A.D. 510.J PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 41 Arthur slays Lucius, consul of the city of Rome. In the year of grace 537, took place the well known miracle, touching Theophilus the apostate and the mother of our Saviour. A t this time, Arthur, king of the Britons, having reduced the territories of Gaul, advanced to Autun, where he slew Lucius, the Roman consul, who had come to the assistance of the Gauls with ali the power of Rome, in a valley now called Seises, near Langres. A miracle. In the year of grace 538, Totila persecuted the younger Benedict for Christ's sake in Campania in Italy, and after having in vain sought to burn him and his cell together, he threw him into a burning furnace, whence he came forth the next day without even his garments having sustained the least injury. Arthur undertakes an expedition to Rome. In the year of grace 539, the sun was eclipsed from the morning until the third hour (nine o'clock). At this time, king Arthur, having reduced certain provinces in the neighbourhood of the Alps, made preparations for subduing the Roman people. His renown filled the whole earth, insomuch that princes and nobles resorted to him from remote parts for the sake of being with him, and participating in his courtesy. Merlin, the British prophet, prophesied of his greatness and manliness, when he said, " At length oppressed Britain shall prevail and shall resist the cruelty of the strangers ; for a boar of Cornwall shall afford succour, and shall tread upon the necks of his enemies : the isles of the ocean shall be subdued by him, and he shall possess the forests of Gaul : the house of Romulus shall fear his rage, and his end shall be doubtful : the mouths of the nations shall extol him, and his acts shall be food for the narrators." Justinian orders the purification of the blessed Virgin to be celebrated. In the year of grace 540, there was a great mortality at Constantinople ; for which cause, by the command of the emperor Justinian, the festival of the holy mother of God, which is called the Purification, began to be celebrated on the 2nd