were bestowed upon king Cogidunus, a prince who continued in perfect
fidelity within our own memory. This was done agreeably to the ancient and
long established practice of the Romans, to make even kings the
instruments of servitude. Didius Gallus, the next governor, preserved the
acquisitions of his predecessors, and added a very few fortified posts in
the remoter parts, for the reputation of enlarging his province. Veranius
succeeded, but died within the year. Suetonius Paullinus then commanded
with success for two years, subduing various nations, and establishing
garrisons. In the confidence with which this inspired him, he undertook an
expedition against the island Mona, [68] which had furnished the revolters
with supplies; and thereby exposed the settlements behind him to a
surprise.

15. For the Britons, relieved from present dread by the absence of the
governor, began to hold conferences, in which they painted the miseries of
servitude, compared their several injuries, and inflamed each other with
such representations as these: "That the only effects of their patience
were more grievous impositions upon a people who submitted with such
facility. Formerly they had one king respectively; now two were set over
them, the lieutenant and the procurator, the former of whom vented his
rage upon their life's blood, the latter upon their properties; [69] the
union or discord [70] of these governors was equally fatal to those whom
they ruled, while the officers of the one, and the centurions of the
other, joined in oppressing them by all kinds of violence and contumely;
so that nothing was exempted from their avarice, nothing from their lust.
In battle it was the bravest who took spoils; but those whom _they_
suffered to seize their houses, force away their children, and exact
levies, were, for the most part, the cowardly and effeminate; as if the
only lesson of suffering of which they were ignorant was how to die for
their country. Yet how inconsiderable would the number of invaders appear