re read to the old man,
but he stood, listening and not answering a single word, no doubt in
his disdain. The emperor caused the brave old man's eyes to be put
out, and he was stripped of all his possessions. It is said that he
stood in front of his former palace with a wooden dish for alms.
"_Date obolum Belisario_," give a penny to Belisarius, has become a
proverb. However, Justinian seems to have repented, and he restored to
Belisarius his wealth and his palace, in which, shortly after, the old
man died on the 13th of March, 565, only eight months before his
ungrateful sovereign.

[Signature of the author.]

[Illustration: Belisarius receiving alms.]

CHARLES MARTEL

By HENRY G. HEWLETT

(694-741)

[Illustration: Fight on horses. [TN]]

Toward the close of the seventh century of our era, the kingdom which
we now name France was peopled by a half-barbarous, professedly
Christian race, of mixed tribes, the ruling portion of which
originally sprang from Germany. The Frankish kingdom, as it was
called, had risen upon the ruins of the Roman Empire, and for about a
century was remarkable for the ability of its sovereigns. But after
the death of King Dagobert I., in A.D. 638, the royal family seemed
devoid of any mental or moral strength whatsoever, and the kings of
this line have been always known as _faineants_--weak idlers. The real
power of the government was held by a succession of chief officers of
the household, styled "Mayors of the Palace." The most distinguished
of these noblemen was Pepin d'Heristal, who, from the year 688 to his
death in 715, was virtually king of France--the nominal sovereigns
being but puppets in his hands. The country was then divided into two
great districts--the eastern, known as Austrasia; and the western, as
Neustria. At his death Pepin left the reins of government to his
grandson, Theodebald, an infant under the guardianship of his mother,
Plectrude. The lawful king, Dagobert III., was also a child. It was
clear that a fierce race of warriors required a strong arm to keep
them in check, and could not long brook an infant's sway. The
Neustrians commenced the revolt by expelling Theodebald and his
mother, and choosing for their ruler a Mayor of the Palace named
Raginfred. They then attacked Austrasia, which had not joined in the
revolt. It was without fitting defences, and had no able man to direct
its resistance against this assault. What course should the
Austrasians t