formation to protect themselves and dismantled the stone ramparts. Once inside the defences, the Romans broke through in bloody fighting. The Britons withdrew to the hilltops, but the Romans kept up the attack by both auxiliaries and legionaries. The Britons were generally without body armour or helmets and they broke and fled; the Roman troops then closely pursued the fugitives. Tacitus reports: Aftermath Tacitus writes: Caratacus himself escaped. He fled north, seeking refuge among the Brigantes. The Brigantian queen, Cartimandua, depended on Rome for her personal position, and she handed him over to the Romans in chains. Tacitus reports: Display in Rome The name and fame of Caratacus were now known far outside the army of Britain, and he and his family were central attractions in the triumphal parade through the streets of Rome before the Emperor Claudius himself. (After the fall of the Roman Republic, triumphs were celebrated in the name of the reigning emperor.) Caratacus' defeat was publicly likened by the Senators to some of Rome's greatest victories, and Ostorius Scapula was awarded triumphal ornaments for defeating him. The normal practice would have been for the prisoners to be executed at the end of the triumphal ceremony. Caratacus gave a speech which persuaded Claudius to spare him and his family. Tacitus would have been a small child at this time, but he reports Caratacus' words as if he had been taking contemporaneous notes: After his liberation, according to Dio Cassius, Caratacus was impressed by the city of Rome: References Tacitus, Annals 12:33-38 Sheppard Frere, Britannia: a History of Roman Britain, 3rd edition, 1978, p. 64 50 Caer Caradoc Caer Caradoc 50 Caer Caradoc 50 Caer Caradoc History of Shropshire 1st century in Great Britain 50s in the Roman Empire 1st-century battles