To Spare the Conquered

Be thy charge, O Roman, to guide the nations by thine

authority; this shall be thine art, to impose the law of

peace, to spare the conquered....

Virgil, Aeneid, Book V I

This is the axiom young Quintus Valerius Martius carries in his heart when he comes to Britain with the Roman Legions in A.D. 51. But it proves hard to implement. For however noble the Roman generals may be, many of their administrators are corrupt, or stupid, or both. And Boudicca, the bitter vengeful Queen of the Iceni, finds it easy to persuade Britons suffering under heavy taxes to rise against their conquerors.

There follows one of the bloodiest, most destructive periods of Roman-British history. Stirring battles, disastrous defeats, soldiers betrayed by lazy commanders, procurators playing politics, venal merchants caring only for profit, and everywhere the simple peasants suffering and starving while the battle for power rages round them and thousands of Britons and Romans perish in a welter of blood and misery. Only the faith of the young nobleman, the understanding of his comrades, and the courage and intelligence of Flaviola, Boudicca’s youngest daughter, hold the promise of a hopeful future.

This is a soldier’s tale, evoked by a first-rate historian who is also a brilliant story-teller.