Barbatio - Barbatio and Julian

Barbatio and Julian

Not long after the death of Gallus, Constantius summoned Flavius Claudius Julianus, the dead man's scholarly half-brother, from his studies in Athens to the royal court in Milan. There he was married to Helena, the Emperor's sister, and promoted to the rank of Caesar. Although Constantius felt obliged to elevate Julian, the only other male descendant of Constantine the Great still living, it was clear that none of his habitual distrust had abated. Although Julian had no military experience whatsoever, he was promptly sent with a small escort to reorganise the army in Gaul, under attack by invading German tribes. Again according to Ammianus, despite Julian's sudden promotion, Constantius saw him as a possible rival and despised him for his "…youthful vivacity, sincerity, and wit which made him too popular for the Emperor's peace of mind." The army officers were instructed that they had the real power, not Julian. It seems likely that Constantius sent him to the dangerous frontier in Gaul, expecting him to die in battle. But Julian was to prove himself to be a skilful soldier with natural ability.

In 357, Julian's second year as Caesar, plans were laid for an offensive against the Alamanni, the most dangerous of the enemy tribes. It was intended that two armies, the first commanded by Julian and the second by Barbatio, would advance in a classic Roman tactic known as a forceps or forfex, forming diverging wings, embracing and destroying the enemy. Julian then marched from his camp in Sens to Reims, while Barbatio moved north with 25,000 troops from Italy to Raetia. While these moves were underway another German tribe, the Laeti, passed between both armies and attacked Lyons. Julian sent three elite cavalry squadrons to intercept them, attacking and killing a large number as they returned from the raid loaded with booty. The survivors fled past Barbatio's camp unchallenged. The commander excused himself to the Emperor by blaming others for his neglect of duty.

Still later, Julian asked Barbatio for some boats to form a pontoon bridge over the Rhine to pursue another enemy tribe. Barbatio simply had the boats burned. Supplies intended for Julian's army were also destroyed. Eventually the planned pincer movement was frustrated when Barbatio, in the words of Ammianus, "…as if he had ended the campaign successfully, distributed his soldiers in winter quarters and returned to the Emperor's court to frame some charges against Caesar, as was his custom." His departure left Julian open to attack, but against all expectations he defeated the Alemanni at the Battle of Strasbourg. Constantius, in distant Milan, immediately claimed the victory as his own.

Edward Gibbon hypothesized that Barbatio, who escaped all reprimand, could have only acted as he did under instruction. Gibbon wrote in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, "But the hopes of the campaign were defeated by the incapacity, or the enemy, or the secret instructions of Barbatio; who acted more as if he had been an enemy of the Caesar and a secret ally of the Barbarians"