garrisons moved toward their respective
places of assembly. They advanced with difficulty through the trembling
and affrighted crowds of provincials, who attempted to excite their pity
by silent despair or loud lamentations; while the wives of the soldiers,
holding their infants in their arms, accused the desertion of their
husbands, in the mixed language of grief, of tenderness, and of
indignation. This scene of general distress afflicted the humanity of
the caesar; he granted a sufficient number of post-wagons to transport
the wives and families of the soldiers, endeavored to alleviate the
hardships which he was constrained to inflict, and increased, by the
most laudable arts, his own popularity and the discontent of the exiled
troops.

The grief of an armed multitude is soon converted into rage; their
licentious murmurs, which every hour were communicated from tent to tent
with more boldness and effect, prepared their minds for the most daring
acts of sedition; and by the connivance of their tribunes, a seasonable
libel was secretly dispersed, which painted in lively colors the
disgrace of the caesar, the oppression of the Gallic army, and the feeble
vices of the tyrant of Asia. The servants of Constantius were astonished
and alarmed by the progress of this dangerous spirit. They pressed the
caesar to hasten the departure of the troops; but they imprudently
rejected the honest and judicious advice of Julian, who proposed that
they should not march through Paris, and suggested the danger and
temptation of a last interview.

As soon as the approach of the troops was announced the caesar went out
to meet them, and ascended his tribunal, which had been erected in a
plain before the gates of the city. After distinguishing the officers
and soldiers who by their rank or merit deserved a peculiar attention,
Julian addressed himself in a studied oration to the surrounding
multitude: he celebrated their exploits with grateful applause;
encouraged them to accept, with alacrity, the honor of serving under the
eyes of a powerful and liberal monarch; and admonished them that the
commands of Augustus required an instant and cheerful obedience.

The soldiers, who were apprehensive of offending their general by an
indecent clamor, or of belying their sentiments by false and venal
acclamations, maintained an obstinate silence, and after a short pause
were dismissed to their quarters. The principal officers were
entertained by the