Throughout the length and breadth of Britain a thrill of horror was
felt at the news of the massacre of Druids at Mona, and everywhere
it was followed by a stern determination to prepare for battle to
clear the land of the Romans. The Druids went from tribe to tribe
and from village to village stirring up men's hearts; the women,
even more deeply excited than the men at the news of the calamity,
behaved as if possessed, many going about the country calling upon
the men to take up arms, and foretelling victory to the Britons
and destruction to the Romans; even in the streets of Camalodunum
at night their voices were heard crying out curses upon the Romans
and predicting the destruction of the city.

A week after the news came, Beric, in fulfilment of the promise
he had given to Berenice, paid another visit to Camalodunum. There
were no signs in its busy streets of uneasiness or fear. The new
propraetor Catus Decianus, who commanded in the absence of Suetonius,
was holding a sort of court there, and the bearing of the Romans
seemed even more arrogant and insolent than usual. The news of
the destruction of the Druids at Mona had by them been hailed as
a final and most crushing blow to the resistance of the Britons.
Since their gods could not protect their own altars what hope
could there be for them in the future? Decianus, a haughty tyrant
who had been sent to Britain by Nero as a mark of signal favour,
in order that he might enrich himself by the spoils of the Britons,
was levying exactions at a rate hitherto unknown, treating the
people as if they were but dirt under his feet. His lieutenants,
all creatures of Nero, followed his example, and the exasperation
of the unfortunate Trinobantes, who were the chief victims, had
reached such a point that they were ready for revolt whensoever
the signal might come.