09-24-2012, 04:22 AM
Hi Renatus - many thanks for the comments...
Renatus wrote:
It is clear that Paulinus was expecting an attack upon London.
I think that the very act of SP leaving triggered the attack on London as Pualinus realised it would due to its being undefended. Also the Brythons could leave their homelands because there was no longer a threat to their territories.
Renatus wrote:
That in turn implies that he had a reasonably substantial force with him
It is Tacitus who mentions the "small army" and "scanty numbers" and compares it to the lost Ninth Legion and that care needed to be taken. Seutonius Paulinus obviously did not think that he had enough men then to fight or to approach the Brythons even in a fixed battle, so what changed his mind to decide to fight with the same number of men and an increasing number of the enemy from 120,000 to 230,000 (Dio).
Renatus wrote:
Paulinus was prepared to surrender London to the rebels but, if this was in order to save the province, he must have left them something worth having.
Static booty may have been left, although the people who could leave would have taken their portable wealth with them especially the Procurator and his cronies who would have taken the wealth they had confiscated. SP would have either taken the grain and armaments or destroyed them. To not to do so would risk giving an edge to the rebels which he could not afford.
Renatus wrote:
If Silchester was threatened by the rebels, one would expect Cogidubnus to have marshalled forces to defend it. Personally, I believe that the battle took place somewhere east of Silchester but, unfortunately, I cannot offer a site.
I think that Cogidubnus probably did work with SP and supplied the auxilliaries for the final battle that Tacitus mentions. Whether he allowed Silchester to be burnt is a moot point but it is reasonable to expect that it was evacuated.
Regarding the site - that's what we are all loooking forward surely. :wink:
Kind Regards - Deryk
Renatus wrote:
It is clear that Paulinus was expecting an attack upon London.
I think that the very act of SP leaving triggered the attack on London as Pualinus realised it would due to its being undefended. Also the Brythons could leave their homelands because there was no longer a threat to their territories.
Renatus wrote:
That in turn implies that he had a reasonably substantial force with him
It is Tacitus who mentions the "small army" and "scanty numbers" and compares it to the lost Ninth Legion and that care needed to be taken. Seutonius Paulinus obviously did not think that he had enough men then to fight or to approach the Brythons even in a fixed battle, so what changed his mind to decide to fight with the same number of men and an increasing number of the enemy from 120,000 to 230,000 (Dio).
Renatus wrote:
Paulinus was prepared to surrender London to the rebels but, if this was in order to save the province, he must have left them something worth having.
Static booty may have been left, although the people who could leave would have taken their portable wealth with them especially the Procurator and his cronies who would have taken the wealth they had confiscated. SP would have either taken the grain and armaments or destroyed them. To not to do so would risk giving an edge to the rebels which he could not afford.
Renatus wrote:
If Silchester was threatened by the rebels, one would expect Cogidubnus to have marshalled forces to defend it. Personally, I believe that the battle took place somewhere east of Silchester but, unfortunately, I cannot offer a site.
I think that Cogidubnus probably did work with SP and supplied the auxilliaries for the final battle that Tacitus mentions. Whether he allowed Silchester to be burnt is a moot point but it is reasonable to expect that it was evacuated.
Regarding the site - that's what we are all loooking forward surely. :wink:
Kind Regards - Deryk
Deryk
