Agricola
by Tacitus
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The first work of any great historian has always commanded attention, and Tacitus was ancient Rome's very greatest historian. His biography of his father-in-law, governor of Britain in the years AD 77-84, is a literary masterpiece: it combines penetrating political history with gripping military narrative and throughout poses the question (still very much alive today) of how one should live one's life under a tyranny. This is the first commentary in English on the Agricola for almost half a show more century: in keeping with the aims of the series, particular attention is paid to the understanding of Tacitus' Latin, but a whole range of generic, historical, textual and narrative topics is covered, and it will be suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students as well as scholars. Tacitus' Agricola remains a key text for anyone with an interest in Roman Britain as well as ancient biography. show lessTags
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Edition: // Descr: xxvii, 111 p. : map (1) 18 cm. // Series: Macmillan's Latin Classics Call No. { 878 T11 16 } Series Edited by James C. Egbert With Introduction and Notes by Duane Reed Stuart Contains Critical Appendix. // //
Indeholder "Forord", "Agricola - et tolkningsforsøg", "Agricolas historie", "Manuskripterne til Agricola", "Baggrunden - Britannien ved Romernes komme", "Koloniseringen af Britannien", " Cæsars invasionsforsøg", " Tiden mellem Cæsar og Claudius", " Fra Claudius' invasion til Boudiccas revolte", " Britannien under de flaviske kejsere", "Tacitus' Agricola - tekst og oversættelse", "Noter", "Appendix critica", "Tidstabeller", "Index nominum", "Udvalgt bibliografi".
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Mar 19, 2021Danish
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Tacitus was a Roman senator who survived the terror launched among the Roman aristocracy by the emperor Domitian to rise to prominence and become first suffect consul and later proconsul of Asia. His historical works, which originally covered the first century of the empire from the accession of Tiberius to the assassination of Domitian, are an show more indictment of the emperors and of the senatorial aristocracy under imperial autocracy. They remain the fundamental sources of imperial history in this period. The embarrasing paradox of Tacitus's success under a "bad" emperor appears to have had an effect on his works, whose tone may have struck contemporaries as a defense of his prominence under a despot. Tacitus is thus often thought to have nursed a nostalgia for the Republic and the free nobility of its senatorial order. However, his attitude is less genuinely backward-looking than occupied with the contemporary moral and political problems of aristocratic honor. In The Annals, which survives only in part, he examines palace politics under the Julio-Claudians. The unspoken questions that occupy this examination are those of the possibilities of uncompromised and dignified service under despotism, and the opportunities therein to mitigate its evil. These themes emerge into daylight in The Agricola, his laudatory biography of his father-in-law, the Roman general who conquered Britain. The work portrays Agricola as a straightforward military man who preserved his integrity and the admiration of his contemporaries under the emperor Domitian, even though his greatest achievements went unrewarded. Tacitus was a trained advocate, and fundamental to his outlook is his prosecutorial purpose. He states the case against the emperors and others who attract his unfavorable judgment. This bias can be difficult for the reader to overcome. But Tacitus also played by the rules of advocacy. He appears to bring to light facts unfavorable to his case in order to interpret them according to the necessities of his argument. His lawyerly honesty thereby allows the historian to dissect the facts from their matrix in order to use them in reconstructing a historical account of the first century of the empire which is more balanced, if inevitably less committed, than that of Tacitus. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Agricola
- Original title
- De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae liber
- People/Characters
- Gnaeus Julius Agricola; Domitian; Boudica
- Important places
- Britannia, Roman Empire; Roman Empire
- Important events
- 1st century; Roman Empire
- First words*
- Clarorum virorum facta moresque posteris tradere, antiquitus usitatum, ne nostris quidem temporibus quamquam incuriosa suorum aetas omisit, quotiens magna aliqua ac nobilis virtus vicit ac supergressa est vitium parvis magnis... (show all)que civitatibus commune, ignorantiam recti ac invidiam.
Erlauchter Münner Taten und Art den Nachfahren zu überliefern, wie selt alters Brauch, hat nicht einmal in unseren Zeiten ein gegen die Seinen doch gleichgültiges Geschlecht unterlassen, sooft sich eine große und vortreff... (show all)liche Persönlichkeit siegreich über einen großen wie kleinen Bürgerschaften gemeinsamem Mißstand erhob: über Unkenntnis des Rechten und Neid.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 936.104092 — History & geography History of ancient world (to ca. 499) Europe north and west of Italian Peninsula to ca. 499 British Isles to 410
- LCC
- PA6706 .A3 — Language and Literature Greek language and literature. Latin language and literature Roman literature Individual authors Tacitus, Cornelius
- BISAC
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- 19
- ASINs
- 8
