St.
Patrick, but are simply tracing the origin and history of the Britons,
their testimony is impartial.

Even Camden admits that Dionysius places the Britons on the maritime
coast of Gaul, and renders his verses into English:--

"Near the great pillars of the farthest land,
The old Iberians, haughty souls, command
Along the continent, where northern seas
Roll their vast tides, and in cold billows rise:
Where British nations in long tracts appear
And fair-haired Germans ever famed in war."

The early existence of the Britons in Armorica did not depend on the
settlement of the veteran Britons, who, having served under Constantino
the Great, were rewarded by a gift of the vacant lands in Armorica, as
William of Malmesbury narrates in his "History of the Kings"; or on the
still larger settlement of Britons who fought for the usurper Maximus,
which Ninius mentions, in the mysterious reference which embraced the
whole country "from the Great St. Bernard in Piedmont to Cantavic in
Picardy, and from Picardy to the western coast of France." The latter
settlement took place between the years 383 and 388. The British
refugees, who fled in terror from the Picts, Scots, and Saxons, may
indeed have added to the numbers of Britons in Gaul from time
immemorial, but they certainly were not the first to give the name
Britannia to that country.

BRITANNIAE IN THE PLURAL NOT APPROPRIATED TO GREAT BRITAIN.

IT has been often urged, without any solid reason, that the plural
Britannise used for Britain in the "Confession" can only refer to Great
Britain, because that country was sub-divided by the Romans into five
distinct provinces. The reason given cannot be convincing, because
Catullus, who died in the year 54, used the plural for Britain before
the Roman sub-divisions were made, when he wrote, "Nunc timent Galliae,
timent Britanniae"--Caesar, "the Gauls and the Britons fear." The
plural was used by St. Patrick when writing the "Confession" nearly one
hundred years after the Romans with their divisions had left the
country. It was used by Probus, who undoubtedly referred to Armoric
Britain when writing about St. Patrick's native country, for he tells
us in the plural that the Saint was born in Britain (natus in
Britanniis). The plural was, therefore, used both for Britain in Gaul
and for the Island of Britain.

The word Britannia occurs three times in the "Confession." In the "Book
of Armagh" the name appears always in the p