to the neglect of defence. I fear that Roman Britain went to sleep behind her wall, recruiting fell off, the strength of the legions became largely a ‘paper strength’.
Decay of Roman power after A. D. 300.And not only in Britain. The greatest empire that the world has ever seen was slowly dying at the heart, dying of too much power, too much prosperity, too much luxury. What a lesson for us all to-day! There were pirates abroad, who smelt plunder afar off, land-thieves and sea-thieves. They began to break through the frontiers. Invasions of the Picts.One fine day the terrible news came to York, the capital of Roman Britain, that the Picts were over the wall. Where was the commander-in-chief? Oh! he was at Bath, taking the waters to cure his indigestion. Where was the prefect (the highest representative of the Emperor)? Oh! he lived at Lyons in Southern France; for he governed France as well as Britain. Quite possibly he was actually in rebellion against the Emperor of Rome, and was thinking of marching down to Italy to make himself Emperor! If so, he would be for withdrawing the few soldiers that were left in Britain instead of sending more to defend it. ‘A few barbarians more or less over the wall’ mattered very little to a man who lived by neglecting his duties in Southern France; ‘they could easily be driven back next year.’
Fall of Roman Britain.But it soon came to be less easy, and the barbarians soon came to be more than a few. An officer, called the ‘Count of the Saxon Shore’, was created to watch against the pirates. The cities of Britain, hitherto undefended by fortifications, hastily began to run up walls for themselves. One day even these walls were in vain. Rome, Britain and civilization were equally coming to an end, and it would be long before they revived. Half a century had completed the Roman conquest of the
