After this the Romans began definitely to colonize Britain. Tacitus writes in 97 A.D.: "The nearest portion of Britain was reduced little by little to the condition of a province; a colony of veterans was also planted; certain states were handed over to King Cogidumnus (who has remained continuously loyal down to our own times), according to the old and long-received principle of Roman policy, which employs kings among the instruments of servitude." Successive governors maintained or extended Roman authority, until the eastern and southern portions were so far subdued that the governor, Suetonius Paulinus, felt able to cross over to Mona (the island of Anglesey) to bring into subjection this stronghold of the Druids. {9} Here was the opportunity of the British tribes, more restive than they had seemed beneath the Roman yoke. Our next picture is a terrible one. In 61 A.D., seventy thousand persons, "all Romans or confederates of Rome," were destroyed by the Iceni, under Queen Boudicca, in the Romanized towns of Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulam (Colchester, London and St. Albans). Paulinus returned hastily to the rescue, and "the fortunes of a single battle restored the country to its ancient submissiveness." So says Tacitus; but it was only a surface submission; the fire was smouldering, not quenched. A milder governor succeeded Paulinus, and under him and his successors Roman civilization and Roman vices began to spread among the Britons. Then came two rulers of sterner type, who subdued the Brigantes (of Lancashire and the north-west counties) and the Silures (of South Wales). Following them came Agricola, in 78 A.D., surely the greatest figure in the history of Roman Britain! He was appointed governor by the Emperor Vespasian, the foundations of whose own career had been laid in Britain. Agricola, also, had served his apprenticeship to war in the island, under Suetonius Paulinus, having passed through the critical period when the Roman towns were burned and the populations butchered. His character has been very ably drawn for us {10} by his son-in-law, Tacitus, who shows that the ideal of true greatness, in those days of imperial luxury and vice, was as high as our own, and that there were some who came near to attaining to it. Unassuming, tactful, patient, incorruptible; kind and affectionate; brave and energetic, and yet modest; strictly just, and yet merciful; so great that it would be an insult to dwell upon his probity and self-control--these are some of the qualities with which Tacitus credits his father-in-law; and the ability with which he governed Britain goes a long way towards proving the picture true.