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74-463: According to the Roman historian Tacitus , the barracks were built in 23 AD by Lucius Aelius Sejanus , the praetorian prefect serving under the emperor Tiberius , in an effort to consolidate the several divisions of the guards. The barracks were erected just outside the city of Rome and surrounded by solid masonry walls, measuring a total of 440 by 380 metres (1,440 ft × 1,250 ft). Three of

148-467: A classical ethnographic tradition which includes authors such as Herodotus and Julius Caesar . The book begins (chapters 1–27) with a description of the lands, laws, and customs of the various tribes. Later chapters focus on descriptions of particular tribes, beginning with those who lived closest to the Roman empire, and ending with a description of those who lived on the shores of the Baltic Sea , such as

222-584: A fond affection for her son. Agricola was educated in Massilia ( Marseille ), and showed what was considered an unhealthy interest in philosophy. He began his career in Roman public life as a military tribune , and served in Britain under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus from 58 to 62. He was probably attached to the Legio II Augusta , but was chosen to serve on Suetonius's staff and thus almost certainly participated in

296-456: A legendary High King , is said to have been exiled from Ireland as a boy, and to have returned from Britain at the head of an army to claim the throne. The traditional date of his return is between 76 and 80, and archaeology has found Roman or Romano-British artefacts in several sites associated with Tuathal. The following year, Agricola raised a fleet and encircled the tribes beyond the Forth, and

370-466: A marching camp dating to the 1st century AD in Ayr , used by Roman legions during the invasion of Roman General Agricola. According to Arabaolaza, the fire pits were split 30 meters apart into two parallel lines. The findings also included clay-domed ovens and 26 fire pits dated to between 77- 86 AD and 90 AD loaded with burnt material and charcoal contents. Archaeologists suggested that this site had been chosen as

444-550: A member of the priestly college in charge of the Sibylline Books and the Secular Games . He gained acclaim as a lawyer and as an orator ; his skill in public speaking ironically counterpoints his cognomen , Tacitus ("silent"). He served in the provinces from c.  89 to c.  93 , either in command of a legion or in a civilian post. He and his property survived Domitian 's reign of terror (81–96), but

518-521: A mutiny against the governor, Marcus Vettius Bolanus . Britain had revolted during the year of civil war, and Bolanus was a mild governor. Agricola reimposed discipline on the legion and helped to consolidate Roman rule. In 71, Bolanus was replaced by a more aggressive governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis , and Agricola was able to display his talents as a commander in campaigns against the Brigantes in northern England. When his command ended in 73, Agricola

592-518: A scrupulous historian who paid careful attention to his sources. Gnaeus Julius Agricola Gnaeus Julius Agricola ( / ə ˈ ɡ r ɪ k ə l ə / ; 13 June 40 – 23 August 93) was a Roman general and politician responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain . Born to a political family of senatorial rank, Agricola began his military career as a military tribune under governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus . In his subsequent career, he served in

666-437: A single legion and auxiliaries . He had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped he might use as the excuse for conquest. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory or punitive expedition to Ireland, though no Roman camps have been identified to confirm such a suggestion. Irish legend provides a striking parallel. Tuathal Teachtmhar ,

740-460: A strategic location for the Roman conquest of Ayrshire . Agricola was recalled from Britain in 85, after an unusually long tenure as governor. Tacitus claims Domitian ordered his recall because Agricola's successes outshone the emperor's own modest victories in Germany. He re-entered Rome unobtrusively, reporting as ordered to the palace at night. The relationship between Agricola and the emperor

814-680: A variety of political positions in Rome . In 64, he was appointed quaestor in Asia province . Two years later, he was appointed Plebeian Tribune , and in 68, he was made praetor . During the Year of the Four Emperors in 69, he supported Vespasian , general of the Syrian army, in his bid for the throne. When Vespasian became emperor , Agricola was made a patrician and appointed governor of Gallia Aquitania . In 77, he

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888-489: Is dedicated to Fabius Iustus, a consul in 102 AD. Tacitus's writings are known for their dense prose that seldom glosses the facts, in contrast to the style of some of his contemporaries, such as Plutarch . When he writes about a near defeat of the Roman army in Annals I,63, he does so with brevity of description rather than embellishment. In most of his writings, he keeps to a chronological narrative order, only seldom outlining

962-613: Is known about Agricola and his governorship was written in the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae , a primary source , written by Tacitus , Agricola's son-in-law, and detailed archaeological evidence from northern Britain. Agricola was born in the colonia of Forum Julii , Gallia Narbonensis (now Fréjus , France ). Agricola's parents were from noted political families of senatorial rank in Roman Gaul . Both of his grandfathers served as imperial governors. His father, Lucius Julius Graecinus,

1036-511: Is remarkable that they survived at all. In an early chapter of the Agricola , Tacitus asserts that he wishes to speak about the years of Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In the Histories the scope has changed; Tacitus says that he will deal with the age of Nerva and Trajan at a later time. Instead, he will cover the period from the civil wars of the Year of the Four Emperors and end with the despotism of

1110-571: Is the later historian whose work most closely approaches him in style. Tacitus makes use of the official sources of the Roman state: the Acta Senatus (the minutes of the sessions of the Senate) and the Acta Diurna (a collection of the acts of the government and news of the court and capital). He also read collections of emperors' speeches, such as those of Tiberius and Claudius. He is generally seen as

1184-450: Is uncertainty about when Tacitus wrote Dialogus de oratoribus . Many characteristics set it apart from the other works of Tacitus, so that its authenticity has at various times been questioned. It is likely to be early work, indebted to the author's rhetorical training, since its style imitates that of the foremost Roman orator Cicero . It lacks (for example) the incongruities that are typical of his mature historical works. The Dialogus

1258-585: Is unclear; on the one hand, Agricola was awarded triumphal decorations and a statue (the highest military honours apart from an actual triumph ); on the other, Agricola never again held a civil or military post, in spite of his experience and renown. He was offered the governorship of the province of Africa, but declined it, whether due to ill health or (as Tacitus claims) the machinations of Domitian. In 93, Agricola died on his family estates in Gallia Narbonensis aged fifty-three. Rumours circulated attributing

1332-463: Is well known: inde consilium mihi ... tradere ... sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo. my purpose is ... to relate ... without either anger or zeal, motives from which I am far removed. There has been much scholarly discussion about Tacitus's "neutrality". Throughout his writing, he is preoccupied with the balance of power between the Senate and the emperors , and the increasing corruption of

1406-565: Is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals (Latin: Annales ) and the Histories (Latin: Historiae )—examine the reigns of the emperors Tiberius , Claudius , Nero , and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from

1480-570: The Battle of Mons Graupius . Tacitus estimates their numbers at more than 30,000. Agricola put his auxiliaries in the front line, keeping the legions in reserve, and relied on close-quarters fighting to make the Caledonians' unpointed slashing swords useless as they were unable to swing them properly or utilise thrusting attacks. Even though the Caledonians were put to rout and therefore lost this battle, two thirds of their army managed to escape and hide in

1554-512: The Caledonians rose in great numbers against him. They attacked the camp of the Legio IX Hispana at night , but Agricola sent in his cavalry and they were put to flight. The Romans responded by pushing further north. Another son was born to Agricola this year, but died before his first birthday. In the summer of 83, Agricola faced the massed armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus , at

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1628-459: The Ciceronian period , where sentences were usually the length of a paragraph and artfully constructed with nested pairs of carefully matched sonorous phrases, this is short and to the point. But it is also very individual. Note the three different ways of saying and in the first line ( -que , et , ac ), and especially the matched second and third lines. They are parallel in sense but not in sound;

1702-511: The Fenni . Tacitus had written a similar, albeit shorter, piece in his Agricola (chapters 10–13). The Agricola (written c.  98 ) recounts the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general and Tacitus's father-in-law; it also covers, briefly, the geography and ethnography of ancient Britain . As in the Germania , Tacitus favorably contrasts the liberty of the native Britons with

1776-613: The First Jewish–Roman War . His Annals are of interest for providing an early account of the persecution of Christians and one of the earliest extra-Biblical references to the crucifixion of Jesus . Details about the personal life of Tacitus are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger , and an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria . Tacitus

1850-565: The Firth of Clyde or Firth of Forth . Tacitus also mentions Hibernia , so southwest Scotland is perhaps to be preferred. The text of the Agricola has been amended here to record the Romans "crossing into trackless wastes", referring to the wilds of the Galloway peninsula. Agricola fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalls that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with

1924-546: The Flavians . Only the first four books and twenty-six chapters of the fifth book survive, covering the year 69 and the first part of 70. The work is believed to have continued up to the death of Domitian on September 18, 96. The fifth book contains—as a prelude to the account of Titus's suppression of the First Jewish–Roman War —a short ethnographic survey of the ancient Jews , and it is an invaluable record of Roman attitudes towards them. The Annals , Tacitus's final work, covers

1998-493: The Histories before the Annals , the events in the Annals precede the Histories ; together they form a continuous narrative from the death of Augustus (14) to the death of Domitian (96). Though most has been lost, what remains is an invaluable record of the era. The first half of the Annals survived in a single manuscript from Corvey Abbey in Germany, and the second half in a single manuscript from Monte Cassino in Italy; it

2072-509: The Histories . The second half of book 16 is missing, ending with the events of 66. It is not known whether Tacitus completed the work; he died before he could complete his planned histories of Nerva and Trajan, and no record survives of the work on Augustus and the beginnings of the Roman Empire , with which he had planned to finish his work. The Annals is one of the earliest secular historical records to mention Jesus of Nazareth , which Tacitus does in connection with Nero's persecution of

2146-603: The Ordovices of north Wales had virtually destroyed the Roman cavalry stationed in their territory. He immediately moved against them and defeated them. His campaign then moved onto Anglesey where he subjugated the entire island . Almost two decades earlier, Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus had attempted the same but Roman forces had to withdraw in 60 CE because of the outbreak of the Boudican rebellion . Agricola also expanded Roman rule north into Caledonia (modern Scotland ). In

2220-580: The Raedykes Roman camp ; these points of high ground are proximate to the Elsick Mounth , an ancient trackway used by Romans and Caledonians for military manoeuvres. However, following the discovery of the Roman camp at Durno in 1975, most scholars now believe that the battle took place on the ground around Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Satisfied with his victory, Agricola extracted hostages from

2294-406: The famous general Agricola . Little is known of their domestic life, save that Tacitus loved hunting and the outdoors. He started his career (probably the latus clavus , mark of the senator) under Vespasian (r. 69–79), but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus . He advanced steadily through the cursus honorum , becoming praetor in 88 and a quindecimvir ,

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2368-483: The first of his family to do so. During his tenure, he reached the height of his fame as an orator when he delivered the funeral oration for the famous veteran soldier Lucius Verginius Rufus . In the following year, he wrote and published the Agricola and Germania , foreshadowing the literary endeavors that would occupy him until his death. Afterward, he absented himself from public life, but returned during Trajan 's reign (98–117). In 100, he and his friend Pliny

2442-608: The proscriptions which took place at the end of the Republic , and Tacitus makes it clear that he owed his rank to the Flavian emperors ( Hist. 1.1 ). The claim that he was descended from a freedman is derived from a speech in his writings which asserts that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen ( Ann. 13.27 ), but this is generally disputed. In his article on Tacitus in Pauly-Wissowa , I. Borzsak had conjectured that

2516-453: The Caledonian tribes. He may have marched his army to the northern coast of Britain, as evidenced by the probable discovery of a Roman fort at Cawdor (near Inverness ). He also instructed the prefect of the fleet to sail around the north coast, confirming (allegedly for the first time) that Britain was in fact an island. In 2019, GUARD Archaeology team led by Iraia Arabaolaza uncovered

2590-648: The Christians . Tacitus wrote three works with a more limited scope: Agricola , a biography of his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola; the Germania , a monograph on the lands and tribes of barbarian Germania; and the Dialogus , a dialogue on the art of rhetoric. The Germania ( Latin title: De Origine et situ Germanorum ) is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. The Germania fits within

2664-555: The Cornelius Tacitus who served as procurator of Belgica and Germania ; Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who aged rapidly ( NH 7.76 ), which implies an early death. There is no mention of Tacitus's suffering such a condition, but it is possible that this refers to a brother—if Cornelius was indeed his father. The friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus leads some scholars to conclude that they were both

2738-630: The Highlands or the "trackless wilds" as Tacitus calls them. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be about 10,000 on the Caledonian side and 360 on the Roman side. A number of authors have reckoned the battle to have occurred in the Grampian Mounth within sight of the North Sea . In particular, Roy, Surenne, Watt, Hogan and others have advanced notions that the site of the battle may have been Kempstone Hill , Megray Hill or other knolls near

2812-463: The Praetorian Guard, sending them out to different corners of the empire. [REDACTED] Media related to Castra Praetoria at Wikimedia Commons Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus , known simply as Tacitus ( / ˈ t æ s ɪ t ə s / TAS -it-əs , Latin: [ˈtakɪtʊs] ; c.  AD 56 – c.  120 ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus

2886-642: The Praetorians in 222 AD. Then in 238 AD, the barracks were attacked by the citizens of Rome who were in revolt against the emperor Maximinus Thrax . The Castra Praetoria was destroyed by Constantine I , who also disbanded the Praetorian Guard upon his conquest of Italy while Maxentius ruled as the Western Roman Emperor in Italy. Their last stand was at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD, and after Constantine's victory he officially disbanded

2960-407: The Praetorians. Here too was where the Praetorian Guard auctioned off the imperial title after their murder of the emperor Pertinax . On March 28 193 AD Titus Flavius Claudius Sulpicianus was within the barracks trying to calm the troops when he began to offer a donative if they would support his candidacy for the throne. Meanwhile, Didius Julianus also arrived at the camp, and since his entrance

3034-519: The Roman model and gave a Roman education to sons of native nobility; albeit, as Tacitus notes, for the cynical reason of pacifying the aggressive tribes in Britannia for the servitude of Rome. In 81, Agricola "crossed in the first ship" and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. Tacitus, in Chapter 24 of Agricola , does not tell us what body of water he crossed. Modern scholarship favours either

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3108-513: The Roman province of Asia in western Anatolia , recorded in the inscription found at Mylasa mentioned above. A passage in the Annals fixes 116 as the terminus post quem of his death, which may have been as late as 125 or even 130. It seems that he survived both Pliny (died c.  113 ) and Trajan (died 117). It remains unknown whether Tacitus had any children. The Augustan History reports that Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus (r. 275–276) claimed him for an ancestor and provided for

3182-438: The Younger prosecuted Marius Priscus  [ la ] ( proconsul of Africa) for corruption. Priscus was found guilty and sent into exile; Pliny wrote a few days later that Tacitus had spoken "with all the majesty which characterizes his usual style of oratory". A lengthy absence from politics and law followed while he wrote the Histories and the Annals . In 112 to 113, he held the highest civilian governorship, that of

3256-604: The bigger picture, leaving the readers to construct that picture for themselves. Nonetheless, where he does use broad strokes, for example, in the opening paragraphs of the Annals , he uses a few condensed phrases which take the reader to the heart of the story. Tacitus's historical style owes some debt to Sallust . His historiography offers penetrating—often pessimistic—insights into the psychology of power politics, blending straightforward descriptions of events, moral lessons, and tightly focused dramatic accounts. Tacitus's own declaration regarding his approach to history ( Annals I,1)

3330-679: The death of Augustus (14 AD) to the death of Domitian (96 AD), although there are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts. Tacitus's other writings discuss oratory (in dialogue format, see Dialogus de oratoribus ), Germania (in De origine et situ Germanorum ), and the life of his father-in-law, Agricola (the general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain ), mainly focusing on his campaign in Britannia ( De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae ). Tacitus's Histories offers insights into Roman attitudes towards Jews , descriptions of Jewish customs, and context for

3404-506: The dying looks of Mauricus and Rusticus , before we were steeped in Senecio 's innocent blood. Even Nero turned his eyes away, and did not gaze upon the atrocities which he ordered; with Domitian it was the chief part of our miseries to see and to be seen, to know that our sighs were being recorded... From his seat in the Senate , he became suffect consul in 97 during the reign of Nerva , being

3478-399: The empire. Nonetheless, the image he builds of Tiberius throughout the first six books of the Annals is neither exclusively bleak nor approving: most scholars view the image of Tiberius as predominantly positive in the first books, and predominantly negative after the intrigues of Sejanus . The entrance of Tiberius in the first chapters of the first book is dominated by the hypocrisy of

3552-528: The experience left him jaded and perhaps ashamed at his own complicity, instilling in him the hatred of tyranny evident in his works. The Agricola , chs. 44 – 45 , is illustrative: Agricola was spared those later years during which Domitian, leaving now no interval or breathing space of time, but, as it were, with one continuous blow, drained the life-blood of the Commonwealth... It was not long before our hands dragged Helvidius to prison, before we gazed on

3626-483: The four sides of the walls were later incorporated in the Aurelian Walls , and parts of them are clearly visible today. The adjacent city district Castro Pretorio is named after the barracks. The Castra Praetoria was the location of several important events in the history of Rome. It was to this camp that Claudius was brought after the murder of his nephew Caligula to become the first emperor to be proclaimed by

3700-432: The frivolous prosecutions which resulted ( Annals , 1.72). Elsewhere ( Annals 4.64–66) he compares Tiberius's public distribution of fire relief to his failure to stop the perversions and abuses of justice which he had begun. Although this kind of insight has earned him praise, he has also been criticized for ignoring the larger context. Tacitus owes most, both in language and in method, to Sallust, and Ammianus Marcellinus

3774-480: The governing classes of Rome as they adjusted to the ever-growing wealth and power of the empire. In Tacitus's view, senators squandered their cultural inheritance—that of free speech —to placate their (rarely benign) emperor. Tacitus noted the increasing dependence of the emperor on the goodwill of his armies. The Julio-Claudians eventually gave way to generals, who followed Julius Caesar (and Sulla and Pompey ) in recognizing that military might could secure them

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3848-403: The historian was related to Thrasea Paetus and Etruscan family of Caecinii , about whom he spoke very highly. Furthermore, some later Caecinii bore cognomen Tacitus, which also could indicate some sort of relationship. It had been suggested that the historian's mother was a daughter of Aulus Caecina Paetus , suffect consul of 37, and sister of Arria, wife of Thrasea. His father may have been

3922-506: The imperial system (see Tacitean studies , Black vs. Red Tacitists). His Latin style is highly praised. His style, although it has a grandeur and eloquence (thanks to Tacitus's education in rhetoric), is extremely concise, even epigrammatic —the sentences are rarely flowing or beautiful, but their point is always clear. The style has been both derided as "harsh, unpleasant, and thorny" and praised as "grave, concise, and pithily eloquent". A passage of Annals 1.1 , where Tacitus laments

3996-434: The motives of the characters, often with penetrating insight—though it is questionable how much of his insight is correct, and how much is convincing only because of his rhetorical skill. He is at his best when exposing hypocrisy and dissimulation; for example, he follows a narrative recounting Tiberius's refusal of the title pater patriae by recalling the institution of a law forbidding any "treasonous" speech or writings—and

4070-493: The new emperor and his courtiers. In the later books, some respect is evident for the cleverness of the old emperor in securing his position. In general, Tacitus does not fear to praise and to criticize the same person, often noting what he takes to be their more admirable and less admirable properties. One of Tacitus's hallmarks is refraining from conclusively taking sides for or against persons he describes, which has led some to interpret his works as both supporting and rejecting

4144-604: The offspring of wealthy provincial families. The province of his birth remains unknown, though various conjectures suggest Gallia Belgica , Gallia Narbonensis , or Northern Italy . His marriage to the daughter of Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus's dedication to Lucius Fabius Justus in the Dialogus may indicate a connection with Spain, and his friendship with Pliny suggests origins in northern Italy. No evidence exists, however, that Pliny's friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Pliny's letters hint that

4218-511: The pairs of words ending " -entibus … -is " are crossed over in a way that deliberately breaks the Ciceronian conventions—which one would, however, need to be acquainted with to see the novelty of Tacitus's style. Some readers, then and now, find this teasing of their expectations merely irritating. Others find the deliberate discord, playing against the evident parallelism of the two lines, stimulating and intriguing. His historical works focus on

4292-506: The period from the death of Augustus in AD ;14. He wrote at least sixteen books, but books 7–10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11, and 16 are missing. Book 6 ends with the death of Tiberius , and books 7–12 presumably covered the reigns of Caligula and Claudius . The remaining books cover the reign of Nero, perhaps until his death in June 68 or until the end of that year to connect with

4366-515: The political power in Rome. ( Hist. 1.4 ) Welcome as the death of Nero had been in the first burst of joy, yet it had not only roused various emotions in Rome, among the Senators, the people, or the soldiery of the capital, it had also excited all the legions and their generals; for now had been divulged that secret of the empire, that emperors could be made elsewhere than at Rome. Tacitus's political career

4440-483: The preservation of his works, but this story may be fraudulent, like much of the Augustan History . Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived (albeit with gaps), the most substantial of which are the Annals and the Histories . This canon (with approximate dates) consists of: The Annals and the Histories , published separately, were meant to form a single edition of thirty books. Although Tacitus wrote

4514-740: The state of the historiography regarding the last four emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty , illustrates his style: "The histories of Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero, while they were in power, were falsified through terror and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred", or in a word-for-word translation: Tiberiī Gāīque et Claudiī ac Nerōnis rēs flōrentibus ipsīs—ob metum—falsae, postquam occiderant—recentibus ōdiīs—compositae sunt. Tiberius's, Gaius's and Claudius's as well as Nero's acts while flourishing themselves—out of fear—counterfeited, after they came to fall—resulting from new-found hate—related are. Compared to

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4588-562: The summer of 79, he pushed his armies to the estuary of the river Taus, usually interpreted as the Firth of Tay , virtually unchallenged, and established some forts. Though their location is left unspecified, the close dating of the fort at Elginhaugh in Midlothian makes it a possible candidate. He established himself as a good administrator by reforming the widely corrupt corn levy as well as through his military successes. He introduced Romanising measures, encouraging communities to build towns on

4662-421: The suppression of Boudica 's uprising in 61. Returning from Britain to Rome in 62, he married Domitia Decidiana , a woman of noble birth. Their first child was a son. Agricola was appointed as quaestor in 64, which he served in the province of Asia under the corrupt proconsul Lucius Salvius Otho Titianus . While he was there, his daughter, Julia Agricola, was born, but his son died shortly afterwards. He

4736-576: The throne. Agricola's mother was murdered on her estate in Liguria by Otho's marauding fleet. Hearing of Vespasian 's bid for the empire, Agricola immediately gave him his support. Otho meanwhile committed suicide after being defeated by Vitellius . After Vespasian had established himself as emperor, Agricola was appointed to the command of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix , stationed in Britain, in place of Marcus Roscius Coelius , who had stirred up

4810-466: The two men had a common background. Pliny Book 9, Letter 23, reports that when asked whether he was Italian or provincial, he gave an unclear answer and so was asked whether he was Tacitus or Pliny. Since Pliny was from Italy, some infer that Tacitus was from the provinces, probably Gallia Narbonensis. His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his sympathetic depiction of barbarians who resisted Roman rule (e.g., Ann. 2.9 ) have led some to suggest that he

4884-507: The tyranny and corruption of the Empire; the book also contains eloquent polemics against the greed of Rome, one of which, that Tacitus claims is from a speech by Calgacus , ends by asserting, Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. ("To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."—Oxford Revised Translation). There

4958-521: Was tribune of the plebs in 66 and praetor in June 68, during which time he was ordered by the Governor of Spain Galba to take an inventory of the temple treasures. During that time, the emperor Nero was declared a public enemy by the Senate and committed suicide, and the period of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors began. Galba succeeded Nero, but was murdered in early 69 by Otho , who took

5032-557: Was a praetor and had become a member of the Roman Senate in the year of Agricola's birth. Graecinus had become distinguished by his interest in philosophy. Between August 40 and January 41, the emperor Caligula ordered his death, because he refused to prosecute the emperor's second cousin Marcus Junius Silanus . His mother was Julia Procilla. The Roman historian Tacitus describes her as "a lady of singular virtue" who had

5106-479: Was a Celt . This belief stems from the fact that the Celts who had occupied Gaul prior to the Roman invasion were famous for their skill in oratory and had been subjugated by Rome. As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics; like Pliny, he may have studied under Quintilian ( c.  35 AD – c.  100 ). In 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of

5180-474: Was barred, shouted out offers to the guard. After hours of bidding, Sulpicianus promised 20,000 sesterces to every soldier; Julianus, fearing that Sulpicianus would gain the throne, then offered 25,000. The guards closed with the offer of Julianus, threw open the gates of the camp, and proclaimed him emperor. This was also the site of the slaying of the Emperor Elagabalus , and his mother Julia Soaemias by

5254-417: Was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family. The place and date of his birth, as well as his praenomen (first name) are not known. In the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris his name is Gaius , but in the major surviving manuscript of his work his name is given as Publius . One scholar's suggestion of the name Sextus has been largely rejected. Most of the older aristocratic families failed to survive

5328-525: Was enrolled as a patrician and appointed to govern Gallia Aquitania . There he stayed for almost three years. In 76 or 77, he was recalled to Rome and appointed suffect consul , and betrothed his daughter to Tacitus . The following year, Tacitus and Julia married; Agricola was appointed to the College of Pontiffs , and returned to Britain for a third time, as its governor ( Legatus Augusti pro praetore ). Arriving in midsummer of 77, Agricola discovered that

5402-412: Was largely lived out under the emperor Domitian. His experience of the tyranny, corruption, and decadence of that era (81–96) may explain the bitterness and irony of his political analysis. He draws our attention to the dangers of power without accountability, love of power untempered by principle, and the apathy and corruption engendered by the concentration of wealth generated through trade and conquest by

5476-421: Was made consul and governor of Britannia . As governor, he completed the conquest of what is today Wales and northern England , and led his army to the far north of Scotland , establishing forts across much of the lowlands . In 85, Agricola was recalled from Britain after an unusually lengthy service by Emperor Domitian . After his return, he retired from military and public life and died in 93. Most of what

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