all the consecrated groves and altars; and, having thus triumphed over
the religion of the Britons, he thought his future progress would be
easy in reducing the people to subjection. But he was disappointed in
his expectations. The Britons, taking advantage of his absence, were
all in arms; and headed by Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, who had been
treated in the most ignominious manner by the Roman tribunes, had
already attacked with success several settlements of their insulting
conquerors. Suetonius hastened to the protection of London, which was
already a flourishing Roman colony; but he found, on his arrival, that
it would be requisite for the general safety to abandon that place to
the merciless fury of the enemy. London was reduced to ashes; such of
the inhabitants as remained in it were cruelly massacred; the Romans
and all strangers, to the number of 70,000, were every where put to
the sword without distinction; and the Britons, by rendering the war
thus bloody, seemed determined to cut off all hopes of peace or com-
position with the enemy. But this cruelty was revenged by Suetonius
in a great and decisive battle, where 80,000 of the Britons are said
to have .perished; and Boadicea herself; rather than fall into the
hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her own life by poison [m].
Nero soon after recalled Suetonius from a government, where, by
suffering and inflicting so many severities, he was judged improper
for composing the angry and alarmed minds of the inhabitants. After
some interval, Cerealis received the command from Vespasian, and by
his bravery propagated the terror of the Roman arms. Julius Frontinus
succeeded Cerealis both in authority and in reputation: but the
general who finally established the dominion of the Romans in this
island was Julius Agricola, who governed it in the reigns of
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, and distinguished himself in that
scene of action.
[FN [m] Tacit. Ann. lib. 14]