21?
Immediately after Julian had received the chap.
purple at Milan, he was sent into Gaul , with a-1..,
feeble retinue of three hundred and sixty sol- His fi, pdiers. At Vienna, where he passed a painful in Gani,and anxious winter, in the hands of those mi- A ' D * 35&nisters to whom Constantius had entrusted thedirection of his conduct, the Caesar was inform-ed of the siege and deliverance of Autun . Thatlarge and ancient city, protected only by a ruin-ed wall and pusillanimous garrison, was savedby the generous resolution of a few veterans,who resumed their arms for the defence of theircountry. In his march from Autun , throughthe heart of the Gallic provinces, Julian embra-ced with ardour the earliest opportunity of sig-nalizing his courage. At the head of a smallbody of archers, and heavy cavalry, he prefer-red the shorter but the more dangerous of tworoads; and sometimes eluding, and sometimesresisting, the attacks of the barbarians, whowere masters of the field, he arrived with ho-nour and safety at the camp near Rheims , wherethe Roman troops had been ordered to assem-ble. The aspect of their young prince revivedthe drooping spirit of the soldiers, and theymarched from Rheims in search of the enemy,with a confidence which had almost proved fa-tal to them. The Alemanni , familiarized to theknowledge of the country, secretly collectedtheir scattered forces, and seizing the opportu-nity of a dark and rainy day, poured with un-expected fury on the rear guard of the Romans.
Before the inevitable disorder could be reme-