Kitap 28
5.10
Accordingly, he often sent letters to their kings through silent and loyal messengers, urging them to attack the Alamanni at an appointed time, and promising that he too would cross the Rhine with the Roman armies and, if the Alamanni tried to avoid the unexpected weight of armed forces, would intercept them in their panic.
5.11
The emperor’s letters were gladly received for two reasons: first, because the Burgundians know that they are descendants of the Romans from ancient times;Possibly from the Romans whom Drusus, and later Tiberius, left behind on the Elbe and elsewhere to defend the frontier. and then, since they frequently quarrelled with the Alamanni about salt-pitsThis was a frequent cause of war; cf. Tac., Ann. xiii. 57; Strabo, vii. 5, 11 (C. 318); and for these salt-pits, John of Salisbury, Epist. 196. and boundaries.Cf. xviii. 2, 15. They therefore sent their choicest troops, which, before our soldiers were gathered together, advanced as far as the banks of the Rhine; and while the emperor was still occupied with the building of fortifications, they caused the very greatest alarm to our people.
5.12
And so they halted for a time, but when Valentinian did not appear on the appointed day, as he had agreed, and they saw that none of his promises had been fulfilled, they sent envoys to the emperor’s camp, demanding that support be given them for their return to their homes, in order that they might not expose their unprotected rear to the enemy.
