Res Gestae

For the tribune, considering Caesar’s remonstrances of little moment, carried out the orders of Augustus, chose the strongest and most active of the light-armed troops, and made off with them, while they were filled with hope of better fortunes.[*](I.e. of opportunities for promotion and other rewards for active service; cf. § 12, below.)

And because Julian was anxious as to what ought to be done about the remaining troops which he had been ordered to send, and turned over many plans in his mind, he decided that the business ought to be managed with circumspection, pressed as he was on one side by savage barbarians and on the other by the authority of the emperor’s orders;

For he bore in mind that it was in accordance with his own report, which he was thought to have sent some time before, that warlike troops, already formidable to the barbarians, were to be withdrawn from the defence of Gaul.

So when he received Julian’s letter, urging and begging him to hasten to come and aid his country by his counsels, he most emphatically refused; for his mind was disturbed with fear for the reason that Julian’s letter plainly indicated that the prefect[*](Cf. praefectus praetorio praesens, xiv. 1, 10, and Index of Officials, vol. i.) ought never to be separated from his commander in the stress of dangerous times. And Julian added that if Florentius hesitated to do his duty, he would himself of his own accord lay down the emblems of princely power, thinking it more glorious to meet death by order, than that the ruin of the provinces should be attributed to him. But the obstinate resolution of the prefect prevailed, and with the greatest emphasis he refused to obey these reasonable demands.

However, amid this delay of the absent Lupicinus and of the prefect, who feared mutinies of the soldiers, Julian, deprived of the aid of counsellors and wavering in anxious hesitation, thought the following plan the best: he called out all the soldiers in the usual manner from the posts in which

Scarcely was this known, when someone in the camp of the Petulantes secretly threw on the ground a libellous letter, which among many other things contained the following: We verily are driven to the ends of the earth like condemned criminals, and our dear ones, whom we freed from their former captivity after mortal battles, will again be slaves to the Alamanni.

When this note was brought to headquarters and read, Julian, although he found the complaints reasonable, nevertheless ordered them to set out with their families for the Orient, giving them the privilege of using the wagons of the courier-service.[*](The clavularis cursus was used for transporting soldiers rapidly from place to place; the clavula (or clavulus), apparently a kind of large wagon, was also for the use of those who were sick or disabled. See Index of Officials, vol. i, s.v. cursus publicus. ) And when there was considerable hesitation as to what route they should take, it was decided, at the suggestion of the secretary Decentius, that they should all go by way of Paris, where Julian still lingered, having as yet made no move. And it was so done.