by G. A. Henty
Produced by Martin Robb
Beric the Briton
A Story of the Roman Invasion
by G. A. Henty
PREFACE.
MY DEAR LADS,
My series of stories dealing with the wars of England would bealtogether incomplete did it not include the period when the Romanswere the masters of the country. The valour with which the nativesof this island defended themselves was acknowledged by the Romanhistorians, and it was only the superior discipline of the invadersthat enabled them finally to triumph over the bravery and thesuperior physical strength of the Britons. The Roman conquest forthe time was undoubtedly of immense advantage to the people--whohad previously wasted their energies in perpetual tribal wars--asit introduced among them the civilization of Rome. In the end,however, it proved disastrous to the islanders, who lost all theirmilitary virtues. Having been defended from the savages of thenorth by the soldiers of Rome, the Britons were, when the legionswere recalled, unable to offer any effectual resistance to theSaxons, who, coming under the guise of friendship, speedily becametheir masters, imposing a yoke infinitely more burdensome than thatof Rome, and erasing almost every sign of the civilization that hadbeen engrafted upon them. How far the British population disappearedunder the subsequent invasion and the still more oppressive yoke ofthe Danes is uncertain; but as the invaders would naturally desireto retain the people to cultivate the land for them, it is probablethat the great mass of the Britons were not exterminated. It isat any rate pleasant to believe that with the Saxon, Danish, andNorman blood in our veins, there is still a large admixture of thatof the valiant warriors who fought so bravely against Caesar, andwho rose under Boadicea in a desperate effort to shake off theoppressive rule of Rome.
Yours truly,
G. A. Henty
CHAPTER I: A HOSTAGE
"It is a fair sight."
"It may be a fair sight in a Roman's eyes, Beric, but nought couldbe fouler to those of a Briton. To me every one of those blocks ofbrick and stone weighs down and helps to hold in bondage this landof ours; while that temple they have dared to rear to their gods,in celebration of their having conquered Britain, is an insult anda lie. We are not conquered yet, as they will some day know totheir cost. We are silent, we wait, but we do not admit that weare conquered."
"I agree with you there. We have never fairly tried our strengthagainst them. These wretched divisions have always prevented ourmaking an effort to gather; Cassivelaunus and some of the Kentishtribes alone opposed them at their first landing, and he wasbetrayed and abandoned by the tribes on the north of the Thames. Ithas been the same thing ever since. We fight piecemeal; and whilethe Romans hurl their whole strength against one tribe the otherslook on with folded hands. Who aided the Trinobantes when theRomans defeated them and established themselves on that hill? Noone. They will eat Britain up bit by bit."
"Then you like them no better for having lived among them, Beric?"
"I like them more, but I fear them more. One cannot be four yearsamong them, as I was, without seeing that in many respects we mightcopy them with advantage. They are a great people. Compare theirsplendid mansions and their regular orderly life, their manners andtheir ways, with our rough huts, and our feasts, ending as oftenas not with quarrels and brawls. Look at their arts, their powerof turning stone into lifelike figures, and above all, the way inwhich they can transfer their thoughts to white leaves, so thatothers, many many years hence, can read them and know all that waspassing, and what men thought and did in the long bygone. Truly itis marvellous."
"You are half Romanized, Beric," his companion said roughly.
"I think not," the other said quietly; "I should be worse thana fool had I lived, as I have done, a hostage among them for fouryears without seeing that there is much to admire, much that wecould imitate with advantage, in their life and ways; but thereis no reason because they are wiser and far more polished, and inmany respects a greater people than we, that they should come hereto be our masters. These things are desirable, but they are asnothing to freedom. I have said that I like them more for beingamong them. I like them more for many reasons. They are grave andcourteous in their manner to each other; they obey their own laws;every man has his rights; and while all yield obedience to theirsuperiors, the superiors respect the rights of those below them.The highest among them cannot touch the property or the life ofthe lowest in rank. All this seems to me excellent; but then, onthe other hand, my blood boils in my veins at the contempt in whichthey hold us; at their greed, their rapacity, their brutality, theirdenial to us of all rights. In their eyes we are but savages, butwild men, who may be useful for tilling the ground for them, butwho, if troublesome, should be hunted down and slain like wildbeasts. I admire them for what they can do; I respect them fortheir power and learning; but I hate them as our oppressors."
"That is better, Beric, much better. I had begun to fear that thegrand houses and the splendour of these Romans might have sappedyour patriotism. I hate them all; I hate changes; I would live aswe have always lived."
"But you forget, Boduoc, that we ourselves have not been standingstill. Though our long past forefathers, when they crossed fromGaul wave after wave, were rude warriors, we have been learningever since from Gaul as the Gauls have learned from the Romans,and the Romans themselves admit that we have advanced greatly sincethe days when, under their Caesar, they first landed here. Look atthe town on the hill there. Though 'tis Roman now 'tis not changedso much from what it was under that great king Cunobeline, whilehis people had knowledge of many things of which we and the othertribes of the Iceni knew nothing."
"What good did it do them?" the other asked scornfully; "they lieprostrate under the Roman yoke. It was easy to destroy their townswhile we, who have few towns to destroy, live comparatively free.Look across at Camalodunum, Cunobeline's capital. Where are themen who built the houses, who dressed in soft garments, who apedthe Romans, and who regarded us as well nigh savage men? Goneevery one of them; hewn down on their own hearthstones, or thrustout with their wives and families to wander homeless--is thereone left of them in yonder town? Their houses they were so proudof, their cultivated fields, their wealth of all kinds has beenseized by the Romans. Did they fight any better for their Romanfashions? Not they; the kingdom of Cunobeline, from the Thames tothe western sea, fell to pieces at a touch and it was only among thewild Silures that Caractacus was able to make any great resistance."
"But we did no better, Boduoc; Ostorius crushed us as easily asClaudius crushed the Trinobantes. It is no use our setting ourselvesagainst change. All that you urge against the Trinobantes and thetribes of Kent the Silures might urge with equal force against us.You must remember that we were like them not so many ages back.The intercourse of the Gauls with us on this eastern sea coast, andwith the Kentish tribes, has changed us greatly. We are no longer,like the western tribes, mere hunters living in shelters of boughsand roaming the forests. Our dress, with our long mantles, our loosevests and trousers, differs as widely from that of these westerntribes as it does from the Romans. We live in towns, and if ourhouses are rude they are solid. We no longer depend solely on thechase, but till the ground and have our herds of cattle. I daresaythere were many of our ancestors who set themselves as much againstthe Gaulish customs as you do against those of the Romans; but weadopted them, and benefited by them, and though I would exult inseeing the last Roman driven from our land, I should like aftertheir departure to see us adopt what is good and orderly and decentin their customs and laws."
Beric's companion growled a malediction upon everything Roman.
"There is one thing certain," he said after a pau
se, "either theymust go altogether, not only here but everywhere--they mustlearn, as our ancestors taught them at their two first invasions,that it is hopeless to conquer Britain--or they will end by beingabsolute masters of the island, and we shall be their servants andslaves."
"That is true enough," Beric agreed; "but to conquer we must beunited, and not only united but steadfast. Of course I have learnedmuch of them while I have been with them. I have come to speaktheir language, and have listened to their talk. It is not only theRomans who are here whom we have to defeat, it is those who willcome after them. The power of Rome is great; how great we cannottell, but it is wonderful and almost inconceivable. They havespread over vast countries, reducing peoples everywhere under theirdominion. I have seen what they call maps showing the world as faras they know it, and well nigh all has been conquered by them; butthe farther away from Rome the more difficulty have they in holdingwhat they have conquered.
"That is our hope here; we are very far from Rome. They may sendarmy after army against us, but in time they will get weary ofthe loss and expense when there is so little to gain, and as aftertheir first invasions a long time elapsed before they again troubledus, so in the end they may abandon a useless enterprise. Even nowthe Romans grumble at what they call their exile, but they areobstinate and tenacious, and to rid our land of them for good itwould be necessary for us not only to be united among ourselveswhen we rise against them, but to remain so, and to oppose withour whole force the fresh armies they will bring against us.
"You know how great the difficulties will be, Boduoc; we want onegreat leader whom all the tribes will follow, just as all the Romanlegions obey one general; and what chance is there of such a manarising--a man so great, so wise, so brave, that all the tribesof Britain will lay aside their enmities and jealousies, and submitthemselves to his absolute guidance?"
"If we wait for that, Beric, we may wait for ever," Boduoc said ina sombre tone, "at any rate it is not while we are tranquil underthe Roman heel that such a man could show himself. If he is to cometo the front it must be in the day of battle. Then, possibly, onechief may rise so high above his fellows that all may recognizehis merits and agree to follow him."
"That is so," Beric agreed; "but is it possible that even the greatesthero should find support from all? Cassivelaunus was betrayed bythe Trinobantes. Who could have united the tribes more than thesons of Cunobeline, who reigned over well nigh all Britain, andwho was a great king ruling wisely and well, and doing all in hispower to raise and advance the people; and yet, when the hour came,the kingdom broke up into pieces. Veric, the chief of the Cantii,went to Rome and invited the invader to aid him against his rivalsat home, and not a man of the Iceni or the Brigantes marched tothe aid of Caractacus and Togodamnus. What wonder, then, that thesewere defeated. Worse than all, when Caractacus was driven a fugitiveto hide among the Brigantes, did not their queen, Cartismandua,hand him over to the Romans? Where can we hope to find a leadermore fitted to unite us than was Caractacus, the son of the kingwhom we all, at least, recognized and paid tribute to; a princewho had learned wisdom from a wise father, a warrior enterprising,bold, and indomitable--a true patriot?
"If Caractacus could not unite us, what hope is there of findinganother who would do so? Moreover, our position is far worse nowthan it was ten years ago. The Belgae and Dumnonii in the southwesthave been crushed after thirty battles; the Dobuni in the centrehave been defeated and garrisoned; the Silures have set an exampleto us all, inflicting many defeats on the Romans; but their powerhas at last been broken. The Brigantes and ourselves have both beenheavily struck, as we deserved, Boduoc, for standing aloof fromCaractacus at first. Thus the task of shaking off the Roman bondsis far more difficult now than it was when Plautius landed heretwenty years ago. Well, it is time for me to be going on. Won'tyou come with me, Boduoc?"
"Not I, Beric; I never want to enter their town again save with asword in one hand and a torch in the other. It enrages me to seethe airs of superiority they give themselves. They scarce seem evento see us as we walk in their streets; and as to the soldiers asthey stride along with helmet and shield, my fingers itch to meetthem in the forest. No; I promised to walk so far with you, but Igo no farther. How long will you be there?"
"Two hours at most, I should say."
"The sun is halfway down, Beric; I will wait for you till it touchesthat hill over there. Till then you will find me sitting by thefirst tree at the spot where we left the forest."
Beric nodded and walked on towards the town. The lad, for he wasnot yet sixteen, was the son of Parta, the chieftainess of one ofthe divisions of the great tribe of the Iceni, who occupied thetract of country now known as Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, andHuntingdon. This tribe had yielded but a nominal allegiance toCunobeline, and had held aloof during the struggle between Caractacusand the Romans, but when the latter had attempted to establishforts in their country they had taken up arms. Ostorius Scapula,the Roman proprietor, had marched against them and defeated themwith great slaughter, and they had submitted to the Roman authority.The Sarci, the division of the tribe to which Beric belonged, hadtaken a leading part in the rising, and his father had fallen inthe defence of their intrenchments.
Among the British tribes the women ranked with the men, and evenwhen married the wife was often the acknowledged chief of thetribe. Parta had held an equal authority with her husband, and athis death remained sole head of the subtribe, and in order to ensureits obedience in the future, Ostorius had insisted that her onlyson Beric, at that time a boy of eleven, should be handed over tothem as a hostage.
Had Parta consulted her own wishes she would have retired with afew followers to the swamps and fens of the country to the northrather than surrender her son, but the Brigantes, who inhabitedLincolnshire, and who ranged over the whole of the north of Britainas far as Northumberland, had also received a defeat at the handsof the Romans, and might not improbably hand her over upon theirdemand. She therefore resigned herself to let Beric go.
"My son," she said, "I need not tell you not to let them Romanizeyou. You have been brought up to hate them. Your father has fallenbefore their weapons, half your tribe have been slain, your countrylies under their feet. I will not wrong you then by fearing for amoment that they can make a Roman of you.
"You have been brought up to lie upon the bare ground, tosuffer fatigue and hardship, hunger and thirst, and the rich foodand splendid houses and soft raiment of the Romans should have noattraction for you. I know not how long your imprisonment among themmay last. For the present I have little hope of another rising; butshould I see a prospect of anything like unity among our people, Iwill send Boduoc with a message to you to hold yourself in readinessto escape when you receive the signal that the time has come. Tillthen employ your mind in gaining what good you may by your residenceamong them; there must be some advantage in their methods of warfarewhich has enabled the people of one city to conquer the world.
"It is not their strength, for they are but pigmies to us. We standa full head above them, and even we women are stronger than Romansoldiers, and yet they defeat us. Learn then their language, throwyour whole mind into that at first, then study their militarydiscipline and their laws. It must be the last as much as theirdiscipline that has made them rulers over so vast an empire. Findout if you can the secret of their rule, and study the training bywhich their soldiers move and fight as if bound together by a cord,forming massive walls against which we break ourselves in vain.Heed not their arts, pay no attention to their luxuries, these didCunobeline no good, and did not for a day delay the destructionthat fell upon his kingdom. What we need is first a knowledge oftheir military tactics, so that we may drive them from the land;secondly, a knowledge of their laws, that we may rule ourselveswisely after they have gone. What there is good in the rest maycome in time.
"However kind they may be to you, bear always in mind that youare but a prisoner among the oppressors of your country, and thatthough, for reasons of policy, they may treat you well
, yet thatthey mercilessly despoil and ill treat your countrymen. Remembertoo, Beric, that the Britons, now that Caractacus has been senta prisoner to Rome, need a leader, one who is not only brave andvaliant in the fight, but who can teach the people how to march tovictory, and can order and rule them well afterwards. We are partof one of our greatest tribes, and from among us, if anywhere, sucha leader should come.
"I have great hopes of you, Beric. I know that you are brave, forsingle handed you slew with an arrow a great wolf the other day;but bravery is common to all, I do not think that there is a cowardin the tribe. I believe you are intelligent. I consulted the oldDruid in the forest last week, and he prophesied a high destinyfor you; and when the messenger brought the Roman summons for meto deliver you up as a hostage, it seemed to me that this was ofall things the one that would fit you best for future rule. I amnot ambitious for you, Beric. It would be nought to me if you wereking of all the Britons. It is of our country that I think. Weneed a great leader, and my prayer to the gods is that one may befound. If you should be the man so much the better; but if not,let it be another. Comport yourself among them independently, asone who will some day be chief of a British tribe, but be not sullenor obstinate. Mix freely with them, learn their language, gatherwhat are the laws under which they live, see how they build thosewonderful houses of theirs, watch the soldiers at their exercises,so that when you return among us you can train the Sarci to fightin a similar manner. Keep the one purpose always in your mind.Exercise your muscles daily, for among us no man can lead who isnot as strong and as brave as the best who follow him. Bear yourselfso that you shall be in good favour with all men."
Beric had, to the best of his power, carried out the instructionsof his mother. It was the object of the Romans always to win overtheir adversaries if possible, and the boy had no reason to complainof his treatment. He was placed in the charge of Caius Muro,commander of a legion, and a slave was at once appointed to teachhim Latin. He took his meals with the scribe and steward of thehousehold, for Caius was of noble family, of considerable wealth,and his house was one of the finest in Camalodunum. He was a kindlyand just man, and much beloved by his troops. As soon as Beric hadlearned the language, Caius ordered the scribe to teach him theelements of Roman law, and a decurion was ordered to take him inhand and instruct him in arms.
As Beric was alike eager to study and to exercise in arms, hegained the approval of both his teachers. Julia, the wife of Caius,a kindly lady, took a great fancy to the boy. "He will make a fineman, Caius," she said one day when the boy was fourteen years old."See how handsome and strong he is; why, Scipio, the son of thecenturion Metellus, is older by two years, and yet he is less strongthan this young Briton."
"They are a fine race, Julia, though in disposition as fierce aswild cats, and not to be trusted. But the lad is, as you say, strongand nimble. I marked him practising with the sword the other dayagainst Lucinus, who is a stout soldier, and the man had as muchas he could do to hold his own against him. I was surprised myselfto see how well he wielded a sword of full weight, and how activehe was. The contest reminded me of a dog and a wild cat, so nimblewere the boy's springs, and so fierce his attacks. Lucinus fairlylost his temper at last, and I stopped the fight, for althoughthey fought with blunted weapons, he might well have injured thelad badly with a downright cut, and that would have meant troublewith the Iceni again."
"He is intelligent, too," Julia replied. "Sometimes I have him inwhile I am working with the two slave girls, and he will stand forhours asking me questions about Rome, and about our manners andcustoms."
"One is never sure of these tamed wolves," Caius said; "sometimesthey turn out valuable allies and assistants, at other times theygrow into formidable foes, all the more dangerous for what theyhave learned of us. However, do with him as you like, Julia; a womanhas a lighter hand than a man, and you are more likely to tame himthan we are. Cneius says that he is very eager to learn, and hasever a book in his hand when not practising in arms."
"What I like most in him," Julia said, "is that he is very fond ofour little Berenice. The child has taken to him wonderfully, andof an afternoon, when he has finished with Cneius, she often goesout with him. Of course old Lucia goes with them. It is funny tohear them on a wet day, when they cannot go out, talking together--shetelling him stories of Rome and of our kings and consuls,and he telling her tales of hunting the wolf and wild boar, andlegends of his people, who seem to have been always at war withsomeone."
After Beric had resided for three years and a half at Camalodunuma great grief fell on the family of Caius Muro, for the damp airsfrom the valley had long affected Julia and she gradually faded anddied. Beric felt the loss very keenly, for she had been uniformlykind to him. A year later Suetonius and the governor of the colonydecided that as the Sarci had now been quiet for nearly five years,and as Caius reported that their young chief seemed to have becomethoroughly Romanized, he was permitted to return to his tribe.
The present was his first visit to the colony since he had left itfour months before. His companion, Boduoc, was one of the tribesmen,a young man six years his senior. He was related to his mother, andhad been his companion in his childish days, teaching him woodcraft,and to throw the javelin and use the sword. Together, before Bericwent as hostage, they had wandered through the forest and huntedthe wolf and wild boar, and at that time Boduoc had stood in therelation of an elder brother to Beric. That relation had now muchchanged. Although Boduoc was a powerful young man and Beric but asturdy stripling, the former was little better than an untutoredsavage, and he looked with great respect upon Beric both as hischief and as possessing knowledge that seemed to him to be amazing.
Hating the Romans blindly he had trembled lest he should find Bericon his return completely Romanized. He had many times, during thelad's stay at Camalodunum, carried messages to him there from hismother, and had sorrowfully shaken his head on his way back throughthe forest as he thought of his young chief's surroundings. Berichad partially adopted the Roman costume, and to hear him talkingand jesting in their own language to the occupants of the mansion,whose grandeur and appointments filled Boduoc with an almostsuperstitious fear, was terrible to him. However, his loyalty toBeric prevented him from breathing a word in the tribe as to hisfears, and he was delighted to find the young chief return homein British garb, and to discover that although his views of theRomans differed widely from his own, he was still British at heart,and held firmly the opinion that the only hope for the freedom ofBritain was the entire expulsion of the invaders.
He was gratified to find that Beric had become by no means whathe considered effeminate. He was built strongly and massively, asmight be expected from such parents, and was of the true Britishtype, that had so surprised the Romans at their first coming amongthem, possessing great height and muscular power, together with anactivity promoted by constant exercise.
Beric had fallen back upon the customs of his people as thoroughlyas if he had never dwelt in the stately Roman town. He was as readyas before to undertake the longest hunting expeditions, to sleepin the forest, to go from sunrise to sunset without breaking hisfast. When not engaged in hunting he practised incessantly hurlingthe javelin and other warlike exercises, while of an evening hefrequently related stories of Roman history to any chiefs or otherguests of his mother, on which occasions the humbler followerswould gather thickly in the background, evincing an interest evengreater than that which they felt in the songs and legends of thebards.
Beric generally chose stories relating to periods when Rome washardly pressed by her foes, showing how the intense feeling ofpatriotism, and the obstinate determination to resist, in spite ofall dangers, upon the part of the population, and the disciplineand dogged valour of the soldiers, saved her from destruction. Hewas cautious to draw no parallel openly to the case of Britain.He knew that the Romans were made acquainted, by traitors in theirpay, with much that passed among the native tribes, and that atfirst they were sure to interest themselves in his proceeding
s. Atpresent there could be no thought of a rising, and the slightestsign of disaffection might bring disaster and ruin upon his tribe.Only when some unexpected event, some invasion of the rights ofthe Britons even more flagrant than those that had hitherto takenplace, should stir the smouldering fire of discontent, and fan itinto a fierce flame of revolt from end to end of Britain, couldsuccess be hoped for.
No Roman could have found fault with Beric's relation of theirprowess or their valour; for he held them up to the admirationof his hearers. "No wonder Rome is great and powerful," he said,"when its people evince so deep a love of country, so resolutea determination in the face of their enemies, so unconquerable aspirit when misfortune weighs upon them."
To the men he addressed all this was new. It was true that a fewprinces and chiefs had visited Rome, occasionally as travellersdesiring to see the centre of her greatness, more often as exilesdriven from Britain by defeat in civil strife, but these had onlybrought back great tales of Rome's magnificence, and the Britonsknew nothing of the history of the invaders, and eagerly listenedto the stories that Beric had learned from their books in the courseof his studies. The report of his stories spread so far that visitswere paid to the village of Parta by chiefs and leading men fromother sections of the Iceni to listen to them.
Oratory was among the Britons, as among most primitive tribes,highly prized and much cultivated. Oral tradition among such peoplestakes the place of books among civilized nations. Story and legendare handed down from father to son, and the wandering bard is amost welcome guest. Next only to valour oratory sways and influencesthe minds of the people, and a Ulysses had greater influence thanan Ajax. From his earliest childhood Beric had listened to thestories and legends told by bards in the rough palace of his father,and his sole schooling before he went to Camalodunum had beento learn these by heart, and to repeat them with due emphasis andappropriate gesture. His father had been one of the most eloquentand influential of the chiefs of the Iceni, and had early impressedupon him the importance of cultivating the power of speech.
His studies in Roman history, too, had taught him the powerexercised by men with the gift of moving multitudes by their words;he had learned from books how clearly and distinctly events couldbe described by a careful choice of words, and attention to formand expression, so that almost unconsciously to himself he hadpractised the art in his relations of the tales and legends ofBritish history to Berenice and her mother. Thus, then, the mannerno less than the matter of his recitals of Roman story, gained him ahigh estimation among his hearers, and he was already looked uponas a young chief likely to rise to a very high position amongthe Iceni. Among the common herd his glowing laudations of Romanpatriotism, devotion, and sacrifice, caused him to be regarded withdisfavour, and the epithet "the Roman" was frequently applied tohim. But the wiser spirits saw the hidden meaning of his stories,and that, while holding up the Romans as an example, he was endeavouringto teach how much can be done by patriotism, by a spirit of selfsacrifice, and by unity against a common foe. Parta was also proudof the congratulations that distinguished chiefs, famed for theirwisdom throughout the tribe, offered to her on the occasion oftheir visits.
"Beric will be a great chief," one of the wisest of these saidto her; "truly his sojourn among the Romans has done great thingsfor him. It would be well, indeed, if every noble youth throughoutthe island were to have such schooling, if he had your son's witin taking advantage of it. He will be a great orator; never amongour bards have I heard narrations so clear and so well delivered;although the deeds he praises are those of our oppressors, onecannot but feel a thrill of enthusiasm as he tells them. Yea, forthe moment I myself felt half a Roman when he told us of the braveyouth who thrust his hand into the flames, and suffered it to beconsumed in order to impress the invader with a knowledge of thespirit that animated the Romans, and of the three men who heldagainst a host the bridge that their friends were breaking downbehind them.
"If he could stir me thus by his tales of the deeds of our enemies,what will it be when some day he makes the heroes of Britain histheme, and calls upon his countrymen to imitate their deeds! I haveheard him called 'the Roman,' Parta. Now that I have listened tohim I know that he will, when the time comes, be one of Rome's mostformidable foes. I will tell you now that Prasutagus, our king,and his queen Boadicea, spoke to me about Beric, and begged me tocome hither to see for myself this youth of whom they had heardreports from others, some saying that he had returned a Romanheart and soul, while others affirmed that, while he had learnedmuch from them, he had forgotten nothing of the injuries he hadreceived at their hands in the death of his father, and the disasterof the tribe. I shall know now what to tell them. To Prasutagus,whose fear of the Romans is even greater than his hatred for them,I shall say that the lad is full of the glories of Roman story,and that there is no fear of his doing or saying aught that willexcite the anger or suspicion of the Romans. To Boadicea, who hatesthe Romans far more than she fears them, I shall tell the truth,and shall inform her that when the time comes, as assuredly it someday will, that the Iceni are called upon to defend their libertiesagainst Rome, in Beric she will find a champion of whom I predictthat he will be worthy to take his place in our history by theside of Caractacus and Cassivelaunus. May our gods avert that, likethem, he fall a victim to British treachery!"
After leaving Boduoc, Beric crossed the bridge built by the Romansover the Stour, and entered the city. Camalodunum was the chiefseat of the Roman power in England. Although but so short a timehad elapsed since Claudius had occupied it, it was already a largecity. A comparatively small proportion, however, was Roman work, butall bore the impress of Roman art and civilization, for Cunobeline,whose capital it had been, was a highly enlightened king, and hadintroduced Roman ways and methods among his people. Men instructedin their arts and architecture had been largely employed in thebuilding of the town, and its edifices would have borne comparisonwith those in minor towns in the Roman provinces.
The conquerors, therefore, found much of their work done for them.The original possessors of the houses and of the highly cultivatedlands lying round the town were ejected wholesale, and the Romans,establishing themselves in their abodes and farms, then proceededto add to, embellish, and fortify the town. The 2nd, 9th, and 14thLegions were selected by Claudius to found what was called thecolony, and to take possession of the surrounding country. Plautiuswas appointed propraetor, or governor, and establishing himself inthe royal palace of Cunobeline, his first step was to protect thecity from renewed attacks by the Britons. He accordingly erectedvast works to the westward of the town, extending from the seato the river, by which means he not only protected the city fromattack, but gained, in case of an assault by overpowering numbers,the means of retiring safely to Mersea Island, lying a short distancefrom the shore.
A council house and a tribunal were erected for the Roman magistrates;temples, a theatre, and baths raised. The civilian populationincreased rapidly. Architects, artists, and musicians, decorators,skilled artisans, and traders were attracted from the mainland tothe rising city, which rapidly increased in wealth and importance.Conspicuous on the most elevated position stood a temple erected tothe honour of Claudius, who was raised by the grateful legionariesto divine rank. So strong and populous was the city that theTrinobantes, during the years that had elapsed since the Romanstook possession of it, remained passive under the yoke of theiroppressors, and watched, without attempting to take part in them,the rising of the Iceni and Brigantes, the long and desperate warof the Silures and Ordovices under Caractacus, and the reductionof the Belgae and Dumnonii from Hampshire to Cornwall by Vespasian.Yet, had their spirit remained unbroken, there was an opportunityfor revenge, for a large part of the veteran legionaries had beenwithdrawn to take part in the struggle against the western tribes.The tribe had, however, been disarmed, and with Camalodunum on thenorth, and the rising towns of London and Verulamium on the south,they were cut off from other tribes, and could not hope for finalsuccess, unless the powerful
Iceni, who were still semi-independent,rose in the national cause. Whether their easy defeat of this tribesoon after the occupation of Camalodunum had rendered the Romanscontemptuous of their fighting powers, or that they deemed it wiserto subdue the southwest and west of England, and to strike a heavyblow at the Brigantes to the north before interfering with a powerfultribe so close to their doors, is uncertain; but doubtless theyfelt that so long as Prasutagus reigned there was little fear oftrouble in that quarter, as that king protested himself the friendand ally of Rome, and occupied himself wholly in acquiring wealthand adding to his personal possessions.
The scene in Camalodunum was a familiar one to Beric. The streetswere thronged with people. Traders from Gaul and Italy, Romanartisans and workmen, haughty legionaries with shield and helmet,civil officials, Greek players, artists and decorators, nativetribesmen, with the products of their fields or the spoils of thechase, walking with humble mien; and shopkeepers sitting at the openfronts of their houses, while their slaves called the attention ofpassersby to the merits of the goods. Here were the rich productsof Eastern looms, there the cloths and linen of Rome, further on asmith's shop in full work, beyond that a silversmith's, next doorto which was a thriving trader who sold unguents and perfumes, dyesfor the ladies' cheeks and pigments for their eyebrows, daintyrequisites for the toilette, and perfumed soap. Bakers and butchers,vendors of fish and game, of fruit, of Eastern spices and flavouringsabounded.
Druggists and dealers in dyes for clothing and in the pigments usedin wall decorations and paintings were also to be found; and, infact, this Roman capital of a scarcely subjugated country containedall the appliances for luxury and comfort that could be found inthe cities of the civilized provinces.
The only shops at which Beric paused were those of the armourersand of the scribes, at some of which were exhibited vellums withthe writings of the Greek and Roman poets and historians; andBeric muttered to himself, "If I am ever present at the sack ofCamalodunum these shall be my share of the spoil, and I fancy thatno one is likely to dispute their possession with me."
But he did not linger long. Boduoc would be waiting for him, andhe could not hurry over his visit, the first he had paid sincehis absence; therefore he pushed on, with scarce a glance at thestately temple of Claudius, the magnificent baths or other publicbuildings, until he arrived at the villa of Caius Muro, which stoodsomewhat beyond the more crowded part of the town.
