hom anything was left were called
upon to pay a taxation far too heavy for their means. When money was
not to be found to satisfy the tax-gatherer, a Roman usurer was always
at hand to proffer the required sum at enormous interest, after which
the unhappy borrower who accepted the proposal soon found himself
unable to pay the debt, and was stripped of all that he possessed to
satisfy the cravings of the lender. Those who resisted this oppression
were treated as the meanest criminals. Boadicea, the widow of
Prasutagus, who had been the chief of the Iceni, was publicly flogged,
and her two daughters were subjected to the vilest outrage. She called
upon the whole Celtic population of the east and south to rise against
the foreign tyrants. Thousands answered to her call, and the angry
host rushed to take vengeance upon the colonists of Camulodunum. The
colonists had neglected to fortify their city, and the insurgents,
bursting in, slew by the sword or by torture men and women alike. The
massacre spread wherever Romans were to be found. A Roman legion
hastening to the rescue was routed, and the small force of cavalry
attached to it alone succeeded in making its escape. Every one of the
foot soldiers was slaughtered on the spot. It is said that 70,000
Romans perished in the course of a few days.

21. =The Vengeance of Suetonius.=--Suetonius was no mean general, and
he hastened back to the scene of destruction. He called on the
commander of the legion at Isca Silurum to come to his help. Cowardice
was rare in a Roman army, but this officer was so unnerved by terror
that he refused to obey the orders of his general, and Suetonius had
to march without him. He won a decisive victory at some unknown spot,
probably not far from Camulodunum, and 80,000 Britons are reported to
have been slain by the triumphant soldiery. Boadicea committed suicide
by poison. The commander of the legion at Isca Silurum also put an end
to his own life, in order to escape the punishment which he deserved.
Suetonius had restored the Roman authority in Britain, but it was to
his failure to control his subordinates that the insurrection had been
due, and he was therefore promptly recalled by the Emperor Nero. From
that time no more is heard of the injustice of the Roman government.

22. =Agricola in Britain.= =78--84.=--Agricola, who arrived as
governor in =78=, took care to deal fairly with all sorts of men, and
to make the natives thoroughly satisfied wi