OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 33 trembling Batavians were inclosed within the circle of the Im- perial army. Valentinian then ascended his tribunal ; and, as if he disdained to punish cowardice with death, he inflicted a stain of indelible ignominy on the officers Avhose misconduct and pusillanimity were found to be the first occasion of the defeat. The Batavians were degi'aded from their rank, stripped of their arms, and condemned to be sold for slaves to the highest bidder. At this tremendous sentence the troops fell prostrate on the ground, deprecated the indignation of their sovereign, and pro- tested that, if he would indulge them in another trial, they would approve themselves not unworthy of the name of Romans, and of his soldiers. Valentinian, with affected reluctance, yielded to their entreaties : the Batavians resumed their arms, and, with their arms, the invincible resolution of wiping away their disgrace in the blood of the Alemanni.^2 The principal command was declined by Dagalaiphus ; and that experienced general, who had represented, perhaps with too much prudence, the extreme difficulties of the undertaking, had the mortification, before the end of the campaign, of seeing his rival Jovinus con- vert those difficulties into a decisive advantage over the scattered Their defeat forces of the Barbarians. At the head of a well-disciplined army of cavalry, infantry, and light troops, Jovinus advanced, with cautious and rapid steps, to Scarponna,^^ in the territory of Metz, [Charpeigne] where he surprised a large division of the Alemanni, before they had time to run to their arms : and flushed his soldiers with the confidence of an easy and bloodless victory. Another division, or rather army, of the enemy, after the cniel and wanton de- vastation of the adjacent country, reposed themselves on the shady banks of the Moselle. Jovinus, who had viewed the ground with the eyes of a general, made his silent approach through a deep and woody vale, till he could distinctly perceive the indolent security of the Germans. Some were bathing their huge limbs in the river ; others were combing their long and flaxen hair ; others again were swallowing large draughts of rich and delicious wine. On a sudden they heard the sound of the Roman trumpet ; they saw the enemy in their camp. Astonish- ment produced disorder ; disorder was followed by flight and 92 Ajnn^ian. xxvii, I. Zosimus, 1. iv. p. 208 [c. 9]. The disgrace of the Batavians is suppressed by the contemporary soldier, from a regard for military honour, which could not affect a Greek rhetorician of the succeeding age. »3See D'Anville, Notice de I'Ancienne Gaule, p. 587. The name of the Moselle, which is not specified by Ammianus, is clearly understood by Mascou (Hist, of the ancient Germans, vii. 2). [Dagalaiphus did take the command, but was recalled to enter on the consulate as colleague of Gratian.] VOL. III. 3
