Agr. 5.1Prīma castrōrum rudīmenta in Britanniā Suētōniō Paulīnō, dīligentī ac moderātō ducī, adprobāvit, ēlēctus quem contuberniō aestimāret.He 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. Agr. 5.2Nec Agricola licenter, mōre iuvenum quī mīlitiam in lascīviam vertunt, neque segniter ad voluptātēs et commeātūs titulum tribūnātūs et īnscītiam rettulit: sed nōscere prōvinciam, nōscī exercituī, discere ā perītīs, sequī optimōs, nihil adpetere in iactātiōnem, nihil ob formīdinem recūsāre, simulque et ānxius et intentus agere.Nor 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.
Agr. 5.3Nōn sānē aliās excitātior magisque in ambiguō Britannia fuit: trucīdātī veterānī, incēnsae colōniae, intersēptī exercitūs;Never, indeed, at any other time was Britain more disturbed or in greater danger: veterans were butchered, colonies burned, armies cut off; Agr. 5.3tum dē salūte, mox dē victōriā certāvēre.then they fought for survival, and soon for victory. Agr. 5.4Quae cūncta etsī cōnsiliīs ductūque alterīus agēbantur, ac summa rērum et reciperātae prōvinciae glōria in ducem cessit, artem et ūsum et stimulōs addidēre iuvenī, intrāvitque animum mīlitāris glōriae cupīdō, ingrāta temporibus quibus sinistra ergā ēminentīs interpretātiō nec minus perīculum ex magnā fāmā quam ex malā.Although 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.