The Speech of King Caratacus
A proud British king, taken to Rome as a trophy of Empire, refused to plead for his life.
40-50
Roman Britain 43-410
A proud British king, taken to Rome as a trophy of Empire, refused to plead for his life.
40-50
Roman Britain 43-410
Caratacus, King of the Catuvellauni, led the British resistance to Roman invasion in the AD 40s, but he was betrayed and taken to Rome. The Emperor Claudius asked him why his life should be spared, and this was the King’s reply.
tr. Church and Brodribb, slightly emended
“HAD my moderation in prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have disdained to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations.*
“My present lot is as glorious to you as it is degrading to me. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What wonder if I parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over the world, does it follow that the world is to accept slavery?
“Were I to have been at once delivered up as a prisoner, neither my fall nor your triumph would have become famous. My punishment would be followed by oblivion, whereas, if you save my life, I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency.”
tr. Church and Brodribb, slightly emended
The king’s name appears in Tacitus both as Caratacus and Caractacus; Cassius Dio calls him both Καράτακος and Καρτάκης (Karátakos and Kartákis). The ancient Welsh form of the name is Caradog. In keeping with the consensus of modern scholarship, Caratacus has been used on this site.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.