5 h 31 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How does a decent man serve an empire when power makes silence safer than honesty?
In Germany, Cornelius Tacitus looks beyond the Rhine and Danube to lands of forest and marsh. He describes Germanic peoples, their laws, their loyalties, and their ways of choosing leaders. These communities become a mirror for Rome, raising pointed questions about courage, authority, and the limits of power.
Agricola turns to Tacitus’s father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, a Roman general who governs Britain. As Agricola moves north, builds forts, and sends his fleet around the coast, conquest meets questions of character. Writing after Domitian’s fearful rule, Tacitus offers both a personal tribute and a defense of a decent official under a harsh emperor.
What you’ll discover
- Rome seen from outside Explore how Tacitus uses Germanic life to sharpen his questions about Rome.
- Leadership with limits Meet kings chosen for birth and war leaders chosen for courage, neither holding unlimited power.
- A general in Britain Follow Agricola through northern campaigns where military action meets the demands of public duty.
- Virtue under pressure Consider what a decent official can preserve when an emperor makes senators afraid.
- An opinionated witness Read a sharp Roman perspective whose picture of Germanic peoples invites questions about accuracy.
Is it for you?
This is for readers who like ancient history, short and pointed prose, and questions about power and moral life. It suits anyone curious about early Britain or Germany. If you want a neutral, modern ethnography, you may find Tacitus too opinionated.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two short books with one purpose
- Germany: a land and people as a mirror
- Germany: law, war and loyalty
- Agricola: a good man under a bad emperor
- Agricola: conquest, speeches and the price of fear
- How the books have been read and challenged
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- Large print hardcover
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La Germanie et l’Agricola de Tacite
by Tacite· 98
A Roman describes Germanic peoples and a governor of Britain.
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Language: Français
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Two short books with one purpose
Tacitus was born in the 50s and rose through the Roman career of public office. He served under Domitian, who ruled from 81 to 96 and grew harsh toward the Senate. When Domitian was murdered, Nerva and then Trajan brought a calmer age. Tacitus opens Agricola by saying that the new age lets men speak and think again.
This context explains both books. They are not neutral reports. Each is a way of talking about Rome by talking about someone else. In Germany the others are tribes who have no cities, no coins to speak of, and few laws written down. In Agricola the other is a single man, who kept his honor while serving an emperor who destroyed honorable men.
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The author
Cornelius Tacitus
55–120 · Roman historian
Roman historian and senator.
“They make a solitude and call it peace.”
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What is Tacitus's Germania about?
It describes the land, origins, customs, laws, religion and tribes of the Germanic peoples beyond the Rhine and Danube. Tacitus also uses them as a contrast to Roman habits, so the book carries a moral message for Rome.
Who was Agricola in Tacitus?
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general and governor of Britain, and the father-in-law of Tacitus. The book tells his life, his campaigns in Britain, and his hard last years under the emperor Domitian.
Did Tacitus ever visit Germany?
Most scholars think he did not. He seems to have drawn on reports from soldiers and merchants and on earlier writers, so his picture is a mix of real information, hearsay and moral shaping.
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