Tacitus: Agricola And Germany
Tacitus, in his writings of Agricola and Germany, states in chapter thirty-three, page fifty-four, “Long may the barbarians continue, I pray, if not to love us, at least to hate one another, seeing that, as fate bears remorselessly on the empire, fortune can offer no greater boon now than discord among our enemies." (Germ, p. 54) This quote from Tacitus, who was a prominent historical writer back around the first century in the common era, is a major point of discussion within the academic world of ancient Rome. This quote is taken to mean many different things. One point being that Tacitus is writing about how these Germanic tribes are fighting amongst themselves, afterward Rome will come in and eliminate their enemies. Another point being
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Rome, in the past had fought Germans, and either lost, or taken heavy casualties. This great history of war between the two, from Tacitus’s usage of writing, is most well-known to the people of Rome. All throughout Chapter 37, page 56, Tacitus lists numerous defeats of the glorious Roman armies at the hands of the Germans. “During this long period there have been great losses”. (Germ, pg. 56) Tacitus goes on to explain the abundance of defeats Rome has encountered with a long history of tried, and failed, domination of all of Germany. Also on page 56, chapter 37, later down the paragraph Tacitus states “taking advantage of our dissentions and the civil wars, they stormed the legions’ winter quarters and even aspired to win”. (Germ, pg. 56). Within this quote, how the Germans took full advantage of the conflict within Rome to forward their agenda and attempt, but failed, the attack Rome. Tacitus may be poking the idea that, if Rome keeps having issues like this, and keeps fighting amongst themselves, then Germany has the capability and intuitiveness to take advantage of any situation like …show more content…
Whether it is fear of them uniting, or fear of them invading, Rome, for good reason, was terrified because of these people. “The freedom of the Germans does indeed show more aggression than the despotism of the Arsacids. After all, what else can the East taunt us with except the slaughter of Crassus, the East which itself lost Pacorus and was cast down beneath the feet of Ventidius? But the Germans routed or captured Carbo and Cassius and Scaurus Aurelius and Servilius Caepio and Maximus Mallius and robbed the Roman people at a stroke of five consular armies”. (Germania, pg. 56) Tacitus is referring to the problem Rome had been encountering with the Parthian empire in the east. Tacitus is, at this point, shouting the realization that Germany is a massive threat to Rome, saying look at this one battle that killed one major person, with us killing one in return. And then look at these battles with Germany and all the heroes they have taken, and all the armies lost, with no response from Rome. In a sense, saying that this empire in the east, is nowhere near as much of a threat as the Germans are. Going back to Agricola, Agricola had gone to battle with his legions he commanded in Britain against these natives. On page 21, chapter 29 Tacitus includes the line “the Britons, were in fact, no way broken by the outcome of the previous battle” they were awaiting either revenge or enslavement”. (Agricola, pg. 21).
Rome, in the past had fought Germans, and either lost, or taken heavy casualties. This great history of war between the two, from Tacitus’s usage of writing, is most well-known to the people of Rome. All throughout Chapter 37, page 56, Tacitus lists numerous defeats of the glorious Roman armies at the hands of the Germans. “During this long period there have been great losses”. (Germ, pg. 56) Tacitus goes on to explain the abundance of defeats Rome has encountered with a long history of tried, and failed, domination of all of Germany. Also on page 56, chapter 37, later down the paragraph Tacitus states “taking advantage of our dissentions and the civil wars, they stormed the legions’ winter quarters and even aspired to win”. (Germ, pg. 56). Within this quote, how the Germans took full advantage of the conflict within Rome to forward their agenda and attempt, but failed, the attack Rome. Tacitus may be poking the idea that, if Rome keeps having issues like this, and keeps fighting amongst themselves, then Germany has the capability and intuitiveness to take advantage of any situation like …show more content…
Whether it is fear of them uniting, or fear of them invading, Rome, for good reason, was terrified because of these people. “The freedom of the Germans does indeed show more aggression than the despotism of the Arsacids. After all, what else can the East taunt us with except the slaughter of Crassus, the East which itself lost Pacorus and was cast down beneath the feet of Ventidius? But the Germans routed or captured Carbo and Cassius and Scaurus Aurelius and Servilius Caepio and Maximus Mallius and robbed the Roman people at a stroke of five consular armies”. (Germania, pg. 56) Tacitus is referring to the problem Rome had been encountering with the Parthian empire in the east. Tacitus is, at this point, shouting the realization that Germany is a massive threat to Rome, saying look at this one battle that killed one major person, with us killing one in return. And then look at these battles with Germany and all the heroes they have taken, and all the armies lost, with no response from Rome. In a sense, saying that this empire in the east, is nowhere near as much of a threat as the Germans are. Going back to Agricola, Agricola had gone to battle with his legions he commanded in Britain against these natives. On page 21, chapter 29 Tacitus includes the line “the Britons, were in fact, no way broken by the outcome of the previous battle” they were awaiting either revenge or enslavement”. (Agricola, pg. 21).