XIX.

CHAP. poffeffion of that country, which they claimed as their own by the right of conqueft 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 of the Barbarians, and moderated by his experience the martial ardour which his example inspired". He was followed by fix other kings, by ten princes of regal extraction, by a long train of high-fpirited nobles, and by thirty-five thoufand of the bravest warriors of the tribes of Germany. The confidence derived from the view of their own ftrength, was encreafed by the intelligence which they received from a deferter, that the Cæfar, with a feeble army of thirteen thoufand men, occupied a post about one-and-twenty miles from their camp of Strasburgh. With this inadequate force, Julian refolved to feek and to encounter the Barbarian hoft; and the chance of a general action was preferred to the tedious and uncertain operation of feparately engaging the difperfed parties of the Alemanni. The Romans marched in clofe 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 fight of the enemy, that Julian was defirous of deferring the battle till the next morning, and of allowing his troops to recruit their exhaufted ftrength by the neceffary refreshments of sleep and food. Yielding, however, with fome reluctance,

to

75

to the clamours of the foldiers, and even to the
opinion of his council, he exhorted them to juf
tify by their valour the eager impatience, which,
in cafe of a defeat, would be univerfally branded
with the epithets of rasnefs and prefumption.
The trumpets founded, the military shout was
heard through the field, and the two armies rush-
ed with equal fury to the charge. The Cæfar,
who conducted in perfon his right wing, depended
on the dexterity of his archers, and the weight of
his cuiraffiers. But his ranks were inftantly bro-
ken by an irregular mixture of light-horfe and of
light-infantry, and he had the mortification of
beholding the flight of fix hundred of his most
renowned cuiraffiers ". The fugitives were stop-
ped and rallied by the prefence and authority of
Julian, who, careless of his own fafety, threw
himself before them, and urging every motive of
shame and honour, led them back against he vic-
torious enemy.
The conflict between the two
lines of infantry was obftinate and bloody The
Germans poffeffed the fuperiority of strength and
ftature, the Romans that of difcipline and tem-
per; and as the Barbarians, who ferved under
the ftandard of the empire, united the refpective
advantages of both parties, their strenuous efforts,
guided by a skilful leader, at length determined
the event of the day. The Romans loft four
tribunes, and two hundred and forty-three fol-
diers, in this memorable battle of Strasburgh, fo
glorious to the Cæfar ", and fo falutary to the
afflicted provinces of Gaul. Six thoufand of the
Vol. III.

M

વિ

CHAP.

XIX:

XIX.

CHAP. Alemanni were slain in the field, without including those who were drowned in the Rhine, or transfixed with darts whilft they attempted to fwim across the river ". Chnodomar himself was furrounded and taken prisoner, with three of his brave companions, who had devoted themselves to follow in life or death the fate of their chieftain. Julian received him with military pomp in the council of his officers; and expreffing a generous pity for the fallen ftate, diffembled his inward contempt for the abject humiliation of his captive. Inftead of exhibiting the vanquished king of the Alemanni, as a grateful fpectacle to the cities of Gaul, he refpectfully laid at the feet of the emperor this fplendid trophy of his victory. Chaodomar experienced an honourable treatment: but the impatient Barbarian could not long furvive his defeat, his confinement, and his exile ".

Julian fubdues the

Franks,

After Julian had repulfed the Alemanni from the provinces of the Upper Rhine, he turned his A. D. 358. arms against the Franks, who were feated nearer to the ocean on the confines of Gaul and Germany; and who; from their numbers, and ftill more from their intrepid valour, had ever been efteemed the moft formidable of the Barbarians". Although they were strongly actuated by the allurements of rapine, they profeffed a difinterested love of war; which they confidered as the fupreme honour and felicity of human nature; and their minds and bodies were fo completely hardened by perpetual action, that, according to the lively expreffion of an orator, the fnows of

CHAP.

winter were as pleasant to them as the flowers of fpring. In the month of December, which XIX. followed the battle of Strasburgh, Julian attacked a body of fix hundred Franks, who had thrown themselves into two caftles on the Meufe ". In the midst of that severe season they fuftained, with inflexible conftancy, a fiege of fifty-four days; till at length, exhausted by hunger, and satisfied that the vigilance of the enemy in breaking the ice of the river, left them no hopes of escape, the Franks confented, for the first time, to difpenfe with the ancient law which commanded them to conquer or to die. The Cæfar immediately fent his captives to the court of Conftantius, who accepting them as a valuable prefent ", rejoiced in the opportunity of adding fo many heroes to the choiceft troops of his domeftic guards. The obftinate refiftance of this handful of Franks, apprifed Julian of the difficulties of the expedition which he meditated for the enfuing fpring, against the whole body of the nation. His rapid diligence furprised and aftonished the active Barbarians. Ordering his foldiers to provide themfelves with bifcuit for twenty days, he fuddenly pitched his camp near Tongres, while the enemy ftill fuppofed him in his winter-quarters of Paris, expecting the slow arrival of his convoys from Aquitain. Without allowing the Franks to unite or to deliberate, he skilfully fpread his legions from Cologne to the ocean; and by the terror, as well as by the fuccefs of his arms, foon reduced the fuppliant tribes to implore the cle

XIX.

CHAP. mency, and to obey the commands, of their conqueror. The Chamavians fubmiffively retired to their former habitations beyond the Rhine: but the Salians were permitted to poffefs their new eftablishment of Toxandria, as the fubjects and auxiliaries of the Roman empire. The treaty was ratified by folemn oaths; and perpetual infpectors were appointed to refide among the Franks, with the authority of enforcing the strict obfervance of the conditions. An incident is related, interesting enough in itself, and by no means repugnant to the character of Julian, who ingeniously contrived both the plot and the catastrophe of the tragedy. When the Chamavians fued for peace, he required the fon of their king, as the only hostage in whom he could rely. A mournful filence, interrupted by tears and groans, declared the fad perplexity of the Barbarians; and their aged chief lamented in pathetic language, that his private lofs was now embittered by a fenfe of the public calamity. While the Chamavians lay proftrate at the foot of his throne, the royal captive, whom they believed to have been slain, unexpectedly appeared before their eyes; and as foon as the tumult of joy was hushed into attention, the Cæfar addressed the assembly in the following terms: "Behold the fon, the prince, whom you wept. You had loft him " by your fault.

God and the Romans have reftored him to you. I shall ftill preserve and » educate the youth, rather as a monument of » my own virtue, than as a pledge of your fin