Note 648 — Chapter XIX · THE CAUSES AND ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS OF THE HEROIC AGE

It appears from the Notitia Dignitatum that troops of Attacotti were largely employed by the Romans on the Continent at the beginning of the fifth century. According to St Jerome (Adv. Iouinianum, II 7) the Attacotti were a British people; and they are mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus (XXVI 4. 5; XXVII 8. 5) as ravaging the province of Britain, together with the Picts and Scots, in the reign of Valentinian I. It is commonly held that they belonged to the south of Scotland, though opinions differ as to whether they were Britons (properly speaking) or Picts of Galloway.