day, Julian marched to occupy the
narrow pass of Succi, in the defiles of Mount Haemus; which, almost in
the midway between Sirmium and Constantinople, separates the provinces
of Thrace and Dacia, by an abrupt descent towards the former, and a
gentle declivity on the side of the latter. [33] The defence of this
important post was intrusted to the brave Nevitta; who, as well as the
generals of the Italian division, successfully executed the plan of the
march and junction which their master had so ably conceived. [34]

[Footnote 28: Ammianus (xxi. 8) ascribes the same practice, and the same
motive, to Alexander the Great and other skilful generals.]

[Footnote 29: This wood was a part of the great Hercynian forest, which,
is the time of Caesar, stretched away from the country of the Rauraci
(Basil) into the boundless regions of the north. See Cluver, Germania
Antiqua. l. iii. c. 47.]

[Footnote 30: Compare Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278, 279, with
Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 68. Even the saint admires the speed
and secrecy of this march. A modern divine might apply to the progress
of Julian the lines which were originally designed for another
apostate:--

--So eagerly the fiend,
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.]

[Footnote 31: In that interval the Notitia places two or three fleets,
the Lauriacensis, (at Lauriacum, or Lorch,) the Arlapensis, the
Maginensis; and mentions five legions, or cohorts, of Libernarii, who
should be a sort of marines. Sect. lviii. edit. Labb.]

[Footnote 32: Zosimus alone (l. iii. p. 156) has specified this
interesting circumstance. Mamertinus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 6, 7, 8,)
who accompanied Julian, as count of the sacred largesses, describes this
voyage in a florid and picturesque manner, challenges Triptolemus and
the Argonauts of Greece, &c.]

[Footnote 32a: Banostar. Mannert.--M.]

[Footnote 33: The description of Ammianus, which might be supported by
collateral evidence, ascertains the precise situation of the Angustine
Succorum, or passes of Succi. M. d'Anville, from the trifling
resemblance of names, has placed them between Sardica and Naissus. For
my own justification I am obliged to mention the only error which I have
discovered in the maps or writings of that admirable geographer.]

[Footnote 34: Whatever circumstanc