XXI
Sequens hiems saluberrimis consiliis absumpta. Namque ut homines dispersi ac rudes eoque in bella faciles quieti et otio per voluptates adsuescerent, hortari privatim, adiuvare publice, ut templa fora domos extruerent, laudando promptos, castigando segnis: ita honoris aemulatio pro necessitate erat. Iam vero principum filios liberalibus artibus erudire, et ingenia Britannorum studiis Gallorum anteferre, ut qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent. Inde etiam habitus nostri honor et frequens toga; paulatimque discessum ad delenimenta vitiorum, porticus et balinea et conviviorum elegantiam. Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset.
21.
The following winter was spent implementing sound policies. To ensure that a scattered and primitive population –for that all the more prone to violence– became inured to quiet and leisure through ease, Agricola gave private encouragement and public aid to the construction of temples, palaces, and market places, praising initiative and castigating apathy with such vigour that rivalry for recognition replaced coercion. Similarly, he made a liberal education available to the sons of the chiefs and developed a partiality for the natural aptitudes of the Britons over the diligent application of the Gauls. So a people that until then spurned the Latin tongue now yearned to master its eloquence. From there even our style of dress became a mark of distinction and the toga came to be fashionable. A gradual trend developed towards the allurements of vice: the promenade, the baths, the sumptuous banquets. This in their ignorance they called culture, when in fact it was just one facet of their enslavement.
XXII
Tertius expeditionum annus novas gentis aperuit, vastatis usque ad Tanaum (aestuario nomen est) nationibus. Qua formdine territi hostes quamquam conflictatum saevis tempestatibus exercitum lacessere non ausi; ponendisque insuper castellis spatium fuit. Adnotabant periti non alium ducem opportunitates locorum sapientius legisse. Nullum ab Agricola positum castellum aut vi hostium expugnatum aut pactione ac fuga desertum; nam adversus moras obsidionis annuis copiis firmabantur. Ita intrepida ibi hiems, crebrae eruptiones et sibi quisque praesidio, inritis hostibus eoque desperantibus, quia soliti plerumque damna aestatis hibernis eventibus pensare tum aestate atque hieme iuxta pellebantur. Nec Agricola umquam per alios gesta avidus intercepit: seu centurio seu praefectus incorruptum facti testem habebat. Apud quosdam acerbior in conviciis narrabatur; [et] ut erat comis bonis, ita adversus malos iniucundus. Ceterum ex iracundia nihil supererat secretum, ut silentium eius non timeres: honestius putabat offendere quam odisse.
22.
During the third year of his campaigns, raids were conducted as far as the estuary of the Taus, bringing new tribes onto the scene. There the enemy, frozen with terror, did not venture to harass our troops, badly mauled though they were by awful weather. Time was even found for establishing forts. Experts would remark that Agricola knew how to exploit terrain better that any other general. None of his forts was ever carried by the enemy or lost through surrender or flight, for sallies were made regularly and each fort was provided against protracted sieges by a year’s supply of food and other necessities. So winters there were free from fear and each stronghold could look after itself. The enemy was powerless, hence demoralized, since it was their custom in most places to compensate for their summer losses with winter hostilities; now they were worsted both summer and winter alike. Agricola was never eager to take credit for the exploits of others. Be the man a centurion or an officer, he always found in him an unbiased witness of his deeds. He was thought by some too harsh in reproof: he was as gracious to the good as he was severe to the bad. In any case, anger left no grudges in him, so there was no reason to fear his silence. His view was that to hurt was more just than to hate.
XXIII
Quarta aestas obtinendis quae percucurrerat insumpta; ac si virtus exercituum et Romani nominis gloria pateretur, inventus in ipsa Britannia terminus. Namque Clota et Bodotria diversi maris aestibus per inmensum revectae, angusto terrarum spatio dirimuntur: quod tum praesidiis firmabatur atque omnis propior sinus tenebatur, summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus.
23.
The fourth summer was devoted to gaining control of districts he had overrun. Had the army’s drive and Rome’s thirst for fame been satisfied with the conquest thus far, the frontier of our expansion would have been found within Britain itself. For the waters of the Clota and the Bodotria, which the tides of opposite seas extend far back inland, are separated by a narrow strip of land. Agricola was then reinforcing this space with garrisons and holding all the areas on our side of the isthmus, so it was as if the enemy had been driven, as it were, into a separate island.
XXIV
Quinto expeditionum anno nave prima transgressus ignotas ad id tempus gentis crebris simul ac prosperis proeliis domuit; eamque partem Britanniae quae Hiberniam aspicit copiis instruxit, in spem magis quam ob formidinem, si quidem Hibernia medio inter Britanniam atque Hispaniam sita et Gallico quoque mari opportuna valentissimam imperii partem magnis in vicem usibus miscuerit. Spatium eius, si Britanniae comparetur, angustius nostri maris insulas superat. Solum caelumque et ingenia cultusque hominum haud multum a Britannia differunt; [in] melius aditus portusque per commercia et negotiatores cogniti. Agricola expulsum seditione domestica unum ex regulis gentis exceperat ac specie amicitiae in occasionem retinebat. Saepe ex eo audivi legione una et modicis auxiliis debellari obtinerique Hiberniam posse; idque etiam adversus Britanniam profuturum, si Romana ubique arma et velut e conspectu libertas tolleretur.
24.
In his fifth year of campaigning, Agricola crossed in the first ship and, in several successful engagements, subdued tribes until then unknown. He garrisoned the part of Britain facing Ireland, in hope of future conquest, rather than out of fear, since Ireland, situated between Britain and Spain and useful also because of its command of the Gallic sea, would join to their mutual advantage the most vigorous parts of our empire. Its size is smaller than Britain’s, but larger than any of the Mediterranean islands. As to soil, climate, and the temper and culture of its people, they differ little from those of Britain. Its harbours and approaches are better known to us than Britain’s, and that through business and trade. My father-in-law had taken under his protection one of the nation’s petty kings, driven out by internal unrest, and, by a show of friendship, kept him around in case he might be of use. He often told me that Ireland could be taken and held with a single legion and some auxiliary troops. Our position in Britain would also benefit from the takeover, if Roman forces were in both islands and free nations, so to speak, disappeared from sight altogether.
XXV
Ceterum aestate, qua sextum officii annum incohabat, amplexus civitates trans Bodotriam sitas, quia motus universarum ultra gentium et infesta hostilis exercitus itinera timebantur, portus classe exploravit; quae ab Agricola primum adsumpta in partem virium sequebatur egregia specie, cum simul terra, simul mari bellum impelleretur, ac saepe isdem castris pedes equesque et nauticus miles mixti copiis et laetitia sua quisque facta, suos casus attollerent, ac modo silvarum ac montium profunda, modo tempestatum ac fluctuum adversa, hinc terra et hostis, hinc victus Oceanus militari iactantia compararentur. Britannos quoque, ut ex captivis audiebatur, visa classis obstupefaciebat, tamquam aperto maris sui secreto ultimum victis perfugium clauderetur. Ad manus et arma conversi Caledoniam incolentes populi magno paratu, maiore fama, uti mos est de ignotis, oppugnare ultro castellum adorti, metum ut provocantes addiderant; regrediendumque citra Bodotriam et cedendum potius quam pellerentur ignavi specie prudentium admonebant, cum interim cognoscit hostis pluribus agminibus inrupturos. Ac ne superante numero et peritia locorum circumiretur, diviso et ipso in tris partes exercitu incessit.
25.
To resume, the summer in which he entered upon the sixth year of his assignment, Agricola annexed the states situated beyond Bodotria, because he feared that the tribes on the other side were planning a concerted action and that the routes would be made unsafe by their forces. He explored the harbours with his fleet, which presented a fine spectacle as it followed the army’s advance. Agricola was first to integrate a fleet with the other forces and to wage simultaneous war on land and sea. Foot soldiers, horsemen, and marines often mingled in the same camp and shared their meals in a spirit of comradery, everyone extolling his actions and narrow escapes. Now the dark recesses of the forests and mountains would be brought up for comparison, now the menace of waves and storms at sea; from this side the land and the lurking foe, from that side the mighty ocean, and all dangers duly amplified with soldierly bravado. The Britons themselves, as we learnt from prisoners, were stunned by the sight of the fleet, as if the mystery of their sea had been profaned and the last refuge closed to the vanquished. The tribes inhabiting Caledonia took up arms and marshalled an impressive force, made larger by rumours –as the tendency is when dangers are unknown. Without provocation on our part, they proceeded to invest our defenses, causing us serious concern, as they had the initiative. The faint-hearted among us, under the mask of prudence, would counsel that we retreat on this side of the Bodotria and give way rather than be driven out. At this juncture Agricola heard that the enemy was about to attack from several directions. To avoid being surrounded by an enemy superior in numbers and in the knowledge of the country, he split his own army into three divisions and so advanced.
XXVI
Quod ubi cognitum hosti, mutato repente consilio universi nonam legionem ut maxime invalidam nocte adgressi, inter somnum ac trepidationem caesis vigilibus inrupere. Iamque in ipsis castris pugnabatur, cum Agricola iter hostium ab exploratoribus edoctus et vestigiis insecutus, velocissimos equitum peditumque adsultare tergis pugnantium iubet, mox ab universis adici clamorem; et propinqua luce fulsere signa. Ita ancipiti malo territi Britanni; et nonanis rediit animus, ac securi pro salute de gloria certabant. Ultro quin etiam erupere, et fuit atrox in ipsis portarum angustiis proelium, donec pulsi hostes, utroque exercitu certante, his, ut tulisse opem, illis, ne eguisse auxilio viderentur. Quod nisi paludes et silvae fugientis texissent, debellatum illa victoria foret.
26.
When the enemy got wind of this, they suddenly changed their plans. Their combined forces attacked the Ninth legion, the least effective in our army, cut down the sentries and fell upon a foe half-awake and panic-stricken. The fighting was right inside the camp, when Agricola, made aware by his scouts of the enemy’s move and following on their tracks, ordered the fastest men of his cavalry and infantry to charge the rear of the assailants. Soon after, he had the entire army raise the battle cry. Dawn was near, its glimmer already on the standards, and the Britons, caught between two fronts, were terrified, while the men of the Ninth legion regained courage and, being no longer afraid for their lives, now fought for glory. In fact they even took the offensive and fighting was fierce within the narrow opening of the gates, until the enemy was thrown back. Both sides fought hard: the Romans to prove their rescue a success, the natives to prove they needed no rescue. If forests and swamps had not concealed the fugitives, the war would have ended with that battle.
XXVII
Cuius conscientia ac fama ferox exercitus nihil virtuti suae invium et penetrandam Caledoniam inveniendumque tandem Britanniae terminum continuo proeliorum cursu fremebant. Atque illi modo cauti ac sapientes prompti post eventum ac magniloqui erant. Iniquissima haec bellorum condicio est: prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni imputantur. At Britanni non virtute se victos, sed occasione et arte ducis rati, nihil ex adrogantia remittere, quo minus iuventutem armarent, coniuges ac liberos in loca tuta transferrent, coetibus et sacrificiis conspirationem civitatum sancirent. Atque ita inritatis utrimque animis discessum.
27.
The sense that final victory was near and the arrogant belief within the army that nothing could resist its force gave rise to loud demands for a drive into Caledonia’s interior to find at last, in one unbroken campaign, the farthest limits of Britain. Those who only yesterday preached caution and prudence became, after the fact, eager for action and full of bombast. A most deplorable facet of wars is this: that success has many claimants, failure but one scapegoat. The Britons, on the contrary, were convinced they had not been beaten by valor, but by Agricola’s cunning strategy. They remained as cocky as before and kept on arming their youth, transferring wives and children to safe places and ratifying with sacred rites a con-federacy of their states at a general assembly. And so both sides withdrew, their minds set on revenge.
XXVIII
Eadem aestate cohors Usiporum per Germanias conscripta et in Britanniam transmissa magnum ac memorabile facinus ausa est. Occiso centurione ac militibus, qui ad tradendam disciplinam inmixti manipulis exemplum et rectores habebantur, tris liburnicas adactis per vim gubernatoribus ascendere; et uno remigante, suspectis duobus eoque interfectis, nondum vulgato rumore ut miraculum praevehebantur. Mox ad aquam atque utilia raptum [ubi adpul]issent, cum plerisque Britannorum sua defensantium proelio congressi ac saepe victores, aliquando pulsi, eo ad extremum inopiae venere, ut infirmissimos suorum, mox sorte ductos vescerentur. Atque ita circumvecti Britanniam, amissis per inscitiam regendi navibus, pro praedonibus habiti, primum a Suebis, mox a Frisiis intercepti sunt. Ac fuere quos per commercia venumdatos et in nostram usque ripam mutatione ementium adductos indicium tanti casus inlustravit.
28.
The same summer a cohort of the Usipi, levied in the Roman province of Germany and transferred to Britain, were guilty of an outrageous but memorable felony. First, they murdered a centurion and soldiers embedded in their ranks to impart discipline and serve as both models and guides; then, they seized three galleys, forced their pilots to join them, and with just one to direct the course (for they suspected the other two and killed them) they managed to get away undetected, an amazing stroke of luck. Later on, whenever they went on land to carry off water and other necessities, they came up against many of the British tribes defending their property. They were often the victors, sometimes the losers, but in the end they were reduced to such straits as to be compelled to eat the weakest among them and soon after those drawn by lot. And so they sailed around Britain, then lost the ships due to lack of seamanship and were captured first by the Suevi and then by the Frisii, who took them for pirates. Some, who were sold by way of trade and ended up on our bank of the Rhine through a series of barters, were made famous by the story of their remarkable adventures.
XXIX
Initio aestatis Agricola domestico vulnere ictus, anno ante natum filium amisit. Quem casum neque ut plerique fortium virorum ambitiose, neque per lamenta rursus ac maerorem muliebriter tulit, et in luctu bellum inter remedia erat. Igitur praemissa classe, quae pluribus locis praedata magnum et incertum terrorem faceret, expedito exercitu, cui ex Britannis fortissimos et longa pace exploratos addiderat, ad montem Graupium pervenit, quem iam hostis insederat. Nam Britanni nihil fracti pugnae prioris eventu et ultionem aut servitium expectantes, tandemque docti commune periculum concordia propulsandum, legationibus et foederibus omnium civitatium vires exciverant. Iamque super triginta milia armatorum aspiciebantur, et adhuc adfluebat omnis iuventus et quibus cruda ac viridis senectus, clari bello et sua quisque decora gestantes, cum inter pluris duces virtute et genere praestans nomine Calgacus apud contractam multitudinem proelium poscentem in hunc modum locutus fertur:
29.
In early summer Agricola suffered the loss of his son, born a year before. He bore the blow neither with a display of fortitude, like most strong men, nor yet with womanish tears and lamentations. In his grief, war became one source of relief. Therefore, he sent on the fleet to carry out raids in various locations and cause widespread terror and incertitude. With his army in light marching order, to which he had added the best among the Britons, men whom long years of peace had proven loyal, he advanced as far as Mons Graupius, already occupied by the enemy. For the Britons were anything but broken by the issue of the last battle and were aware they had no choice other than revenge or enslavement. Yet, knowing now they must avert the common danger by staying united, they had called up the forces of all the states by means of negotiations and treaties. Already more than thirty thousand men could be counted, and still the flower of youth streamed in, together with mature men yet hale and strong, brave in war, all wearing their badges of honour. One among the many chieftains who was above the rest in valor and blood, one named Calgacus, is said to have addressed the pressing multitude, demanding war, in the following manner and accents:
XXX
“Quotiens causas belli et necessitatem nostram intueor, magnus mihi animus est hodiernum diem consensumque vestrum initium libertatis toti Britanniae fore: nam et universi co[i]stis et servitutis expertes, et nullae ultra terrae ac ne mare quidem securum inminente nobis classe Romana. Ita proelium atque arma, quae fortibus honesta, eadem etiam ignavis tutissima sunt. Priores pugnae, quibus adversus Romanos varia fortuna certatum est, spem ac subsidium in nostris manibus habebant, quia nobilissimi totius Britanniae eoque in ipsis penetralibus siti nec ulla servientium litora aspicientes, oculos quoque a contactu dominationis inviolatos habebamus. Nos terrarum ac libertatis extremos recessus ipse ac sinus famae in hunc diem defendit: nunc terminus Britanniae patet, atque omne ignotum pro magnifico est; sed nulla iam ultra gens, nihil nisi fluctus ac saxa, et infestiores Romani, quorum superbiam frustra per obsequium ac modestiam effugias. Raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari, si pauper, ambitiosi, quos non Oriens, non Occidens satiaverit: soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari adfectu concupiscunt. Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
30.
‘Whenever I reflect on the causes of war and on our predicament, my heart is filled with confidence that this day and this confederacy are going to be the beginning of freedom for all Britain, since you are all united and free from bondage. There are no other lands beyond us and even the sea is unsafe, threatened as we are by the Roman fleet. Armed resistance, therefore, the way of the brave, is also the safest path left for the timid. Earlier battles, which we have fought with the Romans with uncertain fortune, have kept the only hope of relief in our own hands. For, we, the noblest people in all Britain, living at its very heart, far from the sight of enslaved shores, have kept even our eyes unsullied by the contagion of slavery. Until now the remoteness itself of our country and its obscurity have protected us, who dwell in the outermost regions of the world and of liberty. But now the farthest limits of Britain lie wide open and the promise of the unknown entices the enemy. There are no other tribes past us, nothing but sea, rocks, and these even more intractable Romans, whose arrogance you cannot escape by being compliant and submissive. Robbers of the earth, they have run out of land to despoil, so now they scour the seas. If the enemy is rich, they rob him, if poor, they chain him. Neither East nor West will ever sate them: alone among men, they hanker after riches and want with equal intensity. They mendaciously call empire stealing, butchering, and plundering, and –after they create a desert about them — call it peace.’