from Gaul or Rome and the officials in the suite of Decianus lauded
his action as an act of excellent policy.

"These British slaves must be taught to feel the weight of our arm,"
they said, "and a lesson such as this will be most useful. Is it
for dogs like these to complain because they are whipped? They must
be taught to know that they live but at our pleasure; that this
island and all it contains is ours. They have no rights save those
we choose to give them."

But the older settlers viewed the matter very differently. They
knew well enough that it was only after hard fighting that Vespasian
had subdued the south, and Ostorius crushed Caractacus. They knew,
too, that the Iceni gave but a nominal submission to Rome, and
that the Trinobantes, crushed as they were, had been driven to the
verge of madness by extortion. Moreover the legions were far away;
Camalodunum was well nigh undefended, and lay almost at the mercy
of the Britons should they attack. They, therefore, denounced the
treatment of Boadicea as not only brutal but as impolitic in the
extreme.

The sudden cessation of news from the officials who had gone to
take possession of the estate of Prasutagus caused considerable
uneasiness among this section of the inhabitants of Camalodunum.
Messengers were sent off every day to inquire as to what had taken
place after the return of Boadicea, but none came back. The feeling
of uneasiness was heightened by the attitude of the natives. Reports
came in from all parts of the district that they had changed their
attitude, that they no longer crouched at the sight of a Roman but
bore themselves defiantly, that there were meetings at night in the