E-Book Content
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris São Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Anthony R. Birley 1999 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 1999 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tacitus, Cornelius. [Agricola. English] Agricola; and Germany / Tacitus; translated with an introduction and notes by Anthony R. Birley. (Oxford world’s classics) 1. Agricola, Gnaeus Julius, 40–93. 2. Statesmen—Rome—Biography. 3. Germanic peoples. I. Birley, Anthony Richard. II. Tacitus, Cornelius, Germania, English. III. Title. IV Series: Oxford world’s classics (Oxford University Press) DG291.7.A2T313 1999 936.1′03—dc21 98–34569 ISBN 0–19–283300–6 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 Typeset by Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd. Reading, Berkshire OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles—from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels—the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. Refer to the Table of Contents to navigate through the material in this Oxford World’s Classics ebook. Use the asterisks (*) throughout the text to access the hyperlinked Explanatory Notes. OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS TACITUS Agricola and Germany Translated with an Introduction and Notes by ANTHONY R. BIRLEY OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS AGRICOLA AND GERMANY PUBLIUS CORNELIUS TACITUS is generally reckoned to have been the greatest of all Latin historians. It seems probable that his family came from southern Gaul (modern Provence) and that his father was the Cornelius Tacitus known to have been an imperial procurator at the time of Tacitus’ birth, about AD 57. Tacitus studied at Rome and married the daughter of Julius Agricola, the famous governor of Britain, whose biography he was to write, in about 76. He became a senator, and held the standard magistracies at Rome, being successively quaestor, t