When the Emperor Honorius heard of this revolution, he wrote to the states of Britain, to say that they must provide for their safety, and govern themselves; by which concession the rule of Rome in the island was looked on as at an end. The Britons, in despair, rose and drove out their civil governors. About 367 years after the landing of Plautius, the evacuation of Britain was complete. No doubt to a large number of the Imperial soldiers this withdrawal meant the severance of many tender ties, and some of the leave-takings must have been painful enough. How frequently do we read, in the history of the world, of a nation urged by an irresistible, though unknown, impulse, to pursue the path of conquest, not for their own advantage, but for the ultimate benefit of the people whom they subject! Such was the result of the Roman invasion of Britain, which proved neither profitable nor advantageous to the conquerors. Appianus of Alexandria, who flourished A.D. 123, wrote a history of all the nations which Rome had subdued, in twenty-four books. In this work he says: "The Romans have penetrated into Britain, and taken possession of the greater and better part of the island; but they do not desire the rest, because that which they already possess is not of the slightest benefit to them." The historian was right, for despite the taxes, the produce of the mines, and the exportation of corn, the island could never have been a source of great profit to the victors; notwithstanding which, we trace them, urged by a resistless combination of events, progressing step by step, till the greater part of the country was subdued. For nearly a century, the portion of Britain which had submitted to their yoke formed but a single province; it was first separated into two during the reign of the Emperor Severus. This division was afterwards extended to five, the positions of which are not very accurately determined. 1st. _Flavia Cæsariensis_, which is thought to have consisted of the western portion of the island. 2nd. _Britannia Prima_, the country between the Thames and the Humber. 3rd. _Britannia Secunda_, lying between the Severn and the sea, now known by the name of Wales. 4th. _Maxima Cæsariensis_, lying to the north of the two preceding ones, extending to the Wall of Hadrian, between the Tyne and the Solway. 5th. _Valentia_, comprising the lands from the Wall of Hadrian to the Forth and Clyde.