 Part 1. To bequeath to posterity a record of the deeds and characters of distinguished men is an ancient practice which even the present age, careless as it is of its own sons, has not abandoned, whenever some great and conspicuous excellence has conquered and risen superior to that failing, common to petty and to great states, blindness and hostility to goodness. But in days gone by, as there was a greater inclination and a more open path to the achievement of memorable actions, so the man of highest genius was led by the simple reward of a good conscience to hand on without partiality or self-seeking the remembrance of greatness. Many too thought that to write their own lives show the confidence of integrity rather than presumption. Of rutilius and scourus no one doubted the honesty or questioned the motives. So true is it that merit is best appreciated by the age in which it thrives most easily. But in these days I, who have to record the life of one who has passed away, must crave and indulgence, which I should not have had to ask, had I only to invade against an age so cruel, so hostile to all virtue. We have only to read that the panegyrics pronounced by Arilena's Rusticus on Peter's Thrasia and by Herania's Cinesio on Priscus Helvidius were made capital crimes, that not only their persons but their very books were objects of rage and that the triumfers were commissioned to burn in the forum those works of splendid genius. They fancied, forsooth, that in that fire the voice of the Roman people, the freedom of the senate and the conscience of the human race were perishing, while at the same time they banished the teachers of philosophy and exiled every noble pursuit, that nothing good might anywhere confront them. Certainly we showed a magnificent example of patience, as a former age had witnessed the extreme of liberty, so we witnessed the extreme of servitude, when the informer robbed us of the interchanges of speech and hearing. We should have lost memory as well as voice, had it been as easy to forget as to keep silence. Now at last our spirit is returning, and yet, though at the dawn of a most happy age nervous Caesar blended things once irreconcilable, sovereignty and freedom, though nervous Trajan is now daily augmenting the prosperity of the time. And though the public safety has not only our hopes and good wishes but has also the certain pledge of their fulfillment, still from the necessary condition of human frailty the remedy works less quickly than the disease. As our bodies grow but slowly perish in a moment, so it is easier to crush than to revive genius and its pursuits. Besides, the charm of indolence steals over us, and the idleness which at first we loathed we afterwards love. What, if during those fifteen years a large portion of human life many were cut off by ordinary casualties, and the ablest fell victim to the emperor's rage, if a few of us survive, though there have been taken from the midst of life those many years which brought the young in dumb silence to old age, and the old almost to the very verge and end of existence. Yet we shall not regret that we have told, though in language unskillful and unadorned, the story of past servitude, and borne our testimony to present happiness. Meanwhile this book intended to do honour to Agricola, my father-in-law, will, as an expression of filial regard, be commended, or at least excused. Nias Julius Agricola was born at the ancient and famous colony of Forum Ulii. Each of his grandfathers was an imperial procurator, that is, of the highest equestrian rank. His father, Julius Grisinus, a member of the senatorial order, and distinguished for his pursuit of eloquence and philosophy, earned for himself by these very merits the displeasure of Gaius Caesar. He was ordered to impeach Marcus Silanus, and because he refused was put to death. His mother was Julia Priscilla, a lady of singular virtue. Brought up by her side with fond affection, he passed his boyhood and youth in the cultivation of every worthy attainment. He was guarded from the enticements of the profligate, not only by his own good and straightforward character, but also by having, when quite a child, for the scene and guide of his studies, Massilia, a place where refinement and provincial frugality were blended and happily combined. I remember that he used to tell us how, in his early youth, he would have imbibed a keener love of philosophy, then became a Roman and a senator, had not his mother's good sense, checked his excited and ardent spirit. It was the case of a lofty and aspiring soul, craving with more eagerness than caution the beauty and splendour of great and glorious renown. But it was soon mellowed by reason and experience, and he retained from his learning that most difficult of lessons, moderation. He served his military apprenticeship in Britain, to the satisfaction of Suetonius Paulinus, a painstaking and judicious officer, who, to test his merits, selected him to share his tent. Without the recklessness with which young men often make the profession of arms a mere pastime, and without indolence, he never availed himself of his tribune's rank or his inexperience to procure enjoyment or to escape from duty. He sought to make himself acquainted with the province and known to the army. He would learn from the skillful and keep pace with the bravest, would attempt nothing for display, would avoid nothing from fear, and would be at once careful and vigilant. Never indeed had Britain been more excited or in a more critical condition. When soldiers had been massacred, colonies burned, armies cut off. The struggle was then for safety. It was soon to be for victory. And though all this was conducted under the leadership and direction of another, though the final issue and the glory of having won back the province belonged to the general, yet skill, experience and ambition were acquired by the young officer. His soul too was penetrated with the desire of warlike renown, a sentiment unwelcome to an age which put a sinister construction on eminent merit, and made glory as perilous as infamy. From Britain he went to Rome, to go through the regular course of office, and there allied himself with the Mishia de Sediana, a lady of illustrious birth. The marriage was one which gave a man ambitious of advancement, distinction and support. They lived in singular harmony, through their mutual affection and preference of each other to self. However, the good wife deserves the greater praise, just as the bad incurs a heavier censure. Appointed questor, the ballot gave him Asia for his province, Salvia Stitiana's for his proconsul. Neither the one nor the other corrupted him, though the province was rich and an easy prey to the wrongdoer, while the proconsul, a man inclined to every species of greed, was ready by all manner of indulgence to purchase a mutual concealment of guilt. A daughter was there added to his family to be his stay and comfort, for shortly after he lost the son that had before been born to him. The year between his questorship and tribunate, as well as the year of the tribunate itself, he passed in retirement and in action, for he knew those times of neuro when indolence stood for wisdom. His sprittership was passed in the same consistent quietude, for the usual judicial functions did not fall to his lot. Games and the pageantry of his office, he ordered according to the mean between strictness and profusion, avoiding extravagance, but not missing distinction. He was, afterwards, appointed by Galba to draw up an account of the temple offerings, and his searching scrutiny relieved the conscience of the state from the burden of all sacrilegious, but those committed by Nero. The following year inflicted a terrible blow on his affections and his fortunes. Otho's fleet, while cruising idly about, cruelly raved into Malai, a district of Liguria, his mother, who was living here on her own estate, was murdered. The estate itself, in a large part of her patrimony, were plundered. This was indeed the occasion of the crime. Agricola, who instantly set out to discharge the duties of affection, was overtaken by the tidings that Vespasian was aiming at the throne. He had once joined his party. Vespasian's early policy and the government of Rome were directed by Musianus, for the mission was a mere youth, and from his father's elevation sought only the opportunities of indulgence. Agricola, having been sent by Musianus to conduct a levy of troops, and having done his work with integrity and energy, was appointed to command the 20th Legion, which had been slow to take the new oath of elegiance, and the retiring officer of which was reported to be acting disloyaly. It was a trying and formidable charge for even officers of consular rank, and the late Praetorian officer, perhaps from his own disposition, perhaps from that of the soldiers, was powerless to restrain them. Vespasian thus at once to supersede and to punish Agricola with a singular moderation wished it to be thought that he had found rather than made an obedient soldiery. Britain was then under Vettius Bolanas, who governed more mildly than suited so turbulent a province. Agricola moderated his energy and restrained his ardor, that he might not grow too important, for he had learned to obey, and understood well how to combine expediency with honour. Soon afterwards Britain received for its governor a man of consular rank, Patelius Serialis. Agricola's merits had now room for display. Serialis let him share at first, indeed, only the toils and dangers, but before long the glory of war, often by way of trial putting him in command of part of the army, and sometimes on the strength of the result of larger forces. Never to enhance his own renown did Agricola boast of his exploits. He always referred his success as though he were but an instrument to his general and director. Thus by his valour in obeying orders, and by his modesty of speech he escaped jealousy without losing distinction. As he was returning from the command of the legion, Vespasian admitted him into the patrician order, and then gave him the province of Aquitania, a preeminently splendid appointment, both from the importance of its duties and the prospect of the consulate to which the emperor dastened him. Many think the genius of the soldier wants subtlety, because military law, which is summery and blunt and apt to appeal to the sword, finds no exercise for the refinements of the forum. Yet Agricola, from his natural good sense, though called to act among civilians, did his work with ease and correctness, and, besides, the times of business and relaxation were kept distinct. When his public and judicial duties required it, he was dignified, thoughtful, austere, and yet often merciful. When business was done with, he wore no longer the official character. He was altogether without harshness, pride, or the greed of gain. With the most rare felicity his good nature did not weaken his authority, nor his trickness the attachment of his friends. To speak of uprightness and purity in such a man would be an insult to his virtues. Fame itself, of which even good men are often weakly fond, he did not seek by an ostentation of virtue, or by artifice. He avoided rivalry with his colleagues, contention with his procurator, thinking such victories no honor and defeat disgrace. For somewhat less than three years he was kept in his governorship, and was then recalled with an immediate prospect of the consulate. A general belief went with him that the province of Britain was to be his, not because he had himself hinted it, but because he seemed worthy of it. Public opinion is not always mistaken. Sometimes even it chooses the right man. He was consul, an eye but a youth, when he betrothed to me his daughter, a maiden even then of noble promise. After his consulate he gave her to me in marriage, and was then at once appointed to the government of Britain with the addition of the sacred office of the pontificate. The geography and inhabitants of Britain, already described by so many writers, I will speak of, not that my research and ability may be compared with theirs, but because the country was then, for the first time, thoroughly subdued. And so matters, which as being still not accurately known, my predecessors embellished with their eloquence, shall now be related on the evidence of facts. Britain, the largest of the islands which Roman geography includes, is so situated that it faces Germany on the east, Spain on the west, on the south, it is even within sight of goal. Its northern extremities, which have no shores opposite to them, are beaten by the waves of a vast open sea. The form of the entire country has been compared by Livy and Fabius Rusticus, the most graphic among ancient and modern historians, to an oblong shield or battle-axe. And this, no doubt, is its shape without Caledonia, so that it has become the popular description of the whole island. There is, however, a large and irregular track of land, which juts out from its furthest shores, tapping off in a wedge-like form. Round these coasts of remotest ocean, the Roman fleet then, for the first time, sailed, ascertained that Britain is an island, and simultaneously discovered and conquered what are called the Orcades, islands hitherto unknown. Though too was described in the distance, which as yet had been hidden by the snows of winter. Those waters, they say, are sluggish, and yield with difficulty to the ore, and are not even raised by the wind as others seize. The reason, I suppose, is that lands and mountains, which are the cause and origin of storms, are here comparatively rare, and also that the vast depths of that unbroken expense are more slowly set in motion. But to investigate the nature of the ocean and the tides is no part of the present work, and many writers have discussed the subject. I would simply add that nowhere has the sea a wider dominion, that it has many currents running in every direction, that it does not merely flow and ab within the limits of the shore, but penetrates and winds far inland, and finds a home among hills and mountains as though in its own domain. Who were the original inhabitants of Britain, whether they were indigenous or foreign, is as usual among barbarians little known. Their physical characteristics are various, and from these conclusions may be drawn. The red hair and large limbs of the inhabitants of Caledonia point clearly to a German origin. The dark complexion of the Seleurs, they are usually curly here, and the fact that Spain is the opposite shore to them, are an evidence that Iberians of a former date crossed over and occupy these parts. Those who are nearest to the Gauls are also like them, either from the permanent influence of original descent, or because in countries which run out so far to meet each other, it has produced similar physical qualities. But a general survey inclines me to believe that the Gauls established themselves in an island so near to them. Their religious belief may be traced in the strongly marked British superstition. The language differs but little. There is the same boldness in challenging danger, and, when it is near, the same timidity in shrinking from it. The Britons, however, exhibit more spirit, as being a people whom a long peace has not yet enervated. Indeed, we have understood that even the Gauls were once renowned in war, but after while sloth-following on ease crapped over them, and they lost their courage along with their freedom. This too has happened to the long-conquered tribes of Britain. The rest are still what the Gauls once were. The strength is in infantry. Some tribes fight also with the chariot. The higher in rank is the charioteer, the dependents fight. They were once ruled by kings, but are now divided under chieftains into factions and parties. Our greatest advantage in coping with tribes so powerful is that they do not act in concern. Seldom is it that two or three states meet together to ward off a common danger. Thus, while they fight singly, all are conquered. Their sky is obscured by continual rain and cloud. Severity of cold is unknown. The days exceed in length those of our part of the world. The nights are bright, and in the extreme north so short, that between sunlight and dawn you can perceive but a slight distinction. It is said that, if there are no clouds in the way, the splendor of the sun can be seen throughout the night, and that he does not rise and set, but only crosses the heavens. The truth is that the low shadow thrown from the flat extremities of the earth's surface does not raise the darkness to any height, and the night thus fails to reach the sky and stars. With the exception of the olive and vine and plants which usually grow in warmer climates, the soil will yield, and even abundantly, all ordinary produce. It ripens indeed slowly, but is of rapid growth, the cause in each case being the same, namely the excessive moisture of the soil and of the atmosphere. Britain contains gold and silver and other metals as a prize of conquest. The ocean too produces pearls, but of a dusky and bluish hue. Some think that those who collect them have not the requisite skill, as in the Red Sea, the living and breeding pearl is torn from the rocks, while in Britain they are gathered just as they are thrown up. I could myself more readily believe that the natural properties of the pearls are in fault than are keenest for gain. The Britons themselves bear cheerfully the conscription, the taxes, and the other burdens imposed on them by the Empire, if there be no oppression. Of this they are impatient. They are reduced to subjection, not as yet to slavery. The Deified Julius, the very first Roman who entered Britain with an army, though by a successful engagement his truck terror into the inhabitants and gained possession of the coast, must be regarded as having indicated rather than transmitted the acquisition to future generations. Then came the civil wars, and the arms of our leaders were turned against their country, and even when there was peace there was a long neglect of Britain. This Augustus spoke of as policy, Tiberius as an inherited maxim. The Caius Caesar meditated an invasion of Britain is perfectly clear, but his purposes, rapidly formed, were easily changed, and his vast attempts on Germany had failed. Claudius was the first to renew the attempt, and conveyed over into the island some legions and auxiliaries, choosing Vespasian to share with him the campaign, whose approaching elevation had this beginning. Civil tribes were subdued, and kings made prisoners, and destiny learned to know its favorite. Allus Plotius was the first governor of consular rank, and Astoria Scapula the next. Both were famous soldiers, and by the Greece the nearest portions of Britain were brought into the condition of a province, and a colony of veterans was also introduced. Some of the states were given to King Cogidumnus, who lived down to our day a most faithful lie. So was maintained the ancient and long-recognized practice of the Roman people, which seeks to secure among the instruments of dominion even kings themselves. Soon after Didius Gallus consolidated the conquests of his predecessors, and advanced a very few positions into parts more remote, to gain the credit of having enlarged the sphere of government. Didius was succeeded by Varanius, who died within the year. Then Suetonius Polinas enjoyed success for two years. He subdued several tribes, and strengthened our military posts. Thus encouraged he made an attempt on the island of Mona, as a place from which the rebels drew reinforcements, but in doing this he left his rear open to attack. Relieved from apprehension by the Legate's absence, the Britons dwelt much among themselves on the miseries of subjection, compared their wrongs, and exaggerated them in the discussion. All we get by patience, they said, is that heavier demands are exacted from us, as from men who will readily submit. A single king once ruled us, now two are set over us, a Legate to tyrannize over our lives, a procurator to tyrannize over our property. Their quarrels and their harmony are alike ruinous to their subjects. The centurions of the one, the slaves of the other, combine violence with insult. Nothing is now safe from their everes, nothing from their lust. In war it is the strong who plunders. Now it is, for the most part, by cowards and polterins that our homes are rifled, our children torn from us, the conscription enforced, as though it were for our country alone that we could not die. For, after all, what a mere handful of soldiers has crossed over, if we Britons look at our own numbers. Germany did thus shake off the yoke, and yet its defense was a river, not the ocean. With us, fatherland, wives, parents are the motives to war, with them only greed and profligacy. They will surely fly, as did the now defied Julius, if once we emulate the value of our sires. Let us not be panicked stricken at the result of one or two engagements. The miserable have more fury and greater resolution. Now even the gods are beginning to pity us, for they are keeping away the Roman general, and detaining his army far from us in another island. We have already taken the hardest step. We are deliberating, and indeed, in all such designs, to dare is less perilous than to be detected. Rousing each other by this and like language, under the leadership of Boudicca, a woman of kingly descent, for they admit no distinction of sex in their royal successions, they all rose in arms. They fell upon our troops, which were scattered on Garrison duty, stormed the forts, and burst into the colony itself, the headquarters, as they thought, of tyranny. In their rage and their triumph, they spared no variety of a barbarian cruelty. Had not Paulinus, on hearing of the outbreak in the province, rendered prompt succour, Britain would have been lost. By one successful engagement he brought it back to its former obedience, though many, troubled by the conscious guilt of rebellion, and by a particular dread of the legged, still clung to their arms. Excellent as he was, in other respects, his policy to the conquered was arrogant, and exhibited the cruelty of one who was a vengeance private wrongs. Accordingly, Petronius Terpillianus was sent out to initiate a milder rule. A stranger to the animus misdeeds, and so more accessible to their penitents, he put an end to all troubles, and attempting nothing more, handed the province over to Trebelius Maximus. Trebelius, who was somewhat indolent, and never ventured on a campaign, controlled the province by a certain courtesy in his administration. Even the barbarians now learned to excuse many attractive vices, and the occurrence of the Civil War gave a good pretext for inaction. But we were sorely troubled with mutiny, as troops habituated to service grew demoralized by idleness. Trebelius, who had escaped the soldiers' fury by flying and hiding himself, governed henceforth on sufferance, a disgraced and humbled man. It was a kind of bargain. The soldiers had their license, the general had his life, and so the mutiny cost no bloodshed. Nor did Vettius Bolanas, during the continuance of the Civil Wars, trouble-britten with discipline. There was the same inaction with respect to the enemy, and similar unrulyness in the camp. Only Bolanas, an upright man, whom no misdeeds made odious, had secured affection in default of the power of control. When, however, Vespasian had restored to unity Britain, as well as the rest of the world, in the presence of the great generals and renowned armies, the enemy's hopes were crushed. They were at once panic-stricken by the attack of Petilius Serialis on the state of the Brigantis, said to be the most prosperous in the entire province. There were many battles, some by no means bloodless, and his conquests, or at least his wars, embraced a large part of the territory of the Brigantis. Indeed, he would have altogether thrown into the shade the activity and renown of any other successor, but Julius Frantas was equal to the burden, a great man as far as greatness was then possible, who subdued by his arms the powerful and war-like tribe of the Seleurs, surmounting the difficulties of the country as well as the valour of the enemy. Such was the state of Britain, and such were the vicissitudes of the war which Agricola found on his crossing over, about Midsummer. Our soldiers made it a pretext for carelessness, as if all fighting was over, and the enemy were biding their time. The Ordovices, shortly before Agricola's arrival, had destroyed nearly the whole of a squadron of Allied cavalry quartered in their territory. Such a beginning raised the hopes of the country, and all who wished for war approved the precedent, and anxiously watched the temper of the new governor. Meanwhile, Agricola, though summer was past, and the detachments were scattered throughout the province, though the soldier's confident anticipation of inaction for that year would be a source of delay and difficulty in beginning a campaign, and most advisers thought it best simply to watch all weak points resolve to face the peril. He collected a force of veterans and a small body of auxiliaries. Then, as the Ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he put himself in front of the ranks to inspire all with the same courage against a common danger, and led his troops up a hill. The tribe was all but exterminated. Well aware that he must follow up the prestige of his arms, and that in proportion to his first success would be the terror of the other tribes, he formed the design of subjugating the island of Mona from the occupation of which Polinas had been recalled, as I have already related, by the rebellion of the entire province. But as his plans were not matured, he had no fleet. The skill and resolution of the general accomplished the passage. With some picked men of the auxiliaries, this encumbered of all baggage, who knew the shallows and had that national experience in swimming, which enables the Britons to take care not only of themselves, but of their arms and horses. He delivered so unexpected an attack, that the astonished enemy, who were looking for a fleet, a naval armament, and an assault by sea, thought that to such assailants nothing could be formidable or invincible. And so, peace having been sued for, and the island given up, Agricola became great and famous, as one who, when entering on his province, a time which others spent in vain display in a round of ceremonies, chose rather toil and danger. Nor did he use his success for self-lorification, or apply the name of campaigns and victories to the repression of a conquered people. He did not even describe his achievements in a laurel letter. Yet by thus disguising his renown, he really increased it, for men inferred the grandeur of his aspirations from his silence about services so great. Next, with thorough insight into the feelings of his province, and taught also by the experience of others that little is gained by conquest if followed by oppression, he determined to root out the causes of war. Beginning first with himself and his dependence, he kept his household under restraint, a thing as hard to many as ruling a province. He transacted no public business through freedmen or slaves, no private leanings, no recommendations of entreaties of friends moved him in the selection of centurions and soldiers, but it was ever the best man whom he thought most trustworthy. He knew everything, but did not always act on his knowledge. Trifling errors he treated with leniency, serious offenses with severity. Nor was it always punishment, but far often penitence, which satisfied him. He preferred to give office and power to men who would not transgress rather than have to condemn a transgressor. He lightened the exaction of corn and tribute by an equal distribution of the burden, while he got rid of those contrivances for gain which were more intolerable than the tribute itself. Hitherto the people had been compelled to endure the farce of waiting by the closed granary and of purchasing corn unnecessarily and raising it to a fictitious price. Difficult byroads and distant places were fixed for them, so that states with a winter camp close to them had to carry corn to remote and inaccessible parts of the country, until what was within the reach of all became a source of profit to the few. Agricola, by the repression of these abuses in his very first year in office, restored to peace its good name, when, from either the indifference or the harshness of his predecessors, it had come to be as much dreaded as war. Then, however, summer came, assembling his forces, he continually showed himself in the ranks, praised good discipline, and kept the stragglers in order. He would himself choose the position of the camp, himself explore the estuaries and forests. Meanwhile he would allow the enemy no rest, laying waste his territory with sudden incursions, and, having sufficiently alarmed him, would then by forbearance display the allurements of peace. In consequence, many states, which up to that time had been independent, gave hostages, and laid aside their animosities. Garrisons and forts were established among them with a skill and diligence with which no newly acquired part of Britain had before been treated. The following winter passed without disturbance, and was employed in salutary measures. For, to a custom to rest and repose through the charms of luxury, a population scattered and barbarous, and therefore inclined to war, Agricola gave private encouragement and public aid to the building of temples, courts of justice, and dwelling houses, praising the energetic and reproving the indolent. Thus an honorable rivalry took the place of compulsion. He likewise provided a liberal education for the sons of the chiefs, and showed such a preference for the natural powers of the Britons over the industry of the Gauls, that they, who lately disdain the tongue of Rome, now coveted its eloquence. Hence, too, a liking sprang up for our style of dress, and the toga became fashionable. Step by step they were led to things which disposed of vice, the lounge, the bath, the elegant banquet. All this in their ignorance they called civilization, when it was but a part of their servitude. The third year of his campaigns opened up new tribes, our ravages on the native population being carried as far as the Taos, an estuary so-called. This struck such terror into the enemy that he did not dare to attack our army, harassed though it was by violent storms, and there was even time for the erection of forts. It was noted, by experienced officers, that no general had ever shown more judgment in choosing suitable positions, and that not a single fort established by Agricola was either stormed by the enemy or abandoned by capitulation or flight. Sorties were continually being made, for these positions were secured from protracted siege by a year's supply. So winter brought with it no alarms, and each garrison could hold its own, as the baffled and despairing enemy, who had been accustomed often to repair his summer losses by winter successes, found himself repelled alike both in summer and winter. Never did Agricola, in a greedy spirit, appropriate the achievements of others. The centurion and the prefect both found in him an impartial witness of their every action. Some persons used to say that he was too harsh in his reproofs, and that he was as severe to the bad as he was gentle to the good. But his displeasure left nothing behind it. Reserve and silence in him were not to be dreaded. He thought it better to show anger than to cherish hatred. Part 2 Part 3 of Tacitus Agricola This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Martin Giesen. Agricola by Publius Cornelius Tacitus, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib. Part 3 The fourth summer he employed in securing what he had overrun. Had the valour of our armies and the renown of the Roman name permitted it, a limit to our conquests might have been found in Britain itself. Clota and Bordotria, estuaries which the tides of two opposite seas carry far back into the country, are separated by but a narrow strip of land. This agricola then began to defend with a line of thoughts. And as all the country to the south was now occupied, the enemy were pushed into what might be called another island. In the fifth year of the war, Agricola, himself in the leading ship, crossed the clota and subdued in a series of victories tribes hitherto unknown. In that part of Britain which looks towards Ireland, he posted some troops, hoping for fresh conquests rather than fearing attack. In as much as Ireland being between Britain and Spain and conveniently situated for the seas round Gaul, might have been the means of connecting with great mutual benefit the most powerful parts of the empire. Its extent is small when compared with Britain, but exceeds the islands of our seas. In soil and climate, in the disposition, temper and habits of its population, it differs but little from Britain. We know most of its harbours and approaches, and that through the intercourse of commerce. One of the petty kings of the nation, driven out by internal faction, had been received by Agricola, who detained him under the semblance of friendship until he could make use of him. I have often heard him say that a single legion with a few auxiliaries could conquer and occupy Ireland, and that it would have a solitary effect on Britain for the Roman arms to be seen everywhere, and for freedom, so to speak, to be banished from its sight. In the summer in which he entered upon the sixth year of his office, his operations embraced the states beyond Podotria, and as he dreaded a general movement among the remote tribes, as well as the perils which would beset an invading army, he explored the harbours with a fleet, which at first employed by him as an integral part of his force, continued to accompany him. The spectacle of war thus pushed on at once by sea and land was imposing, while often infantry, cavalry and marines mingled in the same encampment, and joyously sharing the same meals would dwell on their own achievements and adventures, comparing with a soldier's boastfulness at one time the deep recesses of the forest and the mountain with the dangers of waves and storms, or at another, battles by land with victories over the ocean. The Britons, too, as we learnt from the prisoners, were confounded by the sight of a fleet, as if now that their inmost seas were penetrated, the conquered had their last refuge closed to them. The tribes inhabiting Caledonia flew to arms, and with great preparations made greater by the rumours which always exaggerate the unknown, themselves advanced to attack our fortresses, and thus challenging a conflict inspired us with alarm. To retreat south of the Podotria and to retire rather than to be driven out was the advice of timid pretenders to prudence, when Agricola learnt that the enemy's attack would be made with more than one army, fearing that their superior numbers and their knowledge of the country might enable them to hem him in, he, too, distributed his forces into three divisions, and so advanced. This becoming known to the enemy, they suddenly changed their plan, and with their whole force attacked by night the ninth legion, Earth's being the weakest, and cutting down the sentries, who were asleep or panic stricken, they broke into the camp, and now the battle was raging within the camp itself, when Agricola, who had learnt from his scouts the enemy's line of march, and had kept close on his track, ordered the most active soldiers of his cavalry and infantry to attack the rear of the assailants, while the entire army were shortly to raise a shout. Soon his standards glittered in the light of daybreak. A double peril thus alarmed the Britons, while the courage of the Romans revived, and feeling sure of their safety, they now fought for glory. In their turn they rushed to the attack, and there was a furious conflict within the narrow passages of the gates, till the enemy were routed. Both armies did their utmost, the one for the honour of having given aid, the other for that of not having needed support. Had not the flying enemy been sheltered by morasses and forests, this victory would have ended the war. Knowing this, and delated by their glory, our army exclaimed that nothing could resist their valour, that they must penetrate the recesses of Caledonia, and at length, after an unbroken succession of battles, discover the furthest limits of Britain. Those who but now are cautious and prudent became, after the event, eager and boastful. It is the singularly unfair peculiarity of war that the credit of success is claimed by all, while a disaster is attributed to one alone. But the Britons, thinking themselves baffled, not so much by our valours, by our general's skilful use of an opportunity, abated nothing of their arrogant demeanour, arming their youth, removing their wives and children to a place of safety, and assembling together to ratify with sacred rites, a confederacy of all their states. Thus, with angry feelings on both sides, the combatants parted. The same summer, a Euccipian cohort, which had been levied in Germany and transported into Britain, ventured on a great and memorable exploit. Having killed a centurion and some soldiers who, to impart military discipline, had been incorporated with their ranks, and were employed at once to instruct and command them, they embarked on board three swift galleys with pilots pressed into their service. Under the direction of one of them, for two of the three they suspected and consequently put to death, they sailed past the coast in the strangest way before any rumour about them was in circulation. After a while, dispersing in search of water and provisions, they encountered many of the Britons who sought to defend their property. Often victorious, though now and then beaten, they were at last reduced to such an extremity of want as to be compelled to eat at first the feeblest of their number and then victims selected by lot. Having sailed around Britain and lost their vessels from not knowing how to manage them, they were looked upon as pirates and were intercepted, first by the Suivi and then by the Friesi, some who were sold as slaves in the way of trade and were brought through the process of barter as far as our side of the Rhine, gained notoriety by the disclosure of this extraordinary adventure. Early in the summer, Agricola sustained a domestic affliction in the loss of a son born a year before, a calamity which he endured neither with the ostentatious fortitude displayed by many brave men, nor on the other hand with womanish tears and grief. In his sorrow, he found one source of relief in war. Having sent on a fleet, which by its ravages at various points might cause a vague and widespread alarm, he advanced with a lightly equipped force, including in its ranks some Britons of remarkable bravery whose fidelity had been tried through years of peace, as far as the Grampian Mountains, which the enemy had already occupied. For the Britons indeed in no way cowed by the result of the late engagement had made up their minds to be either avenged or enslaved and convinced at length that a common danger must be averted by union, had by embassies and treaties summoned forth the whole strength of all their states. More than 30,000 armed men were now to be seen and still they were pressing in all the youth of the country, with all whose old age was yet hail and vigorous, men renowned in war and bearing each decorations of his own. Meanwhile, among the many leaders, one superior to the rest in Valar and in Berth, Galgakos by name, is said to have thus harangued the multitude gathered around him and clamouring for battle. Whenever I consider the origin of this war and the necessities of our position, I have a sure confidence that this day and this union of yours will be the beginning of freedom to the whole of Britain. To all of us slavery is a thing unknown, there are no lands beyond us and even the sea is not safe, menaced as we are by a Roman fleet. And thus in war and battle in which the brave find glory, even the coward will find safety. Former contests in which with varying fortune the Romans were resisted, still left in us a last hope of succor in as much as being the most renowned nation of Britain, dwelling in the very heart of the country and out of sight of the shores of the conquered, we could keep even our eyes unpolluted by the contagion of slavery. To us who dwell on the uttermost confines of the earth and of freedom, this remote sanctuary of Britain's glory has up to this time been a defense. Now, however, the furthest limits of Britain are thrown open and the unknown always passes for the marvellous. But there are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks and the yet more terrible Romans from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers of the world having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious. If he be poor, they lust for dominion. Neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness, poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire. They make a solitude and call it peace. Nature has willed that every man's children and kindred should be his dearest objects, yet these are torn from us by conscriptions to be slaves elsewhere. Our wives and our sisters, even though they may escape violation from the enemy, are dishonoured under the names of friendship and hospitality. Our goods and fortunes they collect for their tribute, our harvests for their granaries, our very hands and bodies under the lash and in the midst of insult are worn down by the toil of clearing forests and morasses. Creatures born to slavery are sold once and for all and are moreover fed by their masters. But Britain is daily purchasing, is daily feeding her own enslaved people. And as in a household, the last comer among the slaves is always the butt of his companions. So we in a world long used to slavery as the newest and most contemptible are marked out for destruction. We have neither fruitful planes nor mines, nor harbours for the working of which we may be spared. Valor too and high spirit in subjects are offensive to rulers. Besides remoteness and seclusion while they give safety provokes suspicion. Since then you cannot hope for quarter, take courage, I beseech you, whether it be safety or renown that you hold most precious. Under a woman's leadership, the Brigantes were able to burn a colony to storm a camp and had not success ended in supine this, might have thrown off the yoke. Let us then a fresh and unconquered people never likely to abuse our freedom, show forth with the very first onset what heroes Caledonia has in reserve. Do you suppose that the Romans will be as brave in war as they are licentious in peace? To our strife and discords they owe their fame and they turn the errors of an enemy to the renown of their own army. An army which composed as it is of every variety of nations is held together by success and will be broken up by disaster. These Gauls and Germans and I blush to say these Britons, who though they lend their lives to support a stranger's rule have been its enemies longer than its subjects. You cannot imagine to be bound by fidelity and affection. Fear and terror there certainly are feeble bonds of attachment. Remove them and those who have ceased to fear will begin to hate. All the incentives to victory are on our side. The Romans have no wives to kindle their courage, no parents to taunt them with flight. Many have either no country or one far away. Few in number, dismayed by their ignorance, looking around upon a sky, a sea and forests which are all unfamiliar to them, hemmed in as it were and enmeshed the gods have delivered them into our hands. Be not frightened by the idle display, by the glitter of gold and of silver which can neither protect nor wound. In the very ranks of the enemy, we shall find our own forces. Britons will acknowledge their own cause. Gauls will remember past freedom. The other Germans will abandon them as but lately did the usipi. Behind them there is nothing to dread. The forts are ungarrisoned. The colonies in the hands of aged men. What with disloyal subjects and oppressive rulers, the towns are ill-affected and rife with discord. On the one side, you have a general and an army. On the other, tribute, the mines and all the other penalties of an enslaved people. Whether you endure these forever or instantly avenge them, this field is to decide. Think therefore as you advance to battle at once of your ancestors and of your posterity. They received his speech with enthusiasm and as is usual among barbarians with songs, shouts and discordant cries. And now was seen the assembling of troops and a gleam of arms as the boldest warriors stepped to the front. As the line was forming, agricola who though his troops were in high spirits and could scarcely be kept within the entrenchments, still thought it right to encourage them, spoke as follows. Comrades, this is the eighth year since thanks to the greatness and good fortune of Rome and to your own loyalty and energy, you conquered Britain. In our many campaigns and battles, whether courage in meeting the foe or toil and endurance in struggling, I may say against nature herself have been needed. I have ever been well satisfied with my soldiers and you with your commander. And so you and I have passed beyond the limits reached by former armies or by former governors and we now occupy the last confines of Britain, not merely in rumor and report, but with an actual encampment and armed force. Britain has been both discovered and subdued. Often on the march when morasses, mountains and rivers were wearing out your strength, did I hear our bravest men exclaim, when shall we have the enemy before us? When shall we fight? He is now here, driven from his lair and your wishes and your valour have free scope and everything favours the conqueror. Everything is adverse to the vanquished, for as it is a great and glorious achievement if we press on to have accomplished so great a march, to have traversed forests and to have crossed estuaries. So if we retire our present most complete success will prove our greatest danger. We have not the same knowledge of the country or the same abundance of supplies, but we have arms in our hands and in them we have everything. For myself, I have long been convinced that neither for an army nor for a general is retreat safe. Better to is an honourable death than a life of shame and safety and renown offer us to be found together. And it would be knowing glorious end to perish on the extreme confines of earth and of nature. If unknown nations and an untried enemy confronted you, I should urge you on by the example of other armies. As it is, look back upon your former honours, question your own eyes. These are the men who last year in the cover of darkness attacked a single legion whom you routed by a shout. Of all the Britons, these are the most confirmed runaways and this is why they have survived so long. Just as when the huntsman penetrates the forest and the thicket, all the most courageous animals rush out upon him while the timid and feeble are scared away by the very sound of his approach. So the bravest of the Britons have long since fallen and the rest are a mere crowd of spiritless cowards. You have at last found them, not because they have stood their ground but because they have been overtaken. Their desperate plight and the extreme terror that paralyzes them have riveted their line to this spot that you might achieve in it a splendid and memorable victory. Put an end to campaigns. Crown your 50 years service with a glorious day. Prove to your country that her armies could never have been fairly charged with protracting a war or with causing a rebellion. End of part three. Recording by Martin Geeson in Hazelmere Surrey. Part four of Tacitus Agricola. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Martin Geeson. Agricola by Publius Cornelius Tacitus. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib. Part four. While Agricola was yet speaking, the ardour of the soldiers was rising to its height and at the close of his speech was followed by a great outburst of enthusiasm. In a moment they flew to arms. He arrayed his eager and impetuous troops in such a manner that the auxiliary infantry, 8,000 in number, strengthened his centre while 3,000 cavalry were posted on his wings. The legions were drawn up in front of the entrenched camp. His victory would be vastly more glorious if won without the loss of Roman blood and he would have a reserve in case of repulse. The enemy, to make a more formidable display, had posted himself on high ground. His van was on the plane while the rest of his army rose in an arch-like form up the slope of a hill. The plane between resounded with the noise and with the rapid movements of chariots and cavalry. Agricola, fearing that from the enemy's superiority of force he would be simultaneously attacked in front and on the flanks, widened his ranks and though his line was likely to be too extended and several officers advised him to bring up the legions, yet so sanguine was he, so resolute in meeting danger, he sent away his horse and took his stand on foot before the colours. The action began with distant fighting. The Britons with equal steadiness and skill used their huge swords and small shields to avoid or to parry the missiles of our soldiers. While they themselves poured on us a dense shower of darts till Agricola encouraged three Batavian and two Tongrian cohorts to bring matters to the decision of close fighting with swords. Such tactics were familiar to these veteran soldiers but were embarrassing to an enemy armed with small bucklers and unwieldy weapons. The swords of the Britons are not pointed and do not allow them to close with the foe or to fight in the open field. No sooner did the Batavians begin to close with the enemy to strike them with their shields, to disfigure their faces and overthrowing the force on the plane to advance their line up the hill than the other auxiliary cohorts joined with eager rivalry in cutting down all the nearest of the foe. Many were left behind half dead, some even unwounded in the hurry of victory. Meantime the enemy's cavalry had fled and the charioteers had mingled in the engagement of the infantry. But although these at first spread panic, they were soon impeded by the close array of our ranks and by the inequalities of the ground. The battle had anything but the appearance of a cavalry action for men and horses were carried along in confusion together. While chariots destitute of guidance and terrified horses without drivers dashed as panic urged them. Sideways or in direct collision against the ranks. Those of the Britons who having as yet taken no part in the engagement occupied the hilltops and who without fear for themselves sat idly disdaining the smallness of our numbers had begun gradually to descend and to hem in the rear of the victorious army when Ogricola who feared this very moment opposed their advance with four squadrons of cavalry held in reserve by him for any sudden emergencies of battle. Their repulsant route was as severe as their onset had been furious. Thus the enemy's design recoiled on himself and the cavalry which by the general's order had wheeled round from the van of the contending armies attacked his rear. Then indeed the open plain presented an awful and hideous spectacle. Our men pursued, wounded, made prisoners of the fugitives only to slaughter them when others fell in their way. And now the enemy as prompted by their various dispositions fled in whole battalions with arms in their hands before a few pursuers while some who were unarmed actually rushed to the front and gave themselves up to death. Everywhere there lay scattered arms, corpses and mangled limbs and the earth reeked with blood. Even the conquered now and then felt a touch of fury and of courage on approaching the woods they rallied. And as they knew the ground they were able to pounce on the foremost and least cautious of the pursuers. Had not Ogricola who was present everywhere ordered a force of strong and lightly equipped cohorts with some dismounted troopers for the denser parts of the forest and a detachment of cavalry where it was not so thick to scour the woods like a party of huntsmen. Serious loss would have been sustained through the excessive confidence of our troops. When however the enemy saw that we again pursued them in firm and compact array they fled no longer in masses as before each looking for his comrade but dispersing and avoiding one another they sought the shelter of distant and pathless wilds. Night and weariness of bloodshed put an end to the pursuit. About 10,000 of the enemy were slain. On our side there fell 360 men and among them Aulus Atticus, the commander of the cohort whose youthful impetuosity and metalsome steed had borne him into the midst of the enemy. Elated by their victory and their booty the conquerors passed a night of merriment. Meanwhile the Britons wandering amidst the mingled wailings of men and women were dragging off their wounded calling to the unhurt, deserting their homes and in their rage actually firing them choosing places of concealment only instantly to abandon them. At one moment they would take counsel together the next part company while the sight of those who were dearest to them sometimes melted their hearts but often aroused their fury. It was an undoubted fact that some of them vented their rage on their wives and children as if in pity for their lot. The following day showed more fully the extent of the calamity for the silence of desolation reigned everywhere. The hills were forsaken, houses were smoking in the distance and no one was seen by the scouts. These were dispatched in all directions and it having been ascertained that the track of the flying enemy was uncertain and that there was no attempt at rallying it being also impossible as summer was now over to extend the war Agricola led back his army into the territory of the Borresti. He received hostages from them and then ordered the commander of the fleet to sail round Britain. A force for this purpose was given him which great panic everywhere preceded. Agricola himself leading his infantry and cavalry by slow marches so as to overall the newly conquered tribes by the very tardiness of his progress brought them into winter quarters The fleet with propitious breezes and great renown entered the harbour of Trutulium to which it had returned after having coasted along the entire southern shore of the island. Of this series of events though not exaggerated in the dispatches of Agricola by any boastfulness of language Domitian heard as was his won't with joy in his face but anxiety in his heart. He felt conscious that all men laughed at his late mock triumph over Germany for which there had been purchased from traders people whose dress and hair might be made to resemble those of captives whereas now a real and splendid victory with the destruction of thousands of the enemy was being celebrated with just applause. It was he thought a very alarming thing for him that the name of a subject should be raised above that of the emperor. It was to no purpose that he had driven into obscurity the pursuit of forensic eloquence and the graceful accomplishments of civic life if another were to forestall the distinctions of war. To other glories he could more easily shut his eyes but the greatness of a good general was a truly imperial quality. Harassed by these anxieties and absorbed in incommunicable trouble and a sure prognostic of some cruel purpose he decided that it was best for the present to suspend his hatred until the freshness of Agricola's renown and his popularity with the army should begin to pass away. For Agricola was still the governor of Britain. Accordingly the emperor ordered that the usual triumphal decorations the honor of a laurel statue and all that is commonly given in place of the triumphal procession but the addition of many laudatory expressions should be decreed in the senate together with a hint to the effect that Agricola was to have the profits of Syria then vacant by the death of Attilius Rufus a man of consular rank and generally reserved for men of distinction. It was believed by many persons that one of the freedmen employed on confidential services was sent to Agricola bearing a dispatch in which Syria was offered him and with instructions to deliver it should he be in Britain that this freedman in crossing the straits met Agricola and without even saluting him made his way back to Domitian. Though I cannot say whether the story is true or is only a fiction invented to suit the emperor's character. Meanwhile Agricola had handed over his province in peace and safety to his successor and not to make his entrance into Rome conspicuous by the concourse of welcoming throngs he avoided the attentions of his friends by entering the city at night and at night too according to orders proceeded to the palace where having been received with a hurried embrace and without a word being spoken he mingled in the crowd of courtiers anxious henceforth to temper the military renown which annoys men of peace with other merits he studiously cultivated retirement and leisure simple in dress, courteous in conversation and never accompanied but by one or two friends so that the many who commonly judge of great men by their external grandeur after having seen and attentively surveyed him asked the secret of a greatness which but few could explain during this time he was frequently accused before Domitian in his absence and in his absence acquitted the cause of his danger lay not in any crime nor in any complaint of injury but in a ruler who was the foe of virtue in his own renown and in that worst class of enemies the men who praise and then followed such days for the commonwealth as would not suffer a gricula to be forgotten days when so many of our armies were lost in Moesia, Dacia, Germany and Pannonia through the rashness or cowardice of our generals when so many of our officers were besieged and captured with so many of our auxiliaries when it was no longer the boundaries of empire and the banks of rivers which were imperiled but the winter quarters of our legions and the possession of our territories and so when disaster followed upon disaster and the entire year was marked by destruction and slaughter the voice of the people called a gricula to the command for they all contrasted his vigour, firmness and experience in war with the inertness and timidity of other generals this talk, it is quite certain, assailed the ears of the emperor himself while affection and loyalty in the best of his freedmen malice and envy in the worst kindled the anger of a prince ever inclined to evil and so at once by his own excellences and by the faults of others a gricula was hurried headlong to a perilous elevation the year had now arrived in which the proconsulate of Asia or Africa was to fall to him by lot and as Sivica had been lately murdered a gricula did not want a warning or the mission a precedent persons well acquainted with the emperor's feelings came to ask a gricula as if on their own account whether he would go first they hinted their purpose by praises of tranquility and leisure then offered their services in procuring acceptance for his excuses and at last throwing off all disguise brought him by entreaties and threats to the mission the emperor armed beforehand with hypocrisy and assuming a haughty demeanour listened to his prayer that he might be excused and having granted his request allowed himself to be formally thanked nor blushed to grant so sinister a favour but the salary usually granted to a proconsul and which he had himself given to some governors he did not bestow on a gricula either because he was offended at his not having been asked or was warned by his conscience that he might be thought to have purchased the refusal which he had commanded it is indeed human nature to hate the man whom you have injured yet the emperor notwithstanding his irascible temper and an implacability proportioned to his reserve was softened by the moderation and prudence of a gricula who neither by a perverse obstinacy nor an idle parade of freedom challenged fame or provoked his fate let it be known to those whose habit it is to admire the disregard of authority that there may be great men even under bad emperors and that obedience and submission when joined to activity and vigor may attain a glory which most men reach only by a perilous career utterly useless to the state and closed by an ostentatious death the end of his life, a deplorable calamity to us and a grief to his friends was regarded with concern even by strangers and those who knew him not the common people in this busy population continually inquired at his house and talked of him in public places and in private gatherings no man when he heard of a gricula's death could either be glad or at once forget it men's sympathy was increased by a prevalent rumour that he was destroyed by poison for myself I have nothing which I should venture to state for fact certainly during the whole of his illness the emperors chief freedmen and confidential physicians came more frequently than is usual with a court which pays its visits by means of messengers this was perhaps solicitude perhaps espionage certain it is that on the last day the very agonies of his dying moments were reported by a succession of couriers and no one believes that there would be such haste about tidings which would be heard with regret yet in his manner and countenance the emperor displayed some signs of sorrow for he could now forget his enmity and it was easier to conceal his joy than his fear it was well known that on reading the will in which he was named co-air with a gricula's excellent wife and most dutiful daughter he expressed delight as if it had been a complementary choice so blinded and perverted what is mined by incessant flattery but he did not know that it was only a bad emperor whom a good father would make his air a gricula was born on the thirteenth of june in the third consulate of gaya Caesar he died on the twenty-third of august during the consulate of collega and friscus being in the fifty-sixth year of his age should posterity wish to know something of his appearance it was graceful rather than commanding there was nothing formidable in his appearance a gracious look predominated one would easily believe him a good man and willingly believe him to be great that's for himself though taken from us in the prime of a vigorous manhood yet as far as glory is concerned his life was off the longest those true blessings indeed which consist in virtue he had fully attained and on one who had reached the honors of a consulate and a triumph what more had fortune to bestow immense wealth had no attractions for him and wealth he had even to splendour as his daughter and his wife survived him it may be thought that he was even fortunate fortunate in that while his honors had suffered no eclipse while his fame was at its height while his kindred and his friends still prospered he escaped from the evil to come for though to survive until the dawn of this most happy age and to see a trajan on the throne was what he would speculate upon in pre-visions and wishes confided to my ears yet he had this mighty compensation for his premature death that he was spared those later years during which the mission leaving now no interval or breathing space of time but as it were with one continuous blow drained the lifeblood of the commonwealth agricola did not see the senate house besieged or the senate hemmed in by armed men or so many of Rome's noblest ladies exiles and fugitives carus metius had as yet the distinction of but one victory and the noisy councils of messalinas were not heard beyond the walls of alda and masabibius was then answering for his life it was not long before our hands dragged helvidius to prison before we gazed on the dying looks of manricus and rusticus before we were steeped in synechios innocent blood even nero turned his eyes away and did not gaze upon the atrocities which he ordered with the mission it was the chief part of our miseries to see and to be seen to know that our sighs were being recorded to have ever ready to note the pallid looks of so many faces that savage countenance reddened with the hue with which he defied shame thou wast indeed fortunate agricola not only in the splendor of thy life but in the opportune moment of thy death thou submitted to thy fate so they tell us who were present to hear thy last words with courage and cheerfulness seeming to be doing all thou couldst to give thine emperor full acquittal as for me and thy daughter besides all the bitterness of a father's loss it increases our sorrow to know that it was not permitted to us to watch over thy failing health to comfort thy weakness to satisfy ourselves with those looks, those embraces assuredly we should have received some precepts some utterances to fix in our inmost hearts this is the bitterness of our sorrow this the smart of our wound that from the circumstance of so long an absence thou wast lost to us four years before doubtless best of fathers with that most loving wife at thy side all the dues of affection were abundantly paid thee yet with too few tears thou wast laid to thy rest and in the light of thy last day there was something for which thine eyes longed in vain if there is any dwelling place for the spirits of the just if as the wise believe noble souls do not perish with the body rest thou in peace and call us thy family from weak regrets and womanish laments to the contemplation of thy virtues for which we must not weep nor beat the breast let us honour thee not so much with transitory praises us with our reverence and if our powers permit us with our emulation that will be true respect that the true affection of thy nearest kin this too is what I would enjoin on daughter and wife to honour the memory of that father, that husband by pondering in their hearts all his words and acts by cherishing the features and lineaments of his character rather than those of his person it is not that I would forbid the likenesses which are wrought in marble or in bronze but as the faces of men so all similitudes of the face are weak and perishable things while the fashion of the soul is everlasting such as may be expressed not in some foreign substance or by the help of art but in our own lives whatever we loved whatever we admired in agricola survives and will survive in the hearts of men in the succession of the ages in the fame that waits on noble deeds over many indeed of those who have gone before as over the inglorious and ignoble the waves of oblivion will roll agricola made known to posterity by history and tradition will live forever end of part four end of agricola by Publius Cornelius Tacitus translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib Recording by Martin Geeson in Hazelmere Surrey