XIX. fide of the Meyn, which were plentifully ftored c H A P. with corn and cattle, felt the ravages of an invading army. The principal houses, constructed with fome imitation of Roman elegance, were confumed by the flames; and the Cæfar boldly advanced about ten miles, till his progrefs was ftopped by a dark and impenetrable foreft, undermined by fubterraneous paffages, which threatened, with fecret fnares and ambufh, every step of the affailant. The ground was already covered with fnow; and Julian, after repairing an ancient caftle which had been erected by Trajan, granted a truce of ten months to the fubmiffive Barbarians. At the expiration of the truce, Julian undertook a fecond expedition beyond the Rhine, to humble the pride of Surmar and Hortaire, two of the kings of the Alemanni, who had been prefent at the battle of Strafburg. They promifed to restore all the Roman captives who yet remained alive; and as the Cæfar had procured an exact account from the cities and villages of Gaul, of the inhabitants whom they had loft, he detected every attempt to deceive him with a degree of readiness and accuracy, which almost established the belief of his fupernatural knowledge. His third expedition was ftill more fplendid and important than the two former. The Germans had collected their military powers, and moved along the oppofite banks of the river, with a defign of destroying the bridge, and of preventing the paffage of the Romans. But this judicious plan of defence was difconcerted by a fkilful diverfion. Three hundred light armed and active foldiers 1 XIX. CHAP. were detached in forty fmall boats, to fall down the stream in filence, and to land at fome diftance from the pofts of the enemy. They executed. their orders with fo much boldnefs and celerity, that they had almost surprised the Barbarian chiefs, who returned in the fearlefs confidence of intoxication from one of their nocturnal feftivals. Without repeating the uniform and disgusting tale of flaughter and devaftation, it is fufficient to obferve, that Julian dictated his own conditions of peace to fix of the haughtieft kings of the Alemanni, three of whom were permitted to view the fevere difcipline and martial pomp of a Roman camp. Followed by twenty thoufand captives, whom he had refcued from the chains of the Barbarians, the Cæfar repaffed the Rhine, after terminating a war, the fuccefs of which has been compared to the ancient glories of the Punic and Cimbric victories. Reftores of Gaul. As foon as the valour and conduct of Julian the cities had fecured an interval of peace, he applied himfelf to a work more congenial to his humane and philofophic temper. The cities of Gaul, which had fuffered from the inroads of the Barbarians he diligently repaired; and feven important pofts, between Mentz and the mouth of the Rhine, are particularly mentioned, as having been rebuilt and fortified by the order of Julian 96. The van 86 Ammian. xviii. z. Libanius, Orat. x. p. 279, 280. Of the fe feven pofts, four are at prefent towns of fome confequence; Bingen, Andernach, Bonn, and Nuyfs. The other three, Tricefimæ, Quadriburgium, and Caftra Herculis, or Heraclea, no longer fubfit; but there is room to believe, that, on the ground of Quadriburgiu 3 XIX. quifhed Germans had fubmitted to the juft but CHA P. burgium, the Dutch have constructed the fort of Schenk, a name notes. 87 We may credit Julian himself, Orat. ad S. P. Q. Athenienfem, p. 280. who gives a very particular account of the tranfaction. Zofimus adds two hundred veffels more, 1. iii. p. 145. If we compute the 600 corn ships of Julian at only seventy tons each, they were capable of exporting 120,000 quarters (fee Arbuthnot's Weights and Measures, p. 237.); and the country which could bear fo large an exportation, muft already have attained an im proved state of agriculture. reftored XIX. CHA P. reftored a free and fecure navigation, which Conftantius had offered to purchase at the expence of his dignity, and of a tributary prefent of two thoufand pounds of filver. The emperor parfimonioufly refufed to his foldiers the fums which he granted with a lavifh and trembling hand to the Barbarians. The dexterity, as well as the firmnefs, of Julian, was put to a fevere trial, when he took the field with a difcontented army, which had already ferved two campaigns, without receiving any regular pay or any extraordinary donative $8. Civil adminiftration of Julian. A tender regard for the peace and happiness of his fubjects, was the ruling principle which directed, or feemed to direct, the adminiftration of Julian 9. He devoted the leifure of his winterquarters to the offices of civil government; and affected to affume, with more pleafure, the cha. racter of a magiftrate, than that of a general. Be fore he took the field, he devolved on the provincial governors, most of the public and private caufes which had been referred to his tribunal; but, on his return, he carefully revifed their proceedings, mitigated the rigour of the law, and pronounced a fecond judgment on the judges themselves. Superior to the laft temptation of virtuous minds, an indifcreet and intemperate zeal for juftice, he reftrained, with calmnefs and dignity, the warmth of an advocate who profe 98 The troops once broke out into a mutiny, immediately before the fecond paffage of the Rhine. Aminian. xvii. 9. 89 Ammian. xvi. 5. xviii. 1. Mamertinus in Penegyr. Vet. xi. 4. ན cuted, for extortion, the prefident of the Nar- CHAP, bonnefe province. "Who will ever be found XIX. 66 . guilty," exclaimed the vehement Delphidius, "if it be enough to deny ?"" and who," replied Julian," will ever be innocent, if it be fufficient "to affirm?" In the general adminiftration of peace and war, the intereft of the fovereign is commonly the fame as that of his people; but Conftantius would have thought himself deeply injured, if the virtues of Julian had defrauded him of any part of the tribute which he extorted from an oppreffed and exhausted country. The prince who was invested with the enfigns of royalty, might fometimes prefume to correct the rapacious infolence of the inferior agents; to expose their corrupt arts, and to introduce an equal and easier mode of collection. But the management of the finances was more safely entrusted to Florentius, Prætorian præfect of Gaul, an effeminate tyrant, incapable of pity or remorfe; and the haughty minifter complained of the most decent and gentle oppofition, while Julian himself was rather inclined to cenfure the weakness of his own behaviour. The Cæfar had rejected with abhorrence, a mandate for the levy of an extraordinary tax; a new fuperdiction, which the præfect had offered for his fignature; and the faithful picture of the public mifery, by which he had been obliged to juftify his refufal, offended the court of Conftantius. We may enjoy the plea fure of reading the fentiments of Julian, as he expreffes them with warmth and freedom in a letter to one of his moft intimate friends. After stating his |