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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 3, 33. Of Asteriolus and Secundinus
Asteriolus and Secundinus were at this time in great place about the king; both of them were well-educated men and versed in rhetoric. Secundinus had several times gone as the king’s envoy to the emperor, which made him arrogant and often guilty of outrageous behaviour. This caused a bitter quarrel to arise between the two men, which went so far that, offensive words no more sufficing, they came to fisticuffs. The king appeased their wrath; but while Secundinus was still swollen and sore from the blows which he had received, a fresh feud began between them. The king espoused the cause of Secundinus, and abandoned to his tender mercies Asteriolus, who was deeply humiliated and deprived of his honours; though these were restored by the influence of Queen Wisigard. Upon her death, Secundinus rose once more against him, and put him to death. He left a son, who, growing up to man’s estate, prepared to avenge his father’s wrongs. Secundinus, panic-stricken, fled before him from one country estate to another; but seeing his pursuer hard upon him and escape impossible, he is said to have killed himself by taking poison, that he might not fall into the power of his enemy.