The Agricola is both a portrait of Julius Agricola – the most famous governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus’ well-loved a
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Penguin (#) Classics
TACITUS
THE AGRICOLA AND TH GERMANIA
)
.
THE PENGUIN CLASSICS FOUNDER EDITOR (1944-64): E. V. RIEU Editor: Betty Radice
Cornelius tacitus was born about
who
vived the emperor Trajan
a.d. 56
and probably sur-
died in 117. In a
appreciative of elegance in the spoken and written distinction as an impressive orator,
monographs, the Dialogue, torical style.
His
Rome
keenly
word he gained
and one of his three surviving
a historical survey of changes in ora-
is
political career as a senator
began under Vespasian
(69-79) and developed under Titus (79-81) and
Domitian
(81-96).
Despite the alleged reign of terror at the end of this period, he sur-
vived to enjoy the consulship in 97 and, fifteen years
later,
the
highest civilian provincial governorship, that of Western Anatolia.
His other monographs, the biographical Agricola and the ethnographical Germania, appeared within a short time of each other in 98.
Of his
later
and major works, the
Histories
were intended to
cover the years from Nero's death in 68 to that of Domitian in 96, and the Annals those from a.d. 14 to 68. Both books have survived,
though mutilated. Tacitus was a friend of Pliny the Younger, who greatly admired him. He was married to the daughter of Julius Agricola, governor of Britain in the seventies and eighties. historian
know
is
generally reticent about himself, and
his place
of origin, though
Italy
we do
But the
not even
and southern France are
possible candidates for this honour.
born in 1884 and died in 1964. A best known for his study of Roman
HAROLD mattingly was distinguished numismatist, he
is
coinage at the British Museum where he worked from 1910 to 1948.
As
a classical scholar
He
and historian
wrote over four hundred
his interests
articles
Imperial Civilization, first published
embodied the
Roman s.
A.
reflections
when he was
his
Roman
seventy-two,
of a lifetime devoted to the study of the
world.
handford was born at Manchester in 1898 and educated at
Bradford Grammar School and
he took a 'double sea,
were wide-ranging.
and books and
first*
and Lecturer and Reader
published several books on Caesar's
at Balliol College,
in classics. at
He has
King's College, London.
classical subjects,
The Conquest of Gaul,
Oxford, where
been a lecturer in Swan-
Sallust's
He
has
and has translated
The Jugurthine War and The
Conspiracy of Cataline (in one volume) and Aesop's Fables for the
Penguin
Classics, besides revising the present
volume.
TACITUS
THE AGRICOLA AND THE GERMANIA TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY H. MATTINGLY TRANSLATION REVISED BY S. A. HANDFORD
PENGUIN BOOKS
Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Penguin Books Inc., 71 10 Ambassador Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21207, U.S.A. Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 41 Steelcase Road West, Markham, Ontario, Canada Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
This translation first published 1948 Reprinted 1951, 1954, i960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967 Revised translation published 1970 Reprinted 1971, 1973, 1975, I9?6
©
Copyright the Estate of H. Mattingly, 1948, 1970 Copyright S. A. Handford, 1970
©
Made and
printed in Great Britain
by Hazell Watson
&
Viney Ltd,
Aylesbury, Bucks Set in
Monotype Bembo
This book is sold subject to the condition that it -hall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circula-ed without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
CONTENTS Prefacb
7
Introduction
9
i
Tacitus
9
n
Agricola, the
Man
m
Agricola, the
Book
IV
Tacitus* s Account
V
13
15
of Britain
Britain before Agricola 9
18
19
Agricola s Governorship
21
vn
Britain after Agricola
22
vm
The Army of Britain
23
Germania, the Book
24
VI
DC
X Germany XI
xn
and Rome
in History
30
The Early Roman Empire
34
The
42
Constitution of the Empire
xm
The Provinces of the Empire
45
XIV
The Army and Fleet of the Empire
47
Agricola
51
Germania Notes Agricola
IOI
142
Germania
153
Select Bibliography
161
Glossary
163
Maps
Roman
Britain
Germany
in the
50
Time of Tacitus
100
The maps on
pages 50 and 100 are
reproduced by the courtesy of the
Clarendon Press from H. Furneaux's edition of Agricola (revised
Anderson) and
J.
by J. G. C.
G. C. Anderson's
edition of Germania respectively
PREFACE It
is
now
twenty-two years since the translation of
Tacitus's Agricola and Germania (under the title
by Harold Mattingly
and Germany)
When
appeared
this translation first
one of the best
translations available
it
On
first
Britain
appeared.
was accepted
as
of these two books;
but in the course of time certain opinions have been revised,
both about translations in general and about the
approach to Tacitus's work. For these reasons,
Handford and Penguins have produced
this
S.
A.
revision,
taking the opportunity to correct a few inaccuracies.
They wish of
to
all classical
acknowledge scholars, to
their indebtedness,
and
that
Harold Mattingly, upon the
foundation of whose original translation
this text has
been prepared. Harold Mattingly 's original Introduction has been preserved substantially as he wrote
it.
INTRODUCTION The
of
Agricola
Tacitus, the biography
famous governor of
and
national story, est.
as
Roman
Britain,
is
of the most part of our
such has a direct claim on our inter-
The Germania, a detailed account of a great people that
had already begun to be a European problem century of our era, should twentieth.
The
countries that
now,
still
in the first
have a message for us
story of the hero and the story
were combined
at a later stage
in
in the
of strange
Homer's Odyssey have
of literature, come to receive separate
treatment.
The general reader may like XI-XIV of this Introduction are
to
know
less
that sections
immediately neces-
sary to the understanding of the text than sections I-X,
and that the bibliography and some of the notes are intended chiefly for
I.
classical students.
Tacitus
Cornelius Tacitus was born, probably in a country
town
of Gallia Narbonensis,
some
time
after 115.
in a.d. 56 or 57
and died
at
The son of a Roman Knight, he himself
rose to senatorial rank senatorial career.
Asia in 11 2-1 13.
and passed through a normal
He was consul in 97 and governor of He was an intimate friend of Pliny the
Younger. Both were successful orators and distinguished
men of letters.
Pliny was proud to be regarded as a pupil
of Tacitus and to be bracketed with him
in popular
INTRODUCTION repute. letters
He
addressed to
him
a
number of his published
- two of them giving a
of the
detailed account
eruption of Vesuvius for the use of Tacitus in his Histories.
Of the private life of Tacitus we know very little indeed. He married the daughter of Agricola in 77, but he never mentions her name.
The
first literary
works of Tacitus, the
Agricola
and the
The Dialogus de Then came the major
Germania, were completed in a.d. 98. Oratoribus historical
of uncertain
is
works - the
date.
Histories,
covering the years 69-96,
and the Annals (completed between 115 and started
from
to the death
which
the death of Augustus in 14 and continued
of Nero
in 68.
to us incomplete. Tacitus his old
120),
Both works have come down us that he
tells
had reserved for
age an account of the happier age that followed
the death of Domitian in 96.
But it was never written. Did
death overtake him, or had he lost the zest to write? Tacitus was one of those Italians of sound old stock who
brought to the service of the Empire a loyalty and devotion that recall the best days
of the Republic.
It
was the
destiny of Rome to rule the world, the destiny of the high-
born
Roman
to share in that great task;
meant not the of Tacitus
as
and
city only, but Italy as well.
something
like
an
officer
Rome now
We may think
of a colonial army
and a colonial administrator rolled into one.
He
has a
passionate belief in the 'career' as the thing that chiefly
matters in
life.
Men like Tacitus continued to pursue that career under emperors good or bad. He had experience of tyrants like 10
INTRODUCTION Nero and Domitian and of constitutional emperors like He reflected much on his
Vespasian, Nerva, and Trajan.
experience, and ended with the sad conclusion that one
must not expect too much. Autocracy and freedom could
The
not finally be reconciled.
was
fact
that imperial
The
tyrant
Domitian had forced the Senate to co-operate
in his
tyranny pressed hardest on the senators.
tyranny, and such
men
as Tacitus,
against their consciences in friends, burst
condemnation of
out into violent denunciations
the tyrant was safely dead. This
but
leads Tacitus
it
unfairly.
constrained to vote
After
all,
soon
as
was natural enough,
to judge the it
own
their as
Empire somewhat
did confer on the world the
great blessings
of peace and order, and to Tacitus and
men
it
like
worth
As
him
opened up
all
that
made
their lives
living.
a historian Tacitus has several obvious defects.
He is
often amazingly careless about geography and military
He is not deeply interested He is not always just, as, for
man in the when he
history.
in the
street.
example,
hints,
on very
Agricola.
He
slight grounds, that
Domitian poisoned
permits himself an occasional sneer at the
enemies of Rome, more suitable to cheap journalism
of any age than to a serious work of
mocks the Britons
for adopting
Roman
history.
He
civilization
-
He gibes at the Bructeri, butchering Roman holiday. He finds it Roman legions should stand safely in
poor, deluded slaves.
and butchered to provide a glorious' that
reserve while their brave auxiliaries bear the brunt
II
of
INTRODUCTION battle.
is
enough
manly and high-minded, and
between
problems.
his
There
against rather trivial objects.
it
common
in
sympathize with fact,
is
He has a lively imagina-
capable of genuine moral indignation, even if he
occasionally directs is
qualities.
and a quick wit, he
tion
he
But he has great
his
age and ours for us to
The Roman Empire
nearer to us spiritually than our
own country
is,
in
in the
Middle Ages.
The
style
of Tacitus grew under the influence of
earlier writers
such
as
Cicero and
something
finally into
distinct
but developed
Sallust,
and unique,
like his
own
Germans. Tacitus period.
is
fond of short sentences and shuns the long
He is terse, fond of variety,
poetic forms
given to inversion and
of expression. His works were probably
designed to be declaimed, in the a chapter so often ends
first place.
with an epigram;
That
it is
applause before the next chapter begins.
is
all
why
a signal for
Many of these
epigrams leave their sting behind them. But occasionally the
form
is
there without the
actually has to say
is
spirit,
quite simple
because what Tacitus
and not
really
epigram-
matic. Tacitus's prose
is
exceptionally hard to render into
He was a great stylist - perhaps Roman Empire - and no translation
another language. greatest
of the
be really least
faithful to the original unless
it
the
can
reproduces at
something of his sombre magnificence and mordant
wit.
12
INTRODUCTION ii.
Agricola, the
Man
The name of Cn. Tacitus, site
is
Julius Agricola, the father-in-law
preserved
of the legionary
on
a lead pipe discovered
fortress at Chester;
of
on the
and a few
letters
which certainly formed part of his name appear on one of the surviving fragments of an inscription found in the
forum of Verulamium. But Tacitus judged was
his
own
Agricola's
To little
story that
to add.
He was born
name and in that of his The
may
father
in a.d. 40.
dates
by Tacitus
The
there
is
'Julius* in his
father suggests a possibility that an
have been enfranchised by Julius Caesar.
wrote on the cultivation of the vine, and that
possibly led to his son's being
The
it
memory.
the details of his career recorded
ancestor
rightly that
would confer immortality on
named
'Agricola* (farmer).
of Agricola's appointments were:
Tribunus Militum in Britain,
c.
a.d. 61.
Quaestor in Asia, 64.
Tribunus Plebis in Rome, 66. Praetor in
Rome,
Legatus Legionis
68.
XX in Britain, 70-73/4.
Legatus Praetorius in Aquitania, 74-77.
Consul in
Rome
for
some months, 77 or
78.
Legatus Praetorius in Britain, 78-84.
Retirement in Rome, 84-93, and death in the latter year.
Agricola, then, during his long and honourable career
of public
service,
had the opportunity of acquiring an 13
INTRODUCTION unrivalled
knowledge of the province of Britain. He had a
good eye
for the site
But
his strategy has
of a
been
fort
and was an able
criticized
and
tactician.
seven years of
his
campaigning did not produce very decisive or permanent His optimistic opinion that Ireland could be
results.
conquered and held by a single legion and a small force of (Chapter 24) might well
auxiliaries
reader gasp. Tacitus's description
Chapter 35) face
of
as
make
a thoughtful
of his father-in-law
(in
'always an optimist and resolute in the
difficulties' is
perhaps a
little
truer than he in-
we cannot refuse some sympathy to the who pleaded for a 'strategic retreat' because
tended; and
'cowards'
they thought that Agricola was asking for trouble by his
bold dash into Caledonia (Chapter
25),
Domitian can
hardly be blamed for recalling him. Agricola had had a
long innings, and troops were urgently needed at more vital spots
on the Rhine and Danube. Tacitus awards very
high praise to the
civil
Aquitania (Chapter Britain too
9)
government of Agricola both and
in
in Britain (Chapter 19). In
much was, perhaps, sacrificed to campaigning;
for Agricola, as Tacitus admits,
glory (Chapter
was
in love
with military
5).
Agricola, like Tacitus, accepted the world as he found it.
A
good man
himself, he
was pained by Domitian's
bad government. But he was
sensible
sacrifice his life in a useless defiance
refusal
and would not
of authority. The
of Domitian to make any use of Agricola's
after his return
services
from Britain was very likely prompted by
jealousy and fear.
But there was no 14
real
evidence that he
'
INTRODUCTION poisoned him, and Tacitus might have acknowledged this
more frankly.
Of Agricola's
personality each reader
himself. Tacitus certainly loved
convinces us that he had there are
few
must judge
good reason
for so doing.
intimate, or even personal, touches.
never told any anecdote of his
for
and honoured him, and
life
But
We are
camp or town, of
in
how he dealt with such and such a troublesome centurion or won over such and such a Scottish chief. We meet rebel Britons, Roman soldiers, Caledonian champions of freedom. But we hardly see them except as masses. One wonders whether Agricola himself Agricola, then, has press,
but
it is
did.
power both to
rather the portrait
The
attract
portrait
of
and to im-
of a career than of a
man. in. Agricola, the
Book
The Agricola belongs to the class 'biography* and - to some extent - to the sub-class 'eulogy'. It is also a tribute to piety, for the object
of the eulogy was
Tacitus's
own
loved and honoured father-in-law. Such tributes to greatness
were paid throughout
classical antiquity.
only mention the works of Xenophon, Plutarch
We
Isocrates,
need
and
among the Greeks, and Cornelius Nepos and among the Romans. There were two other
Suetonius
Latin works - the Bellum Iugurthinum and Catilina of Sallust
- which contributed much
Agricola,
to the plan
even though neither of them
is
of the
exactly
a
biography. Apart from Roman literary works, there were 15
INTRODUCTION also the funeral orations customarily delivered
over the
illustrious dead.
The
Agricola follows the
1-3 the subject
4-9 the
life
is
common
plan. In Chapters
introduced and explained in Chapters ;
and career of Agricola are sketched down to
on the governorship of Britain. Then follows a digression - a description of Britain (Chapters 10-12) and
his entry
a short history
In Chapter 18
of the
early conquest (Chapters 13-17).
we come
back to Agricola and follow
glorious career in Britain
down
to Chapter 38.
cluding Chapters, 39-46, describe his recall to perils in retirement,
and
his
The conRome, his
death - ending with the
his
thought of his undying fame.
The Agricola was probably written in a.d.
97-98, begun
before the death of Nerva and completed afterwards. Tacitus was already planning to write a general history of
the years 69-96, and the account of Britain in the Agricola has been regarded as a preparative study.
biographical interest that
why
the
rative
that
is
is
always
main part of the work simply that Agricola's
to'
consists title
But
the fore.
to
it is
the
The reason
of historical nar-
fame was the
fact
he played an important part in conquering Britain
Roman frontier known world.
and thus extending the extreme north of the
nearer to the
But was the Agricola something more than a biography?
Was is
it
some
a tract in defence
of political moderation? There
truth in the suggestion, but
estimated.
it
must not be over-
Agricola had certainly never opposed the
tyrannical Domitian.
He was
a great
16
man
as far as
he was
INTRODUCTION allowed to be, but he
knew when he must
may be accepted as
Agricola the defence
submit. For
adequate; but the
charge of subservience could equally well be levelled at Tacitus and his friends, and here the defence
They had
ful.
success-
is less
suffered in silence, acquiescing against their
consciences in the
condemnation of
their friends.
believed in the importance of their careers and
felt
They
no
call
martyrdom. But they were trying to make the of both worlds - to survive under a bad emperor and
to fruitless best
good
to resume full rank as patriots under a
own
conscience
shame
as
culture
is
a
little
one. Tacitus's
uneasy. In Chapter 2 there
well as sorrow in the story of Domitian's
is
war on
and merit; and in Chapter 45 - the description of final reign of terror - there is almost a con-
Domitian's fession
of
guilt
- 'we senators watched
who fell victims desperate men rushing to
Those
promptissimus quisque, say. life
There
is,
all
to
their
doom; they
all
included
the ' live wires ', one might almost
therefore, an element
of Tacitus and
shame'.
in
Domitian were not
but
his friends;
of apology for the
it is
only a subordinate
part of the book.
The Agricola has exercised ation after generation history
of our
own
on gener- the early
a steady attraction
of readers. The subject - has a strong natural
island
appeal.
The style often sparkles, and is never dull or sluggish. Deep in the heart of the book lies an ideal that commands admiration - belief in Rome, in Roman destiny, and in the
Roman ways and
standards of life. There
tragedy in the thought that
is
a note
this ideal has to live in
17
of an
INTRODUCTION which make it impossible And throughout a touch of
unfriendly world, in conditions for
it
to reach perfection.
warmth
added by the true
is
affection that Tacitus
bore
his father-in-law.
9
iv. Tacitus s
Britain
Account of Britain
was already
fairly
known
well
the time Tacitus began to write.
to the
Romans by
Even before 300
B.C.
Pytheas of Marseilles had visited the island; he published
some
precious details about
for his pains. Caesar, Strabo,
had added
their
but was only called a
it,
Pomponius Mela, and others,
quota to the account. Tacitus had the
obvious advantage of close relationship to one Britain as
no Roman had ever known
hard to take him quite seriously put research on a guess-work. taken
more
Tacitus
new
He might
still
held the
between them.
it
He
Britain. Certainly
But
it is
claims to have
solid fact to replace
possibly have
done so had he
false belief that Britain
actually
accepted a
he could
positively that Britain
had confirmed the It is
who knew
before.
when he
with
basis,
it
trouble.
nearer Spain than
before.
liar
false
now
was much
and that Ireland lay
is,
view of the shape of
for the
first
time
state
was an island - Agricola's admiral
fact;
but
it
had been guessed long
hard again to understand
the Orkneys as 'hitherto
how he can speak of
unknown'; 'unexplored' might
be the truer word. Tacitus omits some
details
found in
Caesar about the customs of the Britons - for example, their partiality for geese
and
their collective marriages
18
-
INTRODUCTION without troubling to correct them, tion.
He
if they
needed correc-
never mentions the Druids, never says a
about the native British coinage, though
have been obsolete by
He
his time.
has
it
word
can hardly
good accounts
of the climate and of the deep inland penetrations of the sea in the north. after expedition
But he sends Agricola on expedition
without once mentioning
does not mention
towns, such
as
that
He
London, Verulamium, or York. Writing
for the special purpose
much
his base.
by name any of the chief Roman of biography, he
must have figured
clearly omits
in his Histories.
But the
achievements of Agricola, thrown onto so uncertain a
background,
begin
become blurred
to
themselves.
Tacitus writes as if any province, any provincials, any
army, any enemy might serve equally well to his hero's virtues.
Modern
taste
demands more
illustrate
precision.
v. Britain before Agricola
Modern
archaeologists can
of Britain
in the later Iron
tell
us a
little
about the culture
Age, but detailed knowledge
only begins with Julius Caesar. That great conqueror, during
his victories in Gaul,
conquered Britain on
became aware of an un-
his flank
and decided to reduce
it.
His two expeditions - the one in 55 B.C. a mere reconnaissance in force, the second in 54 B.C. an attempt at a partial
conquest - were not wholly successful. Indeed, had
any account but Caesar's own,
we
should perhaps regard
the second expedition as a definite failure. Britain, ally subject to tribute,
remained in 19
\
we
nomin-
fact independent.
INTRODUCTION Augustus for a short time played with the idea of conquering Britain, but soon abandoned projects.
So our island remained
it
for
more
serious
But intercourse
free.
between Britain and Gaul was active and Roman influence steadily
for
grew. Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline)
most of his long reign was a friend of Rome. Caligula
in a.d. 39 gave a welcome to an exiled British prince and toyed with the idea of an invasion. But it was actually left
to Claudius to carry out the enterprise in a.d. 43. His
chief motive
was the ambition
(iustus triumphus)
by adding to the empire a country which
had invaded without making any very
Julius Caesar serious
to earn a 'proper triumph'
endeavour to annex it.* Britain, though apparently
in a disturbed condition, could hardly
dangerous to
Rome; and
expected from
the
it
The conquest was
if great
hope was
as
mineral wealth was
certainly disappointed.
carried out without a hitch
by Aulus
Claudius himself spent some days with his
Plautius.
victorious
army and was
saluted as 'Imperator'.
south-east of Britain and Vectis
quickly overrun.
The
(Isle
of Wight) were
The next governor,
Ostorius Scapula
(47-52), fought against the Silures in
away
be regarded
South Wales, drove
the patriot leader Caratacus, son of Cunobelinus,
and enforced
his surrender
Brigantes in Yorkshire.
By
when he fled north to the 49 the Romans had probably
reached the Trent, Severn, and Dee, and were masters
of Lincoln, Wroxeter, and
became
Chester. Colchester
a colony.
*
Suetonius, Divus Claudius 17.
20
now
INTRODUCTION Under Didius was no
Gallus (52-58) and Veranius (58) there
serious advance.
Suetonius Paulinus (58/9-61)
ventured out incautiously from
Chester
to
occupy
Anglesey, but was completely surprised by a general rising in his rear. It
Queen of avenge.
The
was
swept
rebels
led
by Boudicca
(Boadicea),
bitter private
wrongs
who had
the Iceni,
all
before
to
them and overran
London, Colchester, and Verulamium. The cause of
Rome
looked desperate. But Paulinus, hastening back,
brought the enemy to battle somewhere in the Midlands
and retrieved everything by a
single decisive victory.
Paulinus was too merciless to the guilty, and the revolt
dragged on. The government of Nero, therefore, showed true nius
wisdom
by the
in replacing Paulinus
He and
Turpilianus.
his
gentler Petro-
successors,
Trebellius
Maximus and Vettius Bolanus, ruled mildly during the years 61-71. The province as a whole was at peace, but the armies
were mutinous.
Petilius Cerealis,
showed
one of Vespasian's
great vigour
ablest generals,
and made good progress with the
conquest of the Brigantes in Yorkshire (71-74).
daunted by
his
great reputation,
his
Un-
successor Julius
Frontinus (74-78) broke the resistance of the Silures in
South Wales. vi. Agricolas Governorship It
was almost
certainly in a.d. 78 that Agricola succeeded
Frontinus in Britain.
His seven campaigns
may be summarized 21
as follows:
INTRODUCTION (i)
a.d. 78. Defeat
of the Ordovices
in
North Wales.
Conquest of Anglesey. (2) a.d. 79.
Advance northwards by western route from
Chester and York. North-west England consolidated by forts and garrisons. (3)
a.d.
80.
Advance northwards by
eastern route,
penetrating, at the farthest, as far north as the Tay. (4)
a.d.
Consolidation of Forth-Clyde line by-
81.
establishment of forts (Camelon,
Croy
Hill,
Bar
Hill, etc.). (5) a.d. 82.
Firth to
Advance along west
coast
from Solway
Galloway peninsula and Ayrshire. Invasion
of Ireland possibly contemplated,
certainly not
carried out. (6) a.d. 83.
Advance through
to the north
coastal areas
around and
of the Tay, with co-operation of fleet.
Caledonians attack forts and try to storm
(7)
ninth legion.
A
round North
Britain.
a.d.
84.
Firth.
camp of
cohort of Usipi mutinies and
Advance
sails
neighbourhood of Moray
to
Crushing defeat of Caledonians
at
Mons
Graupius. Agricola recalled in the same year.
Readers will observe has to be added to
make
how much
geographical detail
Tacitus's account intelligible,
vii. Britain after Agricola
Tacitus
tells
us
(Histories
1,2)
that
Britain had been
'completely conquered and then immediately
let go'.
This refers to the fact that a few years after Agricola's
22
INTRODUCTION was withdrawn from the province, to
recall a legion
help in dealing with troubles elsewhere, and
permanent
in
demolished. But
this
gains to
mean
were abandoned. Some of his
have
still
from
Britain
all
Agricola's
been held early in the reign of Trajan. In
the
Tyne to from
Pius built a wall
in.
that
Scottish forts appear
and the following years Hadrian
a.d. 122
wall
does not
some of his
were evacuated and
Perthshire
forts
famous
built his
the Solway ; and in 142 Antoninus the Forth to the Clyde.
The Army of Britain
was occupied,
four legions -
II
Claudian conquest, by IX Hispana, XIV Gemina, and
after the
Augusta,
XX Valeria - with the usual addition of auxiliary forces. Of these
legions, the following
were
still
in Britain at
the time of Agricola's arrival:
Legio
II
Augusta
(at
Legio DC Hispana Legio
A
(at
York)
XX Valeria
fourth legion,
in a.d. 71,
Caerleon)
Adiutrix, had replaced XIV Gemina now stationed at Chester. Among the in Britain we can identify four cohorts II
and was
auxiliary troops
of Batavi and two of Tungri which fought
Mons
at
Graupius, a cohort of Usipi that deserted and sailed round
North
Britain,
and perhaps one or more cohorts of
Britons. Tacitus does not
mention the name of
one of Agricola's justly famous permanent
number of
these,
careful excavation
a single
forts.
however, have been identified
-
especially those at
23
Fendoch
A
after
(at
the
INTRODUCTION mouth of the Sma' Glen
and
in Perthshire)
at Inchtuthil
(on the north bank of the Tay, eleven miles north of Perth).
When
Legio
II
Adiutrix was withdrawn from
Britain (perhaps as early as a.d. 87), Legio
XX
Valeria
was moved from Scotland into England and some of these forts abandoned.
ix. Germania, the
Tacitus's essay
'
On
Book the Origin and
many* was long ago certainly the best age.
The
of its kind
own; but none
the
less it
Here
as
always
it is
to Greece that
it
follows a
had gradually been developed over many
Hecataeus of Miletus,
It
in antiquity, perhaps in
genius of the author has stamped
character of its that
Geography of Ger-
hailed as a 'golden book'.
is
any
with a
model
centuries.
one must look
first.
Herodotus, the great medical
writer Hippocrates, and Aristotle himself, had found time for the study
of peoples. Coming to
find Posidonius
of Rhodes
(c.
135-50
Roman B.C.)
times,
we
devoting to
Germany the thirtieth of his fifty-two books of histories. First among the Roman authors comes Julius Caesar, who allotted a few invaluable chapters of his Gallic War to the German peoples. Livy devoted the 104th book of his histories to
able to
by
an account of Germany.
draw on
fresh sources
He must
have been
of information, opened up
the campaigns of Augustus's generals in
Germany.
Strabo wrote of Germany in his seventh book; but he
thought to have been
little
is
known or studied in the West. down to about
Pliny the Elder carried his German Wars
24
2
INTRODUCTION the death of Claudius. first
importance, but
served
on the
It it
was obviously a work of the completely
is
personal observation, as well as
on the evidence of friends.
Tacitus certainly
knew and esteemed
Strabo, perhaps,
was unfamiliar
Pliny
would probably prove
assess it exactly.
to
the
work of Caesar.
to him. Tacitus's debt to
How much Tacitus may have own day
we
to be very great, could
add by drawing on the experience of
merchants of his it
Pliny had
lost.
and so could depend on
frontier himself,
been able
and
soldiers
cannot be exactly gauged, but
must have been considerable.
The
date of the Germania
is
second consulship of Trajan. than the Agricola and
may
exactly fixed in a.d. 98, the
only a very
It is
little later
even have overlapped
it
in
composition.
The Germania
is,
character, customs,
as it professes to be, a
study of the
and geography of a people. But
something more than that - a
with a
tract
purpose, or a political pamphlet? ine these questions before going
It is
on
definite
necessary to
to another
is it
moral
exam-
one - is the
Germania, in general, reliable? Tacitus
unmistakably contrasts the virtues of the
Germans, which
Rome, with
recall the
uncorrupted morals of old
think lightly of the precious metals.
Freedmen
profitable career.
is
pure, childlessness
There are no
professional shows,
—
They
love freedom.
are kept in their proper place.
chaste, home-life
a.g.
The Germans
the degeneracy of the Empire.
no pompous 25
is
Women
are
not turned into a
lascivious banquets, funerals.
Many
no
a biting
INTRODUCTION epigram sharpens the contrast: 'No one in Germany " up-to-date' to seduce and be seduced/
calls it
'
On
the
other hand, they are not completely idealized. Their
exposed - their indolence,
characteristic weaknesses are
their
quarrelsomeness,
drunkenness,
their
their
silly
passion for war.
The tendency to moralize,
then,
is
a feature, but not the
main purpose, of the book. The suggestion
mind of the
reader
is
that, if the
to relax in so deep a peace
and
if the
discipline to their valour, they
menace to Rome. Tacitus was
on
left
the
Empire should continue
Germans should add
would become
certainly speaking
a deadly
with the
voice of history herself.
The emperor Trajan spent the first year or so of his two German provinces*, and was still there when the Germania came out. Tacitus obviously took reign in the
advantage of the popular interest in those provinces. But
was he venturing either that
The
to
recommend any
definite policy,
of the emperor himself or an alternative one?
policy of Trajan, possibly not obvious at the time,
became
so as his reign
went
on.
to be firmly held, but there
The German
was
to be
frontier
no conquest of
Germany. The strength of the Roman arms was directed against Dacia and Parthia.
Tacitus say?
- too long. All enemies
may
that
Rome
can
now
be disunited. There
is
is
pray for
is
'
'
26
does
that her
no suggestion of
*
of the Rhine.
be
taking so long
* Upper and Lower Germany, military districts on the '
to
Now, what
The conquest of Germany
was
left
a
bank
INTRODUCTION renewed
offensive.
The one
allusion to the Elbe
of regret over a dream of the
sigh
Germany cannot be
For
past.
is
just a
all
that,
treated lightly: unconquered, she
remains a constant challenge and a constant threat to
Rome. So
far,
the suggestions of Tacitus seem to point in the
same direction with
it all
as
the
but they do not go
official policy,
When
the way.
he speaks of destiny driving
the
Roman
33),
he seems to imply a more pessimistic view than
empire upon
its
appointed path (Chapter
Trajan would have been likely to take. For Tacitus the best
is
gifts.
Rome her choicest
over: fortune has already given
Trajan showed by his actions that he judged the
extension of the empire to be both possible and desirable.
One
passage in the Germania (Chapter 37) reads like a
deliberate criticism
to pursue: the
of the policy which Trajan was
freedom of the Germans, Tacitus
may well prove more
later
implies,
formidable than the despotism of
the Parthian kings. Tacitus, then, realizes the political interest
and gives that
and in any
expression to
fair
governed
official
some of
policy; but he
case the political aspect
is
is
of his subject
the considerations
not a propagandist,
subordinated to the
main theme.
To
the question whether the Germania
is
fault here
is
at
and there: for example, he underrates the
importance of gerates the
we
reliable
can give on the whole an affirmative answer. Tacitus
Roman
German
trade with
Germany and exag-
disregard for gold and silver.
27
But
his
INTRODUCTION many
evidence on dress
- has been
points
- such
German armour and
as
confirmed by archaeological
brilliantly
Germans
evidence. If he sometimes applies to the
applied
by
borrow
slavishly or in ignorance.
differ,
he
is
earlier authors to
Where
The German people it
in the time
Germans
of Tacitus was already
We know to our
has not ceased to be so today.
fairly characterized the
their characteristics live
Tacitus's picture
They have
the
quick to note the difference.
a force to be reckoned with in Europe. cost that
phrases
other peoples, he does not
Germans of on
in the
of the Germans
a strong love
his
Has Tacitus
time?
And do
Germany of today? is
vivid and consistent.
of freedom, a keen sense of
honour, and a regard for the sanctity of home-life. They possess the military virtues, but
what
ridiculous
by wanting
make them look someany or no
to fight for
reason. In peace-time their standards relax abruptly. In fact,
they are like adventurous
up. They need
Roman
lads,
never quite grown
discipline if they are ever to reach
maturity. Tacitus's claim for a unique purity of the race
may
be exaggerated, but
not altogether
is
at fault.
He
never dreamt of the mischievous nonsense that he was
going to suggest to
later theorists.
What might the future of Europe have been if Augustus frontier and made Germany a Roman
had held the Elbe province? strength
made
Modern Germany
from her
a virtue
has claimed to
draw her
ancient barbarian tradition, and has
of her
late
submission to Latin civilization.
She has glorified the natural
man with
28
all his
virtues
and
INTRODUCTION his vices.
The Germania
ment.
has been assiduously taught in
It
has been brought into this
and universities and made into a
sort
German
moveschools
of Bible of German
patriotism.
The population of Germany
has certainly changed
very considerably since the time of Tacitus. The
Nordic race must surely be sought navia, if anywhere.
und Boden' was
The National
real
in
Scandi-
Socialist talk
of 'Blut
first
just nvystical nonsense.
One
cannot
make heroic models out of the boisterous, overgrown boys that the ancient Germans were. All these appeals to ancient history to justify modern policies begin really
with self-deception and proceed to deceive others. Races
do not remain pure over fanatic
of
it.
may
peoples.
say, the disinterested student will
climate does remain
But
millennia,
Whatever the
centuries.
much
have none
the same over
and can profoundly influence the character of
Is it
possible, then, that the
'Germanentum', the i
fierce sense
ics',
of national idiosyncracy, the Furor Teuton-
may be something that really
tends to
grow
in the
various peoples that have successively fallen under the influence
of 'Middle Europe'? Well,
the inevitable causes to fall
of Europe,
On
a
instance,
can save
attribute the
But
we have still
is
to
fall.
more self-knowledge and more Germany and Europe together.
few points Tacitus seems
when he
be one of
which the fatalist will
if Europe really
the right to hope that self-discipline
that will
to be in error
-
for
denies that domestic slavery existed in
Germany. His account of the German 29
chiefs
is
quite
INTRODUCTION correct, if we understand
by
birth
and wealth
as
by
men marked out To make them out
'chiefs' the
natural leaders.
to be magistrates raises unnecessary difficulties.
In several passages Tacitus speaks technical senses
which modern
of 'the hundred'
scholars
have found hard
to understand; but the suggestion that he
the word 'hundreds' - used,
it is
alleged,
in the sense
of subdivisions of German
Neither in
Germany nor
the
word
x.
so used
till
in
in
misunderstood
by
his authorities
- will not do.
states
Anglo-Saxon England was
centuries later.
Germany and Rome
in
History
For long centuries the German peoples were pressed back in
the north-west
masses of Gauls,
The
strength.
from Jutland
who were
Tungri and other
the
Oder by
began to roam westward, and the
tribes established
themselves on the
bank of the Rhine. Rome, however, never
Germans were,
the
until in
east,
upon
in
and
won
Italy.
They
a victory
far
first
over a
realized
left
who
113 B.C. the Cimbri and
Teutoni emigrated from their
broke
the
world confused them with the
civilized
Gauls. In time they
to
then superior to them in
northern homes and
appeared to the north-
Roman
consul; then, after
wandej ng about on the north of the Alps for four years they invaded the
Worse was destroyed
on
Italy,
still
at
to
Rhone
valley and defeated
two
consuls.
come. In 105 two consular armies were
Orange.
Had
the barbarians advanced direct
no one knows what might have happened. As
it
was, they turned aside to conquer Spain, found the
30
INTRODUCTION Spanish resistance unexpectedly tough, and returned to
Gaul three years
later.
Rome
had had time to
her best general, Marius, had given a
new
rally,
and
discipline
and
spirit to the army. The barbarians divided their forces. The Teutoni were destroyed by Marius at Aix-enProvence. The Cimbri, who had crossed over to enter
Italy
from the
year.
The storm
east,
were crushed
died
down
as
at Vercellae in the
suddenly
next
had sprung
as it
up.
For over forty years the Germans remained quiet. But in 58 Julius Caesar encountered a
King of the
them
Suebi.
new menace in
Ariovistus,
He had been invited by Gallic tribes to
against rivals, but soon took hostages
and
exacted tribute from his friends and kept drawing in
new
help
war-bands from Germany. Caesar picked a quarrel with
him and drove him in tus
had been accepted
and Caesar's enemies
rout across the Rhine. But Ariovisas a 'friend'
in
by the Roman
Senate,
Rome accused him of downright
treachery.
Again followed
a long interval
of peace. During the
whole of the great civil wars the Germans made no move. Augustus, attention
Rhine
when he had won supreme power, turned his to the dangerous north. Not satisfied with the
as a frontier,
he decided on an advance to the Elbe.
In a series of campaigns, directed
by the
stepsons
of
Augustus, Nero Drusus and Tiberius, the Germans were defeated in war, and were then gradually inured to
Roman
ways.
years before
It
seemed to be only a matter of a few
Germany would be made 31
a province
of the
INTRODUCTION empire. But the Romans' attention was distracted
dangerous
of Maroboduus,
ambitions
Marcomanni
in the south-east. Close
desperate revolt against
Roman
Pannonia. Germany was
left in
on
this
was often heard legions'.
He was
himself,
enemies
to
kingship,
diverted the
ately resolved on.
From
a
was destroyed by
Romans from
his
diffi-
a plan deliber-
make some amends
of Varus by displaying the
paying honours to the
But
his
14 to 16 Tiberius allowed his
adoptive son Germanicus to disaster
Varus to 'give him back
returned to the defensive. Arminius
home. But he had done something very
He had
cult.
to cry out to
aspiring at
his three legions in the
Augustus, brooding in bitterness,
9).
Rome now
and
charge of P. Quinctilius
by Arminius (Hermann), chief of
Teutoburgiensis Salttis
the Cherusci (a.d.
the
followed a
rule in Illyricum
Varus, a nobleman devoid of military talent.
ambushed and destroyed with
by
of the
king
Roman
dead
Roman
for the
arms and
in the fatal forest.
conquest would obviously cost too much. Tiberius
decided to keep the empire within
its
existing frontiers.
Caligula suddenly conceived, and as suddenly dropped, a
grandiose scheme of
German
with hardly a break. But Batavian nobleman,
conquest. Peace continued
in the civil
Civilis,
wars of 68-69 a
roused his countrymen,
under cloak of loyalty to Vespasian, against
movement was joined by
Roman armies on
other
the Rhine
death of Vitellius in
German
Vitellius.
tribes
became demoralized.
December
69, Civilis
The
and the
On the
should have
placed himself at the disposal of Vespasian. But his head
32
INTRODUCTION was turned. Some of the
Rome
Gallic tribes
broke loose from
and proclaimed an 'Empire of the Gauls'. The
Germans
naturally
knew who would be
But Vespasian struck
if the revolt succeeded.
remorselessly. His general Cerealis soon
able victory; the Gauls tion, to
the real masters
won
swiftly
and
a consider-
of the south decided, on considera-
remain loyal to Rome, and the rebels in the north
began to waver.
Civilis
was content
to accept surrender
on reasonable terms; but Vespasian was inexorable obliterating every trace
He and
of that ominous
in
Gallic Empire.
his sons tried to insure against future troubles.
They narrowed the dangerous gap between Rhine and Danube by occupying the Agri Decumates (see Chapter 29)
and drawing a military frontier for
Domitian fought
bitter
their defence.
wars on the middle Rhine against
the Chatti in 83 and 89.
Though
it
was the fashion
at
Rome to deride his 'sham triumphs', modern archaeology has
shown
that his success
was not
inconsiderable.
command in the Upper German prowhen he was adopted by Nerva, and he adminis-
Trajan was in vince
tered the
two provinces
in 98-99. It
was probably
that the Bructeri
were nearly wiped out by
enemies. Trajan
left
their
in 98
German
the frontier so secure that legions
could be transferred from Rhine to Danube.
So
With
far
we have been
the eastern
and were
less close.
drove the
Boh
speaking of the western Germans.
Germans Rome's In 8 B.C. the
relations
began
later
Marcomanni and Quadi
out of Bohemia. Maroboduus, the great
Marcomannic king, gathered round him 33
so
large a
INTRODUCTION confederacy as to excite Rome's suspicions his
a.d. 6).
(c.
But
glory excited the envy of the other Germans; his
empire collapsed and he
Ravenna
in a.d. 19.
The
finally accepted sanctuary at
troubles
on
Danube under
the
Domitian were caused, not so much by the Germans,
by the Dacians and Sarmatians. The
terrible
Marcus Aurelius against the Quadi and Marcomanni
beyond our present
as
wars of lie
scope.
History in the main has justified the forebodings of Tacitus.
Germany, often triumphed over, was never
conquered.
The time came when no
valour in the
field,
no
not even the discord could
The
avail.
barriers
xi.
in defence,
skill
subtlety in diplomacy
among
Destiny at
- and
no
finally
Germans themselves -
the
pressed the empire too hard.
last
broke and the barbarian
tides
flooded
in.
The Early Roman Empire
The Roman Republic throve was able
to direct
down when
its
policy.
the Senate lost control of
governors and of
its
rapacious armies. In the
last
supreme power under the
of ruling
as
It
broke
provincial
its
generals and their devoted but
wars in which the breakdown
intention
just so long as the Senate
and co-ordinate
and
of the
civil
resulted, Julius Caesar
won
title
deadliest
of Dictator. His
an autocrat led to
his
clear
murder on
the famous Ides of March (15 March, 44 B.C.).
The death of Caesar was followed by thirteen years of chaos. The attempt of Brutus and Cassius to restore the Republic failed. Then the leaders of the Caesarian faction 34
INTRODUCTION partitioned the state between them. Finally life-and-death struggle between
it
young Caesar
grand-nephew and son by adoption of the
came
to a
(Octavian),
dictator,
and
Mark Antony, with his Egyptian wife, Queen Cleopatra. The naval battle of Actium (31 B.C.) decided the issue in favour of the young Caesar.
Octavian was determined to succeed where Julius Caesar had failed: no 1
assassins'
daggers for him.
restored' the Republic, but built into
new
a
it
what we have
for himself, thus founding
He
position
learnt to call the
Empire, tie established peace and order throughout the
Roman
world.
He
soon abandoned the idea of conquer-
ing Britain, but tried long and hard to establish a province
of Germany on the right bank of the Rhine. The
of
this
scheme has been described above. In the
forced the Parthian king to restore the
captured at Carrhae in 53 suzerainty over Armenia. to restore
As
Roman
and he
B.C.,
The mere
('Revered'),
Roman
of war
sufficed
was
still
still
more
title
know
of Augustus
him. His ever-
fully recognized
was named 'Father of work was to outlive him he must
his country' in 2 B.C.
cessor, First
and to
his
he
honour.
by which we
prestige
east
standards
asserted
threat
early as 27 B.C. he received the
growing
Roman
failure
this
nephew
then
But
if his
find a suitable suc-
end he laboured long and Marcellus,
when he
his
earnestly.
great
captain
Agrippa, then Agrippa's sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar,
who were
adopted by Augustus himself, seemed destined
for the succession. In the end,
35
when
all
the rest had died,
INTRODUCTION it
was
his step-son Tiberius
who
burdens of empire and stood ready to take his
him the them over at
shared with
death in a.d. 14.
The long
reign of Tiberius
was marked by sound
administration and sober foreign policy, based
A
Augustus.
abandoned
renewed attempt
in 17.
to conquer
on
that
of
Germany was
Apart from that war and
local risings
Gaul and Africa, the world enjoyed a golden age of
in
But
peace.
picious
Rome
at
Tiberius was never popular. Sus-
and uncertain of himself, he allowed the charge of
men of
high treason to be abused by informers against
And
mark. sion.
there
was a constant struggle over the
succes-
Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius, died in 19;
own son Drusus in 23.
his
In the following years Sejanus, the
powerful praetorian prefect, succeeded in poisoning Tiberius's
mind
against Agrippina the
nicus and her family.
Her two
widow of Germa-
eldest sons,
Nero and
Drusus, were disgraced and put to death, and she herself died in exile. Tiberius meanwhile had withdrawn to the lovely island of Capri - to live, so
rumour said, a reverse of lovely and Sejanus was left to lord
Rome. the
Still
fell
it
over
not content, he plotted against Tiberius. But
emperor, warned just in time, struck
Sejanus
the
life
(31).
died, unloved
Tiberius never returned to
and despondent,
first,
and
Rome
but
in 37.
Gaius was the youngest son of Germanicus, taken into
favour at the
camp and
last
still
Boot') given
by
his great-uncle.
bears the
him by
He had been
nickname of Caligula
the soldiers.
36
born
in
('Little
Having cringed
to
INTRODUCTION the aged Tiberius, he
now
delighted to play the tyrant,
and not content even with tyranny he
affected to in
Germany
foolish.
He was
on earth. His ambitious schemes of conquest and Britain merely made him look eventually murdered in 41
be a god
by an old army
officer
whom
he had made a practice of insulting. Gaius
left
no obvious successor, and the Senate seriously
debated a restoration of the Republic. But the praetorian guards had found in the palace the middle-aged uncle of Gaius, the eccentric Claudius, and soon decided that he
was not too
eccentric for them.
The
Senate had no choice
but to submit. Claudius was slow and pedantic, a slightly ridiculous character, but nevertheless able tious.
and conscien-
He carried through with complete success the longof Britain (43). He was derided by the
discussed conquest
Romans, not without some justification, as the slave of his wives and freedmen. His third wife - his niece Agrippina the
Younger -
established a complete ascendancy over
him. She induced
him to adopt her own son by a previous
marriage, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus (the future emperor
Nero), to marry prefer
him
him above
to his daughter Octavia,
his
own
son Britannicus.
and to
When
Claudius died suddenly in 54, after eating freely of his favourite dish
of mushrooms, Agrippina was with good
reason regarded as his murderess.
Agrippina intended to govern with her sixteen years old son Nero, but was quietly edged out of power by the
young emperor's
advisers.
To
begin with, Nero was
popular and promised well. But he soon embarked on a
37
INTRODUCTION terrible series
of family murders -
Agrippina, then his wife Octavia,
first
Britannicus, then
whom
he divorced in
order to marry the 'imperial whore' Poppaea.
Under
the
of the infamous praetorian prefect Tigellinus,
influence
he plunged into a career of debauchery, waste, and
'Rome burned while Nero
cruelty.
Christians
fiddled',
were persecuted on the pretence
and the
that they
were
fire. His foreign policy had some - a long war with Parthia carried to a triumphant
responsible for the successes
conclusion,
and the British revolt under Boudicca
suppressed - though a serious rising of the Jews in 66 was
not quite crushed at the end of the reign. The
still
declaration
of the freedom of Greece was
impressive
gesture.
at least
Rome was weary
But
an
of the
emperor's misgovernment and profoundly shocked by that artistic
temperament which drove him to appear on
the public stage. Vindex, governor of Gallia
Lugdunen-
revolted, and Galba The German army under Verginius Rufus crushed Vindex, and the movement looked like collapsing. But Nero, despairing of his own cause, retired from Rome to a suburb and in Spain joined him.
sis,
after
long hesitation - constantly exclaiming 'What an
artist
the world
suicide
is
on hearing
losing in
me!' - he
that the Senate
at last
committed
had declared him a
public enemy.
A secret of empire had now been divulged: an emperor need not necessarily be made in Rome. Galba soon made his
way to
the capital and
But he was
old,
was accepted without
he was mean, and he 38
lost
question.
sympathy by
INTRODUCTION by subservience to unworthy beginning of 69 the German armies
unnecessary cruelties and
At the
friends.
him and found an emperor governor of Lower of their own in the person Germany. Galba tried to prop his falling throne by adopting as his son a young nobleman, Piso. But in so refused to swear allegiance to
of Vitellius,
doing he mortally offended another partisan, Otho,
who
had hoped for promotion himself. Otho bribed the
who promptly murdered
praetorian guard,
Galba and
Piso in the streets of Rome.
For most Romans the choice between Otho and Vitellius
seemed to be simply one between two
was the armies led
that decided;
evils. It
and the armies of Germany,
by Vitellius's lieutenants Valens and Caecina, were too
much
and army of
for Otho's praetorians
troops
serving
the
in
time to intervene; for Otho suicide.
empire.
But
Vitellius
sudden dash on
many of his
his
and the Balkan armies joined him.
Italy
by one of their
German
friends,
Rome
captains,
A
Antonius
Cremona over
the
armies. Vitellius, betrayed
by
wished to
retire;
but bitter fighting
men and friends of and when Primus forced his way into the city
broke out in Vespasian,
and committed
long in enjoyment of
left
Primus, led to a surprise victory at flower of the
The
was proclaimed emperor by
Vespasian
soldiers in Judaea,
lost heart
was not
Italy.
and Judaea had no
Balkans
and decided the
between
issue,
his
Vitellius
was murdered
in the
streets.
Vespasian showed himself master of the situation.
39
He
INTRODUCTION Roman
restored
We
for his pains.
and repaired her shattered
prestige
was hard
finances. It
that he should
have already seen
be called a miser
how
he suppressed
the revolt of Civilis and the 'Empire of the Gauls', and later, in 78, sent
marked out
his
Agricola to Britain.
two
From
sons as his heirs. Titus
to a share in the government,
younger son, received the
of the human
generosity.
But he died
been severely disasters
tested.
- a great
first
he
and even Domitian, the
title
of
'prince'
(Caesar).
was hailed
Titus succeeded his father in 79, and 'darling
the
was admitted
as the
for his friendliness
and
in 81, before his qualities
had
race'
His short reign was marked by two
Rome
fire at
and the eruption of
Vesuvius.
Domitian was a cruel
and
difficult
man of
considerable ability, but of
temperament.
He allowed the charge of
high treason to be revived for use by informers against his
many political
enemies, and
made
the Senate share in the
odium of their condemnation. His wars against the Chatti on the middle Rhine were not the
made them out by long and
failure that his
to be, but his later years
difficult
enemies
were darkened
campaigns on the Danube against
Sarmatians and Dacians, ending in a somewhat inglorious peace. Agricola in 84.
By
was
recalled
from
his victories in Britain
96 Domitian, already hated by most people in
Rome, had become entourage.
To
suspect to his wife
protect their
him and called Nerva, an empty throne.
own
and
lives
elderly lawyer
40
his
immediate
they assassinated
of repute,
to the
INTRODUCTION Nerva showed praiseworthy
good government
Tacitus could hail his succession as the
age of
liberty.
of restoring
intentions
of Domitian.
after the oppressions
dawn of a new
who had
But the praetorian guards,
not
demanded his murderers for Nerva pleaded, wept - and gave way. To
ceased to regret Domitian, execution.
redeem
his fallen prestige
he adopted Trajan, the pride of
the army, as his son, and the disorderly praetorians were
soon brought back to obedience.
On
Nerva's death in
98 Trajan was accepted without question as his successor. Trajan's long reign (98-1 1 7)
was signalized by the conquest
of Dacia and by a long war against Parthia, beginning with
brilliant success,
but compromised at the
last
by
a
general revolt of the Jews throughout the east. Early in the reign
of his successor Hadrian, Tacitus
the high hopes that he
had conceived
Nerva and Trajan stayed with him say.
The gloomy tone of his
gests that
last
died.
Whether
in the first years
to the
last,
we
of
cannot
work, the Annals, sug-
he had ceased to believe
in that reconciliation
of autocracy with freedom of which he had so confidently written.
From Augustus
to
Nero
the
Empire was,
as it
were, the
inheritance of a single family, the Julio-Claudian. Galba,
Otho, and
Vitellius stand as isolated figures.
The
Flavian
dynasty of Vespasian expired with the death of Domitian.
With Nerva began that great line of emperors,
succeeding
one another by adoption, which gave
Rome good
government
might count -
for a large part
as a substitute for
of a century.
freedom - to quote 41
It
Tacitus's phrase
INTRODUCTION that
emperors
now
began to be chosen with a sense of
responsibility.
xii.
The
Constitution of the Empire
For the Romans themselves the Empire was
Roman
still
'Republic' - the 'Senate and People of
But there was a modification which seems to us
the
Rome vital.
A
number of powers were conferred, on one man sufficient to place him at the head of the state and to make his authority everywhere decisive. In the
first
place the
emperor was
imperator, holder
of
command. The armies no one else. In the second
the supreme right of military
swore allegiance to him and to place, as holder
Roman
people,
of tribunician power, he represented the
was personally
and could
inviolable,
convene the Senate and initiate legislation. Further powers
might be granted to a princeps by
special
enactment or
assumed by him ad hoc to deal with a particular
Some such powers were
was enacted upon Vespasian's he
accession;
also revived the censorship,
continuously for the
situation.
defined in a lex de imperio which
ten or
last
and
in a.d. 73
which Domitian held
more
years
of his
reign.
Those provinces which required armies were administered for the
emperor by
the peaceful provinces
had power to intervene
which
in theory
undertook
his representatives;
which were
left
at discretion. In
and even
Rome
were under the control of the
special duties,
such
as the
in
to the Senate he
and
Italy,
Senate, he
charge of the corn-
supply, of the night-watch, and occasionally of the public
42
;
INTRODUCTION He was
roads.
sometimes specially entrusted with the
He had
supervision of public morals.
own treasury, treasury. He struck
thejiscus, as well as a special military
gold and
own right;
silver coins in his
his
the coinage in base
metal was administered by the Senate, but always under his supervision. as
well as in a
his will,
He
could dispense justice in other courts
High Court of his own. The
given in
more and more
to
expressions of
edicts, dispatches,
and the
have the
of laws. As
force
full
maximus (chief priest) he was head of the
While he lived Rome
only to
sacrificed
consecrated,
pontifex
state religion.
his genius (spirit)
but in the provinces he was actually worshipped After death, unless his
came
like,
as a
god.
memory was condemned, he was
became Divus
(the divine),
and received
full
religious honours.
To
help
society
him
in his great task
- on the Senate
and generals; on the officers
men
and
he drew on
;
on the
of such departments of and
finance, correspondence, epistulis, a libellis);
of
(Knights) for his junior
equites
financial agents (procurators)
for the heads
all classes
for his chief provincial governors
on the
freed-
his court as
petitions (a rationibus, ab
slaves for the
lower posts of his
bureaux. As Senate and Knights were so essential to his service,
he found means of controlling the composition
of both these Orders.
The emperor normally
tried to fix the succession
marking out a son or other
close relative, or a son
adoption, as his political heir. ferred
on the first emperor
in
43
27
The B.C.,
title
by by
Augustus, con-
was borne by
all his
INTRODUCTION successors. Caesar, in origin the family
was taken over used
to
citizen)
by most emperors; but
name of Julius, was sometimes
it
designate an heir or prince. Princeps
was a common, though
(chief
unofficial, designation
of
the emperor.
The It
Senate was taken
by the emperor
had the general control of Rome,
provinces, and, acting
Italy,
and the peaceful
on the emperor's
initiative, trans-
acted a mass of public business consulta).
aerarium to
it
by
its
decrees (senatus
administered the old state treasury,
Satumi.
It
the
even acquired powers unknown
during the Republic.
election It
It
into partnership.
It
of magistrates and
was the Senate alone
took over from the people the sat as a
High Court ofJustice.
make an emperor's The army could sometimes
that could
position fully constitutional.
confer power, but could never legitimize
it.
It
was the
Senate alone that judged the emperor's record after his death.
Yet the partnership - the 'dyarchy', or
two', as
it
has been called
for in the last resort the
'rule of - was always an unequal one:
emperor held the power of the
sword.
The Roman people ceased to It
exercise
its
rights directly.
looked to the emperor to represent and protect
it.
A
Roman satirist bitterly observed that its real requirements were two -pattern
et circenses
(bread and games).
The old Republican magistrates continued to be elected A man would enter the Senate as quaestor, would then become tribune or aedile, next praetor, and finally consul. The quaestors had financial duties in Rome, yearly.
44
INTRODUCTION and the provinces. The
Italy,
aediles
Rome;
buildings and the police in
were
in charge
the tribunes
were
of
still
champions of the people, but were dwarfed by the emperor's tribunician power. a part
of their
The
praetors retained only
original legal functions, but
showy and expensive charge of holding
The
consuls
were
still
the chief magistrates of
and the two regular consuls of each year their
names
The
to it.*
were given the
the public games.
office
now
was
Rome, gave
(ordinarii)
limited to a
few
months, and many extra consuls (suffecti) were appointed. By nominating and commending candidates the emperor kept a firm control of elections. Prominent
new
officers created
by the Empire were
Rome,
a senator
prefect
of the praetorian guard, a Knight.
xiii.
The Provinces of the Empire
spheres of administration or, as
was
in the
The emperors
provinces
we
a
number of
call
them, prov-
into still
main the creation of the Republic.
consolidated
edges, but only rarely
The
it
and rounded
it
off at the
added new provinces.
where armies were required were
governed by deputies appointed by the emperor, legates,
men of either
were other assist
the
nominated by the emperor, and the
The Roman empire was divided inces. It
among
the prefect of
legates to
command
the governor in his duties.
* The emperor would
his
praetorian or consular rank. There
at intervals
consul with a colleague.
45
the legions, others to
A
financial officer
open the year
- the
as 'ordinary'
INTRODUCTION
A few minor provinces
procurator - attended to finance.
had no
legate,
governors
:
but were under procurators
such a one was Pontius
whom
Judaea, under
Pilate,
who were also procurator of
our Lord suffered. Egypt had
its
prefect, or viceroy.
The senatorial provinces - those unarmed - were governed by Senate: Africa and Asia praetors.
The
by
that
were peaceful and
officers
appointed by the
proconsuls, the rest
financial officer here
was the quaestor; the
procurator simply looked after imperial
Every province was divided into istrative districts
the assizes
were
have attained any great
which
do not seem
to
importance. Taxes were
political
lump sums or as quotas levied on natural
produce. Collection was at
become
admin-
districts in
There were provincial councils to
represent provincial interests, but they
assessed either as
interests.
'dioceses' or
and conventus - smaller held.
by pro-
direct as time
went
first indirect,
but tended to
The burden of taxation
on.
was, according to ancient standards, not heavy. But there
were
also levies
cruel
and absurd
Rome cities,
of corn and the
is
often aggravated
by
abuses.
tended to
rest
her rule on the
on the moneyed
munities became
like,
Roman
classes.
Some
cities
and, in the
favoured com-
colonies, others municipia
to say, corporations organized
on the old
Italian
-
that
model.
A few cities - Athens, for example - remained nominally '
free.
The population of
estimated.
It
the empire cannot be closely
may have been 40 or
of Augustus. 46
50 millions in the reign
INTRODUCTION Short notes on the provinces mentioned in the text will
be found in the Glossary. xiv. The
Army and Fleet of the Empire
armies of the empire consisted of the
The
regulars
composing the legions and of auxiliary troops. They
were
stationed chiefly
on the
frontiers,
defence rather than for attack. There was
The legion was
a brigade, consisting
auxiliary services.
and served for
no
army.
field
of foot, horse, and
was divided into ten cohorts; the
It
cohort was divided into three maniples, the maniple into
two
centuries.
5,500 men.
The
The
strength of the legion was about
legate,
or brigadier, was a senator
appointed by the emperor. Under militum - young men trian career.
But the
depended mainly on first
starting
discipline its
on
him were
a Senatorial or Eques-
and
efficiency
centurions, sixty in
of a legion
number. The
centurion in each cohort was called pilus prior; and
the pilus prior of the
first
cohort in each legion - brigade
sergeant-major - was called primipilus. staff
tribuni
The
of office was a cudgel of vinewood
centurions'
(vitis)
The standard of The maniples had
- not
in-
tended only for ornament.
the legion
was
their
a silver eagle (aquila).
standards (signa).
A flag
(vexillum)
own
was used by squadrons
of cavalry, by corps of veterans, and by detachments of infantry
employed on
special duties.
The term of service was years, later raised to
by Augustus at sixteen twenty. The pay - 300 denarii a fixed
year - was raised by one-third under Domitian.
47
A special
INTRODUCTION military treasury, founded in a.d. 6, provided for veterans.
The
were recruited
legions
more widely.
provinces, later
Roman
citizens
at first
were
from
a
few nearby
In theory at least only
Conscription could at any
eligible.
time be applied, but voluntary enlistment usually
Under Augustus
there
were twenty-five
sufficed.
legions;
end of the second century the number had
by
the
risen to thirty-
three.
The
auxiliary troops
chiefly in those that
were
recruited in the provinces,
were new and warlike. They often
used native weapons, but were usually employed away from home. They obtained Roman citizenship on dis-
The
charge.
was organized
auxiliary infantry
in cohorts
of 1,000 or 500 men, commanded by colonels
of Equestrian rank; the cavalry
cohortis)
the
same numbers,
(praefecti alae).
nothing
The
is
The
Its corps d' elite
squadrons of
commanded by
colonels
auxiliaries received their keep,
known of their
garrison of
but
pay.
Rome was composed
of three
parts.
- the praetorian guard, concentrated by
Tiberius in one Italy
similarly
in
(praefecti
camp
at
Rome
- was recruited from
and some of the more Romanized provinces.
consisted praetorio)
of nine cohorts.
Its
commander
It
(praefectus
had under him tribunes and centurions. The pay
and the prestige of the praetorians were higher than those
of the
legionaries,
urban cohorts, four the
command of a
their term,
of service
(later seven) in
senator [praefectus urbi).
cohorts were stationed in
Rome: 48
shorter.
The
number, were under
Not
all
these
one, for example, was at
3
INTRODUCTION Lugdunum
(Lyons) as guard of the imperial mint there.
The watch (vigiles), in seven cohorts, were freedmen commanded by a Knight (praefectus vigilum). Both urban cohorts and watch had their
The fleet was birth but not
tribunes and centurions.
decidedly an inferior service.
and the
(trierarchae)
own
men
(classiarii)
The captains
were usually of
Romans. The admirals
(praefecti
free
classis)
might be Knights, but even freedmen were sometimes
The ships in use were mainly the quinquereme,
appointed.
the trireme, and the fast light Liburnian galley. Italy had
two main
stationed at
fleets,
empire -
fleets
Sea, fleets
Pompey live if
the Great,
non
who
A.G.—
up
to
Britain.
It
was
a
Roman,
invented the slogan navigare
est necesse
we can'. But in
to live
throughout the
fleets
of the Rhine, the Danube, and the Black
of Egypt and of
necesse est, vivere
little
Ravenna and Misenum; but
were many subordinate
there
- 'keep the
seas
we
must,
general his fellow-countrymen did
it.
49
AGRICOLA Famous men
of old often had
their lives
difference to the
the practice.
to attract
a defect of all
men of genius. There was no
or self-seeking.
life's
conceit.
so uphill or so beset
and the task or recording
story
When
it
never
failed
question of par-
The consciousness of an honourable
aim was reward enough.
own
is
small and great alike. In the past, however, the road
obstacles,
tiality
in-
world around it, has not quite abandoned
memorable achievement was not
with
all its
An outstanding personality can still triumph
over that blind antipathy to virtue which states,
to
and characters
on record; and even our generation, with
set
Many even
showed
Rutilius
felt
that to
self-confidence
and Scaurus did
tell
rather
so,
their
than
they were
neither disbelieved nor criticized; for noble character best appreciated in those ages in
develop. But in these times, the
life
which
when
of one no longer with us
gence which
I
So savage and
I
I
it
is
can most readily
planned to recount
had to crave an indul-
should not have sought for an invective. hostile to merit
was the
age.
were written by Arulenus Rusticus and Herennius Senecio - the one, of Thrasea Paetus the other, Eulogies, indeed,
;
5i
TACITUS of Helvidius offences,
Priscus.
But both were
treated as capital
and the savage rage of their enemies was vented
upon the books
as
well as upon their authors.
executioners, under official instructions,
Comitium and Forum of art.
So
much
is
The
public
made a bonfire in
those masterpieces of literary
in the record. In those fires doubtless the
Government imagined
that
it
could silence the voice of
Rome and annihilate the freedom of the Senate and men's knowledge of the
truth.
They even went on
the professors of philosophy and exile
all
to banish
honourable
accomplishments, so that nothing decent might anywhere confront them.
We have indeed set up
a record of sub-
Rome of old explored the utmost limits of freedom; we have plumbed the depths of slavery, robbed as we are by informers even of the right to exchange ideas servience.
in conversation.
We
our memories
as
as easy to forget as to
be
should have
well as our tongues had
it
been
lost
silent.
3
Now at long last our spirit revives. In the first dawn of this blessed age,
Nerva harmonized the old discord between
autocracy and freedom; day by day Trajan
is
enhancing
the happiness of our times; and the national security, instead
of being something to be hoped and prayed
has attained the solid assurance of a prayer
fulfilled.
for,
Yet
human nature is so weak that remedies take longer to work than diseases. Our bodies, which grow so slowly, our
perish in the twinkling
of an eye; so too the mind and 52
AGRICOLA its
pursuits can
life
more
easily
be crushed than brought to
again. Idleness gradually develops a strange fascina-
tion
we
of its own, and
end by loving the
sloth that at
Think of it. Fifteen whole years - no small part of a man's life - taken from us. Many have died first
we
loathed.
by the chance happenings of fate; have
the most energetic
all
And the we once were,
of the emperor.
fallen victims to the cruelty
few of us that survive are no longer what
many of our best years have been taken from us years in which men in their prime have aged and old men since so
have reached the extreme limit of mortality, without ever
word. Yet
uttering a
however
inartistic
I shall still
and unskilled
find
some
satisfaction,
my language, in record-
we once suffered, and in acknowledging we now enjoy. In the meantime, this book,
ing the bondage the blessings
which
sets
out to honour
be commended, or affection to
Gnaeus
which
it
at
least
pardoned, for the loyal
bears witness.
Julius Agricola
colony of Forum
my father-in-law Agricola, will
was born
Julii.
Both
in the old
and famous
grandfathers were
his
procurators in the imperial service
- the crowning
dignity of the Equestrian Order. His father Julius Graecinus
was
a
member of the
Senate and
won fame by his By those very
devotion to literature and philosophy.
accomplishments he incurred the wrath of the emperor Gaius: he received orders to impeach 53
M.
Silanus,
and was
TACITUS afterwards put to death for refusing. Agricola's mother
was Julia
Procilla, a
paragon of feminine
up under her tender
he passed
care,
youth in the cultivation of
from the temptations of
shielded partly
by
his
own
sound
going to school from place
his
boyhood and arts. He was
his
the liberal
all
Brought
virtue.
companions,
evil
by
instincts, partly
very early years
living
and
at Massilia, a
where Greek refinement and provincial puritanism
are happily blended.
us that in his early
I
remember how he would
often
youth he was tempted to drink deeper
of philosophy than was allowable for a
Roman and
One
the fire of his passion.
can well understand
that his lofty, aspiring nature
was
not too wisely, by the
and splendour of fame
its
fairness
a
wisdom,
future senator, but that his mother, in her
damped
tell
attracted strongly, if in
higher and nobler aspects. In time, age and discretion
cooled his ardour; and he always remembered the hardest lesson that philosophy teaches
He
-a
sense
of proportion.
served his military apprenticeship in Britain to the
satisfaction
of Suetonius Paulinus, a hard-working and
sensible officer,
order to
who
assess his
chose
him
for a staff appointment in
worth. Agricola was no loose young
subaltern, to turn his military career into a life
and he would not make
his
of gaiety;
staff-captaincy
and
his
inexperience an excuse for idly enjoying himself and continually going
on
leave. Instead,
54
he got to
know
his
AGRICOLA province and
made himself known
to the troops.
learned
from the experts and chose the
follow.
He
He
models to
best
never sought a duty for self-advertisement,
never shirked one through cowardice.
He
acted always
with energy and a sense of responsibility. Neither before nor since has Britain ever been in a
more
disturbed and perilous
state.
Veterans had been
massacred, colonies burned to the ground, armies cut
off.
They had to fight for their lives before they could think of victory. The campaign, of course, was conducted under the direction and leadership of another - the commander to
whom belonged the decisive success and the credit for
recovering Britain. Yet everything combined to give the
young Agricola
and
his spirit
fresh
skill,
glory - a thankless passion construction was put tion
was
From
as
upon
dangerous
as a
in an age in distinction
for military
which
a sinister
and a great reputa-
bad one.
Britain Agricola returned to
his career
child
experience, and ambition;
was possessed by a passion
Rome
to enter
on
of office, and married Domitia Decidiana, the
of an
illustrious house. It
was
a union that
brought
him social distinction and aid to his ambition for advancement. They lived in rare accord, maintained by mutual affection
ever, a as a
and
unselfishness; in such a partnership,
good wife deserves more than half the
praise, just
bad one deserves more than half the blame. 55
how-
On being
TACITUS him
elected quaestor, the ballot assigned
province and Salvius Titianus
Asia
as
his
proconsul. Neither
as his
the one nor the other corrupted him, though the province
with
its
wealth invited abuses, and the proconsul, an
abject slave to greed,
was prepared
'You wink
ordinate to any extent: will
wink
at
to indulge his sub-
at
my
and
I
yours/ While he was in Asia a daughter was
born to him, which both strengthened
him
consoled
offences
his position
for the loss, shortly afterwards,
born previously.
He
and
of a son
passed the interval between his
quaestorship and his tribunate of the people, and also his
year of office as tribune, in quiet retirement; for he under-
stood the age of Nero, in which inactivity was tanta-
mount
to
wisdom. His praetorship ran the same quiet
course, since
no
judicial duties
had
fallen to his lot. In
ordering the public games and the other vanities associated with his office, he
and to
compromised between economy
excess, steering clear
of extravagance but not
failing
win popular approval. He was afterwards chosen by
Galba to check over the
gifts in
diligently tracing stolen objects inflicted
on the
State
by
all
the temples; and
he repaired the
by
losses
the temple-robbers except
Nero. 7
The following year and to
his
marauding
dealt a grievous
blow
to his heart
The men of Otho's fleet, made a savage raid on the neighbour-
family fortunes. at large,
hood of Intimilium
in
Liguria,
56
murdered Agricola's
AGRICOLA mother on her estate
own
and plundered both the
estate,
and a large part of her fortune - which was what
had tempted them to commit the crime. Agricola had accordingly
set
out to pay the
last
dues of affection,
when
he was overtaken by the news of Vespasian's bid for Empire, and without a moment's hesitation joined
his
party. Mucianus was directing the inauguration of the
new
reign and the government of
was
a very
young man,
to
whom
ment meant nothing but
in
that task
command of the
transfer
to
with conscientious
and
its
advance-
enjoy himself.
recruits,
twentieth legion.
allegiance,
its
Domitian
for
his father's
licence
Mucianus sent Agricola to enrol
had performed
Rome;
It
retiring
and when he zeal
put him
had been slow
to
commander was
reported to be disloyal. Actually, since even governors of consular rank found this legion
manage and were
commander well
afraid
more than they could
of it, the
fact that a praetorian it
may
than
his.
lacked sufficient authority to control
have been the
soldiers'
fault
rather
Appointed, therefore, not merely to take over command, but also to mete out punishment, Agricola took disciplinary measures, but, with rare modesty, did his best to give the impression that
no such measures had been necessary.
Britain at that time
was governed by Vettius Bolanus
with a hand too gentle for a warlike province. Agricola
moderated
his
energy and restrained 57
his enthusiasm, for
TACITUS fear
of taking too much upon himself.
lesson
He had learned the
of obedience and schooled himself to subordinate
ambition
Shortly
propriety.
to
afterwards
Petilius
man of consular rank, was appointed governor. now had scope to display his good qualities.
Cerealis, a
Agricola
But
at first
was merely hard work and danger
it
Cerealis shared
with him. The glory came
It
to
when he had passed the test, he command of larger forces. Yet he never
in
sought to glorify himself by bragging of ments.
army
eventually,
test his ability;
was placed
Several
later.
times he was entrusted with a detachment of the
that
was
his
chief,
successful operations,
he
said,
who
his achieve-
planned
all
his
who
and he was merely the agent
executed them. Thus by his efficiency in carrying out his orders,
and by
done, he
won
his
modesty
distinction
in speaking
of what he had
without arousing jealousy.
On
Agricola's return
late
emperor Vespasian granted him the
patrician,
from
his military
and afterwards placed him
command status
in charge
the
of a
of the
province of Aquitania - a splendid promotion to an
important administrative post that was a stepping-stone to the consulship, for
which the emperor had
marked him
common
the
out.
It is
power of fine
a
in fact
belief that soldiers lack
discrimination, because the
proceedings of a court martial - tending,
as
summary
they do, to
be rough and ready, and often, indeed, high-handed 58
AGRICOLA no scope to forensic skill. But Agricola had the natural good sense, even in dealing with civilians, to give
show himself both division ation.
agreeable and just.
He made
a clear
between hours of business and hours of relax-
When
he was dignified,
attention,
demanded and austere - though
the judicial duties of the assizes serious,
merciful whenever he could be.
When
duty had been
discharged, he completely dropped his official
air.
As
to
or arrogance, he had long overcome any
sullenness
tendency to such
faults;
and he had the rare faculty of
being familiar without weakening his authority and austere without forfeiting people's affection. incorruptibility
would
and
man of his
honesty in a
strict
be to insult his virtues.
To mention calibre
Even fame, which often
tempts the best of men, he would not seek by advertisement or intrigue. colleagues
and
considered
it
all
He
avoided
all
rivalry
self-
with
his
bickering with the procurators; for he
undignified to
minious to be beaten.
win such
battles
and igno-
He was kept in his post for less than called home to the immediate
and then
three years
prospect of the consulship. Public opinion insisted that the province
of Britain was being offered to him, not
because he said anything himself to suggest
he was obviously the right man. at fault:
it
may
consulship, while
trothed to
me
rare promise
me
his
even prompt a I
was
in
my
daughter - a
- and
after his
in marriage. His
Rumour
it,
but because
is
not always
selection.
early girl
During
his
manhood, he be-
who
already
showed
term of office he gave her to
appointment to the 59
command of
TACITUS of
a pontifex,
Although the geographical position and the
inhabitants
Britain, coupled
with the
priestly office
followed immediately. 10
of Britain have been described by many authors, describe
them once
again, not to
ability against theirs,
completed in
on
graces
style
shall
my industry and
but because the conquest was only
this period.
of
match
I
to
Where my predecessors relied make their guesswork sound
attractive, I shall offer ascertained fact. Britain, the largest
of the islands known to us Romans, situated as to east it
run
is
parallel to the coast
of such
a size
and so
of Germany on the
and to that of Spain on the west, while to the south
actually
lies
within sight of Gaul.
Its
northern shores,
with no land facing them, are beaten by a wild and open sea.
The
general shape of Britain has been
Livy and by Fabius Rusticus - the
modern
writers respectively
-
finest
compared by
of ancient- and
to an elongated
or a double-headed axe. Such indeed
is its
diamond
shape south of
Caledonia, and so the same shape has been attributed to the whole.
huge and
what
is
But when you go
shapeless tract
actually the
farther north
you
find a
of country, jutting out to form
most
distant coastline
and
finally
tapering into a kind of wedge. These remotest shores
now circumnavigated, for the first Roman fleet, which thus established the fact
were
was an
island.
At the same time
it
time,
by
a
that Britain
discovered and sub-
jugated the Orkney Islands, hitherto unknown. Thule,
60
AGRICOLA too,
was
sighted, but
no more;
their orders
took them no
farther, and winter was close at hand. But report has
it
and even
in
that this sea
a high
is
sluggish
wind does not
suppose,
is
and heavy to the
rise as
that the lands
other seas do.
mass of an unbroken expanse of sea
To
motion.
outside
cussed.
I
investigate the nature
sea hold
wider sway:
is
and the deep
more slowly its
set in
tides
often been dis-
it
carries to its
and
fro in
pushing
way even among its own domain.
its
as if in
motion a
its
ebb and flow
stop at the coast, but penetrates deep inland
mountains,
I
add just one observation. Nowhere does the
mass of tidal currents, and in
about,
reason,
of Ocean and
my subject and the matter has
will
The
and mountains, which produce
sustain storms, are farther apart there,
and
lies
oar,
it
does not
and winds
highlands and
ii
Who
the
first
remember we
is
open to question: one must
are dealing with barbarians.
physical characteristics vary, tive.
The
Silures, the lies
and the variation
But
their
sugges-
is
reddish hair and large limbs of the Caledonians
proclaim a
Spain
of Britain were, whether
inhabitants
natives or immigrants,
German
origin; the swarthy faces
tendency of their hair to
opposite,
all
lead
one
curl,
and the
of the
fact that
to believe that Spaniards
crossed in ancient times and occupied that part of the
country.
The
resemble them.
peoples nearest to It
the Gauls likewise
may be that they still show the effect of 61
TACITUS a
common origin;
or perhaps
it is
climatic conditions that
have produced this physical type in lands that converge so
from north and
closely it
south.
On
the whole, however,
seems likely that Gauls settled in the island lying so close
both countries you find the same
to their shores. In
and
religious
There
beliefs.
language, and there
is
is
no
the same hardihood in challenging
danger, the same cowardice in shirking
But the Britons show more
close.
yet been enervated that the Gauls too
ritual
great difference in
by protracted had
their
when
it
it
comes
they have not
spirit:
peace. History
tells
us
hour of military glory; but
since that time a life
of ease has made them unwarlike:
their valour perished
with
their
freedom.
The same
happened to those Britons who were conquered rest are still
has
early; the
what the Gauls once were.
12
Their strength
from
chariots.
in his defence.
is
in their infantry.
Some
tribes also fight
The nobleman drives, his dependants fight Once they owed obedience to kings; now
they are distracted between the warring factions of rival chiefs.
Indeed, nothing has helped us
more
in fighting
against their very powerful nations than their inability to
but seldom that two or three
co-operate.
It is
to repel a
common
groups,
are conquered.
its
all
The
climate
frequent rains and mists, but there
Their day
is
states unite
danger; thus, fighting in separate
is
is
wretched, with
no extreme
longer than in our part of the world.
62
cold.
The
AGRICOLA and
nights are light,
in the
extreme north so short that
evening and morning twilight are scarcely distinguish-
block the view, the sun's glow,
able. If no clouds
can be seen
all
night long:
it
does not
set
and
it is
rise,
said,
but
The reason must be that cast low shadows and do
simply passes along the horizon.
of the earth
the
flat
not
raise the darkness to
extremities
to reach the sky
and
any height; night therefore
its stars.
crops, except olives, vines,
grow
warmer
in
lands.
The
soil will
fails
produce good
and other plants which usually
They
are slow to ripen,
though
they shoot up quickly - both facts being due to the same cause, the
extreme moistness of the
Britain yields gold, silver,
worth conquering. are
Its seas,
soil
and atmosphere.
and other metals, to make too,
produce
pearls,
it
but they
of a dark, bluish-grey colour. Some think that the
natives are unskilful in gathering
Indian
them; for whereas
in the
Ocean the oysters are torn alive and breathing from
the rocks, in Britain they are collected as the sea throws
them
up.
I
find
it
easier to believe that the pearls are
inferior quality than that people miss a
of
chance of making a
larger profit.
13
The Britons readily submit to military service, payment of tribute,
and other obligations imposed by government,
provided that there for they are
is
broken
no
abuse.
That they
in to obedience,
slavery. Julius Caesar, the first
bitterly resent;
but not
Roman
as
yet to
to enter Britain
with an army, did indeed intimidate the natives by a 63
TACITUS victory and secure a grip
on the
coast.
But he may
fairly
be said to have merely drawn attention to the island
was not
his to bequeath. After
men of Rome
with the leading country.
it
of
:
it
the civil wars,
fighting against their
Even when peace returned,
neglected. Augustus spoke called
him came
Britain
was long Tiberius
this as 'policy',
an 'injunction'. The emperor Gaius unquestion-
ably planned an invasion of Britain; but his impulsive ideas shifted like a weathercock,
against
Germany had come
emperor Claudius
He
who
sent over legions
his grandiose efforts
to nothing.
It
was the
late
initiated the great undertaking.
and
to share in the enterprise greatness. Tribes
and
auxiliaries
- the first
and chose Vespasian
step
towards
his future
were subdued and kings captured, and
the finger of destiny began to point to Vespasian.
14
The
first
governor of consular rank to be appointed was
Aulus Plautius, and soon
after
him came Ostorius Not only were the
Scapula - both of them fine soldiers. nearest parts ince,
of Britain gradually organized into a prov-
but a colony of veterans also was founded. Certain
domains were presented to King Cogidumnus,
own
who
down
to our
times - an example of the long-established
Roman
maintained his unswerving loyalty right
custom of employing even kings to make others
slaves.
Didius Gallus, the next governor, merely held what predecessors
had won,
establishing a
64
few
forts in
his
more
AGRICOLA advanced positions, so that he could claim the credit of
made some
having
annexations.
Veranius succeeded
Didius, only to die within the year. After him, Suetonius
Paulinus enjoyed tribes
two
years
and strengthening
attack the island
of success, conquering
forts.
fresh
Emboldened thereby
to
of Anglesey, which was feeding the
native resistance, he exposed himself to attack in the rear.
15
For the Britons, their fears allayed by the absence of the dreaded legate, began to canvass the woes of slavery, to
compare telling.
their
'We
wrongs and sharpen
gain nothing
burdens for willing shoulders.
now two
at a time;
wreak
his
property.
We used to have one king
are set over us
curator, slaves;
war
to
quarrel with each other is
equally ruinous.
governor has centurions to execute
In
- the governor
fury on our life-blood; the procurator, on our
Whether our masters
or agree together, our bondage
Nothing
their sting in the
by submission except heavier
is
it is
and both of them add
any longer at least a
things stand with us, that seize our
from
safe
braver it is
his will; the
The pro-
insults to violence.
their greed
man who
and
lust.
takes the spoil; as
mostly cowards and shirkers
homes, kidnap our children, and conscript
men - as though it were only for our own country that we would not face death. What a mere handful our invaders are, if we reckon up our own numbers! Such thoughts our
prompted the Germans
to
throw off the yoke; and they 65
TACITUS have only a river, not the Ocean, to shield them. country, wives, and parents to fight for; the
We have
Romans have
nothing but greed and self-indulgence. Back they will go, as their deified Julius
went back,
valour of our fathers.
if
we will but emulate the
We must not be scared by the loss of may
army more dash, but the greater staying-power comes from defeat. The gods themselves are at last showing mercy to us Britons in keeping the Roman general away, with his army exiled in one or two
battles; success
another island. For ourselves,
most
difficult step:
we
enterprise like this there
give an
we
have already taken the
have begun to plan. is
more danger
And
in an
in being caught
planning than in taking the plunge/
16
Egged on by such mutual encouragements, the whole island rose
under the leadership of Boudicca, a lady of
royal descent their
the
for Britons
make no
distinction
of sex
appointment of commanders. They hunted
Roman
forts,
-
in
down
troops in their scattered posts, stormed the
and assaulted the colony itself, which they saw as the
citadel
of their servitude; and there was no form of savage
cruelty that the angry victors refrained from. In fact, had
not Paulinus, on hearing of the revolt, help, Britain it
to
its
action.
would have been
former
state
lost.
As
of submission by
But many of the
it
made
speed to
was, he restored
a single successful
rebels did not lay
down
their
arms, conscious of their guilt and of the special reasons
66
AGRICOLA they had for dreading what the governor might do. Excellent officer though he was,
would abuse with undue
severity, as if
government
therefore
Turpilianus.
They hoped
it
repentance,
further
since
was feared
that he
The him by Petronius he would be more inclined
were
a personal injury.
replaced that
to listen to pleas in extenuation
crimes.
it
and punish every offence
their surrender
of guilt or protestations of
he had not witnessed the enemy's
He dealt with the existing troubles, but risked no move before handing over his post to Trebellius
Maximus. Trebellius was
deficient in
energy and without
of the province
military experience, but he kept control
by an easy-going kind of administration. The barbarians
now vices,
any Romans, to condone seductive
learned, like
while the intervention of the
him with
civil
a valid excuse for inactivity.
ever, a serious
wars provided
There was, how-
mutiny; for the troops, accustomed to
campaigns, got out of hand
when they had nothing to
do.
his
angry army. His
honour and dignity compromised, he
now commanded
Trebellius fled
and hid to escape
merely on sufferance.
had licence to do
as
By a kind of tacit bargain the troops
they pleased, the general had his
life;
and so the mutiny stopped short of bloodshed. Vettius Bolanus likewise,
as
the
civil
declined to disturb the province
There was
still
the
same
same insubordination
in
wars
by enforcing
paralysis in face
won
affection
continued, discipline.
of the
foe, the
the camp - only Bolanus was an
upright man, with no misdeeds to
had
still
where he lacked 67
make him authority.
hated, and
TACITUS
17
But when Vespasian,
in the course
government
restored stable
succession of great generals
to Britain,
struck terror into their hearts Brigantes,
which
is
said to
.by
by
actually conquered, the
came
a
Petilius Cerealis at
once
attacking the state of the
be the most populous
a series
no means bloodless -
there
and splendid armies, and the
hopes of our enemies dwindled.
whole province. After
of his general triumph,
in the
of battles - some of them
Petilius
had overrun,
major part of their
would indeed have completely
if
not
territory.
He
eclipsed the record
and
reputation of any ordinary successor. But Julius Frontinus
was equal to shouldering the heavy burden, and rose high as a man then could
rise.
as
He subdued by force of arms
the strong and warlike nation of the Silures, after a hard struggle, not only against the valour
against the difficulties
of the
of
his
enemy, but
terrain.
18
Such was the condition to which Britain had been brought by the ups and downs of warfare when Agricola crossed the Channel with the
The
soldiers
summer
already half over.
thought they had done with campaigning
for the present
and were relaxing, while the enemy were
looking for a chance to profit thereby. Shortly before arrival the tribe
his
of the Ordo vices had almost wiped out
squadron of cavalry stationed in their 68
territory,
and
a
this
AGRICOLA initial
stroke had excited the province.
war welcomed the
new
the temper of the
test
Those who wanted
and only waited to
lead thus given,
governor.
The summer was
now far spent, the auxiliary units were scattered all over the province, and the soldiers assumed that there
would be no
more fighting
combined
that year. Everything, in fact,
new campaign, and many were
hinder or delay a
to in
favour of simply watching the points where danger threatened. In spite of all, Agricola decided to
He
the peril.
go and meet
concentrated the legionaries serving on
detachment duties and a small force of auxiliaries. As the Ordovices did not venture to descend into the plain, he led his as to
men up
impart
into the
his
own
hills,
marching
courage to the
in front himself so
rest
by sharing
their
danger, and cut to pieces almost the whole fighting force
of the
up
tribe.
But he
and that the outcome of
would determine how much
enterprises
sequent operations
live
his first
fear his sub-
would inspire. So he decided to reduce
the island of Anglesey,
from the occupation of which
Paulinus had been recalled I
he must continue to
realized that
to his reputation,
by the
described in an earlier chapter.
conceived, there was no
revolt
of all
Britain, as
As the plan was
fleet at
hastily
hand; but Agricola's
resource and resolution found means of getting troops across.
He
who had trained at
carefully picked out
his auxiliaries
men
experience of shallow waters and had been
home
their horses their
from
to
swim
carrying their arms and keeping
under control, and made them discard
equipment.
He
all
then launched them on a surprise
TACITUS attack;
and the enemy,
a fleet
of
ships
nonplussed.
who had been thinking in terms of
and naval operations, were completely
What
could embarrass or defeat a foe
who
attacked like that? So they sued for peace and surrendered the
island;
governor,
and Agricola was extolled
as
a
brilliant
who immediately on his arrival - a time usually
devoted to pageantry and a round of ceremonial
visits
-
had chosen to undertake an arduous and dangerous enterprise.
Yet he did not use
He would
self.
not represent
his success to glorify
his action as a
him-
campaign of
conquest, when, as he said, he had merely kept a defeated tribe
under control.
dispatches to
He
did not even use laurel-wreathed
announce
his
achievement. But his very
title to fame won him even greater men gauged his splendid hopes for the future by
reluctance to admit his
fame: for
his reticence
about an exploit so remarkable.
19 Agricola, however, understood the feelings of the province
and had learned from the experience of others
arms can
effect little if injustice follows in their train.
that
He
resolved to root out the causes of rebellion. Beginning
with himself and
own the
establishment
his staff, first
-
he enforced discipline
a task often
found
in his
as difficult as
government of a province. He made no use of fireed-
men
or slaves for
fluenced
by
official business.
He would
his personal preference,
tions or petitions, in choosing centurions
70
not be in-
or by recommenda-
and men
for
AGRICOLA The He knew
he was
would best justify his went on, but did not
sure,
staff duties.
best,
trust.
everything that
He would condone
always act upon his knowledge.
minor
offences,
but dealt severely with major crimes.
However, he did not always pronounce sentence: offender was
more
truly repentant,
content with that. positions and
duties
He preferred men whom
transgress, rather than
if
an
often than not he was to appoint to official
he could
trust
not to
He
have to punish transgressions.
made the contributions of corn and tribute less onerous by distributing the burdens fairly,
of
tricks
profiteers,
than the tax
itself.
and put a stop to the
which were more
bitterly resented
For the provincials were made to wait
go through the farce the governor - thus being
outside locked granaries in order to
of 'buying' corn to deliver to in fact
compelled to discharge their obligations by
payments.
way
Or
delivery
would be ordered
which had permanent camps
told to send supplies to
Thus the rendering of a easy for
all
close
remote and service
was obstructed
to out-of-the-
end of the country, so
destinations at the other
states
money that
by them were
inaccessible spots.
which should have been
in order to line a
few men's
pockets.
20
By
checking these abuses in
Agricola
made
his
very
first
year of office
the Britons appreciate the advantages of
peace, which, through the negligence or arbitrariness
previous governors, had been as 71
much
of
feared as war.
TACITUS But when summer came he concentrated took the
field in person.
the march, praising
up to the mark.
He was
army and
his
present everywhere
on
good discipline and keeping stragglers
He
himself chose
for
sites
reconnoitred estuaries and forests and ;
all
camps and
the time he gave
enemy no rest, but constantly launched plundering raids. Then, when he had done enough to inspire fear, he the
tried the effect
of clemency and showed them the
of peace. As a
tions
result,
many states which till
attrac-
then had
maintained their independence gave hostages and aban-
doned
their resentful attitude.
A ring
was placed round them; and so
was the operation ever
made
from
of garrisoned
no
carried through that
their first submission
with so
forts
and thoroughly
skilfully
British tribes
little
interference
their neighbours.
21
The following winter was
spent
on schemes of
social
betterment. Agricola had to deal with people living in isolation
and
and ignorance, and therefore prone
his object
quiet
was
to
accustom them to a
by the provision of
life
He
amenities.
to fight;
of peace and
therefore gave
private encouragement and official assistance to the build-
ing of temples, public squares, and praised the energetic tion
for
and scolded the
honour proved
as
good
slack;
effective
as
houses.
He
and competicompulsion.
Furthermore, he educated the sons of the chiefs in the liberal arts, as
and expressed a preference for
compared
with the trained
skills
72
British ability
of the Gauls. The result
AGRICOLA was
of loathing the Latin language they
that instead
became eager
to speak
national dress
came
where
to be seen.
it
effectively. In the
into favour
And
same way, our
and the toga was every-
so the population
was gradually
led into the demoralizing temptations of arcades, baths,
and sumptuous banquets. The unsuspecting Britons spoke of such novelties
as 'civilization',
when
in fact they
were
only a feature of their enslavement.
22
The
third year
of Agricola's campaigns brought him into
contact with fresh peoples; for the territory of tribes was
ravaged
as far
army was
now
north
buffeted
too terrified to molest
experts that
storms, but the it.
No
fort
was ever taken by storm, ever
On
has been observed
on
a better eye for
a site of his choosing
capitulated, or
was ever
the contrary, the garrisons could fre-
quently venture upon protracted siege
It
no general ever showed
ground than Agricola. abandoned.
There was even time to
of forts.
spare for the establishment
by
Tay. Our enemy were
as the estuary called the
by furious
sallies
by having
;
for they were secured against
supplies sufficient for a
whole
And
so winter in these forts held no terrors and commandant could look after himself. The enemy were baffled and in despair. They could no longer retrieve the losses of the summer by successes in the winter, but
year.
every
were equally hard pressed
at
both seasons.
Agricola was not greedy of fame and never tried to 73
steal
TACITUS the credit for other men's work. Every centurion and
him an honest witness to his merit. According to some accounts he was harsh in reprimand; and certainly he could make himself as unpleasant to the wrong kind of man as he was agreeable to the right kind. prefect
found
But
anger
his
in
left
had no need to
no hidden malice
in his heart,
He
fear his silence.
and you
thought
it
more
honourable to hurt than to hate.
23
The
fourth
summer was
spent in securing the districts
already overrun; and if the valour of our
army and
the
glory of Rome had permitted such a thing, a good place
was found
for halting the advance
in Britain
Clyde and the Forth, carried inland to
the tides of opposite seas, are separated only
neck of land. This isthmus was garrisons,
was
The
by
a
on
narrow
firmly held by
and the whole expanse of country
safely in
what was
now
itself.
a great depth
to the south
our hands. The enemy had been pushed into
virtually another island.
24 Agricola started his
fifth
campaign by crossing the
river
Annan, and in a series of successful actions subdued nations hitherto
unknown. The
was lined with his fear. Ireland,
forces.
side
of Britain
that faces Ireland
His motive was rather hope than
lying between Britain and Spain, and easily
accessible also
from the
Gallic sea,
74
might serve
as a
very
AGRICOLA valuable link between the provinces forming the strongest
part of the empire.
It is
small in comparison with
Britain, but larger than the islands
of the Mediterranean.
In soil and climate, and in the character and civilization of its
inhabitants,
it is
much
and harbours have merchants
who
like Britain;
and
its
approaches
now become better known from An Irish prince, expelled
trade there.
from his home by a rebellion, was welcomed by Agricola,
who
detained him, nominally as a friend, in the hope of
being able to
make use of him. I have often heard Agricola by a single
say that Ireland could be reduced and held
legion with a fair-sized force of auxiliaries; and that
would be
easier to
Roman
surrounded by banished from
hold Britain
if
armies,
it
so
it
were completely that
liberty
was
sight.
its
25 In the
summer
in
which
his sixth
year of office began,
Agricola enveloped the tribes beyond the Forth. Fearing a general rising
of the northern nations and threatening
movements by
the
enemy on
reconnoitre the harbours.
It
land,
was
first
cola to increase his striking-power,
he used
his fleet to
employed by Agriand
its
continued
attendance on him
made an excellent impression. The war was pushed forward simultaneously by land and sea; and infantry, cavalry,
and marines, often meeting
in the
same
camp, would mess and make merry together. They boasted, as soldiers will,
of
their several exploits
adventures, and matched the perilous depths of
75
and
woods
TACITUS and ravines against the hazards of storms and waves, victories
on land
against the conquest
Britons for their part, as was learned
dismayed by the appearance of the secret places
of
their sea
fleet;
- though the
unknown always
some of our
felt
that
facts
forts,
on
resistance
were exaggerated,
by rumour. They went
is,
that the
was closed against them. The
of Caledonia turned to armed
large scale
now
were opened up, they
their last refuge in defeat
natives
attack
of the ocean. The
from prisoners, were
a
as the
so far as to
and inspired alarm by
their
challenging offensive. There were cowards in the council
who
pleaded for a
*
strategic retreat'
behind the Forth,
maintaining that 'evacuation was preferable to expulsion'.
But just then Agricola learned
that the
enemy was
about to attack in several columns. For fear that their superior
enable
numbers and knowledge of the country might
them
to surround him,
forward in three
he
moved
his
own army
divisions.
26
enemy got
As soon
as
changed
their plans
the
to
know of this
and massed for
they suddenly
a night attack
on the
ninth legion. That seemed to them the weakest point. Striking panic into the sleeping camp, they ait
down
the
and broke in. The fight was already raging inside camp when Agricola was warned by his scouts of
sentries
the
the enemy's march.
He
followed close on their tracks,
ordered the speediest of his cavalry and infantry to harass
76
AGRICOLA made
the assailants' rear, and finally
his
whole force
raise
Dawn was now
breaking, and the gleam of the
legions' standards could
be seen. Caught thus between
a shout.
two
fires,
the Britons
were dismayed, while the men of
the ninth took heart again;
now that their lives were safe
they could fight for honour. a
grim
the the
They even made
struggle ensued in the
a sally,
and
narrow gateways. At
last
enemy were routed by the efforts of the two armies one striving to make it plain that they had brought
relief;
the other, that they could have done without
Had not
marshes and woods covered the enemy's
that victory
would have ended
it.
retreat,
the war.
27 This success inspired with confidence
had taken part
in
it
or heard about
nothing could stop
men
it.
all
the troops
They
who
declared that
them, that they ought to
like
drive deeper into Caledonia and fight battle after battle till
they reached the farthest limits of Britain. Even the
cautious strategists of yesterday
That
were forward and boastful the crowning injustice of
enough
after the event.
war
claim credit for success, while defeat
:
all
account of one.
had not
Roman
lost
The
is
Britons,
is
laid to the
their part, felt that they
through any lack of courage, but through the
general's skilful use
unbroken
on
spirit
of a lucky chance. With
they persisted in arming their whole
fighting force, putting their wives
and children
of safety, and assembling together to 77
in places
ratify their league
by
TACITUS sacrificial rites.
Thus the campaign ended with angry
feelings excited
on both
sides.
28
That same summer a cohort of the Usipi
Germany and
enrolled in
that
had been
transferred to Britain ventured
They murdered a centurion them discipline, were serving in their ranks as models and instructors. Then they
upon
a
memorable
and some
exploit.
who,
soldiers
to teach
boarded three small warships, forcing the pilots to do
their
will;
but one of these escaped and went back, and the
other
two were then looked on with such
they were
killed.
News of these
suspicion that
events had not yet got
about, and the ships seemed like a ghostly apparition as
they coasted along. But the time came
when
they had to
put in to land to get water and other supplies. This
brought them into
collision
with
tried to protect their property.
the raiders
parties
Though
were sometimes driven
off;
of Britons
who
often successful,
and
in the
end
they were so near starvation that they began to eat one another; lots.
first
they
lost their ships
for pirates,
by
they picked out the weakest, then they drew
In this fashion they sailed round
the
Britain; then
through bad seamanship, were taken
and were cut off first by the Suebi and then
Frisii.
from hand
North
Some of them were sold to
hand
till
as slaves
and passed
they reached our bank of the
Rhine, where they gained notoriety by telling the story of their
wonderful adventure. 78
AGRICOLA
29
At the beginning of the next summer Agricola a grievous personal loss in the death
He
been born a year before.
suffered
who
of a son
had
blow without
accepted this
of a stoic or giving way to woman. The conduct of the war was one means he used to distract his mind from its either parading the fortitude
passionate grief like a
sorrow.
He sent his fleet ahead to plunder at various points
and thus spread uncertainty and
army marching
light,
of the bravest of the Britons loyalty
by long
with an
terror; then,
which he had reinforced with some
who had
proved
their
Mount enemy. The
years of submission, he reached
Graupius, which he found occupied
by
the
Britons were, in fact, undaunted
by
the loss of the
previous battle, and were ready for either revenge or enslavement.
They had
realized at last that the
common
danger must be warded off by united action, and had sent
round embassies and drawn up force
of
all
their states.
could be seen, and all
the
was
still
treaties to rally the full
Already more than 30,000
young men, and famous warriors whose
fresh
and green', every
man wearing
he had earned. At that point one of the a
man of
outstanding
valour
'old age
the decorations
many
leaders,
and nobility named
Calgacus, addressed the close-packed multitude of
clamouring for
battle.
men
they came flocking to the colours -
This
is
reported to have said:
79
men
the substance of what he
is
TACITUS
30
'When
we
consider the motives
I
the critical position
you
the united front
dawn of
we are in,
have for fighting and
have
a strong feeling that
showing today
are
liberty for the
mustered to a man, and
I
whole of
all
will
Britain.
of you are
free.
mean
You
the
have
There are no
on the sea we are menaced by Roman fleet. The clash of battle - the hero's glory has now actually become the safest refuge for a coward. Battles against Rome have been lost and won before; but hope was never abandoned, since we were always here in reserve. We, the choicest flower of Britain's
lands behind us, and even
the
manhood, were hidden away
Out of sight of subject
from the defilement of dwellers shielded
upon till
obscurity in farthest
earth,
in her
most
secret places.
we kept even our eyes free tyranny. We, the most distant
shores,
the
last
of the
free,
have been
today by our very remoteness and by the
which
it
has shrouded our name.
bounds of Britain
lie
open
Now,
to our enemies ;
what men know nothing about they always assume a valuable prize.
nothing
is
still
than these - for in them
is
an arrogance escape.
of the world, they have exhausted the land by
their indiscriminate plunder, sea.
us
Romans,
which no submission or good behaviour can Pillagers
and
to be
But there are no more nations beyond
there but waves and rocks, and the
more deadly
the
and
now
they ransack the
A rich enemy excites their cupidity; a poor one, their 80
AGRICOLA lust for
power. East and West alike have
failed to satisfy
them. They are the only people on earth to whose covetousness both riches and poverty are equally tempt-
To
ing.
robbery, butchery, and rapine, they give the *
name of government
lying
'
'
'
;
they create a desolation and
call it peace,
31
man
'Nature has ordained that every
children and his other relatives above
now
should love his
all else.
These are
by Our wives and sisters, even if they are not raped by enemy soldiers, are seduced by men who are supposed to be our friends and guests. Our goods and money are being torn from us
conscription to slave in other
lands.
consumed by to
fill
taxation; our land
their granaries;
stripped of its harvest
is
our hands and limbs are crippled by
building roads through forests and
swamps under the lash
of our oppressors. Creatures born to be once for owners.
all,
and,
what
is
more, get
their
slaves are sold
keep from their
We Britons are sold into slavery anew every day;
we have
to
pay the purchase-price ourselves and feed our
masters into the bargain. In a private household the latest arrival this
is
made
the butt even of his fellow-slaves ; so, in
establishment
where
all
mankind have long been
new acquisitions, who are marked out for destruction. For we have no fertile lands, no mines, no ports, which we might be spared to work in. Our courage, too, and our martial spirit are against us: slaves,
it
is
we, the cheap
masters do not like such qualities in their subjects. Even 81
TACITUS our remoteness and tion, are
chief
bound
we
are
to
up
isolation,
make
Since
to.
while they give us protec-
Romans wonder what misyou cannot hope for mercy,
the
therefore, take courage before
what you hold most
dear,
too late to strive for
it is
whether
it
be
life
or honour.
The Brigantes, with only a woman to lead them, burned a Roman colony and stormed a camp and if success had not ;
tempted them to relax off the yoke.
their efforts, they
might have
cast
We, who have never been forced to feel that
yoke, shall be fighting to preserve our freedom, and not, like
them, merely to avenge past
at the
very
first
injuries.
Let us then show,
of arms, what manner of men Cal-
clash
edonia has kept in reserve. 32
'Do you imagine
that the
quarrels
war our
and disunion that have given them fame. The
reputation of the its
in It is
Romans' bravery
matches their dissoluteness in time of peace? No!
enemies.
Look
nations, that will
now held
Roman army is it,
up on the
by
faults
of
a motley conglomeration of
be shattered by defeat
together
that those Gauls
at
built
success.
as surely as it
is
Or can you seriously think
and Germans - and, to our
bitter
shame,
are bound to Rome by genuine They may be lending their life-blood
many Britons too loyalty or affection?
now to the foreign tyrant, but they were enemies of Rome for
more years than they have been her
slaves.
Terror and
intimidation are poor bonds of attachment: once break
them, and where fear ends hatred will begin. All that can 82
AGRICOLA men on
spur
no wives
them
if
to victory
is
on our
to fire their courage,
parents ready to taunt
they run away. Most of them either have no
fatherland they can
remember, or belong to one other
Rome. See them,
than
no
The enemy have
side.
scanty
a
band,
many
sea,
around them. The gods have given them,
forests
prisoners
bound hand and
foot, into
and
scared
bewildered, staring blankly at the unfamiliar sky,
and
like so
our hands. Be
not afraid of the outward show that means nothing, the glitter
of gold and
silver
inflict a
wound. Even
in the ranks
find willing hands to help us.
our cause
as their
own;
lost liberty; the rest
you
forts
see there
we shall
Britons will recognize
the Gauls will
remember
their
of the Germans will desert them
And beyond
this
as
army
nothing to be frightened of - only
without garrisons, colonies of greybeards, towns
and
sick
is
of our enemies
The
surely as the Usipi did recently. that
nor
that can neither avert
masters.
distracted
Which
will
subjects
and tyrant
to follow
your leader
between rebel
you choose -
into battle, or to submit to taxation, labour in the mines,
and
all
the other tribulations of slavery?
Whether you are
to endure these for ever or take quick vengeance, this field
must
decide.
On,
think of those that shall
come
then, into action;
and
as
you
went before you and of those
go, that
after/
33
This speech was received with enthusiasm, expressed, in
barbarian fkshion,
by singing and 83
yelling
and by
TACITUS discordant
cries.
Bodies of troops began to
most adventurous ran out
flashed as the
was taking
the time their battle-line soldiers
were
high
in such
spirits that
be kept within their defences. For
edge on
desirable to put the final
addressed 'This service
is
them
my own
- yours and
and endurance
all
that,
he
felt
their courage,
by
- you
started to
it
and
campaigns and
in fighting, as
it
general.
loyal
conquer
divinely guided
battles,
which have
of the enemy but for were, against Nature
have had no complaint to make of my
limits reached
all
they could scarcely
name of imperial Rome's
greatness. In all these
you of your
and
thus
called not only for courage in face toil
in front,
shape. Agricola's
the seventh year, comrades, since
Britain in the
herself, I
move and arms
men nor
Thus we have advanced beyond the
by previous armies under
my
predeces-
The farthest boundary of this land, which they knew only by report or rumour, we hold in our grasp sors.
with arms and
fortresses.
conquered Britain.
Many
We
have both explored and
a time
on the march,
as
trudged wearily over marshes, mountains, and
have
I
shall
we meet
heard the bravest
fight us?"
the
They
are
among you
enemy?
When
coming now,
out of their hiding-places. The
exclaim:
you
rivers,
"When
come and we have dug them
will they
for
fair field for
our valour
we desired is granted to us. An easy path awaits us we win, but if we lose the going will be hard indeed. The long road that we have travelled, the forests we have threaded our way through, the estuaries we have crossed that
if
84
AGRICOLA -
redound to our
all
credit
and honour
keep our eyes to the front. But in
if
long
as
we turn tail,
we
as
our success
surmounting these obstacles will put us in the deadliest
We have not
peril.
knowledge of the country
the exact
that our
enemy
we have
our hands, and swords in them, and these are
that matters. For myself, that neither an
abundant
has, or his
army nor
I
a
supplies.
However, all
made up my mind long ago commander can avoid danger
by running away. So - although an honourable death would be lives
better than a disgraceful attempt to save our
- our best chance of safety does
our duty.
he in doing
And there would be glory, too, in dying - if die
we must come
in fact
here where the world and
all
created things
to an end.
34 'If
you were
confronted
unfamiliar troops,
I
by
strange
you need only
battle-honours, only question your
recall
your
eyes.
These are the
and
would quote the examples of other
armies to encourage you. As things are,
own
nations
men who
last
own
year attacked a single
legion like robbers in the night, and acknowledged defeat
when
they heard your battle-cry. These are the greatest
runaways of all the Britons - which is the reason why they have survived so long.
When we plunged into woods and
gorges on the march,
all
the brave beasts used to charge
straight at us, while the timid
and
slothful ones slunk
away at the mere sound of our tread. It is the same now. The most courageous of the Britons have fallen long 85
TACITUS
who remain are just You have overtaken them
those
since;
cowards.
so
many
at last,
spiritless
not because
they have chosen to stand at bay, but because they are cornered.
It is
only their desperate plight and deadly fear
army where
that
have paralysed
win
a great and brilliant victory over
their
campaigning; crown
stands, for
it.
you
to
Have done with
with one glorious day,
Rome that her soldiers were never to blame
and prove to if wars
fifty years
it
have been allowed to drag on or the seeds of fresh
rebellion
sown/ 35
Even while Agricola was
still
speaking the troops showed
and the end of his speech was greeted
intense eagerness,
with a wild burst of enthusiasm. Without delay they went off to
arm themselves. The men were so
were ready to rush marshalled in
them with
number, formed
were
distributed
in front
more
care.
The
auxiliary infantry, 8,000
legions
were stationed
of the camp rampart: victory would be vastly
auxiliaries
it
cost
no Roman blood, while
if the
come to The British army was posted on higher manner calculated to impress and intimidate
should be repulsed the legions could
their rescue.
its
they
a strong centre, while 3,000 cavalry-
on the flanks. The
glorious if
ground
thrilled that
straight into action; but Agricola
in a
enemy. Their front
other ranks seemed to
close-packed
tiers.
The
line
was on the
mount up flat
plain,
but the
the sloping hillside in
space between the
two armies
was taken up by the noisy manoeuvring of the charioteers. 86
AGRICOLA now saw that he was
Agricola
fearing that the
enemy might
fall
simultaneously on
front and flanks, he opened out his ranks.
looked
like
and
being dangerously
up the
to bring
legions.
resolute in the face
and
greatly outnumbered,
thin,
The
line
his
now
and many urged him
But he was always an optimist of
difficulties.
horse and took up his position
He
on foot
sent
away
in front
his
of the
colours.
36
The
showed both
with
spears
their
little shields,
At
of missiles, and the
fighting began with exchanges
Britons
last
skill in
These old
to close
soldiers
and fight
it
us.
out at the sword's
had been well
drilled in
enemy were awkward
and unwieldy swords,
at
sword-
it,
with
especially as the
having no points, were quite unsuitable for a cut-
and-thrust struggle at close quarters. raining
blow
of their
shields,
after
Britons posted
The
Batavians,
blow, striking them with the bosses
and stabbing them
on the
plain
in the face, felled the
and pushed on up the
hill-
This provoked the other cohorts to attack with
vigour and
were
their
Agricola called upon four cohorts of Batavians and
their small shields
sides.
parrying our
huge swords or catching them on
fighting, while the
latter,
and
while they themselves rained volleys on
two of Tungrians point.
steadiness
left
kill
the nearest of the enemy.
Many
Britons
behind half dead or even un wounded, owing to
the very speed of our victory.
Our
cavalry squadrons,
meanwhile, had routed the war chariots, and 87
now
TACITUS plunged into the infantry terrifying,
battle.
Their
first
onslaught was
but the solid ranks of the enemy and the rough-
of the ground soon brought them to a
ness
and made the
battle quite unlike a cavalry action.
Our
had only a precarious foothold and were being
infantry jostled
standstill
by the horses'
flanks;
and often a runaway
chariot,
or riderless horses careering about wildly in their terror,
came plunging
from the
into the ranks
side or in
head-on
collision.
37
The
Britons
on the
hill-tops
had so
far
taken no part in
the action and had leisure to note with contempt the smallness
of our numbers. They were
now
starting to
descend gradually and envelop our victorious Agricola, their
in
who had
rear.
But
expected just such a move, threw in
path four squadrons of cavalry which he was keeping
hand
and turned
for emergencies
The
into a disorderly rout.
recoiled
tactics
their spirited charge
of the Britons
now
on themselves. Our squadrons, obedient
to
orders, rode round from the front ofthe battle and fell upon
the
enemy
grim,
in the rear.
awe-inspiring
The open spectacle.
plain
now
presented a
Our horsemen
kept
pursuing them, wounding some, making prisoners of others,
and then
killing
On the British side, his character.
their hands,
each
as new enemies appeared. man now behaved according to
them
Whole groups, though they had weapons in fled
unarmed men
before inferior numbers; elsewhere,
deliberately charged to face certain death.
5
AGRICOLA Equipment, bodies, and mangled limbs lay
all
around on
now and When they
the bloodstained earth; and even the vanquished
then recovered their fury and their courage.
reached the woods, they rallied and profited by their local
knowledge
to
ambush
the
rash pursuers.
first
Our
men's over-confidence might even have led to serious
But Agricola was everywhere
disaster.
once.
at
He
ordered strong cohorts of light infantry to ring the woods like hunters.
troopers
Where
went
the thickets were denser, dismounted
in to scour
the cavalry did the work. troops, re-formed
them; where they thinned out,
At
length,
when
they saw our
and steady, renewing the
Britons turned and ran.
pursuit, the
They no longer kept formation
or looked to see where their comrades were, but scattering and deliberately keeping apart
The pursuit went on till
penetrated far into trackless wilds.
night
fell
and our
emy some
10,000
soldiers fell;
were
on our
from each other they
tired
side,
Of the en-
of killing.
360
men -among them
Aulus Atticus, the prefect of a cohort, whose youthful impetuosity and mettlesome horse carried
him deep
into
the ranks of the enemy.
38
For the victors
triumph and
women
it
was
their booty.
The
of rejoicing over
wounded
or called to the survivors.
hiding-places, only to
abandon them 89
away
Many
their rage actually set fire to
their
men and
Britons dispersed,
wailing together, as they carried
homes and in
A.G.—
a night
left
their their
them, or chose
at once.
At one
TACITUS they would try to concert plans, then suddenly
moment
break off their conference. Sometimes the sight of their
more
dear ones broke their hearts; to fury;
and
often
goaded them
it
we had proof that some of them laid violent
hands on their wives and children in a kind of pity. The next day revealed the
An
effects
of our victory more
awful silence reigned on every hand; the
deserted, houses
smoking
in the distance,
fully.
hills
were
and our scouts
did not meet a soul. These were sent out in
all
and made
random and
sure that the
were not massing over, a
it
at
enemy had
fled at
directions
any point. As the summer was almost
was impossible for operations
wider area; so Agricola led
his
to be extended over
army into
the territory of
the Boresti. There he took hostages and ordered his
admiral to
sail
round the north of Britain.
A
detachment
of troops was assigned to him, and the terror of
Rome
had gone before him. Agricola himself, marching slowly in order to
overawe the recently conquered
tribes
very deliberateness of his movements, placed
and cavalry the
fleet,
At about
in winter-quarters.
by the
his infantry
the same time
which aided by favourable weather had com-
pleted a remarkable voyage, reached Trucculensis Portus. It
had
started the
voyage from
that harbour,
and
after
coasting along the adjacent shore of Britain had returned intact.
39 Agricola's
dispatch
reported
this
series
of events
language of careful moderation. But Domitian reacted
90
in as
AGRICOLA he often did: he pretended to be pleased
was deeply disturbed. that his
made up
slaves in the
to look
a genuine victory
were reckoned immense.
him
for
on the grand
in thousands,
He knew
as to
silencing
market to have
like prisoners
in fact
he
when
excited,
and
their dress
of war. But now came
enemy dead
scale: the
and the popular acclaim was
that there
was nothing
so dangerous
have the name of a subject exalted above
of the emperor.
that
when
conscious of the ridicule
sham triumph over Germany had
he had bought hair
He was
forensic
He had
only wasted
his
eloquence and suppressing
standing accomplishment in civil to snatch military glory
from
life, if
another
time in all
out-
man was
his grasp. Talents in other
directions could at a pinch be ignored; but the qualities
of a good general should be the monopoly of the emperor. Harassed by these anxieties, he brooded over secret
till
malevolent purpose. In the end he decided that
be best to store up
in
his hatred for the present
it
would
and wait for
burst of popular applause and the enthusiasm of
the
first
the
army
in
them
he was tired - a sure sign in him of some
to die
down. For
at that
time Agricola was
still
command of Britain. 40
Domitian therefore directed that the customary decorations
and
of a triumph, the honour of a complimentary
all
statue,
the other substitutes for a triumphal procession,
should be voted to Agricola in the Senate, coupled with a highly flattering address; further, the impression was to 91
TACITUS be conveyed that the province of Syria, then vacant
through the death of Atilius Rufus, an ex-consul, and
men of seniority, was intended was commonly believed that one of
for
always reserved for Agricola.
It
in Domitian's closest confidence
freedmen
is
it
met
said,
even
only
if
he was
an
of peace and
may
be true, or
it
may have
security.
To
friends
to
been
his successor
avoid publicity, he did
not want to be met by a crowd of people returned to
it
being characteristic of Domitian. Agricola,
meanwhile, had handed over the province to in a state
to
The freedman,
him returned
with
interview
Domitian. The story as
the
with
Agricola's ship in the Channel, and without
seeking
invented
in Britain.
still
sent
with orders
a letter offering Syria to Agricola, but
deliver
was
Rome. So he evaded
and entered the
by
city
when he
the attentions of his
night.
By
night, too, he
went, in accordance with instructions, to the palace.
was greeted with
He
and then dismissed,
a perfunctory kiss
without a word of conversation, to join the crowd of courtiers dancing attendance
divert attention
from
to offend civilians,
on the emperor. Wishing
his military repute,
by displaying other
devoted himself completely to a
He was modest versation, friends.
great
in his
to
which was apt
qualities,
Agricola
of quiet retirement.
life
manner of life, courteous
in
con-
and never seen with more than one or two
who
always measure
their self-advertisement,
after carefully
Consequently, the majority
men by
observing Agricola, were
left
asking
why
he was so
famous. Very few could read his secret aright.
92
AGRICOLA 41
Often during
this
Domitian behind
period Agricola was denounced to
his back,
His danger did not
arise
and acquitted behind
from any charge
any complaint from a victim of
deadliest type
of enemy, the
against
injustice,
emperor's hatred of merit, Agricola's singers
his back.
him or
but from the
own fame, and that of his praises. And
indeed the fortunes of Rome in those ensuing years were such as would not allow Agricola's
One after in
were
name
to be forgotten.
lost in
Moesia and Dacia,
Germany and Pannonia, through
the rash folly or
another, armies
cowardice of their generals enced
officers
captured with frontier
;
one
were defeated all
after another, experi-
and
in fortified positions
their troops.
It
was no longer the
and the Danube line that were threatened, but the
permanent quarters of the legions and the maintenance of the empire. So, as one loss followed another and year after year
was
signalized
by death and
disaster, public
opinion began to clamour for Agricola to take
command.
His energy and resolution, and his proven courage in war,
were universally contrasted with the general cowardice. stung
by
It is
known
that Domitian's
the lash of such talk.
The
best
slackness
own
ears
and
were
of his freedmen
spoke out of their loyal affection, the worst out of malice
and spleen; but
all
alike
goaded on an emperor
always inclined to pursue evil courses.
by
his
own virtues and by the
faults
And
who was
so Agricola,
of others, was carried
straight along the perilous path that led to glory.
93
TACITUS
42
At length the year arrived for the proconsulship
which he was due
in
to ballot
of Africa or Asia; and the recent
execution of Civica was both a warning for Agricola and
Domitian. Agricola was approached by
a precedent for
some
of the emperor's confidants,
instructed to ask
him
They began by
province.
peaceful retirement, his excuses
who had
been
outright whether he meant to take a hinting at the attractions of
went on
to offer their help in getting
accepted if he wished to decline, and
finally,
throwing off the mask, prevailed on him by persuasions
and
threats to
go
to Domitian.
He
hypocrite's part prepared.
listened to Agricola's request to
granting
it
The emperor had
put on a majestic
be excused, and
him
did not, however, assign
salary,
after
allowed Agricola to thank him, without even
a blush for such an odious pretence
He
his air,
of granting a favour. the usual proconsular
which he himself had granted
in
some
- per-
cases
haps from annoyance that Agricola had not asked for
it,
perhaps from an uneasy conscience, not wishing people to think he
him
forbidden to
had bribed him to decline when
hate a
to accept.
It is
an
man whom you
instinct
in fact
have injured. Yet even
Domitian, though he was quick to anger, and
ment all the more implacable because he hide
it,
was softened by the
Agricola,
who
declined to court,
by a
his resent-
generally tried to
self-restraint
94
he had
of human nature
and wisdom of
defiant
and
futile
AGRICOLA parade of independence, the renown that must inevitably destroy him. Let
be clear to those
it
who
on
insist
men
admiring disobedience that even under bad emperors
can be great, and that a decent regard for authority,, if
backed by industry and energy, can reach that peak of distinction
which most men
perilous course,
country,
by an
attain
only by following a
winning fame, without benefiting
their
ostentatious self-martyrdom.
43
The end of Agricola's sorrow to circle
his friends
and complete
make
life
-
a grievious
affected even
strangers.
so absorbed in their
to
-
enquiries;
own
The
blow
men
and a
to us
outside his
own
general public, usually
concerns, flocked to his house
and
in
the
public
squares,
and
wherever people met for conversation, he was talked
When his death was
of.
announced, no one was glad and no
one quickly forgot him. Sympathy was increased by persistent
rumour
own
I
part,
had been poisoned. For
that he
would not venture
to assert that there
is
a
my any
positive evidence.
However, throughout
were more
from prominent freedmen and court
visits
physicians than
is
usual with emperors
by proxy. This could have it
may have
last
his illness there
when paying
calls
indicated genuine concern, or
been spying. All accounts agreed that on the
day, as he lay dying, every change in his condition
was reported by
relays
of
couriers,
and no one could
believe that tidings need have been brought so quickly
95
TACITUS they were unwelcome to the emperor. However,
if
Domitian made a decent show of sorrow;
his
hatred of
made him uneasy, and he could always more convincingly than fear. It was no
Agricola no longer hide satisfaction
on the reading of Agricola's
that
secret
named Domitian 'loving
taking
as
daughter', it
as
which
will,
co-heir with his 'good wife' and his
the
Emperor was much
pleased,
compliment. His mind was so
a sincere
blinded and vitiated by incessant flattery that he did not realize that
no good
emperor except
a
would
father
leave property to any
bad one.
44 Agricola was born on 13 June in the third consulship of the emperor Gaius and died in his fifty-fourth year
on
23 August in the consulship of Collega and Priscinus.
As
to his personal appearance - in case the interest
of posterity
should extend to such a matter - he was good-looking rather than striking.
His features did not indicate a
passionate nature: the prevailing impression
charm. There was no a
difficulty
good man, and one could
great his
willingly believe
man. Though he was taken from us
vigorous manhood,
was one of
about recognizing him
him
in the
yet, so far as glory
the longest span of years could not have
is
as
to be a
prime of
concerned,
made
his life
more complete. He had fully attained those true blessings which depend upon a man's own character. He had held the consulship and bore the decorations of triumph: what 96
AGRICOLA more could
fortune have added?
vast wealth,
and he had
while
and his
He had no
handsome
a
desire for
fortune.
He
died
wife and daughter yet lived to comfort him;
his
we may justly
count him even fortunate who, with
honours unimpaired,
kinsmen and friends
at the
height of his fame, leaving
what was soon
secure, escaped
to
come. Though he was not permitted to see the dawn of this blessed
age and the principate of Trajan - a consum-
mation of which he often spoke to us
- yet
in wishful
was no small compensation
it
cutting off that he
to recover
for his untimely
was spared those
Domitian, instead of giving the
last
them upon
its
as
head so thick and
though by a
days
when
state a breathing-space
from one blow before the next
was drained
prophecy
fell,
rained
fast that its life-blood
single mortal
wound.
45 Agricola did not live to see the senate-house under siege, the senators surrounded
one
fell
stroke
death, so
Only
which
many
by
a
cordon of troops, and
sent so
many
noble ladies into banishment or
a single victory
was credited
as
Baebius was
still
from reaching our
a prisoner in the dock.
exile.
yet to Carus
Mettius; the four walls of the Alban fortress Messalinus's bellow
that
consulars to their
ears;
still
kept
and Massa
But before long
we senators led Helvidius to prison, watched in shame the sufferings
of Mauricus and Rusticus, and stained ourselves
with Senecio's innocent blood. Even Nero used to avert 97
TACITUS though he ordered abominations, forbore
his eyes and,
The worst of our torments under Domitian was to see him with his eyes fixed upon us. Every sigh was registered against us; and when we all turned pale, he did not scruple to make us marked men to
witness them.
by
a glance
of his savage countenance -
that blood-red
countenance which saved him from ever being seen to blush with shame.
Happy indeed were you, glorious
but in your timely death.
life,
testimony of those
met your to
fate
do your
Agricola, not only in your
who
heard your
with a cheerful courage.
best to acquit the
We
have the that
you
You seemed
glad
last
words
emperor of blood-guiltiness.
But your daughter and I have suffered more than the pang of a
father's loss:
sick-bed, sustain
we grieve that we could not sit by your your
failing strength,
and
yearning for your fond looks and embraces. surely have received
some
last
our
commands, some words
be engraved for ever on our special
satisfy
We should
hearts. It
was our
to
own
sorrow and pain that through the accident of our
long absence
more than you by
we
all,
lost
him
four years before his death. All,
dear father, was assuredly done to honour
the devoted wife at your side.
Yet some
tears that
should have been shed over you were not shed; and, at the
last,
there
was something
looked in vain.
98
for
which your dying eyes
AGRICOLA
46 If there
is
any mansion for the
spirits
of the
just,
if,
as
philosophers hold, great souls do not perish with the
body,
may you from
family,
feeble regrets
contemplate your
mourn
May you
rest in peace!
your
and unmanly mourning to
virtues, for
which
it
May we honour you
or lament!
call us,
by our admiration and our
a sin to
in better
and
praise,
were
if
permit by following your example! That
ways -
our powers is
the true
To
honour, the true affection of souls knit close to yours.
widow I would suggest that they memory of a father and a husband by continu-
your daughter and revere the ally
pondering
their hearts the
his
deeds and sayings, and by treasuring in
form and
those of his body.
Not
features
that
of his mind, rather than
would
I
forbid likenesses of
marble or of bronze. But representations of the face, like that face itself, are subject to
everlasting,
material
decay and
whereas the essence of man's mind
solution,
human
is
dis-
something
which you cannot preserve or express
wrought by another's
we
character. All that
skill,
of the ages
of great renown. With many
;
it
of
men through
is
set
will be as
on record
will live.
99
the
for his achievements are
with
had no name or fame: they will be buried
But Agricola's story
in
own
loved and admired in Agricola
abides and shall abide in the hearts endless procession
but only in your
men who
in oblivion.
for posterity,
and he
GERMANIA
The
various peoples of Germany are separated
from the
Gauls by the Rhine, from the Raetians and Pannonians by the Danube, and
mountains fear. sea,
a
or,
from the Sarmatians and Dacians by
where there
are
no mountains, by mutual
The northern parts of the country
are girdled
by
the
flowing round broad peninsulas and vast islands where
campaign of the present century has revealed
existence
to us the
of some nations and kings hitherto unknown.
The Rhine
rises in a
remote and precipitous height of the
Raetian Alps and afterwards turns slightly westward to
flow into the North Sea. slope
The Danube issues from a
of moderate height
passing
more peoples than
gentle
Black Forest, and
in the
the Rhine in
its
after
course dis-
charges itself into the Black Sea through six channels - a
seventh
As
mouth being
to the
lost in
marshlands.
Germans themselves,
I
they are indigenous and that very
think little
it
probable that
foreign blood has
been introduced either by invasions or by friendly dealings with neighbouring peoples. For in former times it
was not by land but on shipboard 101
that
would-be
TACITUS immigrants arrived; and the
beyond the intruders,
world.
coasts
seldom
is
And
unknown
of Germany, and
by
visited
to say nothing
sea,
who would
Minor, North Africa, or
ocean that
limitless
of the
go
defies
part of the
of that wild and
perils
have been
Italy, to
were
as it
from our
ships
lies
likely to leave Asia
to
Germany with
its
forbidding landscapes and unpleasant climate - a country that
is
thankless to
who was
and dismal to behold for anyone
till
not born and bred there?
In the traditional songs
which form
their
only record
of the past the Germans celebrate an earth-born god
Mannus
called Tuisto. His son
is
supposed to be the
fountain-head of their race and himself to have begotten three sons tribes
who
in the interior; rest.
gave their names to three groups of
- the Ingaevones, nearest the
Some
and the
authorities,
Istaevones,
sea; the
who
Herminones,
comprise
all
the
with the freedom of conjecture
permitted by remote antiquity, assert that Tuisto had
more numerous descendants and mention more groups such
as
names which they affirm
The name
tribal
Marsi, Gambrivii, Suebi, and Vandilii to be both genuine
Germania, however,
is
recently applied to the country.
said to
The
and
ancient.
have been only
first
people to cross
the Rhine and appropriate Gallic territory, though they are
known nowadays
as
Tungri, were at that time called
Germani; and what was at
not of the entire the wider sense.
first
the
race, gradually
It
name of this one
came
tribe,
into general use in
was first applied to the whole people by
the conquerors of the Gauls, to frighten them;
102
later, all*
GERMANIA the
Germans adopted
it
and
by
called themselves
the
new name.
The Germans,
like
many
other peoples, are said to have
Hercules, and they sing of
been visited by
foremost of all the heroes
when
as the
they are about to engage
in battle.* Ulysses also, in all those fabled his, is
him
wanderings of
supposed by some to have reached the northern sea
and visited German lands, and to have founded and named Asciburgium, a town on the Rhine inhabited to
They even add
that
an
inscribed also with the
altar consecrated
name of
this day.
by Ulysses and
his father Laertes
was
discovered long ago at this same place, and that certain
barrows with monuments upon them bearing Greek inscriptions
Raetia.
I
on the borders of Germany and
exist
still
do not intend
to argue either for or against these
man must
them
as
he
have the well-known kind of chant that they
call
assertions; each
accept or reject
feels inclined.
* They baritus.
but,
By
also
the rendering of this they not only kindle their courage,
merely by listening to the sound, they can forecast the
issue
of an
approaching engagement. For they either terrify their foes or them-
become frightened, according to the character of the noise they make upon the battlefield; and they regard it not merely as so many selves
voices chanting together but as a unison of valour. ticularly
aim
at
shields in front
is
a harsh, intermittent roar;
of
their
iuto a deeper crescendo
What
mouths, so that the sound
by the reverberation.
103
they par-
and they hold is
their
amplified
TACITUS
For myself,
I
accept the view that the peoples of Germany
have never contaminated themselves by intermarriage
with foreigners but remain of pure blood,
One
unlike any other nation.
result
of
this
distinct is
and
that their
physical characteristics, in so far as one can generalize
about such a large population, are always the same: fierce-looking blue eyes, reddish hair, and big frames -
which, however, can exert their strength only by means
of violent
effort.
They
are less able to endure toil or
fatiguing tasks and cannot bear thirst or heat, their climate has inured
poverty of their
soil to
The appearance of
them
the country differs considerably in
by
side that faces Gaul,
Pannonia.
A
fruit-trees. It
good is
though and the
hunger.
different parts; but in general bristling forests or
to cold spells
foul
it
is
swamps.
covered either by It is
wetter on the
windier on the side of Noricum and
soil for cereal crops, it will
not grow
well provided with live-stock; but the
animals are mostly undersized, and even the cattle lack the
handsome heads
that are their natural glory.
mere number of them
that the
prized. Silver
the in;
form of wealth they have, and are and gold have been denied them -
for these are the only
much
It is
Germans take pride
104
GERMANIA whether cannot are
no
as a sign
say.
Yet
deposits
I
of divine favour or of divine wrath,
would not
positively assert that there
of silver or gold
The
has prospected for them.
I
in
Germany,
since
no one
natives take less pleasure
than most people do in possessing and handling these metals; indeed, one can see in their houses silver vessels,
which have been presented
to chieftains or to ambassadors
put to the same everyday uses
travelling abroad,
earthenware. Those
who
on the
live
however, do value gold and
as
frontiers nearest us,
silver for their use in
com-
merce, being quick to recognize and pick out certain of
our coin-types.* They
like old-fashioned coins because
they have been long familiar with them - especially those
which have notched edges and sentations
gold, not
of two-horse
from any
chariots.
are
stamped with repre-
They also prefer silver to
special liking for the metal, but
because a quantity of silver coins
is
more convenient
for
buying ordinary cheap merchandise.
Even iron sort
is
not plentiful;
this has
been inferred from the
of weapons they have. Only a few of them use
swords or large lances: they carry spears - called frameae in their language
- with short and narrow
blades, but so
sharp and easy to handle that they can be used, as required, either at close quarters or in long-range fighting.
* The practice
tribes
of the
interior stick to the simpler
of barter.
105
Their
and more ancient
TACITUS horsemen are content with
a shield
foot-soldiers also rain javelins carries several,
on
and a spear; but the
their foes: each
and they hurl them
to
immense
of them
distances,
being naked or lightly clad in short cloaks. There
is
nothing ostentatious about their equipment: only their shields are picked out in the colours
have
breastplates,
of their choice. Few
and only one here and there
a
helmet of
metal or hide. Their horses are not remarkable for either
beauty or speed, and are not trained to execute various evolutions as ours are; they ride
with just a single wheel to the
man
well that not a speaking, cavalry.
their
falls
strength
them
right,
straight ahead, or
keeping their line so
behind the
lies
in
rest.
infantry
Generally
rather
than
So foot-soldiers accompany the cavalry into
action, their speed
of foot being such that they can
keep up with the charging horsemen. The best
easily
men
are
chosen from the whole body of young warriors and placed with the cavalry in front of the main battle-line.
The number of these is precisely fixed a hundred are drawn from each district, and 'The Hundred' is the name they bear among their fellow-countrymen. Thus what was originally a mere number has come to be a title of distinction. The battle-line is made up of wedge-shaped formations. To give ground, provided that you return to :
the attack, ice.
considered good tactics rather than coward-
when a shield away one's throw To hangs in the balance. supreme disgrace, and the man who has thus dis-
They bring back
battle is
is
the
the bodies of the fallen even
honoured himself is debarred from attendance 106
at sacrifice
GERMANIA or assembly.
have ended
Many
their
such survivors from the battlefield
shame by hanging themselves.
They choose their kings for their noble birth, their commanders for their valour. The power even of the kings is not absolute or arbitrary. The commanders rely on example rather than on the authority of their rank - on the admiration they
win by showing conspicuous energy
and courage and by pressing forward
own
flogging, are allowed to inflicted
merely
orders, but as
Germans
it
as
of
their
none but the
were
in obedience to the
whom the
god
on the field of battle. They
their sacred groves.
powerful incitement to valour divisions are not
made up
chance-comers, but are family or clan. Close dearest, so that
is
A
specially
that the squadrons
and
random by the mustering of each composed of men of one at
by them,
too, are their nearest
they can hear the shrieks of their
and the wailing of
praise
and are not
with them into the fight certain figures and
emblems taken from
witnesses
priests,
punishments or on the commanders'
believe to be present
actually carry
folk
in front
troops. Capital punishment, imprisonment, even
their children.
and
women-
These are the
whom each man reverences most highly, whose
he most
desires. It
they go to have their
is
to their mothers
wounds
treated,
and wives that
and the
women
are
not afraid to count and compare the gashes. They also carry supplies
of food to the combatants and encourage them. 107
TACITUS
8
stands
It
on record
that armies already
wavering and on
the point of collapse have been rallied
by
women,
the
pleading heroically with their men, thrusting forward
bared bosoms, and making them realize the immi-
their
nent prospect of enslavement - a fate which the Germans fear
more
selves.
if
desperately for their
Indeed,
you compel them
hostages
some
girls
than for them-
to include
among
a
these nations
consignment of
of noble family. More than
believe that there resides in
and a
women
you can secure a surer hold on
this,
they
women an element of holiness
of prophecy; and so they do not scorn to ask
gift
their advice, or lightly disregard their replies. In the reign
of the emperor Vespasian
by many Germans
we saw
as a divinity;
Veleda long honoured
and even
earlier
they
showed a similar reverence for Aurinia and a number of others - a reverence untainted by servile flattery or any pretence of turning
women
into goddesses.
9
Above all no
sin,
other gods they worship Mercury, and count
on
certain feast-days, to include
in the sacrifices offered to
human
it
victims
him. Hercules and Mars they
appease by offerings of animals, in accordance with
ordinary civilized custom. also to Isis^
forei gn cult ;
Some ofjhe
Suebi sacrifice
do not know the origin or explanatio iLQ£this_ but the goddess's emblem, being 108
made in the
6
GERMANIA form of
a light warship, itself proves that her worship
came
fronfabroad. The Germans do not think
in
km
keeping with the divine majesty to confine gods within "walls or to
portraythem
in the likeness
countenance. Their lioly places are
of any human
woods and
groves,
and theyapply the names of deities to that hidden presence which
is
by the eye of reverence.
seen only
10
For omens and the casting of lots they have the highest regard. Their procedure in casting lots
They
is
always the same.
cut off a branch of a nut-bearing tree and slice
into strips; these they
them completely of the
priest
at
random onto
a
white cloth. Then the
state, if the c onsultation is
lather of the family if it
is
a public one, or the N
private, offers a prayer
gods,anxnookingji£^ at a time,
and reads
viously scored there it
is
no
t heir
on them.
meaning from the
it,
to>
the
strips ^
one
signs pre>-
If the lots forbid an enterprise,
deliberation that day
they allow
required.
on the matter Tn question;
confirmation by the taking oFauspices
Although the
familiar
try F6 obtain
known
is
Germans, they^lf^alsol^^
ownT^o
is
method of seeking
information from the cries and theHightofbirds to the
it
mark with different signs and throw
of their
omens and warnings from
horses.
These horses are kept afthepublic expense in the sacred
woods and groves
that
I
have mentioned; they are pure
white and undefiled by any A.G.
toil in
the service of man.
—
TWa