An Etcher's Voyage of Discovery. 283 



gundians ; and then by Attila, who massacred the inhab- 

 itants and reduced the whole place to ashes. Childebert 

 and Clotaire ruined the city on the flight of Godmar. 

 The Saracens sacked Autun ; the Normans sacked it in 

 886, and a few years later Rollo pillaged it again. After 

 the battle of Poictiers the English came and burned part 

 of the city. Admiral Coligny came and burned a pri- 

 ory and the palace of an abbot, pillaging the abbey. 

 Towards the end of the sixteenth century Autun was 

 beseiged by the Marshal Daumont, and her archives 

 used for gun-wadding. 



There are great incidents in her history : the martyr- 

 dom of St. Symphorien, the visit of Bishop Proculus to 

 Attila. The reader may remember the great picture by 

 Ingres, of the young Symphorien led by the Roman 

 lictors to execution, his mother encouraging him from 

 the wall. And if Symphorien sacrificed himself for his 

 faith, Proculus did the same for his fellow-citizens. He 

 went to Attila's camp to entreat him to spare the city, 

 and Attila beheaded him. 



A memorable circumstance, in another way, was the 

 visit of Constantine to Autun. Constantine had raised 

 the city from ruin and despair ; rebuilt her edifices, re- 

 established her schools. Finally he came in person with 

 his court. The expression of the people's gratitude 

 moved him to tears. He forgave them five whole years 

 of taxes. 



The saddest history connected with the city is that of 

 poor Queen Brunehault, early in the seventh century. 

 She wished to place her grandson (she had four) on the 



