Early Britain—Roman BritainConybeare, John William Edward
History
Early Britain—Roman Britain
Conybeare, John William Edward
Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.
A. 4.--His reign and that of his successor (and murderer) Allectus
are marked by the last and most extraordinary development of
Romano-British coinage. Since the time of Caracalla no coins which can
be definitely proved to deserve this name are found; but now, in less
than ten years, our mints struck no fewer than five hundred several
issues, all of different types. Nearly all are of bronze, with the
radiated head of the Emperor on the obverse, and on the reverse
devices of every imaginable kind. The British Lion once more figures,
as in the days of Cymbeline; and we have also the Roman Wolf, the
Sea-horse, the Cow (as a symbol of Prosperity), Plenty, Peace,
Victory, Prudence, Health, Safety, Might, Good Luck, Glory, all
symbolized in various ways. But the favourite type of all is the
British warship; for now Britannia, for the first time, ruled the
waves, and was, indeed, so entirely Mistress of the Sea that her fleet
appeared even in Mediterranean waters.[322] The vessels figured are
invariably not Saxon "keels," but classical galleys, with their rams
and outboard rowing galleries, and are always represented as cleared
for action (when the great mainsail and its yard were left on shore).
A. 5.--The usurpation of Carausius, "the pirate," as the Imperial
panegyrists called him,[323] brought Diocletian's great reform of
the Roman administration within the scope of practical politics in
Britain. The old system of Provinces, some Imperial, some Senatorial,
with each Pro-praetor or Pro-consul responsible only and immediately
to the central government at Rome, had obviously become outgrown. And
the Provinces themselves were much too large. Diocletian accordingly
began by dividing the Empire into four "Prefectures," two in the east
and two in the west. Each pair was to be under one of the co-Augusti,
who again was to entrust one of his Prefectures to the "Caesar"[324]
or heir-apparent of his choice. Thus Diocletian held the East,
while Galerius, his "Caesar," took the Prefecture of Illyricum. His
colleague Maximian, as Augustus of the West, ruled in Italy; and the
remaining Prefecture, that of "the Gauls," fell to the Western
Caesar, Constantius Chlorus. Each Prefecture, again, was divided into
"Dioceses" (that of Constantius containing those of Britain, Gaul,
Spain, and Mauretania), each under a "Vicar," and comprising a certain
number of "Provinces" (that of Britain having four). Thus a regular
hierarchy with rank above rank of responsibility was established,
and so firmly that Diocletian's system lasted (so far as provincial
government was concerned) till the very latest days of the Roman
dominion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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