10-06-2012, 03:21 AM
Quote:I doubt that Paulinus would have embarked upon his Anglesey campaign if he had been informed of trouble brewing in the east... when advised of the rebellion, he took ship, presumably sailing along the North Wales coast to Chester
Being a cautious fellow, Paulinus probably wouldn't have turned his army around without firm intelligence. He could have been opposite Anglesey by the time such intelligence reached him, and still have had time to defeat the Druids (possibly a more cursory job than T implies - Agricola had to go back and do it again 16 years later!) and get back to London before Boudica arrived.
As for the ship - Webster made the same assumption. I think it's just Dio thinking that Anglesey's an island, so Paulinus obviously had to sail back to the mainland... no need to imagine a coastal voyage to Deva - which probably didn't exist as a base or a harbour at this stage anyway.
Good work on the 'accurate' translation though - when a text gets this amount of scrutiny it's good to be reminded what it actually says... ;-)
Nathan Ross