OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 137 sidered as a state of exile and obscurity ; and, if Maximus had obtained any civil or military office, he was not invested with the authority either of governor or general.^^ His abilities, and even his integrity, are acknowledged by the partial writers of the age ; and the merit must indeed have been conspicuous, that could extort such a confession in favour of the vanquished enemy of Theodosius. The discontent of Maximus might in- cline him to censure the conduct of his sovereign, and to en- courage, perhaps without any views of ambition, the murmurs of the troops. But in the midst of the tumult he artfully, or modestly, refused to ascend the throne ; and some credit appears to have been given to his own positive declaration that he was compelled to accept the dangerous present of the Imperial purple.i2 But there was a danger likewise in refusing the empire ; and FUght and from the moment that Maximus had violated his allegiance to Gratian his lawful sovereign, he could not hope to reign, or even to live, if he confined his moderate ambition within the narrow limits of Britain. He boldly and wisely resolved to prevent the designs of Gratian ; the youth of the island crowded to his standard, and he invaded Gaul with a fleet and army, which were long afterwards remembered as the emigration of a considerable part of the British nation.^^ The emperor, in his peaceful residence of Paris, was alarmed by their hostile approach ; and the darts which he idly wasted on lions and bears might have been employed more honourably against the rebels. But his feeble efforts announced his degenerate spirit Mona Antiqua). The prudent reader may not perhaps be satisfied with such Welsh evidence. iiCambden (vol. i. introduct. p. ci.) appoints him governor of Britain ; and the father of oiu- antiquities is followed, as usual, by his blind progeny. Pacatus and Zosimus had taken some pains to prevent this error, or fable ; and I shall protect myself by their decisive testimonies. Regali habitu exulem suum illi exules orbes induerunt (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 23), and the Greek historian, still less equivocally, aiiTOS (Maximus) hi ovSe etj apxh" ivTLixov f^rve ■KpoeKSuiV (1. iv. p. 248 [c. 35]). 12 Suipicius Severus, Dialog, ii. 7, Orosius, 1. vii. c. 34, p. 556. They both acknowledge (Suipicius had been his subject) his innocence and merit. It is singular enough that Maximus should be less favourably treated by Zosimus, the partial adversary of his rival. 13 Archbishop Usher (Antiquitat. Britan. Eccles. p. 107, 108) has diligently collected the legends of the island and the continent. The whole emigration consisted of 30,000 soldiers, and 100,000 plebeians, who settled in Bretagne. Their destined brides, St. Ursula with 11,000 noble, and 60,000 plebeian, virgins, mistook their way ; landed at Cologne, and were all most cruelly murdered by the Huns. But the plebeian sisters have been defrauded of their equal honours ; and, what '5 still harder, John Trithemius presumes to mention the children of these British virgins.
