Tacitus: Agricola

[1] Clarorum virorum facta moresque posteris tradere, antiquitus usitatum, ne nostris quidem temporibus quamquam incuriosa suorum aetas omisit, quotiens magna aliqua ac nobilis virtus vicit ac supergressa est vitium parvis magnisque civitatibus commune, ignorantiam recti et invidiam. Sed apud priores ut agere digna memoratu pronum magisque in aperto erat, ita celeberrimus quisque ingenio ad prodendam virtutis memoriam sine gratia aut ambitione bonae tantum conscientiae pretio ducebantur. Ac plerique suam ipsi vitam narrare fiduciam potius morum quam adrogantiam arbitrati sunt, nec id Rutilio et Scauro citra fidem aut obtrectationi fuit: adeo virtutes isdem temporibus optime aestimantur, quibus facillime gignuntur.

[1] To hand down to posterity the deeds and character of illustrious men, a practice anciently customary, not even in our own times—though an age careless of its own—has been omitted, whenever some great and noble virtue has conquered and overpassed the vice common to small and great states alike, ignorance of the right and envy. But among the earlier generations, as it was easy and more in the open to do things worthy of record, so the most celebrated men, by their talent, were moved to bring forth the memory of virtue without favor or ambition, at the price only of a good conscience. And many judged that to narrate their own life themselves was a confidence of morals rather than arrogance; nor was this, in the case of Rutilius and Scaurus, lacking in credibility or exposed to detraction: so true is it that virtues are best valued in those same times in which they are most easily engendered.

At nunc narraturo mihi vitam defuncti hominis venia opus fuit, quam non petissem incusaturus: tam saeva et infesta virtutibus tempora.

But now, as I am about to narrate the life of a defunct man, I have had need of permission—which I would not have asked were I going to accuse: so savage and so hostile to virtues are the times.

[2] Legimus, cum Aruleno Rustico Paetus Thrasea, Herennio Senecioni Priscus Helvidius laudati essent, capitale fuisse, neque in ipsos modo auctores, sed in libros quoque eorum saevitum, delegato triumviris ministerio ut monumenta clarissimorum ingeniorum in comitio ac foro urerentur. Scilicet illo igne vocem populi Romani et libertatem senatus et conscientiam generis humani aboleri arbitrabantur, expulsis insuper sapientiae professoribus atque omni bona arte in exilium acta, ne quid usquam honestum occurreret. Dedimus profecto grande patientiae documentum; et sicut vetus aetas vidit quid ultimum in libertate esset, ita nos quid in servitute, adempto per inquisitiones etiam loquendi audiendique commercio.

[2] We read that, when Arulenus Rusticus had praised Paetus Thrasea and Herennius Senecio Helvidius Priscus, it was a capital matter, and that fury was vented not only upon the authors themselves but upon their books as well, the task being delegated to the triumvirs to burn the monuments of the most illustrious wits in the Comitium and the Forum. Plainly they supposed that by that fire the voice of the Roman people and the liberty of the senate and the conscience of the human race were being abolished, with the professors of wisdom moreover expelled and every good art driven into exile, so that nothing honorable might occur anywhere. We have indeed given a great proof of patience; and just as the ancient age saw what was the last extreme in liberty, so we [have seen] what is [the last extreme] in servitude, with even the commerce of speaking and hearing taken away through inquisitions.

Memoriam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus, si tam in nostra potestate esset oblivisci quam tacere.

We would have lost even memory itself along with the voice, if it were as much within our power to forget as to be silent.

[3] Nunc demum redit animus; et quamquam primo statim beatissimi saeculi ortu Nerva Caesar res olim dissociabilis miscuerit, principatum ac libertatem, augeatque cotidie felicitatem temporum Nerva Traianus, nec spem modo ac votum securitas publica, sed ipsius voti fiduciam ac robur adsumpserit, natura tamen infirmitatis humanae tardiora sunt remedia quam mala; et ut corpora nostra lente augescunt, cito extinguuntur, sic ingenia studiaque oppresseris facilius quam revocaveris: subit quippe etiam ipsius inertiae dulcedo, et invisa primo desidia postremo amatur. Quid, si per quindecim annos, grande mortalis aevi spatium, multi fortuitis casibus, promptissimus quisque saevitia principis interciderunt, pauci et, ut ita dixerim, non modo aliorum sed etiam nostri superstites sumus, exemptis e media vita tot annis, quibus iuvenes ad senectutem, senes prope ad ipsos exactae aetatis terminos per silentium venimus? Non tamen pigebit vel incondita ac rudi voce memoriam prioris servitutis ac testimonium praesentium bonorum composuisse.

[3] Now at last spirit returns; and although, immediately at the very dawn of the most blessed age, Nerva Caesar has mingled things once dissociable, the principate and liberty, and Nerva Trajan day by day augments the felicity of the times, and public security has assumed not only hope and vow, but the very confidence and strength of the vow itself, yet by the nature of human infirmity remedies are slower than evils; and as our bodies grow slowly, they are quickly extinguished, so you will more easily have oppressed talents and pursuits than have recalled them: for even a sweetness of inertia steals upon one, and idleness, hateful at first, at last is loved. What, seeing that for fifteen years, a great span of mortal age, many have perished by fortuitous chances, and every most forward man has fallen by the cruelty of the emperor, we few—and, so to speak, survivors not only of others but even of ourselves—remain, so many years being taken out of the midst of life, in which as youths we have come to old age, as old men almost to the very limits of a completed age, through silence? Yet it will not irk me to have composed, even with an unpolished and rough voice, a memorial of the former servitude and a testimony to the present benefits.

Hic interim liber honori Agricolae soceri mei destinatus, professione pietatis aut laudatus erit aut excusatus.

Meanwhile, this book destined for the honor of Agricola, my father-in-law, by a profession of piety will either be praised or excused.

[4] Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, vetere et inlustri Foroiuliensium colonia ortus, utrumque avum procuratorem Caesarum habuit, quae equestris nobilitas est. Pater illi Iulius Graecinus senatorii ordinis, studio eloquentiae sapientiaeque notus, iisque ipsis virtutibus iram Gai Caesaris meritus: namque Marcum Silanum accusare iussus et, quia abnuerat, interfectus est. Mater Iulia Procilla fuit, rarae castitatis.

[4] Gnaeus Julius Agricola, born from the old and illustrious colony of Forum Iulii, had both grandfathers as procurators of the Caesars, which is equestrian nobility. His father was Julius Graecinus, of the senatorial order, noted for zeal for eloquence and wisdom, and by those very virtues he incurred the wrath of Gaius Caesar: for he was ordered to accuse Marcus Silanus and, because he refused, was put to death. His mother was Julia Procilla, of rare chastity.

In huius sinu indulgentiaque educatus per omnem honestarum artium cultum pueritiam adulescentiamque transegit. Arcebat eum ab inlecebris peccantium praeter ipsius bonam integramque naturam, quod statim parvulus sedem ac magistram studiorum Massiliam habuit, locum Graeca comitate et provinciali parsimonia mixtum ac bene compositum. Memoria teneo solitum ipsum narrare se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.

Reared in the bosom and indulgence of this lady, he passed his boyhood and youth through the entire cultivation of honorable arts. What kept him away from the seductions of wrongdoers, besides his own good and unimpaired nature, was that straightway, a very little boy, he had Massilia as the seat and instructress of his studies—a place mixed and well composed of Greek comity and provincial parsimony. I keep in memory that he himself used to relate that in his earliest youth he had drunk more keenly of the study of philosophy than was allowed to a Roman and a senator, had not a mother’s prudence restrained his kindled and blazing spirit.

Scilicet sublime et erectum ingenium pulchritudinem ac speciem magnae excelsaeque gloriae vehementius quam caute adpetebat. Mox mitigavit ratio et aetas, retinuitque, quod est difficillimum, ex sapientia modum.

Clearly, his sublime and erect nature aspired to the beauty and semblance of great and exalted glory more vehemently than cautiously. Soon reason and age mitigated him, and he retained—what is most difficult—a measure from wisdom.

[5] Prima castrorum rudimenta in Britannia Suetonio Paulino, diligenti ac moderato duci, adprobavit, electus quem contubernio aestimaret. Nec Agricola licenter, more iuvenum qui militiam in lasciviam vertunt, neque segniter ad voluptates et commeatus titulum tribunatus et inscitiam rettulit: sed noscere provinciam, nosci exercitui, discere a peritis, sequi optimos, nihil adpetere in iactationem, nihil ob formidinem recusare, simulque et anxius et intentus agere. Non sane alias exercitatior magisque in ambiguo Britannia fuit: trucidati veterani, incensae coloniae, intercepti exercitus; tum de salute, mox de victoria certavere.

[5] He gave proof of his first rudiments of the camp in Britain under Suetonius Paulinus, a diligent and moderate leader, having been chosen by him for the contubernium as a mark of esteem. Nor did Agricola licentiously, after the manner of youths who turn soldiery into lasciviousness; nor, sluggishly, did he convert the title of his tribunate and his inexperience into an excuse for pleasures and furloughs: but to learn the province, to be known to the army, to learn from the experienced, to follow the best, to seek nothing for ostentation, to refuse nothing out of fear, and at the same time to conduct himself both anxious and intent. Assuredly at no other time was Britain more exercised and more in the balance: veterans butchered, colonies burned, armies cut off; then they contended for safety, soon for victory.

Quae cuncta etsi consiliis ductuque alterius agebantur, ac summa rerum et recuperatae provinciae gloria in ducem cessit, artem et usum et stimulos addidere iuveni, intravitque animum militaris gloriae cupido, ingrata temporibus quibus sinistra erga eminentis interpretatio nec minus periculum ex magna fama quam ex mala.

Although all these things were conducted by the counsels and under the leadership of another, and the supreme control of affairs and the glory of the recovered province devolved upon the general, they added to the youth skill, practice, and spurs; and a desire for military glory entered his mind—unwelcome to times in which there is a sinister interpretation toward men of eminence, and no less danger from great fame than from bad.

[6] Hinc ad capessendos magistratus in urbem degressus Domitiam Decidianam, splendidis natalibus ortam, sibi iunxit; idque matrimonium ad maiora nitenti decus ac robur fuit. vixeruntque mira concordia, per mutuam caritatem et in vicem se anteponendo, nisi quod in bona uxore tanto maior laus, quanto in mala plus culpae est. Sors quaesturae provinciam Asiam, pro consule Salvium Titianum dedit, quorum neutro corruptus est, quamquam et provincia dives ac parata peccantibus, et pro consule in omnem aviditatem pronus quantalibet facilitate redempturus esset mutuam dissimulationem mali.

[6] Hence, having gone down into the city to take up magistracies, he joined to himself Domitia Decidiana, sprung from splendid birth; and that marriage was an ornament and a strength to him as he strove for greater things. And they lived in wondrous concord, through mutual charity and by each preferring the other, save that in a good wife the praise is so much the greater, as in a bad one the blame is the more. The lot of the quaestorship assigned the province Asia, with Salvius Titianus as proconsul, by neither of whom he was corrupted, although both the province was rich and ready for sinners, and the proconsul was prone to every avidity, who would, for whatever price, have purchased a mutual dissimulation of evil.

Auctus est ibi filia, in subsidium simul ac solacium; nam filium ante sublatum brevi amisit. Mox inter quaesturam ac tribunatum plebis atque ipsum etiam tribunatus annum quiete et otio transiit, gnarus sub Nerone temporum, quibus inertia pro sapientia fuit. Idem praeturae tenor et silentium; nec enim iurisdictio obvenerat.

A daughter was there added, at once as a support and a solace; for a son previously born he soon lost. Soon, between the quaestorship and the tribunate of the plebs, and even the very year of the tribunate itself, he passed in quiet and leisure, knowing, under Nero, the times in which inertia stood for wisdom. The same tenor and silence marked the praetorship; for jurisdiction had not fallen to his lot.

Ludos et inania honoris medio rationis atque abundantiae duxit, uti longe a luxuria ita famae propior. Tum electus a Galba ad dona templorum recognoscenda diligentissima conquisitione effecit, ne cuius alterius sacrilegium res publica quam Neronis sensisset.

He reckoned the games and the empty trappings of honor at the mean of reason and abundance, so that, as he was far from luxury, he was the nearer to fame. Then, chosen by Galba to re-examine the gifts of the temples, by a most diligent inquiry he brought it about that the commonwealth felt the sacrilege to be that of no one other than Nero.

[7] Sequens annus gravi vulnere animum domumque eius adflixit. Nam classis Othoniana licenter vaga dum Intimilium (Liguriae pars est) hostiliter populatur, matrem Agricolae in praediis suis interfecit, praediaque ipsa et magnam patrimonii partem diripuit, quae causa caedis fuerat. Igitur ad sollemnia pietatis profectus Agricola, nuntio adfectati a Vespasiano imperii deprehensus ac statim in partis transgressus est.

[7] The following year afflicted his spirit and his household with a grave wound. For the fleet of Otho, roaming licentiously, while it was ravaging Intimilium (a part of Liguria) in hostile fashion, killed Agricola’s mother on her own estates, and the estates themselves and a great part of the patrimony it plundered—this had been the cause of the slaughter. Therefore Agricola, having set out for the solemnities of piety, was overtaken by the news that the imperial power had been aspired to by Vespasian, and at once he crossed over to his party.

Initia principatus ac statum urbis Mucianus regebat, iuvene admodum Domitiano et ex paterna fortuna tantum licentiam usurpante. Is missum ad dilectus agendos Agricolam integreque ac strenue versatum vicesimae legioni tarde ad sacramentum transgressae praeposuit, ubi decessor seditiose agere narrabatur: quippe legatis quoque consularibus nimia ac formidolosa erat, nec legatus praetorius ad cohibendum potens, incertum suo an militum ingenio. Ita successor simul et ultor electus rarissima moderatione maluit videri invenisse bonos quam fecisse.

Mucianus was governing the beginnings of the principate and the status of the city, Domitian being very much a youth and from his father’s fortune usurping only license. He placed in command Agricola—sent to conduct levies and behaving uprightly and vigorously—over the Twentieth Legion, which had been slow to transfer to the oath of allegiance, where his predecessor was reported to be acting seditiously: for it was excessive and formidable even to consular legates, nor was a praetorian legate able to restrain it, uncertain whether because of his own disposition or that of the soldiers. Thus, chosen as successor and at the same time avenger, with most rare moderation he preferred to seem to have found them good rather than to have made them so.

[8] Praeerat tunc Britanniae Vettius Bolanus, placidius quam feroci provincia dignum est. Temperavit Agricola vim suam ardoremque compescuit, ne incresceret, peritus obsequi eruditusque utilia honestis miscere. Brevi deinde Britannia consularem Petilium Cerialem accepit.

[8] At that time Vettius Bolanus was in command of Britain, more placidly than is fitting for a ferocious province. Agricola tempered his force and restrained his ardor, lest it increase, skilled at complying and trained to blend the useful with the honorable. Shortly thereafter Britain received the consular Petilius Cerialis.

Habuerunt virtutes spatium exemplorum, sed primo Cerialis labores modo et discrimina, mox et gloriam communicabat: saepe parti exercitus in experimentum, aliquando maioribus copiis ex eventu praefecit. Nec Agricola umquam in suam famam gestis exultavit; ad auctorem ac ducem ut minister fortunam referebat. Ita virtute in obsequendo, verecundia in praedicando extra invidiam nec extra gloriam erat.

His virtues had a span for examples; but at first Cerialis shared only his labors and crises, soon also his glory: he often put him over a part of the army for a trial, and at times, according to the outcome, over larger forces. Nor did Agricola ever exult in his deeds for his own fame; as a minister he referred the good fortune to the author and leader. Thus, by excellence in obeying and by modesty in proclaiming, he was outside envy yet not outside glory.

[9] Revertentem ab legatione legionis divus Vespasianus inter patricios adscivit; ac deinde provinciae Aquitaniae praeposuit, splendidae inprimis dignitatis administratione ac spe consulatus, cui destinarat. Credunt plerique militaribus ingeniis subtilitatem deesse, quia castrensis iurisdictio secura et obtusior ac plura manu agens calliditatem fori non exerceat: Agricola naturali prudentia, quamvis inter togatos, facile iusteque agebat. Iam vero tempora curarum remissionumque divisa: ubi conventus ac iudicia poscerent, gravis intentus, severus et saepius misericors: ubi officio satis factum, nulla ultra potestatis persona[; tristitiam et adrogantiam et avaritiam exuerat]. Nec illi, quod est rarissimum, aut facilitas auctoritatem aut severitas amorem deminuit.

[9] As he was returning from the legateship of a legion, the deified Vespasian enrolled him among the patricians; and then he put him over the province of Aquitania, an administration of especially splendid dignity and with the hope of the consulship, for which he had destined him. Many believe that subtlety is lacking to military talents, because the jurisdiction of the camp, being untroubled and rather blunt, and transacting more by hand, does not exercise the forum’s shrewdness: Agricola, by natural prudence, although among the toga‑wearers, acted with ease and justice. Moreover, his times of cares and relaxations were apportioned: when assizes and courts called, he was weighty, intent, severe, and more often merciful; when duty had been satisfied, no further persona of power [; he had stripped off gloom, arrogance, and avarice]. Nor in his case, which is most rare, did either affability diminish authority or severity diminish love.

Integritatem atque abstinentiam in tanto viro referre iniuria virtutum fuerit. Ne famam quidem, cui saepe etiam boni indulgent, ostentanda virtute aut per artem quaesivit; procul ab aemulatione adversus collegas, procul a contentione adversus procuratores, et vincere inglorium et atteri sordidum arbitrabatur. Minus triennium in ea legatione detentus ac statim ad spem consulatus revocatus est, comitante opinione Britanniam ei provinciam dari, nullis in hoc ipsius sermonibus, sed quia par videbatur.

To recount integrity and abstinence in so great a man would be an injury to his virtues. Not even fame, to which even good men often indulge, did he seek by ostentatious virtue or by artifice; far from emulation toward his colleagues, far from contention toward the procurators, he judged both to conquer inglorious and to be worn down sordid. Detained less than three years in that legation, he was forthwith recalled to the hope of the consulship, with the opinion accompanying that Britain was being assigned to him as his province—no speeches of his in this matter, but because he seemed a match for it.

Haud semper errat fama; aliquando et eligit. Consul egregiae tum spei filiam iuveni mihi despondit ac post consulatum collocavit, et statim Britaniae praepositus est, adiecto pontificatus sacerdotio.

Fame does not always err; sometimes it even chooses. As consul, he betrothed his daughter—then of outstanding hope—to me, a young man, and after his consulate he settled her in marriage, and immediately he was put in charge of Britain, with the priesthood of the pontificate added.

[10] Britanniae situm populosque multis scriptoribus memoratos non in comparationem curae ingeniive referam, sed quia tum primum perdomita est. Ita quae priores nondum comperta eloquentia percoluere, rerum fide tradentur. Britannia, insularum quas Romana notitia complectitur maxima, spatio ac caelo in orientem Germaniae, in occidentem Hispaniae obtenditur, Gallis in meridiem etiam inspicitur; septentrionalia eius, nullis contra terris, vasto atque aperto mari pulsantur.

[10] I will set forth the situation of Britain and the peoples, commemorated by many writers, not for a competition of care or genius, but because then for the first time it was thoroughly subdued. Thus, the things which earlier authors, not yet ascertained, have elaborated with eloquence will be handed down with the fidelity of facts. Britain, the largest of the islands which Roman notice embraces, by its extent and climate stretches toward the east to Germany, toward the west to Spain, and is also looked toward on the south by the Gauls; its northern parts, with no lands opposite, are beaten by a vast and open sea.

Formam totius Britanniae Livius veterum, Fabius Rusticus recentium eloquentissimi auctores oblongae scutulae vel bipenni adsimulavere. Et est ea facies citra Caledoniam, unde et in universum fama [est]: transgressis inmensum et enorme spatium procurrentium extremo iam litore terrarum velut in cuneum tenuatur. Hanc oram novissimi maris tunc primum Romana classis circumvecta insulam esse Britanniam adfirmavit, ac simul incognitas ad id tempus insulas, quas Orcadas vocant, invenit domuitque.

Livy among the ancients, Fabius Rusticus among the more recent—most eloquent authors—likened the form of the whole of Britain to an oblong shield or a bipennis. And it has that aspect on this side of Caledonia, whence also in general the report [is]: once one has crossed the immense and enormous expanse of the lands that jut forth, at the farthest shore of the earth it narrows, as it were, into a wedge. A Roman fleet, having for the first time sailed around this coast of the farthest sea, affirmed that Britain is an island, and at the same time it discovered and subdued islands unknown till that time, which they call the Orcades.

Dispecta est et Thule, quia hactenus iussum, et hiems adpetebat. Sed mare pigrum et grave remigantibus perhibent ne ventis quidem perinde attolli, credo quod rariores terrae montesque, causa ac materia tempestatum, et profunda moles continui maris tardius impellitur. Naturam Oceani atque aestus neque quaerere huius operis est, ac multi rettulere: unum addiderim, nusquam latius dominari mare, multum fluminum huc atque illuc ferre, nec litore tenus adcrescere aut resorberi, sed influere penitus atque ambire, et iugis etiam ac montibus inseri velut in suo.

Thule too was sighted, since the command extended thus far, and winter was approaching. But they report the sea to be sluggish and heavy for the rowers, not even to be lifted in like manner by the winds; I believe because lands and mountains, the cause and material of storms, are rarer, and the deep mass of the continuous sea is set in motion more slowly. The nature of the Ocean and the tides is not for the inquiry of this work, and many have related it; I would add one thing: nowhere does the sea dominate more widely, it carries much of rivers hither and thither, nor does it swell only up to the shore or sink back, but flows inward deeply and encircles, and is even inserted into ridges and mountains as if into its own element.

[11] Ceterum Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, indigenae an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. Habitus corporum varii atque ex eo argumenta. Namque rutilae Caledoniam habitantium comae, magni artus Germanicam originem adseverant; Silurum colorati vultus, torti plerumque crines et posita contra Hispania Hiberos veteres traiecisse easque sedes occupasse fidem faciunt; proximi Gallis et similes sunt, seu durante originis vi, seu procurrentibus in diversa terris positio caeli corporibus habitum dedit.

[11] As for Britain, what mortals first inhabited it, natives or those borne over, is, as among barbarians, little ascertained. The habit of bodies is various, and from this come arguments. For the reddish-blond hair of those inhabiting Caledonia, and their large limbs, assert a Germanic origin; the Silures, with swarthy faces, hair for the most part curled, and with Spain lying opposite, make it credible that ancient Hiberi crossed over and occupied those seats; the nearest to the Gauls are also like them, whether by the enduring force of their origin, or because, as the lands jut out in different directions, the position of the sky has given to bodies their habit.

In universum tamen aestimanti Gallos vicinam insulam occupasse credibile est. Eorum sacra deprehendas ac superstitionum persuasiones; sermo haud multum diversus, in deposcendis periculis eadem audacia et, ubi advenere, in detrectandis eadem formido. Plus tamen ferociae Britanni praeferunt, ut quos nondum longa pax emollierit.

On the whole, however, to one estimating, it is credible that the Gauls occupied the neighboring island. You would detect their rites and the persuasions of their superstitions; the speech is not much different, the same audacity in demanding dangers and, when they have arrived, the same fear in declining them. Yet the Britons display more ferocity, as those whom a long peace has not yet softened.

Nam Gallos quoque in bellis floruisse accepimus; mox segnitia cum otio intravit, amissa virtute pariter ac libertate. Quod Britannorum olim victis evenit: ceteri manent quales Galli fuerunt.

For we have learned that the Gauls too flourished in wars; soon sluggishness entered along with leisure, with virtue and liberty lost alike. Which once befell the Britons when conquered: the rest remain such as the Gauls were.

[12] In pedite robur; quaedam nationes et curru proeliantur. Honestior auriga, clientes propugnant. Olim regibus parebant, nunc per principes factionibus et studiis trahuntur.

[12] In the infantry is the strength; certain nations even do battle by chariot. The charioteer is more honorable, the clients do the fighting. Once they obeyed kings; now, through chieftains, they are drawn by factions and partisanships.

Nec aliud adversus validissimas gentis pro nobis utilius quam quod in commune non consulunt. Rarus duabus tribusve civitatibus ad propulsandum commune periculum conventus: ita singuli pugnant, universi vincuntur. Caelum crebris imbribus ac nebulis foedum; asperitas frigorum abest.

Nor is anything else against the most powerful nations more advantageous for us than the fact that they do not take counsel in common. Rare is a convocation of two or three states to repel a common peril: thus they fight individually, as a whole they are conquered. The sky is foul with frequent rains and mists; the harshness of frosts is absent.

Dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis mensuram; nox clara et extrema Britanniae parte brevis, ut finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine internoscas. Quod si nubes non officiant, aspici per noctem solis fulgorem, nec occidere et exurgere, sed transire adfirmant. Scilicet extrema et plana terrarum humili umbra non erigunt tenebras, infraque caelum et sidera nox cadit.

The spans of the days are beyond the measure of our orb; the night is bright and, in the farthest part of Britain, short, so that you may recognize the end and the beginning of light by a slight distinction. And if clouds do not hinder, the sun’s radiance is seen through the night; they affirm that it does not set and rise, but passes across. Evidently the utmost and level parts of the lands, with a low shadow, do not raise darkness, and night falls beneath the sky and the stars.

Solum praeter oleam vitemque et cetera calidioribus terris oriri sueta patiens frugum pecudumque fecundum: tarde mitescunt, cito proveniunt; eademque utriusque rei causa, multus umor terrarum caelique. Fert Britannia aurum et argentum et alia metalla, pretium victoriae. Gignit et Oceanus margarita, sed subfusca ac liventia.

The soil, apart from the olive and the vine and the rest wont to arise in warmer lands, is tolerant of crops and fecund in flocks: they ripen late, they come forth quickly; and the cause of both alike is the abundant moisture of the lands and the sky. Britain bears gold and silver and other metals, the price of victory. The Ocean also engenders pearls, but dusky and livid.

Quidam artem abesse legentibus arbitrantur; nam in rubro mari viva ac spirantia saxis avelli, in Britannia, prout expulsa sint, colligi: ego facilius crediderim naturam margaritis deesse quam nobis avaritiam.

Some think that art is lacking to the gatherers; for in the Red Sea they are torn from the rocks alive and breathing, in Britain they are collected as they have been cast out: I would more readily believe that nature fails the pearls than that avarice fails us.

[13] Ipsi Britanni dilectum ac tributa et iniuncta imperii munia impigre obeunt, si iniuriae absint: has aegre tolerant, iam domiti ut pareant, nondum ut serviant. Igitur primus omnium Romanorum divus Iulius cum exercitu Britanniam ingressus, quamquam prospera pugna terruerit incolas ac litore potitus sit, potest videri ostendisse posteris, non tradidisse. Mox bella civilia et in rem publicam versa principum arma, ac longa oblivio Britanniae etiam in pace: consilium id divus Augustus vocabat, Tiberius praeceptum.

[13] The Britons themselves discharge the levy and the tributes and the duties of empire enjoined upon them industriously, if injustices are absent: these they bear with difficulty—now tamed so as to obey, not yet so as to be slaves. Therefore the first of all Romans, the deified Julius, having entered Britain with an army, although by a prosperous battle he terrified the inhabitants and gained possession of the shore, can seem to have shown it to posterity, not to have handed it down. Soon came the civil wars and the weapons of princes turned against the Republic, and a long oblivion of Britain even in peace: the deified Augustus called that a policy, Tiberius a precept.

Agitasse Gaium Caesarem de intranda Britannia satis constat, ni velox ingenio mobili paenitentiae, et ingentes adversus Germaniam conatus frustra fuissent. Divus Claudius auctor iterati operis, transvectis legionibus auxiliisque et adsumpto in partem rerum Vespasiano, quod initium venturae mox fortunae fuit: domitae gentes, capti reges et monstratus fatis Vespasianus.

It is well established that Gaius Caesar had considered entering Britain; but he was quick by disposition, changeable to repentance, and his vast attempts against Germany proved fruitless. The deified Claudius was the author of the renewed enterprise, the legions and auxiliaries having been transported across and Vespasian taken into a share of the affair—which was the beginning of the fortune soon to come: peoples subdued, kings captured, and Vespasian pointed out by the Fates.

[14] Consularium primus Aulus Plautius praepositus ac subinde Ostorius Scapula, uterque bello egregius: redactaque paulatim in formam provinciae proxima pars Britanniae, addita insuper veteranorum colonia. Quaedam civitates Cogidumno regi donatae (is ad nostram usque memoriam fidissimus mansit), vetere ac iam pridem recepta populi Romani consuetudine, ut haberet instrumenta servitutis et reges. Mox Didius Gallus parta a prioribus continuit, paucis admodum castellis in ulteriora promotis, per quae fama aucti officii quaereretur.

[14] Of consular rank the first to be placed in command was Aulus Plautius, and thereafter Ostorius Scapula, each outstanding in war: and the nearest part of Britain was gradually reduced into the form of a province, with a colony of veterans added besides. Certain communities were bestowed upon King Cogidumnus (he remained most faithful even down to our memory), in accordance with the old and long-since adopted custom of the Roman people, that it might have, as the instruments of servitude, even kings. Soon Didius Gallus maintained what had been won by his predecessors, with very few forts pushed farther in, by means of which the fame of augmented service was courted.

Didium Veranius excepit, isque intra annum extinctus est. Suetonius hinc Paulinus biennio prosperas res habuit, subactis nationibus firmatisque praesidiis; quorum fiducia Monam insulam ut vires rebellibus ministrantem adgressus terga occasioni patefecit.

Veranius succeeded Didius, and he died within the year. Thereupon Suetonius Paulinus for two years had prosperous affairs, the nations subjugated and the garrisons strengthened; in the confidence of which, having attacked the island of Mona as ministering strength to the rebels, he laid his back open to opportunity.

[15] Namque absentia legati remoto metu Britanni agitare inter se mala servitutis, conferre iniurias et interpretando accendere: nihil profici patientia nisi ut graviora tamquam ex facili tolerantibus imperentur. Singulos sibi olim reges fuisse, nunc binos imponi, e quibus legatus in sanguinem, procurator in bona saeviret. Aeque discordiam praepositorum, aeque concordiam subiectis exitiosam.

[15] For in the absence of the legate, with fear removed, the Britons began to debate among themselves the evils of servitude, to compare injuries and by interpreting them to inflame them: nothing is gained by patience except that heavier things are commanded, as if upon those who tolerate easily. That once they had individual kings for themselves; now two are imposed, of whom the legate would rage upon their blood, the procurator upon their goods. Equally the discord of those set over them, equally their concord, is ruinous to the subjects.

Alterius manus centuriones, alterius servos vim et contumelias miscere. Nihil iam cupiditati, nihil libidini exceptum. In proelio fortiorem esse qui spoliet: nunc ab ignavis plerumque et imbellibus eripi domos, abstrahi liberos, iniungi dilectus, tamquam mori tantum pro patria nescientibus.

The hands of one party—the centurions; of another—the slaves—commingle force and contumelies. Nothing now is exempt from cupidity, nothing from libido. In battle, the stronger is he who despoils; now, for the most part, by the cowardly and unwarlike, homes are snatched away, children dragged off, levies imposed—as though they knew only how to die for their fatherland.

Quantulum enim transisse militum, si sese Britanni numerent? Sic Germanias excussisse iugum: et flumine, non Oceano defendi. Sibi patriam coniuges parentes, illis avaritiam et luxuriam causas belli esse.

How very few soldiers, after all, have crossed over, if the Britons but count themselves? Thus the Germanies shook off the yoke; and they are defended by a river, not by the Ocean. For themselves country, spouses, parents are the causes of war; for those men, avarice and luxury are the causes of war.

Recessuros, ut divus Iulius recessisset, modo virtutem maiorum suorum aemularentur. Neve proelii unius aut alterius eventu pavescerent: plus impetus felicibus, maiorem constantiam penes miseros esse. Iam Britannorum etiam deos misereri, qui Romanum ducem absentem, qui relegatum in alia insula exercitum detinerent; iam ipsos, quod difficillimum fuerit, deliberare.

They will withdraw, as the divine Julius withdrew, provided only they emulate the virtue of their ancestors. And let them not be terrified by the outcome of one battle or another: more impetus is with the fortunate, greater constancy resides with the wretched. Already even the gods of the Britons are taking pity, who keep the Roman leader absent, who detain the army relegated to another island; already they themselves—what had been most difficult—are deliberating.

Porro in eius modi consiliis periculosius esse deprehendi quam audere.

Moreover, in counsels of that sort, it is more perilous to be detected than to dare.

[16] His atque talibus in vicem instincti, Boudicca generis regii femina duce (neque enim sexum in imperiis discernunt) sumpsere universi bellum; ac sparsos per castella milites consectati, expugnatis praesidiis ipsam coloniam invasere ut sedem servitutis, nec ullum in barbaris [ingeniis] saevitiae genus omisit ira et victoria. Quod nisi Paulinus cognito provinciae motu propere subvenisset, amissa Britannia foret; quam unius proelii fortuna veteri patientiae restituit, tenentibus arma plerisque, quos conscientia defectionis et proprius ex legato timor agitabat, ne quamquam egregius cetera adroganter in deditos et ut suae cuiusque iniuriae ultor durius consuleret. Missus igitur Petronius Turpilianus tamquam exorabilior et delictis hostium novus eoque paenitentiae mitior, compositis prioribus nihil ultra ausus Trebellio Maximo provinciam tradidit.

[16] Incited by these and suchlike in turn, with Boudicca, a woman of royal lineage, as leader (for they do not distinguish sex in commands), all together took up war; and, having pursued the soldiers scattered through the forts, and the garrisons having been stormed, they invaded the colony itself as the seat of servitude, nor did wrath and victory omit any kind of savagery in barbarian [dispositions]. And had not Paulinus, once the movement of the province was known, swiftly succored, Britain would have been lost; which the fortune of a single battle restored to its ancient patience, most still holding arms, whom the consciousness of defection and a nearer fear from the legate drove, lest he, although outstanding in other respects, should arrogantly take harsher counsel against those who had surrendered, and, as avenger of each man’s own injury, decide more severely. Sent therefore was Petronius Turpilianus, as more exorable and new to the enemies’ offenses and for that reason more mild toward repentance; with earlier matters settled and venturing nothing further, he handed the province over to Trebellius Maximus.

Trebellius segnior et nullis castrorum experimentis, comitate quadam curandi provinciam tenuit. Didicere iam barbari quoque ignoscere vitiis blandientibus, et interventus civilium armorum praebuit iustam segnitiae excusationem: sed discordia laboratum, cum adsuetus expeditionibus miles otio lasciviret. Trebellius, fuga ac latebris vitata exercitus ira, indecorus atque humilis precario mox praefuit, ac velut pacta exercitus licentia, ducis salute, [et] seditio sine sanguine stetit.

Trebellius, rather slothful and with no experiments of the camp, held the province by a certain comity in caring for it. The barbarians too now learned to pardon vices that caress, and the intervention of civil arms furnished a just excuse for sluggishness: but they labored under discord, since the soldier accustomed to expeditions wantoned in idleness. Trebellius, the army’s anger avoided by flight and hiding, soon presided, disgraceful and abject, on sufferance; and, as though the army’s license had been bargained for, with the leader’s safety, [and] the sedition stood without bloodshed.

Nec Vettius Bolanus, manentibus adhuc civilibus bellis, agitavit Britanniam disciplina: eadem inertia erga hostis, similis petulantia castrorum, nisi quod innocens Bolanus et nullis delictis invisus caritatem paraverat loco auctoritatis.

Nor did Vettius Bolanus, with the civil wars still continuing, stir Britain with discipline: the same inertia toward the enemy, a similar petulance of the camps—except that Bolanus, blameless and with no offenses to make him odious, had procured goodwill in place of authority.

[17] Sed ubi cum cetero orbe Vespasianus et Britanniam recuperavit, magni duces, egregii exercitus, minuta hostium spes. Et terrorem statim intulit Petilius Cerialis, Brigantum civitatem, quae numerosissima provinciae totius perhibetur, adgressus. Multa proelia, et aliquando non incruenta; magnamque Brigantum partem aut victoria amplexus est aut bello.

[17] But when Vespasian, along with the rest of the world, recovered Britain too, the generals were great, the armies distinguished, the enemy’s hope minute. And Petilius Cerialis straightway infused terror, having attacked the state of the Brigantes, which is reported the most numerous of the whole province. Many battles, and at times not bloodless; and a great part of the Brigantes he encompassed either by victory or by war.

Et Cerialis quidem alterius successoris curam famamque obruisset: subiit sustinuitque molem Iulius Frontinus, vir magnus, quantum licebat, validamque et pugnacem Silurum gentem armis subegit, super virtutem hostium locorum quoque difficultates eluctatus.

And indeed Cerialis would have overshadowed the diligence and renown of any successor; Julius Frontinus stepped in and sustained the burden, a great man, so far as it was permitted, and he subdued by arms the strong and warlike nation of the Silures, having overcome, besides the valor of the enemy, the difficulties of the terrain as well.

[18] Hunc Britanniae statum, has bellorum vices media iam aestate transgressus Agricola invenit, cum et milites velut omissa expeditione ad securitatem et hostes ad occasionem verterentur. Ordovicum civitas haud multo ante adventum eius alam in finibus suis agentem prope universam obtriverat, eoque initio erecta provincia. Et quibus bellum volentibus erat, probare exemplum ac recentis legati animum opperiri, cum Agricola, quamquam transvecta aestas, sparsi per provinciam numeri, praesumpta apud militem illius anni quies, tarda et contraria bellum incohaturo, et plerisque custodiri suspecta potius videbatur, ire obviam discrimini statuit; contractisque legionum vexillis et modica auxiliorum manu, quia in aequum degredi Ordovices non audebant, ipse ante agmen, quo ceteris par animus simili periculo esset, erexit aciem.

[18] Agricola, with mid-summer already crossed, found this condition of Britain, these vicissitudes of wars, when both the soldiers, as though the expedition had been dropped, were turning to security, and the enemies to opportunity. The civitas of the Ordovices, not long before his advent, had crushed almost an entire ala operating within their borders, and by this beginning the province was aroused. And those to whom war was welcome were minded to approve the example and to await the spirit of the fresh legate, whereas Agricola—although the summer was gone by, the numbers were scattered through the province, a repose for that year had been assumed among the soldiery, conditions slow and contrary for one about to inchoate war, and to most it seemed preferable that the suspected points be kept under guard—resolved to go to meet the crisis; and with the detachments (vexilla) of the legions drawn together and a modest force of auxiliaries, because the Ordovices did not dare to descend into the plain, he himself before the column, in order that the same courage might be among the rest in a like peril, drew up the line.

Caesaque prope universa gente, non ignarus instandum famae ac, prout prima cessissent, terrorem ceteris fore, Monam insulam, cuius possessione revocatum Paulinum rebellione totius Britanniae supra memoravi, redigere in potestatem animo intendit. Sed, ut in subitis consiliis, naves deerant: ratio et constantia ducis transvexit. Depositis omnibus sarcinis lectissimos auxiliarium, quibus nota vada et patrius nandi usus, quo simul seque et arma et equos regunt, ita repente inmisit, ut obstupefacti hostes, qui classem, qui navis, qui mare expectabant, nihil arduum aut invictum crediderint sic ad bellum venientibus.

With almost the entire tribe cut down, not unaware that one must press upon his fame and that, according as the first beginnings had turned out, there would be terror for the rest, he bent his mind to bring the island of Mona, by the possession of which I have above mentioned that Paulinus was called back by the rebellion of the whole of Britain, back into his power. But, as in sudden counsels, ships were lacking: the plan and constancy of the leader carried them across. All baggage having been laid down, he sent in the choicest of the auxiliaries, to whom the shallows were known and who had a native practice of swimming, by which they at the same time guide themselves and their arms and their horses—thus he sent them in so suddenly that the enemies, who were expecting a fleet, who ships, who the sea, were astounded, and believed nothing arduous or unconquerable for men coming thus to war.

Ita petita pace ac dedita insula clarus ac magnus haberi Agricola, quippe cui ingredienti provinciam, quod tempus alii per ostentationem et officiorum ambitum transigunt, labor et periculum placuisset. Nec Agricola prosperitate rerum in vanitatem usus, expeditionem aut victoriam vocabat victos continuisse; ne laureatis quidem gesta prosecutus est, sed ipsa dissimulatione famae famam auxit, aestimantibus quanta futuri spe tam magna tacuisset.

Thus, with peace sought and the island surrendered, Agricola came to be regarded as illustrious and great, inasmuch as, upon entering his province, the time which others spend in ostentation and the canvassing of offices had pleased him to devote to toil and peril. Nor did Agricola, in the prosperity of affairs, turn to vanity; he did not call it a campaign or a victory merely to have kept the conquered in restraint; he did not even follow up his deeds with laurelled dispatches, but by the very dissimulation of fame he increased his fame, people estimating how great a hope of the future he must have had, seeing that he had kept such great things unspoken.

[19] Ceterum animorum provinciae prudens, simulque doctus per aliena experimenta parum profici armis, si iniuriae sequerentur, causas bellorum statuit excidere. A se suisque orsus primum domum suam coercuit, quod plerisque haud minus arduum est quam provinciam regere. Nihil per libertos servosque publicae rei, non studiis privatis nec ex commendatione aut precibus centurionem militesve adscire, sed optimum quemque fidissimum putare.

[19] Moreover, prudent as to the temper of the province, and at the same time taught by others’ experience that little is advanced by arms if injustices followed, he resolved to excise the causes of wars. Beginning with himself and his own, he first kept his household under restraint, which for most is no less arduous than to govern a province. Nothing of public business through freedmen and slaves; not by private interests nor by recommendation or prayers to enroll a centurion or soldiers, but to reckon each best man the most trustworthy.

Omnia scire, non omnia exsequi. Parvis peccatis veniam, magnis severitatem commodare; nec poena semper, sed saepius paenitentia contentus esse; officiis et administrationibus potius non peccaturos praeponere, quam damnare cum peccassent. Frumenti et tributorum exactionem aequalitate munerum mollire, circumcisis quae in quaestum reperta ipso tributo gravius tolerabantur.

To know all things, not to execute all things. To grant pardon to small sins, to apply severity to great ones; and to be content not always with punishment, but more often with penitence; in offices and administrations to set over rather those who would not sin, than to condemn them when they had sinned. To soften the exaction of grain and tributes by equality of burdens, cutting away those items which, devised for profit, were borne more grievously than the tribute itself.

Namque per ludibrium adsidere clausis horreis et emere ultro frumenta ac luere pretio cogebantur. Divortia itinerum et longinquitas regionum indicebatur, ut civitates proximis hibernis in remota et avia deferrent, donec quod omnibus in promptu erat paucis lucrosum fieret.

For, as a mockery, they were compelled to sit beside closed granaries and, unasked, to buy the grain and to pay the price; detours of the routes and the remoteness of regions were prescribed, so that the communities should carry to the nearest winter-quarters into remote and pathless places, until what was at hand for all became lucrative for a few.

[20] Haec primo statim anno comprimendo egregiam famam paci circumdedit, quae vel incuria vel intolerantia priorum haud minus quam bellum timebatur. Sed ubi aestas advenit, contracto exercitu multus in agmine, laudare modestiam, disiectos coercere; loca castris ipse capere, aestuaria ac silvas ipse praetemptare; et nihil interim apud hostis quietum pati, quo minus subitis excursibus popularetur; atque ubi satis terruerat, parcendo rursus invitamenta pacis ostentare. Quibus rebus multae civitates, quae in illum diem ex aequo egerant, datis obsidibus iram posuere et praesidiis castellisque circumdatae, et tanta ratione curaque, ut nulla ante Britanniae nova pars [pariter] inlacessita transierit.

[20] By at once suppressing these abuses in the very first year, he encompassed peace with an illustrious reputation—peace which, whether through the negligence or the intolerantia of his predecessors, had been feared no less than war. But when summer arrived, with the army concentrated, he was much present on the march: praising moderation, restraining the stragglers; himself choosing positions for the camps, himself feeling out the estuaries and the woods; and meanwhile allowing nothing among the enemy to be at rest, so as to ravage them with sudden incursions; and when he had terrified sufficiently, by sparing he once more displayed inducements to peace. By these measures many communities, which up to that day had acted on equal terms, upon giving hostages laid aside their anger, and were encircled with garrisons and little forts—with such method and care that no new part of Britain had ever before been brought over [equally] unprovoked.

[21] Sequens hiems saluberrimis consiliis absumpta. Namque ut homines dispersi ac rudes eoque in bella faciles quieti et otio per voluptates adsuescerent, hortari privatim, adiuvare publice, ut templa fora domos extruerent, laudando promptos, castigando segnis: ita honoris aemulatio pro necessitate erat. Iam vero principum filios liberalibus artibus erudire, et ingenia Britannorum studiis Gallorum anteferre, ut qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent.

[21] The following winter was consumed with most healthful counsels. For, in order that men scattered and rude, and on that account easy for wars, might be accustomed to quiet and leisure through pleasures, he exhorted in private, he aided publicly, that they might erect temples, fora, houses, praising the prompt, chastising the sluggish: thus emulation of honor stood in place of necessity. And indeed he educated the sons of the chiefs in the liberal arts, and preferred the talents of the Britons to the studies of the Gauls, so that those who just lately were refusing the Roman tongue came to desire eloquence.

Inde etiam habitus nostri honor et frequens toga; paulatimque discessum ad delenimenta vitiorum, porticus et balinea et conviviorum elegantiam. Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset.

Thence too came the honor of our attire and the toga in frequent use; and little by little there was a withdrawal toward the allurements of vices—porticoes and baths and the elegance of banquets. And this was called “humanity” among the ignorant, when it was a part of servitude.

[22] Tertius expeditionum annus novas gentis aperuit, vastatis usque ad Tanaum (aestuario nomen est) nationibus. Qua formdine territi hostes quamquam conflictatum saevis tempestatibus exercitum lacessere non ausi; ponendisque insuper castellis spatium fuit. Adnotabant periti non alium ducem opportunitates locorum sapientius legisse.

[22] The third year of the expeditions opened up new nations, the peoples having been laid waste as far as the Tanaus (it is the name of an estuary). By this fear the enemies, although the army had been buffeted by savage tempests, did not dare to provoke it; and there was even time besides for the placing of forts. Skilled men remarked that no other leader had more wisely selected the opportunities of the terrain.

Nullum ab Agricola positum castellum aut vi hostium expugnatum aut pactione ac fuga desertum; nam adversus moras obsidionis annuis copiis firmabantur. Ita intrepida ibi hiems, crebrae eruptiones et sibi quisque praesidio, inritis hostibus eoque desperantibus, quia soliti plerumque damna aestatis hibernis eventibus pensare tum aestate atque hieme iuxta pellebantur. Nec Agricola umquam per alios gesta avidus intercepit: seu centurio seu praefectus incorruptum facti testem habebat.

No fort placed by Agricola was either taken by the force of the enemy or deserted by compact and flight; for, against the delays of siege, they were strengthened with annual supplies. Thus the winter there was untroubled, the sallies frequent, and each man a protection to himself, the enemies baffled and therefore despairing, because, being accustomed for the most part to compensate the losses of summer by winter outcomes, then in summer and in winter alike they were driven back. Nor did Agricola ever, greedy for achievements, intercept deeds done through others: whether it was a centurion or a prefect, he had an uncorrupted witness of the fact.

Apud quosdam acerbior in conviciis narrabatur; [et] ut erat comis bonis, ita adversus malos iniucundus. Ceterum ex iracundia nihil supererat secretum, ut silentium eius non timeres: honestius putabat offendere quam odisse.

Among some he was reported as rather more acerbic in invective; [and] as he was affable to the good, so he was unpleasant toward the bad. Moreover, nothing of his anger remained secret, so that you would not fear his silence: he thought it more honorable to give offense than to hate.

[23] Quarta aestas obtinendis quae percucurrerat insumpta; ac si virtus exercituum et Romani nominis gloria pateretur, inventus in ipsa Britannia terminus. Namque Clota et Bodotria diversi maris aestibus per inmensum revectae, angusto terrarum spatio dirimuntur: quod tum praesidiis firmabatur atque omnis propior sinus tenebatur, summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus.

[23] The fourth summer was expended in securing what he had traversed; and, if the valor of the armies and the glory of the Roman name had permitted, a boundary would have been found in Britain itself. For the Clota and the Bodotria, carried back inland by the tides of different seas through an immense distance, are separated by a narrow tract of land: which then was being strengthened with garrisons, and every nearer bay was held, the enemies having been removed, as it were, into another island.

[24] Quinto expeditionum anno nave prima transgressus ignotas ad id tempus gentis crebris simul ac prosperis proeliis domuit; eamque partem Britanniae quae Hiberniam aspicit copiis instruxit, in spem magis quam ob formidinem, si quidem Hibernia medio inter Britanniam atque Hispaniam sita et Gallico quoque mari opportuna valentissimam imperii partem magnis in vicem usibus miscuerit. Spatium eius, si Britanniae comparetur, angustius nostri maris insulas superat. Solum caelumque et ingenia cultusque hominum haud multum a Britannia differunt; [in] melius aditus portusque per commercia et negotiatores cogniti.

[24] In the fifth year of the expeditions, crossing in the foremost ship, he subdued peoples hitherto unknown by frequent and likewise prosperous battles; and he equipped with troops that part of Britain which faces Ireland, in hope rather than out of fear, since indeed Ireland, set midway between Britain and Spain and opportune to the Gallic sea as well, would have mingled the strongest part of the empire with great mutual uses. Its extent, if compared to Britain’s, is narrower, yet it surpasses the islands of our sea. The soil and the sky and the temperaments and culture of the men do not differ much from Britain; the approaches and harbors are better known through commerce and merchants.

Agricola expulsum seditione domestica unum ex regulis gentis exceperat ac specie amicitiae in occasionem retinebat. Saepe ex eo audivi legione una et modicis auxiliis debellari obtinerique Hiberniam posse; idque etiam adversus Britanniam profuturum, si Romana ubique arma et velut e conspectu libertas tolleretur.

Agricola had taken in one of the petty-kings of the tribe, expelled by domestic sedition, and under the appearance of friendship he was holding him for an opportunity. From him I often heard that with one legion and moderate auxiliaries Ireland could be completely subjugated and held; and that this would also be of benefit against Britain, if Roman arms were everywhere and liberty, as it were, were removed from sight.

[25] Ceterum aestate, qua sextum officii annum incohabat, amplexus civitates trans Bodotriam sitas, quia motus universarum ultra gentium et infesta hostilis exercitus itinera timebantur, portus classe exploravit; quae ab Agricola primum adsumpta in partem virium sequebatur egregia specie, cum simul terra, simul mari bellum impelleretur, ac saepe isdem castris pedes equesque et nauticus miles mixti copiis et laetitia sua quisque facta, suos casus attollerent, ac modo silvarum ac montium profunda, modo tempestatum ac fluctuum adversa, hinc terra et hostis, hinc victus Oceanus militari iactantia compararentur. Britannos quoque, ut ex captivis audiebatur, visa classis obstupefaciebat, tamquam aperto maris sui secreto ultimum victis perfugium clauderetur. Ad manus et arma conversi Caledoniam incolentes populi magno paratu, maiore fama, uti mos est de ignotis, oppugnare ultro castellum adorti, metum ut provocantes addiderant; regrediendumque citra Bodotriam et cedendum potius quam pellerentur ignavi specie prudentium admonebant, cum interim cognoscit hostis pluribus agminibus inrupturos.

[25] Meanwhile, in the summer in which he was beginning the sixth year of his office, having taken in hand the communities situated across the Bodotria, because a stirring of all the nations beyond and the routes made dangerous by a hostile army were feared, he reconnoitered the harbors with the fleet; which, first taken up by Agricola as a portion of his forces, followed with distinguished aspect, since war was being driven forward at once by land and by sea, and often in the same camps the infantry and cavalry and the naval soldier, their forces mingled, each, with his own joy, would exalt his own achievements and fortunes; and now the depths of forests and mountains, now the adversities of storms and waves—on the one side the land and the foe, on the other the Ocean conquered—were set in comparison with military vaunting. The Britons too, as was heard from captives, were stupefied at the sight of the fleet, as though, the secret of their own sea being laid open, the last refuge of the conquered were being closed. Turning to hands and arms, the peoples inhabiting Caledonia, with great preparation and with greater rumor, as is the custom about the unknown, went so far as of their own accord to assault a fort, adding alarm as though by a challenge; and they were urging that one must fall back to this side of the Bodotria and give way rather than be driven back—the cowardly in the guise of the prudent—when meanwhile he learns that the enemy intended to break in with several columns.

Ac ne superante numero et peritia locorum circumiretur, diviso et ipso in tris partes exercitu incessit.

And, lest he be surrounded by a superior number and by the expertise of the terrain, he himself advanced, the army divided into three parts.

[26] Quod ubi cognitum hosti, mutato repente consilio universi nonam legionem ut maxime invalidam nocte adgressi, inter somnum ac trepidationem caesis vigilibus inrupere. Iamque in ipsis castris pugnabatur, cum Agricola iter hostium ab exploratoribus edoctus et vestigiis insecutus, velocissimos equitum peditumque adsultare tergis pugnantium iubet, mox ab universis adici clamorem; et propinqua luce fulsere signa. Ita ancipiti malo territi Britanni; et nonanis rediit animus, ac securi pro salute de gloria certabant.

[26] When this was learned by the enemy, with their plan suddenly changed they all attacked by night the Ninth legion as being the most feeble; between sleep and alarm, with the sentries cut down, they broke in. And now fighting was going on within the very camp, when Agricola, informed by scouts of the enemy’s route and following the tracks, orders the swiftest of the cavalry and infantry to assault the backs of the combatants, and soon that a shout be raised by all; and with dawn at hand the standards flashed. Thus the Britons, terrified by the twofold peril; and to the Ninth courage returned, and, secure as to safety, they strove for glory.

Ultro quin etiam erupere, et fuit atrox in ipsis portarum angustiis proelium, donec pulsi hostes, utroque exercitu certante, his, ut tulisse opem, illis, ne eguisse auxilio viderentur. Quod nisi paludes et silvae fugientis texissent, debellatum illa victoria foret.

Of their own accord they even burst out, and the battle was atrocious in the very narrows of the gates, until the enemy were driven back, with both armies contending—these, to have brought aid; those, lest they seem to have needed assistance. And had not the marshes and woods covered the fugitives, that victory would have finished the war.

[27] Cuius conscientia ac fama ferox exercitus nihil virtuti suae invium et penetrandam Caledoniam inveniendumque tandem Britanniae terminum continuo proeliorum cursu fremebant. Atque illi modo cauti ac sapientes prompti post eventum ac magniloqui erant. Iniquissima haec bellorum condicio est: prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni imputantur.

[27] By the consciousness and fame of this, the army, fierce, were clamoring that nothing was trackless to their virtus, and that Caledonia must be penetrated and at last the boundary of Britain found by a continuous course of battles. And those men, only just now cautious and wise, were after the outcome forward and magniloquent. This is the most iniquitous condition of wars: all claim the prosperous to themselves; the adverse are imputed to one.

At Britanni non virtute se victos, sed occasione et arte ducis rati, nihil ex adrogantia remittere, quo minus iuventutem armarent, coniuges ac liberos in loca tuta transferrent, coetibus et sacrificiis conspirationem civitatum sancirent. Atque ita inritatis utrimque animis discessum.

But the Britons, thinking themselves defeated not by valor, but by the occasion and the art of the general, remitted nothing of their arrogance; rather, they armed the youth, transferred wives and children into safe places, and by assemblies and sacrifices sanctioned the conspiracy of the communities. And thus, with spirits provoked on both sides, there was a parting.

[28] Eadem aestate cohors Usiporum per Germanias conscripta et in Britanniam transmissa magnum ac memorabile facinus ausa est. Occiso centurione ac militibus, qui ad tradendam disciplinam inmixti manipulis exemplum et rectores habebantur, tris liburnicas adactis per vim gubernatoribus ascendere; et uno remigante, suspectis duobus eoque interfectis, nondum vulgato rumore ut miraculum praevehebantur. Mox ad aquam atque utilia raptum [ubi adpul]issent, cum plerisque Britannorum sua defensantium proelio congressi ac saepe victores, aliquando pulsi, eo ad extremum inopiae venere, ut infirmissimos suorum, mox sorte ductos vescerentur.

[28] In the same summer a cohort of the Usipi, conscripted through the Germanies and sent across into Britain, dared a great and memorable exploit. After killing the centurion and the soldiers who had been intermixed among the maniples to hand over discipline and were regarded as an example and directors, they boarded three liburnians, the helmsmen having been driven by force; and with one man rowing, the other two being suspected and therefore slain, with the rumor not yet spread they were being carried along in advance as a marvel. Soon, whenever they had put in to snatch water and necessaries [ubi adpul]issent, engaging in battle with many of the Britons defending their own and often victors, sometimes repulsed, they came to such an extremity of want that they fed on the weakest of their own, and soon thereafter on those drawn by lot.

Atque ita circumvecti Britanniam, amissis per inscitiam regendi navibus, pro praedonibus habiti, primum a Suebis, mox a Frisiis intercepti sunt. Ac fuere quos per commercia venumdatos et in nostram usque ripam mutatione ementium adductos indicium tanti casus inlustravit.

And so, having coasted around Britain, their ships lost through ignorance of navigation, taken for pirates, they were intercepted first by the Suebi, soon after by the Frisians. And there were some who, sold through commerce and, by the exchange of purchasers, brought even to our shore, furnished an indication that made plain so great a mischance.

[29] Initio aestatis Agricola domestico vulnere ictus, anno ante natum filium amisit. Quem casum neque ut plerique fortium virorum ambitiose, neque per lamenta rursus ac maerorem muliebriter tulit, et in luctu bellum inter remedia erat. Igitur praemissa classe, quae pluribus locis praedata magnum et incertum terrorem faceret, expedito exercitu, cui ex Britannis fortissimos et longa pace exploratos addiderat, ad montem Graupium pervenit, quem iam hostis insederat.

[29] At the beginning of summer Agricola, struck by a domestic wound, lost a son born the year before. This mischance he bore neither ambitiously, as most brave men do, nor again womanishly through lamentations and grief; and in mourning, war was among the remedies. Therefore, with the fleet sent ahead, which, plundering in several places, might create a great and uncertain terror, with the army unencumbered— to which he had added from the Britons the bravest and men tested by a long peace— he reached Mount Graupius, which the enemy had already occupied.

Nam Britanni nihil fracti pugnae prioris eventu et ultionem aut servitium expectantes, tandemque docti commune periculum concordia propulsandum, legationibus et foederibus omnium civitatium vires exciverant. Iamque super triginta milia armatorum aspiciebantur, et adhuc adfluebat omnis iuventus et quibus cruda ac viridis senectus, clari bello et sua quisque decora gestantes, cum inter pluris duces virtute et genere praestans nomine Calgacus apud contractam multitudinem proelium poscentem in hunc modum locutus fertur:

For the Britons, in no way broken by the outcome of the previous battle and awaiting either vengeance or servitude, and at length taught that the common peril must be repelled by concord, had, by embassies and treaties of all the communities, called forth their forces. And now upwards of thirty thousand men-at-arms were in view, and still all the youth kept flowing in, and those for whom old age was raw and green, illustrious in war and each bearing his own decorations, when, among several leaders, Calgacus by name, preeminent in valor and in lineage, is said to have spoken in this manner before the gathered multitude demanding battle:

[30] "Quotiens causas belli et necessitatem nostram intueor, magnus mihi animus est hodiernum diem consensumque vestrum initium libertatis toti Britanniae fore: nam et universi co[i]stis et servitutis expertes, et nullae ultra terrae ac ne mare quidem securum inminente nobis classe Romana. Ita proelium atque arma, quae fortibus honesta, eadem etiam ignavis tutissima sunt. Priores pugnae, quibus adversus Romanos varia fortuna certatum est, spem ac subsidium in nostris manibus habebant, quia nobilissimi totius Britanniae eoque in ipsis penetralibus siti nec ulla servientium litora aspicientes, oculos quoque a contactu dominationis inviolatos habebamus.

[30] "Whenever I consider the causes of war and our necessity, I have great spirit that this day and your consensus will be the beginning of liberty for all Britain: for you have come together as a whole and are unacquainted with servitude, and there are no lands beyond, and not even the sea is secure, with the Roman fleet menacing us. Thus battle and arms, which for the brave are honorable, are likewise for the cowardly the safest. The earlier battles, in which with varied fortune the contest has been waged against the Romans, held their hope and succor in our own hands, because we, the noblest of all Britain and therefore set in its very inner sanctuaries and looking upon no shores of the enslaved, had even our eyes inviolate from contact with domination."

Nos terrarum ac libertatis extremos recessus ipse ac sinus famae in hunc diem defendit: nunc terminus Britanniae patet, atque omne ignotum pro magnifico est; sed nulla iam ultra gens, nihil nisi fluctus ac saxa, et infestiores Romani, quorum superbiam frustra per obsequium ac modestiam effugias. Raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari, si pauper, ambitiosi, quos non Oriens, non Occidens satiaverit: soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari adfectu concupiscunt. Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

The extremest recesses of lands and of liberty, and the very bosom of renown, have defended us down to this day: now the boundary of Britain lies open, and every unknown thing is taken for magnificent; but there is no nation any farther, nothing beyond save waves and rocks—and the Romans more hostile than these—whose arrogance you will vainly escape by obsequiousness and modesty. Plunderers of the world, when lands have failed their devastations, they probe the sea: if the enemy is wealthy, they are avaricious; if poor, they are ambitious—whom neither the Orient nor the Occident has satisfied. They alone of all men covet riches and poverty with equal passion. To carry off, to butcher, to plunder they style by false names “empire”; and where they make a solitude, they call it peace.

[31] "Liberos cuique ac propinquos suos natura carissimos esse voluit: hi per dilectus alibi servituri auferuntur; coniuges sororesque etiam si hostilem libidinem effugerunt, nomine amicorum atque hospitum polluuntur. Bona fortunaeque in tributum, ager atque annus in frumentum, corpora ipsa ac manus silvis ac paludibus emuniendis inter verbera et contumelias conteruntur. Nata servituti mancipia semel veneunt, atque ultro a dominis aluntur: Britannia servitutem suam cotidie emit, cotidie pascit.

[31] "Nature has willed that one’s children and one’s kinsfolk be most dear: these are carried off by levies, to serve elsewhere; wives and sisters, even if they have escaped hostile lust, are polluted under the name of friends and guests. Goods and fortunes go into tribute, the field and the year into grain; the bodies themselves and the hands are worn down in making forests and marshes passable, amid lashings and contumelies. Bondslaves born for servitude are sold once, and moreover are nourished by their masters: Britain buys her servitude every day, every day she feeds it."

Ac sicut in familia recentissimus quisque servorum etiam conservis ludibrio est, sic in hoc orbis terrarum vetere famulatu novi nos et viles in excidium petimur; neque enim arva nobis aut metalla aut portus sunt, quibus exercendis reservemur. virtus porro ac ferocia subiectorum ingrata imperantibus; et longinquitas ac secretum ipsum quo tutius, eo suspectius. Ita sublata spe veniae tandem sumite animum, tam quibus salus quam quibus gloria carissima est.

And just as in a household the most recently acquired of the slaves is a laughingstock even to his fellow-slaves, so in this old servitude of the world we, as newcomers and cheap, are sought out for extermination; for we have neither fields nor mines nor ports, by the working of which we might be spared. Moreover, the valor and ferocity of the subjected are unpleasing to those who command; and distance and seclusion itself—the safer it is, the more suspect. Therefore, with the hope of pardon removed, at last take heart, both you to whom safety and you to whom glory is dearest.

Brigantes femina duce exurere coloniam, expugnare castra, ac nisi felicitas in socordiam vertisset, exuere iugum potuere: nos integri et indomiti et in libertatem, non in paenitentiam [bel]laturi; primo statim congressu ostendamus, quos sibi Caledonia viros seposuerit.

The Brigantes, with a woman as leader, burned a colony, stormed a camp, and, had not felicity turned into sloth, could have cast off the yoke: we, whole and indomitable and going to fight for liberty, not for repentance; at the very first encounter let us show what men Caledonia has set apart for herself.

[32] "An eandem Romanis in bello virtutem quam in pace lasciviam adesse creditis? Nostris illi dissensionibus ac discordiis clari vitia hostium in gloriam exercitus sui vertunt; quem contractum ex diversissimis gentibus ut secundae res tenent, ita adversae dissolvent: nisi si Gallos et Germanos et (pudet dictu) Britannorum plerosque, licet dominationi alienae sanguinem commodent, diutius tamen hostis quam servos, fide et adfectu teneri putatis. Metus ac terror sunt infirma vincla caritatis; quae ubi removeris, qui timere desierint, odisse incipient.

[32] "Do you believe that the Romans have the same valor in war as lasciviousness in peace? By our dissensions and discords they are renowned; they turn the vices of enemies into the glory of their own army; which, contracted from the most diverse nations, as prosperous circumstances hold together, so adverse ones will dissolve—unless, perhaps, you suppose that Gauls and Germans and (shameful to say) most of the Britons—though they lend their blood to an alien domination, yet for a longer time enemies than slaves—are held by loyalty and affection. Fear and terror are weak bonds of affection; and when you remove these, those who have ceased to fear will begin to hate."

Omnia victoriae incitamenta pro nobis sunt: nullae Romanos coniuges accendunt, nulli parentes fugam exprobraturi sunt; aut nulla plerisque patria aut alia est. Paucos numero, trepidos ignorantia, caelum ipsum ac mare et silvas, ignota omnia circumspectantis, clausos quodam modo ac vinctos di nobis tradiderunt. Ne terreat vanus aspectus et auri fulgor atque argenti, quod neque tegit neque vulnerat.

All the incitements of victory are on our side: no wives inflame the Romans, no parents will upbraid them for flight; for most, their fatherland is either none or is another. The gods have delivered to us men few in number, made timorous by ignorance, looking all around at the very sky and sea and forests—everything unknown—shut in and, as it were, bound. Let not the empty show and the glitter of gold and silver, which neither covers nor wounds, terrify.

In ipsa hostium acie inveniemus nostras manus: adgnoscent Britanni suam causam, recordabuntur Galli priorem libertatem, tam deserent illos ceteri Germani quam nuper Usipi reliquerunt. Nec quicquam ultra formidinis: vacua castella, senum coloniae, inter male parentis et iniuste imperantis aegra municipia et discordantia. Hic dux, hic exercitus: ibi tributa et metalla et ceterae servientium poenae, quas in aeternum perferre aut statim ulcisci in hoc campo est.

Within the very battle-line of the enemy we shall find our own forces: the Britons will recognize their own cause, the Gauls will remember their prior liberty, the other Germans will desert them as the Usipi lately abandoned them. Nor is there anything further to fear: empty forts, colonies of old men, municipalities ailing and discordant, between ill obedience and unjust command. Here a leader, here an army; there tributes and mines and the other penalties of the subservient, which it is ours either to endure forever or to avenge at once on this field.

Proinde ituri in aciem et maiores vestros et posteros cogitate.'

Therefore, going into the battle line, think of your ancestors and your posterity.'

[33] Excepere orationem alacres, ut barbaris moris, fremitu cantuque et clamoribus dissonis. Iamque agmina et armorum fulgores audentissimi cuiusque procursu; simul instruebatur acies, cum Agricola quamquam laetum et vix munimentis coercitum militem accendendum adhuc ratus, ita disseruit: 'septimus annus est, commilitones, ex quo virtute et auspiciis imperii Romani, fide atque opera vestra Britanniam vicistis. Tot expeditionibus, tot proeliis, seu fortitudine adversus hostis seu patientia ac labore paene adversus ipsam rerum naturam opus fuit, neque me militum neque vos ducis paenituit.

[33] They received the speech eager and high-spirited, as is the custom of barbarians, with a rumbling and song and dissonant shouts. And already, with the dash of each most daring man, there were ranks and the flashes of arms; at the same time the battle-line was being drawn up, when Agricola—although the troops were joyful and scarcely restrained by the defenses, thinking they still needed to be kindled—spoke thus: 'it is the seventh year, fellow-soldiers, since by the virtue and auspices of the Roman empire, and by your fidelity and effort, you have conquered Britain. In so many expeditions, in so many battles, whether fortitude against the enemies or patience and labor almost against nature herself were required, neither have I had cause to regret my soldiers nor you your general.'

Ergo egressi, ego veterum legatorum, vos priorum exercituum terminos, finem Britanniae non fama nec rumore, sed castris et armis tenemus: inventa Britannia et subacta. Equidem saepe in agmine, cum vos paludes montesve et flumina fatigarent, fortissimi cuiusque voces audiebam: "quando dabitur hostis, quando in manus [veniet]?" Veniunt, e latebris suis extrusi, et vota virtusque in aperto, omniaque prona victoribus atque eadem victis adversa. Nam ut superasse tantum itineris, evasisse silvas, transisse aestuaria pulchrum ac decorum in frontem, ita fugientibus periculosissima quae hodie prosperrima sunt; neque enim nobis aut locorum eadem notitia aut commeatuum eadem abundantia, sed manus et arma et in his omnia.

Therefore, having gone forth, I hold the boundaries of the ancient legates, you those of the earlier armies; we hold the end of Britain not by report nor by rumor, but by camps and arms: Britain discovered and subdued. Indeed, often on the march, when marshes or mountains and rivers were tiring you, I used to hear the voices of each bravest man: "when will the enemy be given, when will he come into our hands [come]?" They are coming, forced out of their lairs, and vows and valor are in the open; and all things are inclined to the victors, and these same things are adverse to the conquered. For just as to have overcome so great a span of journey, to have escaped the woods, to have crossed the estuaries, is fair and decorous to the face, so for those fleeing the very things which today are most prosperous are most perilous; for we do not have either the same acquaintance with the places or the same abundance of supplies, but hands and arms, and in these, everything.

Quod ad me attinet, iam pridem mihi decretum est neque exercitus neque ducis terga tuta esse. Proinde et honesta mors turpi vita potior, et incolumitas ac decus eodem loco sita sunt; nec inglorium fuerit in ipso terrarum ac naturae fine cecidisse.

As far as concerns me, I resolved long ago that neither the backs of the army nor of the leader are safe. Accordingly, an honorable death is preferable to a shameful life, and safety and honor are set in the same place; nor would it be inglorious to have fallen at the very limit of the lands and of nature.

[34] "Si novae gentes atque ignota acies constitisset, aliorum exercituum exemplis vos hortarer: nunc vestra decora recensete, vestros oculos interrogate. Hi sunt, quos proximo anno unam legionem furto noctis adgressos clamore debellastis; hi ceterorum Britannorum fugacissimi ideoque tam diu superstites. Quo modo silvas saltusque penetrantibus fortissimum quodque animal contra ruere, pavida et inertia ipso agminis sono pellebantur, sic acerrimi Britannorum iam pridem ceciderunt, reliquus est numerus ignavorum et metuentium.

[34] "If new peoples and an unknown battle-line had taken position, I would exhort you by the examples of other armies; now recount your own honors, consult your own eyes. These are they whom, last year, when they attacked a single legion by the theft of night, you utterly defeated by a shout; these are the most given to flight of the other Britons, and therefore so long surviving. Just as, when one penetrates woods and glades, each bravest beast rushes to meet you, while the timorous and inert are driven off by the very sound of the column, so the fiercest of the Britons have long since fallen; what remains is the number of the slothful and the fearful.

Quos quod tandem invenistis, non restiterunt, sed deprehensi sunt; novissimae res et extremus metus torpore defixere aciem in his vestigiis, in quibus pulchram et spectabilem victoriam ederetis. Transigite cum expeditionibus, imponite quinquaginta annis magnum diem, adprobate rei publicae numquam exercitui imputari potuisse aut moras belli aut causas rebellandi.'

Those whom at last you have found did not stand their ground, but were apprehended; the latest circumstances and the utmost fear, with torpor, fixed the battle-line on these tracks, on which you would put forth a fair and spectacular victory. Conclude with the expeditions, impose a great day upon fifty years, prove to the commonwealth that neither the delays of the war nor the causes of rebelling could ever have been imputed to the army.'

[35] Et adloquente adhuc Agricola militum ardor eminebat, et finem orationis ingens alacritas consecuta est, statimque ad arma discursum. Instinctos ruentisque ita disposuit, ut peditum auxilia, quae octo milium erant, mediam aciem firmarent, equitum tria milia cornibus adfunderentur. Legiones pro vallo stetere, ingens victoriae decus citra Romanum sanguinem bellandi, et auxilium, si pellerentur.

[35] And while Agricola was still addressing them, the ardor of the soldiers stood out, and a vast alacrity followed the end of the oration, and at once there was a running to arms. He arrayed the urged-on and rushing men thus: that the auxiliaries of the infantry, which were eight thousand, should strengthen the middle battle-line, and three thousand of cavalry should be poured onto the wings. The legions stood before the rampart, a huge distinction of waging war with the victory short of Roman blood, and a support, if they should be driven back.

Britannorum acies in speciem simul ac terrorem editioribus locis constiterat ita, ut primum agmen in aequo, ceteri per adclive iugum conexi velut insurgerent; media campi covinnarius eques strepitu ac discursu complebat. Tum Agricola superante hostium multitudine veritus, ne in frontem simul et latera suorum pugnaretur, diductis ordinibus, quamquam porrectior acies futura erat et arcessendas plerique legiones admonebant, promptior in spem et firmus adversis, dimisso equo pedes ante vexilla constitit.

The battle line of the Britons, for show and at the same time for terror, had taken its stand on higher ground, in such wise that the vanguard was on the level, while the rest, linked along the sloping ridge, seemed as if to rise up; the middle of the plain the chariotry filled with clatter and rushing about. Then Agricola, with the enemy’s multitude prevailing, fearing lest there be fighting at once against the front and the flanks of his men, with the ranks drawn out—although the battle line would be more extended, and many were advising that the legions be called up—being readier in hope and steady amid adversities, having dismissed his horse, on foot took his stand before the standards.

[36] Ac primo congressu eminus certabatur; simulque constantia, simul arte Britanni ingentibus gladiis et brevibus caetris missilia nostrorum vitare vel excutere, atque ipsi magnam vim telorum superfundere, donec Agricola quattuor Batavorum cohortis ac Tungrorum duas cohortatus est, ut rem ad mucrones ac manus adducerent; quod et ipsis vetustate militiae exercitatum et hostibus inhabile [parva scuta et enormis gladios gerentibus]; nam Britannorum gladii sine mucrone complexum armorum et in arto pugnam non tolerabant. Igitur ut Batavi miscere ictus, ferire umbonibus, ora fodere, et stratis qui in aequo adstiterant, erigere in collis aciem coepere, ceterae cohortes aemulatione et impetu conisae proximos quosque caedere: ac plerique semineces aut integri festinatione victoriae relinquebantur. Interim equitum turmae, [ut] fugere covinnarii, peditum se proelio miscuere.

[36] And at the first encounter they fought from afar; and both by constancy and by skill the Britons, with their huge swords and short bucklers, avoided or knocked aside our missiles, and themselves poured a great volume of weapons upon us, until Agricola encouraged four cohorts of Batavians and two of Tungrians to bring the matter to the points and to hand-to-hand; a thing both practiced by themselves through the long-standing of military service and unsuitable to the foe [carrying small shields and enormous swords]; for the swords of the Britons, without a point, did not endure the grappling of arms and fighting in close quarters. Therefore, when the Batavians began to mingle blows, to strike with their shield-bosses, to stab faces, and—those who had stood on the level being laid low—began to raise the battle-line onto the hills, the other cohorts, striving in emulation and with impetus, cut down whoever was nearest; and very many, half-dead or untouched, were left behind in the haste of victory. Meanwhile the squadrons of horse, [as] the charioteers fled, mingled themselves with the infantry battle.

Et quamquam recentem terrorem intulerant, densis tamen hostium agminibus et inaequalibus locis haerebant; minimeque aequa nostris iam pugnae facies erat, cum aegre clivo instantes simul equorum corporibus impellerentur; ac saepe vagi currus, exterriti sine rectoribus equi, ut quemque formido tulerat, transversos aut obvios incursabant.

And although they had brought a recent terror, yet they were sticking fast amid the dense columns of the enemy and the uneven places; and the aspect of the fight was now by no means equal for our men, since, as they pressed up the slope with difficulty, at the same time they were being driven back by the bodies of the horses; and often the wandering chariots—the horses, terrified and without drivers—wherever panic had carried each, were charging into those crossing their path or standing in their way.

[37] Et Britanni, qui adhuc pugnae expertes summa collium insederant et paucitatem nostrorum vacui spernebant, degredi paulatim et circumire terga vincentium coeperant, ni id ipsum veritus Agricola quattuor equitum alas, ad subita belli retentas, venientibus opposuisset, quantoque ferocius adcucurrerant, tanto acrius pulsos in fugam disiecisset. Ita consilium Britannorum in ipsos versum, transvectaeque praecepto ducis a fronte pugnantium alae aversam hostium aciem invasere. Tum vero patentibus locis grande et atrox spectaculum: sequi, vulnerare, capere, atque eosdem oblatis aliis trucidare.

[37] And the Britons, who, still inexperienced in battle, had occupied the summits of the hills and, being unengaged, were scorning the small number of our men, had begun little by little to descend and to go around the rear of the victors, if Agricola, fearing that very thing, had not set against the coming bands four wings of cavalry, kept back for sudden emergencies of war; and the more fiercely they had run up, by so much the more sharply he scattered them, once driven back, into flight. Thus the plan of the Britons was turned upon themselves, and the wings, carried across by the commander’s order from the front of the fighters, attacked the enemy’s rearward line. Then indeed, with the ground lying open, a grand and atrocious spectacle: to pursue, to wound, to capture, and to butcher the same men, as others were offered up.

Iam hostium, prout cuique ingenium erat, catervae armatorum paucioribus terga praestare, quidam inermes ultro ruere ac se morti offerre. Passim arma et corpora et laceri artus et cruenta humus; et aliquando etiam victis ira virtusque. Nam postquam silvis adpropinquaverunt, primos sequentium incautos collecti et locorum gnari circumveniebant.

Now the enemy, each according to his own temperament, the companies of armed men were presenting their backs even to fewer; some unarmed were of their own accord rushing forward and offering themselves to death. Everywhere weapons and bodies and torn limbs and blood-stained ground; and sometimes even in the conquered there were wrath and courage. For after they approached the woods, gathered together and knowing the places, they were surrounding the incautious foremost of the pursuers.

Quod ni frequens ubique Agricola validas et expeditas cohortis indaginis modo et, sicubi artiora erant, partem equitum dimissis equis, simul rariores silvas equitem persultare iussisset, acceptum aliquod vulnus per nimiam fiduciam foret. Ceterum ubi compositos firmis ordinibus sequi rursus videre, in fugam versi, non agminibus, ut prius, nec alius alium respectantes: rari e vitabundi in vicem longinqua atque avia petiere. Finis sequendi nox et satietas fuit.

And had not Agricola, frequent everywhere, deployed strong and unencumbered cohorts in the manner of a ring-hunt, and, wherever the ground was narrower, sent part of the cavalry with their horses dismissed, and at the same time ordered the cavalry to bound through the sparser woods, some wound would have been incurred through excessive confidence. But when they saw again that men, arrayed, were following in firm ranks, they turned to flight—not in columns, as before, nor each looking back for the other: scattered, shunning contact, they in turn made for distant and trackless places. The end of pursuing was night and satiety.

Caesa hostium ad decem milia: nostrorum trecenti sexaginta cecidere, in quis Aulus Atticus praefectus cohortis, iuvenili ardore et ferocia equi hostibus inlatus.

About ten thousand of the enemy were cut down: of our men three hundred sixty fell, among whom Aulus Atticus, prefect of a cohort, borne upon the enemy by youthful ardor and by the ferocity of his horse.

[38] Et nox quidem gaudio praedaque laeta victoribus: Britanni palantes mixto virorum mulierumque ploratu trahere vulneratos, vocare integros, deserere domos ac per iram ultro incendere, eligere latebras et statim relinquere; miscere in vicem consilia aliqua, dein separare; aliquando frangi aspectu pignorum suorum, saepius concitari. Satisque constabat saevisse quosdam in coniuges ac liberos, tamquam misererentur. Proximus dies faciem victoriae latius aperuit: vastum ubique silentium, secreti colles, fumantia procul tecta, nemo exploratoribus obvius.

[38] And the night indeed was gladsome to the victors with joy and with booty: the Britons, wandering in disorder, with the mingled wailing of men and women, drag the wounded, call to the sound, abandon their homes and, in rage, of their own accord set them ablaze, choose hiding places and at once relinquish them; they mingle some counsels in common, then separate; at times they are broken by the sight of their pledges, more often they are stirred up. And it was sufficiently agreed that certain men had raged against their wives and children, as though they were taking pity on them. The next day opened out the face of victory more broadly: everywhere a vast silence, secluded hills, roofs smoking in the distance, no one meeting the scouts.

Quibus in omnem partem dimissis, ubi incerta fugae vestigia neque usquam conglobari hostis compertum (et exacta iam aestate spargi bellum nequibat), in finis Borestorum exercitum deducit. Ibi acceptis obsidibus, praefecto classis circumvehi Britanniam praecipit. Datae ad id vires, et praecesserat terror.

When these had been sent out in every direction, and when it was ascertained that the traces of flight were uncertain and that the enemy was nowhere massing (and, with the summer now spent, the war could not be spread), he leads the army into the borders of the Boresti. There, after hostages were received, he orders the prefect of the fleet to circumnavigate Britain. Forces were furnished for this, and terror had preceded.

Ipse peditem atque equites lento itinere, quo novarum gentium animi ipsa transitus mora terrerentur, in hibernis locavit. Et simul classis secunda tempestate ac fama Trucculensem portum tenuit, unde proximo Britanniae latere praelecto omni redierat.

He himself stationed the infantry and the cavalry in winter-quarters after a slow march, in order that the minds of the new nations might be terrified by the very delay of the crossing. And at the same time the fleet, with weather and repute favorable, made the Trucculensian port, whence, the whole nearest side of Britain having been coasted, it had returned.

[39] Hunc rerum cursum, quamquam nulla verborum iactantia epistulis Agricolae auctum, ut erat Domitiano moris, fronte laetus, pectore anxius excepit. Inerat conscientia derisui fuisse nuper falsum e Germania triumphum, emptis per commercia, quorum habitus et crinis in captivorum speciem formarentur: at nunc veram magnamque victoriam tot milibus hostium caesis ingenti fama celebrari. Id sibi maxime formidolosum, privati hominis nomen supra principem attolli: frustra studia fori et civilium artium decus in silentium acta, si militarem gloriam alius occuparet; cetera utcumque facilius dissimulari, ducis boni imperatoriam virtutem esse.

[39] This course of affairs—although it had not been augmented by any vaunting of words in Agricola’s epistles, as was Domitian’s custom—he received with a cheerful brow, but an anxious heart. There was in him the consciousness that his recent counterfeit triumph from Germany had been a laughingstock, the “captives” having been purchased through traffickings, whose dress and hair were fashioned into the semblance of prisoners; but now a true and great victory, with so many thousands of enemies cut down, was being celebrated with immense renown. This was to him especially fearsome: that the name of a private man was being lifted above the princeps. In vain had the pursuits of the forum and the honor of the civil arts been driven into silence, if another were to preoccupy the military glory; the rest could somehow be more easily dissimulated— the imperial virtue is that of a good commander.

Talibus curis exercitus, quodque saevae cogitationis indicium erat, secreto suo satiatus, optimum in praesentia statuit reponere odium, donec impetus famae et favor exercitus languesceret: nam etiam tum Agricola Britanniam obtinebat.

Exercised with such cares, and, which was an indication of savage cogitation, satisfied with his own secrecy, he decided that the best course for the present was to lay aside his odium, until the impetus of fame and the favor of the army should languish: for even then Agricola was holding Britain.

[40] Igitur triumphalia ornamenta et inlustris statuae honorem et quidquid pro triumpho datur, multo verborum honore cumulata, decerni in senatu iubet addique insuper opinionem, Syriam provinciam Agricolae destinari, vacuam tum morte Atili Rufi consularis et maioribus reservatam. Credidere plerique libertum ex secretioribus ministeriis missum ad Agricolam codicillos, quibus ei Syria dabatur, tulisse, cum eo praecepto ut, si in Britannia foret, traderentur; eumque libertum in ipso freto Oceani obvium Agricolae, ne appellato quidem eo ad Domitianum remeasse, sive verum istud, sive ex ingenio principis fictum ac compositum est. Tradiderat interim Agricola successori suo provinciam quietam tutamque.

[40] Therefore he orders that the triumphal ornaments and the honor of an illustrious statue and whatever is given in place of a triumph, heaped up with much honor of words, be decreed in the senate, and that there be added, moreover, the opinion that the province of Syria was being destined for Agricola, then vacant through the death of the consular Atilius Rufus and reserved for men of higher rank. Many believed that a freedman, sent from the more secret ministries, had carried to Agricola dispatches by which Syria was given to him, with this instruction: that, if he were in Britain, they should be delivered; and that that freedman, meeting Agricola in the very strait of the Ocean, without even addressing him, returned to Domitian—whether this is true, or fabricated and composed out of the character of the princeps. Meanwhile Agricola had handed over to his successor the province quiet and secure.

Ac ne notabilis celebritate et frequentia occurrentium introitus esset, vitato amicorum officio noctu in urbem, noctu in Palatium, ita ut praeceptum erat, venit; exceptusque brevi osculo et nullo sermone turbae servientium inmixtus est. Ceterum uti militare nomen, grave inter otiosos, aliis virtutibus temperaret, tranquillitatem atque otium penitus hausit, cultu modicus, sermone facilis, uno aut altero amicorum comitatus, adeo ut plerique, quibus magnos viros per ambitionem aestimare mos est, viso aspectoque Agricola quaererent famam, pauci interpretarentur.

And lest his entry be notable for the celebrity and the thronging frequency of those running to meet him, avoiding the duty of friends he came by night into the city, by night into the Palace, just as it had been prescribed; and, received with a brief kiss and with no conversation, he was mixed into the crowd of attendants. Moreover, in order that he might temper the military name, burdensome among the idle, by other virtues, he drank in tranquillity and leisure to the full, modest in dress, easy in speech, accompanied by one or two friends, to such a degree that most, whose custom it is to estimate great men by ambition, when they had seen and looked upon Agricola, searched for the fame, few interpreted it.

[41] Crebro per eos dies apud Domitianum absens accusatus, absens absolutus est. Causa periculi non crimen ullum aut querela laesi cuiusquam, sed infensus virtutibus princeps et gloria viri ac pessimum inimicorum genus, laudantes. Et ea insecuta sunt rei publicae tempora, quae sileri Agricolam non sinerent: tot exercitus in Moesia Daciaque et Germania et Pannonia temeritate aut per ignaviam ducum amissi, tot militares viri cum tot cohortibus expugnati et capti; nec iam de limite imperii et ripa, sed de hibernis legionum et possessione dubitatum.

[41] Frequently in those days he was accused before Domitian while absent, and while absent he was acquitted. The cause of the danger was not any crime nor the complaint of anyone injured, but a prince hostile to virtues and to the man’s glory, and the worst kind of enemies—the praisers. And there ensued times for the commonwealth which would not allow Agricola to be kept silent: so many armies in Moesia and Dacia and Germany and Pannonia lost through the rashness or through the cowardice of their leaders, so many men of war with so many cohorts stormed and captured; and now there was question not about the frontier of the empire and the riverbank, but about the winter quarters of the legions and the very possession.

Ita cum damna damnis continuarentur atque omnis annus funeribus et cladibus insigniretur, poscebatur ore vulgi dux Agricola, comparantibus cunctis vigorem, constantiam et expertum bellis animum cum inertia et formidine aliorum. Quibus sermonibus satis constat Domitiani quoque auris verberatas, dum optimus quisque libertorum amore et fide, pessimi malignitate et livore pronum deterioribus principem extimulabant. Sic Agricola simul suis virtutibus, simul vitiis aliorum in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur.

Thus, as losses were linked to losses and the whole year was marked by funerals and disasters, the general Agricola was demanded by the voice of the crowd, since all were comparing his vigor, constancy, and a mind experienced in wars with the inertia and fear of the others. By these conversations it is sufficiently agreed that even Domitian’s ears were beaten, while the best of the freedmen, by love and loyalty, and the worst, by malignity and envy, were goading on the emperor, prone to the worse. Thus Agricola, at once by his own virtues and by the vices of others, was being driven headlong into glory itself.

[42] Aderat iam annus, quo proconsulatum Africae et Asiae sortiretur, et occiso Civica nuper nec Agricolae consilium deerat nec Domitiano exemplum. Accessere quidam cogitationum principis periti, qui iturusne esset in provinciam ultro Agricolam interrogarent. Ac primo occultius quietem et otium laudare, mox operam suam in adprobanda excusatione offerre, postremo non iam obscuri suadentes simul terrentesque pertraxere ad Domitianum.

[42] The year was now at hand in which he would draw by lot the proconsulship of Africa or Asia; and with Civica lately slain, neither was a plan lacking to Agricola nor a precedent to Domitian. There came certain men, skilled in the emperor’s cogitations, who of their own accord asked Agricola whether he would go to the province. And at first, more covertly, they praised quiet and leisure; soon they offered their services in getting an excuse approved; finally, no longer obscure, advising while at the same time frightening him, they dragged him to Domitian.

Qui paratus simulatione, in adrogantiam compositus, et audiit preces excusantis, et, cum adnuisset, agi sibi gratias passus est, nec erubuit beneficii invidia. Salarium tamen proconsulare solitum offerri et quibusdam a se ipso concessum Agricolae non dedit, sive offensus non petitum, sive ex conscientia, ne quod vetuerat videretur emisse. Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris: Domitiani vero natura praeceps in iram, et quo obscurior, eo inrevocabilior, moderatione tamen prudentiaque Agricolae leniebatur, quia non contumacia neque inani iactatione libertatis famam fatumque provocabat.

He, prepared with dissimulation, composed into arrogance, both listened to the prayers of the excuser and, when he had nodded assent, allowed thanks to be rendered to himself, nor did he blush at the odium of the benefaction. Yet the proconsular salary, which was customarily offered and had by himself been granted to certain persons, he did not give to Agricola—whether offended that it had not been asked, or from a guilty conscience, lest he seem to have bought what he had forbidden. It is a property of the human ingenium to hate the one whom you have injured; but Domitian’s nature, headlong into anger, and the more obscure, the more irrevocable, was nevertheless softened by Agricola’s moderation and prudence, because he did not provoke rumor and doom by contumacy nor by a vain vaunting of liberty.

Sciant, quibus moris est inlicita mirari, posse etiam sub malis principibus magnos viros esse, obsequiumque ac modestiam, si industria ac vigor adsint, eo laudis excedere, quo plerique per abrupta, sed in nullum rei publicae usum <nisi> ambitiosa morte inclaruerunt.

Let those whose custom it is to marvel at illicit things know that even under bad princes great men can exist, and that obedience and modesty—if industry and vigor are present—surpass in praise, whereas most, by headlong courses, have become illustrious, but to no use of the commonwealth, except by an ambitious death.

[43] Finis vitae eius nobis luctuosus, amicis tristis, extraneis etiam ignotisque non sine cura fuit. vulgus quoque et hic aliud agens populus et ventitavere ad domum et per fora et circulos locuti sunt; nec quisquam audita morte Agricolae aut laetatus est aut statim oblitus. Augebat miserationem constans rumor veneno interceptum: nobis nihil comperti, [ut] adfirmare ausim.

[43] The end of his life was grievous to us, sad to his friends, and not without concern even to strangers and the unacquainted. The common crowd too, and the populace here busy about other business, kept coming to the house, and they talked through the forums and in their circles; nor did anyone, on hearing of the death of Agricola, either rejoice or straightway forget. A constant rumor increased the pity, that he had been intercepted by poison: for our part, nothing has been ascertained, so that I should dare to affirm [it].

Ceterum per omnem valetudinem eius crebrius quam ex more principatus per nuntios visentis et libertorum primi et medicorum intimi venere, sive cura illud sive inquisitio erat. Supremo quidem die momenta ipsa deficientis per dispositos cursores nuntiata constabat, nullo credente sic adcelerari quae tristis audiret. Speciem tamen doloris animi vultu prae se tulit, securus iam odii et qui facilius dissimularet gaudium quam metum.

However, throughout his illness there came, more frequently than is customary under a principate, people “visiting” through messengers—both the foremost of the freedmen and the intimates among the physicians—whether that was concern or inquisition. On the final day, indeed, it was agreed that the very moments of his failing were reported through couriers posted in relays, no one believing that what he would hear, sad as it was, was being thus accelerated. Nevertheless he carried on his face the semblance of grief of spirit, now unconcerned about hatred, and a man who would more easily dissimulate joy than fear.

Satis constabat lecto testamento Agricolae, quo coheredem optimae uxori et piissimae filiae Domitianum scripsit, laetatum eum velut honore iudicioque. Tam caeca et corrupta mens adsiduis adulationibus erat, ut nesciret a bono patre non scribi heredem nisi malum principem.

It was quite evident, when Agricola’s testament had been read—wherein he wrote Domitian as co-heir with his best wife and most pious daughter—that he rejoiced as though at an honor and a judgment. So blind and corrupted was his mind by assiduous adulations that he did not know that a good father writes as heir no one except a bad prince.

[44] Natus erat Agricola Gaio Caesare tertium consule idibus Iuniis: excessit quarto et quinquagesimo anno, decimum kalendas Septembris Collega Prisc<in>oque consulibus. Quod si habitum quoque eius posteri noscere velint, decentior quam sublimior fuit; nihil impetus in vultu: gratia oris supererat. Bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter.

[44] Agricola was born when Gaius Caesar was consul for the 3rd time, on the Ides of June; he departed in his 54th year, on the tenth day before the Kalends of September, with Collega and Priscinus as consuls. But if posterity should also wish to know his appearance, he was more becoming than lofty; there was nothing of impetus in his look: a grace of countenance remained. You would easily have believed him a good man, willingly a great one.

Et ipse quidem, quamquam medio in spatio integrae aetatis ereptus, quantum ad gloriam, longissimum aevum peregit. Quippe et vera bona, quae in virtutibus sita sunt, impleverat, et consulari ac triumphalibus ornamentis praedito quid aliud adstruere fortuna poterat? Opibus nimiis non gaudebat, speciosae [non] contigerant.

And he himself indeed, although snatched away in the mid course of the integrity of his age, so far as pertains to glory, completed the longest lifetime. For he had fulfilled the true goods which are situated in virtues; and, being endowed with consular and triumphal ornaments, what else could Fortune add? He did not rejoice in inordinate opulence; the showy kind had not fallen to him.

Filia atque uxore superstitibus potest videri etiam beatus incolumi dignitate, florente fama, salvis adfinitatibus et amicitiis futura effugisse. Nam sicut ei [non licuit] durare in hanc beatissimi saeculi lucem ac principem Traianum videre, quod augurio votisque apud nostras auris ominabatur, ita festinatae mortis grande solacium tulit evasisse postremum illud tempus, quo Domitianus non iam per intervalla ac spiramenta temporum, sed continuo et velut uno ictu rem publicam exhausit.

With daughter and wife surviving, he can seem even blessed, since with dignity intact, with fame flourishing, with affinities and friendships safe, he escaped the things to come. For just as it was [not permitted] to him to endure into this light of the most blessed age and to see the princeps Trajan—something which by augury and by vows he was foreboding in our ears—so the haste of his death brought a great solace: that he evaded that final time when Domitian no longer by intervals and breathing-spaces of the times, but continuously and as if with one blow, drained the commonwealth.

[45] Non vidit Agricola obsessam curiam et clausum armis senatum et eadem strage tot consularium caedes, tot nobilissimarum feminarum exilia et fugas. Una adhuc victoria Carus Mettius censebatur, et intra Albanam arcem sententia Messalini strepebat, et Massa Baebius iam tum reus erat: mox nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus; nos Maurici Rusticique visus [foedavit]; nos innocenti sanguine Senecio perfudit. Nero tamen subtraxit oculos suos iussitque scelera, non spectavit: praecipua sub Domitiano miseriarum pars erat videre et aspici, cum suspiria nostra subscriberentur, cum denotandis tot hominum palloribus sufficeret saevus ille vultus et rubor, quo se contra pudorem muniebat.

[45] Agricola did not see the curia besieged and the senate shut in by arms, and in the same carnage so many slaughters of consular men, so many exiles and flights of the most noble women. As yet Carus Mettius was rated at a single victory, and within the Alban citadel the sentence of Messalinus was buzzing, and Baebius Massa already then was a defendant: soon our hands led Helvidius into prison; with the sight of Mauricus and Rusticus he [defiled] us; with the innocent blood of Senecio he drenched us. Nero, however, withdrew his eyes and ordered crimes—he did not look: the chief part of miseries under Domitian was to see and to be seen, when our sighs were subscribed, when for denoting the pallors of so many men that savage face and the flush, with which he fortified himself against shame, sufficed.

Tu vero felix, Agricola, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis. Ut perhibent qui interfuere novissimis sermonibus tuis, constans et libens fatum excepisti, tamquam pro virili portione innocentiam principi donares. Sed mihi filiaeque eius praeter acerbitatem parentis erepti auget maestitiam, quod adsidere valetudini, fovere deficientem, satiari vultu complexuque non contigit.

You indeed are fortunate, Agricola, not only in the clarity of your life, but also in the opportuneness of your death. As those testify who were present at your very last conversations, you accepted fate steadfast and willing, as though, for your man’s share, you were gifting innocence to the emperor. But for me and for his daughter, besides the bitterness of a parent snatched away, it increases our sadness that it did not befall us to sit beside his illness, to cherish him as he failed, to be sated with his face and with his embrace.

Excepissemus certe mandata vocesque, quas penitus animo figeremus. Noster hic dolor, nostrum vulnus, nobis tam longae absentiae condicione ante quadriennium amissus est. Omnia sine dubio, optime parentum, adsidente amantissima uxore superfuere honori tuo: paucioribus tamen lacrimis comploratus es, et novissima in luce desideravere aliquid oculi tui.

We would certainly have received your commands and words, which we would have fixed deep within our mind. This is our grief, our wound: to us it was lost four years earlier by the condition of so long an absence. Without doubt, best of parents, with your most loving wife sitting by, all things were in abundance for your honor; yet you were bewailed with fewer tears, and in your last light your eyes longed for something.

[46] Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore extinguuntur magnae animae, placide quiescas, nosque domum tuam ab infirmo desiderio et muliebribus lamentis ad contemplationem virtutum tuarum voces, quas neque lugeri neque plangi fas est. Admiratione te potius et immortalibus laudibus et, si natura suppeditet, similitudine colamus: is verus honos, ea coniunctissimi cuiusque pietas. Id filiae quoque uxorique praeceperim, sic patris, sic mariti memoriam venerari, ut omnia facta dictaque eius secum revolvant, formamque ac figuram animi magis quam corporis complectantur, non quia intercedendum putem imaginibus quae marmore aut aere finguntur, sed ut vultus hominum, ita simulacra vultus imbecilla ac mortalia sunt, forma mentis aeterna, quam tenere et exprimere non per alienam materiam et artem, sed tuis ipse moribus possis.

[46] If there is any place for the Manes of the pious, if, as it pleases the wise, great souls are not extinguished with the body, may you rest peacefully, and call us, your household, away from feeble longing and womanish lamentations to the contemplation of your virtues, which it is not right either to mourn or to bewail. Let us rather cultivate you with admiration and with immortal praises and, if nature should supply it, with similitude: that is true honor, that is the piety of each most closely bound. This too I would enjoin upon the daughter and upon the wife, thus to venerate a father’s memory, thus a husband’s, that they turn over with themselves all his deeds and sayings, and embrace the form and figure of his mind rather than of his body—not because I think one should object to images which are fashioned of marble or bronze, but, as the faces of men, so the likenesses of faces are feeble and mortal; the form of the mind is eternal, which you can hold and express not through another’s material and art, but by your own character and habits.

Quidquid ex Agricola amavimus, quidquid mirati sumus, manet mansurumque est in animis hominum in aeternitae temporum, fama rerum; nam multos veterum velut inglorios et ignobilis oblivio obruit: Agricola posteritati narratus et traditus superstes erit.

Whatever of Agricola we loved, whatever we admired, remains and will remain in the minds of men, in the eternity of times, in the fame of his deeds; for oblivion overwhelms many of the ancients as though inglorious and ignoble: Agricola, narrated and handed down to posterity, will survive.