Primary Source Critique
Tacitus: "Life of Cnaeus Julius Agricola"
Unlike our own period of time, the ancient Romans experienced very little angst about the prospect of colonizing a geographically and ethnically distinct people for the enrichment of their own country. As is evident in Tacitus' "Life of Cnaeus Julius Agricola," the British resistance to Roman colonization is viewed as evidence of the British people's barbarity, not praiseworthy British fortitude against foreign domination. However, the Roman Tacitus also used the example of Britain not simply to praise his father-in-law Cnaeus Julius Agricola, but also to praise what he considered the true Roman values of freedom, austerity and military valor, in contrast to licentiousness and laziness, which he felt, was characteristic of contemporary Roman morality. This primary source text thus is less a fair portrayal of Britain of the era as it is an introduction to what Romans of Tacitus' class considered important -- the former Republican glory, colonization and military fortification, and familial honor.
Interestingly enough, at the beginning of Chapter 3 of this "Life," Tacitus proudly valorizes Roman freedom. He sees no evident contradiction between using that freedom to subjugate other peoples for Roman enrichment. He looks back with fondness at the heady days of the Roman Republic in his salutation to the reader in his first two chapters, noting that he shall not regret that he has told, though in language unskillful and unadorned, the story of Roman past servitude to tyranny, that has now resulted in Rome's present happiness, glory, and relative liberty. To his credit as an historian, Tacitus...
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