The Tyrians, Africans, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, and Saracens, have, one after the other, been masters of Spain, yet the name of Spain exists. Germany has also always preserved its own name; it has merely joined that of Allemagne to it, which appellation1 it did not receive from any conqueror2.
The Gauls are almost the only people in the west who have lost their name. This name was originally Walch or Welsh; the Romans always substituted a G for the W, which is barbarous: of “Welsh” they made Galli, Gallia. They distinguished3 the Celtic, the Belgic, and the Aquitanic Gaul, each of which spoke4 a different jargon5.
Who were, and whence came these Franks, who in such small numbers and little time possessed6 themselves of all the Gauls, which in ten years C?sar could not entirely7 reduce? I am reading an author who commences by these words: “The Franks from whom we descend8.” . . . . Ha! my friend, who has told you that you descend in a right line from a Frank? Clovodic, whom we call Clovis, probably had not more than twenty thousand men, badly clothed and armed, when he subjugated9 about eight or ten millions of Welsh or Gauls, held in servitude by three or four Roman legions. We have not a single family in France which can furnish, I do not say the least proof, but the least probability, that it had its origin from a Frank.
When the pirates of the Baltic Sea came, to the number of seven or eight thousand, to give Normandy in fief, and Brittany in arrière fief, did they leave any archives by which it may be seen whether they were the fathers of all the Normans of the present day?
It has been a long time believed that the Franks came from the Trojans. Ammianus Marcellinus, who lived in the fourth century, says: “According to several ancient writers, troops of fugitive10 Trojans established themselves on the borders of the Rhine, then a desert.” As to ?neas, he might easily have sought an asylum11 at the extremity12 of the Mediterranean13, but Francus, the son of Hector, had too far to travel to go towards Düsseldorf, Worms, Solm, Ehrenbreitstein.
Fredegarius doubts not that the Franks at first retired14 into Macedonia, and carried arms under Alexander, after having fought under Priam; on which alleged15 facts the monk16 Otfried compliments the emperor, Louis the German.
The geographer17 of Ravenna, less fabulous18, assigns the first habitation of the horde19 of Franks among the Cimbrians, beyond the Elbe, towards the Baltic Sea. These Franks might well be some remains20 of these barbarian21 Cimbri defeated by Marius; and the learned Leibnitz is of this opinion.
It is very certain that, in the time of Constantine, beyond the Rhine, there were hordes22 of Franks or Sicambri, who lived by pillage23. They assembled under bandit captains, chiefs whom historians have had the folly24 to call kings. Constantine himself pursued them to their haunts, caused several to be hanged, and others to be delivered to wild beasts, in the amphitheatre of Trier, for his amusement. Two of their pretended kings perished in this manner, at which the panegyrists of Constantine are in ecstasies25.
The Salic law, written, it is said, by these barbarians26, is one of the absurd chimeras27 with which we have always been pestered28. It would be very strange if the Franks had written such a considerable code in their marshes29, and the French had not any written usages until the close of the reign30 of Charles VII. It might as well be said that the Algonquins and Chicachas had written laws. Men are never governed by authentic31 laws, consigned32 to public records, until they have been assembled into cities, and have a regular police, archives, and all that characterizes a civilized33 nation. When you find a code in a nation which was barbarous at the time it was written, who lived upon rapine and pillage, and which had not a walled town, you may be sure that this code is a pretended one, which has been made in much later times. Fallacies and suppositions never obliterate34 this truth from the minds of the wise.
What is more ridiculous still, this Salic law has been given to us in Latin; as if savages35, wandering beyond the Rhine, had learnt the Latin language. It is supposed to have been first digested by Clovis, and it ran thus: “While the illustrious nation of the Franks was still considered barbarous, the heads of this nation dictated36 the Salic law. They chose among themselves four chiefs, Visogast, Bodogast, Sologast, Vindogast”— taking, according to La Fontaine’s fable37, the names of places for those of men:
Notre magot prit pour ce coup38
Le nom d’un port pour un nom d’homme.
These names are those of some Frank cantons in the province of Worms. Whatever may be the epoch39 in which the customs denominated the Salic law were constructed on an ancient tradition, it is very clear that the Franks were not great legislators.
What is the original meaning of the word “Frank?” That is a question of which we know nothing, and which above a hundred authors have endeavored to find out. What is the meaning of Hun, Alan, Goth, Welsh, Picard? And what do these words signify?
Were the armies of Clovis all composed of Franks? It does not appear so. Childeric the Frank had made inroads as far as Tournay. It is said that Clovis was the son of Childeric, and Queen Bazine, the wife of King Bazin. Now Bazin and Bazine are assuredly not German names, and we have never seen the least proof that Clovis was their son. All the German cantons elected their chiefs, and the province of Franks had no doubt elected Clovis as they had done his father. He made his expedition against the Gauls, as all the other barbarians had undertaken theirs against the Roman Empire.
Do you really and truly believe that the Herulian Odo, surnamed Acer by the Romans, and known to us by the name of Odoacer, had only Herulians in his train, and that Genseric conducted Vandals alone into Africa? All the wretches40 without talent or profession, who have nothing to lose, do they not always join the first captain of robbers who raises the standard of destruction?
As soon as Clovis had the least success, his troops were no doubt joined by all the Belgians who panted for booty; and this army is nevertheless called the army of Franks. The expedition is very easy. The Visigoths had already invaded one-third of Gaul, and the Burgundians another. The rest submitted to Clovis. The Franks divided the land of the vanquished41, and the Welsh cultivated it.
The word “Frank” originally signified a free possessor, while the others were slaves. Hence come the words “franchise,” and “to enfranchise”—“I make you a Frank,” “I render you a free man.” Hence, francalenus, holding freely; frank aleu, frank dad, frank chamen, and so many other terms half Latin and half barbarian, which have so long composed the miserable42 patois43 spoken in France.
Hence, also, a franc in gold or silver to express the money of the king of the Franks, which did not appear until a long time after, but which reminds us of the origin of the monarchy44. We still say twenty francs, twenty livres, which signifies nothing in itself; it gives no idea of the weight or value of the money, being only a vague expression, by which ignorant people have been continually deceived, not knowing really how much they receive or how much they pay.
Charlemagne did not consider himself as a Frank; he was born in Austrasia, and spoke the German language. He was of the family of Arnold, bishop45 of Metz, preceptor to Dagobert. Now it is not probable that a man chosen for a preceptor was a Frank. He made the greatest glory of the most profound ignorance, and was acquainted only with the profession of arms. But what gives most weight to the opinion that Charlemagne regarded the Franks as strangers to him is the fourth article of one of his capitularies on his farms. “If the Franks,” said he, “commit any ravages46 on our possessions, let them be judged according to their laws.”
The Carlovingian race always passed for German: Pope Adrian IV., in his letter to the archbishops of Mentz, Cologne, and Trier, expresses himself in these remarkable47 terms: “The emperor was transferred from the Greeks to the Germans. Their king was not emperor until after he had been crowned by the pope . . . . all that the emperor possessed he held from us. And as Zacharius gave the Greek Empire to the Germans, we can give that of the Germans to the Greeks.”
However, France having been divided into eastern and western, and the eastern being Austrasia, this name of France prevailed so far, that even in the time of the Saxon emperors, the court of Constantinople always called them pretended Frank emperors, as may be seen in the letters of Bishop Luitprand, sent from Rome to Constantinople.
Of the French Nation.
When the Franks established themselves in the country of the first Welsh, which the Romans called Gallia, the nation was composed of ancient Celts or Gauls, subjugated by C?sar, Roman families who were established there, Germans who had already emigrated there, and finally of the Franks, who had rendered themselves masters of the country under their chief Clovis. While the monarchy existed, which united Gaul and Germany, all the people, from the source of the Weser to the seas of Gaul, bore the name of Franks. But when at the congress of Verdun, in 843, under Charles the Bald, Germany and Gaul were separated, the name of Franks remained to the people of western France, which alone retained the name of France.
The name of French was scarcely known until towards the tenth century. The foundation of the nation is of Gallic families, and traces of the character of the ancient Gauls have always existed.
Indeed, every people has its character, as well as every man; and this character is generally formed of all the resemblances caused by nature and custom among the inhabitants of the varieties which distinguish them. Thus French character, genius, and wit, result from that which has been common to the different provinces in the kingdom. The people of Guienne and those of Normandy differ much; there is, however, found in them the French genius, which forms a nation of these different provinces, and distinguishes them from the Indians and Germans. Climate and soil evidently imprint48 unchangeable marks on men, as well as on animals and plants. Those which depend on government, religion, and education are different. That is the knot which explains how people have lost one part of their ancient character and preserved the other. A people who formerly49 conquered half the world are no longer recognized under sacerdotal government, but the seeds of their ancient greatness of soul still exist, though hidden beneath weakness.
In the same manner the barbarous government of the Turks has enervated50 the Egyptians and the Greeks, without having been able to destroy the original character or temper of their minds.
The present character of the French is the same as C?sar ascribed to the Gauls — prompt to resolve, ardent51 to combat, impetuous in attack, and easily discouraged. C?sar, Agatius, and others say, that of all the barbarians the Gauls were the most polished. They are still in the most civilized times the model of politeness to all their neighbors, though they occasionally discover the remains of their levity52, petulance53, and barbarity.
The inhabitants of the coasts of France were always good seamen54; the people of Guienne always compose the best infantry55; “those who inhabit the provinces of Blois and Tours are not,” says Tasso, “robust and indefatigable56, but bland57 and gentle, like the land which they inhabit.”
. . . . Gente robusta, e faticosa,
La terra molle, e lieta, e dilettosa
Simili a se gli abitator, produce.
But how can we reconcile the character of the Parisians of our day with that which the Emperor Julian, the first of princes and men after Marcus Aurelius, gave to the Parisians of his time? —“I love this people,” says he in his “Misopogon,” “because they are serious and severe like myself.” This seriousness, which seems at present banished58 from an immense city become the centre of pleasure, then reigned59 in a little town destitute60 of amusements: in this respect the spirit of the Parisians has changed notwithstanding the climate.
The affluence61, opulence62, and idleness of the people who may occupy themselves with pleasures and the arts, and not with the government, have given a new turn of mind to a whole nation.
Further, how is it to be explained by what degrees this people have passed from the fierceness which characterized them in the time of King John, Charles VI., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV., to the soft facility of manners for which they are now the admiration63 of Europe? It is that the storms of government and religion forced constitutional vivacity64 into paroxysms of faction65 and fanaticism66; and that this same vivacity, which always will exist, has at present no object but the pleasures of society. The Parisian is impetuous in his pleasures as he formerly was in his fierceness. The original character which is caused by the climate is always the same. If at present he cultivates the arts, of which he was so long deprived, it is not that he has another mind, since he has not other organs; but it is that he has more relief, and this relief has not been created by himself, as by the Greeks and Florentines, among whom the arts flourished like the natural fruits of their soil. The Frenchman has only received them, but having happily cultivated and adopted these exotics, he has almost perfected them.
The French government was originally that of all the northern nations — of all those whose policy was regulated in general assemblies of the nation. Kings were the chief of these assemblies; and this was almost the only administration of the French in the first two generations, before Charles the Simple.
When the monarchy was dismembered, in the decline of the Carlovingian race, when the kingdom of Arles arose, and the provinces were occupied by vassals67 little dependent on the crown, the name of French was more restricted. Under Hugh Capet, Henry, and Philip, the people on this side the Loire only, were called French. There was then seen a great diversity of manners and of laws in the provinces held from the crown of France. The particular lords who became the masters of these provinces introduced new customs into their new states. A Breton and a Fleming have at present some conformity68, notwithstanding the difference of their character, which they hold from the sun and the climate, but originally there was not the least similitude between them.
It is only since the time of Francis I. that there has been any uniformity in manners and customs. The court, at this time, first began to serve for a model to the United Provinces; but in general, impetuosity in war, and a lax discipline, always formed the predominant character of the nation.
Gallantry and politeness began to distinguish the French under Francis I. Manners became odious69 after the death of Francis II. However, in the midst of their horrors, there was always a politeness at court which the Germans and English endeavored to imitate. The rest of Europe, in aiming to resemble the French, were already jealous of them. A character in one of Shakespeare’s comedies says that it is difficult to be polite without having been at the court of France.
Though the nation has been taxed with frivolity70 by C?sar, and by all neighboring nations, yet this kingdom, so long dismembered, and so often ready to sink, is united and sustained principally by the wisdom of its negotiations71, address, and patience; but above all, by the divisions of Germany and England. Brittany alone has been united to the kingdom by a marriage; Burgundy by right of fee, and by the ability of Louis XI.; Dauphiny by a donation, which was the fruit of policy; the county of Toulouse by a grant, maintained by an army; Provence by money. One treaty of peace has given Alsace, another Lorraine. The English have been driven from France, notwithstanding the most signal victories, because the kings of France have known how to temporize72, and profit on all favorable occasions; — all which proves, that if the French youth are frivolous73, the men of riper age, who govern it, have always been wise. Even at present the magistracy are severe in manners, as in the time of the Emperor Julian. If the first successes in Italy, in the time of Charles VIII., were owing to the warlike impetuosity of the nation, the disgraces which followed them were caused by the blindness of a court which was composed of young men alone. Francis I. was only unfortunate in his youth, when all was governed by favorites of his own age, and he rendered his kingdom more flourishing at a more advanced age.
The French have always used the same arms as their neighbors, and have nearly the same discipline in war, but were the first who discarded the lance and pike. The battle of Ivry discouraged the use of lances, which were soon abolished, and under Louis XIV. pikes were also discontinued. They wore tunics74 and robes until the sixteenth century. Under Louis the Young they left off the custom of letting the beards grow, and retook to it under Francis I. Only under Louis XIV. did they begin to shave the entire face. Their dress is continually changing, and at the end of each century the French might take the portraits of their grandfathers for those of foreigners.
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1
appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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geographer
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| n.地理学者 | |
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fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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ecstasies
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| 狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 )； 出神； 入迷； 迷幻药 | |
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barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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chimeras
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| n.（由几种动物的各部分构成的）假想的怪兽( chimera的名词复数 )；不可能实现的想法；幻想；妄想 | |
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28
pestered
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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patois
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| n.方言；混合语 | |
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monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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50
enervated
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| adj.衰弱的，无力的v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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52
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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petulance
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| n.发脾气，生气，易怒，暴躁，性急 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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55
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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56
indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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affluence
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| n.充裕，富足 | |
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opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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67
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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70
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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71
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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72
temporize
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| v.顺应时势；拖延 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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74
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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