The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: Agricola Book 1 [1]
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 only to inveigh against an age so cruel, so hostile
to all virtue.
2. We have read that the panegyrics pronounced by Arulenus Rusticus on Rictus
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 interchange 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 Car 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 victims to the Emperor’s rage, if a few of us
survive, I may almost say, not only others but our ownselves, 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. Cns 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 Grinus, 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 Car. 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 straightforward 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 Qutor, 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 qutorship 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 prorship 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 state 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 levy of troops, and having
done his work with integrity and energy, was appointed to command the 10th 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 prorian 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.
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