“Mos est civitatibus, ultro ac viritim conferre principibus, vel armentorum, vel frugum, quod pro honore acceptum, etiam necessitatibus subvenit. Gaudent praecipue finitiniarum gentium donis, quae non modo a singulis, sed publice mittuntur: electi equi, magna arma, phalerae, torquesque. Iam et pecuniam accipere docuimus.” Germ. xv. Footnote 281: “In die autem Martis campo secundum antiquam consuetudinem dona illis regibus a populo offerebantur, et ipse rex sedebat in sella regia, circumstante exercitu, et maior domus coram eo.” an. 753. Annal. Laurishamenses Minores (Pertz, Monumenta, i. 116). See other instances in Grimm’s Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, p. 245, etc. ----- Another source of the royal revenue was a share of the booty taken in war, where the king and the freemen served together. The celebrated story of Clovis and the Soissons vase[282], proves that the king received his portion by lot, as did the rest of his army; but there is no reason to doubt that his share as much exceeded that of his comrades, as his wergyld and landed possessions were greater than theirs. ----- Footnote 282: Greg. Turon. ii. 27. ----- As conservator of the public peace, the king was entitled to a portion of the fines inflicted on criminals, and the words in which Tacitus mentions this fact show that he was in this function the representative of the whole state[283]: it is a prerogative derived from his executive power. And similar to this is his right to the forfeited lands of felons, which, if they were to be forfeited, could hardly be placed in other hands than those of the king, as representative of the whole state[284]. ----- Footnote 283: “Sed et levioribus delictis, pro modo poenarum, equorum pecorumque numero convicti multantur, pars multae regi vel civitati, pars ipsi qui vindicatur vel propinquis eius exsolvitur.” Germ. xii. Footnote 284: