rex Icenorum Prasutagus, divitiis diu clarus, Caesarem heredem duasque filias scripserat, tali obsequio ratus et regnum et domum suam procul iniuria futuram esse, quod contra vertit, adeo ut regnum a centurionibus, domus a servi velut capta vastarentur, iam primum uxor eius Boudica verberata et filiae stupro violatae sunt: principes omnes Icenorum, quasi Romani totam regionem muneri accepissent, avitis bonis exuuntur, et propinqui regis inter servos habebantur. qua contumelia et metu graviorum permoti, quod in formam provinciae cesserant, rapiunt arma; commoti sunt ad rebellionem Trinobantes et qui alii, nondum servitio fracti, recipere libertatem occultis coniurationibus pepigerant. acerrium in verteranos odium; qui in coloniam Camulodunum nuper deducti pellebant domibus Trinobantes, exturbabant agris, captivos vel servos appellabant; militesque superbiam saevitiamque veteranorum incitabant similitudine vitae et spe eiusdem licentiate. Ad hoc, templum divo Claudio exstructum quasi arx aeternae dominationis aspiciebatur, electique sacerdotes specie religionis omnes fortunas suas effundebant. nec difficile videabutr delere coloniam nullis munimentis saeptam; quod ducibus nostris parum provisum erat, cum amoenitati prius quam usui consuluissent.

The King of the Iceni tribe, Prasutagus, famous for his prosperity for a long time, wrote that Caesar and his two daughters would be his heirs, thinking that with such a great submission, injustice would be far from both his kingdom and his home. This turned against him, so much so that his kingdom was plundered by centurions and the house by slaves as if they were war spoils. At first, Boudica was beaten and the daughters were violated through rape: all the Iceni chiefs were deprived of their ancestral gods, as if the Romans had taken the whole region as a gift, and the relatives of the king were held amoungst the slaves. Having been moved by this humiliation and fear of worse things to come, because they had fallen into the form of a province, they took up arms; the Trinobantes were moved to rebellion and those, who had not yet been broken by slavery, pledged themselves to take back freedom through secret conspiracies.