§ 1. But Julian, being gratified at his increase of rank, and at the confidence of the soldiers in him, not to let his good fortune cool, or to give any colour for charging him with inactivity or indolence, after he had sent his envoys to Constantius, marched to the frontier of the province of lower Germany; and having with him all the force which the business in hand demanded, he approached the town of Santon.[113]
2. Then crossing the Rhine, he suddenly entered the district belonging to a Frank tribe, called the Attuarii, men of a turbulent character, who at that very moment were licentiously plundering the districts of Gaul. He attacked them unexpectedly while they were apprehensive of no hostile measures, but were reposing in fancied security, relying on the ruggedness and difficulty of the roads which led into their country, and which no prince within their recollection had ever penetrated. He, however, easily surmounted all difficulties, and having put many to the sword and taken many prisoners, he granted the survivors peace at their request, thinking such a course best for their neighbours.
3. Then with equal celerity he repassed the river, and examining carefully the state of the garrisons on the frontier, and putting them in a proper state, he marched towards Basle; and having recovered the places which the barbarians had taken and still retained in their hands, and having carefully strengthened them, he went to Vienne, passing through Besançon, and there took up his winter quarters.
XI.
§ 1. These were the events which took place in Gaul, and while they were thus conducted with prudence and good fortune, Constantius, having summoned Arsaces, king of Armenia, and having received him with great courtesy, advised and exhorted him to continue friendly and faithful to us.
2. For he had heard that the king of Persia had often tried by deceits and threats, and all kinds of stratagems, to induce him to forsake the Roman alliance and join his party.
3. But he, vowing with many oaths that he would rather lose his life than change his opinion, received ample rewards, and returned to his kingdom with the retinue which he brought with him; and never ventured at any subsequent time to break any of his promises, being bound by many ties of gratitude to Constantius. The strongest tie of all being that the emperor had given him for a wife, Olympias, the daughter of Abladius, formerly prefect of the prætorium, who had once been betrothed to his own brother Constans.
4. And when Arsaces had been dismissed, Constantius left Cappadocia, and going by Melitina, a town of the lesser Armenia, and Lacotene, and Samosata, he crossed the Euphrates and arrived at Edessa. Stopping some time in each town, while waiting for divisions of soldiers who were flocking in from all quarters, and for sufficient supplies of provisions. And after the autumnal equinox, he proceeded onwards on his way to Amida.
5. When he approached the walls of that town, and saw everything buried in ashes, he groaned and wept, recollecting what sufferings the wretched city had suffered. And Ursulus, the treasurer, who happened to be present, was moved with indignation, and exclaimed, "Behold the courage with which cities are defended by our soldiers; men for whose pay the whole wealth of the empire is exhausted." This bitter speech the crowd of soldiers afterwards recollected at Chalcedon, when they rose up and destroyed him.
6. Then proceeding onward in close column, he reached Bezabde, and having fixed his camp there, and fortified it with a rampart and a deep fosse, as he took a long ride round the camp, he satisfied himself, by the account which he received from several persons, that those places in the walls which the carelessness of ancient times had allowed to become decayed, had been repaired so as to be stronger than ever.