The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
great general were truly imperial. Tortured with such anxious thoughts,
and brooding over them in secret, [128] a certain indication of some
malignant intention, he judged it most prudent for the present to
suspend his rancor, tilt the first burst of glory and the affections
of the army should remit: for Agricola still possessed the command in
Britain.
40. He therefore caused the senate to decree him triumphal ornaments,
[129]--a statue crowned with laurel, and all the other honors which
are substituted for a real triumph, together with a profusion of
complimentary expressions; and also directed an expectation to be raised
that the province of Syria, vacant by the death of Atilius Rufus,
a consular man, and usually reserved for persons of the greatest
distinction, was designed for Agricola. It was commonly believed that
one of the freedmen, who were employed in confidential services, was
despatched with the instrument appointing Agricola to the government of
Syria, with orders to deliver it if he should be still in Britain; but
that this messenger, meeting Agricola in the straits, [130] returned
directly to Domitian without so much as accosting him. [131] Whether
this was really the fact, or only a fiction founded on the genius and
character of the prince, is uncertain. Agricola, in the meantime, had
delivered the province, in peace and security, to his successor; [132]
and lest his entry into the city should be rendered too conspicuous by
the concourse and acclamations of the people, he declined the salutation
of his friends by arriving in the night; and went by night, as he was
commanded, to the palace. There, after being received with a slight
embrace, but not a word spoken, he was mingled with the servile throng.
In this situation, he endeavored to soften the glare of military
reputation, which is offensive to those who themselves live in
indolence, by the practice of virtues of a different cast. He resigned
himself to ease and tranquillity, was modest in his garb and equipage,
affable in conversation, and in public was only accompanied by one or
two of his friends; insomuch that the many, who are accustomed to form
their ideas of great men from their retinue and figure, when they beheld
Agricola, were apt to call in question his renown: few could interpret
his conduct.
41. He was frequently, during that period, accused in his absence before
Domitian, and in his absence also acquitted. The source of his danger
was not any criminal action, nor the complaint of any injured person;
but a prince hostile to virtue, and his own high reputation, and the
worst kind of enemies, eulogists. [133] For the situation of public
affairs which ensued was such as would not permit the name of Agricola
to rest in silence: so many armies in Moesia, Dacia, Germany, and
Pannonia lost through the temerity or cowardice of their generals; [134]
so many men of military character, with numerous cohorts, defeated and
taken prisoners; whilst a dubious contest was maintained, not for the
boundaries, of the empire, and the banks of the bordering rivers, [135]
but for the winter-quarters of the legions, and the possession of our
territories. In this state of things, when loss succeeded loss, and
every year was signalized by disasters and slaughters, the public voice
loudly demanded Agricola for general: every one comparing his vigor,
firmness, and experience in war, with the indolence and pusillanimity
of the others. It is certain that the ears of Domitian himself were
assailed by such discourses, while the best of his freedmen pressed him
to the choice through motives of fidelity and affection, and the
worst through envy and malignity, emotions to which he was of himself
sufficiently prone. Thus Agricola, as well by his own virtues as the
vices of others, was urged on precipitously to glory.
42. The year now arrived in which the proconsulate of Asia or Africa
must fall by lot upon Agricola; [136] and as Civica had lately been put
to death, Agricola was not unprovided with a lesson, nor Domitian with
an example. [137] Some persons, acquainted with the secret inclinations
of the emperor, came to Agricola, and inquired whether he intended to go
to his province; and first, somewhat distantly, began to commend a life
of leisure and tranquillity; then offered their services in procuring
him to be excused from the office; and at length, throwing off all
disguise, after using arguments both to persuade and intimidate him,
compelled him to accompany them to Domitian. The emperor, prepared to
dissemble, and assuming an air of stateliness, received his petition for
excuse, and suffered himself to be formally thanked [138] for granting
it, without blushing at so invidious a favor. He did not, however,
bestow on Agricola the salary [139] usually offered to a proconsul, and
which he himself had granted to others; either taking offence that it
was not requested, or feeling a consciousness that it would seem a bribe
for what he had in reality extorted by his authority. It is a principle
of human nature to hate those whom we have injured; [140] and Domitian
was constitutionally inclined to anger, which was the more difficult
to be averted, in proportion as it was the more disguised. Yet he was
softened by the temper and prudence of Agricola; who did not think it
necessary, by a contumacious spirit, or a vain ostentation of liberty,
to challenge fame or urge his fate. [141] Let those be apprised, who are
accustomed to admire every opposition to control, that even under a
bad prince men may be truly great; that submission and modesty, if
accompanied with vigor and industry, will elevate a character to a
height of public esteem equal to that which many, through abrupt and
dangerous paths, have attained, without benefit to their country, by an
ambitious death.
43. His decease was a severe affliction to his family, a grief to his
friends, and a subject of regret even to foreigners, and those who had
no personal knowledge of him. [142] The common people too, and the class
who little interest themselves about public concerns, were frequent
in their inquiries at his house during his sickness, and made him the
subject of conversation at the forum and in private circles; nor did any
person either rejoice at the news of his death, or speedily forget it.
Their commiseration was aggravated by a prevailing report that he was
taken off by poison. I cannot venture to affirm anything certain of this
matter; [143] yet, during the whole course of his illness, the principal
of the imperial freedmen and the most confidential of the physicians was
sent much more frequently than was customary with a court whose visits
were chiefly paid by messages; whether that was done out of real
solicitude, or for the purposes of state inquisition. On the day of his
decease, it is certain that accounts of his approaching dissolution were
every instant transmitted to the emperor by couriers stationed for the
purpose; and no one believed that the information, which so much pains
was taken to accelerate, could be received with regret. He put on,
however, in his countenance and demeanor, the semblance of grief: for he
was now secured from an object of hatred, and could more easily conceal
his joy than his fear. It was well known that on reading the will, in
which he was nominated co-heir [144] with the excellent wife and most
dutiful daughter of Agricola, he expressed great satisfaction, as if it
had been a voluntary testimony of honor and esteem: so blind and corrupt
had his mind been rendered by continual adulation, that he was ignorant
none but a bad prince could be nominated heir to a good father.
44. Agricola was born in the ides of June, during the third consulate of
Caius Caesar; [145] he died in his fifty-sixth year, on the tenth of
the calends of September, when Collega and Priscus were consuls. [146]
Posterity may wish to form an idea of his person. His figure was comely
rather than majestic. In his countenance there was nothing to inspire
awe; its character was gracious and engaging. You would readily have
believed him a good man, and willingly a great one. And indeed, although
he was snatched away in the midst of a vigorous age, yet if his life be
measured by his glory, it was a period of the greatest extent. For after
the full enjoyment of all that is truly good, which is found in virtuous
pursuits alone, decorated with consular and triumphal ornaments, what
more could fortune contribute to his elevation? Immoderate wealth did
not fall to his share, yet he possessed a decent affluence. [147] His
wife and daughter surviving, his dignity unimpaired, his reputation
flourishing, and his kindred and friends yet in safety, it may even be
thought an additional felicity that he was thus withdrawn from impending
evils. For, as we have heard him express his wishes of continuing to the
dawn of the present auspicious day, and beholding Trajan in the imperial
seat,--wishes in which he formed a certain presage of the event; so it
is a great consolation, that by his untimely end he escaped that latter
period, in which Domitian, not by intervals and remissions, but by a
continued, and, as it were, a single act, aimed at the destruction of
the commonwealth. [148]
45. Agricola did not behold the senate-house besieged, and the senators
enclosed by a circle of arms; [149] and in one havoc the massacre of so
many consular men, the flight and banishment of so many honorable women.
As yet Carus Metius [150] was distinguished only by a single victory;
the counsels of Messalinus [151] resounded only through the Albanian
citadel; [152] and Massa Baebius [153] was himself among the accused.
Soon after, our own hands [154] dragged Helvidius [155] to prison;
ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of Mauricus and Rusticus,
[156] and sprinkled with the innocent blood of Senecio. [157]
Even Nero withdrew his eyes from the cruelties he commanded. Under
Domitian, it was the principal part of our miseries to behold and to be
beheld: when our sighs were registered; and that stern countenance, with
its settled redness, [158] his defence against shame, was employed in
noting the pallid horror of so many spectators. Happy, O Agricola! not
only in the splendor of your life, but in the seasonableness of your
death. With resignation and cheerfulness, from the testimony of those
who were present in your last moments, did you meet your fate, as
if striving to the utmost of your power to make the emperor appear
guiltless. But to myself and your daughter, besides the anguish of
losing a parent, the aggravating affliction remains, that it was not our
lot to watch over your sick-bed, to support you when languishing, and to
satiate ourselves with beholding and embracing you. With what attention
should we have received your last instructions, and engraven them on our
hearts! This is our sorrow; this is our wound: to us you were lost four
years before by a tedious absence. Everything, doubtless, O best of
parents! was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most
affectionate wife sat beside you; yet fewer tears were shed upon your
bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was still
wanting.
46. If there be any habitation for the shades of the virtuous; if, as
philosophers suppose, exalted souls do not perish with the body; may
you repose in peace, and call us, your household, from vain regret and
feminine lamentations, to the contemplation of your virtues, which allow
no place for mourning or complaining! Let us rather adorn your memory by
our admiration, by our short-lived praises, and, as far as our natures
will permit, by an imitation of your example. This is truly to honor the
dead; this is the piety of every near relation. I would also recommend