass over how Abraham venerates it at the oak, how Jacob proclaims it in his blessing, how Moses knows it in the bush, how the people follow it in the cloud and tremble at it upon the mountain;

or how Aaron bears it on his breastplate, or David prophesies of it in the psalm, praying to be renewed by an upright Spirit, that the Holy Spirit be not taken from him, and that he be strengthened by the princely Spirit (Psalm 51:10-12). And I too here perceive a great mystery: namely, that He whom the heretics assert to be lesser, the prophetic voice has proclaimed to be princely. But, as we have said, passing these things over, let us return to our own times. For Arius, who was the first and wicked inventor of this iniquitous sect, his inward parts being voided into the privy, is consigned to the fires of hell; whereas blessed Hilary, defender of the undivided Trinity, given over to exile on account of it, is restored to the paradise of his fatherland.

King Clovis, confessing this Trinity, crushed those heretics by its help, and extended his kingdom over all the Gauls; but Alaric, denying it, was punished by the loss of his kingdom and people, and—what is greater—of eternal life itself. To those who truly believe in Him, the Lord, even though by the snares of the enemy they lose some things, restores them here a hundredfold; but the heretics neither acquire anything, but even what they seem to have is taken from them. This the deaths of Godegisel, Gundobad, and Godomar proved, who lost at once both their fatherland and their souls. But we confess one Lord, invisible, immeasurable, incomprehensible,

glorious, everlasting, and perpetual; one in Trinity by reason of the number of the persons, that is, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and we confess Him threefold in unity, by reason of the equality of substance, of deity, of omnipotence, and of power: who is one supreme and almighty God, reigning unto everlasting ages. King Clovis being therefore dead, his four sons—that is, Theuderic, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Chlothar—received his kingdom and divided it among themselves in equal portions. Theuderic already had at that time a son named Theudebert, elegant and capable.

And when they were flourishing in great might, and there was abundant strength of an army in them, Amalaric, son of Alaric, king of Spain, asked for their sister in marriage; which they graciously granted, and sent her into the land of Spain with a great mass of splendid ornaments. 2. Now Licinius, bishop of the city of Tours, having died, Dinifius ascended the episcopal throne. In the Auvergne, after the death of blessed Aprunculus, holy Eufrasius was held to be the twelfth bishop. He lived four years after the death of Clovis, passing away in the twenty-fifth year of his episcopate.

And when the people had chosen holy Quintianus, who had been driven out of Rodez, Alchima and Placidina, the wife and sister of Apollinaris, came to holy Quintianus and said: 「Let it suffice, holy lord, for your old age that you have been ordained bishop. May your kindness,」 they said, 「permit your servant Apollinaris to obtain the place of this honour. And when he has risen to this height, he will defer to you as it shall please you; you too shall command, and he will obey your every order in all things: only that you lend the ear of your benevolence to our humble request.」 To them he said: 「What shall I bestow, to whose power nothing is subject?」

「For it is enough for me that, giving myself to prayer, the Church should provide me my daily food.」 But they, hearing this, sent Apollinaris to the king. He, going there and offering many gifts, succeeded to the episcopate; but misusing it for four months, he departed from this world. Now when these things had been announced to Theuderic, he ordered holy Quintianus to be established there and all power of the Church to be handed over to him, saying: 「This man was driven from his city out of zeal for our love.」 And at once envoys were dispatched, and, the bishops and people being assembled, they set him on the throne of the Church of the Auvergne; and he was made the fourteenth set over that Church.

But the rest of what he did—both his miracles and the time of his passing—are written in the book which we have composed concerning his Life. 3. When these things had thus been done, the Danes with their king, named Chlochilaich, attacked the Gauls by a naval expedition across the sea. Going ashore, they laid waste and took captive one district of Theuderic's kingdom, and, loading their ships both with captives and with the rest of the spoils, they desired to return to their homeland. But their king remained on the shore until the ships should reach the open sea, he himself intending to follow afterward. When it was announced to Theuderic that his region had been devastated by foreigners, he sent his son Theudebert into those parts with a strong army and great equipment of arms.

He, having killed the king, overcame the enemy in a naval battle and crushed them, and restored all the plunder to the land. 4. Now at that time among the Thuringians three brothers held the kingdom of that people: that is, Baderic, Hermenefrid, and Berthar. At length Hermenefrid, overpowering his brother Berthar by force, killed him. Dying, Berthar left a fatherless daughter, Radegund; and he left other sons too, of whom we shall write in what follows. But the wife of Hermenefrid, wicked and cruel, named Amalaberga, sowed civil war between these brothers. For one day her husband, coming to the banquet, found the table covered only at the middle. And when he asked his wife what this meant, she answered:

「He who is robbed of half his kingdom,」 she said, 「ought to have the middle of his table left bare.」 Stirred by such words and the like, he rose up against his brother, and through secret messengers invited King Theuderic to help him pursue him, saying: 「If you kill this man, we shall divide this region in equal shares.」 And he, rejoicing to hear this, marched with his army to him. Joining together and giving each other pledges of faith, they went out to war. And fighting with Baderic, they wore down his army and cut him down with the sword; and, victory being won, Theuderic returned to his own lands.

Forthwith Hermenefrid, forgetting his pledge—what he had promised to grant King Theuderic—scorned to fulfil it, and a great enmity arose between them. 5. Now Gundobad being dead, his son Sigismund obtained his kingdom, and built the monastery of Agaune with careful diligence, together with its dwellings and basilicas. He, having had by his former wife—the daughter of Theodoric, king of Italy—a son named Sigeric, took another wife; and she, as is the way of stepmothers, began vigorously to plot evil against his son and to give offence. Hence it came about that on one of the feast days, when the boy recognized upon her the garments of his mother, moved with bitterness he said to her:

「You were not worthy that these garments should touch your back, which are known to have belonged to your mistress, that is, to my mother.」 But she, inflamed with fury, incited her husband with deceitful words, saying: 「This wicked one desires to possess your kingdom, and, when you are killed, intends to extend it as far as Italy—namely, so that the kingdom which his grandfather Theodoric held in Italy he too may possess. For he knows that while you live he cannot accomplish this; and unless you fall, he will not rise.」 Incited by these and suchlike words, and following the counsel of his wicked wife, he became a wicked parricide. For he ordered his son, lulled to sleep by wine, to sleep after midday:

and as he slept, a kerchief was placed under his neck and tied beneath his chin, and as two servants pulled it toward themselves from either side, he was strangled. When this was done, the father, too late now repenting, fell upon the lifeless corpse and began to weep most bitterly. To him a certain old man is said to have spoken thus: 「Weep now,」 he said, 「for yourself, who by wicked counsel have become a most savage parricide; for as for this one, who was slain innocent, there is no need to weep for him.」 None the less, going to the holy ones of Agaune, persevering for many days in weeping and fasting, he begged for pardon. Establishing there a continuous chanting of psalms, he returned to Lyons, the vengeance of God following close upon his steps. His daughter King Theuderic took to wife. 6.

But Queen Clotild addressed Chlodomer and her other sons, saying: 「Let me not regret, dearest ones, that I reared you tenderly: be indignant, I pray, at my wrong, and avenge with shrewd zeal the death of my father and my mother.」 Hearing this, they made for Burgundy, and marched against Sigismund and his brother Godomar; and when their army was defeated, Godomar turned his back. But Sigismund, while striving to flee to the holy ones of Agaune, was captured by Chlodomer and led away captive together with his wife and sons, and, placed in custody within the boundary of the city of Orléans, was detained. And when these kings had departed, Godomar, recovering his strength, gathered the Burgundians and recovered the kingdom.

Against him Chlodomer, preparing to march again, determined to kill Sigismund; but it was said to him by blessed Avitus, abbot of Micy, a great priest at that time: 「If,」 he said, 「looking to God, you amend your counsel so that you do not suffer these men to be killed, God will be with you, and going out you will obtain victory; but if you kill them, you yourself, delivered into the hands of your enemies, will perish by a like fate; and there shall be done to you and to your wife and your sons what you have done to Sigismund and to his wife and children.」 But he, disdaining to listen, scorned his counsel and said: 「I think it foolish counsel that, leaving enemies behind at home, I should march against the rest;

and with these rising up at my rear and the other at my front, I should rush in between two wedges of the foe. For victory will be won more surely and more easily if the one be separated from the other: for once one is killed, the other too can easily be doomed to death.」 And straightway, having killed Sigismund with his wife and sons, ordering them to be cast into a well at Columna, a village of the city of Orléans, he made for Burgundy, calling King Theuderic to his aid. But he, not wishing to avenge the wrong done to his father-in-law, nevertheless promised to go. And when together they had joined forces at Vienne, a place of the city of Vienne, they engaged in battle with Godomar.

And when Godomar with his army had turned his back, and Chlodomer was pursuing and had become separated from his own men by no small distance, the enemy, imitating his standard, called out to him, saying: 「This way, this way, turn hither, for we are yours.」 And he, believing it, went and rushed into the midst of his enemies; and they cut off his head and, fixing it on a pole, raised it on high. When the Franks saw this and recognized that Chlodomer had been killed, they rallied their strength, put Godomar to flight, crushed the Burgundians, and brought the land back under their power. Without delay Chlothar joined to himself in marriage the wife of his brother, named Guntheuca;

his sons too Queen Clotild, the days of mourning being ended, took to herself and kept: of whom one was called Theodovald, the second Gunthar, the third Chlodovald. Godomar again recovered his kingdom. 7. Afterward Theuderic, not forgetful of the perjury of Hermenefrid, king of the Thuringians, called his brother Chlothar to his aid and prepared to march against him, promising King Chlothar a portion of the spoil if the gift of victory should be divinely bestowed upon them. So, having summoned the Franks, he said to them: 「Be indignant, I pray, both at my wrong and at the destruction of your kinsmen.」

「and recall that the Thuringians once came violently upon our forefathers and inflicted many evils upon them; who, after hostages had been given, wished to make peace with them: but they put those very hostages to death by divers manners, and rushing upon our forefathers carried off all their substance, hanging up the boys to trees by the sinew of the thigh, and slaying more than two hundred maidens by cruel death: so that, their arms being bound upon the necks of horses, and the horses being driven by the sharpest goad seeking in different directions, they tore the women apart in different directions.」

「And others they stretched over the ruts of the roads, fixing stakes into the ground, and made loaded wagons pass over them, and, their bones being broken, gave them to dogs and birds for food. Now, moreover, Hermenefrid has broken what he promised me, and altogether refuses to fulfil his pledge. Behold, we have a just cause: let us go, with God's help, against them.」 When they heard this, and were indignant at so great a crime, with one mind and one resolve they made for Thuringia. And Theuderic, taking as his aid his brother Chlothar and his son Theudebert, set out with an army. But the Thuringians prepared cunning traps for the Franks as they came. For in the field where the contest was to be fought, they dug ditches: