CHAP. towns and villages, were pillaged, and for the XIX. most part reduced to afhes. The barbarians of Germany, ftill faithful to the maxims of their ancestors, abhorred the confinement of walls, to which they applied the odious names of prisons and fepulchres; and fixing their independent habitations on the banks of rivers, the Rhine, the Mofelle, and the Meufe, they fecured themselves against the danger of a furprise, by a rude and hasty fortification of large trees, which were felled and thrown across the roads. The Alemanni were established in the modern countries of Al face and Lorraine; the Franks occupied the ifland of the Batavians, together with an extenfive diftrict of Brabant, which was then known by the appellation of Toxandrias, and may deferve to be confidered, as the original feat of their Gallic monarchy. From the fources, to the mouth, of the Rhine, the Conquefts of the Germans extended above forty miles to the west of that river over a country peopled by colonies of their own 65 Ammianus (xvi. 8.). This name feems to be derived from the Toxandri of Pliny, and very frequently occurs in the hiftories of the middle age. Toxandria was a country of woods and moraffes, which extended from the neighbourhood of Tongres to the conflux of the Vahal and the Rhine. See Valefius, Notit. Galliar. p. 558. 66 The paradox of P. Danies, that the Franks never obtained any permanent fettlement on this fide of the Rhine before the time of Clovis, is refuted with much learning and good fenfe by M. Biet, who has proved, by a chain of evidence, their uninterrupted poffeffion of Toxandria one hundred and thirty years before the acceffion of Clovis. The Differtation of M. Biet was crowned by the Academy of Soiffons, in the year 1736, and feems to have been justly preferred to the difcourfe of his more celebrated competitor, the Abbe le Boeuf, an antiquarian, whofe name was happily expreffive of his talents. name name and nation; and the fcene of their de- CHAP. vaftations was three times more extenfive than XIX. that of their conquefts. At a ftill greater distance the open towns of Gaul were deferted, and the inhabitants of the fortified cities, who trufted to their strength and vigilance, were obliged to content themselves with fuch fupplies of corn as they could raise on the vacant land within the inclosure of their walls. The diminished legions, deftitute of pay and provifions, of arms and difcipline, trembled at the approach, and even at the name, of the Barbarians. of Julian, Under these melancholy circumstances, an un- Conduct experienced youth was appointed to fave and to govern the provinces of Gaul, or rather, as he expreffes it himself, to exhibit the vain image of Imperial greatness. The retired fcholaftic education of Julian, in which he had been more converfant 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 fome military exercise which it was neceffary for him to learn, he exclaimed with a figh, "O Plato, "Plato, what a task for a philofopher!" Yet even this fpeculative philofophy, which men of bufinefs are tog apt to defpife, had filled the mind of Julian with the nobleft precepts, and the most fhining examples; had animated him with the love of virtue, the defire of fame, and the contempt of death. The habits of temperance recommended in the fchools, are still more effen P 4 ઃઃ tial CHA P. tial in the fevere difcipline of a camp. The XIX. fimple wants of nature regulated the measure of his food and fleep. Rejecting with disdain the delicacies provided for his table, he fatisfied his appetite with the coarfe and common fare which was allotted to the meaneft foldiers. During the rigour of a Gallic winter he never fuffered a fire in his bed-chamber; and after a fhort and interrupted slumber, he frequently rofe in the middle of the night from a carpet fpread on the floor, to dispatch any urgent business, to vifit his rounds, or to steal a few moments for the profecution of his favourite ftudies 67. The precepts of eloquence, which he had hitherto practifed on fancied topics of declamation, were more usefully applied to excite or to affuage the paffions of an armed multitude: and although Julian, from his early habits of converfation and literature, was more familiarly acquainted with the beauties of the Greek language, he had attained a competent knowledge of the Latin tongue 6, Since Julian was not originally defigned for the character of a legiflator, or a judge, it is probable that the civil jurifprudence of the Romans had not engaged any confiderable fhare of his attention: but he 63 67 The private life of Julian in Gaul, and the fevere difcipline which he embraced, are difplayed by Ammianus (xvi. 5.), who profefles to praife, and by Julian himself, who affects to ridicule (Mefo pogon, p. 340.). a conduct, which, in a prince of the houfe of Conftantine, might justly excite the furprise of mankind. 68 Aderat Latine quoque differenti fufficiens fermo. Ammianus," xvi. 5. But Julian, educated in the fchools of Greece, always confidered the language of the Romans as a foreign and popular dialect, which he might ufe on neceflary occafions, derived 228 XIX. derived from his philofophic ftudies an inflexible cHAP. campaign Immediately after Julian had received the His firft purple at Milan, he was fent into Gaul, with a in Gaul, feeble retinue of three hundred and fixty foldiers. A.D. 356. At Vienna, where he paffed a painful and anxious winter, in the hands of those minifters to whom Conftantius had entrusted the direction of his conduct, the Cæfar was informed of the fiege and 69 We are ignorant of the actual office of this excellent minifter whom Julian afterwards created præfect of Gaul. Salluft was speedily recalled by the jealoufy of the emperor; and we may ftill read a fenfible but pedantic difcourfe (p. 240—252.), in which Julian deplores the lofs of fo valuable a friend, to whom he acknowledges himfelf indebted for his reputation. See La Bleterie, Preface à la Vie de Jovien, p. 20, deliverance CHA P. deliverance of Autun. That large and ancient XIX. city, protected only by a ruined wall and pufillanimous garrifon, was faved by the generous refolution of a few veterans, who refumed 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 fignalizing his courage. At the head of a fmall body of archers, and heavy cavalry, he preferred the shorter but the more dangerous of two roads; and fometimes eluding, and fometimes refifting the attacks of the Barbarians, who were mafters of the field, he arrived with honour and fafety at the camp near Rheims, where the Roman troops had been ordered to affemble. The afpect of their young prince revived the drooping spirit of the foldiers, and they marched from Rheims in fearch of the enemy, with a confidence which had almost proved fatal to them. The Alemanni, familiarized to the knowledge of the country, fecretly collected their fcattered forces, and feizing the opportunity of a dark and rainy day, poured with unexpected fury on the rear-guard of the Romans. Before the inevitable diforder could be remedied, two legions were deftroyed; and Julian was taught by experience, that caution and vigilance are the most important leffons of the art of war. In a fecond and more fuccefsful action, he recovered and eftablished his military fame; but as the agility of the Barbarians faved them from the purfuit, his victory was neither bloody nor decifive. He ad. vanced, however, to the banks of the Rhine, |