Bonney— Modern Volcanoes in Central France. 243 
began to be initiated, though not with equal success, with certainly not un- 
equal zeal; and for this.reason does not even yet take flight from the terrors 
that encompass it. For it has not escaped our careful enquiry what kind of 
' prodigies those were, owing to which, at the first institution of these suppli- 
cations, the district placed by heaven in your charge was being deserted. 
For at one time the structures of the public buildings were shaken by fre- 
quent shocks of earthquakes; at another, fires often blazing were heaping 
over the tottering crests of the mountain-summits a piled-up mound of 
ashes ; at another, the awful tameness of the deer led them to place their 
portentous resting-places in the forum: when thou, at this juncture, the 
cities being thinned by the departure of the nobles and of the people, swiftly 
didst betake thyself anew (to follow) the example of the ancient Ninevites, 
lest thy despair also should blame the Divine vengeance.’ 
The next passage is found in a Homily on the Rogations, by Al- 
cimus Avitus, Archbishop of Vienne in the early part of the sixth 
century. After mentioning it as a cause for joy that these fasts, 
which had first been instituted in that city, had become so generally 
observed, he goes on to speak of the circumstances which gave rise 
to them * :— 
‘ And, indeed, I know that many among us recollect the causes of terror 
at those times. Forsooth, frequent conflagrations, continual earthquakes, 
noises by night, used to threaten something awful for, as it were, the en- 
tombment of the whole city.’ 
He next mentions the unnatural tameness of the wild animals, 
that wandered about the town: then he proceeds to comment upon 
these things :— 
“For who among frequent fires would not dread the fires of Sodom? Who - 
among the elemental war would not fear that the mountains would straight- 
way fall, or the earth open her mouth? Who, seeing (at any rate believing 
that he saw) deer, timid by nature, penetrating through the narrow gates 
to the open market-place, would not fear that the sentence of aftliction was 
impending ?’ 
Before making any remarks on these passages, it may be well to 
quote some expressions which occur in other old writers with re- 
ference to those times. 
In the ‘ Chronicon’ of Bishop Idatius we find (a.p. 451)— 
‘In Gaul were continual earthquakes, very many signs were shown in 
heaven.’ C, 28 (Hist. Francorum Script., tom. i. p. 190. Paris, 1636). 
In the year (apparently) after the Battle of Chalons (a.p. 452), we 
read that 
‘ Certain things were seen in the heavens in the regions of Gaul at Easter- 
tide. The letter of Huphronius, Bishop of Augustodunum, to Count Agrip- 
pinus, clearly mentions these.’ 
* 
‘Et quidem terrorum temporis illius causas, multos nostrum adhuc recolere 
scio: siquidem incendia crebra, terree motus assidui, nocturni sonitus, cuidam totius 
urbis funeri prodigiosum quiddam minitabantur. . . . Quis enimin erebris ignibus, 
ignes Sodomiticos non timeret? Quis trementibus elementis aut decidua culminum, 
aut disrupta terrarum imminere non crederet? Quis videns (certe videre se putans) 
pavidos naturaliter cervos per angusta portarum, usque ad fori lata penetrantes, 
non imminentem solicitudinis sententiam formidaret?’—Alcim. Avit. De Festo 
Rogat. Homel. (Monumenia S. Patrum Orthodox., tom. i. p. 1777. Bale, 1569.) 
R 2 
