but in the same moment exposed them to an enemy no less dangerous.

Hengist and his Saxons, who had obtained by the free vote of the Britons
that introduction into this island they had so long in vain attempted by
arms, saw that by being necessary they were superior to their allies.
They discovered the character of the king; they were eye-witnesses of
the internal weakness and distraction of the kingdom. This state of
Britain was represented with so much effect to the Saxons in Germany,
that another and much greater embarkation followed the first; new bodies
daily crowded in. As soon as the Saxons began to be sensible of their
strength, they found it their interest to be discontented; they
complained of breaches of a contract, which they construed according to
their own designs; and then fell rudely upon their unprepared and feeble
allies, who, as they had not been able to resist the Picts and Scots,
were still less in a condition to oppose that force by which they had
been protected against those enemies, when turned unexpectedly upon
themselves. Hengist, with very little opposition, subdued the province
of Kent, and there laid the foundation of the first Saxon kingdom. Every
battle the Britons fought only prepared them for a new defeat, by
weakening their strength and displaying the inferiority of their
courage. Vortigern, instead of a steady and regular resistance, opposed
a mixture of timid war and unable negotiation. In one of their meetings,
wherein the business, according to the German mode, was carried on
amidst feasting and riot, Vortigern was struck with the beauty of a
Saxon virgin, a kinswoman of Hengist, and entirely under his influence.
Having married her, he delivered himself over to her counsels.

[Sidenote: A.D. 452]

His people, harassed by their enemies, betrayed by their prince, and
indignant at the feeble tyranny that oppressed them, deposed him, and
set his son Vortimer in his place. But the change of the king proved no
remedy for the exhausted state of the nation and the constitutional
infirmity of the government. For even if the Britons could have
supported themselves against the superior abilities and efforts of
Hengist, it might have added to their honor, but would have contributed
little to their safety. The news of his success had roused all Saxony.
Five great bodies of that adventurous people, under different and
independent commanders, very nearly at the same time broke in upon as
many di