Saverus - A Brief History of the Roman Empire

Gibbon estimates that with the prize of supreme power in sight, saverus pushed his troops to the limit and marched them at a clip of about 20 miles a day toward rome. His next closest rival, geographically speaking, was albinus up in britain. Julianus was already stricken by the justifiable fear that he had nothing at his disposal that could match up against the three penonian legions. So still scrambling for any means of survival, he sent a group of senators north to convince the penonian troops with a bundle of carrots and sticks that they ought to abandon their leader's cause.