35. The scepticism of the Count de Buat (Hist. des Peuples,
tom. vii. p. 539, 540) cannot be reconciled with any
principles of reason or criticism. Is not Gregory of Tours
precise and positive in his account of the destruction of
Metz? At the distance of no more than an hundred years could
he be ignorant, could the people be ignorant, of the fate of
a city, the actual residence of his sovereigns the kings of
Austrasia? The learned Count, who seems to have undertaken
the apology of Attila and the barbarians, appeals to the
false Idatius, 'parcens' civitatibus Germaniae et Galliae,
and forgets that the true Idatius had explicitly aflirmed,
plurimae civitates 'effractfae', among which he enumerates
Metz.