who revolted from the Empire. _Orosius_, _Prosper_ and _Zosimus_ connect
their revolt with the irruptions of the _Barbarians_ into _Gallia_, as
consequent thereunto. _Prosper_, with whom _Zosimus_ agrees, puts it in the
year which began the day after that irruption. The just time I thus
collect: _Marcus_ reigned not many days, _Gratian_ four months, and
_Constantine_ three years. He was slain the year after the taking of
_Rome_, that is A.C. 411, 14 Kal. _Octob._ Whence the revolt was in Spring
A.C. 408. _Sozomen_ joins _Constantine_'s expedition into _Gallia_ with
_Arcadius_'s death, or the times a little after; and _Arcadius_ died A.C.
408 _May_ the 1st. Now tho the reign of these Tyrants was but short, yet
they gave a beginning to the kingdom of _Britain_, and so may be reckoned
the three first Kings, especially since the posterity of _Constantine_,
viz. his sons _Aurelius Ambrosius_, and _Uther Pendraco_, and his grandson
_Arthur_, reigned afterwards. For from the time of the revolt of these
Tyrants _Britain_ continued a distict kingdom absolved from subjection to
the Empire, the Emperor not being able to spare soldiers to be sent thither
to receive and keep the Island, and therefore neglecting it; as we learn by
unquestionable records. For _Prosper_ tells us; _A.C._ 410, _Variane Cos.
Hac tempestate præ valetudine Romanorum, vires funditùs attenuatæ
Britanniæ_. And _Sigebert_, conjoining this with the siege of _Rome_,
saith: _Britannorum vires attenuatæ, & substrahunt se à Romanorum
dominatione_. And _Zosimus_ _lib._ 6. _The _Transrhenane Barbarians_
invading all places, reduced the inhabitants of the island of _Britain_,
and also certain _Celtic_ nations to that pass, that they fell off from the
_Roman_ Empire; and being no longer obedient to the _Roman_ laws_, [Greek:
kat' heauton biateuein], _they lived in separate bodies after their own
pleasure. The _Britons_ therefore taking up arms, and hazarding themselves
for their own safety, freed their cities from the imminent _Barbarians_. In
like manner all _Brabant_ and some other Provinces of the _Gauls_ imitating
the _Britons_, freed themselves also, ejecting the _Roman_ Presidents, and