call forth only their violent hate, and philosophy is utterly despised. The emphasis laid on oratory makes us suspect that the truth of some of his statements rather suffers from that ‘declamationum suavitas’ which he finds in Sapaudus.[1342] But in the main he was undoubtedly right. No matter how enthusiastic the fifth-century ‘litterati’ were about letters, the stern march of economic and political events inevitably made for a decline. At the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century the Salian Franks, who were destined to conquer Gaul, were established in Toxandria in the north; and in ceasing to recognize the supremacy of Rome they slipped away from Roman civilization and from Christianity.[1343] In the south the Goths were settled in the second Aquitaine and Toulouse under their own king in 419, and the step was significant of the decentralization of the Empire. More and more the Teutonic element encroached. ‘The process of history in the Western Empire during the period which lies between the death of Alaric (410) and the fall of Romulus Augustulus (476) is toward the establishment of Teutonic Kingdoms.’[1344] However imperialistic Gaul might be, the Goths in the south-west, the Franks in the north, the Burgundians in Savoy, the Alemanni on the upper Rhine, and the Alani at Valence and Orleans in the middle years of the fifth century proved an effective barrier to the direct advance of Roman civilization. This civilization might advance, ultimately, _through_ the barbarians: but meantime there was a transition period in which the shock of nations produced confusion and darkness. Euric aspired to dominion over Gaul, and by 476 he had attained his desire. But more direct in their effect upon education than these large political movements, and swifter than the ‘barbarization’ of Latin as it passed into the Romance languages, were the invasions. Pagan and Christian alike testify to their horror. Rutilius Namatianus gives us a description of Gaul, piteously defaced by long wars, when he returned thither in 416 after having been prefect at Rome. Illa (Gallica rura) quidem longis nimium deformia bellis, sed quam grata minus, tam miseranda magis.[1345] ... iam tempus laceris post saeva incendia fundis vel pastorales aedificare casas.[1346] So terrible were the injuries inflicted that dumb objects seemed to urge him on when the violence of his lament abated: Ipsi quin etiam fontes si mittere vocem ipsaque si possent arbuta nostra loqui, cessantem iustis poterant urgere querellis.[1346] This is the description of the spectator after the event. More poignant are the words of those who actually suffered: Nos autem tanta sub tempestate malorum invalidi passim caedimur et cadimus, cumque animum patriae subiit fumantis imago et stetit ante oculos quidquid ubique perit, frangimur, immodicis et fletibus ora rigamus.[1347]