1He served his first apprenticeship in camp in Britain to the satisfaction of Suetonius Paulinus, a careful and moderate general, having been chosen to share his tent so that the general might judge his worth. 2Nor did Agricola, licentiously, in the manner of young men who turn military service into wantonness, nor idly, make his title of tribune and his inexperience a pretext for pleasures and leave: instead he set himself to know the province, to be known to the army, to learn from the experienced, to follow the best, to seek nothing for show, to refuse nothing out of fear, and to act at once with anxiety and with vigilance.
3Never, indeed, at any other time was Britain more disturbed or in greater danger: veterans were butchered, colonies burned, armies cut off; 3then they fought for survival, and soon for victory. 4Although all these things were carried out under the plans and leadership of another, and the supreme command and the glory of recovering the province fell to the general, they gave the young man skill, experience and incentive, and a desire for military glory entered his mind, a desire unwelcome in times when distinguished men were viewed with suspicion and there was no less danger from a great reputation than from a bad one.