Agr. 45.1Nōn vīdit Agricola obsessam cūriam et clausum armīs senātum et eādem strāge tot cōnsulārium caedēs, tot nōbilissimārum fēminārum exilia et fugās.Agricola did not see the senate-house besieged and the senate hemmed in by arms, and in the same massacre the slaughter of so many consulars, the exile and flight of so many most noble women. Agr. 45.1Ūnā adhūc victōriā Cārus Metius cēnsēbātur, et intrā Albānam arcem sententia Messālīnī strepēbat, et Massa Baebius tum reus erat: mox nostrae dūxēre Helvidium in carcerem manūs;Carus Metius was still credited with only one victory, and the voice of Messalinus was heard only within the Alban citadel, and Massa Baebius was then on trial: soon our own hands led Helvidius to prison; Agr. 45.1nōs Mauricum Rusticumque dīvīsimus;we parted Mauricus and Rusticus; Agr. 45.1nōs innocentī sanguine Seneciō perfūdit.on us Senecio poured his innocent blood. Agr. 45.2Nerō tamen subtrāxit oculōs suōs iussitque scelera, nōn spectāvit: praecipua sub Domitiānō miseriārum pars erat vidēre et aspicī, cum suspīria nostra subscrīberentur, cum dēnotandīs tot hominum pallōribus sufficeret saevus ille vultus et rubor, quō sē contrā pudōrem mūniēbat.Nero at least withdrew his eyes, and ordered crimes without watching them: under Domitian the chief part of our miseries was to see and be seen, when our sighs were recorded, when that savage face and its flush, with which he armed himself against shame, sufficed to mark the pallor of so many men.
Agr. 45.3Tū vērō fēlīx, Agricola, nōn vītae tantum clāritāte, sed etiam opportūnitāte mortis.But you, Agricola, were fortunate not only in the brilliance of your life but also in the timeliness of your death. Agr. 45.3Ut perhibent quī interfuērunt novissimīs sermōnibus tuīs, cōnstāns et libēns fātum excēpistī, tamquam prō virīlī portiōne innocentiam prīncipī dōnārēs.As those who were present at your last words report, you met your fate steadfastly and willingly, as if, for your own part, you were granting the emperor his innocence. Agr. 45.4Sed mihi fīliaeque eius praeter acerbitātem parentis ēreptī auget maestitiam, quod adsidēre valētūdinī, fovēre dēficientem, satiārī vultū complexūque nōn contigit.But for me and for his daughter, besides the bitterness of losing a father, our sorrow is increased because it was not granted to us to sit by his sickbed, to comfort him as he failed, to have our fill of his face and his embrace. Agr. 45.5Excēpissēmus certē mandāta vōcēsque, quās penitus animō fīgerēmus.We would certainly have received instructions and words which we could have fixed deep in our hearts.
Agr. 45.5Noster hic dolor, nostrum vulnus, nōbīs tam longae absentiae condiciōne ante quadriennium āmissus est.This is our grief, our wound: by the circumstance of so long an absence he was lost to us four years before his death. Agr. 45.6Omnia sine dubiō, optime parentum, adsidente amantissimā uxōre superfuēre honōrī tuō: pauciōribus tamen lacrimīs complōrātus es, et novissimā in lūce dēsīderāvēre aliquid oculī tuī.No doubt, best of fathers, with your most loving wife at your side, everything was more than fully done to honour you: yet you were mourned with fewer tears, and in that last light your eyes longed for something.