name of Sarmaticus from the acclamations of his victorious army."

The Persian negotiation, A.D. 358.

proach of Constantius, the Limigantes tried the efficacy of prayers, of fraud, and of arms; but he sternly rejected their supplications, defeated their rude strata- While the Roman emperor and the gems, and repelled with skill and firmness the efforts Persian monarch, at the distance of three of their irregular valour. One of their most warlike thousand miles, defended their extreme tribes, established in a small island towards the con- limits against the barbarians of the Danube and of the flux of the Teyss and the Danube, consented to pass Oxus, their intermediate frontier experienced the vicisthe river with the intention of surprising the emperor situdes of a languid war, and a precarious truce. Two during the security of an amicable conference. They of the eastern ministers of Constantius, the prætorian soon became the victims of the perfidy which they me- præfect Musonian, whose abilities were disgraced by ditated. Encompassed on every side, trampled down the want of truth and integrity, and Cassian, duke of by the cavalry, slaughtered by the swords of the le-Mesopotamia, a hardy and veteran soldier, opened a gions, they disdained to ask for mercy; and with an secret negotiation with the satrap Tamsapor. These undaunted countenance still grasped their weapons in overtures of peace, translated into the servile and flatthe agonies of death. After this victory a considerable tering language of Asia, were transmitted to the camp body of Romans was landed on the opposite banks of of the great king; who resolved to signify, by an amthe Danube; the Taifale, a Gothic tribe engaged in the bassador, the terms which he was inclined to grant to service of the empire, invaded the Limigantes on the the suppliant Romans. Narses, whom he invested with side of the Teyss; and their former masters, the free that character, was honourably received in his passage Sarmatians, animated by hope and revenge, penetrated through Antioch and Constantinople: he reached Sirthrough the hilly country into the heart of their ancient mium after a long journey, and, at his first audience, possessions. A general conflagration revealed the huts respectfully unfolded the silken veil which covered the of the barbarians, which were seated in the depth of haughty epistle of his sovereign. Sapor, king of the wilderness; and the soldier fought with confidence kings, and brother of the Sun and Moon, (such were on marshy ground, which it was dangerous for him to the lofty titles affected by oriental vanity,) expressed tread. In this extremity the bravest of the Limigantes his satisfaction that his brother, Constantius Cæsar, were resolved to die in arms, rather than to yield: but had been taught wisdom by adversity. As the lawful the milder sentiment, enforced by the authority of their successor of Darius Hystaspes, Sapor asserted, that elders, at length prevailed; and the suppliant crowd, the river Strymon, in Macedonia, was the true and anfollowed by their wives and children, repaired to the cient boundary of his empire; declaring, however, that imperial camp, to learn their fate from the mouth of the as an evidence of his moderation, he would content conqueror. After celebrating his own clemency, which himself with the provinces of Armenia and Mesopotawas still inclined to pardon their repeated crimes, and mia, which had been fraudulently extorted from his to spare the remnant of a guilty nation, Constantius ancestors. He alleged, that, without the restitution - assigned for the place of their exile a remote country, of these disputed countries, it was impossible to eswhere they might enjoy a safe and honourable repose. tablish any treaty on a solid and permanent basis; and The Limigantes obeyed with reluctance; but before he arrogantly threatened, that if his ambassador returnthey could reach, at least before they could occupy, ed in vain, he was prepared to take the field in the their destined habitations, they returned to the banks spring, and to support the justice of his cause by the of the Danube, exaggerating the hardships of their strength of his invincible arms. Narses, who was situation, and requesting, with fervent professions of endowed with the most polite and amiable manners, fidelity, that the emperor would grant them an un- endeavoured, as far as was consistent with his duty, disturbed settlement within the limits of the Roman to soften the harshness of the message. Both the provinces. Instead of consulting his own experience style and substance were maturely weighed in the imof their incurable perfidy, Constantius listened to his perial council, and he was dismissed with the followflatterers, who were ready to represent the honour and ing answer: "Constantius had a right to disclaim the advantage of accepting a colony of soldiers, at a time officiousness of his ministers, who had acted without when it was much easier to obtain the pecuniary con- any specific orders from the throne: he was not, howtributions than the military service of the subjects of ever, averse to an equal and honourable treaty; but it the empire. The Limigantes were permitted to pass was highly indecent, as well as absurd, to propose to the Danube; and the emperor gave audience to the the sole and victorious emperor of the Roman world, multitude in a large plain near the modern city of Buda. the same conditions of peace which he had indignantly They surrounded the tribunal, and seemed to hear with rejected at the time when his power was contracted respect an oration full of mildness and dignity; when within the narrow limits of the east: the chance of one of the barbarians, casting his shoe into the air, ex- arms was uncertain; and Sapor should recollect, that claimed with a loud voice, Marha! Marha! a word of if the Romans had sometimes been vanquished in batdefiance, which was received as the signal of the tu- tle, they had almost always been successful in the mult. They rushed with fury to seize the person of event of the war." A few days after the departure of the emperor; his royal throne and golden couch were Narses, three ambassadors were sent to the court of pillaged by these rude hands; but the faithful defence Sapor, who was already returned from the Scythian of his guards, who died at his feet, allowed him a expedition to his ordinary residence in Ctesiphon. moment to mount a fleet horse, and to escape from the A count, a notary, and a sophist, had been selected confusion. The disgrace which had been incurred by for this important commission; and Constantius, who a treacherous surprise was soon retrieved by the num- was secretly anxious for the conclusion of the peace, bers and disciplíne of the Romans; and the combat entertained some hopes that the dignity of the first was only terminated by the extinction of the name and of these ministers, the dexterity of the second, and nation of the Limigantes. The free Sarmatians were the rhetoric of the third, would persuade the Persian reinstated in the possession of their ancient seats; and although Constantius distrusted the levity of their character, he entertained some hopes that a sense of gratitude might influence their future conduct. He had remarked the lofty stature and obsequious demeanour of Zizais, one of the noblest of their chiefs. He conferred on him the title of king; and Zizais proved that he was not unworthy to reign, by a sincere and lasting attachment to the interests of his benefactor, who, after this splendid success, received the

d

b Genti Sarmatarum magno decori confidens apud eos regem dedit. Aurelius Victor. In a pompous oration pronounced by Constantius himself, he expatiates on his own exploits with much vanity, and

some truth.

c Ammian. xvi. 9.

(Orat. iv. p. 57. edit. Petav.) takes notice of the silken covering. Idad Ammianus (xvii. 5.) transcribes the haughty letter. Themistius tius and Zonaras mention the journey of the ambassador; and Peter the Patrician (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 28.) has informed us of his con e Ammianus, xvii. 5. and Valesius ad loc. The sophist, or philosopher, (in that age these words were almost synonymous,) was

ciliating behaviour.

monarch to abate the rigour of his demands. But the indignant monarch listened with impatience to the the progress of their negotiation was opposed and de- advice of his ministers, who conjured him not to sacrifeated by the hostile arts of Antoninus, a Roman sub-fice the success of his ambition to the gratification of ject of Syria, who had fled from oppression, and was his resentment. The following day Grumbates adadmitted into the counsels of Sapor, and even to the vanced towards the gates with a select body of troops, royal table, where, according to the custom of the Per- and required the instant surrender of the city, as the sians, the most important business was frequently dis-only atonement which could be accepted for such an cussed. The dexterous fugitive promoted his interest act of rashness and insolence. His proposals were by the same conduct which gratified his revenge. He answered by a general discharge, and his only son, a incessantly urged the ambition of his new master, to beautiful and valiant youth, was pierced through the embrace the favourable opportunity when the bravest heart by a javelin, shot from one of the balista. The of the Palatine troops were employed with the emperor funeral of the prince of the Chionites was celebrated in a distant war on the Danube. He pressed Sapor to according to the rites of his country; and the grief of invade the exhausted and defenceless provinces of the his aged father was alleviated by the solemn promise east, with the numerous armies of Persia, now fortified of Sapor, that the guilty city of Amida should serve by the alliance and accession of the fiercest barbarians. as a funeral pile to expiate the death, and to perpetuate The ambassadors of Rome retired without success, and the memory, of his son. a second embassy, of a still more honourable rank, was detained in strict confinement, and threatened either

A. D. 359.

Siege of Amida.

7

The ancient city of Amid or Amida,i which sometimes assumes the provincial with death or exile. appellation of Diarbekir, is advantageously situate in Invasion of MesoThe military historian, who was him- a fertile plain, watered by the natural and artificial potamia by Sapor, self despatched to observe the army of channels of the Tigris, of which the least inconsiderthe Persians, as they were preparing able stream bends in a semicircular form round the to construct a bridge of boats over the Tigris, beheld eastern part of the city. The emperor Constantius from an eminence the plain of Assyria, as far as the had recently conferred on Amida the honour of his own edge of the horizon, covered with men, with horses, name, and the additional fortifications of strong walls and with arms. Sapor appeared in the front, conspicu- and lofty towers. It was provided with an arsenal of ous by the splendour of his purple. On his left hand, military engines, and the ordinary garrison had been rethe place of honour among the orientals, Grumbates, inforced to the amount of seven legions, when the place king of the Chionites, displayed the stern countenance was invested by the arms of Sapor. His first and most of an aged and renowned warrior. The monarch had sanguine hopes depended on the success of a general reserved a similar place on his right hand for the king assault. To the several nations which followed his of the Albanians, who led his independent tribes from standard their respective posts were assigned; the south the shores of the Caspian. The satraps and generals to the Verta; the north to the Albanians; the east to were distributed according to their several ranks, and the Chionites, inflamed with grief and indignation; the the whole army, besides the numerous train of oriental west to the Segestans, the bravest of his warriors, who luxury, consisted of more than one hundred thousand covered their front with a formidable line of Indian effective men, inured to fatigue, and selected from the elephants. The Persians, on every side, supported bravest nations of Asia. The Roman deserter, who in their efforts, and animated their courage; and the monsome measure guided the councils of Sapor, had pru-arch himself, careless of his rank and safety, displaydently advised, that, instead of wasting the summer in ed, in the prosecution of the siege, the ardour of a tedious and difficult sieges, he should march directly youthful soldier. After an obstinate combat, the barto the Euphrates, and press forwards without delay to barians were repulsed; they incessantly returned to seize the feeble and wealthy metropolis of Syria. But the charge; they were again driven back with a dreadthe Persians were no sooner advanced into the plains of ful slaughter, and two rebel legions of Gauls, who had Mesopotamia, than they discovered that every precau- been banished into the east, signalized their undiscition had been used which could retard their progress, plined courage by a nocturnal sally into the heart of or defeat their design. The inhabitants, with their cat- the Persian camp. In one of the fiercest of these retle, were secured in places of strength, the green forage peated assaults, Amida was betrayed by the treachery throughout the country was set on fire, the fords of the of a deserter, who indicated to the barbarians a seriver were fortified by sharp stakes; military engines cret and neglected staircase, scooped out of the rock were planted on the opposite banks, and a seasonable that hangs over the stream of the Tigris. Seventy swell of the waters of the Euphrates deterred the bar- chosen archers of the royal guard ascended in silence barians from attempting the ordinary passage of the to the third story of a lofty tower, which commanded bridge of Thapsacus. Their skilful guide, changing the precipice; they elevated on high the Persian banhis plan of operations, then conducted the army by a ner, the signal of confidence to the assailants, and of longer circuit, but through a fertile territory, towards dismay to the besieged; and if this devoted band could the head of the Euphrates, where the infant river is have maintained their post a few minutes longer, the reduced to a shallow and accessible stream. Sapor overlooked, with prudent disdain, the strength of Nisibis; but as he passed under the walls of Amida, he resolved to try whether the majesty of his presence would not awe the garrison into immediate submission. The sacrilegious insult of a random dart, which glanced against the royal tiara, convinced him of his error; and

Eustathius the Cappadocian, the disciple of Jamblichus, and the friend of St. Basil. Eunapius (in Vit. Edesii, p. 44-47.) fondly attributes to this philosophic ambassador the glory of enchanting the barbarian king by the persuasive charms of reason and eloquence. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 828, 1132.

f Ammian, xviii. 5, 6. 8. The decent and respectful behaviour of Antoninus towards the Roman general, sets him in a very interest. ing light; and Ammianus himself speaks of the traitor with some compassion and esteem.

This circumstance, as it is noticed by Ammianus, serves to prove the veracity of Herodotus, (1. i. c. 133.) and the permanency of the Persian manners. In every age the Persians have been addicted to intemperance, and the wines of Shiraz have triumphed over the law of Mahomet. Brisson de Regno Pers. l. il. p. 462-472. and Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. iii. p. 90. Ammian. 1. xviii. 6-8, 10.

i For the description of Amida, see D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 108. Histoire de Timur Bec, par Cherefeddin Ali, I. iii. c. 41. Ahmed Arabsiades, tom. i. p. 331. c. 43. Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. 301. Voyages d'Otter, tom. ii. p. 273. and Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 324–328. The last of these travellers, a learned operations of the siege. and accurate Dane, has given a plan of Amida, which illustrates the

Diarkebir, which is styled Amid, or Kara-Amid, in the public writings of the Turks, contains above 16,000 houses, and is the resi dence of a pasha with three tails. The epithet of Kara is derived from the blackness of the stone which composes the strong and ancient wall of Amida.

1 The operations of the siege of Amida are very minutely described by Ammianus, (xix. 1-9.) who acted an honourable part in the defence, and escaped with difficulty, when the city was stormed by the Persians.

m of these four nations, the Albanians are too well known to require any description. The Segestans inhabited a large and level country, which still preserves their name, to the south of Khorasan, and the west of Hindostan (see Geographia Nubiensis, p. 133. and D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 797.) Notwithstanding the boasted victory of Bahram, the Segestans, above fourscore years af terwards, appear as an independent nation, the ally of Persia. We are ignorant of the situation of the Verta and Chionites, but I am inclined to place them (at least the latter) towards the confines of India and Scythia. See Aminian. xvi, 9.

massacre.

Romans.

reduction of the place might have been purchased by | versally esteemed till the age of Tamerlane, an impregthe sacrifice of their lives. After Sapor had tried, nable, fortress of the independent Arabs. The defence without success, the efficacy of force and of stratagem, of the east against the arms of Sapor Conduct of the he had recourse to the slower but more certain opera- required, and would have exercised, the tions of a regular siege, in the conduct of which he was abilities of the most consummate general; and it instructed by the skill of the Roman deserters. The seemed fortunate for the state, that it was the actual trenches were opened at a convenient distance, and the province of the brave Ursicinus, who alone deserved troops destined for that service advanced under the the confidence of the soldiers and people. In the hour portable cover of strong hurdles, to fill up the ditch, of danger, Ursicinus was removed from his station by and undermine the foundations of the walls. Wooden the intrigues of the eunuchs; and the military comtowers were at the same time constructed, and moved mand of the east was bestowed, by the same influence, forward on wheels, till the soldiers, who were provided on Sabinian, a wealthy and subtle veteran, who had with every species of missile weapons, could engage attained the infirmities, without acquiring the expealmost on level ground with the troops who defended rience, of age. By a second order, which issued from the rampart. Every mode of resistance which art could the same jealous and inconstant counsels, Ursicinus suggest, or courage could execute, was employed in was again despatched to the frontier of Mesopotamia, the defence of Amida, and the works of Sapor were and condemned to sustain the labours of a war, the more than once destroyed by the fire of the Romans. honours of which had been transferred to his unworthy But the resources of a besieged city may be exhausted. rival. Sabinian fixed his indolent station under the The Persians repaired their losses, and pushed their walls of Edessa; and while he amused himself with approaches; a large breach was made by the battering- the idle parade of military exercise, and moved to the ram, and the strength of the garrison, wasted by the sound of flutes in the Pyrrhic dance, the public defence sword and by disease, yielded to the fury of the assault. was abandoned to the boldness and diligence of the The soldiers, the citizens, their wives, their children, former general of the east. But whenever Ursicinus all who had not time to escape through the opposite recommended any vigorous plan of operations; when gate, were involved by the conquerors in a promiscuous he proposed, at the head of a light and active army, to wheel round the foot of the mountains, to intercept the Of Singara, &c. But the ruin of Amida was the safety convoys of the enemy, to harass the wide extent of the A. D. 360. of the Roman provinces. As soon as Persian lines, and to relieve the distress of Amida; the the first transports of victory had subsided, Sapor was timid and envious commander alleged, that he was at leisure to reflect, that to chastise a disobedient city, restrained by his positive orders from endangering the he had lost the flower of his troops, and the most fa- safety of the troops. Amida was at length taken; its vourable season for conquest." Thirty thousand of his bravest defenders, who had escaped the sword of the veterans had fallen under the walls of Amida, during barbarians, died in the Roman camp by the hand of the the continuance of a siege which lasted seventy-three executioner: and Ursicinus himself, after supporting days: and the disappointed monarch returned to his the disgrace of a partial inquiry, was punished for the capital with affected triumph and secret mortification. misconduct of Sabinian by the loss of his military It was more than probable, that the inconstancy of his rank. But Constantius soon experienced the truth of barbarian allies was tempted to relinquish a war in the prediction which honest indignation had extorted which they had encountered such unexpected difficul- from his injured lieutenant, that as long as such maxties; and that the aged king of the Chionites, satiated ims of government were suffered to prevail, the emperor with revenge, turned away with horror from a scene of himself would find it no easy task to defend his eastaction where he had been deprived of the hope of his ern dominions from the invasion of a foreign enemy. family and nation. The strength as well as spirit of When he had subdued or pacified the barbarians of the the army with which Sapor took the field in the ensu- Danube, Constantius proceeded by slow marches into ing spring, was no longer equal to the unbounded views the east; and after he had wept over the smoking ruins of his ambition. Instead of aspiring to the conquest of Amida, he formed, with a powerful army, the siege of the east, he was obliged to content himself with the of Bezabde. The walls were shaken by the reiterated reduction of the two fortified cities of Mesopotamia, efforts of the most enormous of the battering-rams; the Singara and Bezabde; the one situate in the midst town was reduced to the last extremity; but it was still of a sandy desert, the other in a small peninsula, sur- defended by the patient and intrepid valour of the garrounded almost on every side by the deep and rapid rison, till the approach of the rainy season obliged the stream of the Tigris. Five Roman legions, of the di- emperor to raise the siege, and ingloriously to retreat minutive size to which they had been reduced in the into his winter-quarters at Antioch. The pride of age of Constantine, were made prisoners, and sent into Constantius, and the ingenuity of his courtiers, were remote captivity on the extreme confines of Persia. at a loss to discover any materials for panegyric in the After dismantling the walls of Singara, the conqueror events of the Persian war; while the glory of his abandoned that solitary and sequestered place; but he cousin Julian, to whose military command he had incarefully restored the fortifications of Bezabde, and trusted the provinces of Gaul, was proclaimed to the fixed in that important post a garrison or colony of vet-world in the simple and concise narrative of his exerans; amply supplied with every means of defence, and animated by high sentiments of honour and fidelity. Towards the close of the campaign, the arms of Sapor incurred some disgrace by an unsuccessful enterprise against Virtha, or Tecrit, a strong, or as it was uni

n Ammianus has marked the chronology of this year by three signs, which do not perfectly coincide with each other, or with the series of the history. 1. The corn was ripe when Sapor invaded Mesopotamia; "Cum jam stipula flavente turgerent;" a circumstance, which, in the latitude of Aleppo, would naturally refer us to the month of April or May. See Harmer's Observations on Scripture, vol. i. p. 41. Shaw's Travels, p. 335. edit. 4to. 2. The progress of Sapor was checked by the overflowing of the Euphrates, which generally happens in July and August. Plin. Hist. Nat. v. 21. Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, tom. i. p. 696. 3. When Sapor had taken Amida, after a siege of seventy three days, the autumn was far advanced. "Autumno præcipiti hodorumque improbo sidere extoto." To reconcile these apparent contradictions, we must allow for some delay in the Persian king, some inaccuracy in the historian, and some disorder in the seasons.

The account of these sieges is given by Ammianus, xx. 6, 7.

ploits.

In the blind fury of civil discord, Invasion of Gaul Constantius had abandoned to the bar- by the Germans. barians of Germany the countries of Gaul, which still acknowledged the authority of his rival. A numerous

p For the identity of Virtha and Tecrit, see D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 201. For the siege of that castle by Timur Bec, or Tamerlane, see Cherefeddin, 1. iii. c. 33. The Persian biog. rapher exaggerates the merit and difficulty of this exploit, which delivered the caravans of Bagdad from a formidable band of robbers. q Ammianus (xviii. 5, 6. xix. 3. xx. 2.) represents the merit and disgrace of Ursicinus with that faithful attention which a soldier owed to his general. Some partiality may be suspected, yet the whole account is consistent and probable.

r Ammian, xx. 11. Omisso vano incepto, hiematurus Antiochiæ redit in Syriam ærumnosam, perpessus et ulcerum sed et atrocia, diuque deflenda. It is thus that James Gronovius has restored an obscure passage; and he thinks that this correction alone would have deserved a new edition of his author; whose sense may now be da kly perceived. I expected some additional light from the recent abours of the learned Ernestus. (Lipsiæ, 1773.)

swarm of Franks and Alemanni were invited to cross | The simple wants of nature regulated the measure of the Rhine by presents and promises, by the hopes of his food and sleep. Rejecting with disdain the delispoil, and by a perpetual grant of all the territories cacies provided for his table, he satisfied his appetite which they should be able to subdue. But the empe- with the coarse and common fare which was allotted ror, who for a temporary service had thus imprudently to the meanest soldiers. During the rigour of a Gallic provoked the rapacious spirit of the barbarians, soon winter he never suffered a fire in his bed-chamber; discovered and lamented the difficulty of dismissing and after a short and interrupted slumber, he frequently these formidable allies, after they had tasted the rich-rose in the middle of the night from a carpet spread on ness of the Roman soil. Regardless of the nice dis- the floor, to despatch any urgent business, to visit his tinction of royalty and rebellion, these undisciplined rounds, or to steal a few moments for the prosecution of robbers treated as their natural enemies all the subjects his favourite studies. The precepts of eloquence, of the empire, who possessed any property which they which he had hitherto practised on fancied topics of were desirous of acquiring. Forty-five flourishing declamation, were more usefully applied to excite or to cities, Tongres, Cologne, Treves, Worms, Spires, assuage the passions of an armed multitude: and alStrasburg, &c. besides a far greater number of towns though Julian, from his early habits of conversation and villages, were pillaged, and for the most part re- and literature, was more familiarly acquainted with duced to ashes. The barbarians of Germany, still the beauties of the Greek language, he had attained a faithful to the maxims of their ancestors, abhorred the competent knowledge of the Latin tongue. Since confinement of walls, to which they applied the odious Julian was not originally designed for the character of names of prisons and sepulchres; and fixing their in- a legislator, or a judge, it is probable that the civil dependent habitations on the banks of rivers, the jurisprudence of the Romans had not engaged any conRhine, the Moselle, and the Meuse, they secured them- siderable share of his attention; but he derived from selves against the danger of a surprise, by a rude and his philosophic studies an inflexible regard for justice, hasty fortification of large trees, which were felled and tempered by a disposition to clemency; the knowlthrown across the roads. The Alemanni were estab- edge of the general principles of equity and evidence, lished in the modern countries of Alsace and Lorrain; and the faculty of patiently investigating the most inthe Franks occupied the island of the Batavians, to- tricate and tedious questions which could be proposed gether with an extensive district of Brabant, which for his discussion. The measures of policy, and the was then known by the appellation of Toxandria, and operations of war, must submit to the various accidents may deserve to be considered as the original seat of of circumstance and character, and the unpractised their Gallic monarchy." From the sources, to the student will often be perplexed in the application of mouth, of the Rhine, the conquests of the Germans the most perfect theory. But in the acquisition of extended above forty miles to the west of that river, this important science, Julian was assisted by the over a country peopled by colonies of their own name active vigour of his own genius, as well as by the and nation; and the scenes of their devastations was wisdom and experience of Sallust, an officer of rank, three times more extensive than that of their conquests. who soon conceived a sincere attachment for a prince At a still greater distance the open towns of Gaul were so worthy of his friendship; and whose incorruptible deserted, and the inhabitants of the fortified cities, who integrity was adorned by the talent of insinuating the trusted to their strength and vigilance, were obliged to harshest truths without wounding the delicacy of a content themselves with such supplies of corn as they royal ear. could raise on the vacant land within the enclosure of their walls. The diminished legions, destitute of pay and provisions, of arms and discipline, trembled at the approach, and even at the name, of the barbarians.

Under these melancholy circumstanConduct of Julian. ces, an unexperienced youth was appointed to save and to govern the provinces of Gaul, or rather, as he expresses it himself, to exhibit the vain image of imperial greatness. The retired scholastic education of Julian, in which he had been more conversant with books than with arms, with the dead than with the living, left him in profound ignorance of the practical arts of war and government; and when he awkwardly repeated some military exercise which it was necessary for him to learn, he exclaimed with a sigh, "O Plato, Plato, what a task for a philosopher!" Yet even this speculative philosophy, which men of business are too apt to despise, had filled the mind of Julian with the noblest precepts, and the most shining examples; had animated him with the love of virtue, the desire of fame, and the contempt of death. The habits of temperance recommended in the schools, are still more essential in the severe discipline of a camp.

The ravages of the Germans, and the distress of Gaul, may be collected from Julian himself. Orat, ad. S. P. Q. Athen. p. 277.Ammian. xv. 11. Libanius, Orat. x. Zosimus, 1. iii. p. 140. Sozomen, 1. iii. c. 1.

Ammianus (xvi. 8.) This name seems to be derived from the Toxandri of Pliny, and very frequently occurs in the histories of the middle age. Toxandria was a country of woods and morasses, which extended from the neighbourhood of Tongress to the conflux of the Vahal and the Rhine. See Valesius, Notit. Galliar. p. 558.

in Gaul, A. D. 356.

Immediately after Julian had received His first campaign the purple at Milan, he was sent into Gaul, with a feeble retinue of three hundred and sixty soldiers. At Vienna, where he passed a painful and anxious winter, in the hands of those ministers to whom Constantius had intrusted the direction of his conduct, the Cæsar was informed of the siege and deliverance of Autun. That large and ancient city, protected only by a ruined wall and pusillanimous garrison, was saved by the generous resolution of a few veterans, who resumed their arms for the defence of their country. In his march from Autun, through the heart of the Gallic provinces, Julian embraced with ardour the earliest opportunity of signalizing his courage. At the head of a small body of archers, and heavy cavalry, he preferred the shorter but the more dangerous of two roads; and sometimes eluding, and sometimes resisting, the attacks of the barbarians who were masters of the field, he arrived with honour and safety at the camp near Rheims, where the Roman troops had been ordered to assemble. The aspect of their young prince revived the drooping spirit of the soldiers, and they marched from Rheims in search of the enemy, with a confidence which had almost proved fatal to them. The Alemanni, familiar

The private life of Julian in Gaul, and the severe discipline which he embraced, are displayed by Ammianus, (xvi. 5.) who professes to praise, and by Julian himself, who affects to ridicule, (Mesopogon, p. 340.) a conduct which, in a prince of the house of Constantine, might justly excite the surprise of mankind.

y Aderat Latine quoque differenti sufficiens sermo. Ammianus, xvi. 5. But Julian, educated in the schools of Greece, always considered the language of the Romans as a foreign and popular dialect, which he might use on necessary occasions.

The paradox of P. Danies, that the Franks never obtained any permanent settlement on this side of the Rhine before the time of Clovis, is refuted with much learning and good sense by M. Biet, who has proved, by a chain of evidence, their uninterrupted posses- z We are ignorant of the actual office of this excellent minister, sion of Toxandria, one hundred and thirty years before the accession whom Julian afterwards created præfect of Gaul. Sallust was of Clovis. The Dissertation of M. Biet was crowned by the Acade- speedily recalled by the jealousy of the emperor: and we may still my of Soissons, in the year 1736, and seems to have been justly pre-read a sensible but pedantic discourse, (p. 240–252.) in which Julian ferred to the discourse of his more celebrated competitor, the Abbe le deplores the loss of so valuable a friend, to whom he acknowledges Bœuf, an antiquarian, whose name was happily expressive of his himself indebted for his reputation. See La Bleterie, Preface a la Vie de Jovien, p. 20.

talents.

ized to the knowledge of the country, secretly collected | who acted as if he had been the enemy of the Cæsar, their scattered forces, and seizing the opportunity of a and the secret ally of the barbarians. The negligence dark and rainy day, poured with unexpected fury on with which he permitted a troop of pillagers freely to the rear-guard of the Romans. Before the inevitable pass, and to return almost before the gates of his camp, disorder could be remedied, two legions were destroy-may be imputed to his want of abilities; but the treaed; and Julian was taught by experience, that caution sonable act of burning a number of boats, and a superand vigilance are the most important lessons of the art fluous stock of provisions, which would have been of of war. In a second and more successful action, he the most essential service to the army of Gaul, was an recovered and established his military fame; but as the evidence of his hostile and criminal intentions. The agility of the barbarians saved them from the pursuit, Germans despised an enemy who appeared destitute his victory was neither bloody nor decisive. He ad- either of power or of inclination to offend them; and vanced, however, to the banks of the Rhine, surveyed the ignominious retreat of Barbatio deprived Julian of the ruins of Cologne, convinced himself of the diffi- the expected support; and left him to extricate himculties of the war, and retreated on the approach of self from a hazardous situation, where he could neither winter, discontented with the court, with his army, remain with safety, nor retire with honour.d and with his own success. The power of the enemy was yet unbroken; and the Cæsar had no sooner separated his troops and fixed his own quarters at Sens, in the centre of Gaul, than he was surrounded and besieged by a numerous host of Germans. Reduced in this extremity to the resources of his own mind, he displayed a prudent intrepidity which compensated for all the deficiencies of the place and garrison; and the barbarians, at the end of thirty days, were obliged to retire with disappointed rage.

campaign, A. D. 357.

Battle of Stras

As soon as they were delivered from the fears of invasion, the Alemanni burg, prepared to chastise the Roman youth, A. D. 357. Aug. who presumed to dispute the possession of that country, which they claimed as their own by the right of conquest and of treaties. They employed three days, and as many nights, in transporting over the Rhine their military powers. The fierce Chnodomar, shaking the ponderous javelin, which he had victoriously wielded against the brother of Magnentius, led the van His second The conscious pride of Julian, who of the barbarians, and moderated by his experience the was indebted only to his sword for this martial ardour which his example inspired. He was signal deliverance, was imbittered by followed by six other kings, by ten princes of regal the reflection, that he was abandoned, betrayed, and extraction, by a long train of high-spirited nobles, and perhaps devoted to destruction, by those who were by thirty-five thousand of the bravest warriors of the bound to assist him by every tie of honour and fidelity. tribes of Germany. The confidence derived from the Marcellus, master-general of the cavalry in Gaul, inter-view of their own strength, was increased by the intelpreting too strictly the jealous orders of the court, beheld with supine indifference the distress of Julian, and had restrained the troops under his command from marching to the relief of Sens. If the Cæsar had dissembled in silence so dangerous an insult, his person and authority would have been exposed to the contempt of the world; and if an action so criminal had been suffered to pass with impunity, the emperor would have confirmed the suspicions, which received a very specious colour from his past conduct towards the princes of the Flavian family. Marcellus was recalled, and gently dismissed from his office. In his room Severus was appointed general of the cavalry; an experienced soldier, of approved courage and fidelity, who could advise with respect and execute with zeal; and who submitted, without reluctance, to the supreme command which Julian, by the interest of his patroness Eusebia, at length obtained over the armies of Gaul. A very judicious plan of operations was adopted for the approaching campaign. Julian himself, at the head of the remains of the veteran bands, and of some new levies which he had been permitted to form, boldly penetrated into the centre of the German cantonments, and carefully re-established the fortifications of Saverne, in an advantageous post, which would either check the incursions, or intercept the retreat, of the enemy. At the same time Barbatio, general of the infantry, advanced from Milan with an army of thirty thousand men, and passing the mountains, prepared to throw a bridge over the Rhine, in the neighbourhood of Basil. It was reasonable to expect that the Alemanni, pressed on either side by the Roman arms, would be soon forced to evacuate the provinces of Gaul, and to hasten to the defence of their native country. But the hopes of the campaign were defeated by the incapacity, or the envy, or the secret instructions, of Barbatio;

a Ammianus (xvi. 2, 3.) appears much better satisfied with the success of this first campaign than Julian himself; who very fairly owns that he did nothing of consequence, and that he fled before the enemy.

b Ammian. xvi. 7. Libanius speaks rather more advantageously of the military talents of Marcellus, Orat. x. p. 272. And Julian insinuates, that he would not have been so easily recalled, unless he had given other reasons of offence to the court, p. 278.

e Severus, non discors, non arrogans, sed longâ militiæ frugalitate compertus; et eum rectâ præeuntem secuturus, ut doctorem morigerus miles. Ammian. xvi. 11, Zosimus, l. iii. p. 140.

ligence which they received from a deserter, that the Cæsar, with a feeble army of thirteen thousand men, occupied a post about one-and-twenty miles from their camp of Strasburg. With this inadequate force, Julian resolved to seek and to encounter the barbarian host; and the chance of a general action was preferred to the tedious and uncertain operation of separately engaging the dispersed parties of the Alemanni. The Romans marched in ose order, and in two columns, the cavalry on the right, the infantry on the left; and the day was so far spent when they appeared in sight of the enemy, that Julian was desirous of deferring the battle till the next morning, and of allowing his troops to recruit their exhausted strength by the necessary refreshments of sleep and food. Yielding, however, with some reluctance, to the clamours of the soldiers, and even to the opinion of his council, he exhorted them to justify by their valour the eager impatience, which, in case of a defeat, would be universally branded with the epithets of rashness and presumption. The trumpets sounded, the military shout was heard through the field, and the two armies rushed with equal fury to the charge. The Cæsar, who conducted in person his right wing, depended on the dexterity of his archers, and the weight of his cuirassiers. But his ranks were instantly broken by an irregular mixture of light horse and of light infant and he had the mortification of beholding the flight of six hundred of his most renowned cuirassiers. The fugitives were stopped and rallied by the presence and authority of Julian, who, careless of his own safety, threw himself before them, and urging every motive of shame and honour, led them back against the victorious enemy. The conflict between the two fines of infantry was obstinate and bloody. The Germans possessed the superiority of strength and stature, the Romans that of discipline and

On the design and failure of the co-operation between Julian and Barbatio, see Ammianus, (xvi. 11.) and Libanius, Orat. x. p. 273. e Ammianus (xvi. 12.) describes, with his inflated eloquence, the figure and character of Chnodomar. Audax et fidens ingenti robore lacertorum, ubi ardor prælii sperabatur immanis, equo spumante, sublimior, erectus in iaculum formidandæ vestitatis, armorumque nitore conspicuus: antea strenuus et miles, et utilis præter cæteros ductor. Dicentium Cæsarem superavit æquo marte congressus.

f After the battle, Julian ventured to revive the rigour of ancient discipline, by exposing these fugitivés in female apparel to the derision of the whole camp. In the next campaign, these troops nobly retrieved their honour. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 142.