n swords to their throats, devoted themselves, with
horrid imprecations, to the service of a leader whom they celebrated as
the deliverer of Gaul and the conqueror of the Germans. [25] This solemn
engagement, which seemed to be dictated by affection rather than by
duty, was singly opposed by Nebridius, who had been admitted to the
office of Praetorian praefect. That faithful minister, alone and
unassisted, asserted the rights of Constantius, in the midst of an armed
and angry multitude, to whose fury he had almost fallen an honorable,
but useless sacrifice. After losing one of his hands by the stroke of a
sword, he embraced the knees of the prince whom he had offended. Julian
covered the praefect with his Imperial mantle, and, protecting him from
the zeal of his followers, dismissed him to his own house, with less
respect than was perhaps due to the virtue of an enemy. [26] The high
office of Nebridius was bestowed on Sallust; and the provinces of Gaul,
which were now delivered from the intolerable oppression of taxes,
enjoyed the mild and equitable administration of the friend of Julian,
who was permitted to practise those virtues which he had instilled into
the mind of his pupil. [27]

[Footnote 24: Three hundred myriads, or three millions of medimni, a
corn measure familiar to the Athenians, and which contained six Roman
modii. Julian explains, like a soldier and a statesman, the danger of
his situation, and the necessity and advantages of an offensive war, (ad
S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286, 287.)]

[Footnote 25: See his oration, and the behavior of the troops, in
Ammian. xxi. 5.]

[Footnote 26: He sternly refused his hand to the suppliant praefect,
whom he sent into Tuscany. (Ammian. xxi. 5.) Libanius, with savage
fury, insults Nebridius, applauds the soldiers, and almost censures the
humanity of Julian. (Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278.)]

[Footnote 27: Ammian. xxi. 8. In this promotion, Julian obeyed the law
which he publicly imposed on himself. Neque civilis quisquam judex nec
militaris rector, alio quodam praeter merita suffragante, ad potiorem
veniat gradum. (Ammian. xx. 5.) Absence did not weaken his regard for
Sallust, with whose name (A. D. 363) he honored the consulship.]

The hopes of Julian depended much less on the number of his troops, than
on the celerity of his motions. In the execution of a daring enterprise,
he availed himself of every precaution, as far as prudence could
suggest; and where prudence could