A.D. 357.]
123
BOOK XVII.
ARGUMENT.
I. Julian crosses the Rhine and plunders and burns the towns of the Allemanni, repairs the fortress of Trajan, and grants the barbarians a truce for ten months.—II. He hems in six hundred Franks who are devastating the second Germania, and starves them into surrender.—III. He endeavours to relieve the Gauls from some of the tribute which weighs them down.—IV. By order of the Emperor Constantius an obelisk is erected at Rome in the Cireus Maximus;—some observations on obelisks and on hieroglyphics.—V. Constantius and Sapor, king of the Persians, by means of ambassadors and letters, enter into a vain negotiation for peace.—VI. The Nethargi, an Alleman tribe, are defeated in the Tyrol, which they were laying waste.—VII. Nicomedia is destroyed by an earthquake; some observations on earthquakes—VIII. Julian receives the surrender of the Salii, a Frankish tribe . He defeats one body of the Chamari, takes another body prisoners, and grants peace to the rest.—IX. He repairs three forts on the Meuse that had been destroyed by the barbarians. His soldiers suffer from want, and become discontented and reproachful.—X. Surmarius and Hortarius, kings of the Allemanni, surrender their prisoners and obtain peace from Julian.—XI. Julian, after his successes in Gaul, is disparaged at the court of Constantius by enviers of his fame, and is spoken of as inactive and cowardly.—XII. The Emperor Constantius compels the Sarmatians to give hostage, and to restore their prisoners; and imposes a king on the Sarmatian exiles, whom he restores to their country and freedom.—XIII. He compels the Limigantes, after defeating them with great slaughter, to emigrate, and harangues his own soldiers.—XIV. The Roman ambassadors, who had been sent to treat for peace, return from Persia; and Sapor returns into Armenia and Mesopotamia.
I.
a.d. 357.
§ 1. After the various affairs which we have described were brought to a conclusion, the warlike young prince, now that the battle of Strasburg had secured him the navigation of the Rhine, felt anxious that the ill-omened
