Chapter 6

XXXIV. "Si novae gentes atque ignota acies constitisset, aliorum exercituum exemplis vos hortarer: nunc vestra decora recensete, vestros oculos interrogate. Ii sunt, quos proximo anno, unam legionem furto noctis aggressos, clamore debellastis: ii ceterorum Britannorum fugacissimi, ideoque tam diu superstites. Quomodo silvas saltusque penetrantibus fortissimum quodque animal contra ruere, pavida et inertia ipso agminis sono pelluntur, sic acerrimi Britannorum jam pridem ceciderunt: reliquus est numerus ignavorum et metuentium, quos quod tandem invenistis, non restiterunt, sed deprehensi sunt: novissimae res et extremo metu corpora defixere aciem in his vestigiis, in quibus pulchram et spectabilem victoriam ederetis. Transigite cum expeditionibus: imponite quinquaginta annis magnum diem: approbate reipublicae nunquam exercitui imputari potuisse aut moras belli aut causas rebellandi."

XXXV. Et alloquente adhuc Agricola, militum ardor eminebat, et finem orationis ingens alacritas consecuta est, statimque ad arma discursum. Instinctos ruentesque ita disposuit, ut peditum auxilia, quae octo millia erant, mediam aciem firmarent, equitum tria millia cornibus affunderentur: legiones pro vallo stetere, ingens victoriae decus citra Romanum sanguinem bellanti, et auxilium, si pellerentur. Britannorum acies, in speciem simul ac terrorem, editioribus locis constiterat ita, ut primum agmen aequo, ceteri per acclive jugum connexi velut insurgerent: media campi covinarius et eques strepitu ac discursu complebat. Tum Agricola superante hostium multitudine veritus, ne simul in frontem, simul et latera suorum pugnaretur, diductis ordinibus, quanquam porrectior acies futura erat et arcessendas plerique legiones admonebant, promptior in spem et firmus adversis, dimisso equo pedes ante vexilla constitit.

XXXVI. Ac primo congressu eminus certabatur simul constantia, simul arte Britanni ingentibus gladiis et brevibus cetris missilia nostrorum vitare vel excutere, atque ipsi magnam vim telorum superfundere: donec Agricola Batavorum cohortes ac Tungrorum duas cohortatus est, ut rem ad mucrones ac manus adducerent: quod et ipsis vetustate militiae exercitatum, et hostibus inhabile parva scuta et enormes gladios gerentibus: nam Britannorum gladii sine mucrone complexum armorum et in aperto pugnam non tolerabant. Igitur, ut Batavi miscere ictus, ferire umbonibus, ora foedare, et stratis qui in aequo obstiterant, erigere in colles aciem coepere, ceterae cohortes, aemulatione et impetu commistae, proximos quosque caedere; ac plerique semineces aut integri festinatione victoriae relinquebantur. Interim equitum turmae fugere, covinarii peditum se proelio miscuere: et, quanquam recentem terrorem intulerant, densis tamen hostium agminibus et inaequalibus locis haerebant: minimeque equestris ea pugnae facies erat, cum aegre diu stantes simul equorum corporibus impellerentur, ac saepe vagi currus, exterriti sine rectoribus equi, ut quemque formido tulerat, transversos aut obvios incursabant.

XXXVII. Et Britanni, qui adhuc pugnae expertes summa collium insederant et paucitatem nostrorum vacui spernebant, degredi paulatim et circumire terga vincentium coeperant: ni id ipsum veritus Agricola, quatuor equitum alas, ad subita belli retentas, venientibus opposuisset, quantoque ferocius accurrerant, tanto acrius pulsos in fugam disjecisset. Ita consilium Britannorum in ipsos versum: transvectaeque praecepto ducis a fronte pugnantium alae, aversam hostium aciem invasere. Tum vero patentibus locis grande et atrox spectaculum: sequi, vulnerare, capere atque eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare. Jam hostium, prout cuique ingenium erat, catervae armatorum paucioribus terga praestare, quidam inermes ultro ruere ac se morti offerre; passim arma et corpora et laceri artus et cruenta humus: et aliquando etiam victis ira virtusque; postquam silvis appropinquarunt, collecti primos sequentium incautos et locorum ignaros circumveniebant. Quod ni frequens ubique Agricola validas et expeditas cohortes indaginis modo, et, sicubi arctiora erant, partem equitum dimissis equis, simul rariores silvas equitem persultare jussisset, acceptum aliquod vulnus per nimiam fiduciam foret. Ceterum, ubi compositos firmis ordinibus sequi rursus videre, in fugam versi, non agminibus, ut prius, nec alius alium respectantes, rari et vitabundi invicem, longinqua atque avia petiere. Finis sequendi nox et satietas fuit: caesa hostium ad decem millia: nostrorum trecenti sexaginta cecidere: in quis Aulus Atticus praefectus cohortis, juvenili ardore et ferocia equi hostibus illatus.

XXXVIII. Et nox quidem gaudio praedaque laeta victoribus: Britanni palantes, mixtoque virorum mulierumque ploratu, trahere vulneratos, vocare integros, deserere domos ac per iram ultro incendere: eligere latebras et statim relinquere: miscere invicem consilia aliqua, dein separare: aliquando frangi aspectu pignorum suorum, saepius concitari: satisque constabat, saevisse quosdam in conjuges ac liberos, tanquam misererentur. Proximus dies faciem victoriae latius aperuit: vastum ubique silentium, secreti colles, fumantia procul tecta, nemo exploratoribus obvius: quibus in omnem partem dimissis, ubi incerta fugae vestigia neque usquam conglobari hostes compertum et exacta jam aestate spargi bellum nequibat, in fines Horestorum exercitum deducit. Ibi acceptis obsidibus, praefecto classis circumvehi Britanniam praecepit. Datae ad id vires, et praecesserat terror. Ipse peditem atque equites lento itinere, quo novarum gentium animi ipsa transitus mora terrerentur, in hibernis locavit. Et simul classis secunda tempestate ac fama Trutulensem portum tenuit, unde proximo latere Britanniae lecto omni redierat.

XXXIX. Hunc rerum cursum, quanquam nulla verborum jactantia epistolis Agricolae actum, ut Domitiano moris erat, fronte laetus, pectore anxius excepit. Inerat conscientia derisui fuisse nuper falsum e Germania triumphum, emptis per commercia, quorum habitus et crines in captivorum speciem formarentur: at nunc veram magnamque victoriam, tot millibus hostium caesis, ingenti fama celebrari. Id sibi maxime formidolosum, privati hominis nomen supra principis attolli: frustra studia fori et civilium artium decus in silentium acta, si militarem gloriam alius occuparet: et cetera utcumque facilius dissimulari: ducis boni imperatoriam virtutem esse. Talibus curis exercitus, quodque saevae cogitationis indicium erat, secreto suo satiatus, optimum in praesentia statuit reponere odium, donec impetus famae et favor exercitus languesceret: nam etiam tum Agricola Britanniam obtinebat.

XL. Igitur triumphalia ornamenta et illustris statuae honorem et quidquid pro triumpho datur, multo verborum honore cumulata, decerni in senatu jubet; addique insuper opinionem, Syriam provinciam Agricolae destinari, vacuam tum morte Atilii Rufi consularis et majoribus reservatam. Credidere plerique libertum ex secretioribus ministeriis missum ad Agricolam codicillos, quibus ei Syria dabatur, tulisse cum praecepto, ut, si in Britannia foret, traderentur: eumque libertum in ipso freto Oceani obvium Agricolae, ne appellato quidem eo, ad Domitianum remeasse: sive verum istud, sive ex ingenio principis fictum ac compositum est. Tradiderat interim Agricola successori suo provinciam quietam tutamque. Ac, ne notabilis celebritate et frequentia occurrentium introitus esset, vitato amicorum officio, noctu in urbem, noctu in palatium, ita ut praeceptum erat, venit: exceptusque brevi osculo et nullo sermone turbae servientium immixtus est. Ceterum, ut militare nomen, grave inter otiosos, aliis virtutibus temperaret, tranquillitatem atque otium penitus auxit, cultu modicus, sermone facilis, uno aut altero amicorum comitatus; adeo ut plerique quibus magnos viros per ambitionem aestimare mos est, viso aspectoque Agricola, quaererent famam, pauci interpretarentur.

XLI. Crebro per eos dies apud Domitianum absens accusatus, absens absolutus est. Causa periculi non crimen ullum aut querela laesi cujusquam, sed infensus virtutibus princeps et gloria viri ac pessimum inimicorum genus, laudantes. Et ea insecuta sunt reipublicae tempora, quae sileri Agricolam non sinerent: tot exercitus in Moesia Daciaque et Germania Pannoniaque, temeritate aut per ignaviam ducum amissi: tot militares viri cum tot cohortibus expugnati et capti: nec jam de limite imperii et ripa, sed de hibernis legionum et possessione dubitatum. Ita, cum damna damnis continuarentur atque omnis annus funeribus et cladibus insigniretur, poscebatur ore vulgi dux Agricola: comparantibus cunctis vigorem, constantiam et expertum bellis animum cum inertia et formidine ceterorum. Quibus sermonibus satis constat Domitiani quoque aures verberatas, dum optimus quisque libertorum amore et fide, pessimi malignitate et livore, pronum deterioribus principem exstimulabant. Sic Agricola simul suis virtutibus, simul vitiis aliorum, in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur.

XLII. Aderat jam annus, quo proconsulatum Asiae et Africae sortiretur, et occiso Civica nuper nec Agricolae consilium deerat, nec Domitiano exemplum. Accessere quidam cogitationum principis periti, qui, iturusne esset in provinciam, ultro Agricolam interrogarent: ac primo occultius quietem et otium laudare, mox operam suam in approbanda excusatione offerre: postremo non jam obscuri, suadentes simul terrentesque, pertraxere ad Domitianum; qui paratus simulatione, in arrogantiam compositus, et audiit preces excusantis, et, cum annuisset, agi sibi gratias passus est: nec erubuit beneficii invidia. Salarium tamen, proconsulari solitum offerri et quibusdam a se ipso concessum, Agricolae non dedit: sive offensus non petitum, sive ex conscientia, ne, quod vetuerat, videretur emisse. Proprium humani ingenii est, odisse quem laeseris: Domitiani vero natura praeceps in iram, et quo obscurior, eo irrevocabilior, moderatione tamen prudentiaque Agricolae leniebatur: quia non contumacia neque inani jactatione libertatis famam fatumque provocabat. Sciant. quibus moris illicita mirari, posse etiam sub malis principibus magnos viros esse: obsequiumque ac modestiam, si industria ac vigor adsint, eo laudis excedere, quo plerique per abrupta, sed in nullum reipublicae usum, ambitiosa morte inclaruerunt.

XLIII. Finis vitae ejus nobis luctuosus, amicis tristis, extraneis etiam ignotisque non sine cura fuit. Vulgus quoque et hic aliud agens populus et ventitavere ad domum, et per fora et circulos locuti sunt: nec quisquam audita morte Agricolae aut laetatus est aut statim oblitus. Augebat miserationem constans rumor, veneno interceptum. Nobis nihil comperti affirmare ausim: ceterum per omnem valetudinem ejus, crebrius quam ex more principatus per nuntios visentis, et libertorum primi et medicorum intimi venere: sive cura illud sive inquisitio erat. Supremo quidem die, momenta deficientis per dispositos cursores nuntiata constabat, nullo credente sic accelerari, quae tristis audiret. Speciem tamen doloris animo vultuque prae se tulit, securus jam odii, et qui facilius dissimularet gaudium, quam metum. Satis constabat, lecto testamento Agricolae, quo cohaeredem optimae uxori et piissimae filiae Domitianum scripsit, laetatum eum velut honore judicioque: tam caeca et corrupta mens assiduis adulationibus erat, ut nesciret a bono patre non scribi haeredem, nisi malum principem.

XLIV. Natus erat Agricola, Caio Caesare tertium consule, Idibus Juniis: excessit sexto et quinquagesimo anno, decimo Kalendas Septembris, Collega Priscoque consulibus. Quod si habitum quoque ejus posteri noscere velint, decentior quam sublimior fuit; nihil metus in vultu, gratia oris supererat bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter. Et ipse quidem, quanquam medio in spatio integrae aetatis ereptus, quantum ad gloriam, longissimum aevum peregit. Quippe et vera bona, quae in virtutibus sita sunt, impleverat, et consulari ac triumphalibus ornamentis praedito, quid aliud adstruere fortuna poterat? Opibus nimiis non gaudebat; speciosae contigerant. Filia atque uxore superstitibus, potest videri etiam beatus; incolumi dignitate, florente fama, salvis affinitatibus et amicitiis, futura effugisse. Nam sicuti durare in hac beatissimi saeculi luce ac principem Trajanum videre, quod augurio votisque apud nostras aures ominabatur, ita festinatae mortis grande solatium tulit, evasisse postremum illud tempus, quo Domitianus non jam per intervalla ac spiramenta temporum, sed continuo et velut uno ictu rempublicam exhausit.

XLV. Non vidit Agricola obsessam curiam, et clausum armis senatum, et eadem strage tot consularium caedes, tot nobilissimarum feminarum exsilia et fugas. Una adhuc victoria Carus Metius censebatur, et intra Albanam arcem sententia Messalini strepebat, et Massa Bebius jam tum reus erat. Mox nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus: nos Maurici Rusticique visus, nos innocenti sanguine Senecio perfudit. Nero tamen subtraxit oculos jussitque scelera, non spectavit: praecipua sub Domitiano miseriarum pars erat videre et aspici: cum suspiria nostra subscriberentur; cum denotandis tot hominum palloribus sufficeret saevus ille vultus et rubor, quo se contra pudorem muniebat. Tu vero felix, Agricola, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis. Ut perhibent qui interfuerunt novissimis sermonibus tuis, constans et libens fatum excepisti; tanquam pro virili portione innocentiam principi donares. Sed mihi filiaeque ejus, praeter acerbitatem parentis erepti, auget moestitiam, quod assidere valetudini, fovere deficientem, satiari vultu, complexu, non contigit: excepissemus certe mandata vocesque, quas penitus animo figeremus. Noster hic dolor, nostrum vulnus: nobis tam longae absentiae conditione ante quadriennium amissus est. Omnia sine dubio, optime parentum, assidente amantissima uxore, superfuere honori tuo: paucioribus tamen lacrimis compositus es, et novissima in luce desideravere aliquid oculi tui.

XLVI. Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore exstinguuntur magnae animae, placide quiescas, nosque, domum tuam, ab infirmo desiderio et muliebribus lamentis ad contemplationem virtutum tuarum voces, quas neque lugeri neque plangi fas est: admiratione te potius, te immortalibus laudibus, et, si natura suppeditet, similitudine decoremus. Is verus honos, ea conjunctissimi cujusque pietas. Id filiae quoque uxorique praeceperim, sic patris, sic mariti memoriam venerari, ut omnia facta dictaque ejus secum revolvant, formamque ac figuram animi magis quam corporis complectantur: non quia intercedendum putem imaginibus, quae marmore aut aere finguntur; sed ut vultus hominum, ita simulacra vultus imbecilla ac mortalia sunt; forma mentis aeterna, quam tenere et exprimere non per alienam materiam et artem, sed tuis ipse moribus possis. Quidquid ex Agricola amavimus, quidquid mirati sumus, manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. Nam multos veterum, velut inglorios, et ignobiles, oblivio obruet: Agricola posteritati narratus et traditus superstes erit.

NOTES

TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS.

Several words, which occur most frequently in the Notes, are abbreviated. Of these the following classes may require explanation. The other abbreviations are either familiar or sufficiently obvious of themselves.

1. WORKS OF TACITUS.

A. Agricola. Ann. Annals. G. Germania. H. Histories. T. Tacitus.

2. ANNOTATORS CITED AS AUTHORITIES.

Br. Brotier. D. or Död. Döderlein. Dr. Dronke. E. Ernesti. Gr. Gruber. Gün. Günther. K. Kiessling. Ky. Kingsley. Mur. Murphy. Or. Orelli. Pass. Passow. R. Roth. Rhen. Rhenanus. Rit. Ritter. Rup. Ruperti. W. Walch. Wr. Walther.

3. OTHER AUTHORITIES.

H. Harkness' Latin Grammar. Beck. Gall. Becker's Gallus. Böt. Lex. Tac. Bötticher's Lexicon Taciteun. For. and Fac. Forcellini and Facciolati's Latin Lexicon. Tur. His. Ang. Sax. Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons. Z. Zumpt's Latin Grammar.

GERMANIA.

The Treatise DE SITU, MORIBUS ET POPULIS GERMANIAE, was written (as appears from the treatise itself see § 37) in the second consulship of the Emperor Trajan, A.U.C. 851, A.D. 98. The design of the author in its publication has been variously interpreted. From the censure which it frequently passes upon the corruption and degeneracy of the times, it has been considered as a mere satire upon Roman manners, in the age of Tacitus. But to say nothing of the ill adaptation of the whole plan to a satirical work, there are large parts of the treatise, which must have been prepared with great labor, and yet can have no possible bearing on such a design. Satires are not wont to abound in historical notices and geographical details, especially touching a foreign and distant land.

The same objection lies against the _political_ ends, which have been imputed to the author, such as the persuading of Trajan to engage, or _not_ to engage, in a war with the Germans, as the most potent and dangerous enemy of Rome. For both these aims have been alleged, and we might content ourselves with placing the one as an offset against the other. But aside from the neutralizing force of such contradictions, wherefore such an imposing array of geographical research, of historical lore, of political and moral philosophy, for the accomplishment of so simple a purpose? And why is the purpose so scrupulously concealed, that confessedly it can be gathered only from obscure intimations, and those of ambiguous import? Besides, there are passages whose tendency must have been directly counter to either of these alleged aims (cf. note § 33). The author does indeed, in the passage just cited, seem to appreciate with almost prophetic accuracy, those dangers to the Roman Empire, which were so fearfully illustrated in its subsequent fall beneath the power of the German Tribes; and he utters, as what true Roman would not in such forebodings, the warnings and the prayers of a patriot sage. But he does this only in episodes, which are so manifestly incidental, and yet arise so naturally out of the narrative or description, that it is truly surprising it should ever have occurred to any reader, to seek in them the key to the whole treatise.

The entire warp and woof of the work is obviously _historical_ and _geographical_. The satire, the political maxims, the moral sentiments, and all the rest, are merely incidental, interwoven for the sake of instruction and embellishment, inwrought because a mind so thoughtful and so acute as that of Tacitus, could not leave them out. Tacitus had long been collecting the materials for his Roman Histories. In so doing, his attention was necessarily drawn often and with special interest to a people, who, for two centuries and more, had been the most formidable enemy of the Roman State. In introducing them into his history, he would naturally wish to give some preliminary account of their origin, manners, and institutions, as he does in introducing the Jews in the Fifth Book of his Histories, which happens to be, in part, preserved. Nor would it be strange, if he should, with this view, collect a mass of materials, which he could not incorporate entire into a work of such compass, and which any slight occasion might induce him to publish in a separate form, perhaps as a sort of forerunner to his Histories. [It has even been argued by highly respectable scholars, that the Germania of Tacitus is itself only such a collection of materials, not published by the Author, and never intended for publication in that form. But it is quite too methodical, too studied, and too finished a work to admit of that supposition (cf. Prolegom. of K.).] Such an occasion now was furnished in the campaigns and victories of Trajan, who, at the time of his elevation to the imperial power, was at the head of the Roman armies in Germany, where he also remained for a year or more after his accession to the throne, till he had received the submission of the hostile tribes and wiped away the disgrace which the Germans, beyond any other nation of that age, had brought upon the Roman arms. Such a people, at such a time, could not fail to be an object of deep interest at Rome. This was the time when Tacitus published his work on Germany; and such are believed to have been the motives and the circumstances, which led to the undertaking. His grand object was not to point a satire or to compass a political end, but as he himself informs us (§ 27), to treat of the origin and manners, the geography and history, of the German Tribes.

The same candor and sincerity, the same correctness and truthfulness, which characterize the Histories, mark also the work on Germany. The author certainly aimed to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth, on the subject of which he treats. Moreover, he had abundant means of knowing the truth, on all the main points, in the character and history of the Germans. It has even been argued from such expression as _vidimus_ (§ 8), that Tacitus had himself been in Germany, and could, therefore, write from personal observation. Bnt the argument proceeds on a misinterpretation of his language (cf. note in _loc. cit_.). And the use of _accepimus_ (as in § 27), shows that he derived his information from others. But the Romans had been in constant intercourse and connection, civil or military, with the Germans, for two hundred years. Germany furnished a wide theatre for their greatest commanders, and a fruitful theme for their best authors, some of whom, as Julius Caesar (to whom Tacitus particularly refers, 28), were themselves the chief actors in what they relate. These authors, some of whose contributions to the history of Germany are now lost (e.g. the elder Pliny, who wrote twenty books on the German wars), must have all been in the hands of Tacitus, and were, doubtless, consulted by him; not, however, as a servile copyist, or mere compiler (for he sometimes differs from his authorities, from Caesar even, whom he declares to be the best of them), but as a discriminating and judicious inquirer. The account of German customs and institutions may, therefore, be relied on, from the intrinsic credibility of the author. It receives confirmation, also, from its general accordance with other early accounts of the Germans, and with their better known subsequent history, as well as from its strong analogy to the well-known habits of our American aborigines, and other tribes in a like stage of civilization (cf. note, § 15). The geographical details are composed with all the accuracy which the ever-shifting positions and relations of warring and wandering tribes rendered possible in the nature of the case (cf. note, § 28). In sentiment, the treatise is surpassingly rich and instructive, like all the works of this prince of philosophical historians. In style, it is concise and nervous, yet quite rhetorical, and in parts, even poetical to a fault (see notes passim, cf. also, Monboddo's critique on the style of Tacitus). "The work," says La Bletterie, "is brief without being superficial. Within the compass of a few pages, it comprises more of ethics and politics, more fine delineations of character, more substance and pith (_suc_), than can be collected from many a ponderous volume. It is not one of those barely agreeable descriptions, which gradually diffuse their influence over the soul, and leave it in undisturbed tranquillity. It is a picture in strong light, like the subject itself, full of fire, of sentiment, of lightning-flashes, that go at once to the heart. We imagine ourselves in Germany; we become familiar with these so-called barbarians; we pardon their faults, and almost their vices, out of regard to their virtues; and in our moments of enthusiasm, we even wish we were Germans."