The greatness of a victory is greater the stronger the enemy is. Hence, his qualities are often extolled and he is wrapped in a halo of dignity that does not always match the treatment he receives when he is defeated. The Romans they used to keep this in mind, and that is why they left us noble portraits of some of their most famous adversaries:Hannibal, Vercingetorix... Another who was exalted, without this preventing his humiliation in Rome, was a British leader with a somewhat peculiar name, Caratacus, who, according to tradition, gave such an emotional speech before the Senate that Emperor Claudius decided to spare his life.
In the year 43 AD Claudius resumed the conquest of Britain , started by Julius Caesar almost a century before and that his successors had not completed due to different circumstances. Augustus he came to plan up to three expeditions - none put into practice - and Caligula another that had a rather grotesque ending -if we pay attention to the dubious story of Suetonius-, but this last one left the legions gathered and prepared, so Claudius decided to take advantage of it three years later.
Since the early 1940s the situation in Britannia had become unstable, with three zones of influence:to the north the Brigantes , to the west the Welsh and in the southeast the increasingly powerful Catuvellaunos were imposing themselves. , which had already managed to displace the trinovantes (They even took away their capital, Camulodunum, present-day Colchester), now turning against the Atrebates . Years ago their king, Commius, of Belgian origin, had maintained a good relationship with Caesar; and since his last successor, his son Verica , had to go into exile before the domination of the unstoppable Cauvellaunos, Claudio found there a perfect casus belli :help his allies.
Senator Aulius Plautius he was placed at the head of four legions (II Augusta, IX Hispana, XIV Gemina and XX Valeria Victix) and some twenty thousand Thracian and Batavian auxiliaries. Among the legates and commanders were the future emperor Vespasian and his brother Tito Flavio Sabino , Senator Gneo Hosidio Geta (famous for having defeated the Mauritanian Sabalo the previous year) and, according to Dio Cassius and Eutropius, also the consul Gneo Sentio Saturnino , Claudio's right-hand man (although others point out that he must have joined later).
Things did not start well for the invaders because the legionnaires, already gathered on the beaches of Gaul to cross the English Channel, refused to embark to go to fight in a land so far away and dark; perhaps they remembered the lurid tales of the assault on Camulodunum during Boudicca's rebellion. The fact is that the personal intervention of Tiberio Claudio Narciso was necessary. , a freedman who had risen to commander and whose fiery speech on behalf of his former master, the emperor, convinced the soldiers:shouting "Io Saturnalia!" (an allusion to Saturnalia, festivals in which social roles were reversed and the slaves took the place of their owners for a few days), the troop finally agreed to embark and set sail for Britannia .
Historians and archaeologists believe that the bulk reached the Kent coast and he did it without opposition. Only King Cunobelius he wanted to face them in Medway and ended up losing his life, so his sons Caratacus and Togodumnus , who succeeded him in power, chose to withdraw to the interior and not present an open battle, preferring the war of guerrillas . It is not known for sure if the monarch died of illness or was assassinated, since then there was a bloody struggle for power with Caratacus and Togodumnus, who were in favor of confronting the Romans (for which they had the support of the Druids, always hostile). the invader) while a third brother, Adminio , he preferred to maintain his fidelity to Rome and facilitated the landing.
The Cauvellauns had the enemy in check for a time because they moved through the eastern zone, rough terrain where the legionnaires could not deploy their formations well. Carataco looked for the place that he believed suitable to present battle and finally faced Aulio Plaucio; however, he was the one who came out the winner with some ease, also helped by the supporters of the deposed Verica.Togodumo died and Caratacus escaped into catfish territory (Wales), where he gathered various tribes under his command and resisted for several years.
Plautius returned to Rome to be honored with an watt , leaving Publio Ostorio Scapula in command. , who managed to stop a counterattack by Caratacus, evict him from his hiding place and, little by little, push him north, into the territory of the Ordovics . Finally, the rebel was defeated again in the battle of Caer Caradoc (in which his family was captured) and had to take refuge with the brigands , but her queen, Cartimandua, had a vassal relationship with the Romans and gave him over. Thus, he was taken prisoner to the metropolis at the same time that Verica was restored to the Atrebate throne (or so it is believed, since there is no news of it and only a certain Cogibudno is named, perhaps his heir).
Caratacus was shown chained in the corresponding triumph of Claudio, causing the expectation of a crowd eager to see the one who had resisted his military machine for nine years. Then they presented it before the Senate with his wife and his children. It was there where he starred in the most famous moment in his history; When all those present expected him to plead for the life of his relatives, the proud Caratacus delivered an impressive speech collected by Tacitus in his Annals , Book XI:
“I had horses, men, weapons and riches. To those who ask whether I parted with them unwillingly:Roman, if you wish to take possession of the world, do you think that it accepts its slavery? If I had not been handed over as a prisoner neither my fall nor your glory would have achieved brilliance. It is also true that my punishment will be forgotten while, if you spare my life, I will be an eternal example of your mercy.
Those words moved the senators and the emperor himself who, in effect, decided to pardon him . Carataco lived the rest of his life in Italy, in peace and accompanied by his own; he still had time to leave another memorable phrase, collected by Dio Cassius, before the architectural magnificence of Rome: «How can they, having such possessions, covet our poor cabins?» .
A nice ending to the story if it weren't for the fact that, apparently, all this could be no more than literary inventions to extol the character and thus magnify Claudio's victory. The prosaic version says that Caratacus fulfilled the role expected of him and humbly begged that his life and that of his wife and children be spared.