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Germania and Agricola

C >> Caius Cornelius Tacitus >> Germania and Agricola






AGRICOLA.


The Biography of Agricola was written early in the reign of Trajan (which
commenced A.U.C. 851. A.D. 98), consequently about the same time with the
Germania, though perhaps somewhat later (cf. notes on Germania). This
date is established by inference from the author's own language in the 3d
and the 44th sections (see notes). In the former, he speaks of the dawn
of a better day, which opened indeed with the reign of Nerva, but which
is now brightening constantly under the auspices of Trajan. The use of
the past tense (_miscuerit_) here in respect to Nerva, and of the present
(_augeat_) in respect to Trajan, is quite conclusive evidence, that at
the time of writing, the reign of Nerva was past, and that of Trajan had
already begun.

The other passage is, if possible, still more clearly demonstrative of
the same date. Here in drawing the same contrast between past tyranny and
present freedom, the author, without mentioning Nerva, records the desire
and hope, which his father-in-law expressed in his hearing, that he might
live to see Trajan elevated to the imperial throne--language very proper
and courtly, if Trajan were already Emperor, but a very awkward
compliment to Nerva, if, as many critics suppose, he were still the
reigning prince.

It is objected to this date, that if Nerva were not still living, Tacitus
could not have failed to attach to his name (in Sec. 3.) the epithet
_Divus_, with which deceased Emperors were usually honored. And from the
omission of this epithet in connection with the name of _Nerva_, together
with the terms of honor in which _Trajan_ is mentioned, it is inferred
that the piece was written in that brief period of three months, which
intervened between the adoption of Trajan by Nerva, and Nerva's death
(see Brotier and many others). But the application of the epithet in
question, was not a matter of necessity or of universal practice. Its
omission in this case might have been accidental, or might have proceeded
from unknown reasons. And the bare absence of a single word surely cannot
be entitled to much weight, in comparison with the obvious and almost
necessary import of the passages just cited.

The primary object of the work is sufficiently obvious. It was to honor
the memory of the writer's excellent father-in-law, Agricola (cf. Sec. 3:
honori Agricolae, mei soceri, destinatus). So far from apologizing for
writing the life of so near a friend, he feels assured that his motives
will be appreciated and his design approved, however imperfect may be its
execution; and he deems an apology necessary for having so long delayed
the performance of that filial duty. After an introduction of singular
beauty and appropriateness (cf. notes), he sketches a brief outline of
the parentage, education, and early life of Agricola, but draws out more
at length the history of his consulship and command in Britain, of which
the following summary, from Hume's History of England, may not be
unprofitable to the student in anticipation: "Agricola was the general,
who finally established the dominion of the Romans in this island. He
governed it in the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. He carried
his victorious arms northward; defeated the Britons in every encounter,
pierced into the forests and the mountains of Caledonia, reduced every
state to subjection in the southern parts of the island, and chased
before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who
deemed war and death itself less intolerable than servitude under the
victors. He defeated them in a decisive action which they fought under
Galgacus; and having fixed a chain of garrisons between the friths of
Clyde and Forth, he cut off the ruder and more barren parts of the island
and secured the Roman province from the incursions of the more barbarous
inhabitants. During these military enterprises, he neglected not the arts
of peace. He introduced laws and civility among the Britons; taught them
to desire and raise all the conveniences of life; reconciled them to the
Roman language and manners; instructed them in letters and science; and
employed every expedient to render those chains which he had forged both
easy and agreeable to them." (His. of Eng. vol. 1.)

The history of Agricola during this period is of course the history of
Britain. Accordingly the author prefaces it with an outline of the
geographical features, the situation, soil, climate, productions and, so
far as known to the Romans, the past history of the island. Tacitus
possessed peculiar advantages for being the historian of the early
Britons. His father-in-law was the first to subject the whole island to
the sway of Rome. He traversed the country from south to north at the
head of his armies, explored it with his own eyes, and reported what he
saw to our author with his own lips. He saw the Britons too, in their
native nobleness, in their primitive love of liberty and virtue; before
they had become the slaves of Roman arms, the dupes of Roman arts, or the
victims of Roman vices. A few paragraphs in the concise and nervous style
of Tacitus, have made us quite acquainted with the Britons, as Agricola
found them; and on the whole, we have no reason to be ashamed of the
primaeval inhabitants of the land of our ancestry. They knew their
rights, they prized them, they fought for them bravely and died for them
nobly. More harmony among themselves might have delayed, but could not
have prevented the final catastrophe. Rome in the age of Trajan was
irresistible; and Britain became a Roman province. This portion of the
Agricola of Tacitus, and the Germania of the same author, entitle him to
the peculiar affection and lasting gratitude of those, whose veins flow
with Briton and Anglo-Saxon blood, as the historian, and the contemporary
historian too, of their early fathers. It is a notable providence for us,
nay it is a kind providence for mankind, that has thus preserved from the
pen of the most sagacious and reflecting of all historians an account,
too brief though it be, of the origin and antiquities of the people that
of all others now exert the widest dominion whether in the political or
the moral world, and that have made those countries which were in his day
shrouded in darkness, the radiant points for the moral and spiritual
illumination of our race. "The child is father to the man," and if we
would at this day investigate the elements of English law, we have it on
the authority of Sir William Blackstone, that we must trace them back to
their founders in the customs of the Britons and Germans, as recorded by
Caesar and Tacitus.

With the retirement of Agricola from the command in Britain, the author
falls back more into the province of biography. The few occasional
strokes, however, in which the pencil of Tacitus has sketched the
character of Domitian in the background of the picture of Agricola are
the more to be prized, because his history of that reign is lost.

In narrating the closing scenes of Agricola's life, Tacitus breathes the
very spirit of an affectionate son, without sacrificing the impartiality
and gravity of the historian, and combines all a mourner's simplicity and
sincerity with all the orator's dignity and eloquence.

How tenderly he dwells on the wisdom and goodness of his departed father;
how artlessly he intersperses his own sympathies and regrets, even as if
he were breathing out his sorrows amid a circle of sympathizing friends!
At the same time, how instructive are his reflections, how noble his
sentiments, and how weighty his words, as if he were pronouncing an
eulogium in the hearing of the world and of posterity! The sad experience
of the writer in the very troubles through which he follows Agricola,
conspires with the affectionate remembrance of his own loss in the death
of such a father, to give a tinge of melancholy to the whole biography;
and we should not know where to look for the composition, in which so
perfect a work of art is animated by so warm a heart. In both these
respects, it is decidedly superior to the Germania. It is marked by the
same depth of thought and conciseness in diction, but it is a higher
effort of the writer, while, at the same time, it gives us more insight
into the character of the man. It has less of satire and more of
sentiment. Or if it is not richer in refined sentiments and beautiful
reflections, they are interwoven with the narrative in a manner more easy
and natural. The sentiments seem to be only the language of Agricola's
virtuous heart, and the reflections, we feel, could not fail to occur to
such a mind in the contemplation of such a character. There is also more
ease and flow in the language; for concise as it still is and studied as
it may appear, it seems to be the very style which is best suited to the
subject and most natural to the author. In another writer we might call
it labored and ambitious. But we cannot feel that it cost Tacitus very
much effort. Still less can we charge him with an attempt at display. In
short, an air of confidence in the dignity of the subject, and in the
powers of the author, pervades the entire structure of this fine specimen
of biography. And the reader will not deem that confidence ill-grounded.
He cannot fail to regard this, as among the noblest, if not the very
noblest monument ever reared to the memory of any individual.

"We find in it the flower of all the beauties, which T. has scattered
through his other works. It is a chef-d'oeuvre, which satisfies at once
the judgment and the fancy, the imagination and the heart. It is justly
proposed as a model of historical eulogy. The praises bestowed have in
them nothing vague or far-fetched, they rise from the simple facts of the
narrative. Every thing produces attachment, every thing conveys
instruction. The reader loves Agricola, admires him, conceives a passion
for him, accompanies him in his campaigns, shares in his disgrace and
profits by his example. The interest goes on growing to the last. And
when it seems incapable of further increase, passages pathetic and
sublime transport the soul out of itself, and leave it the power of
feeling only to detest the tyrant, and to melt into tenderness without
weakness over the destiny of the hero." (La Bletterie.)

* * * * *

I. _Usitatum_. A participle in the acc. agreeing with the preceding
clause, and forming with that clause the object of the verb omisit.--
_Nequidem_. Cf. G. 6, note.

_Incuriosa suorum_. So Ann. 2, 88: dum vetera extollimus, recentium
incuriosi. _Incuriosus_ is post-Augustan.

_Virtus vicit--vitium_. Alliteration, which is not unfrequent in T. as
also homoeoteleuta, words ending with like sounds. Dr.

_Ignorantiam--invidiam_. The gen. _recti_ limits both subs., which
properly denote different faults, but since they are usually associated,
they are here spoken of as one (_vitium_).

_In aperto_. Literally, _in the open_ field or way; hence, _free from
obstructions_. Sal. (Jug. 5) uses it for _in open_ day, or clear light.
But that sense would be inappropriate here. _Easy_. Not essentially
different from _pronum_, which properly means _inclined_, and hence
_easy_. These two words are brought together in like manner in other
passages of our author, cf. 33: vota virtusque _in aperto_, omniaque
_prona_ victoribus. An inelegant imitation may be thus expressed in
English: down-hill and open-ground work.

_Sine gratia aut ambitione. Without courting favor or seeking preferment.
Gratia_ properly refers more to the present, _ambitio_ to the future. Cf.
Ann. 6, 46: Tiberio non perinde gratia praesentium, quam in posteros
ambitio. _Ambitio_ is here used in a bad sense (as it is sometimes in
Cic.) For still another bad sense of the word, cf. G. 27.

_Celeberrimus quisque_. Such men as Pliny the elder, Claudius Pollio,
and Julius Secundus, wrote biographies. Also Rusticus and Senecio. See
chap. 2.

_Plerique_. Not most persons, but _many_, or _very many_. Cf. His. 1, 86,
and 4, 84, where it denotes a less number than _plures_ and _plurimi_, to
which it is allied in its root (ple, ple-us, plus, plerus. See Freund ad
v.)

_Suam ipsi vitam. Autobiography_. Cic. in his Epist. to Lucceius says: If
I cannot obtain this favor from you, I shall perhaps be compelled to
write my own biography, _multorum exemplo et clarorum virorum_. When
_ipse_ is joined to a possessive pronoun in a reflexive clause, it takes
the case of the subject of the clause. Cf. Z. 696, Note; H. 452, 1.

_Fiduciam morum_. _A mark of conscious integrity_; literally confidence
of, i.e. in their morals. _Morum_ is objective gen. For the two
accusatives (one of which however is the clause _suam--narrare_) after
_arbitrati sunt_, see Z. 394; H. 373. A gen. may take the place of the
latter acc., _esse_ being understood, Z. 448.

_Rutilio_. Rutilius Rufus, consul A.U.C. 649, whom Cic. (Brut. 30, 114.)
names as a profound scholar in Greek literature and philosophy, and
Velleius (2, 13, 2.) calls the best man, not merely of his own, but of
any age. He wrote a Roman history in Greek. Plut. Mar. 28. His
autobiography is mentioned only by Tacitus.

_Scauro_. M. Aemilius Scaurus, consul A.U.C. 639, who wrote an
autobiography, which Cic. (Brut. 29, 112.) compares favorably with the
Cyropaedia of Xenophon.

_Citra fidem_. Cf. note G. 16.--_Aut obtrectationi_. Enallage, cf. note,
G. 15. Render: _This in the case of Rutilius and Scaurus did not impair_
(public) _confidence or incur_ (public) _censure_.

_Adeo_. _To such a degree_, or _so true it is_. _Adeo_ conclusiva, et in
initio sententiae collocata, ad _mediam_ latinitatem pertinet. Dr. Livy
uses _adeo_ in this way often; Cic. uses _tantum_.

_At nunc_, etc. _But now_ (in our age so different from those better
days) _in undertaking to write_ (i.e. if I had undertaken to write) _the
life of a man at the time of his death, I should have needed permission;
which I would not have asked_, since in that case _I should have fallen
on times so cruel and hostile to virtue_. The reference is particularly
to the time of Domitian, whose jealousy perhaps occasioned the death of
Agricola, and would have been offended by the very asking of permission
to write his biography. Accordingly the historian proceeds in the next
chapter to illustrate the treatment, which the biographers of eminent men
met with from that cruel tyrant. _Opus fuit_ stands instead of _opus
fuisset_. Cf. His. 1, 16: _dignus eram_; 3, 22: _ratio fuit_; and Z. 518,
519. The concise mode of using the future participles _narraturo_ and
_incursaturus_ (in place of the verb in the proper mood and with the
proper conjunctions, if, when, since) belongs to the silver age, and is
foreign to the language of Cicero. Such is the interpretation, which
after a thorough reinvestigation, I am now inclined to apply to this much
disputed passage. It is that of Ritter. It will be seen that the text
also differs slightly from that of the first edition (_in-cursaturus_
instead of _ni cursaturus_). Besides the authority of Rit., Doed., Freund
and others, I have been influenced by a regard to the usage of Tacitus,
which lends no sanction to a transitive sense of _cursare_. Cf. Ann. 15,
50; His. 5, 20. In many editions, _mihi_ stands before _nunc narraturo_.
But _nunc_ is the emphatic word, and should stand first, as it does in
the best MSS.


II. _Legimus_. Quis? Tacitus ejusdemque aetatis homines alii. Ubi? In
actis diurnis. Wr. These _journals_ (Fiske's Man. p. 626., 4. ed.)
published such events (cf. Dio. 67, 11), and were read through the empire
(Ann. 16, 22). T. was absent from Rome when the events here referred to
took place (cf. 45: longae absentiae). Hence the propriety of his saying
_legimus_, rather than _vidimus_ or _meminimus_, which have been proposed
as corrections.

_Aruleno Rustico_. Put to death by Domitian for writing a memoir or
penegyric on Paetus Thrasea, cf. Suet. Dom. 10.

_Paetus Thrasea_. Cf. Ann. 16, 21: Trucidatis tot insignibus viris, ad
postremum Nero _virtutem ipsam_ exscindere concupivit, interfecto Thrasea
Paeto.

_Herennio Senecioni_. Cf. Plin. (Epist. 7, 19), where Senecio is said to
have written the life of Helvidius at the request of Fannia, wife of
Helvidius, who was also banished, as accessory to the crime, but who bore
into exile the very books which had been the cause of her exile. For the
dat. cf. note, G. 3: _Ulixi_.

_Priscus Helvidius_, son-in-law of Thrasea and friend of the younger
Pliny, was put to death by Vespasian. Suet. Vesp. 15; His. 4, 5; Juv.
Sat. 5, 36.

_Laudati essent_. The imp. and plup. subj. are used in narration after
_cum_, even when it denotes time merely. Here however a causal connection
is also intended. H. 518, II.; Z. 577, 578.

_Triumviris_. The Triumviri at Rome, like the Undecimviri (_oi endeka_)
at Athens, had charge of the prisons and executions, for which purpose
they had eight lictors at their command.

_Comitio ac foro_. The comitium was a _part_ of the forum. Yet the words
are often used together (cf. Suet. Caes. 10). The _comitium_ was the
proper place for the punishment of criminals, and the word _forum_
suggests the further idea of the publicity of the book-burning in the
presence of the assembled people.

_Conscientiam_, etc. _The consciousness_, i.e. _common knowledge of
mankind_; for _conscientia_ denotes what one knows in common with others,
as well as what he is conscious of in himself. Cf. His. 1, 25:
_conscientiam facinoris_; Cic. Cat. 1. 1: _omnium horum conscientia_. In
his Annals (4, 35), T. ridicules the stupidity of those who expect by any
_present_ power, to extinguish the memory also of the _next_ generation.
The sentiment of both passages is just and fine.

_Sapientiae professoribus. Philosophers_, who were banished by Domitian,
A.D. 94, on the occasion of Rusticus's panegyric on Thrasea. T. not
unfrequently introduces an _additional circumstance_ by the abl. abs., as
here.

_Ne occurreret. Ne_ with the subj. expresses a negative intention; _ut
non_ a negative result. H. 490; Z. 532.

_Inquisitiones. A system of espionage_, sc. by the Emperor's tools and
informers.--_Et_==etiam, _even_. Cf. note, 11. Al. _etiam_.

_Memoriam--perdidissemus_, i.e. we should not have _dared_ to remember, if
we could have helped it.

III. _Et quanquam. Et_ pro _sed_. So Dr. But _nunc demum animus redit_
implies, that confidence is hardly restored yet; and the reason for so
slow a recovery is given in the following clause. Hence _et_ is used in
its proper copulative or explicative sense. So Wr. _Demum_ is a
lengthened form of the demonstrative _dem_. Cf. i-_dem_, tan-_dem_,
_dae_. _Nunc demum_==_nun dae_. Freund.

_Primo statim. Statim_ gives emphasis: _at the very commencement_, etc.;
cf. note, 20.--_Dissociabiles, incompatible_.

_Augeatque--Trajanus_. This marks the date of the composition early in
the reign of Trajan, cf. G. 37; also p. 139 supra.

_Securitas publica. "And public security has assumed not only hopes and
wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence and, stability.
Securitas publica_ was a current expression and wish, and was frequently
inscribed on medals." Ky.

_Assumpserit_. This word properly belongs only to _fiduciam ac robur.
Spem ac votum_ would require rather _conceperit_. Zeugma.

_Subit_. _Steals in_, lit. creeps under. Cf. note, H. 1, 13.

_Invisa primo--amatur_. The original perhaps of Pope's lines Vice is a
monster, &c.

_Quindecim annos_. The reign of Domitian from A.D. 81, to A.D. 96.

_Fortuitis casibus_. Natural and ordinary death, as opposed to death by
violence, _saevitia principis_.--_Promptissimus quisque. The ablest, or
all the ablest_. _Quisque_ with a superlative, whether singular or
plural, is in general equivalent to _omnes_ with the positive, with the
additional idea however of a reciprocal comparison among the persons
denoted by _quisque_, Z. 710, 6.

_Ut ita dixerim_. An apology for the strong expression _nostri
superstites: survivors not of others only, but so to speak, of ourselves
also_; for we can hardly be said to have _lived_ under the tyranny of
Dom., and our present happy life is, as it were, a renewed existence,
after being buried for fifteen years. A beautiful conception! The use of
_dixerim_ in preference to _dicam_ in this formula is characteristic of
the later Latin. Cf. Z. 528. The _et_ before this clause is omitted by
some editors. But it is susceptible of an explanation, which adds spirit
to the passage: A few of us survive, _and that_ not merely ourselves, but
so to speak, others also. In the Augustan age _superstes_ was, for the
most part, followed by the dative.

_Tamen_. Notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances in which I write,
after so long a period of deathlike silence, in winch we have almost lost
the gift of speech, _yet_ I shall not regret to have composed _even in
rude and inelegant language_, etc. For the construction of _pigebit_, cf.
Z. 441, and H. 410, 6.

_Memoriam--composuisse_. Supposed to refer to his forthcoming history,
written, or planned and announced, but not yet published. Some understand
it of the present treatise. But then _interim_ would have no meaning; nor
indeed is the language applicable to his _Agricola_.

_Interim_, sc. _editus_ or vulgatus, _published meanwhile_, i.e. while
preparing the history.

The reader cannot but be struck with the beauty of this introduction. It
is modest, and at the same time replete with the dignity of conscious
worth. It is drawn out to considerable length, yet it is all so pertinent
and tasteful, that we would not spare a sentence or a word. With all the
thoughtful and sententious brevity of the exordiums of Sallust, it has
far more of natural ease and the beauty of appropriateness.


IV. _Cnaeus Julius Agricola_. Every Roman had at least three names: the
nomen or name of the gens, which always ended in _ius_ (Julius); the
praenomen or individual name ending in _us_ (Cnaeus); and the cognomen or
family name (Agricola). See a brief account of A. in Dion Cassius 66, 20.
Mentioned only by Dion and T. Al. Gnaeus, C. and G. being originally
identical.

_Forojuliensium colonia_. Now _Frejus_. A walled town of Gallia
Narbonensis, built by Julius Caesar, and used as a _naval station_ by
Augustus (cf. His. 3, 43: _claustra maris_). Augustus sent thither the
beaked ships captured in the battle of Actium, Ann. 4, 5. Hence perhaps
called _illustris_.

_Procuratorem Caesarum_. Collector of imperial revenues in the Roman
Provinces.

_Quae equestris--est_, i.e. the procurator was, as we say, ex officio, a
Roman knight. The office was not conferred on senators.

_Julius Graecinus_. Cf. Sen. de Benef. 2, 21: Si exemplo magni animi opus
est, utemur _Graecini Julii_, viri egregii, quem C. Caesar occidit ob hoc
unum, quod melior vir esset, quam esse quemquam tyranno expediret.

_Senatorii ordinis_. Pred. after _fuit_ understood, with ellipsis of
_vir_. H. 402, III.; Z. 426.

_Sapientiae. Philosophy_, cf. 1.--_Caii Caesaris_. Known in English
histories by the name of Caligula.

_Marcum Silanum_. Father-in-law of Caligula, cf. Suet. Calig. 23: Silanum
item _socerum_ ad necem, secandasque novacula fauces compulit.

_Jussus_. Supply _est_. T. often omits _est_ in the first of two passive
verbs, cf. 9: detentus ac statim ... revocatus est. In Hand's Tursellinus
(2, 474) however, jussus is explained as a participle, and _quia
abnuerat_ as equivalent to another participle==_having been commanded
and having refused_.

_Abnuerat_, lit. _had_ refused, because the refusal was prior to the
slaying. We, with less accuracy, say _refused_. Z. 505.

_Rarae castitatis_. Ellipsis of _mulier_. H. 402, III.; Z. 426.

_In--indulgentiaque. Brought up in her bosom and tender love. Indulgentia_
is more frequently used to denote excessive tenderness.

_Arcebat_ has for its subject the clause, _quod statim_, etc. He was
guarded against the allurements of vice by the wholesome influences
thrown around him in the place of his early education.

_Massiliam_. Now Marseilles. It was settled by a colony of Phocaeans.
Hence _Graeca comitate_. Cf also Cicero's account of the high culture and
refinement of Massilia (Cic. pro Flacco, 26).--_Provinciali parsimonia.
Parsimonia_ in a good sense; _economy_, as opposed to the luxury and
extravagance of Italy and the City.

_Locum--mixtum_. Enallage for _locus_, in quo mixta erant, etc. H. 704,
III., cf. 25: mixti copiis et laetitia.--_Bene compositum_ denotes _a
happy combination_ of the elements, of which _mixtum_ expresses only the
_co-existence_.

_Acrius_, sc. aequo==too eagerly. H. 444, 1, and Z. 104, 1. note.

_Concessum--senatori_. Military and civil studies were deemed more
appropriate to noble Roman youth, than literature and philosophy.
_Senatori_ must of course refer, not to the office of A., but to his rank
by birth, cf. _senatorii ordinis_ above.

_Hausisse, ni--coercuisset_. An analysis of this sentence shows, that
there is an ellipsis of _hausurum_ fuisse: _he imbibed_, and would have
continued to imbibe, _had not_, &c. In such sentences, which abound in T.
but are rarely found in Cic., _ni_ is more readily translated by _but_.
Cf. Z. 519. _b_; and note, His. 3, 28. For the application of _haurire_
to the eager study of philosophy, cf. Hor. Sat. 2, 4, 95: _haurire vitae
praecepta beatae_, and note, His. 1, 51: _hauserunt animo_.

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