Page:Royalnavyhistory01clow.djvu/66

 and crushingly defeated them. He then returned to Gaul in order to organise an expedition against Carausius in Britain. But while the preparations were still in progress, Carausius was treacherously assassinated by his friend and general, Allectus.

Constantius, with an inferior fleet, lay at the mouth of the Seine. Allectus assembled a superior one off the Isle of Wight, and, when all was ready, sailed with the intention of falling upon his enemy. But, by a strange coincidence, Constantius also sailed at about the same time; and it chanced that a fog came on in mid-channel. In the fog the fleets missed one another; and so fortune gave to Constantius an advantage which he could scarcely have gained for himself, seeing that Allectus was probably strong enough to have annihilated the Roman force had he encountered it. The influence of sea power was neutralised as it has seldom been before or since. Constantius, having thus accidentally got across the Channel unopposed, landed before Allectus could return, and burnt his ships, partly in order to inspire his people with the courage of despair, and partly, perhaps, because he realised that in an engagement at sea he was no match for the enemy, and that he must either win Britain or perish.

As soon as he suspected what had happened, Allectus also landed. His policy had alienated the people on shore, and though he was very strong at sea, he had but a comparatively feeble following on land. When, therefore, he fell in with one of Constantius' lieutenants, and attacked him with rash fury, he produced no impression, and, making a gallant fight, was killed. A further curious circumstance characterised the conclusion of this campaign, which had been so greatly affected by accidents. After the death of Allectus, his followers, chiefly seamen, seized London, and were upon the point of sacking it, when part of the Roman fleet, which had lost the main body in the fog, and had entered the Thames by chance, opportunely arrived on the scene, and landed a strong party which cut the pirates, many of whom were foreigners, to pieces.

In the decadence of the Western Empire, Lupicinus, a lieutenant of Julian, repressed the piracies of the Scots; Theodosius, and Maximus, who was acclaimed Emperor by the army, did the same at a latter date, and repeatedly chastised the Saxon marauders