The Agricola and Germany of Tacitus and The Dialogue on Oratory: Translated Into English with Notes and MapsMacmillan, 1911 - 205 pages |
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admired Agricola ancient Aper arms army Asinius Augustus battle Britain Britons Bructeri Brutus Caelius Cæsar Caius called Calvus cavalry CHAP Chatti Chauci chief Cicero conjecture conquered Danube distinction Domitian doubt Elbe eloquence Emperor empire enemy Eudoses expression fact fame favour fleet freedom friends Frith Gaul genius Germany glory governor Helvidius Hermunduri Hist honour island Julius Kritz land learnt Ligii Marcomanni Maternus means mentioned Messala Nero's Nerva noble Nuithones occupied ocean orator Ordovices Orelli passage peace perils Peucini poet praise probably province Quadi reign renown Reudigni rhetoricians Rhine Ritter Roman Rome Rusticus Sarmatæ Scaurus Secundus seems senate slaves soldiers speak speeches style Suetonius Paullinus Suevi Suevic clan Suiones Tacitus Tencteri thought Thrasea tion Trajan Treveri tribes Triboci valour Vangiones Vespasian victory virtue Vistula word XXVI XXVIII XXXI XXXVII younger Pliny youth СНАР
Popular passages
Page 83 - For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and...
Page 94 - Their marriage code, however, is strict, and indeed no part of their manners is more praiseworthy. Almost alone among barbarians they are content with one wife, except a very few among them, and these not from sensuality, but because their noble birth procures for them many offers of alliance.
Page 41 - ... I have nothing which I should venture to state for fact. Certainly during the whole of his illness the Emperor's chief freedmen and confidential physicians came more frequently than is usual with a court which pays its visits by means of messengers. This was, perhaps, solicitude, perhaps espionage. Certain it is, that on the last day the very agonies of his dying moments were reported by a succession of couriers, and no one believed that there would be such haste about tidings which would be...
Page 86 - ... country, and stationed in front of the line. Their number is fixed, — a hundred from each canton; and from this they take their name among their countrymen, so that what was originally a mere number has now become a title of distinction. Their line of battle is drawn up in a wedge-like formation. To give ground, provided you return to the attack, is considered prudence rather than cowardice. The bodies of their slain they carry off even in indecisive engagements. To abandon your shield is the...
Page 94 - They also wear the skins of wild beasts; the tribes on the Rhine and Danube in a careless fashion, those of the interior with more elegance, as not obtaining other clothing by commerce. These select certain animals, the hides of which they strip off and vary them with the spotted skins of beasts, the produce of the outer ocean, and of seas unknown to us. The women have the same dress as the men, except that they generally wrap themselves in linen garments, which they embroider with purple, and do...
Page 43 - ... to watch over thy failing health, to comfort thy weakness, to satisfy ourselves with those looks, those embraces. Assuredly we should have received some precepts, some utterances to fix in our inmost hearts. This is the bitterness of our sorrow, this the smart of our wound, that from the circumstance of so long an absence thou wast lost to us four years before. Doubtless, best of fathers, with that most loving wife at thy side, all the dues of affection were abundantly paid thee, yet with too...
Page 19 - CHAP was employed in salutary measures. For, to accustom to rest and repose through the charms of luxury a population scattered and barbarous and therefore inclined to war, Agricola gave private encouragement and public aid to the building of temples, courts of justice and dwelling-houses, praising the energetic, and reproving the indolent. Thus an honourable rivalry took the place of compulsion.
Page 19 - Thus an honorable rivalry took the place of compulsion. He likewise provided a liberal education for the sons of the chiefs, and showed such a preference for the natural powers of the Britons over the industry of the Gauls that they who lately disdained the tongue of Rome now coveted its eloquence. Hence, too, a liking sprang up for our style of dress, and the "toga
Page 92 - It is the custom of the states to bestow by voluntary and individual contribution on the chiefs a present of cattle or of grain, which, while accepted as a compliment, supplies their wants. They are particularly delighted by gifts from neighbouring tribes, which are sent not only by individuals but also by the state, such as choice steeds, heavy armour, trappings, and neckchains. We have now taught them to accept money also.
Page xxii - We have read that the panegyrics pronounced by Arulenus Rusticus on Paetus Thrasea, and by Herennius Senecio on Priscus Helvidius, were made capital crimes, that not only their persons but their very books were objects of rage, and that the triumvirs were commissioned to burn in the forum those works of splendid genius. They fancied, in fact, that in that fire the voice of the Roman people, the freedom of the Senate, and the conscience of the human race...