230

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XIX.

of Julian. 9 The vanquished Germans had sub-mitted to the just but humiliating condition ofpreparing and conveying the necessary mate-rials. The active zeal of Julian urged the pro-secution of the work; and such was the spiritwhich he had diffused among the troops, thatthe auxiliaries themselves, waving their exemp-tion from any duties of fatigue, contended inthe most servile labours with the diligence ofthe Roman soldiers. It was incumbent on theC<esar to provide for the subsistence, as well asfor the safety, of the inhabitants and of the gar-risons. The desertion of the former, and themutiny of the latter, must have been the fataland inevitable consequences of famine. Thetillage of the provinces of Gaul had been inter-rupted by the calamities of war; but the scantyharvests of the continent were supplied, by hispaternal care, from the plenty of the adjacentisland. Six hundred large barks, framed inthe forest of the Ardennes , made several voy-ages to the coast of Britain ; and, returningfrom thence laden with corn, sailed up theRhine , and distributed their cargoes to the se-veral towns and fortresses along the banks of

p Ammian. xviii, 2. Libantns, Orat. x, p. 279, 280. Of these sevenposts, four are at present towns of some coosequence *, Bingen, Ander-nach, Bonn , and Nuyss. The other three, Tricesimae, Quadriburgium,and Castva HerenUs, or Herac.lea, no longer subsist; but there is roomto bHieve, that, on the ground of Quadriburgium, the Dutch have con-structed the fort of Schenk, a name so offensive to the fastidious dele*cicy of Boilcau. See (PAnvillc Notice de PAncienne Gaule, p. 153.B'oitcao, Bpitre iv, and the notes.