16 Rousing each other by this and like language, under
the leadership of Boudicea, a woman of kingly descent (for they admit no
distinction of sex in their royal successions), they all rose in arms. They
fell upon our troops, which were scattered on garrison duty, stormed the forts,
and burst into the colony itself, the head-quarters, as they thought, of
tyranny. In their rage and their triumph, they spared no variety of a
barbarian’s cruelty. Had not Paullinus on hearing of the outbreak in the
province rendered prompt succour, Britain would have been lost. By
one successful engagement, he brought it back to its former obedience, though
many, troubled by the conscious guilt of rebellion and by particular dread of
the legate, still clung to their arms. Excellent as he was in other respects,
his policy to the conquered was arrogant, and exhibited the cruelty of one who
was avenging private wrongs. Accordingly Petronius Turpilianus was sent out to
initiate a milder rule. A stranger to the enemy’s misdeeds and so more
accessible to their penitence, he put an end to old troubles, and, attempting
nothing more, handed the province over to Trebellius Maximus. Trebellius, who
was somewhat indolent, and never ventured on a campaign, controlled the
province by a certain courtesy in his administration. Even the barbarians now
learnt to excuse many attractive vices, and the occurrence of the civil war
gave a good pretext for inaction. But we were sorely troubled with mutiny, as
troops habituated to service grew demoralised by idleness. Trebellius, who had
escaped the soldiers’ fury by flying and hiding himself, governed henceforth on
sufferance, a disgraced and humbled man. It was a kind of bargain; the soldiers
had their license, the general had his life; and so the mutiny cost no
bloodshed. Nor did Vettius Bolanus, during the continuance of the civil wars,
trouble Britain
with discipline. There was the same inaction with respect to the enemy, and
similar unruliness in the camp, only Bolanus, an upright man, whom no misdeeds
made odious, had secured affection in default of the power of control.
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