£42 
ENGLAND. 
new' armament was la>, nched into the water, the imperial 
troops, unaccuftomed to that element, were eafily baffled 
and defeated by tlae veteran failors of the ufurper. Dur¬ 
ing the three years which Conftantius employed in pre¬ 
paring another fleet, adequate to the conqueftof Britain, 
he fecured the coalt of Gaul, invaded the country of the 
Franks, and deprived the ufurper of the affiftance of thofe 
powerful allies. But before the preparations were finifh- 
ed, Conftantius received intelligence of the tyrant’s death. 
The fervants of Caraufins imitated the example of trea- 
fon which he had given them. He was murdered by his 
firft minifler AleTus; and the alTaflin fucceeded to his 
power and to his danger. But he poffeffed not equal 
abilities either to exercife the one, or to repel the other. 
He beheld, with anxious terror, the oppofite (bores of the 
continent, already filled with arms, with troops, and with 
veffels; for Conftantius had very prudently divided his 
forces, that he might likewife divide the attention and 
refiftance of the enemy. The attack was at length made 
by the principal fquadron, which, under the command of 
the prtsfebt A fclepiodatus, an officer of diftinguiftied me¬ 
rit, had been aflevnbled in the mouth of the Seine. So 
imperfebt in thofe times- was the art of navigation, that 
orators have celebrated the daring courage of the Ro¬ 
mans, who ventured to fet fail witli a fide wind, and on 
a ftorpiy day. The weather proved favourable to their 
enterprife. Under the cover of a thick fog they efcaped 
the fleet of Alebtus, which had been ftationed off the Hie 
of Wight to receive them, and they landed in fafety on 
home part of the weffern coaft. Afclepiodatus had no 
jooner difembarked the imperial troops, than he fet fire 
to his (hips ; and, as the expedition proved fortunate, his 
heroic conduct was universally admired. The ufurper 
had pofted himfeif near London, to expebt the formid¬ 
able attack of Cqnftantius, who commanded in perfion the 
lleet of Boulogne; but the defcent of a new enemy re¬ 
quired his immediate prefence in the weft. He performed 
this long march in fo precipitate a manner, that he en¬ 
countered the whole force of the praefebt with a fmall 
body of ha rafted and ditheartened troops. The engage¬ 
ment was foon terminated by the total defeat and death 
of Alebtus; a (ingle battle, as it has often happened, de- 
cided-the fate of this great i(land ; and when Conftantius 
landed on the (bores of Kent, he found them covered 
with obedient fubjebts. Their acclamations were loud 
and unanimous; and the virtues of the conqueror may 
induce us to believe, that they (incerely rejoiced in a re¬ 
volution, which, after a feparation of ten years, again re- 
ftored Britain to the body of the Roman empire. 
The two emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, having 
refigned the imperial dignity to Galerius and Conftan¬ 
tius, the latter paffed over into Britain, (hortly after his 
acceflion, and obtained a victory over the turbulent Pibts 
and Caledonians : but he alfo fell fick and died at York. 
Conftantine, the Ton and fucceffor of Conftantius, altered 
the divilion of Britain, which had been formed by Seve- 
rus into two provinces only, but which lie now divided 
into three; viz. Britannia Prirna, Britannia Secunda, and 
Maxima CaTarienfis. The rempval of the imperial feat 
from Rome to Conftantiirople, which happened during 
this reign, gave the northern nations an opportunity of 
making, fieveral irruptions into Britain, and emboldened 
the Pibts and Scots to commit many horrid depredations 
on the fouthern territories. Six years-after the death of 
Conftantine, the continued and deftrubtive inroads of thefe 
barbarians, required the prefence of his youngeft fon, who 
reigned in the vveftern empire. Conftans therefore vifited 
Britain, A. D. 343. The calamities which the conquered 
Britons continued to experience, from foreign war and 
domeftic tyranny, had been aggravated by the feeble and 
corrupt administration of the eunuchs of Conftantius. 
The funis of gold and filver which had been liberally 
tranfmitted for the payment of the troops, w'ere inter¬ 
cepted by the avarice of the commanders; difcharges, 
«i, at lead, exemptions, from the military Service, were 
publicly fold; the diftrefs of the foldiers, who were in- 
jurioufly deprived of their legal and fcanty fubfi(fence, 
provoked them to frequent defertion ; the nerves of dif- 
cipline were relaxed, and the highways were infefted with 
robbers ; a fabt, which feems to have efcaped the diligence 
of our Britifli antiquaries. The oppreftion of the good, 
?nd the impunity of the wicked, equally contributed to 
diffufe through the iftand a fpirit of difeontent and re¬ 
volt ; and every ambitious fubjeqt, every defperate ex¬ 
ile, might entertain a reafonable hope of- fubverting the 
weak and diftrabted government of the Romans in Bri¬ 
tain. The lioftile tribes of the north, w ho detefted the 
pride and power of the Romans, fufpended their domef¬ 
tic feuds ; and the. barbarians of the land and fea, the 
Scots, the Pibts, and the Saxons, fpread themfelves, with 
rapid and irrefiflible fury, from the wall of Antoninus to 
the ftiores of Kent. Every produdtion of art and nature, 
every objebf of convenience or luxury, which they were 
incapable of Creating by labour, or procuring by trade, 
had been accumulated in the rich and fruitful province 
of Britain. “A philofopher (fays Gibbon) may deplore 
the eternal difeord of the human race, but he willcon- 
fefs, that the defire of fpoil is a more rational provoca¬ 
tion than the vanity of conqueft.” This rapacious fpirit 
long continued to inftigate the poor and hardy Caledo¬ 
nians : and the fame people, whofe generous humanity 
feems to infpire the fongs of Oftian, was always difgraced 
by a favage ignorance of the virtues of peace, and of the 
laws of war. Their fouthern neighbours have felt, and 
perhaps exaggerated, their cruel depredations; and a va¬ 
liant tribe of Caledonia, the Attacotti, are accufed, by 
an eye-witnefs, of delighting in the tafte of human flefh. 
When they hunted the woods for prey, it is faid, that 
they attacked the (hepherd rather than his flock ; and 
that they curioufty felebted the moft delicate and brawny 
parts, both of males and females, which they prepared 
for their horrid repafts. If, in the neighbourhood of the 
commercial and literary town of Glafgow, a race of ca- 
nibals has really exiited, which is afferted in the text of 
Jerom, and copied by Gibbon, we may contemplate with 
pleafure in the prefent period.of the Scottilh hiftory, the 
oppofite extremes of favage and civilized life. 
During the fliort reigns of Julian and Jovian, nothing 
is mentioned, by hiftorians, concerning the affairs of Bri¬ 
tain ; but, under Valentinian I. the Pibts, Scots, Atta¬ 
cotti, Saxons, and other northern nations, committed fuch 
outrages, that the defence, or rather the recovery, of 
Britain, was entrufted to the abilities of the brave Theo- 
dofius. The exploits of that general, the father of a 
line of emperors, have been celebrated, with peculiar 
complacency, by the writers of the age : but his real 
merit deferve,d their applatife ; and his nomination was 
received in Britain with univerfal joy. He Seized'the fa¬ 
vourable moment of navigation, and fecurely landed his 
numerous and veteran bands on the Britifli coaft, A. D. 
367. In his march from Sandwich to London, Theodo- 
lius defeated feveral parties of the barbarians, releafed a 
multitude of captives, and, after diftributing to his fol¬ 
diers a (mall portion of the fpoil, eftabliftied the fame of 
difinterefted juftice, by the reftitution of the remainder to 
the rightful proprietors. The citizens of London, who 
had almoft delpaired of their fafety, threw open their 
gates; and as foon as Theodofius had obtained the aid of 
a military lieutenant, and a civil governor, lie executed, 
with wifdom and vigour, the laborious talk of the delive¬ 
rance of Britain. The vagrant foldiers were recalled to 
their (tandard ; an edibt of amnefty difpeljed the public 
apprehenfions; and his cheerful example alleviated the 
rigour of martial difeipline. The (battered and defultory 
warfare of the barbarians, who infefted the land and lea, 
deprived him of the glory of a fignal vibtory ; hut the 
prudent fpirit, and confumniate art, of the Roman gene¬ 
ral were difplayed in the operations of two campaigns, 
in the years 368 and 369, which fucceftively refeued every 
part of the province from the hands of a cruel and rapa- 
a -Clous 
