Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/449

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 425 enlisted among his land or sea forces; and in return CHAP, for their useful alliance, he communicated to the bar- -^^^^^ barians the dangerous knowledge of military and naval arts. Carausius still preserved the possession of Bou- logne and the adjacent country. His fleets rode tri- umphant 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*. By seizing the fleet of Boulogne, Carausius had de-A.D. 289. prived his master of the means of pursuit and revenge, j^cj^"^,' And when, after a vast expense of time and labour, a the other new armament was launched into tfce w^ater ^, the impe- ^"^P"^' ^• rial 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 reluct- antly admitted their perfidious servant to a participa- tion of the imperial honours 8. But the adoption of the two Caesars restored new vigour to the Roman arms ; and while the Rhine was guarded by the pre- sence of Maximian, his brave associate Constantius assumed the conduct of the British war. His first en- terprise was against the important place of Boulogne. e As a great number of medals of Carausius are still preserved, he is become a very favourite object of antiquarian curiosity, and every circum- stance of his life and actions has been investigated with sagacious accu- racy. Dr. Stukely in particular has devoted a large volume to the British emperor. I have used his materials, and rejected most of his fanciful con- jectures. ^ When Mamertinus pronounced his first panegyric, the naval prepara- tions 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. » Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, and the medals, (Pax Augg.) inform us of this temporary reconciliation : though I will not presume (as Dr. Stukely has done, Medallic History of Carausius, p. 86, etc.) to insert the identical articles of the treaty.