Agricola 1

Agr. 1.1Clārōrum virōrum facta mōrēsque posterīs trādere, antīquitus ūsitātum, nē nostrīs quidem temporibus quamquam incūriōsa suōrum aetās omīsit, quotiēns magna aliqua ac nōbilis virtūs vīcit ac supergressa est vitium parvīs magnīsque cīvitātibus commūne, ignōrantiam rēctī et invidiam.To hand down to posterity the deeds and characters of famous men, a custom practised of old, is something that not even our own age has neglected, indifferent though it is to its own people, whenever some great and noble virtue has conquered and risen above the vice common to small and great states alike, ignorance of what is right, and envy. Agr. 1.2Sed apud priōrēs ut agere digna memorātū prōnum magisque in apertō erat, ita celeberrimus quisque ingeniō ad prōdendam virtūtis memoriam sine grātiā aut ambitiōne bonae tantum cōnscientiae pretiō dūcēbātur.But among earlier generations, just as it was natural and more open to do deeds worth recording, so every man most renowned for his talent was led to hand down the memory of virtue without partiality or self-seeking, for the reward of a good conscience alone. Agr. 1.3Ac plērīque suam ipsī vītam narrāre fīdūciam potius mōrum quam adrogantiam arbitrātī sunt, nec id Rutiliō et Scaurō citrā fidem aut obtrectātiōnī fuit: adeō virtūtēs īsdem temporibus optimē aestimantur, quibus facillimē gignuntur.And many thought that to narrate their own lives showed confidence in their character rather than arrogance, and in the case of Rutilius and Scaurus this met neither with disbelief nor with detraction: so true is it that virtues are best appreciated in the very times in which they are most easily produced.

Agr. 1.4At nunc narrātūrō mihi vītam dēfūnctī hominis venia opus fuit, quam nōn petīssem incūsātūrus: tam saeva et īnfesta virtūtibus tempora.But now, when I was about to narrate the life of a man who has died, I needed to ask for indulgence, which I would not have sought had I been about to make an accusation: so cruel and so hostile to virtues are the times.