Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/484

Rh Mazen himself was soon after slain at Rome; whereupon the vast hosfcs that had accompanied him from Britain dispersed, the chief port of them seeking refnge in Armorioa with Kynan Meriadawc.—Myv. Arch. II. p. 205-225.

The same story is related by Nennius, who calls the emperor Maximianns.

"The seventh emperor was Maximianus. He withdrew from Britain with all its military force, slew Gratianns the king of the Romans, and obtained the sovereignty of all Europe. Unwilling to Rend back his warlike companions to their wives, families, and possessions in Britain, he conferred upon them numerous districts from the lake on the summit of Mons Iovis, to the city called Cant Guic, and to the western Tumulus, that is Cruc Occident These are the Armoric Britons, and they remain there to the present day. In consequence of their absence, Britain being overcome by foreign nations, the lawful heirs were cast out, till God interposed with his assistance."

The lake here mentioned is thought to be that near the hospice of the great St. Bernard, and Cant Gwic is probably Oantavic, in Picardy. It is more difficult to identify Cruc Occident, the western Tumulus, but the author of the Hanes Cymm supposes it to be Mont St. Michel, near Quiberon, in Brittany.

Some copies of Nennius contain an account of the lingual disablement of the women, similar to that in the text; and add, that from this cause they were called Letewiccion [Lledfydion], that is Semitacentes. This is evidently an attempt to account for the name of Letavia [Llydaw], as applied to Armorica.

Gildas, in his work "De Excidio Britannise," also mentions the revolt of Maximus, and its disastrous consequences:—

"Afterwards Britain, being robbed of all its armed soldiery, and military forces, was abandoned to cruel rulers, being deprived of an immense number of youths who accompanied the above-named tjrrant [Maximus], and never returned home; and being totally ignorant of the art of war, groaned in stupefaction for many years, under the oppression of two foreign nations," &c. &c.

This author, however, has not any allusion to the Armorican settlement.

The roads attributed in the text to Helen Luyddawc, are evidently the Roman Roads, which intersected our Island. Their remains in several places in the Principality, bear, to this day, the name of Sarn