and they were persuaded to refuse service.  Accordingly, on the pretext of giving a banquet, Civilis summoned the chief nobles and the most determined of the tribesmen to a sacred grove.  Then, when he saw them excited by their revelry and the late hour of the night, he began to speak of the glorious past of the Batavi and to enumerate the wrongs they had suffered, the injustice and extortion and all the evils of their slavery.  ‘We are no longer treated,’ he said, ’as we used to be, like allies, but like menials and slaves.  Why, we are never even visited by an imperial Governor[273]—­irksome though the insolence of his staff would be.  We are given over to prefects and centurions; and when these subordinates have had their fill of extortion and of bloodshed, they promptly find some one to replace them, and then there are new pockets to fill and new pretexts for plunder.  Now conscription is upon us:  children are to be torn from parents, brother from brother, never, probably, to meet again.  And yet the fortunes of Rome were never more depressed.  Their cantonments contain nothing but loot and a lot of old men.  Lift up your eyes and look at them.  There is nothing to fear from legions that only exist on paper.[274] And we are strong.  We have infantry and cavalry:  the Germans are our kinsmen:  the Gauls share our ambition.  Even the Romans will be grateful if we go to war.[275] If we fail, we can claim credit for supporting Vespasian:  if we succeed, there will be no one to call us to account.’

His speech was received with great approval, and he at once bound 15 them all to union, using the barbarous ceremonies and strange oaths of his country.  They then sent to the Canninefates to join their enterprise.  This tribe inhabits part of the Island,[276] and though inferior in numbers to the Batavi, they are of the same race and language and the same courageous spirit.  Civilis next sent secret messages to win over the Batavian troops, which after serving as Roman auxiliaries in Britain had been sent, as we have already seen,[277] to Germany and were now stationed at Mainz.[278]

One of the Canninefates, Brinno by name, was a man of distinguished family and stubborn courage.  His father had often ventured acts of hostility, and had with complete impunity shown his contempt for Caligula’s farcical expedition.[279] To belong to such a family of rebels was in itself a recommendation.  He was accordingly placed on a shield, swung up on the shoulders of his friends, and thus elected leader after the fashion of the tribe.  Summoning to his aid the Frisii[280]—­a tribe from beyond the Rhine—­he fell upon two cohorts of auxiliaries whose camp lay close to the neighbouring shore.[281] The attack was unexpected, and the troops, even if they had foreseen it, were not strong enough to offer resistance:  so the camp was taken and looted.  They then fell on the Roman camp-followers and traders, who had gone off in all directions as if peace were