tion, was
for some time entirely separated from the body of the Empire. Carausius,
a man of obscure birth, and a barbarian, (for now not only the army, but
the senate, was filled with foreigners,) had obtained the government of
Boulogne. He was also intrusted with the command of a fleet stationed in
that part to oppose the Saxon pirates, who then began cruelly to infest
the northwest parts of Gaul and the opposite shore of Britain. But
Carausius made use of the power with which he had been intrusted, not so
much to suppress the pirates as to aggrandize himself. He even permitted
their depredations, that he might intercept them on their return, and
enrich himself with the retaken plunder. By such methods he acquired
immense wealth, which he distributed with so politic a bounty among the
seamen of his fleet and the legions in Britain that by degrees he
disposed both the one and the other to a revolt in his favor.

[Sidenote: A.D. 286]

[Sidenote: A.D. 290]

[Sidenote: A.D. 293]

As there were then no settled principles either of succession or
election in the Empire, and all depended on the uncertain faith of the
army, Carausius made his attempt, perhaps, with the less guilt, and
found the less difficulty in prevailing upon the provincial Britons to
submit to a sovereignty which seemed to reflect a sort of dignity on
themselves. In this island he established the seat of his new dominion;
but he kept up and augmented his fleet, by which he preserved his
communication with his old government, and commanded the intermediate
seas. He entered into a close alliance with the Saxons and Frisians, by
which he at once preserved his own island from their depredations and
rendered his maritime power irresistible. He humbled the Picts by
several defeats; he repaired the frontier wall, and supplied it with
good garrisons. He made several roads equal to the works of the greatest
emperors. He cut canals, with vast labor and expense, through all the
low eastern parts of Britain, at the same time draining those fenny
countries, and promoting communication and commerce. On these canals he
built several cities. Whilst he thus labored to promote the internal
strength and happiness of his kingdom, he contended with so much success
against his former masters that they were at length obliged not only to
relinquish their right to his acquisition, but to admit him to a
participation of the imperial titles. He reigned after this for seven
years