Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/127

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 107 of Gaul engaged the attention, and diverted the forces, of the emperor of the West.^^ One of the most dangerous inconveniences of the introduction victory of of the Barbarians into the army and the palace, was sensibly felt the AifmTnni in their correspondence with their hostile countrymen, to whom ^'^' ^^*' ^^^ they imprudently, or maliciously, revealed the weakness of the Roman empire. A soldier, of the life-guards of Gratian, was of the nation of the Alemanni, and of the tribe of the Lentienses, who dwelt beyond the lake of Constance. Some domestic business obliged him to request a leave of absence. In a short visit to his family and friends, he was exposed to their curious inquiries ; and the vanity of the loquacious soldier tempted him to display his intimate acquaintance with the secrets of the state and the designs of his master. The intelligence that Gratian was preparing to lead the military force of Gaul and of the West to the assistance of his uncle Valens pointed out to the restless spirit of the Alemanni the moment, and the mode, of a successful invasion. The enterprise of some light detach- ments, who, in the month of February, passed the Rhine upon the ice, was the prelude of a more important war. The boldest hopes of rapine, perhaps of conquest, outweighed the considera- tion of timid prudence or national faith. Every forest and every village poured forth a band of hardy adventurers ; and the great army of the Alemanni, which, on their approach, was estimated at forty thousand men by the fears of the people, was afterwards magnified to the number of seventy thousand by the vain and credulous flattery of the Imperial court. The legions which had been ordered to march into Pannonia were immediately recalled or detained for the defence of Gaul ; the militaiy command was divided between Nanienus and Mello- Ijaudes ; and the youthful emperor, though he respected the long experience and sober wisdom of the former, was much more inclined to admire and to follow the martial ardour of his colleague ; who was allowed to unite the incompatible characters of count of the domestics and of king of the Franks. His rival Priarius, king of the Alemanni, was guided, or rather impelled, by the same headstrong valour ; and, as their troops were animated by the spirit of their leaders, they met, they saw, they encountered, each other, near the town of Argentaria, or 87 Ammian. xxxi. 8, 9. Jerom (torn. i. p. 26) enumerates the nations, and marks a calamitous period of twenty years. This epistle to Heliodorus was composed in the year 397 (Tillemont, M6m. Eccl^s. torn. xii. p. 645). [Ep. 60, ap. Migne, i. p. 600.]