CHAPTER I: A HOSTAGE 

"It is a fair sight." 

"It may be a fair sight in a Roman's eyes, Beric, but nought could
be fouler to those of a Briton.  To me every one of those blocks of
brick and stone weighs down and helps to hold in bondage this land
of ours; while that temple they have dared to rear to their gods,
in celebration of their having conquered Britain, is an insult and
a lie.  We are not conquered yet, as they will some day know to
their cost.  We are silent, we wait, but we do not admit that we
are conquered." 

"I agree with you there.  We have never fairly tried our strength
against them.  These wretched divisions have always prevented our
making an effort to gather; Cassivelaunus and some of the Kentish
tribes alone opposed them at their first landing, and he was
betrayed and abandoned by the tribes on the north of the Thames.  It
has been the same thing ever since.  We fight piecemeal; and while