long after lost his accursed head before the walls of Aquileia,
whereas he had before cut off the crowned heads of almost all
the world.

14. After this, Britain is left deprived of all her soldiery
and armed bands, of her cruel governors, and of the flower of
her youth, who went with Maximus, but never again returned; and
utterly ignorant as she was of the art of war, groaned in amazement
for many years under the cruelty of two foreign nations--the
Scots from the north-west, and the Picts from the north.

15. The Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots and Picts,
their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send ambassadors to
Rome with letters, entreating in piteous terms the assistance of
an armed band to protect them, and offering loyal and ready
submission to the authority of Rome, if they only would expel their
foes. A legion is immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion,
and provided sufficiently with arms. When they had crossed over
the sea and landed, they came at once to close conflict with their
cruel enemies, and slew great numbers of them. All of them were
driven beyond the borders, and the humiliated natives rescued
from the bloody slavery which awaited them. By the advice of their
protectors, they now built a wall across the island from one sea
to the other, which being manned with a proper force, might be a
terror to the foes whom it was intended to repel, and a protection
to their friends whom it covered. But this wall, being made of
turf instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people, who
had no head to guide them.

16. The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and