Finally, like animals devoid of reason, they are utterly ignorant of what is proper and what is not. They are tricksters with words and full of dark sayings. They are never moved by either religious or superstitious awe. They burn with unquenchable thirst for gold, and they are so changeable and so easily moved to wrath that many times in the day they will quarrel with their comrades on no provocation, and be reconciled, having received no satisfaction. FOOTNOTES: [33] A somewhat indefinite region north and east of the Caspian Sea. [34] The modern Don, flowing into the Sea of Azof. [35] One of two constellations in the northern hemisphere, called respectively the Great Bear and the Lesser Bear, or _Ursa Major_ and _Ursa Minor_. The Great Bear is commonly known as the Dipper. [36] That is, agriculture. The Huns were even less settled in their mode of life than were the early Germans described by Tacitus. [37] A strange creature of classical mythology, represented as half man and half horse. [38] The White Sea. It is hardly to be believed that the Huns dwelt so far north. This was, of course, a matter of sheer speculation with the Romans. CHAPTER IV. THE EARLY FRANKS 6. The Deeds of Clovis as Related by Gregory of Tours The most important historical writer among the early Franks was a bishop whose full name was Georgius Florentius Gregorius, but who has commonly been known ever since his day as Gregory of Tours. The date of his birth is uncertain, but it was probably either 539 or 540. He was not a Frank, but a man of mixed Roman and Gallic descent, his parentage being such as to rank him among the nobility of his native district, Auvergne. At the age of thirty-four he was elected bishop of Tours, and this important office he held until his death in 594. During this long period of service he won distinction as an able church official, as an alert man of affairs, and as a prolific writer on ecclesiastical subjects. Among his writings, some of which have been lost, were a book on the Christian martyrs, biographies of several holy men of the Church, a commentary on the Psalms, and a treatise on the officers of the Church and their duties.