Britain, and then returning to Rome the sixth month after his departure, he gave his son the title of Britannicus. This war he concluded in the fourth year of his empire, which is the forty-sixth from the incarnation of our Lord. In which year there happened a most grievous famine in Syria, which, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded to have been foretold by the prophet Agabus. Vespasian, who was emperor after Nero, being sent into Britain by the same Claudius, brought also under the Roman dominion the Isle of Wight, which is next to Isle of Britain on the south, and is about thirty miles in length from east to west, and twelve from north to south; being six miles distant from the southern coast of Britain at the east end, and three only at the west. Nero, succeeding Nero. Claudius in the empire, attempted nothing in martial affairs; and therefore among other innumerable detriments brought upon the Roman state, he almost lost Britain; for under him two most noble towns were there taken and destroyed. CHAP. IV.-LUCIUS, KING OF BRITAIN, WRITING TO POPE ELEUTHERUS, DESIRES TO BE MADE A CHRISTIAN. Wight. Lucius em- In the year of our Lord's incarnation 156, Marcus A.D. 156. Antoninus Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, was braces made emperor, together with his brother, Aurelius Commodus. In their time, whilst Eleutherus, a holy man, presided over the Roman church, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent a letter to him, entreating, that by his command he might be made a Christian. He soon obtained the object of his pious request, and the Britons preserved the faith, which they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor Diocletian. CAP. V.-UT SEVERUS RECEPTAM BRITANNIE PARTEM VALLO A CETERA DISTINXERIT. ANNO ab incarnatione Domini centesimo octogesimo nono, Severus, genere Afer, Tripolitanus, ab oppido Lepti, decimus septimus ab Augusto, imperium adeptus, decem et septem annis tenuit. Hic natura sævus, multis semper bellis lacessitus, fortissime quidem rempublicam sed laboriosissime rexit. Victor ergo civilium bellorum, quæ ei gravissima occurrerant, in Britannias defectu pene omnium sociorum trahitur, ubi magnis gravibusque præliis sæpe gestis, receptam partem insulæ a ceteris indomitis gentibus, non muro, ut quidam æstimant, sed vallo distinguendam putavit. Murus etenim de lapidibus, vallum vero, quo ad repellendam vim hostium castra muniuntur, fit de cespitibus, quibus circumcisis e terra, velut murus exstruitur altus supra terram, ita ut in ante sit fossa, de qua levati sunt cespites, supra quam sudes de lignis fortissimis præfiguntur. Itaque Severus magnam fossam firmissimumque vallum, crebris insuper turribus communitum, a mari ad mare duxit; ibique apud Eboracum oppidum morbo obiit. Reliquit duos filios, Bassianum et Getam; quorum Geta hostis publicus judicatus interiit, Bassianus, Antonini cognomine assumpto, regno potitus est. CAP. VI.--DE IMPERIO DIOCLETIANI, ET UT CHRISTIANOS PERSECUTUS SIT. ANNO incarnationis Dominicæ ducentesimo octogesimo sexto, Diocletianus, tricesimus tertius ab Augusto, Imperator ab exercitu electus, annis viginti fuit, Maximianumque cognomento Herculium socium creavit CHAP. V. - HOW THE EMPEROR SEVERUS DIVIDED THAT PART OF BRITAIN WHICH HE SUBDUED, FROM THE REST BY A RAMPART. A.D. 189. In the year of our Lord 189, Severus, an African, Severus. born at Leptis, in the province of Tripolis, received the imperial purple. He was the seventeenth from Augustus, and reigned seventeen years. Being naturally stern, and engaged in many wars, he governed the state vigorously, but with much trouble. Having been victorious in all the grievous civil wars which happened in his time, he was drawn into Britain by the revolt of almost all the confederate tribes; and, after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all round like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. Thus Severus drew a great ditch and strong rampart, fortified with several towers, from sea to sea; and was afterwards taken sick and died at York, leaving two Severus dies sons, Bassianus and Geta; of whom Geta died, adjudged Caracalla a public enemy; but Bassianus, having taken the surname of Antoninus, obtained the empire. CHAP. VI. THE REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN, AND HOW HE PERSECUTED THE CHRISTIANS. at York. and Geta. Diocletian mian. In the year of our Lord's incarnation 286, Diocletian, A.D. 286. the thirty-third from Augustus, and chosen emperor by and Maxithe army, reigned twenty years, and created Maximian, surnamed Herculius, his colleague in the empire. In imperii. Quorum tempore Carausius quidam, genere quidem infimus sed consilio et manu promtus, cum ad observanda oceani litora, quæ tunc Franci et Saxones infestabant, positus, plus in perniciem quam in provectum reipublicæ ageret, ereptam prædonibus prædam nulla ex parte restituendo dominis, sed sibi soli vindicando; accedens suspicionem, quia ipsos quoque hostes ad incursandos fines artifici negligentia permitteret. Quam ob rem a Maximiano jussus occidi purpuram sumsit, ac Britannias occupavit; quibus sibi per septem annos fortissime vindicatis ac retentis, tandem fraude Allecti socii sui interfectus est. Allectus postea ereptam Carausio insulam per triennium tenuit, quem Asclepiodotus præfectus Prætorio oppressit, Britanniamque post decem annos recepit. Interea Diocletianus in oriente, Maximianus Herculius in occidente, vastari ecclesias, affligi interficique Christianos, decimo post Neronem loco, præceperunt; quæ persecutio omnibus fere ante actis diuturnior atque immanior fuit, nam per decem annos incendiis ecclesiarum, proscriptionibus innocentum, cædibus martyrum, incessabiliter acta est. Denique etiam Britanniam tum plurima confessionis Deo devotæ gloria sublimavit. CAP. VII.-PASSIO SANCTI ALBANI ET SOCIORUM EJUS, QUI EODEM TEMPORE PRO DOMINO SANGUINEM FUDERUNT. SIQUIDEM in ea passus est sanctus Albanus, de quo presbyter Fortunatus in Laude Virginum, cum beatorum martyrum, qui de toto orbe ad Dominum venirent, mentionem faceret, ait; Albanum egregium fecunda Britannia profert. their time, one Carausius, of very mean birth, but an carausius. expert and able soldier, being appointed to guard the sea-coasts, then infested by the Franks and Saxons, acted more to the prejudice than to the advantage of the commonwealth; and from his not restoring the booty taken from the robbers to its owners, but keeping all to himself, it was suspected that by intentional neglect he suffered the enemy to infest the frontiers. Hearing, therefore, that an order was sent by Maximian that he should be put to death, he took upon him the imperial robes, and possessed himself of Britain, and having most valiantly retained it for the space of seven years, he was at length put to death by the treachery of his associate, Allectus. The usurper, having thus got the island from Allectus. Carausius, held it three years, and was then vanquished by Asclepiodotus, the captain of the Prætorian bands, who thus at the end of ten years restored Britain to the Roman empire. Meanwhile, Diocletian in the east, and Maximian Herculius in the west, commanded the churches to be destroyed, and the Christians to be slain. This persecution was the tenth since the reign of Nero, and was more lasting and bloody than all the others before it; for it was carried on incessantly for the space of ten years, with burning of churches, outlawing of innocent persons, and the slaughter of martyrs. At length, it reached Britain also, and many persons, with the constancy of martyrs, died in the confession of their faith. CHAP. VII. -THE PASSION OF ST. ALBAN AND HIS COM PANIONS, WHO AT THAT TIME SHED THEIR BLOOD FOR OUR Ar that time suffered St. Alban, of whom the priest St. Alban Fortunatus, in the Praise of Virgins, where he makes A.D. 305. mention of the blessed martyrs that came to the Lord from all parts of the world, says- martyred. In Britain's isle was holy Alban born. |