Forest, which conceals the sources of the Danube; and,
for many days, the fate of Julian was unknown to the world. The secrecy
of his march, his diligence and vigor, surmounted every obstacle; he
forced his way over mountains and morasses, occupied the bridges or swam
the rivers, pursued his direct course, without reflecting whether he
traversed the territory of the Romans or of the barbarians, and at
length emerged, between Ratisbon and Vienna, at the place where he
designed to embark his troops on the Danube. By a well-concerted
stratagem, he seized a fleet of light brigantines as it lay at anchor;
secured a supply of coarse provisions sufficient to satisfy the
indelicate but voracious appetite of a Gallic army; and boldly committed
himself to the stream of the Danube.

The labors of his mariners, who plied their oars with incessant
diligence, and the steady continuance of a favorable wind, carried his
fleet above seven hundred miles in eleven days; and he had already
disembarked his troops at Bononia, only nineteen miles from Sirmium,
before his enemies could receive any certain intelligence that he had
left the banks of the Rhine. In the course of this long and rapid
navigation, the mind of Julian was fixed on the object of his
enterprise; and though he accepted the deputations of some cities, which
hastened to claim the merit of an early submission, he passed before the
hostile stations, which were placed along the river, without indulging
the temptation of signalizing a useless and ill-timed valor. The banks
of the Danube were crowded on either side with spectators, who gazed on
the military pomp, anticipated the importance of the event, and diffused
through the adjacent country the fame of a young hero, who advanced with
more than mortal speed at the head of the innumerable forces of the
West. Lucilian, who, with the rank of general of the cavalry, commanded
the military powers of Illyricum, was alarmed and perplexed by the
doubtful reports, which he could neither reject nor believe.

He had taken some slow and irresolute measures for the purpose of
collecting his troops, when he was surprised by Dagalaiphus, an active
officer, whom Julian, as soon as he landed at Bononia, had pushed
forward with some light infantry. The captive general, uncertain of his
life or death, was hastily thrown upon a horse, and conducted to the
presence of Julian; who kindly raised him from the ground, and dispelled
the terror and am