Gaul had been Latinized and Christianized.

Now one more thing was needed to prepare her for a great future.

Her fibre was to be toughened by the infusion of a stronger race.

Julius Caesar had shaken her into submission, and Rome had chastised her into decency of behavior and speech, but as her manners improved her native vigor declined.

She took kindly to Roman luxury and effeminacy, and could no longer have thundered at the gates of her neighbors demanding "land." The despotism of a perishing Roman Empire had become intolerable; and the thoughts of an overtaxed and enslaved people turned naturally to the Franks.