The decline of the French monarchy invited the attack of these insatiate fanatics. The
descendants of Clovis had lost the inheritance of his martial and ferocious spirit; and their
misfortune or demerit has affixed the epithet of "lazy" to the last kings of the Merovingian race.
They ascended the throne without power, and sunk into the grave without a name .... The
vineyards of Gascony and the city of Bourdeaux were possessed by the sovereign of Damascus
and Samarcand; and the south of France, from the mouth of the Garonne to that of the Rhone,
assumed the manners and religion of Arabia. But these narrow limits were scorned by the spirit of
Abdalraman, or Abderame, who had been restored by the caliph Hashem to the wishes of the
soldiers and people of Spain. That veteran and daring commander adjudged to the obedience of
the prophet whatever yet remained of France or of Europe; and prepared to execute the
sentence, at the head of a formidable host in the full confidence of surmounting all opposition
either of nature or of man.
EDWARD GIBBON, THE DECLINE
AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1776-1788)