Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/407

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 3S9 of the veteran bands, and of some new levies which he C H A P. had been permitted to form, boldly penetrated into the centre of the German cantonments, and carefully re- established the fortifications of Saverne, in an advan- tageous 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 rea- sonable to expect that the Alemanni, pressed on either side by the Roman arms, would soon be 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, who acted as if he had been the enemy of the Cassar, and the secret ally of the barbarians. The negligence with which he permitted a troop of pillagers freely to pass, and to return almost before the gates of his camp, may be im- puted to his want of abilities ; but the treasonable act of burning a number of boats and a superfluous stock of provisions, which would have been of the most essential service to the army of Gaul, was an evidence of his hostile and criminal intentions. The Germans despised an enemy who appeared destitute either of power or of inclination to offend them ; and the igno- minious retreat of Barbatio deprived Julian of the ex- pected support ; and left him to extricate himself from a hazardous situation, where he could neither remain with safety nor retire with honour**. As soon as they wei'e delivered from the fears of Battle of invasion, the Alemanni prepared to chastise the Ro- ^l^]), 35V* man youth, who presumed to dispute the possession of '^"?"st. 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 '' On the design and failure of tiie cooperation between Julian and Barbatio, see Ammian. xvi. 1 1, and Libanius, Oral. x. p. '273.