Early Britain—Roman BritainConybeare, John William Edward
History
Early Britain—Roman Britain
Conybeare, John William Edward
Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.
D. 9.--At this time the chief power in this tribe was in the hands of
a woman, Cartismandua, the heiress to the throne, with whose name and
that of her Prince Consort scandal was already busy. The disturbances
amongst the clan which Ostorius had lately suppressed were probably
connected with her intrigues. Anyhow she posed as the favourite and
friend of the Romans; and now showed her loyalty by arresting the
national hero and handing him over to the enemy. With his family
and fellow-captives he was [A.D. 52] deported to Rome, and publicly
exhibited by the Emperor in his chains, as the last of the Britons,
while the Praetorian Guards stood to their arms as he passed.
D. 10.--According to Roman precedent the scene should have closed with
a massacre of the prisoners. But while the executioners awaited the
order to strike, Caradoc stepped forward with a spirited appeal, the
substance of which there is every reason to believe is truthfully
recorded by Tacitus. Disdaining to make the usual pitiful petitions
for mercy, he boldly justified his struggle for his land and crown,
and reminded Claudius that he had now an exceptional opportunity for
winning renown. "Kill me, as all expect, and this affair will soon be
forgotten; spare me, and men will talk of your clemency from age to
age." Claudius was touched; and even the fierce Agrippina, who, to
the scandal of old Roman sentiment, was seated beside him at the
saluting-point "as if she had been herself a General," and who must
have reminded Caradoc of Cartismandua, was moved to mercy. Caradoc was
spared, and assigned a residence in Italy; and the Senate, believing
the war at an end with his capture, voted to Ostorius "triumphal
insignia"[166]--the highest honour attainable by any Roman below
Imperial rank.[167]
D. 11.--But even without their King the stubborn clan still stood
desperately at bay. Their pertinacious resistance in every pass and
on every hill-top of their country at length fairly wore Ostorius out.
The incessant fatigues of the campaign broke down his health, and he
died [A.D. 54] on the march; to the ferocious joy of the Silurians,
who boasted that their valour had made an end of the brave enemy who
had vowed to "extinguish their very name,"[168] no less than if they
had slain him upon the field of battle.
D. 12.--Before he died, however, he had curbed them both to north and
south by the establishment of strong Roman towns at Uriconium on the
Severn (named after the neighbouring Wrekin), and Isca Silurum at
the mouth of the Usk. The British name of the latter place, Caerleon
[Castra Legionum], still reminds us that it was one of the great
legionary stations of the island, while the abundant inscriptions
unearthed upon the site, tell us that here the Second Legion had its
head-quarters till the last days of the Roman occupation.[169]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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