Gaius Suetonius Paulinus
[[Image:Svetoniy Paulin.jpg|thumb|225px|Suetonius Paulinus, the imperial governor, returnedfrom campaigning in Wales to London. Artistic impression.]]
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, also spelled
Paullinus, (flourished
1st century) was a
Roman general best known as the commander who defeated the rebellion of
Boudica.
Having been
praetor, he went to
Mauretania in
42 as
legatus legionis to suppress a revolt. He was the first Roman to cross the
Atlas Mountains, and
Pliny the Elder quotes his description of the area in his
Natural History.
In
59 he was appointed
governor of
Britain, replacing
Quintus Veranius, who had died in office. He continued Veranius's policy of aggressively subduing the tribes of modern
Wales, and was successful for his first two years in the post. His reputation as a general came to rival that of
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Two future governors served under him:
Quintus Petillius Cerialis as legate of
Legio IX Hispana, and
Gnaeus Julius Agricola as a military
tribune attached to
II Augusta, but seconded to Suetonius's staff.
In
61 Suetonius made an assault on the island of Mona (
Anglesey), a refuge for British fugitives and a stronghold of the
druids. The tribes of the south-east took advantage of his absence and staged a revolt, led by queen
Boudica of the
Iceni. The
colonia of Camulodunum (
Colchester) was destroyed, and Petillius Cerialis's legion routed. Suetonius brought Mona to terms and marched along the Roman road of
Watling Street to Londinium (
London), the rebels' next target, but judged he did not have the numbers to defend the city and ordered it evacuated. The Britons duly destroyed it, and then did the same to Verulamium (
St Albans).
Suetonius regrouped with the
XIV Gemina, some detachments of the
XX Valeria Victrix, and all available auxiliaries. The II
Augusta, based at
Exeter, was available, but its
prefect,
Poenius Postumus, declined to heed the call. Nonetheless, Suetonius was able to assemble a force of about ten thousand men. Heavily outnumbered (the Britons numbered 100,000 according to
Tacitus, 230,000 according to
Dio Cassius), he gave
battle at an unidentified location in a defile with a wood behind him, probably in the
West Midlands somewhere along Watling Street -
High Cross in
Leicestershire and
Manduessedum near the modern day town of
Atherstone in
Warwickshire have been suggested - where Roman tactics and discipline triumphed over British numbers. The Britons' flight was impeded by the presence of their own families, whom they had stationed in a ring of wagons at the edge of the battlefield, and defeat turned into slaughter. Tacitus heard reports that almost eighty thousand Britons were killed, compared to only four hundred Romans. Boudica poisoned herself, and Postumus, having denied his men a share in the victory, fell on his sword.
Suetonius reinforced his army with legionaries and auxiliaries from
Germania and conducted punitive operations against any remaining pockets of resistance, but this proved counterproductive. The new
procurator,
Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus, expressed concern to the
Emperor Nero that Suetonius's activities would only lead to continued hostilities. An inquiry was set up under Nero's
freedman,
Polyclitus, and an excuse, that Suetonius had lost some ships, was found to relieve him of his command. He was replaced by the more conciliatory
Publius Petronius Turpilianus.
Suetonius became
consul ordinarius in
66. In
69, during the year of civil wars that followed the death of
Nero (see
Year of four emperors), he was one of
Otho's senior generals and military advisors. He and
Publius Marius Celsus defeated
Aulus Caecina Alienus, one of
Vitellius's generals, near
Cremona, but Suetonius would not allow his men to follow up their advantage and was accused of treachery as a result. When Caecina joined his forces with those of
Fabius Valens, Suetonius advised Otho not to risk a battle but was overruled, leading to Otho's decisive defeat at
Bedriacum. Suetonius was captured by Vitellius and obtained a pardon by claiming that he had deliberately lost the battle for Otho, although this was almost certainly untrue. His eventual fate remains unknown.
Primary sources
*
Pliny the Elder,
Natural History 5.1*
Tacitus,
Agricola 5,
14-16;
Annals 14.29-39,
16:14;
Histories 1:87,
90,
2:23-26,
31-41,
44,
60*
Dio Cassius,
Roman History 60:9,
62:1-12,
63:1Appearances in film and literature
* Imperial Governor: The Great Novel of Boudicca's Revolt by
George Shipway
