Sensible of their own
force, and allured by the prospect of so rich a prize, the northern
barbarians, in the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, assailed at once
all the frontiers of the Roman empire; and having first satiated their
avidity by plunder, began to think of fixing a settlement in the wasted
provinces. The more distant barbarians, who occupied the deserted
habitations of the former, advanced in their acquisitions, and pressed
with their incumbent weight the Roman state, already unequal to the load
which it sustained. Instead of arming the people in their own defence,
the emperors recalled all the distant legions, in whom alone they
could repose confidence; and collected the whole military force for
the defence of the capital and centre of the empire. The necessity of
self-preservation had superseded the ambition of power; and the ancient
point of honor, never to contract the limits of the empire, could no
longer be attended to in this desperate extremity.
Britain by its situation was removed from the fury of these barbarous
incursions; and being also a remote province, not much valued by
the Romans, the legions which defended it were carried over to the
protection of Italy and Gaul.
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