The Agricola is both a portrait of Julius Agricola--the most famous
governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus' well-loved and respected
father-in-law--and the first detailed account of Britain that has come
down to us. It offers fascinating descriptions of the geography, climate
and peoples of the country, and a succinct account of the early stages
of the Roman occupation, nearly fatally undermined by Boudicca's revolt
in AD 61 but consolidated by campaigns that took Agricola as far as
Anglesey and northern Scotland. The warlike German tribes are the focus
of Tacitus' attention in the Germania, which, like the Agricola,
often compares the behaviour of barbarian peoples favourably with the
decadence and corruption of Imperial Rome.
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