ousand of the Frankish army, besides a
large number of women and children."

When it was known that Clovis had been baptized by St. Remi, and with
what striking circumstance, great was the satisfaction among the
Catholics. The chief Burgundian prelate, Avitus, bishop of Vienne, wrote
to the Frankish King: "Your faith is our victory; in choosing for you
and yours, you have pronounced for all; divine Providence hath given you
as arbiter to our age. Greece can boast of having a sovereign of our
persuasion; but she is no longer alone in possession of this precious
gift; the rest of the world doth share her light." Pope Anastasius
hastened to express his joy to Clovis. "The Church, our common mother,"
he wrote, "rejoiceth to have born unto God so great a king. Continue,
glorious and illustrious son, to cheer the heart of this tender mother;
be a column of iron to support her, and she in her turn will give thee
victory over all thine enemies."

Clovis was not a man to omit turning his Catholic popularity to the
account of his ambition. At the very time when he was receiving these
testimonies of good-will from the heads of the Church he learned that
Gondebaud, disquieted, no doubt, at the conversion of his powerful
neighbor, had just made a vain attempt, at a conference held at Lyons,
to reconcile in his kingdom the Catholics and the Arians. Clovis
considered the moment favorable to his projects of aggrandizement at the
expense of the Burgundian King; he fomented the dissensions which
already prevailed between Gondebaud and his brother Godegisile, assured
to himself the latter's complicity, and suddenly entered Burgundy with
his army. Gondebaud, betrayed and beaten at the first encounter at
Dijon, fled to the south of his kingdom, and went and shut himself up in
Avignon. Clovis pursued, and besieged him there. Gondebaud in great
alarm asked counsel of his Roman confidant Aridius, who had but lately
foretold to him what the marriage of his niece Clotilde would bring upon
him. "On every side," said the King, "I am encompassed by perils, and I
know not what to do. Lo! here be these barbarians come upon us to slay
us and destroy the land." "To escape death," answered Aridius, "thou
must appease the ferocity of this man. Now, if it please thee, I will
feign to fly from thee and go over to him. So soon as I shall be with
him, I will so do that he ruin neither thee nor the land. Only have thou
care to perform whatsoever I shall ask