CHAP. lienus to that of Diocletian, the condition of these XIII. servile peasants was peculiarly miserable; and they experienced at once the complicated tyranny of their masters, of the barbarians, of the soldiers, and of the officers of the revenue.* Their re bellion, Their patience was at last provoked into despair. On every side they rose in multitudes, armed with rustic weapons and with irresistible tury. The ploughman became a foot soldier, the shepherds mounted on horseback, the deserted villages and open towns were abandoned to the flames, and the ravages of the peasants equalled those of the fiercest barbarians." They asserted the natural rights of men, but they asserted those rights with the most savage cruelty. The Gallic nobles, justly dreading their revenge, either took refuge in the fortified cities, or fled from the wild scene of anarchy. The peasants reigned without controul; and two of their most daring leaders had the folly and rashness to assume the imperial ornaments. Their power soon expired at the approach of the legions. The strength of union and discipline obtained an easy victory over a licentious and divided and chas multitude. A severe retaliation was inflicted on the peasants who were found in arms; the affrighted remnant returned to their respective tisement. Their oppression and misery are acknowledged by Eumenius (Panegyr. vi. 8), Gallias afferatus injuriis. Panegyr. Vet. ii, 4. Aurelius Victor. * Ælianus and Amandus. We have medals coined by them. Goltzius in Thes. R. A. p. 117, 121. y Levibus præliis domuit. Eutrop. ix, 20. XIII. habitations; and their unsuccessful effort for free- CHAP. dom served only to confirm their slavery. So strong and uniform is the current of popular passions, that we might almost venture, from very scanty materials, to relate the particulars of this war; but we are not disposed to believe that the principal leaders, Ælianus and Amandus, were christians, or to insinuate, that the rebellion, as it happened in the time of Luther, was occasioned by the abuse of those benevolent principles of christianity, which inculcate the natural freedom of mankind. Revolt of in Britain. Maximian had no sooner recovered Gaul from A. D. 267, the hands of the peasants, than he lost Britain by Carausius the usurpation of Carausius. Ever since the rash but successful enterprise of the Franks under the reign of Probus, their daring countrymen had constructed squadrons of light brigantines, in which they incessantly ravaged the provinces adjacent to the ocean. To repel these desultory incursions, it was found necessary to create a naval power; and the judicious measure was prosecuted with prudence and vigour, Gessoriacum, or Boulogne, in the straits of the British channel, was chosen by the emperor for the station of the Roman fleet; and the command of it was intrusted to Carausius, a Menapian of the 'The fact rests indeed on very slight authority, a life of St. Babo linus, which is probably of the seventh century. See Duchesne Scriptores Rer. Francicar. tom. i, p. 662. • Aurelius Victor calls them Germans. Eutropius (ix, 21) gives them the name of Saxons. But Entropius lived in the ensuing century, and seems to use the language of his own times. XIII. CHAP. meanest origin,' but who had long signalized his skill as a pilot, and his valour as a soldier. The integrity of the new admiral corresponded not with his abilities. When the German pirates sailed from their own harbours, he connived at their passage, but he diligently intercepted their return, and appropriated to his own use an ample share of the spoil which they had acquired. The wealth of Carausius was, on this occasion, very justly considered as an evidence of his guilt: and Maximian had already given orders for his death. But the crafty Menapian foresaw and prevented the severity of the emperor. By his liberality he had attached to his fortunes the fleet which he commanded, and secured the barbarians in his interest. From the port of Boulogne he sailed over to Britain, persuaded the legion, and the auxiliaries which guarded that island, to embrace his party, and boldly assuming, with the imperial purple, the title of Augustus, defied the justice and the arms of his injured sovereign." Import. ance of When Britain was thus dismembered from the Britain. empire, its importance was sensibly felt, and its loss sincerely lamented. The Romans celebrated, The three expressions of Eutropius, Aurelius Vietor, and Eumenins, "villissime natus," "Bataviæ alumnus," and "Menapiæ civis," give us a very doubtful account of the birth of Carausius. Dr. Stukely, however (Hist. of Caransius, p. 62), choose to make him a native of St. David's, and a prince of the blood royal of Britain. The former idea he had found in Richard of Cirencester, p. 44. Panegyr. v. 12. Britain at this time was secure, and slightly guarded. XIII. Carausius and perhaps magnified, the extent of that noble CHAP. island, provided on every side with convenient harbours; the temperature of the climate and the fertility of the soil, alike adapted for the production of corn or of vines; the valuable minerals with which it abounded; its rich pastures covered with innumerable flocks, and its woods free from wild beasts or venomous serpents. Above all, they regretted the large amount of the revenue of Britain, whilst they confessed, that such a province well deserved to become the seat of an independent monarchy." During the space of seven years, it was possessed Power of by Carausius; and fortune continued propitious to a rebellion, supported with courage and ability. The British emperor defended the frontiers of his dominions against the Caledonians of the north; invited, from the continent, a great number of skilful artists; and displayed, on a variety of coins that are still extant, his taste and opulence. Born on the confines of the Franks, he courted the friendship of that formidable people, by the flattering imitation of their dress and manners. The bravest of their youth he enlisted among his land or sea forces; and in return for their useful alliance, he communicated to the barbarians the dangerous know. 4 Panegyr. Vet. v, 11, vii, 9. The orator Eumenius wished to exalt the glory of the hero (Constantius) with the importance of the conquest. Notwithstanding our laudable partiality for our native country, it is difficult to conceive, that in the beginning of the fourth century, England deserved all these commendations. A century and a half before, it hardly paid its own establishment. See Appian in Proz XIII. CHAP. ledge of military and naval arts. Carausius still preserved the possession of Boulogne and the adjacent country. His fleets rode triumphant in the channel, commanded the mouths of the Seine and of the Rhine, ravaged the coasts of the ocean, and diffused beyond the columns of Hercules the terror of his name. Under his command, Britain, destined in a future age to obtain the empire of the sea, already assumed its natural and respectable station of a maritime power. A. D. 289. 'Acknow. the other By seizing the fleet of Boulogne, Carausius ledged by had deprived his master of the means of pursuit emperors. and revenge. And when, after a vast expence of time and labour, a new armament was launched into the water, the imperial troops, unaccustomed to that element, were easily baffled and defeated by the veteran sailors of the usurper. This disappointed effort was soon productive of a treaty of peace. Diocletian and his colleague, who justly dreaded the enterprising spirit of Carausius, resigned to him the sovereignty of Britain, and reluctantly admitted their perfidious servant to a participation of the imperial ho As a great number of medals of Carausius are still preserved, he is become a very favourite object of antiquarian curiosity, and every circumstance of his life and actions has been investigated with sagacious accuracy. Dr. Stukely, in particular, has devoted a large volume to the British emperor. I have used his materials, and rejected most of his fanciful conjectures. f When Mamertinus pronounced his first panegyric, the naval preparations of Maximian were completed; and the orator presaged an assured victory. His silence in the second panegyric might alone inform us, that the expedition had not succeeded. |