Agricola

Written by Rome's most merciless chronicler about the man who taught him how to hate the empire, Agricola is a glowing tribute that secretly burns with outrage. Gnaeus Julius Agricola conquered Britain for Rome, governed it with unusual restraint, and returned home to face the jealous malice of Emperor Domitian - a tyrant who would eventually have him murdered. Tacitus weaves a masterful portrait of military genius, political compromise, and ultimate betrayal, using his father-in-law's life as a lens through which to examine everything rotten about imperial power. But the work's secret heart lies in its vivid, sympathetic accounts of Britain itself: its druids, its resisting tribes, its mist-shrouded lands where liberty still breathes. Here Tacitus dares to suggest that the conquered barbarians possess a dignity the conquering Romans have lost. It's biography as polemic, eulogy as indictment, and among the most sophisticated political texts to survive the ancient world.