214

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CIIAP.

XIX.

Conductof Julian.

E

sources, to the mouth, of the Rhine , the conquests of the Germans extended above fortymiles to the west of that river, over a countrypeopled by colonies of their own name and na-tion ; and the scene of their devastations wasthree times more extensive than that of theirconquests. At a still greater distance the opentowns of Gaul were deserted, and the inhabi-tants of the fortified cities, who trusted to theirstrength and vigilance, were obliged to contentthemselves with such supplies of corn as theycould raise on the vacant land within the inclo-sure of their walls. The diminished legions,destitute of pay and provisions, of arms anddiscipline, trembled at the approach, and evenat the name, of the barbarians.

Under these melancholy circumstances, anunexperienced youth was appointed to save andto govern the provinces of Gaul, or rather, ashe expresses it himself, to exhibit the vain imageof imperial greatness. The retired scholasticeducation of Julian, in which he had been moreconversant with books than with arms, with thedead than with the living, left him in profoundignorance of the practical arts of war and go-vernment; and when he awkwardly repeatedsome military exercise which it was necessaryfor him to learn, he exclaimed with a sigh, “ O

▼is, is refuted with much learning and good sense by M. Biet, who hasproved, by a chain of evidence, their uninterrupted possession of Tox-aodria one hundred and thirty years before the accession of Clovis.The dissertation of M. Biet was crowned by the Academy of Soissons in the year 1730, and st ems to have been justly preferred to the dia«course of hi< more celebrated competitor, the Abbe le Bceuf, an anti-quarian, whose name was happily expressive of his talents.