Agr. 44.1Nātus erat Agricola Gāiō Caesare tertium cōnsule Īdibus Iūniīs: excessit quartō et quīnquāgēsimō annō, Decumō kalendās Septembrīs Collēgā Prīscōque cōnsulibus.Agricola had been born on the Ides of June in the third consulship of Gaius Caesar: he died in his fifty-fourth year, on the tenth day before the Kalends of September, in the consulship of Collega and Priscus. Agr. 44.2Quod sī habitum quoque eius posterī nōscere velint, decentior quam sublīmior fuit;If posterity should wish to know his appearance too, he was well-proportioned rather than tall; Agr. 44.2nihil impetūs in vultū: grātia ōris supererat.there was nothing fierce in his expression: graciousness of countenance prevailed. Agr. 44.2Bonum virum facile crēderēs, magnum libenter.You would readily believe him a good man, and gladly a great one. Agr. 44.3Et ipse quidem, quamquam mediō in spatiō integrae aetātis ēreptus, quantum ad glōriam, longissimum aevum perēgit.And he himself, although snatched away in the midst of his vigorous years, as far as glory is concerned completed the longest of lives. Agr. 44.3Quippe et vēra bona, quae in virtūtibus sita sunt, implēverat, et cōnsulārī ac triumphālibus ōrnāmentīs praeditō quid aliud adstruere fortūna poterat?For he had fully attained the true blessings, which lie in virtues, and what else could fortune add to a man endowed with the consulship and triumphal insignia?
Agr. 44.4Opibus nimiīs nōn gaudēbat, speciōsae nōn contigerant.He took no delight in excessive wealth, and showy riches had not come his way. Agr. 44.4Fīlia atque uxōre superstitibus potest vidērī etiam beātus incolumī dignitāte, flōrente fāmā, salvīs adfīnitātibus et amīcitiīs futūra effūgisse.With his daughter and wife surviving him, he may even be thought fortunate in having escaped what was to come, with his dignity unimpaired, his fame flourishing, his kinships and friendships safe. Agr. 44.5Nam sīcutī dūrāre in hanc beātissimī saeculī lūcem ac prīncipem Trāiānum vidēre, quod auguriō vōtīsque apud nostrās aurīs ōminābātur, ita festīnātae mortis grande sōlācium tulit ēvāsisse postrēmum illud tempus, quō Domitiānus nōn iam per intervalla ac spīrāmenta temporum, sed continuō et velut ūnō ictū rem pūblicam exhausit.For just as it was denied him to live on into the light of this most blessed age and to see Trajan as emperor, which he used to foretell in our hearing with prophecy and prayer, so he had a great consolation for his hastened death in having escaped that final period in which Domitian drained the state no longer at intervals and with breathing-spaces, but continuously and as if with a single blow.