Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/160

146 of retiring from the Britons, who were now on the march towards him, he resolved to meet them. The field of battle he pitched upon was a narrow tract of ground, facing a large plain, where they encamped, and his rear was secured by a forest. The Britons traversed the plain in large bodies, exulting in their numbers, and secure of victory. They had brought their wives and children in waggons to be spectators of their actions in the battle, and placed them round their entrenchments.

Boadicea, in the mean time, was not idle, but mounting her chariot, with her two daughters, rode up and down through the several squadrons of her army, whom she addressed to the following effect:

"That it was not the first time the Britons had been victorious, under the conduct of their queen. That, for her part, she came not there as one descended of royal blood, to fight for empire or riches, but as one of the common people, to avenge the loss of their liberty, the wrongs of herself and children. That the wickedness of the Romans was come to its height; and that the gods had already begun to punish them; so that, instead of being able to withstand the attack of a victorious army, the very shouts of so many thousands would put them to flight. That if the Britons would but consider the number of their forces, or the motives of the war, they would resolve to vanquish or die. That it was much better to fall honourably in defence of liberty, than be again exposed to the outrages of the Romans. Such at least was her resolution; as for the men, they might, if they pleased, live and be slaves." At the end of her speech she is said to have let loose a hare, which she had concealed, as an omen of victory.

While Boadicea thus laboured to animate her tons