Compare the phrases of Orosius, vii.

35 (Theodosius) _posuit in Deo spem suam seseque adversus Maximum tyrannum sola fide maior proripuit_ and _ineffabili iudicio Dei_ and _Theodosius victoriam Deo procurante suscipit_.] The _Historia Brittonum_, compiled a century or two later, preserves even less memory of things Roman.

There is some hint of a _vetus traditio seniorum_.

But the narrative which professes to be based on it bears little relation to the actual facts; the growth of legend is perceptible, and even those details that are borrowed from literary sources like Gildas, Jerome, Prosper, betray great ignorance on the part of the borrower.[1] On the other hand, the native Celtic instinct is more definitely alive and comes into sharper contrast with the idea of Rome.

Throughout, no detail occurs which enlarges our knowledge of Roman or of early post-Roman Britain.