dmitted to the office of praetorian prefect.

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 prefect 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. 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.

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 no longer accompany his steps, he
trusted the event to valor and to fortune. In the neighborhood of Basel
he assembled and divided his army. One body, which consisted of ten
thousand men, was directed under the command of Nevitta, general of the
cavalry, to advance through the midland parts of Rhaetia and Noricum. A
similar division of troops, under the orders of Jovius and Jovinus,
prepared to follow the oblique course of the highways, through the Alps
and the northern confines of Italy. The instructions to the generals
were conceived with energy and precision: to hasten their march in close
and compact columns, which, according to the disposition of the ground,
might readily be changed into any order of battle; to secure themselves
against the surprises of the night by strong posts and vigilant guards;
to prevent resistance by their unexpected arrival; to elude examination
by their sudden departure; to spread the opinion of their strength and
the terror of his name; and to join their sovereign under the walls of
Sirmium.

For himself Julian had reserved a more difficult and extraordinary part.
He selected three thousand brave and active volunteers, resolved, like
their leader, to cast behind them every hope of a retreat: at the head
of this faithful band he fearlessly plunged into the recesses of the
Marcian, or Black