CAP. XIII.-UT, REGNANTE THEODOSIO MINORE, CUJUS

TEMPORE PALLADIUS AD SCOTOS IN CHRISTUM CREDENTES MISSUS EST, BRITONES AB ETIO CONSULE AUXILIUM FLAGITANTES NON IMPETRAVERINT.

ANNO Dominicæ incarnationis quadringentesimo vigesimo tertio, Theodosius junior post Honorium quadragesimus quintus ab Augusto, regnum suscipiens viginti et sex annis tenuit; cujus anno imperii octavo, Palladius ad Scotos in Christum credentes a pontifice Romanæ ecclesiæ Celestino primus mittitur episcopus. Anno autem regni ejus vigesimo tertio Ætius, vir illustris, qui et patricius fuit, tertium cum Symmacho gessit consulatum. Ad hunc pauperculæ Britonum reliquiæ mittunt epistolam, cujus hoc principium est; " Ætio ter consuli, gemitus Britannorum;" et in processu epistolæ ita suas calamitates explicant; "Repellunt barbari ad mare, repellit mare ad barbaros; inter hæc oriuntur duo genera funerum, aut jugulamur, aut mergimur." Neque hæc tamen agentes quicquam ab illo auxilii impetrare quiverunt, utpote qui gravissimis eo tempore bellis cum Bledla et Attila, regibus Hunnorum, erat occupatus. Et quamvis, anno ante hunc proximo, Bledla Attilæ fratris sui sit interemtus insidiis, Attila tamen ipse adeo intolerabilis reipublicæ remansit hostis, ut totam pene Europam, excisis invasisque civitatibus atque castellis, corroderet. Quin et iisdem temporibus fames Constantinopolim invasit; nec mora, pestis secuta est, sed et plurimi ejusdem urbis muri cum quinquaginta septem turribus corruerunt; multis quoque civitatibus collapsis, fames et aerum pestifer odor plura hominum millia jumentorumque delevit.

CHAP. XIII. IN THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUS THE YOUNGER,

PALLADIUS WAS SENT TO THE SCOTS THAT BELIEVED IN
CHRIST; THE BRITONS BEGGING ASSISTANCE OF ATIUS, THE
CONSUL, COULD NOT OBTAIN IT.

In the year of our Lord 423, Theodosius, the younger, A.D. 423. next to Honorius, being the forty-fifth from Augustus, emperor. governed the Roman empire twenty-six years. In the eighth year of his reign, Palladius was first sent by Celestinus, the Roman pontiff; to the Scots that believed in Christ, to be their first bishop. In the twenty-third A.D. 446. year of his reign, Ætius, a renowned person, being also Ætius. a patrician, discharged his third consulship with Symmachus for his colleague. To him the wretched remains of the Britons sent a letter, which began thus:-" To Ætius, thrice Consul, the groans of the Britons." And in the sequel of the letter they thus expressed their calamities :-" The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea The groans drives us back to the barbarians: between them we are Britons. exposed to two sorts of death; we are either slain or drowned." Yet neither could all this procure any assistance from him, as he was then engaged in most dangerous wars with Bledla and Attila, kings of the Huns. And, though the year before this, Bledla had been murdered by the treachery of his brother Attila, yet Attila himself remained so intolerable an enemy to the Republic, that he ravaged almost all Europe, invading and destroying cities and castles. At the same time there was a famine at Constantinople, and shortly after, a plague followed, and a great part of the walls of that city, with fifty-seven towers, fell to the ground. Many cities also went to ruin, and the famine and pestilential state of the air destroyed thousands of men and cattle.

CAP. XIV.-UT BRITONES, FAME FAMOSA COACTI, BARBAROS SUIS E FINIBUS PEPULERINT; NEC MORA, FRUGUM COPIA, LUXURIA, PESTILENTIA, ET EXTERMINIUM GENTIS SECUTUM

SIT.

INTEREA Britones fames illa præfata magis magisque afficiens, ac famam suæ malitiæ posteris diuturnam relinquens, multos eorum coegit victas infestis prædonibus dare manus, alios vero nunquam; quin potius confidentes in Divinum ubi humanum cessabat auxilium, de ipsis montibus, speluncis ac saltibus continue rebellabant; et tum primum inimicis, qui per multos annos prædas in terra agebant, strages dare cœperunt. Revertuntur ergo impudentes grassatores Hiberni domum, post non longum tempus reversuri; Picti in extrema parte insulæ tunc primum et deinceps quieverunt, prædas tamen nonnunquam exinde et contritiones de Britonum gente agere non cessarunt.

Cessante autem vastatione hostili, tantis frugum copiis insula, quantas nulla retro ætas meminit, affluere cœpit; cum quibus et luxuria crescere, et hanc continuo omnium lues scelerum comitari acceleravit; crudelitas præcipue, et odium veritatis amorque mendacii, ita ut, si quis eorum mitior et veritati aliquatenus propior videretur, in hune, quasi Britanniæ subversorem, omnium odia telaque sine respectu contorquerentur. Et non solum hæc seculares viri, sed etiam ipse grex Domini ejusque pastores egerunt; ebrietati, animositati, litigio, contentioni, invidiæ, ceterisque hujusmodi facinoribus, sua colla, abjecto levi jugo Christi, subdentes. Interea subito corruptæ mentis homines acerba pestis corripuit, quæ in brevi tantam ejus multitudinem stravit, ut ne sepeliendis quidem mortuis vivi sufficerent; sed ne morte qui

CHAP. XIV. -THE BRITONS, COMPELLED BY FAMINE, DROVE
THE BARBARIANS OUT OF THEIR TERRITORIES; SOON AFTER
THERE ENSUED PLENTY OF CORN, LUXURY, PLAGUE, AND THE
SUBVERSION OF THE NATION.

recover their

In the meantime, the aforesaid famine distressing the The Britons Britons more and more, and leaving to posterity lasting courage. memorials of its mischievous effects, obliged many of them to submit themselves to the depredators; though others still held out, confiding in the Divine assistance, when none was to be had from men. These continually

made excursions from the mountains, caves, and woods, and, at length, began to inflict severe losses on their enemies, who had been for so many years plundering the country. The Irish robbers thereupon returned home, in order to come again soon after. The Picts, both then and afterwards, remained quiet in the farthest part of the island; save that, sometimes, they would do some mischief, and carry off booty from the Britons.

When, however, the ravages of the enemy at length ceased, the island began to abound with such plenty of grain as had never been known in any age before; with plenty, luxury increased, and this was immediately attended with all sorts of crimes; in particular, cruelty, hatred of truth, and love of falsehood; insomuch, that if any one among them happened to be milder than the rest, and inclined to truth, all the rest abhorred and persecuted him, as if he had been the enemy of his country. Nor were the laity only guilty of these things, but even our Lord's own flock, and his pastors also, addicting themselves to drunkenness, animosity, litigiousness, contention, envy, and other such like crimes, and casting off the light yoke of Christ. In the meantime, on a sudden, a severe plague fell upon that corrupt generation, which soon destroyed such numbers of them, that the living were scarcely sufficient to bury the dead :

E

dem suorum nec timore mortis hi, qui supererant, a morte animæ, qua peccando sternebantur, revocari poterant; unde non multo post acrior gentem peccatricem ultio diri sceleris secuta est. Initum namque est consilium quid agendum, ubi quærendum esset præsidium ad evitandas vel repellendas tam feras tamque creberrimas gentium aquilonalium irruptiones, placuitque omnibus cum suo rege Vortigerno, ut Saxonum gentem de transmarinis partibus in auxilium vocarent; quod Domini nutu dispositum esse constat, ut veniret contra improbos malum, sicut evidentius rerum exitus probavit.

CAP. XV. UT INVITATA BRITANNIAM GENS ANGLORUM

PRIMO QUIDEM ADVERSARIOS LONGIUS EJECERIT, SED NON MULTO POST, JUNCTO CUM HIS FEDERE, IN SOCIOS ARMA

VERTERIT.

Anno ab incarnatione Domini quadringentesimo quadragesimo nono, Marcianus cum Valentiniano, quadragesimus sextus ab Augusto, regnum adeptus, septem annis tenuit. Tunc Anglorum sive Saxonum gens, invitata a rege præfato, in Britanniam tribus longis navibus advehitur, et in orientali parte insulæ, jubente eodem rege, locum manendi, quasi pro patria pugnatura, re autem vera hanc expugnatura, suscepit. Inito ergo certamine cum hostibus, qui ab aquilone ad aciem venerant, victoriam sumsere Saxones. Quod ubi domi nunciatum est, simul et insulæ fertilitas ac segnitia Britonum, mittitur confestim illo classis prolixior armatorum ferens manum fortiorem, quæ præmissæ adjuncta cohorti invincibilem fecit exercitum. Susceperunt ergo qui advenerunt, donantibus Britannis, locum habitationis inter eos, ea conditione ut hi pro patriæ pace et salute contra adver