Agr. 10.1Britanniae situm populōsque multīs scrīptōribus memorātōs nōn in comparātiōnem cūrae ingeniīve referam, sed quia tum prīmum perdomita est.The geography and peoples of Britain, recorded by many writers, I shall describe not to compete with them in care or talent, but because it was then for the first time completely subdued. Agr. 10.1Ita quae priōrēs nōndum comperta ēloquentiā percoluēre, rērum fidē trādentur.Thus what earlier writers, before the facts were ascertained, embellished with eloquence, will now be handed down with faithful accuracy. Agr. 10.2Britannia, īnsulārum quās Rōmāna nōtitia complectitur maxima, spatiō ac caelō in orientem Germāniae, in occidentem Hispāniae obtenditur, Gallīs in merīdiem etiam īnspicitur;Britain, the largest of the islands that Roman knowledge embraces, stretches in extent and in latitude towards Germany on the east and towards Spain on the west, and on the south it is even within sight of the Gauls; Agr. 10.2septentriōnālia eius, nūllīs contrā terrīs, vāstō atque apertō marī pulsantur.its northern parts, with no lands opposite them, are beaten by a vast and open sea. Agr. 10.3Fōrmam tōtīus Britanniae Līvius veterum, Fabius Rusticus recentium ēloquentissimī auctōrēs oblongae scutulae vel bipennī adsimulāvēre.Livy, the most eloquent of the older writers, and Fabius Rusticus, of the more recent, have likened the shape of Britain as a whole to an elongated lozenge or a double axe.
Agr. 10.4Et est ea faciēs citrā Caledoniam, unde et in ūniversum fāma: sed trānsgressīs inmēnsum et ēnorme spatium prōcurrentium extrēmō iam lītore terrārum velut in cuneum tenuātur.And that is indeed its shape on this side of Caledonia, which is why the report has been applied to the whole: but those who go beyond find a vast and irregular tract of land jutting out at the very furthest shore, which tapers as if into a wedge. Agr. 10.5Hanc ōram novissimī maris tunc prīmum Rōmāna classis circumvecta īnsulam esse Britanniam adfirmāvit, ac simul incognitās ad id tempus īnsulās, quās Orcadas vocant, invēnit domuitque.This coast of the remotest sea a Roman fleet then sailed round for the first time and established that Britain was an island, and at the same time discovered and subdued islands unknown until that time, which they call the Orcades. Agr. 10.6Dispecta est et Thȳlē, quia hāctenus iussum, et hiems adpetēbat.Thule too was glimpsed, since their orders went only so far, and winter was approaching. Agr. 10.6Sed mare pigrum et grave rēmigantibus perhibent nē ventīs quidem perinde attollī, crēdō quod rāriōrēs terrae montēsque, causa ac māteria tempestātum, et profunda mōlēs continuī maris tardius impellitur.But they report that the sea is sluggish and heavy for rowers, and is not even raised by the winds as other seas are, I suppose because lands and mountains, the cause and material of storms, are rarer there, and the deep mass of unbroken sea is set in motion more slowly.
Agr. 10.7Nātūram Oceanī atque aestūs neque quaerere huius operis est, ac multī rettulēre: ūnum addiderim, nūsquam lātius dominārī mare, multum flūminum hūc atque illūc ferre, nec lītore tenus adcrēscere aut resorbērī, sed īnfluere penitus atque ambīre, et iugīs etiam ac montibus īnserī velut in suō.To investigate the nature of the Ocean and its tides is not the business of this work, and many have recorded it: I would add one thing only, that nowhere does the sea hold wider sway, that it carries many currents this way and that, and does not rise and ebb only as far as the shore, but flows deep inland and winds around, and even works its way among ridges and mountains as if in its own domain.