中文导读
《阿格里科拉传》是塔西佗为岳父格奈乌斯·尤利乌斯·阿格里科拉（Gnaeus Julius Agricola，公元 40—93 年）写的传记，也是他第一部传世之作。阿格里科拉是罗马在不列颠（Britannia）任职时间最长的总督（77—84 年），他征服了整座岛屿直至苏格兰高地，在蒙斯格拉乌皮乌斯（Mons Graupius）战役中击败了喀里多尼亚（Caledonia）部落。
但这部作品远不止是一篇颂词。塔西佗用它来反思帝制下"好人如何自处"的问题。在多米提安（Domitian）的恐怖统治下，许多元老被处决，阿格里科拉却安然度过——他是如何做到的？塔西佗的回答是：通过节制、通过不张扬自己的功绩、通过在暴政下保持内心的自由。
全书的情感高潮是最后一章，塔西佗为阿格里科拉写的悼词："如果你有妻子、有女儿、有朋友，你可以在活着的时候对他们表示感情；你已经通过你们的注视、你们的拥抱、你们的悲伤得到了最后的满足。我们呢？我们没有机会在临终时与你告别；我们的眼泪是在事后流的；我们的哀悼是迟到的。"
本作品据公版英译全文收录。
Agricola
The custom of handing down to posterity the achievements of great men
has been observed by the Romans from the earliest times. The virtues
of our ancestors have been celebrated in literature and in song;
and it is in this tradition that I now undertake to write
the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola—my father-in-law.
Agricola was born in the colony of Forum Julii, in the province
of Gallia Narbonensis, on the 13th of June, in the consulship
of Gaius Silius and Gaius Antistius. His father, Julius Graecinus,
was a senator of praetorian rank, distinguished for his eloquence
and his study of philosophy; his mother, Julia Procilla,
was a woman of rare virtue. He was educated at Massilia,
a city distinguished for its learning and its Greek culture,
and there he acquired the rudiments of the liberal arts.
As a young man, he served as military tribune in Britain,
under the command of Suetonius Paulinus. He applied himself
to the study of the province—its geography, its peoples,
its military resources. He learned the art of war not from books
but from experience; and he proved himself to be a brave
and capable soldier.
After holding the quaestorship in Asia and the tribuneship of the plebs,
he was appointed governor of Aquitania, where he showed himself
to be an able administrator. He was then made consul, and in the year
that followed his consulship, he was sent to Britain as governor.
His first task was to subdue the northern tribes, who had never
been fully conquered by the Romans. He led his army northward,
through forests and mountains, and fought several battles
with the Caledonians. In the great battle of Mons Graupius,
the Romans defeated the enemy with great slaughter, and Agricola
could claim to have subdued the whole of Britain.
But his success was his undoing. The emperor Domitian,
who was jealous of any general who achieved too much glory,
recalled Agricola to Rome. The reception was cold;
the honours that were due to him were withheld.
Agricola bore his disgrace with dignity. He retired
to private life, and lived quietly, avoiding any appearance
of ambition or discontent. He died in the year 93,
at the age of fifty-three, mourned by all who knew him.
We who survive him can only honour his memory.
If there is any consolation in death, it is this:
that the good man lives on in the memory of those who loved him,
and that his virtues are not forgotten.