Ammianus, xvi. 12. Libanius adds 2000 more to the number
of the slain (Orat. x. p. 274). But these trifling
differences disappear before the 60,000 barbarians whom
Zosimus has sacrificed to the glory of his hero (1. iii. [c.
3] p. 141). We might attribute this extravagant number to
the carelessness of transcribers, if this credulous or
partial historian had not swelled the army of 35,000
Alemanni to an innumerable multitude of barbarians, . It
is our own fault if this detection does not inspire us with
proper distrust on similar occasions.