Nero, on becoming Roman emperor in 54, seems to have decided to continue the invasion of Britain and appointed Quintus Veranius as governor, a man experienced in dealing with the troublesome hill tribes of Anatolia.

Veranius and his successor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus mount a successful campaign across Wales, famously destroying the druidical center at Mona or Anglesey in 60 at what historians will later call the Menai Massacre.

Final occupation of Wales is postponed however, when the rebellion of Boudica forces the Romans to return to the southeast.

Following the successful suppression of Boudica's uprising, a number of new Roman governors will continue the conquest by edging north.

Aulus Gallus has brought the Welsh borders under control but does not move further north or west, probably because Claudius is keen to avoid what he considered a difficult and drawn-out war for little material gain in the mountainous terrain of upland Britain.

When Nero became emperor in CE 54, he seems to have decided to continue the invasion and in 57 appoints Quintus Veranius as governor, a man experienced in dealing with the troublesome hill tribes of Asia Minor.

Veranius reverses Didius's policy of maintaining existing borders and begins military operations against the troublesome Silures in what is now Wales, but dies within a year.

In his will, he flatters Nero and claims that, had he had another two years, he would have conquered the whole of the island.

He is replaced by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus.

The speed with which Suetonius takes Wales suggests that Veranius had already done much of the work.

The Romans mount a successful campaign across Wales, famously destroying the druidical center at Mona or Anglesey in CE 60 at what historians later called the Menai Massacre, named for the Menai Strait separating the island from the mainland.

Tacitus is the only source on the massacre and no details are known beyond what is given in Annals 14.30 and the later account on Boudica's revolt in Cassius Dio's History of Rome (62.1-11).

Tacitus' account in the translation of Church and Brodbribb (1876) is as follows,

"[Paulinus] prepared to attack the island of Mona which had a powerful population and was a refuge for fugitives.

He built flat-bottomed vessels to cope with the shallows, and uncertain depths of the sea.

Thus the infantry crossed, while the cavalry followed by fording, or, where the water was deep, swam by the side of their horses.

On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair dishevelled, waving brands.

All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralysed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds.

Then urged by their general's appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands.

A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed.

They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails."