Tacitus: Agricola

371 Pages·2014·26.822 MB·English

by  A. J. Woodman (editor)

CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
TACITUS
AGRICOLA
EDITED BY A. ]. WOODMAN
WITH C. S. KRAUS
TACITUS
AGRICOLA
EDITED BY
A. J. WOODMAN
Basil L. Guldersleeve Professor of Classics, Untversity of Virginia
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
C. S. KRAUS
Thomas A. Thacher Professor of Latin, Yale Unersity
: CAMBRIDGE
» UNIVERSITY PRESS
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CONTENTS
List of maps and figures page vi
Preface vii
List of abbreviations ΙΧ
Introduction ]
1 The author and hzs work 1
3 Imperialism, freedom and servitude 15
4 The Agricola as history 25
n Language and expression 30
6 The manuscripts 35
CORNELII TACITI DE VITA IVLII AGRICOLAE 39
Commentary 05
Appendixes 331
1 Roman legions in Britatn during Agricola’s career 331
2 Chronological tables for Agricola and Tacitus 332
Marks cited 333
Indexes
E
General
E
E
MAPS AND FIGURES
MAPS
Identifiable places and peoples mentioned in the Agricola page xii
Places and peoples mentioned in the Introduction and
Commentary xiii
FIGURES
The Rudge Cup (mid- or late 2nd century Ap ?). © The
Trustees of the British Museum 14
Lead pipe from Chester (/LS 8704a — IRB 25) showing
Agricola's full name. Courtesy of The Grosvenor Museum,
Chester
(a) Bronze coin of Nero (AD 50—54, RPC 2381), the reverse
showing a double axe (bzpennis). From coinarchives.com, Ex
Lanz sale 117, 2003, 587 134
(b) Denarius of L. Procilius (80 Bc, RRC 379/2), the reverse
showing Juno Sospita with her scutulum. © The Trustees of the
British Museum 135
Claudius subduing Britannia (relief from the Sebasteion at
Aphrodisias). Courtesv of the NYU Excavations at Aphrodisias 245
PREFACE
For almost half a century the standard English commentary on Tacitus'
Agricola has been that by R. M. Ogilvie and Sir Ian Richmond, which was
published in 1967. It began life asa revision of the commentarv produced
by J. G. C. Anderson in 1922, which itself was a revision of the commentary
by H. Furneaux published in 1898, when the United States and Spain were
at war with each other and the British fought at Omdurman.
The present commentary differs from that of Ogilvie and Richmond
in three principal ways. First, it is not a revision of any predecessor but is
an entirely new and independent work. The text, for example, is different
from, and considerably more open to conjecture than, others currently
available. Second, the commentary lacks the heavy archaeological content
which characterised their book and which was in many wavs intellectually
misleading: Tacitus in his biography of Agricola provides very few specific
details of events or localities which can be illustrated by reference to evi-
dence on the ground; for the most part he talks in general terms, designed
to portray his father-in-law as an ideal military commander and provin-
cial governor. Readers should therefore not turn to the present book for
the latest information on Roman Britain, which is in any case a scholarly
field subject to rapid change and revision. Third, and most important,
the main aim throughout has been to explain the nature and meaning of
Tacitus' Latin. In keeping with the general principles of the series Cam-
bridge Greek and Latin Classics, an effort has been made to provide ‘all
the guidance with grammatical and syntactical matters' needed by today’s
undergraduate and graduate students. At the same time, it is hoped that
the work will not be deemed negligible by fellow scholars. If there has been
no reluctance in quoting parallels, that is partly to illustrate the texture of
Tacitus' language, partly to correct any misleading inferences that may be
drawn from the commentary of H. Heubner (1984), who wrote without
the benefit of modern computerised search programmes and the like.
It was extremelv helpful to test-drive the commentary with an under-
graduate Latin class in the spring of 2013 at the University of Virginia.
Much gratitude is also owed to those scholarly friends from whom help
and advice has been sought and received, notablyJ . N. Adams, S. Bartera,
E. Courtney, C. H. George, P. R. Hardie, N. Holmes, T. A. Joseph, M. Lavan,
J. E. Lendon, the late R. H. Martin, S. P. Oakley, C. B. R. Pelling, J. G. F.
Powell, B. D. Shaw,J . B. Solodow and C. L. Whitton. An especial debt of
gratitude is owed to A. R. Birley, who has read through the whole of the
commentary and given the benefit of his unrivalled knowledge of Roman
Britain; he is certainly not to be held responsible for any mistakes or mis-
conceptions which may remain.
vil
viii PREFACE
It was originally intended that this book be written jointly with C. S.
Kraus. In the event, she was unable to write much toward this collabora-
tion, which she greatly regrets. She is responsible only for the commen-
tary on 10—12, some occasional notes elsewhere, and some revisions. She
would like to thank the many friends who helped her talk through Agri-
colan matters, and the series editors for their forbearance.
A. J. W.
ABBREVIATIONS
Tacitus 15 abbreviated as T., Agricola as A.; T.'s works are abbreviated as
A. (Annals), Agr. (Agricola), D. (Dialogus), G. (Germania) and H. (Histo-
ries). References to Agr. normally omit the title; references within the same
chapter normally omit the chapter-number.
A-G Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar (rev. A. Mahoney,
Newburyport, MA 2001)
BMC Emp. H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Emprire in the British
Museum, Vol. 3: Nerva to Hadrian (London 1930, corr. repr.
1966)
BNP Brill's New Pauly, Vols. 1—15 (Leiden 2002-10)
CCRH The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians (ed. A.
Feldherr, Cambridge 2009)
CCT The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus (ed. A. J. Woodman,
Cambridge 2009)
CGRH A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography (ed. .
Marincola, Malden, MA/Oxford 2007)
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin 1863-)
C-L J.-P. Chausserie-Laprée, L'expression narrative chez les
historiens latins (Paris 1969)
CLE F. Buecheler and E. Lommatzsch, Carmina Latina
Epigraphica, Vols. 1—g (Leipzig 1895—1926)
A Companion to Tacitus (ed. V. E. Pagán, Malden 2012)
H. Furneaux, Corneliz Taciti Vita Agricolae (Oxford 1898)
H. Furneaux and J. G. C. Anderson, Corneliz Taciti De Vita
Agricolae (Oxford 1922)
S. Riccobono, Fontes zuris Romani anterustinian: (Florence
1941)
E. Courtney, The Fragmentary Latin Poets (2nd edn, Oxford
200%)
F. R. D. Goodyear, The Annals of Tacitus. Vol. 1 Annals
I.1—54, Vol. 2 Annals 1.55—61 and Annals 2 (Cambridge
1972, 1981)
A. Gerber and A. Greef, Lexicon Taciteum (Leipzig
1877-90)
B. L. Gildersleeve and G. Lodge, Latin Grammar (repr.
1992, Walton on Thames)
H. Heubner: either P. Cornelius Tacitus: Die Historien.
Kommentar. Vols. 1—5 (Heidelberg 1963-82) or Kommentar
zum Agricola des Tacitus (Gottingen 1984)
iX
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (Berlin 1892—1916)
V. A. Maxfield and B. Dobson, /nscriptions of Roman Britain
(LACTOR 4, 4th edn, 2006)
C. S. Kraus, Lwy: Book VI (Cambridge 1994)
H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, oth edn,
rev. H. S. Jones (Oxford 1940)
R. H. Martin and A. J. Woodman, Tacitus: Annals Book IV
(Cambridge 1989, rev. 1999)
R. G. M. Nisbet and M. Hubbard, A Commentary on Horace.
Vol. 1 OdesI , Vol. 2 Odes II (Oxford 1970, 1978)
E. C. Woodcock, A New Latin Syntax (London 1959)
R. G. M. Nisbet and N. Rudd, A Commentary on Horace. Odes
Book III (Oxford 2004)
Oxford Classical Dictionary (ed. S. Hornblower, A. J.
Spawforth and E. Eidinow, 4th edn, Oxford 2012)
Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford 1968—82)
R. M. Ogilvie and I. Richmond, Tacitus: Agricola (Oxford
1967)
Ε. Malcovati, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta Liberae Rei
Publicae, 4th edn (Turin/Milan/Padua 1976—79)
Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Tacitus (ed. R. Ash,
Oxford 2012)
A. J. Woodman, From Poetry to History (Oxford 2011)
A. R. Birley, The Roman Government of Britain (Oxford
2005)
Roman Inscriptions of Britain, Vols. 1—3 (Oxford/
Gloucester/Stroud 1965-2009)
A. J. Woodman, Rhetoric in Classical Historiography
(London/Sydney/Portland 1988)
R. Syme, Roman Papers, Vols. 1—7 (Oxford 1979-91)
A. M. Burnett, M. Amandry and P. P. Ripollés, Roman
Provincial Coinage. Vol. 1: From the death of Caesar to the death
of Vitellius (44 BC-AD 69) (London/Paris 1992)
M. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (Cambridge 1974)
Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (Leiden 1923-)
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Leipzig 1900-)
TR A. . Woodman, Tacitus Reviewed (Oxford 1998)
Tab. Vind. A. K. Bowman and J. D. Thomas, The Vindolanda Writing
Tablets (Tabulae Vindolandenses), II (London 1994)
W. A. J. Woodman, Velleius Paterculus: the Tiberian Narrative
(2.94—131) (Cambridge 1977), Velletus Paterculus: the
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi
Caesarian and Augustan Narrative (2.41—93) (Cambridge
1983)
A. J. Woodman and R. H. Martin, The Annals of Tacitus Book
3 (Cambridge 1996)