Gaul, although her sons had furnished the Roman
army with its best soldiers for three centuries, had be-
come unaccustomed to war at home. The Roman l^ions
no longer consisted of troops such as tho.se commanded by
the Vespasians; the Tituses, and the Trajans. Composed
principally of barbarians, they wanted cohesion, were not
sustained by patriotism, and deposed their chiefs on the
slightest pretext

The latter, moreover, too often appointed by a court
governed by intrigue, were for the most part incapable,
or eager to enrich themselves rather than to conquer the
enemy. For these troops, composed of heterogeneous
elements, and having no faith in the valour of the chiefs
placed over them — for these populations, accustomed to
peace and the well-being it secures — ramparts were
necessary, behind which the defence of the territory
might be organized ; for in the open field, such was the
terror inspired by the Germans that a prolonged resist-
ance could not be reckoned upon. Julian, however, had
shown that the troops in the pay of the empire, if well
commanded, were still in a condition to fight the bar-
barians ; but Julian was a philosopher ; he understood
his times, and could not shut his eyes to the unsound




THE CALLO-ROMAN TOWN CITE JULIANA.
THE FORTIFIED CITt. 99

state of the imperial government, or at least believed the
evil to lie so deep that he attempted to stay its pro-
gress by a return to paganism, hoping perhaps in this
way to restore youth to the worn-out body.
