220
THE DECLINE AND FALL
CHAP.
XIX.
an advantageous post, which would either checkthe incursions, or intercept the retreat, of theenemy. At the same time Barbatio, general ofthe infantry, advanced from Milan with an armyof thirty thousand men, and, passing the moun-tains, prepared to throw a bridge over the Rhine ,in the neighbourhood of Basil . It was reason-able to expect that the Alemanni , pressed oneither side by the Roman arms, wmuld be soonforced to evacuate the provinces of Gaul , andto hasten to the defence of their native country.But the hopes of the campaign were defeatedby the incapacity, or the envy, or the secret in-structions of Barbatio, who acted as if he hadbeen the enemy of the Caesar, and the secret allyof the barbarians. The negligence witli whichhe permitted a troop of pillagers freely to pass,and to return almost before the gates of his camp,may be imputed to his want of abilities; but thetreasonable act of burning a number of boats,and a superfluous stock of provisions, whichwould have been of the most essential serviceto the army of Gaul , was an evidence of hishostile and criminal intentions. The Germans despised an enemy who appeared destituteeither of power or of inclination to offend them;and the ignominious retreat of Barbatio depriv-ed Julian of the expected support, and left himto extricate himself from a hazardous situation,where he could neither remain with safety, norretire with honour . 1