[1] [2] _NOw will we saie some|what of the tumults in Bri|taine.Pertinax lieu|tenant of Bri|taine. It was thought néed|full to send some sufficient capteine of autoritie thither; and therefore was one Per|tinax that had béene consull and ruler ouer foure seuerall consular prouinces, appoin|ted by Commodus to go as lieutenant into that Ile, both for that he was thought a man most méet for such a charge, and also to satisfie his credit, for that he had béene discharged by Perhennis of bea|ring anie rule, and sent home into Liguria where he was borne, and there appointed to remaine. This Pertinax comming into Britaine, pacified the ar|mie, but not without danger to haue béene slaine by a mutinic raised by one of the legions: for he was stricken downe,The lieute|nant in dan|ger. and left for dead among the staine carcasses. But he woorthilie reuenged him|selfe of this iniurie. At length, hauing chastised the rebels, and brought the Ile into méetelie good quiet, he sued and obteined to be discharged of that roome, because as he alledged, the souldiers could not brooke him, for that he kept them in dutifull obedience, by correcting such as offended the lawes of armes.
[1] THen was Clodius Albinus appointed to haue the rule of the Romane armie in Britaine:Clodius Albinus lieutenãt. whose destruction when Seuerus the emperour sought, Albinus perceiued it quicklie: and therefore choosing foorth a great power of Britains, passed with the same ouer into France to encounter with Seuerus, who was come thither towards him, so that néere to the citie of Lions they ioined in battell and fought right sore, in so much that Se|uerus was at point to haue receiued the ouerthrow by the high prowesse and manhood of the Britains: but yet in the end Albinus lost the field, and was slaine. Then Heraclitus as lieutenant began to gouerne Britaine (as writeth Spartianus) be|ing sent thither by Seuerus for that purpose be|fore. And such was the state of this Ile about the yeare of our Lord 195. In which season, because that king Lucius was dead, and had left no issue to succéed him, the Britains (as before ye haue heard) were at variance amongst themselues, and so con|tinued till the comming of Seuerus, whome the British chronographers affirme to reigne as king in this Ile, & that by right of succession in bloud, as descended of Androgeus the Britaine, which went to Rome with Iulius Cesar, as before ye haue heard.
[1] THis Seuerus as then emperour of Rome,Seuerus. be|gan to rule this Ile (as authors affirme) in the yeare of our Lord 207, and gouerned the same 4 yeares and od moneths. At length hearing that one Fulgentius as then a leader of the Picts was en|tred into the borders of his countrie on this side Durham, he raised an host of Britains and Ro|mans, with the which he marched towards his eni|mies: and méeting with the said Fulgentius in a place néere vnto Yorke, in the end after sore fight Seuerus was slaine, when he had ruled this land for the space almost of fiue yeares, as before is said, and was after buried at Yorke, leauing behind him two sonnes, the one named Geta, and the other Bassianus. This Bassianus being borne of a Bri|tish woman, succéeded his father in the gouerne|ment of Britaine, in the yeare of the incarnation of our Lord 211. The Romans would haue had Geta created king of Britaine, bearing more fauour to him because he had a Romane ladie to his mother: but the Britains moued with the like respect, held with Bassianus. And thervpon warre was raised betwixt the two brethren, who comming to trie their quarrell by battell, Geta was slaine, and Bassia|nus with aid of the Britains remained victor, and so continued king, till at length he was slaine by one Carausius a Britaine, borne but of low birth, howbeit right valiant in armes, and therefore well estéemed. In somuch that obteining of the senat of Rome the kéeping of the coasts of Britaine, that he might defend the same from the malice of stran|gers, as Picts and others, he drew to him a great number of souldiers and speciallie of Britains, to whome he promised that if they would make him king, he would cléerelie deliuer them from the op|pression of the Romane seruitude. Wherevpon the Britains rebelling against Bassianus, ioined them|selues to Carausius, who by their support vanquished and slue the said Bassianus, after he had reigned 6 or (as some affirme) 30 yeares.
[1] ¶Thus farre out of the English and British wri|ters, the which how farre they varie from likelihood of truth, you shall heare in the next chapter what the approued historiographers,Herodianus. Gréekes and Latines, writing of these matters, haue recorded.