The Germany and the Agricola of TacitusCornelius TacitusOmniClassics · Literature
The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
Cornelius TacitusTwo Roman works examine life beyond the imperial centre and the conduct of a man serving its power.
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About the book
The Germany describes peoples beyond Rome's northern frontier through accounts of their customs, social arrangements, warfare, and ways of life. Agricola commemorates Tacitus's father-in-law, giving his career and campaigns in Britain a place within questions about honourable service under imperial rule. Read together, the works turn outward towards other societies while remaining deeply concerned with Rome's own character. Tacitus's descriptions are shaped by a Roman observer's purposes and available knowledge, so the contrasts he draws require interpretation rather than simple acceptance as transparent ethnography. Biography and geographical description become means of political and moral reflection. The volume offers two compact examples of how writing about distant peoples or an individual career can also make arguments about authority, discipline, ambition, and the limits of public action.
- Empire
- Custom and comparison
- Public service
Why read it
For two concise Roman texts that connect accounts of other peoples and a public career with searching judgments about power.
Two works · revised Oxford English translation with notes