‘Happy indeed were you, Agricola, not only in your glorious life but in your timely death’

The Agricola is both a portrait of Julius Agricola – the most famous governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus’ well-loved and respected father-in-law – and the first detailed account of Britain that has come down to us. It offers fascinating descriptions of the geography, climate and peoples of the country, and a succinct account of the early stages of the Roman occupation, nearly fatally undermined by Boudicca’s revolt in AD 61 but consolidated by campaigns that took Agricola as far as Anglesey and northern Scotland. The warlike German tribes are the focus of Tacitus’ attention in the Germania, which, like the Agricola, often compares the behaviour of ‘barbarian’ peoples favourably with the decadence and corruption of Imperial Rome.

Harold Mattingly’s translation brings Tacitus’ extravagant imagination and incisive wit vividly to life. In his introduction, he examines Tacitus’ life and literary career, the governorship of Agricola, and the political background of Rome’s rapidly expanding empire. This edition also includes a select bibliography, and maps of Roman Britain and Germany.

I. Tacitus
II. Agricola, the Man
III. Agricola, the Book
IV. Tacitus's Account of Britain
V. Britain before Agricola
VI. Agricola's Governorship
VII. Britain after Agricola
VIII. The Army of Britain
IX. Germania, the Book
X. Germany and Rome in Hostory
XI. The Early Roman Empire
XII. The Constitution of the Empire
XIII. The Provinces of the Empire
XIV. The Army and Fleet of the Empire

Agricola

Germania

Notes

Select Bibliography

Glossary

Maps