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Agricola
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Key FiguresCharacter Analysis
Tacitus
Though Tacitus does not, for the most part, appear in his account of Agricola’s life, his presence as narrator is strongly felt throughout the essay, most evidently through his relationship to Agricola. In 78 or 79 AD, Tacitus married Agricola’s daughter, Julia, which he refers to several times, notably at the end of the essay, when he addresses Agricola directly.
A historian and senator, Tacitus was born into the propertied class around 56 or 57 AD, during the reign of Nero. Little is known about his personal life. As a youth, he studied rhetoric in anticipation of a career in politics and law. Despite his harsh portrayal of Domitian, Tacitus is believed to have enjoyed professional success during Domitian’s reign. “Agricola” was one of Tacitus’s earliest works and explores themes that he would develop in more depth in the two works he is best known for, The Annals and The Histories: Roman expansion and the consequences of empire.
Some scholars have theorized that the treason trials of 93 (also the year of Agricola’s death), which resulted in execution and exile for those involved, traumatized Tacitus. The events that played out may have inspired him to mediate on how best to conduct oneself while living under tyranny. In his respected and admired father-in-law, Tacitus found a model and a purpose: to tell the stories that might otherwise be lost to the whims of the moment. Though his methods do not align with those of contemporary historians, his accounts are believed to be insightful explorations of character.
Agricola
Most of what is known about Gnaeus Julius Agricola (June 40-August 93) comes via Tacitus’s text. He was born into a respected family; his father was a senator and his mother a “paragon of feminine virtue” (55). Tacitus praises Agricola as having possessed innate good sense and judgment. Agricola’s only hint of error, according to Tacitus, was an overindulgence in philosophy in his youth, from which his mother steered him away. He served his military apprenticeship in Britannia, where he distinguished himself as disciplined, focused on his duties, and was impervious to the temptations of vice. He rose steadily in the ranks, eventually receiving the post of governor of Britannia.
It is this post to which Tacitus devotes a bulk of his essay. Agricola is believed to have served for an unusually long period of time. By Tacitus’s account, Agricola earned respect and admiration for his discipline, effective tactics, and focus. He knew when to instill fear and when to show mercy, was not swayed by personal preferences, and rooted out abuses unchecked by previous governors. Agricola pushed deeper into northern territory than any previous Roman effort (and any to follow). Yet according to Tacitus, Agricola never became enamored of his success or allowed his ego to be influenced by his fame.
In 85, Domitian recalled Agricola to Rome. According to Tacitus, Domitian’s jealousy of Agricola’s success motivated this decision as well as his future retreat from the northern positions Agricola secured. However, modern historians note that Agricola’s tenure exceeded the norm and that campaigns elsewhere had strained Rome’s resources. Some side with Domitian that maintaining Roman positions in what is now modern-day Scotland represented a drain on Rome’s treasury.
Tacitus notes that Agricola slipped quietly back to Rome, avoiding pomp and pageantry, and presented himself immediately to Domitian. Though the emperor lauded Agricola publicly, Agricola never again held a public office, another outcome Tacitus attributes to Domitian’s resentment of Agricola’s achievements. Here again modern historians offer the alternative possibility that Agricola may have been too ill to take another post. As to rumors that Domitian had Agricola poisoned, Tacitus mentions that they circulated but admits he cannot confirm them, and no supporting evidence has been uncovered.
Domitian
Domitian’s reign lasted from 81 to 96, when court officials assassinated him. Tacitus describes him as tyrannical, vigilant in his monitoring of citizens, envious of others’ success, and secretive, cultivating fear in citizens who never knew where they stood with him. The treason trials of 93 and their aftermath loom large in Tacitus’s account, as they demonstrate Domitian’s intention to penetrate his citizens’ thoughts and memories, eliminating those that contrast with his preferred narrative. This is evident both in Tacitus’s allusion to having to ask for and being denied permission from Domitian to write about Agricola and in the aftermath of the treason trials of 93.
If, as some scholars theorize, Tacitus was denied permission, this could justify his belief that Domitian sought to control who and what were remembered and fuel his desire to write history following Domitian’s assassination. As to the treason trials of Arulenus Rusticus and Herennius Senecio, Tacitus states that “the savage punishment” was not only that the authors were executed and their families exiled but also that their books, “masterpieces of literary art,” were burned (54). Tacitus equates the book burnings with attempting to extinguish “the freedom of the Senate and the moral consciousness of the human race” (54).
While contemporaneous and modern accounts of Domitian challenge some of Tacitus’s specific grievances regarding Agricola, many agree that Domitian lacked charm, was often at odds with the Senate (whose powers he curtailed), and was a cryptic communicator.
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