HumanitiesWeb.org - Roman History Roman History - Book XVI. (III. He recovers Cologne, which had been taken by the Franks, and concludes a peace with the king of the Franks.) by Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman History Roman History - Book XVI. III. He recovers Cologne, which had been taken by the Franks, and concludes a peace with the king of the Franks.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
After this, meeting
with no resistance, he determined to proceed to recover Cologne, which had been
destroyed before his arrival in
Gaul. In that district there is no city or fortress to be seen except that near
Confluentes; a place so named because there the river Moselle becomes mingled
with the Rhine; there is also the village of Rheinmagen, and likewise a single
tower near Cologne.
After having
taken possession of Cologne he did not leave it till the Frank kings began,
through fear of him, to abate of their fury, when he contracted a peace with
them likely to be of future advantage to the republic. In the mean time he put
the whole city into a state of complete defence.
Then, auguring
well from these first-fruits of victory, he departed, passing through the
district of Treves, with the intention of wintering at Sens, which was a town
very suitable for that purpose. When bearing, so to say, the weight of a world
of wars upon his shoulders, he was occupied by perplexities of various kinds,
and among them how to provide for establishing in places most exposed to danger
the soldiers who had quitted their former posts; how to defeat the enemies who
had conspired together to injure the Roman cause; and further, how to provide
supplies for the army while employed in so many different quarters.
