WHEN the Roman empire, under Valentinian (left) the younger, began to decline, and became sensibly unable to repress the perpetual incursions of the Goths, Huns, Vandals, and other barbarous invaders, it was found necessary to abandon the remotest parts of that unwieldy body, and to recall the Roman forces that defended them, the better to secure the interior and the provinces most exposed to the depredations of the barbarians. And in this exigency of the Roman affairs, Britain, as lying far remote from the heart of the empire, was deprived of the Roman garrisons ; which, being transported into Gaul upon more urgent occasions, left it naked and exposed to the inveterate cruelty of the Scots and Picts: for no sooner had they understood of the departure of the Romans out of Britain, and that the Britons were to expect no further help from the empire, but they descended in greater numbers than formerly, and with greater courage and expectation, being now rid of the fear they entertained of the Roman legions, who always used to hinder their progress and to prevent their incursions into the Roman province. The Britons, perceiving their ancient and implacable enemies falling upon them, and finding themselves far too weak to repel their endless devastations, they, with a lamentable narrative of their own miseries and the cruel oppressions of their enemies, sent over to Gaul, imploring aid of Ætius, prefect of that province ; who, being moved with the deplorable condition of their province, dispatched over a legion under the command of Gallio, which unexpectedly surprising the Scots and Picts, forc