AD. 445. ΤΟΒΤΙΘΕΒΚ SCHEMES TO GAIN THE CBOWN. 211 A.B. 443. Leo the First became bishop of Rome, and sat in the Roman chair twenty-one years, one month, and nine days. And the see was vacant twenty-one days. A.D. 444. Victor of Marseilles, an orator, who wrote a book on Genesis addressed to his son JSthereue, but who was not possessed of much learning in the Holy Scriptures, died. A.D. 445. Constantine, king of the Britons, one day, when he vas going out hunting, was assassinated with a knife by a certain Pict, who was in his train, in a very dense thicket. On his death, a dissension arose among the nobles as to who should be nosed to the kingdom ; for the sons of the deceased king, Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon, had been sent into Lesser Britain to be educated. And even if they had been present, they would have been incapable of becoming kings, because of their tender age. Then Yortigern, the consul of the Genvisei, who was labouring with all his might to become king, went to Winchester, and took Constane, the monk, the son of Constantine, out of the cloister, and conducted him to London, and although the people scarcely approved of the measure, because he was a monk, raised him to the kingdom. For GuitheUn, the archbishop of London, was dead, and there vas no one else who would have presumed to make him king. Kit Vortigern took upon himself the part of a bishop, and with hie own hands placed the crown on his head. Constane, therefore, being made king, committed the regulation of all the affairs of the kingdom to Yortigern. But yortigern, being a crafty man, committed the castles and fortifications of the kingdom to his own guards, and began to ^berate with himself how he might most cunningly betray the king. Therefore, he took the treasures of the king into Us own custody, and every day he augmented the number of hie soldiers and servants. Then he wrote to the king, and advised him to take into his service a hundred Picte (whom he knew to be inclined and ready for any kind of fraud or treachery), to protect his parson day and night from any attack of hk enemies. The king having given his consent, the before-mentioned number of Picts was admitted into the private household of the king. And Vortigern enriched them to such a degree with military pay, and so pampered them with the most delicate food, that they almost adored him, and used to assert loudly