1So he ordered that the triumphal insignia, the honour of a distinguished statue and whatever is given in place of a triumph should be decreed in the senate, heaped up with much honourable language, and that the impression should be spread besides that the province of Syria was intended for Agricola, which was then vacant through the death of the consular Atilius Rufus and reserved for men of greater standing. 2Many believed that a freedman from the emperor's more confidential service was sent to Agricola carrying the letter by which Syria was given to him, with instructions that it should be handed over if he were still in Britain; 2and that this freedman met Agricola in the very straits of the Ocean and returned to Domitian without even speaking to him, whether this is true, or was invented and made up to fit the emperor's character.
3Meanwhile Agricola had handed over to his successor a province peaceful and secure. 3And so that his entry should not be conspicuous for the crowds and numbers of people meeting him, he avoided the attentions of his friends and came into the city by night, and by night to the Palace, as he had been instructed; 3and, received with a brief kiss and no conversation, he was lost in the crowd of courtiers. 4But in order to temper his military reputation, which is offensive to men of leisure, with other virtues, he drank deep of quiet and retirement, modest in dress, easy in conversation, accompanied by one or two friends, so much so that most people, who are accustomed to judge great men by their display, after seeing and observing Agricola, asked where his fame lay, and few understood it.