2. Being now about to march through the Black Forest, and the country lying on the banks of the Danube, he on a sudden conceived great doubt and fear whether the smallness of his force might not breed contempt, and encourage the numerous population of the district to resist his advance.

3. To prevent this, he took prudent precautions, and distributing his army into divisions, he sent some under Jovenius and Jovius to advance with all speed by the welltrodden roads of Italy; others under the command of Nevitta, the commander of the cavalry, were to take the inland road of the Tyrol. So that his army, by being scattered over various countries, might cause a belief that its numbers were immense, and might fill all nations with fear. Alexander the Great, and many other skilful generals, had done the same thing when their affairs required it.

4. But he charged them, when they set forth, to march with all speed, as if likely to meet at any moment with an enemy, and carefully to post watches and sentries and outposts at night, so as to be free from the danger of any sudden attack.

IX.

§ 1. THESE things having been arranged according to the best of his judgment, Julian adhering to the maxim by which he had often forced his way through the countries of the barbarians, and trusting in his continued successes, proceeded in his advance.

2. And when he had reached the spot at which he had been informed that the river was navigable, he embarked on board some boats which good fortune had brought thither in numbers, and passed as secretly as he could down the stream, escaping notice the more because his habits of endurance and fortitude had made him indifferent to delicate food; so that, being contented with meagre and poor fare, he did not care to approach their towns or camps, forming his conduct in this respect according to the celebrated saying of the ancient Cyrus, who, when he was introduced to a host who asked him what he wished to have got ready for supper, answered, "Nothing beyond bread, for that he hoped he should sup by the side of a river."

D. 361.]

THE ADVANCE OF JULIAN,

257

3. But Fame, which, as they say, having a thousand tongues, always exaggerates the truth, at this time spread abroad a report among all the tribes of Illyricum that Julian, having overthrown a number of kings and nations in Gaul, was coming on flushed with success and with a numerous army.

4. Jovinus, the prefect of the prætorium, being alarmed at this rumour, fled in haste, as if from a foreign enemy; and going by the public conveyances with frequent relays, he crossed the Julian Alps, taking with him also Florentius the prefect.

5. But Count Lucillianus, who at that time had the command of the army in these districts, being at Sirmium, and having received some slight intelligence of Julian's movements, collected the soldiers whom the emergency gave time for being quickly called from their several stations, and proposed to resist his advance.

6. Julian, however, like a firebrand or torch once kindled, hastened quickly to his object; and when, at the waning of the moon, he had reached Bonmunster, which is about nineteen miles from Sirmium,' and when, therefore, the main part of the night was dark, he unexpectedly quitted his boats, and at once sent forward Dagalaiphus with his light troops to summon Lucillianus to his presence, and to drag him before him if he resisted.

7. He was asleep, and when he was awakened by the violence of this uproar, and saw himself surrounded by a crowd of strangers, perceiving the state of the case, and being filled with awe at the name of the emperor, he obeyed his orders, though sadly against his will. And though commander of the cavalry, a little while before proud and fierce, he now obeyed the will of another, and mounting a horse which was brought him on a sudden, he was led before Julian as an ignoble prisoner, and from fear was hardly able to collect his senses.

8. But as soon as he saw the emperor, and was relieved by receiving permission to offer his salutations to his purple robe, he recovered his courage, and feeling safe said, "You have been incautious and rash, O emperor, to trust yourself with but a few troops in the country of another." But Julian, with a sarcastic smile, replied, "Keep these prudent

1 Sirmium was very near the existing town of Peterwaradin.

speeches for Constantius. I offered you the ensign of my royal rank to ease you of your fears, and not to take you for my counsellor."

X.

§ 1. So after he had got rid of Lucillianus, thinking no further delay or hesitation admissible, being bold and confident in all emergencies, and on the way, as he presumed, to a city inclined to surrender, he marched on with great speed. When he came near the suburbs, which are very large and much extended, a vast crowd of soldiers and of every class of the population came forth to meet him with lights and flowers and auspicious prayers, and after saluting him as emperor and lord, conducted him to the palace.

2. He, pleased at these favourable omens, and conceiving therefrom a sanguine hope of future success, concluded. that the example of so populous and illustrious a metropolis would be followed as a guiding-star by other cities. also, and therefore on the very next day exhibited a chariot race, to the great joy of the people. On the third day, unable to brook any delay, he proceeded by the public roads, and without any resistance seized upon Succi, and appointed Nevitta governor of the place, as one whom he could trust. It is fitting that I should now explain the situation of this place Succi.

3. The summits of the mountain chains of Hemus' and Rhodope, the first of which rises up from the very banks of the Danube, and the other from the southern bank of the river Axius, ending with swelling ridges at one narrow point, separate the Illyrians and the Thracians, being on the one side near the inland Dacians and Serdica, on the other looking towards Thrace and the rich and noble city of Philippopolis. And, as if Nature had provided for bringing the surrounding nations under the dominion of the Romans, they are of such a form as to lead to this end. Affording at first only a single exit through narrow defiles, but at a later period they were opened out with roads of such size and beauty as to be passable even for waggons. Though still, when the passes have been blocked up, they

1 Now the Balkan.

A.D. 261.]

JULIAN'S LETTER TO THE SENATE.

259

have often repelled the attacks of great generals and mighty armies.

4. The part which looks to Illyricum is of a more gentle ascent, so as to be climbed almost imperceptibly; but the side opposite to Thrace is very steep and precipitous, in some places absolutely impassable, and in others hard to climb even where no one seeks to prevent it. Beneath this lofty chain a spacious level plain extends in every direction, the upper portion of it reaching even to the Julian Alps, while the lower portion of it is so open and level as to present no obstacles all the way to the straits and sea of Marmora.

5. Having arranged these matters as well as the occasion permitted, and having left there the commander of the cavalry, the emperor returned to Nissa, a considerable town, in order, without any hindrance, to settle everything in the way most suited to his interests.

6. While there he appointed Victor, an historical writer, whom he had seen at Sirmium, and whom he ordered to follow him from that city, to be consular governor of the second Pannonia; and he erected in his honour a brazen statue, as a man to be imitated for his temperance; some time after he was appointed prefect of Rome.

and

7. And now, giving the rein to loftier ideas, and believing it to be impossible to bring Constantius to terms, he wrote a speech full of bitter invectives to the senate, setting forth many charges of disgrace and vice against him. And when this harangue, Tertullus still being prefect of the city, was read in the senate, the gratitude of the nobles, as well as their splendid boldness, was very conspicuous; for they all cried out with one unanimous feeling, "We expect that you should show reverence to the author of your own great

ness.

8. Then he assailed the memory of Constantine also as an innovator and a disturber of established laws and of customs received from ancient times, accusing him of having been the first to promote barbarians to the fasces and robe of the consul. But in this respect he spoke with folly and levity, since, in the face of what he so bitterly reproved, he a very short time afterwards added to Mamertinus, as his colleague in the consulship, Nevitta, a man neither in rank, experience, or reputation at all equal

to those on whom Constantine had conferred that illustrous magistracy, but who, on the contrary, was destitute of accomplishments and somewhat rude; and what was less easy to be endured, made a cruel use of his high power.

XI.

§ 1. WHILE Julian was occupied with these and similar thoughts, and was anxious about great and important affairs, a messenger came with terrible and unexpected news of the monstrous attempts of some persons which were likely to hinder his fiery progress, unless by prompt vigilance he could crush them before they came to a head. I will briefly relate what they were.

2. Under pretence of urgent necessity, but in reality because he still suspected their fidelity to him, he had sent into Gaul two legions belonging to the army of Constantius, with a troop of archers which he had found at Sirmium. They, moving slowly, and dreading the length of the journey and the fierce and continual attacks of the hostile Germans, planned a mutiny, being prompted and encouraged by Nigrinus, a tribune of a squadron of cavalry, a native of Mesopotamia. And having arranged the matter in secret conferences, and kept it close in profound silence, when they arrived at Aquileia, a city important from its situation and wealth, and fortified with strong walls, they suddenly closed the gates in a hostile manner, the native population, by whom the name of Constantius was still beloved, increasing the confusion and the terror. And having blockaded all the approaches, and armed the towers and battlements, they prepared measures to encounter the impending struggle, being in the mean time free and unrestrained. By this daring conduct they roused the Italian natives of the district to espouse the side of Constantius, who was still alive.

XII.

§ 1. WHEN Julian heard of this transaction, being then at Nissa, as he feared nothing unfriendly in his rear, and had read and heard that this city, though often besieged,