*The revolt in Britain, 60 A. D.* Under Claudius the Romans had extended their dominion in Britain as far north as the Humber, and westwards to Cornwall and Wales. In 59 A. D. Suetonius Paulinus occupied the island of Mona (Anglesea), the chief seat of the religion of the Druids. While he was engaged in this undertaking a serious revolt broke out among the Iceni and Trinovantes, who lived between the Wash and the Thames. It was caused by the severity of the Roman administration and in particular the ill-treatment of Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni, who headed the insurrection, by Roman procurators. The Roman towns of Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Alban's), and Londinium (London) were destroyed, and 70,000 Romans were said to have been massacred. A Roman legion was defeated in battle and it was not until Paulinus returned and united the scattered Roman forces that the insurgents were checked. The Britons were decisively defeated and Boudicca committed suicide.
*The conspiracy of Piso, 65 A. D.* About 62 A. D. there began a long series of treason trials in Rome occasioned partly by the desire to confiscate the property of the accused and partly by the suspicion which is the inevitable concomitant of tyranny. The resulting insecurity of the senatorial order naturally produced a real attempt to overthrow the princeps. A wide-reaching conspiracy, in which one of the praetorian prefects was involved and which was headed by the senator Gaius Calpurnius Piso, was discovered in 65 A. D. Among those who were executed for complicity therein were the poet Lucan and his uncle Seneca. Other notable victims of Nero's vengeance were Thrasea Paetus and Borea Sonarus, the Stoic senators, whose guilt was their silent but unmistakable disapproval of his tyrannical acts. No man of prominence was safe; even the famous general Corbulo was forced to commit suicide in 67 A. D.
*The rebellion of Vindex, 68 A. D.* Upon Nero's return from Greece, a more serious movement began in Gaul where Caius Julius Vindex, the legate of the province of Lugdunensis, raised the standard of revolt and was supported by the provincials who were suffering under the pressure of taxation. Vindex was joined by Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hither Spain, and other legates. The commander of Upper Germany, Verginius Rufus, who remained true to Nero, defeated Vindex, but, the revolt spread to the troops of Verginius himself and these hailed their commander as imperator. He, however, refused the honor and gave the Senate the opportunity to name the princeps. Nero's fate was sealed by his own cowardice and the treachery of the prefect Sabinus, who bought the support of the praetorian guards for Galba. The Senate followed their lead, and Nero, who had fled from Rome, had himself killed by a faithful freedman. With him ends the Julio-Claudian dynasty.