An Island Story | Page 8

die than yield. Will you follow me,
men?" and of course the men followed her gladly.
At last the Roman leader was so downcast with his many defeats that

he went himself to the British camp, bearing in his hand a green branch
as a sign of peace. When Boadicea was told that an ambassador from
the Romans wished to speak to her, she replied proudly, "My sword
alone shall speak to the Romans." And when the Roman leader asked
for peace, she answered, "You shall have peace, peace, but no
submission. A British heart will choose death rather than lose liberty.
There can be peace only if you promise to leave the country."
Of course the Romans would not promise to go away from Britain, so
the war continued, and for a time the Britons triumphed.
But their triumph did not last long. The Roman soldiers were better
armed and better drilled than the British. There came a dark day when
the Britons were utterly defeated and many thousands were slain.
When Boadicea saw that all hope was gone, she called her daughters to
her. "My children," she said sadly, as she took them by the hand and
drew them towards her, "my children, it has not pleased the gods of
battle to deliver us from the power of the Romans. But there is yet one
way of escape." Tears were in her blue eyes as she kissed her daughters.
She was no longer a queen of fury but a loving mother.
Then taking a golden cup in her hands, "Drink," she said gently.
'WILL YOU FOLLOW ME, MEN?'
The eldest daughter obeyed proudly and gladly, but the younger one
was afraid. "Must I, mother?" she asked timidly.
"Yes, dear one," said Boadicea gently. "I too will drink, and we shall
meet again."
When the Roman soldiers burst in upon them, they found the great
queen dead, with her daughters in her arms.
She had poisoned both herself and them, rather than that they should
fall again into the hands of the Romans.

CHAPTER 6
THE LAST OF THE ROMANS
CARACTACUS was dead, Boadicea was dead, many other brave
British leaders were dead, but the Britons still continued to give the
Romans a great deal of trouble.
At last Vespasian, who was then Emperor of the Romans, sent a
general called Julius Agricola to see if he could subdue the people and
govern the island of Britain.
Julius Agricola was a very clever soldier and a wise man. When he had
gained one or two victories over the Britons, he tried what kindness
would do. This was something the Romans had never done before.
Julius Agricola tried to understand the people. He was just and fair. He
not only took away many of the heavy taxes which the Romans had
made the British pay, but he built schools and had the people taught to
read and write. For up to this time the Britons had had no teachers and
no schools. None of them could read or write, and perhaps there was
not a single book in the whole island.
Of course, books in those days were quite different from what they are
now. There was no paper, and printing was unknown, so when people
wanted to make a book they wrote upon strips of parchment, which was
made from the skins of animals. These strips were then rolled up, and
looked very much like the maps we hang upon the wall, only they were
smaller.
Besides building schools, Agricola built public halls and courts where
the people might come and ask for justice, whenever they had been
wronged. He taught the Britons what obedience, law and order meant,
and in every way tried to make them live good lives.
Soon the Britons began to understand that the Romans could give them

some things which were worth having. So there was much more peace
in the land.
Julius Agricola also built a line of forts across the island from the Forth
to the Clyde. He did this to keep back the wild Picts and Scots, or
people of the north. For as they could not be brought under Roman rule
nor tamed in any way, he thought it was better to try to shut them into
their own country. Later on an emperor, called Antonine, built a great
wall along the line of Agricola's forts for the same purpose.
But while Julius Agricola was doing all this good work in Britain, the
emperor who had sent him died, and another ruled instead.
This emperor was jealous of Agricola because he managed the people
of Britain so well. He was so jealous that he told Agricola to come back
to Rome, and sent another man to govern Britain instead of him.
It was