Page "Honorius (emperor)" Paragraph 28

The year 410 also saw Honorius reply to a British plea for assistance against local barbarian incursions, called the ' Rescript of Honorius '.

Preoccupied with the Visigoths, Honorius lacked any military capability to assist the distant province.

According to the sixth century Byzantine scholar Zosimus, " Honorius wrote letters to the cities in Britain, bidding them to guard themselves.

" This sentence is located randomly in the middle of a discussion of southern Italy ; no further mention of Britain is made, which has led some, though not all, modern academics to suggest that the rescript does not apply to Britain, but to Bruttium in Italy.