Agr. 42.1Aderat iam annus, quō prōcōnsulātum Āfricae et Asiae sortīrētur, et occīsō Cīvicā nūper nec Agricolae cōnsilium dēerat nec Domitiānō exemplum.Now the year had come in which he was to draw lots for the proconsulship of Africa or Asia, and since Civica had recently been killed, Agricola did not lack a warning, nor Domitian a precedent. Agr. 42.1Accessēre quīdam cōgitātiōnum prīncipis perītī, quī itūrusne esset in prōvinciam ultrō Agricolam interrogārent.Certain men who knew the emperor's thoughts approached Agricola and went so far as to ask him whether he intended to go to his province. Agr. 42.2Ac prīmō occultius quiētem et ōtium laudāre, mox operam suam in adprobandā excūsātiōne offerre, postrēmō nōn iam obscūrī suādentēs simul terrentēsque pertrāxēre ad Domitiānum.And at first rather covertly they praised quiet and leisure, then offered their services in getting his excuse accepted, and finally, no longer disguising themselves, persuading and frightening him at once, they dragged him to Domitian. Agr. 42.3Quī parātus simulātiōne, in adrogantiam compositus, et audiit precēs excūsantis et, cum adnuisset, agī sibi grātiās passus est, nec ērubuit beneficiī invidiā.Domitian, ready with his pretence and composed into an air of grandeur, both listened to his pleas to be excused and, when he had granted them, allowed himself to be thanked, and did not blush at the odiousness of such a favour.
Agr. 42.3Salārium tamen prōcōnsulī cōnsulārī solitum offerrī et quibusdam ā sē ipsō concessum Agricolae nōn dedit, sīve offēnsus nōn petītum, sīve ex cōnscientiā, nē quod vetuerat vidērētur ēmisse.Yet he did not give Agricola the salary usually offered to a consular proconsul, and granted by himself to some, whether offended that it had not been asked for, or from a guilty conscience, so that he might not seem to have bought what he had forbidden. Agr. 42.4Proprium hūmānī ingeniī est ōdisse quem laeserīs: Domitiānī vērō nātūra praeceps in īram, et quō obscūrior, eō inrevocābilior, moderātiōne tamen prūdentiāque Agricolae lēniēbātur, quia nōn contumāciā neque inānī iactātiōne lībertātis fāmam fātumque prōvocābat.It is characteristic of human nature to hate one whom you have injured: but Domitian's nature, quick to anger and the more implacable the more it was concealed, was nevertheless softened by Agricola's moderation and good sense, because he did not challenge fame and fate by defiance or by an empty parade of independence. Agr. 42.5Sciant, quibus mōris est inlicita mīrārī, posse etiam sub malīs prīncipibus magnōs virōs esse, obsequiumque ac modestiam, sī industria ac vigor adsint, eō laudis excēdere, quō plērīque per abrupta, sed in nūllum reī pūblicae ūsum ambitiōsā morte inclāruērunt.Let those whose habit it is to admire what is forbidden know that there can be great men even under bad emperors, and that obedience and moderation, if they are joined with diligence and energy, attain to that height of glory which many have reached by perilous paths, but, with no benefit to the state, through an ostentatious death.