ABSTRACT
By rapid marches Theodosius’ army reached and occupied the westernmost Alpine passes on the road to Aquileia by early September. From the vantage point of his camp he could overlook the plain below. There, with their rear to the river Frigidus, was Arbogast’s army, drawn up in a strongly entrenched position with the standard of Jove overlooking their camp. Their lines extended to face across the mouth of the pass, and they had already occupied the critical high points so that Theodosius would have no room for flanking movements.1
