Agricola as Hope for a Troubled Empire Essay -- Tacitus Agricola Essay

Agricola as Hope for a Troubled Empire Tacitus Agricola, though it traverses a signifi plundert part of capital of Italys conquest of Britain, is in the beginning close to the man from whom the book takes it title. Tacitus used British conquest to picture the reader Agricolas legion(predicate) virtues, and he explained why Romans should strive to catch Agricolas example. At the same time, however, Tacitus echoed Agricolas virtues to Rome, which, before and during the writing of his book, endured some(prenominal) tyrannical emperors. Tacitus book, besides praising an individual, suggested hope for an improved future to m each troubled Romans when the virtues of the empire had decayed, and freedom that they once loved had largely disappeared. patronage the mostly laudatory writing in Agricola, Tacitus began the book on a melancholy tone. He expressed anger over what he considered commanding ruling of Rome, suggesting that it was a terrible political fa ult. An asidestanding personality trick still triumph over that blind antipathy to virtue which is a defect of all states, small and great alike. (p.51) Tacitus expressed the idea that any state would carelessly disregard the virtues it once held as important, and by meaning of the context he wrote in, find itself in a state of humiliation similar to Romes at the time. He was not completely negative in that statement, however. His believed that one highly virtuous person could in fact successfully counteract a states decline. Agricola, he revealed throughout the book, was a paradigm for that person. Tacitus considered Agricola virtuous because he exhibited many qualities that Romans traditionally valued. Perhaps the most important virtue discussed was humility, or, as Tac... ...asting Domitians totalism with Agricolas equity, and specifically that the former resulted in disunity while the latter resulted in cohesion. Tacitus stated at the beginning of Agricola that it sets out to honor my father-in-law Agricola. (p.53) One can not deny that Tacitus was successful in that effort, but it is also empty that he offered Roman readers much more than an inspiring story about a great man. At a time when many citizens of Rome were subdued by Domitians threats to opposition, Tacitus wrote in remembrance of Romes greatness and the freedom that Romans had previously enjoyed and he wrote to inspire hope that they would accept both again in the future when the empire improved. Agricola embodied the ideals of that hope, and his example, Tacitus pointed out in chapter 46, would live forever with Roman destiny and its nobility.