One notes, in the very first words in which mention is here made of Arthur, that he is not called a “king,” but that he fought “together with the kings” of the Britons, not, seemingly, as their auxiliary, but as their commander-in-chief--_sed ipse dux erat bellorum_. It has been suggested,[17] with much plausibility, that the term _dux bellorum_ in this passage implies that Arthur held, after the departure of the Romans, a military office similar to one of those established in the island during the later years of the Roman administration. Since the time of Severus Britain had been divided, for defensive purposes, into two districts. At first, most pressure came from the Picts and the Scots in the North, and the defence of Upper Britain was entrusted to a commander called _dux Britanniarum_. Later, when the Saxons began to threaten the eastern and southern shores, a second officer--_comes littoris Saxonici_--was appointed to command the armies of Lower Britain. Finally, a third officer, the _comes Britanniæ_, was given a general supervision over the other two, and the supreme charge of the defences of the entire country. Sir John Rhys discovers in Arthur the representative in the sixth century of this third officer of the Roman military organisation. This supposition undoubtedly helps to explain better than any other both Nennius’s description of Arthur as _dux bellorum_, and the seemingly wide range of country covered by the twelve battles which he is said to have fought. It is, however, to be noted, as Rhys points out,[18] that while the title apparently given in early Welsh literature to those who succeeded to supreme power in Britain was _gwledig_, that name is never given to Arthur. The term _gwledig_, itself, means no more than “ruler” or “prince,” and is indiscriminately used in that sense in mediæval Welsh,[19] but there is good reason to believe that, as applied to certain warriors of the sixth century, the title was a Brythonic equivalent of the official military title, _comes_ or _dux_. The most famous bearer of the title, Maxen Wledig, comes within the Roman period, and his renown is mainly due to romance[20]; three others who are so called, Cunedda, Ceredig and Emrys (the Ambrosius Aurelianus of Gildas), may very well have held one of the military offices in question. “Cunedda Wledig and Ceredig Wledig are connected with the north and appear to be guardians of the wall, while Emrys Wledig is the antagonist of the Saxons. Thus Cunedda and Ceredig may be regarded as Dukes of the Britains, while Emrys is a British Count of the Saxon shore.”[21] Arthur, on the other hand, is in Welsh literature _yr amherawdyr Arthur_, “the emperor Arthur,”[22] and so, as Rhys suggests, “it is not impossible that, when the Roman _imperator_ ceased to have anything more to say to this country, the title was given to the highest officer in the island, namely, the _Comes_ _Britanniæ_, and that in the words _yr amherawdyr Arthur_ we have a remnant of our