re of his commands, left not any
room for a fair apology, or candid interpretation; and the dependent
station of the Caesar scarcely allowed him to pause or to deliberate.
Solitude increased the perplexity of Julian; he could no longer apply to
the faithful counsels of Sallust, who had been removed from his office
by the judicious malice of the eunuchs: he could not even enforce his
representations by the concurrence of the ministers, who would have
been afraid or ashamed to approve the ruin of Gaul. The moment had been
chosen, when Lupicinus, [5] the general of the cavalry, was despatched
into Britain, to repulse the inroads of the Scots and Picts; and
Florentius was occupied at Vienna by the assessment of the tribute.
The latter, a crafty and corrupt statesman, declining to assume a
responsible part on this dangerous occasion, eluded the pressing and
repeated invitations of Julian, who represented to him, that in every
important measure, the presence of the praefect was indispensable in the
council of the prince. In the mean while the Caesar was oppressed by
the rude and importunate solicitations of the Imperial messengers, who
presumed to suggest, that if he expected the return of his ministers, he
would charge himself with the guilt of the delay, and reserve for them
the merit of the execution. Unable to resist, unwilling to comply,
Julian expressed, in the most serious terms, his wish, and even his
intention, of resigning the purple, which he could not preserve with
honor, but which he could not abdicate with safety.

[Footnote 4: The minute interval, which may be interposed, between the
hyeme adulta and the primo vere of Ammianus, (xx. l. 4,) instead of
allowing a sufficient space for a march of three thousand miles, would
render the orders of Constantius as extravagant as they were unjust. The
troops of Gaul could not have reached Syria till the end of autumn.
The memory of Ammianus must have been inaccurate, and his language
incorrect. * Note: The late editor of Ammianus attempts to vindicate
his author from the charge of inaccuracy. "It is clear, from the whole
course of the narrative, that Constantius entertained this design of
demanding his troops from Julian, immediately after the taking of Amida,
in the autumn of the preceding year, and had transmitted his orders into
Gaul, before it was known that Lupicinus had gone into Britain with the
Herulians and Batavians." Wagner, note to Amm. xx. 4. But it seems
al