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 the cities of Gaul. 396 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, the stream in silence, and to land at some distance from ' • the posts of the enemy. They executed their orders with so much boldness and celerity, that they had al- most surprised the barbarian chiefs, who returned in the fearless confidence of intoxication from one of their nocturnal festivals. Without repeating the uniform and disgusting tale of slaughter and devastation, it is sufficient to observe, that Jvdian dictated his own con- ditions of peace to six of the haughtiest kings of the Alemanni, three of whom were permitted to view the severe discipline and martial pomp of a Roman camp. Followed by twenty thousand captives, whom he had rescued from the chains of the barbarians, the Caesar repassed the Rhine, after terminating a war, the suc- cess of which has been compared to the ancient glories of the Pvinic and Cimbric victories. Restores As soon as the valour and conduct of Julian had se- cured an interval of peace, he applied himself to a work more congenial to his humane and philosophic temper. The cities of Gaul, which had suffered from the inroads of the barbarians, he diligently repaired ; and seven important posts, between Mentz and the mouth of the Rhine, are particularly mentioned, as having been rebuilt and fortified by the order of Julian ^ The vanquished Germans had submitted to the just but humiliating condition of preparing and conveying the necessary materials. The active zeal of Julian urged the prosecution of the work ; and such was the spirit which he had diffused among the troops, that the auxiliaries themselves, waving their exemption from any duties of fatigue, contended in the most ser- vile labours with the dihgence of the Roman soldiers. It was incumbent on the Caesar to provide for the sub- ■■ Ammian. xviii. 2 ; Libanius, Oral. x. p. 279, 280. Of these seven posts, four are at present towns of some consequence ; Bingen, Andernach, Bonn, and Nuyss. The other three, Tricesimae, Quadriburgium, and Castra Iler- culis, or Heraclea, no longer subsist ; but there is room to believe, that, on the ground of Quadriburgium, the Dutch have constructed the fort of Schenk, a name so offensive to the fastidious delicacy of Boileau. See d'Anville, Notice de I'Ancienne Gaule, p. 183 ; Boileau, Epitre iv. and the notes.