Quintus Petillius Cerialis
Quintus Petilius Cerialis Caesius Rufus (born around
30 AD) was a
Roman general of the
1st century.
His name suggests that he was an
adopted son of a Caesius family into the Petilii. His elder brother may have been
Caesius Nasica. Cerialis was married to Flavia, oldest sister of
Vespasian.
His first important assignment was as legate of the
Roman legion IX Hispana in the
Roman province of
Britain, under governor
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. He took part in the defeat of the
60/
61 rebellion led by Queen
Boudica of the
Iceni, although he suffered a serious defeat when attempting to relieve the city of
Camulodunum (
Colchester), which was destroyed by the Britons.
As a relative of Vespasian,
Vitellius made him a hostage during
69 AD, during the civil wars of the
year of four emperors. Cerialis managed to escape and was one of the cavalry leaders that conquered Rome for the approaching
Vespasian.
This success and his brother-in-law's trust gave him the command of
XIV Gemina, then stationed in the difficult province of
Germania Inferior. Again, Cerialis had to deal with a local revolt, the
Batavian rebellion, in which the local tribes, led by
Julius Civilis, a romanized prince, besieged two Roman legions at Xanten. Cerialis was again successful and received honours from Vespasian.
In
71 Cerialis was appointed
governor of
Britain, bringing the
II Adiutrix with him to the province. He was supported by
Gnaeus Julius Agricola, commander of
XX Valeria Victrix.
As governor, Cerialis campaigned against the
Brigantes of northern England. In
74, Cerialis left Britain and returned to Rome as
suffect consul. In
83 he was nominated consul for the second time, as a junior partner of the Emperor
Domitian.
Tacitus says that he was a bold soldier rather than a careful general, and preferred to stake everything on the issue of a single engagement. He possessed natural eloquence of a kind that readily appealed to his soldiers. His loyalty to his superiors was unshakable.
{{sequence|prev=
Marcus Vettius Bolanus|next=
Sextus Julius Frontinus|list=
Roman governors of Britain|
*
Tacitus,
Annals 14.32;
Histories 3.59,
3.78-79,
4.71-79,
4.86;
Agricola 8,
17
