Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
1. To bequeath to posterity a record of the deeds and characters of distinguished men
is an ancient practice which even the present age, careless as it is of its own sons, has
not abandoned whenever some great and conspicuous excellence has conquered and risen
superior to that failing, common to petty and to great states, blindness and hostility to
goodness. But in days gone by, as there was a greater inclination and a more open path to
the achievement of memorable actions, so the man of highest genius was led by the simple
reward of a good conscience to hand on without partiality or self-seeking the remembrance
of greatness. Many too thought that to write their own lives showed the confidence of
integrity rather than presumption. Of Rutilius and Scaurus no one doubted the honesty or
questioned the motives. So true is it that merit is best appreciated by the age in which
it thrives most easily. But in these days, I, who have to record the life of one who has
passed away, must crave an indulgence, which I should not have had to ask had I an
indulgence, which I should not have had to ask had I only to inveigh against an age so
cruel, so hostile to all virtue.
2. We have only to read that the panegyrics pronounced by Arulenus Rusticus on Paetus
Thrasea, and by Herennius Senecio on Priscus Helvidius, were made capital crimes, that not
only their persons but their very books were objects of rage, and that the triumvirs were
commissioned to burn in the forum those works of splendid genius. They fancied, forsooth,
that in that fire the voice of the Roman people, the freedom of the Senate, and the
conscience of the human race were perishing, while at the same time they banished the
teachers of philosophy, and exiled every noble pursuit, that nothing good might anywhere
confront them. Certainly we showed a magnificent example of patience; as a former age had
witnessed the extreme of liberty, so we witnessed the extreme of servitude, when the
informer robbed us of the interchanges of speech, and hearing. We should have lost memory
as well as voice, had it been as easy to forget as to keep silence.
3. Now at last our spirit is returning. And yet, though at the dawn of a most happy age
Nerva Caesar blended things once irreconcilable, sovereignty and freedom; though Nerva
Trajan is now daily augmenting the prosperity of the time, and though the public safety
has not only our hopes and good wishes, but has also the certain pledge of their
fulfillment: still, from the necessary condition of human frailty, the remedy works less
quickly than the disease. As our bodies grow but slowly, perish in a moment, so it is
easier to crush than to revive genius and its pursuits. Besides, the charm of indolence
steals over us, and the idleness which at first we loathed we afterwards love. What if
during those fifteen years, a large portion of human life, many were cut off by ordinary
casualties, and the ablest fell victim to the Emperor’s rage, if a few of us survive,
though there have been taken from the midst of life those many years which brought the
young in dumb silence to old age, and the old almost to the very verge and end of
existence! Yet we shall not regret that we have told, though in language unskilful and
unadorned, the story of past servitude, and borne our testimony to present happiness.
Meanwhile this book, intended to do honour to Agricola, my father-in-law, will, as an
expression of filial regard, be commended, or at least excused.
4. Cnaeus Julius Agricola was born at the ancient and famous colony of Forum Julii.
Each of his grandfathers was an Imperial procurator, that is, of the highest equestrian
rank. His father, Julius Graecinus, a member of the Senatorian order, and distinguished
for his pursuit of eloquence and philosophy, earned for himself by these very merits the
displeasure of Caius Caesar. He was ordered to impeach Marcus Silanus, and because he
refused was put to death. His mother was Julia Procilla, a lady of singular virtue.
Brought up by her side with fond affection, he passed his boyhood and youth in the
cultivation of every worthy attainment. He was guarded from the enticements of the
profligate not only by his own good and straight- forward character, but also by having,
when quite a child, for the scene and guide of his studies, Massilia, a place where
refinement and provincial frugality were blended and happily combined. I remember that he
used to tell us how in his early youth he would have imbibed a keener love of philosophy
than became a Roman and a senator, had not his mother's good sense checked his excited and
ardent spirit. It was the case of a lofty and aspiring soul craving with more eagerness
than caution the beauty and splendour of great and glorious renown. But it was soon
mellowed by reason and experience, and he retained from his learning that most difficult
of lessons -- moderation.
5. He served his military apprenticeship in Britain to the satisfaction of Suetonius
Paullinus, a painstaking and judicious officer, who, to test his merits, selected him to
share his tent. Without the recklessness with which young men often make the profession of
arms a mere pastime, and without indolence, he never availed himself of his tribune's rank
or his inexperience to procure enjoyment or to escape from duty. He sought to make himself
acquainted with the province and known to the army; he would learn from the skilful, and
keep pace with the bravest, would attempt nothing for display, would avoid nothing from
fear, and would be at once careful and vigilant. Never indeed had Britain been more
excited, or in a more critical condition. Veteran soldiers had been massacred, colonies
burnt, armies cut off. The struggle was then for safety; it was soon to be for victory.
And though all this was conducted under the leadership and direction of another, though
the final issue and the glory of having won back the province belonged to the general, yet
skill, experience, and ambition were acquired by the young officer. His soul too was
penetrated with the desire of warlike renown, a sentiment unwelcome to an age which put a
sinister construction on eminent merit, and made glory as perilous as infamy.
6. From Britain he went to Rome, to go through the regular course of office, and there
allied himself with Domitia Decidiana, a lady of illustrious birth. The marriage was one
which gave a man ambitious of advancement distinction and support. They lived in singular
harmony, through their mutual affection and preference of each other to self. However, the
good wife deserves the greater praise, just as the bad incurs a heavier censure. Appointed
Quaestor, the ballot gave him Asia for his province, Salvius Titianus for his proconsul.
Neither the one nor the other corrupted him, though the province was rich and an easy prey
to the wrongdoer, while the proconsul, a man inclined to every species of greed, was ready
by all manner of indulgence to purchase a mutual concealment of guilt. A daughter was
there added to his family to be his stay and comfort, for shortly after he lost the son
that had before been born to him. The year between his quaestorship and tribunate, as well
as the year of the tribunate itself, he passed in retirement and inaction, for he knew
those times of Nero when indolence stood for wisdom. His praetorship was passed in the
same consistent quietude, for the usual judicial functions did not fall to his lot. The
games and the pageantry of his office he ordered according to the mean between strictness
and profusion, avoiding extravagance, but not missing distinction. He was afterwards
appointed by Galba to draw up an account of the temple offerings, and his searching
scrutiny relieved the conscience of the stte from the burden of all sacrileges but those
committed by Nero.
7. The following year inflicted a terrible blow on his affections and his fortunes.
Otho's fleet, while cruising idly about, cruelly ravaged Intemelii, a district of Liguria;
his mother, who was living here on her own estate, was murdered. The estate itself and a
large part of her patrimony were plundered. This was indeed the occasion of the crime.
Agricola, who instantly set out to discharge the duties of affection, was overtaken by the
tidings that Vespasian was aiming at the throne. He at once joined his party. Vespasian's
early policy, and the government of Rome were directed by Mucianus, for Domitian was a
mere youth, and from his father's elevation sought only the opportunities of indulgence.
Agricola, having been sent by Mucianus to conduct a levy of troops, and having done his
work with integrity and energy, was appointed to command the 20th Legion, which had been
slow to take the new oath of allegiance, and the retiring officer of which was reported to
be acting disloyally. It was a trying and formidable charge for even officers of consular
rank, and the late praetorian officer, perhaps from his own disposition, perhaps from that
of the soldiers, was powerless to restrain them. Chosen thus at once to supersede and to
punish, Agricola, with a singular moderation, wished it to be thought that he had found
rather than made an obedient soldiery.
8. Britain was then under Vettius Bolanus, who governed more mildly than suited so
turbulent a province. Agricola moderated his energy and restrained his ardour, that he
might not grow too important, for he had learnt to obey, and understood well how to
combine expediency with honour. Soon afterwards Britain received for its governor a man of
consular rank, Petilius Cerialis. Agricola's merits had now room for display. Cerialis let
him share at first indeed only the toils and dangers, but before long the glory of war,
often by way of trial putting him in command of part of the army, and sometimes, on the
strength of the result, of larger forces. Never to enhance his own renown did Agricola
boast of his exploits; he always referred his success, as though he were but an
instrument, to his general and director. Thus by his valour in obeying orders and by his
modesty of speech he escaped jealousy without losing distinction.
9. As he was returning from the command of the legion, Vespasian admitted him into the
patrician order, and then gave him the province of Aquitania, a preeminently splendid
appointment both from the importance of its duties and the prospect of the consulate to
which the Emperor destined him. Many think the genius of the soldier wants subtlety,
because military law, which is summary and blunt, and apt to appeal to the sword, finds no
exercise for the refinements of the forum. Yet Agricola, from his natural good sense,
though called to act among civilians, did his work with ease and correctness. And,
besides, the times of business and relaxation were kept distinct. When his public and
judicial duties required it, he was dignified, thoughtful, austere, and yet often
merciful; when business was done with, he wore no longer the official character. He was
altogether without harshness, pride, or the greed of gain. With a most rare felicity, his
good nature did not weaken his authority, nor his strictness the attachment of his
friends. To speak of uprightness and purity in such a man would be an insult to his
virtues. Fame itself, of which even good men are often weakly fond, he did not seek by an
ostentation of virtue or by artifice. He avoided rivalry with his colleagues, contention
with his procurator, thinking such victories no honour and defeat disgrace. For somewhat
less than three years he was kept in his governorship, and was then recalled with an
immediate prospect of the consulate. A general belief went with him that the province of
Britain was to be his, not because he had himself hinted it, but because he seemed worthy
of it. Public opinion is not always mistaken; sometimes even it chooses the right man. He
was consul, and I but a youth, when he betrothed to me his daughter, a maiden even then of
noble promise. After his consulate he gave her to me in marriage, and was then at once
appointed to the government of Britain, with the addition of the sacred office of the
pontificate.
10. The geography and inhabitants of Britain, already described by so many writers, I
will speak of, not that my research and ability may be compared with theirs, but because
the country was then for the first time thoroughly subdued. And so matters, which as being
still not accurately known my predecessors embellished with their eloquence, shall now be
related on the evidence of facts. Britain, the largest of the islands which Roman
geography includes, is so situated that it faces Germany on the east, Spain on the west;
on the south it is even within sight of Gaul; its northern extremities, which have no
shores opposite to them, are beaten by the waves of a vast open sea. The form of the
entire country has been compared by Livy and Fabius Rusticus, the most graphic among
ancient and modern historians, to an oblong shield or battle-axe. And this no doubt is its
shape without Caledonia, so that it has become the popular description of the whole
island. There is, however, a large and irregular tract of land which juts out from its
furthest shores, tapering off in a wedge-like form. Round these coasts of remotest ocean
the Roman fleet then for the first time sailed, ascertained that Britain is an island, and
simultaneously discovered and conquered what are called the Orcades, islands hitherto
unknown. Thule too was descried in the distance, which as yet had been hidden by the snows
of winter. Those waters, they say, are sluggish, and yield with difficulty to the oar, and
are not even raised by the wind as other seas. The reason, I suppose, is that lands and
mountains, which are the cause and origin of storms, are here comparatively rare, and also
that the vast depths of that unbroken expanse are more slowly set in motion. But to
investigate the nature of the ocean and the tides is no part of the present work, and many
writers have discussed the subject. I would simply add, that nowhere has the sea a wider
dominion, that it has many currents running in every direction, that it does not merely
flow and ebb within the limits of the shore, but penetrates and winds far inland, and
finds a home among hills and mountains as though in its own domain.
11. Who were the original inhabitants of Britain, whether they were indigenous or
foreign, is as usual among barbarians, little known. Their physical characteristics are
various, and from these conclusions may be drawn. The red hair and large limbs of the
inhabitants of Caledonia point clearly to a German origin. The dark complexion of the
Silures, their usually curly hair, and the fact that Spain is the opposite shore to them,
are an evidence that Iberians of a former date crossed over and occupied these parts.
Those who are nearest to the Gauls are also like them, either from the permanent influence
of original descent, or, because in countries which run out so far to meet each other,
climate has produced similar physical qualities. But a general survey inclines me to
believe that the Gauls established themselves in an island so near to them. Their
religious belief may be traced in the strongly-marked British superstition. The language
differs but little; there is the same boldness in challenging danger, and, when it is
near, the same timidity in shrinking from it. The Britons, however, exhibit more spirit,
as being a people whom a long peace has not yet enervated. Indeed we have understood that
even the Gauls were once renowned in war; but, after a while, sloth following on ease
crept over them, and they lost their courage along with their freedom. This too has
happened to the long-conquered tribes of Britain; the rest are still what the Gauls once
were.
12. Their strength is in infantry. Some tribes fight also with the chariot. The higher
in rank is the charioteer; the dependants fight. They were once ruled by kings, but are
now divided under chieftains into factions and parties. Our greatest advantage in coping
with tribes so powerful is that they do not act in concert. Seldom is it that two or three
states meet together to ward off a common danger. Thus, while they fight singly, all are
conquered. Their sky is obscured by continual rain and cloud. Severity of cold is unknown.
The days exceed in length those of our part of the world; the nights are bright, and in
the extreme north so short that between sunlight and dawn you can perceive but a slight
distinction. It is said that, if there are no clouds in the way, the splendour of the sun
can be seen throughout the night, and that he does not rise and set, but only crosses the
heavens. The truth is, that the low shadow thrown from the flat extremities of the earth's
surface does not raise the darkness to any height, and the night thus fails to reach the
sky and stars. With the exception of the olive and vine, and plants which usually grow in
warmer climates, the soil will yield, and even abundantly, all ordinary produce. It ripens
indeed slowly, but is of rapid growth, the cause in each case being the same, namely, the
excessive moisture of the soil and of the atmosphere. Britain contains gold and silver and
other metals, as the prize of conquest. The ocean, too, produces pearls, but of a dusky
and bluish hue. Some think that those who collect them have not the requisite skill, as in
the Red Sea the living and breathing pearl is torn from the rocks, while in Britain they
are gathered just as they are thrown up. I could myself more readily believe that the
natural properties of the pearls are in fault than our keenness for gain.
13. The Britons themselves bear cheerfully the conscription, the taxes, and the other
burdens imposed on them by the Empire, if there be no oppression. Of this they are
impatient; they are reduced to subjectionn, not as yet to slavery. The deified Julius, the
very first Roman who entered Britain with an army, though by a successful engagement he
struck terror into the inhabitants and gained possession of the coast, must be regarded as
having indicated rather than transmitted the acquisition to future generations. Then came
the civil wars, and the arms of our leaders were turned against their country, and even
when there was peace, there was a long neglect of Britain. This Augustus spoke of as
policy, Tiberius as an inherited maxim. That Caius Caesar meditated an invasion of Britain
is perfectly clear, but his purposes, rapidly formed, were easily changed, and his vast
attempts on Germany had failed. Claudius was the first to renew the attempt, and conveyed
over into the island some legions and auxiliaries, choosing Vespasian to share with him
the campaign, whose approaching elevation had this beginning. Several tribes were subdued
and kings made prisoners, and destiny learnt to know its favourite.
14. Aulus Plautius was the first governor of consular rank, and Ostorius Scapula the
next. Both were famous soldiers, and by degrees the nearest portions of Britain were
brought into the condition of a province, and a colony of veterans was also introduced.
Some of the states were given to king Cogidumnus, who lived down to our day a most
faithful ally. So was maintained the ancient and long-recognised practice of the Roman
people, which seeks to secure among the instruments of dominion even kings themselves.
Soon after, Didius Gallus consolidated the conquests of his predecessors, and advanced a
very few positions into parts more remote, to gain the credit of having enlarged the
sphere of government. Didius was succeeded by Veranius, who died within the year. Then
Suetonius Paullinus enjoyed success for two years; he subdued several tribes and
strengthened our military posts. Thus encouraged, he made an attempt on the island of
Mona, as a place from which the rebels drew reinforcements; but in doing this he left his
rear open to attack.
15. Relieved from apprehension by the legate's absence, the Britons dwelt much among
themselves on the miseries of subjection, compared their wrongs, and exaggerated them in
the discussion. "All we get by patience," they said, "is that heavier
demands are exacted from us, as from men who will readily submit. A single king once ruled
us; now two are set over us; a legate to tyrannise over our lives, a procurator to
tyrannise over our property. Their quarrels and their harmony are alike ruinous to their
subjects. The centurions of the one, the slaves of the other, combine violence with
insult. Nothing is now safe from their avarice, nothing from their lust. In war it is the
strong who plunders; now, it is for the most part by cowards and poltroons that our homes
are rifled, our children torn from us, the conscription enforced, as though it were for
our country alone that we could not die. For, after all, what a mere handful of soldiers
has crossed over, if we Britons look at our own numbers. Germany did thus shake off the
yoke, and yet its defence was a river, not the ocean. With us, fatherland, wives, parents,
are the motives to war; with them, only greed and profligacy. They will surely fly, as did
the now deified Julius, if once we emulate the valour of our sires. Let us not be
panic-stricken at the result of one or two engagements. The miserable have more fury and
greater resolution. Now even the gods are beginning to pity us, for they are keeping away
the Roman general, and detaining his army far from us in another island. We have already
taken the hardest step; we are deliberating. And indeed, in all such designs, to dare is
less perilous than to be detected."
16. Rousing each other by this and like language, under the leadership of Boudicea, a
woman of kingly descent (for they admit no distinction of sex in their royal successions),
they all rose in arms. They fell upon our troops, which were scattered on garrison duty,
stormed the forts, and burst into the colony itself, the head-quarters, as they thought,
of tyranny. In their rage and their triumph, they spared no variety of a barbarian's
cruelty. Had not Paullinus on hearing of the outbreak in the province rendered prompt
succour, Britain would have been lost. By one successful engagement, he brought it back to
its former obedience, though many, troubled by the conscious guilt of rebellion and by
particular dread of the legate, still clung to their arms. Excellent as he was in other
respects, his policy to the conquered was arrogant, and exhibited the cruelty of one who
was avenging private wrongs. Accordingly Petronius Turpilianus was sent out to initiate a
milder rule. A stranger to the enemy's misdeeds and so more accessible to their penitence,
he put an end to old troubles, and, attempting nothing more, handed the province over to
Trebellius Maximus. Trebellius, who was somewhat indolent, and never ventured on a
campaign, controlled the province by a certain courtesy in his administration. Even the
barbarians now learnt to excuse many attractive vices, and the occurrence of the civil war
gave a good pretext for inaction. But we were sorely troubled with mutiny, as troops
habituated to service grew demoralised by idleness. Trebellius, who had escaped the
soldiers' fury by flying and hiding himself, governed henceforth on sufferance, a
disgraced and humbled man. It was a kind of bargain; the soldiers had their license, the
general had his life; and so the mutiny cost no bloodshed. Nor did Vettius Bolanus, during
the continuance of the civil wars, trouble Britain with discipline. There was the same
inaction with respect to the enemy, and similar unruliness in the camp, only Bolanus, an
upright man, whom no misdeeds made odious, had secured affection in default of the power
of control.
17. When however Vespasian had restored to unity Britain as well as the rest of the
world, in the presence of the great generals and renowned armies the enemy's hopes were
crushed. They were at once panic-stricken by the attack of Petilius Cerialis on the state
of the Brigantes, said to be the most prosperous in the entire province. There were many
battles, some by no means bloodless, and his conquests, or at least his wars, embraced a
large part of the territory of the Brigantes. Indeed he would have altogether thrown into
the shade the activity and renown of any other successor; but Julius Frontus was equal to
the burden, a great man as far as greatness was then possible, who subdued by his arms the
powerful and warlike tribe of the Silures, surmounting the difficulties of the country as
well as the valour of the enemy.
18. Such was the state of Britain, and such were the vicissitudes of the war, which
Agricola found on his crossing over about midsummer. Our soldiers made it a pretext for
carelessness, as if all fighting was over, and the enemy were biding their time. The
Ordovices, shortly before Agricola's arrival, had destroyed nearly the whole of a squadron
of allied cavalry quartered in their territory. Such a beginning raised the hopes of the
country, and all who wished for war approved the precedent, and anxiously watched the
temper of the new governor. Meanwhile Agricola, though summer was past and the detachments
were scattered throughout the province, though the soldiers' confident anticipation of
inaction for that year would be a source of delay and difficulty in beginning a campaign,
and most advisers thought it best simply to watch all weak points, resolved to face the
peril. He collected a force of veterans and a small body of auxiliaries; then as the
Ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he put himself in front of the
ranks to inspire all with the same courage against a common danger, and led his troops up
a hill. The tribe was all but exterminated. Well aware that he must follow up the prestige
of his arms, and that in proportion to his first success would be the terror of the other
tribes, he formed the design of subjugating the island of Mona, from the occupation of
which Paulinus had been recalled, as I have already related, by the rebellion of the
entire province. But, as his plans were not matured, he had no fleet. The skill and
resolution of the general accomplished the passage. With some picked men of the
auxiliaries, disencumbered of all baggage, who knew the shallows and had that national
experience in swimming which enables the Britons to take care not only of themselves but
of their arms and horses, he delivered so unexpected an attack that the astonished enemy
who were looking for a fleet, a naval armament, and an assault by sea, thought that to
such assailants nothing could be formidable or invincible. And so, peace having been sued
for and the island given up, Agricola became great and famous as one who, when entering on
his province, a time which others spend in vain display and a round of ceremonies, chose
rather toil and danger. Nor did he use his success for self-glorification, or apply the
name of campaigns and victories to the repression of a conquered people. He did not even
describe his achievements in a laurelled letter. Yet by thus disguising his renown he
really increased it, for men inferred the grandeur of his aspirations from his silence
about services so great.
19. Next, with thorough insight into the feelings of his province, and taught also, by
the experience of others, that little is gained by conquest if followed by oppression, he
determined to root out the causes of war. Beginning first with himself and his dependants,
he kept his household under restraint, a thing as hard to many as ruling a province. He
transacted no public business through freedmen or slaves; no private leanings, no
recommendations or entreaties of friends, moved him in the selection of centurions and
soldiers, but it was ever the best man whom he thought most trustworthy. He knew
everything, but did not always act on his knowledge. Trifling errors he treated with
leniency, serious offences with severity. Nor was it always punishment, but far oftener
penitence, which satisfied him. He preferred to give office and power to men who would not
transgress, rather than have to condemn a transgressor. He lightened the exaction of corn
and tribute by an equal distribution of the burden, while he got rid of those contrivances
for gain which were more intolerable than the tribute itself. Hitherto the people had been
compelled to endure the farce of waiting by the closed granary and of purchasing corn
unnecessarily and raising it to a fictitious price. Difficult byroads and distant places
were fixed for them, so that states with a winter-camp close to them had to carry corn to
remote and inaccessible parts of the country, until what was within the reach of all
became a source of profit to the few.
20. Agricola, by the repression of these abuses in his very first year in office,
restored to peace its good name, when, from either the indifference or the harshness of
his predecessors, it had come to be as much dreaded as war. When, however, summer came,
assembling his forces, he continually showed himself in the ranks, praised good
discipline, and kept the stragglers in order. He would himself choose the position of the
camp, himself explore the estuaries and forests. Meanwhile he would allow the enemy no
rest, laying waste his territory with sudden incursions, and, having sufficiently alarmed
him, would then by forbearance display the allurements of peace. In consequence, many
states, which up to that time had been in- dependent, gave hostages, and laid aside their
animosities; garrisons and forts were established among them with a skill and diligence
with which no newly-acquired part of Britain had before been treated.
21. The following winter passed without disturbance, and was employed in salutary
measures. For, to accustom to rest and repose through the charms of luxury a population
scattered and barbarous and therefore inclined to war, Agricola gave private encouragement
and public aid to the building of temples, courts of justice and dwelling-houses, praising
the energetic, and reproving the indolent. Thus an honourable rivalry took the place of
compulsion. He likewise provided a liberal education for the sons of the chiefs, and
showed such a preference for the natural powers of the Britons over the industry of the
Gauls that they who lately disdained the tongue of Rome now coveted its eloquence. Hence,
too, a liking sprang up for our style of dress, and the “toga” became
fashionable. Step by step they were led to things which dispose to vice, the lounge, the
bath, the elegant banquet. All this in their ignorance they called civilisation, when it
was but a part of their servitude.
22. The third year of his campaigns opened up new tribes, our ravages on the native
population being carried as far as the Taus, an estuary so called. This struck such terror
into the enemy that he did not dare to attack our army, harassed though it was by violent
storms; and there was even time for the erection of forts. It was noted by experienced
officers that no general had ever shown more judgment in choosing suitable positions, and
that not a single fort established by Agricola was either stormed by the enemy or
abandoned by capitulation or flight. Sorties were continually being made; for these
positions were secured from protracted siege by a year’s supply. So winter brought
with it no alarms, and each garrison could hold its own, as the baffled and despairing
enemy, who had been accustomed often to repair his summer losses by winter successes,
found himself repelled alike both in summer and winter. Never did Agricola in a greedy
spirit appropriate the achievements of others; the centurion and the prefect both found in
him an impartial witness of their every action. Some persons used to say that he was too
harsh in his reproofs, and that he was as severe to the bad as he was gentle to the good.
But his dis- pleasure left nothing behind it; reserve and silence in him were not to be
dreaded. He thought it better to show anger than to cherish hatred.
23. The fourth summer he employed in securing what he had overrun. Had the valour of
our armies and the renown of the Roman name permitted it, a limit to our conquests might
have been found in Britain itself. Clota and Bodotria, estuaries which the tides of two
opposite seas carry far back into the country, are separated by but a narrow strip of
land. This Agricola then began to defend with a line of forts, and, as all the country to
the south was now occupied, the enemy were pushed into what might be called another
island.
24. In the fifth year of the war, Agricola, himself in the leading ship, crossed the
Clota, and subdued in a series of victories tribes hitherto unknown. In that part of
Britain which looks toward Ireland, he posted some troops, hoping for fresh conquests
rather than fearing attack, inasmuch as Ireland, being between Britain and Spain and
conveniently situated for the seas round Gaul, might have been the means of connecting
with great mutual benefit the most powerful parts of the empire. Its extent is small when
compared with Britain, but exceeds the islands of our seas. In soil and climate, in the
disposition, temper, and habits of its population, it differs but little from Britain. We
know most of its harbours and approaches, and that through the intercourse of commerce.
One of the petty kings of the nation, driven out by internal faction, had been received by
Agricola, who detained him under the semblance of friendship till he could make use of
him. I have often heard him say that a single legion with a few auxiliaries could conquer
and occupy Ireland, and that it would have a salutary effect on Britain for the Roman arms
to be seen everywhere, and for freedom, so to speak, to be banished from its sight.
25. In the summer in which he entered on the sixth year of his office, his operations
embraced the states beyond Bodotria, and, as he dreaded a general movement among the
remoter tribes, as well as the perils which would beset an invading army, he explored the
harbours with a fleet, which, at first employed by him as an integral part of his force,
continued to accompany him. The spectacle of war thus pushed on at once by sea and land
was imposing; while often infantry, cavalry, and marines, mingled in the same encampment
and joyously sharing the same meals, would dwell on their own achievements and adventures,
comparing, with a soldier’s boastfulness, at one time the deep recesses of the forest
and the mountain with the dangers of waves and storms, or, at another, battles by land
with victories over the ocean. The Britons, too, as we learnt from the prisoners, were
confounded by the sight of a fleet, as if, now that their inmost seas were penetrated, the
conquered had their last refuge closed to them. The tribes inhabiting Caledonia flew to
arms, and with great preparations, made greater by the rumours which always exaggerate the
unknown, themselves advanced to attack our fortresses, and thus challenging a conflict,
inspired us with alarm. To retreat south of the Bodotria, and to retire rather than to be
driven out, was the advice of timid pretenders to prudence, when Agricola learnt that the
enemy’s attack would be made with more than one army. Fearing that their superior
numbers and their knowledge of the country might enable them to hem him in, he too
distributed his forces into three divisions, and so advanced.
26. This becoming known to the enemy, they suddenly changed their plan, and with their
whole force attacked by night the ninth Legion, as being the weakest, and cutting down the
sentries, who were asleep or panic-stricken, they broke into the camp. And now the battle
was raging within the camp itself, when Agricola, who had learnt from his scouts the
enemy’s line of march and had kept close on his track, ordered the most active
soldiers of his cavalry and infantry to attack the rear of the assailants, while the
entire army were shortly to raise a shout. Soon his standards glittered in the light of
daybreak. A double peril thus alarmed the Britons, while the courage of the Romans
revived; and feeling sure of their safety, they now fought for glory. In their turn they
rushed to the attack, and there was a furious conflict within the narrow passages of the
gates till the enemy were routed. Both armies did their utmost; the one for the honour of
having given aid, the other for that of not having needed support. Had not the flying
enemy been sheltered by morasses and forests, this victory would have ended the war.
27. Knowing this, and elated by their glory, our army exclaimed that nothing could
resist their valour -- that they must penetrate the recesses of Caledonia, and at length
after an unbroken succession of battles, discover the furthest limits of Britain. Those
who but now were cautious and prudent, became after the event eager and boastful. It is
the singularly unfair peculiarity of war that the credit of success is claimed by all,
while a disaster is attributed to one alone. But the Britons thinking themselves baffled,
not so much by our valour as by our general’s skilful use of an opportunity, abated
nothing of their arrogant demeanour, arming their youth, removing their wives and children
to a place of safety, and assembling together to ratify, with sacred rites, a confederacy
of all their states. Thus, with angry feelings on both sides, the combatants parted.
28. The same summer a Usipian cohort, which had been levied in Germany and transported
into Britain, ventured on a great and memorable exploit. Having killed a centurion and
some soldiers, who, to impart military discipline, had been incorporated with their ranks
and were employed at once to instruct and command them, they embarked on board three swift
galleys with pilots pressed into their service. Under the direction of one of them -- for
two of the three they suspected and consequently put to death -- they sailed past the
coast in the strangest way before any rumour about them was in circulation. After a while,
dispersing in search of water and provisions, they encountered many of the Britons, who
sought to defend their property. Often victorious, though now and then beaten, they were
at last reduced to such an extremity of want as to be compelled to eat, at first the
feeblest of their number, and then victims selected by lot. Having sailed around Britain
and lost their vessels from not knowing how to manage them, they were looked upon as
pirates and were intercepted, first by the Suevi and then by the Frisii. Some who were
sold as slaves in the way of trade and were brought through the process of barter as far
as our side of the Rhine, gained notoriety by the disclosure of this extraordinary
adventure.
29. Early in the summer Agricola sustained a domestic affliction in the loss of a son
born a year before, a calamity which he endured, neither with the ostentatious fortitude
displayed by many brave men, nor, on the other hand, with womanish tears and grief. In his
sorrow he found one source of relief in war. Having sent on a fleet, which by its ravages
at various points might cause a vague and wide-spread alarm, he advanced with a lightly
equipped force, including in its ranks some Britons of remarkable bravery, whose fidelity
had been tried through years of peace, as far as the Grampian mountains, which the enemy
had already occupied. For the Britons, indeed, in no way cowed by the result of the late
engagement, had made up their minds to be either avenged or enslaved, and convinced at
length that a common danger must be averted by union, had, by embassies and treaties,
summoned forth the whole strength of all their states. More than 30,000 armed men were now
to be seen, and still there were pressing in all the youth of the country, with all whose
old age was yet hale and vigorous, men renowned in war and bearing each decorations of his
own. Meanwhile, among the many leaders, one superior to the rest in valour and in birth,
Galgacus by name, is said to have thus harangued the multitude gathered around him and
clamouring for battle: --
30. “Whenever I consider the origin of this war and the necessities of our
position, I have a sure confidence that this day, and this union of yours, will be the
beginning of freedom to the whole of Britain. To all of us slavery is a thing unknown;
there are no lands beyond us, and even the sea is not safe, menaced as we are by a Roman
fleet. And thus in war and battle, in which the brave find glory, even the coward will
find safety. Former contests, in which, with varying fortune, the Romans were resisted,
still left in us a last hope of succour, inasmuch as being the most renowned nation of
Britain, dwelling in the very heart of the country, and out of sight of the shores of the
conquered, we could keep even our eyes unpolluted by the contagion of slavery. To us who
dwell on the uttermost confines of the earth and of freedom, this remote sanctuary of
Britain’s glory has up to this time been a defence. Now, however, the furthest limits
of Britain are thrown open, and the unknown always passes for the marvellous. But there
are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks, and the yet more terrible
Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers
of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep.
If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither
the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal
eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of
empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.
31. “Nature has willed that every man’s children and kindred should be his
dearest objects. Yet these are torn from us by conscriptions to be slaves elsewhere. Our
wives and our sisters, even though they may escape violation from the enemy, are
dishonoured under the names of friendship and hospitality. Our goods and fortunes they
collect for their tribute, our harvests for their granaries. Our very hands and bodies,
under the lash and in the midst of insult, are worn down by the toil of clearing forests
and morasses. Creatures born to slavery are sold once and for all, and are, moreover, fed
by their masters; but Britain is daily purchasing, is daily feeding, her own enslaved
people. And as in a household the last comer among the slaves is always the butt of his
companions, so we in a world long used to slavery, as the newest and most contemptible,
are marked out for destruction. We have neither fruitful plains, nor mines, nor harbours,
for the working of which we may be spared. Valour, too, and high spirit in subjects, are
offensive to rulers; besides, remoteness and seclusion, while they give safety, provoke
suspicion. Since then you cannot hope for quarter, take courage, I beseech you, whether it
be safety or renown that you hold most precious. Under a woman’s leadership the
Brigantes were able to burn a colony, to storm a camp, and had not success ended in
supineness, might have thrown off the yoke. Let us, then, a fresh and unconquered people,
never likely to abuse our freedom, show forthwith at the very first onset what heroes
Caledonia has in reserve.
32. “Do you suppose that the Romans will be as brave in war as they are licentious
in peace? To our strifes and discords they owe their fame, and they turn the errors of an
enemy to the renown of their own army, an army which, composed as it is of every variety
of nations, is held together by success and will be broken up by disaster. These Gauls and
Germans, and, I blush to say, these Britons, who, though they lend their lives to support
a stranger’s rule, have been its enemies longer than its subjects, you cannot imagine
to be bound by fidelity and affection. Fear and terror there certainly are, feeble bonds
of attachment; remove them, and those who have ceased to fear will begin to hate. All the
incentives to victory are on our side. The Romans have no wives to kindle their courage;
no parents to taunt them with flight, man have either no country or one far away. Few in
number, dismayed by their ignorance, looking around upon a sky, a sea, and forests which
are all unfamiliar to them; hemmed in, as it were, and enmeshed, the Gods have delivered
them into our hands. Be not frightened by the idle display, by the glitter of gold and of
silver, which can neither protect nor wound. In the very ranks of the enemy we shall find
our own forces. Britons will acknowledge their own cause; Gauls will remember past
freedom; the other Germans will abandon them, as but lately did the Usipii. Behind them
there is nothing to dread. The forts are ungarrisoned; the colonies in the hands of aged
men; what with disloyal subjects and oppressive rulers, the towns are ill-affected and
rife with discord. On the one side you have a general and an army; on the other, tribute,
the mines, and all the other penalties of an enslaved people. Whether you endure these for
ever, or instantly avenge them, this field is to decide. Think, therefore, as you advance
to battle, at once of your ancestors and of your posterity.”
33. They received his speech with enthusiasm, and as is usual among barbarians, with
songs, shouts, and discordant cries. And now was seen the assembling of troops and the
gleam of arms, as the boldest warriors stepped to the front. As the line was forming,
Agricola, who, though his troops were in high spirits and could scarcely be kept within
the entrenchments, still thought it right to encourage them, spoke as follows --
“Comrades, this is the eighth year since, thanks to the greatness and good fortune of
Rome and to your own loyalty and energy, you conquered Britain. In our many campaigns and
battles, whether courage in meeting the foe, or toil and endurance in struggling, I may
say, against nature herself, have been needed, I have ever been well satisfied with my
soldiers, and you with your commander. And so you and I have passed beyond the limits
reached by former armies or by former governors, and we now occupy the last confines of
Britain, not merely in rumour and report, but with an actual encampment and armed force.
Britain has been both discovered and subdued. Often on the march, when morasses,
mountains, and rivers were wearing out your strength, did I hear our bravest men exclaim,
‘When shall we have the enemy before us? -- when shall we fight?’ He is now
here, driven from his lair, and your wishes and your valour have free scope, and
everything favours the conqueror, everything is adverse to the vanquished. For as it is a
great and glorious achievement, if we press on, to have accomplished so great a march, to
have traversed forests and to have crossed estuaries, so, if we retire, our present most
complete success will prove our greatest danger. We have not the same knowledge of the
country or the same abundance of supplies, but we have arms in our hands, and in them we
have everything. For myself I have long been convinced that neither for an army nor for a
general is retreat safe. Better, too, is an honourable death than a life of shame, and
safety and renown are for us to be found together. And it would be no inglorious end to
perish on the extreme confines of earth and of nature.
34. “If unknown nations and an untried enemy confronted you, I should urge you on
by the example of other armies. As it is, look back upon your former honours, question
your own eyes. These are the men who last year under cover of darkness attacked a single
legion, whom you routed by a shout. Of all the Britons these are the most confirmed
runaways, and this is why they have survived so long. Just as when the huntsman penetrates
the forest and the thicket, all the most courageous animals rush out upon him, while the
timid and feeble are scared away by the very sound of his approach, so the bravest of the
Britons have long since fallen; and the rest are a mere crowd of spiritless cowards. You
have at last found them, not because they have stood their ground, but because they have
been overtaken. Their desperate plight, and the extreme terror that paralyses them, have
rivetted their line to this spot, that you might achieve in it a splendid and memorable
victory. Put an end to campaigns; crown your fifty years’ service with a glorious
day; prove to your country that her armies could never have been fairly charged with
protracting a war or with causing a rebellion.”
35. While Agricola was yet speaking, the ardour of the soldiers was rising to its
height, and the close of his speech was followed by a great outburst of enthusiasm. In a
moment they flew to arms. He arrayed his eager and impetuous troops in such a manner that
the auxiliary infantry, 8,000 in number, strengthened his centre, while 3,000 cavalry were
posted on his wings. The legions were drawn up in front of the intrenched camp; his
victory would be vastly more glorious if won without the loss of Roman blood, and he would
have a reserve in case of repulse. The enemy, to make a more formidable display, had
posted himself on high ground; his van was on the plain, while the rest of his army rose
in an arch-like form up the slope of a hill. The plain between resounded with the noise
and with the rapid movements of chariots and cavalry. Agricola, fearing that from the
enemy’s superiority of force he would be simultaneously attacked in front and on the
flanks, widened his ranks, and though his line was likely to be too extended, and several
officers advised him to bring up the legions, yet, so sanguine was he, so resolute in
meeting danger, he sent away his horse and took his stand on foot before the colours.
36. The action began with distant fighting. The Britons with equal steadiness and skill
used their huge swords and small shields to avoid or to parry the missiles of our
soldiers, while they themselves poured on us a dense shower of darts, till Agricola
encouraged three Batavian and two Tungrian cohorts to bring matters to the decision of
close fighting with swords. Such tactics were familiar to these veteran soldiers, but were
embarrassing to an enemy armed with small bucklers and unwieldy weapons. The swords of the
Britons are not pointed, and do not allow them to close with the foe, or to fight in the
open field. No sooner did the Batavians begin to close with the enemy, to strike them with
their shields, to disfigure their faces, and overthrowing the force on the plain to
advance their line up the hill, than the other auxiliary cohorts joined with eager rivalry
in cutting down all the nearest of the foe. Many were left behind half dead, some even
unwounded, in the hurry of victory. Meantime the enemy’s cavalry had fled, and the
charioteers had mingled in the engagement of the infantry. But although these at first
spread panic, they were soon impeded by the close array of our ranks and by the
inequalities of the ground. The battle had anything but the appearance of a cavalry
action, for men and horses were carried along in confusion together, while chariots,
destitute of guidance, and terrified horses without drivers, dashed as panic urged them,
sideways, or in direct collision against the ranks.
37. Those of the Britons who, having as yet taken no part in the engagement, occupied
the hill-tops, and who without fear for themselves sat idly disdaining the smallness of
our numbers, had begun gradually to descend and to hem in the rear of the victorious army,
when Agricola, who feared this very moment, opposed their advance with four squadrons of
cavalry held in reserve by him for any sudden emergencies of battle. Their repulse and
rout was as severe as their onset had been furious. Thus the enemy’s design recoiled
on himself, and the cavalry which by the general’s order had wheeled round from the
van of the contending armies, attacked his rear. Then, indeed, the open plain presented an
awful and hideous spectacle. Our men pursued, wounded, made prisoners of the fugitives
only to slaughter them when others fell in their way. And now the enemy, as prompted by
their various dispositions, fled in whole battalions with arms in their hands before a few
pursuers, while some, who were unarmed, actually rushed to the front and gave themselves
up to death. Everywhere there lay scattered arms, corpses, and mangled limbs, and the
earth reeked with blood. Even the conquered now and then felt a touch of fury and of
courage. On approaching the woods, they rallied, and as they knew the ground, they were
able to pounce on the foremost and least cautious of the pursuers. Had not Agricola, who
was present everywhere, ordered a force of strong and lightly-equipped cohorts, with some
dismounted troopers for the denser parts of the forest, and a detachment of cavalry where
it was not so thick, to scour the woods like a party of huntsmen, serious loss would have
been sustained through the excessive confidence of our troops. When, however, the enemy
saw that we again pursued them in firm and compact array, they fled no longer in masses as
before, each looking for his comrade; but dispersing and avoiding one another, they sought
the shelter of distant and pathless wilds. Night and weariness of bloodshed put an end to
the pursuit. About 10,000 of the enemy were slain; on our side there fell 360 men, and
among them Aulus Atticus, the commander of the cohort, whose youthful impetuosity and
mettlesome steed had borne him into the midst of the enemy.
38. Elated by their victory and their booty, the conquerors passed a night of
merriment. Meanwhile the Britons, wandering amidst the mingled wailings of men and women,
were dragging off their wounded, calling to the unhurt, deserting their homes, and in
their rage actually firing them, choosing places of concealment only instantly to abandon
them. One moment they would take counsel together, the next, part company, while the sight
of those who were dearest to them sometimes melted their hearts, but oftener roused their
fury. It was an undoubted fact that some of them vented their rage on their wives and
children, as if in pity for their lot. The following day showed more fully the extent of
the calamity, for the silence of desolation reigned everywhere: the hills were forsaken,
houses were smoking in the distance, and no one was seen by the scouts. These were
despatched in all directions; and it having been ascertained that the track of the flying
enemy was uncertain, and that there was no attempt at rallying, it being also impossible,
as summer was now over, to extend the war, Agricola led back his army into the territory
of the Boresti. He received hostages from them, and then ordered the commander of the
fleet to sail round Britain. A force for this purpose was given him, which great panic
everywhere preceded. Agricola himself, leading his infantry and cavalry by slow marches,
so as to overawe the newly-conquered tribes by the very tardiness of his progress, brought
them into winter quarters, while the fleet with propitious breezes and great renown
entered the harbour of Trutulium, to which it had returned after having coasted along the
entire southern shore of the island.
39. Of this series of events, though not exaggerated in the despatches of Agricola by
any boastfulness of language, Domitian heard, as was his wont, with joy in his face but
anxiety in his heart. He felt conscious that all men laughed at his late mock triumph over
Germany, for which there had been purchased from traders people whose dress and hair might
be made to resemble those of captives, whereas now a real and splendid victory, with the
destruction of thousands of the enemy, was being celebrated with just applause. It was, he
thought, a very alarming thing for him that the name of a subject should be raised above
that of the Emperor; it was to no purpose that he had driven into obscurity the pursuit of
forensic eloquence and the graceful accomplishments of civic life, if another were to
forestall the distinctions of war. To other glories he could more easily shut his eyes,
but the greatness of a good general was a truly imperial quality. Harassed by these
anxieties, and absorbed in an incommunicable trouble, a sure prognostic of some cruel
purpose, he decided that it was best for the present to suspend his hatred until the
freshness of Agricola’s renown and his popularity with the army should begin to pass
away.
40. For Agricola was still the governor of Britain. Accordingly the Emperor ordered
that the usual triumphal decorations, the honour of a laurelled statue, and all that is
commonly given in place of the triumphal procession, with the addition of many laudatory
expressions, should be decreed in the senate, together with a hint to the effect that
Agricola was to have the province of Syria, then vacant by the death of Atilius Rufus, a
man of consular rank, and generally reserved for men of distinction. It was believed by
many persons that one of the freedmen employed on confidential services was sent to
Agricola, bearing a despatch in which Syria was offered him, and with instructions to
deliver it should he be in Britain; that this freedman in crossing the straights met
Agricola, and without even saluting him made his way back to Domitian; though I cannot say
whether the story is true, or is only a fiction invented to suit the Emperor’s
character. Meanwhile Agricola had handed over his province in peace and safety to his
successor. And not to make his entrance into Rome conspicuous by the concourse of
welcoming throngs, he avoided the attentions of his friends by entering the city at night,
and at night too, according to orders, proceded to the palace, where, having been received
with a hurried embrace and without a word being spoken, he mingled in the crowd of
courtiers. Anxious henceforth to temper the military renown, which annoys men of peace,
with other merits, he studiously cultivated retirement and leisure, simple in dress,
courteous in conversation, and never accompanied but by one or two friends, so that the
many who commonly judge of great men by their external grandeur, after having seen and
attentively surveyed him, asked the secret of a greatness which but few could explain.
41. During this time he was frequently accused before Domitian in his absence, and in
his absence acquitted. The cause of his danger lay not in any crime, nor in any complaint
of injury, but in a ruler who was the foe of virtue, in his own renown, and in that worst
class of enemies -- the men who praise. And then followed such days for the commonwealth
as would not suffer Agricola to be forgotten; days when so many of our armies were lost in
Moesia, Dacia, Germany, and Pannonia, through the rashness or cowardice of our generals,
when so many of our officers were besieged and captured with so many of our auxiliaries,
when it was no longer the boundaries of empire and the banks of rivers which were
imperilled, but the winter-quarters of our legions and the possession of our territories.
And so when disaster followed upon disaster, and the entire year was marked by destruction
and slaughter, the voice of the people called Agricola to the command; for they all
contrasted his vigour, firmness, and experience in war, with the inertness and timidity of
other generals. This talk, it is quite certain, assailed the ears of the Emperor himself,
while affection and loyalty in the best of his freedmen, malice and envy in the worst,
kindled the anger of a prince ever inclined to evil. And so at once, by his own
excellences and by the faults of others, Agricola was hurried headlong to a perilous
elevation.
42. The year had now arrived in which the pro-consulate of Asia or Africa was to fall
to him by lot, and, as Civica had been lately murdered, Agricola did not want a warning,
or Domitian a precedent. Persons well acquainted with the Emperor’s feelings came to
ask Agricola, as if on their own account, whether he would go. First they hinted their
purpose by praises of tranquillity and leisure; then offered their services in procuring
acceptance for his excuses; and at last, throwing off all disguise, brought him by
entreaties and threats to Domitian. The Emperor, armed beforehand with hypocrisy, and
assuming a haughty demeanour, listened to his prayer that he might be excused, and having
granted his request allowed himself to be formally thanked, nor blushed to grant so
sinister a favour. But the salary usually granted to a pro-consul, and which he had
himself given to some governors, he did not bestow on Agricola, either because he was
offended at its not having been asked, or was warned by his conscience that he might be
thought to have purchased the refusal which he had commanded. It is, indeed, human nature
to hate the man whom you have injured; yet the Emperor, notwithstanding his irascible
temper and an implacability proportioned to his reserve, was softened by the moderation
and prudence of Agricola, who neither by a perverse obstinacy nor an idle parade of
freedom challenged fame or provoked his fate. Let it be known to those whose habit it is
to admire the disregard of authority, that there may be great men even under bad emperors,
and that obedience and submission, when joined to activity and vigour, may attain a glory
which most men reach only by a perilous career, utterly useless to the state, and closed
by an ostentatious death.
43. The end of his life, a deplorable calamity to us and a grief to his friends, was
regarded with concern even by strangers and those who knew him not. The common people and
this busy population continually inquired at his house, and talked of him in public places
and in private gatherings. No man when he heard of Agricola’s death could either be
glad or at once forget it. Men’s sympathy was increased by a prevalent rumour that he
was destroyed by poison. For myself, I have nothing which I should venture to state for
fact. Certainly during the whole of his illness the Emperor’s chief freedmen and
confidential physicians came more frequently than is usual with a court which pays its
visits by means of messengers. This was, perhaps, solicitude, perhaps espionage. Certain
it is, that on the last day the very agonies of his dying moments were reported by a
succession of couriers, and no one believed that there would be such haste about tidings
which would be heard with regret. Yet in his manner and countenance the Emperor displayed
some signs of sorrow, for he could now forget his enmity, and it was easier to conceal his
joy than his fear. It was well known that on reading the will, in which he was named
co-heir with Agricola’s excellent wife and most dutiful daughter, he expressed
delight, as if it had been a complimentary choice. So blinded and perverted was his mind
by incessant flattery, that he did not know that it was only a bad Emperor whom a good
father would make his heir.
44. Agricola was born on the 13th of June, in the third consulate of Caius Caesar; he
died on the 23rd of August, during the consulate of Collega and Priscus, being in the
fifty-sixth year of his age. Should posterity wish to know something of his appearance, it
was graceful rather than commanding. There was nothing formidable in his appearance; a
gracious look predominated. One would easily believe him a good man, and willingly believe
him to be great. As for himself, though taken from us in the prime of a vigorous manhood,
yet, as far as glory is concerned, his life was of the longest. Those true blessings,
indeed, which consist in virtue, he had fully attained; and on one who had reached the
honours of a consulate and a triumph, what more had fortune to bestow? Immense wealth had
no attractions for him, and wealth he had, even to splendour. As his daughter and his wife
survived him, it may be thought that he was even fortunate -- fortunate, in that while his
honours had suffered no eclipse, while his fame was at its height, while his kindred and
his friends still prospered, he escaped from the evil to come. For, though to survive
until the dawn of this most happy age and to see a Trajan on the throne was what he would
speculate upon in previsions and wishes confided to my ears, yet he had this mighty
compensation for his premature death, that he was spared those later years during which
Domitian, leaving now no interval or breathing space of time, but, as it were, with one
continuous blow, drained the life-blood of the Commonwealth.
45. Agricola did not see the senate-house besieged, or the senate hemmed in by armed
men, or so many of Rome’s noblest ladies exiles and fugitives. Carus Metius had as
yet the distinction of but one victory, and the noisy counsels of Messalinus were not
heard beyond the walls of Alba, and Massa Baebius was then answering for his life. It was
not long before our hands dragged Helvidius to prison, before we gazed on the dying looks
of Manricus and Rusticus, before we were steeped in Senecio’s innocent blood. Even
Nero turned his eyes away, and did not gaze upon the atrocities which he ordered; with
Domitian it was the chief part of our miseries to see and to be seen, to know that our
sighs were being recorded, to have, ever ready to note the pallid looks of so many faces,
that savage countenance reddened with the hue with which he defied shame.
Thou wast indeed fortunate, Agricola, not only in the splendour of thy life, but in the
opportune moment of thy death. Thou submittedst to thy fate, so they tell us who were
present to hear thy last words, with courage and cheerfulness, seeming to be doing all
thou couldst to give thine Emperor full acquittal. As for me and thy daughter, besides all
the bitterness of a father’s loss, it increases our sorrow that it was not permitted
us to watch over thy failing health, to comfort thy weakness, to satisfy ourselves with
those looks, those embraces. Assuredly we should have received some precepts, some
utterances to fix in our inmost hearts. This is the bitterness of our sorrow, this the
smart of our wound, that from the circumstance of so long an absence thou wast lost to us
four years before. Doubtless, best of fathers, with that most loving wife at thy side, all
the dues of affection were abundantly paid thee, yet with too few tears thou wast laid to
thy rest, and in the light of thy last day there was something for which thine eyes longed
in vain.
46. If there is any dwelling-place for the spirits of the just; if, as the wise
believe, noble souls do not perish with the body, rest thou in peace; and call us, thy
family, from weak regrets and womanish laments to the contemplation of thy virtues, for
which we must not weep nor beat the breast. Let us honour thee not so much with transitory
praises as with our reverence, and, if our powers permit us, with our emulation. That will
be true respect, that the true affection of thy nearest kin. This, too, is what I would
enjoin on daughter and wife, to honour the memory of that father, that husband, by
pondering in their hearts all his words and acts, by cherishing the features and
lineaments of his character rather than those of his person. It is not that I would forbid
the likenesses which are wrought in marble or in bronze; but as the faces of men, so all
similitudes of the face are weak and perishable things, while the fashion of the soul is
everlasting, such as may be expressed not in some foreign substance, or by the help of
art, but in our own lives. Whatever we loved, whatever we admired in Agricola, survives,
and will survive in the hearts of men, in the succession of the ages, in the fame that
waits on noble deeds. Over many indeed, of those who have gone before, as over the
inglorious and ignoble, the waves of oblivion will roll; Agricola, made known to posterity
by history and tradition, will live for ever.
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