1Gnaeus Julius Agricola, born in the old and famous colony of Forum Julii, had as each of his grandfathers an imperial procurator, which is the nobility of the equestrian order. 1His father, Julius Graecinus, was of senatorial rank, known for his devotion to eloquence and philosophy, and by those very virtues he earned the anger of Gaius Caesar: for he was ordered to accuse Marcus Silanus and, because he had refused, was put to death. 2His mother was Julia Procilla, a woman of rare chastity. 2Brought up in her lap and under her tender care, he passed his boyhood and youth in the cultivation of every honourable art. 3What kept him from the allurements of wrongdoers, besides his own good and sound nature, was that while still a little boy he had as the seat and mistress of his studies Massilia, a place where Greek refinement and provincial thrift were mingled and well blended.
4I remember that he himself used to tell how in his early youth he would have drunk in the study of philosophy more keenly, and further than is allowed to a Roman and a senator, had not his mother's good sense restrained his kindled and blazing spirit. 5Naturally his lofty and aspiring nature reached for the beauty and splendour of great and exalted glory with more eagerness than caution. 5Soon reason and age calmed him, and he retained from philosophy, which is the most difficult thing, a sense of measure.