44 Agricola was born on the 13th
of June, in the third consulate of Caius Caesar; he died on the 23rd of August,
during the consulate of Collega and Priscus, being in the fifty-sixth year of
his age. Should posterity wish to know something of his appearance, it was
graceful rather than commanding. There was nothing formidable in his
appearance; a gracious look predominated. One would easily believe him a good
man, and willingly believe him to be great. As for himself, though taken from
us in the prime of a vigorous manhood, yet, as far as glory is concerned, his
life was of the longest. Those true blessings, indeed, which consist in virtue,
he had fully attained; and on one who had reached the honours of a consulate
and a triumph, what more had fortune to bestow? Immense wealth had no
attractions for him, and wealth he had, even to splendour. As his daughter and
his wife survived him, it may be thought that he was even fortunate—fortunate,
in that while his honours had suffered no eclipse, while his fame was at its
height, while his kindred and his friends still prospered, he escaped from the
evil to come. For, though to survive until the dawn of this most happy age and
to see a Trajan on the throne was what he would speculate upon in previsions
and wishes confided to my ears, yet he had this mighty compensation for his
premature death, that he was spared those later years during which Domitian,
leaving now no interval or breathing space of time, but, as it were, with one
continuous blow, drained the life-blood of the Commonwealth.
|