"It is not as a woman descended
from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost
freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. Roman
lust has gone so far that not our very persons, nor even age or virginity
are left unpolluted.
"But heaven is on the side of the
righteous vengeance; a legion which dared to fight has perished; the rest
are hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously of flight.
They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so many thousands,
much less our charge and our blows.
"If you weigh well the strength of
the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that in this battle
you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve. As for the men, they
may live and be slaves!"
<Queen Boudicca of the Iceni, Annals
of Tacitus>
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