D. 6.—­This slaughter effectually scotched the rising which the Icenians were hoping to organize.  All Central Britain submitted, and, we may presume, was quietly disarmed; though the work cannot have been very effectually done, as these same tribes were able to rise under Boadicea twelve years later.  The indefatigable Ostorius next led his men against the Cangi in North Wales[164] (who seem to have been stirred to revolt by the Icenian Prince Antedrigus), and gained much booty, for the Britons dared not venture upon a battle, and had no luck in their various attempts at surprise.  But before he quite reached the Irish Sea he was recalled by a disturbance amongst the Brigantes, which by a judicious mixture of firmness and clemency he speedily suppressed.  And all this he did without employing a single legionary.

D. 7.—­But neither firmness nor clemency availed to put an end to the desperate struggle for freedom maintained by the one clan in Britain which still held out against the Roman yoke.  The Silurians of South Wales were not to be subdued without a regular campaign which was to tax the Legions themselves to the utmost.  Naturally brave, stubborn, and with a passionate love of liberty, they had at this juncture a worthy leader, for Caradoc was at their head.  We hear nothing of his doings between the first battle against Aulus Plautius, when his brother Togodumnus fell, leaving him the sole heir of Cymbeline, until we find him here.  But we may be pretty sure that he was the animating spirit of the resistance which so long checked the conquerors on the banks of the Thames, and that he took no part in the general submission to Claudius.  Probably he led an outlaw life in the forest, stirring up all possible resistance to the Roman arms, till finally he found himself left with this one clan of all his father’s subjects still remaining faithful.

D. 8.—­But he never thought of surrender.  He was everywhere amongst his followers, says Tacitus, exhorting them to resist to the death, reminding them how Caswallon had “driven out” the great Julius, and binding one and all by a solemn national covenant [gentili religione] never to yield “either for wound or weapon.”  Ostorius had to bring against him the whole force he could muster, even calling out the veterans newly settled at the Colony[165] of Camelodune.  Caradoc and his Silurians, on their part, did not wait at home for the attack, but moved northwards into the territory of the Ordovices, who at least sympathized if they did not actually aid.  Here he entrenched himself upon a mountain, very probably that Caer Caradoc, near Shrewsbury, which still bears his name.  Those who know the ground will not wonder that Ostorius hesitated at assaulting so impregnable a position.  His men, however, were eager for the attack.  “Nothing,” they cried, “is impregnable to the brave.”  The legionaries stormed the hill on one side, the auxiliaries on the other; and once hand to hand, the mail-clad Romans had a fearful advantage against defenders who wore no defensive armour, nor even helmets.  The Britons broke and fled, Caradoc himself seeking refuge amongst the Brigantes of the north.