EXPEDITION 01'' Till': I'll AN KS AM> SAXONS. I I 



"There came to mind the incredible daring ;md undeserved 

 success of a handful of the captive Franks under the Emperor 

 Probus. For they, having seized some ships, so far away as 

 Pontus, having laid waste Greece and Asia, having landed and 

 done some damage on several parts of the coast of Africa, 

 actually took Syracuse, which was at one time so renowned 

 for her naval ascendancy. Thereupon they accomplished a 

 very long voyage and entered the Ocean at the point where it 

 breaks through the land (the Straits of Gibraltar), and so by 

 the result of their daring exploit showed that wherever ships 

 can sail, nothing is closed to pirates in desperation." ' 



In the time of Diocletian and Maximian these maritime 

 tribes so harassed the coasts of Gaul and Britain that Max- 

 imian, in 286, was obliged to make Gesoriacum or Bononia 

 (the present Boulogne) into a port for the Roman fleet, in 

 order as far as possible to prevent their incursions. 



" About this time (A.D. 287) Carausius, who, though of very 

 humble origin, had, in the exercise of vigorous warfare, 

 obtained a distinguished reputation, was appointed at Bononia 

 to reduce to quiet the coast regions of Belgica and Armorica, 

 which were overrun by the Franks and Saxons. But though 

 many of the barbarians were captured, the whole of the booty 

 was not handed over to the inhabitants of the province, nor 

 sent to the conimander-in-chief, and the barbarians were, 

 moreover, deliberately allowed by him to come in, that he 

 might capture them with their spoils as they passed through, 

 and by this means enrich himself. On being condemned to 

 death by Maximian, he seized on the sovereign command, and 

 took possession of Britain." 2 



Eutropius also records that the St.xons and others dwelt on 

 the coasts of and among the marshes of the great sea, which 



1 " Rectirsabat quippe in ammos ilia 

 sub Divo Probo et {>aucorum ex Francis 

 captivorum incredibilis audacia et indigna 

 felicitas, qui a Ponto usque correptis 

 navibus Graeciam Asiamque populati nee 

 impune plerisque Libya littoribus appulsi 

 ipsas postremo, navalibus quondam vic- 

 toriis nobiles ceperant Syracusas, et im- 

 inenso itinere pervecti Oceanum, qua 

 terras irrupit intraverant atque ita eventu 

 temeritatis ostenderant nihil esse clausum 

 piraticae desperation! quonavigiis pateret 

 accessus'' (Eumenius Panegyr. Const. Caes. 

 xviii. ciro. A n. 300) 



2 " Pi r liifc ttMnpnra (i.e. 287) ntiain 



Carausius, qui vilissime natus in strenuip 

 militia 1 ordine fa ma MI egregiam fuerat 

 coHsecutus, cum apud BonoMiam per 

 tractum Belgicas et Armorica; pacandum 

 mare aceepisset, quod Franci et Saxones 

 infestabant, multis barbaris saepe captis, 

 nee pracda integra aut provincia'libus 

 reddita aut imperatoribus missa consulto 

 ab eo admitti barbaros ut transeuntes 

 cum prseda pxciperet atque hac se occa- 

 sione ditaret ; a Maximiano JUSMIS occidi 

 ])iirpuram sumpsit et Britannias occu- 

 pavit " (Eutropius, Breviarium Hist<>ri;i; 

 ix. ch. 21). 



