whose shores are most charmingly picturesque ; its current is so slow that its direction is scarcely

ror: but we find it soon after raging in France, particularly at Lyons, where the tortures to which many of the Christians were put, almost exceed the powers of description. All manner of punishments were adopted, torments, and painful deaths; such as being banished, plundered, hanged, burnt, &c. and even the servants and slaves of opulent Christians were racked and tortured, to make them accuse their masters and employers. The following were the principle of these Martyrs: Vetius Agathus, a young man, who having pleaded the Christian cause, was asked if he was a Christian? and answering in the affirmative, he was condemned to death. Many, animated by this young man's intrepidity, boldly owned their faith and suffered likewise. Blandinia, a Christian, but of weak constitution, being seized and tortured on account of her religion received so much strength from Heaven, that her torturers frequently became tired, and were surprized at her being able to bear her torments for so great a length of time and with such resolution. Sanctus, a deacon of Vienna, was put to the torture. Red hot plates of brass were placed upon those parts of his body which were tenderest, which contracted the sinews: he was afterwards made to sit in a red-hot iron chair: but he sustained all that the malice of his executioners could invent, and in the midst of his tortures he would exultingly exclaim: "I am a Christain." He was at length beheaded. Among the sufferers on this occasion, the number of whom Mr. Fox estimates at 48, was Pothinus, the venerable bishop of Lyons, who, at the age of 90, was so cruelly treated by the enraged mob, that he expired two days afterwards in prison. This was in the year A. D. 177. See Fox's Mart. Milner's Ed. p. 45.

to be discerned.*

It derives its name from a

young Gaul who, having lost his brother, threw himself into it in despair. I now traversed the

country of the Treveri, who possess the largest and most magnificent city in the three Gauls, and abandoning myself to the course of the Moselle and the Rhine, I soon arrived at Agrippina. †

"Constantius received me with kindness. "Eudorus, said he, "to-morrow the legions be"gin their march; we are going in pursuit of "the Franks. You will serve for a while as a

66 common archer among the Cretans; they are "encamped as our vanguard on the other side of the Rhine. Go and join them; distinguish yourself by your conduct and courage; prove "yourself worthy of having obtained the friendCC ship of my son, and I shall not hesitate to raise "you to the highest posts in the army."

"It is here my fathers that I ought to mark the second of those sudden revolutions which have been continually changing the course of my destiny. From the peaceful vales of Arcadia I had been transported to the troubled court of a

* The Arar is now called the Saone. Pliny styles it "the sluggish river," and Silius Italicus describes it to the same purpose:

"Quorum serpit Arar per rura pigerrimus undæ.” + Cologne.

Roman Emperor; and now, from the bosom of luxury and refined society, I passed to a life of toil and danger, among a barbarous and uncivilized people."

}

THE ARGUMENT.

Continuation of the recital. March of the Roman army into Batavia. It encounters the army of the Franks. Field of battle. Order and enumeration of the Roman army. Order and enumeration of the army of the Franks, Pharamond, Clodian, Merovius. War songs. Bards of the Franks. The battle commences. Attack of the Gauls upon the Franks. Combat of the cavalry. Singular combat between Vercingetorix, the chief of the Gauls, and Merovius the son of Clodion. Vercingetorix is vanquished. The Romans give ground. The Christian legion descends from a hill and restores the combat. Struggle between the contending armies. The Franks retire into their camp. Eudorus obtains a civic crown and is appointed by Constantius leader of the Greeks. The combat is renewed at break of day. Attack of the Romans upon the camp of the Franks. Rising of the sea. The Romans fly before the waves. Eudorus, after fighting for a long time, falls covered with wounds. He receives succour from a slave of the Franks, who conveys him into a cavern for safety.

BOOK VI.

"FRANCE is a savage country and covered with forests; it commences beyond the Rhine, and is comprised between Batavia on the west, Scandinavia on the north, Germania on the east, and the territory of the Gauls on the south. The inhabitants of this district are the fiercest of Barbarians they eat nothing but the flesh of wild beasts; the sword is ever in their hands; they consider peace as the severest servitude that could be imposed upon them. Snow, frost and tempests are their delight. They brave the sea; they laugh at the storm; and it may be said, that they have seen the ocean's bed divested of its covering-so well do they know and disregard its waves. This restless nation ceased not to spread desolation throughout the frontier provinces of the empire. It was under the reign of Gordian the Pious, that they first shewed themselves to the astonished Gauls. The two Decii perished in an expedition against them: Probus, having merely repulsed them, assumed on this account the glorious title of the Frank. They were at one time considered so noble and formidable, than an exception was