What was going on: As Tacitus tells it, before the battle of Mons Graupius, around 83 CE, the Britons have united, more than 30,000 armed men, against Agricola's Roman army. Tacitus, Agricola's son-in-law, gives this speech to Calgacus, one of their leaders; the words are Tacitus' own composition.
Why it matters: Agricola's campaign effectively brought what is now Scotland under Roman control, but only briefly: within a few years Rome had pulled back and abandoned most of Caledonia.
When I think about why we are fighting and where we stand, I am sure today, and you standing together, will begin freedom for all of Britain.
Whenever I consider the origin of this war and the necessities of our position, I have a sure confidence that this day, and this union of yours, will be the beginning of freedom to the whole of Britain.
As Tacitus writes it; Calgacus' speech is Tacitus' own composition, as ancient historians' speeches often were. Tacitus, Agricola 30, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1877)C
What was going on: Caledonia, about 83 CE, before the battle of Mons Graupius against the governor Agricola's army. Tacitus, Agricola's son-in-law, gives Calgacus this speech to his side; the words are Tacitus' own, as ancient historians' speeches often were.
Why it matters: Calgacus' speech is often quoted as: they make a desert and call it peace.
They rob the whole world. Rich or poor, nothing satisfies them. They call theft and killing an empire; they make a wasteland and call it peace.
Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.
As Tacitus writes it; Calgacus' speech is Tacitus' own composition, as ancient historians' speeches often were. Tacitus, Agricola 30, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1877)C
What was going on: Caledonia, about 83 CE, before Agricola's Romans fight the Caledonians at Mons Graupius. Tacitus wrote this speech himself and gave it to Calgacus. In it Calgacus says the Romans take Britain's children, harvests and labour.
Why it matters: Agricola's campaign effectively brought what is now Scotland under Roman control, but only briefly: within a few years Rome had pulled back and abandoned most of Caledonia.
A slave is sold once and fed by his owner. Britain pays for and feeds its own slavery every day.
Creatures born to slavery are sold once for all, and are, moreover, fed by their masters; but Britain is daily purchasing, is daily feeding, her own enslaved people.
As Tacitus writes it; Calgacus' speech is Tacitus' own composition, as ancient historians' speeches often were. Tacitus, Agricola 31, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1877)C
What was going on: Caledonia, about 83 CE, before the battle of Mons Graupius in what is now Scotland, which the governor Agricola won. Calgacus speaks to his own side, but Tacitus, Agricola's son-in-law, composed the speech himself.
Why it matters: Agricola's campaign effectively brought what is now Scotland under Roman control, but only briefly: within a few years Rome had pulled back and abandoned most of Caledonia.
Fear holds them together, and fear is a weak glue. Take it away, and people who stop being afraid start to hate.
Fear and terror there certainly are, feeble bonds of attachment; remove them, and those who have ceased to fear will begin to hate.
As Tacitus writes it; Calgacus' speech is Tacitus' own composition, as ancient historians' speeches often were. Tacitus, Agricola 32, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1877)
No portrait here: we have not found one whose identification and licence we can confirm.
