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Text 1: The Battle of Mons Graupius (AD 83). From Tacitus, Agricola (c. AD 98) This is a bilingual edition Latin-English. It is a fragment of Agricola, which narrates the Battle of Mons Graupius and Galgacus’s speech to his bunched. It was written by Tacitus, who was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. In “Agricola”, Tacitus talks about positive aspects of Agricola’s rules and administration. Agricola was a man of the Senatorial class of great political and military distinction, a Roman governor and Tacitus’ father in law. That’s why his point of view about him isn’t completely objective. The first paragraph is about the battle of Mons Graupius, which was the last major battle of the Roman Conquest of the British Isles. In this skirmish (discussion) the Romans under Gnaeus Julius Agricola fought and defeated Caledonians. The first Roman attempt at invading the isles was in 55 BC. The main interest of Romans was the wealth of the island. The conquest of most Britain came in 43 AD when Claudius invaded Britain. The last serious resistance of the Celts in the South became in 61 AD. The king of the Iceni in the East, Prasutagus, had made a pact with the Romans that he would rule his population if he recognised the supreme power of the emperor (he was also called “client king”) and after his death only the half of his territories would belong to them. This was not respected; the Iceni were harshly treated and Prasutagus’ daughters and his widow Boudicca were raped. Boudicca led her people in a huge revolt against the Romans. It was suppressed, and she took poison in the end, but she remains as a heroic figure. Southern Britain settled down to peace and rapid Romanization. However, the North of Scotland, where people were known as the Caledonians, was not occupied by Romans. This time Hadrian’s Wall was built. It ran from the banks of the River Tyne near the North Sea to the Solway Firth on the Irish Sea, and was the northern limit of the Roman Empire, immediately north of which where the lands of the northern Ancient Britons, including the Picts. When Agricola got the government, he wanted to finish the conquest of Britain, so the Battle of Mons Graupius took place in 84 AD. In this confrontation, Romans fought the Caledonians, which were a confederation of different tribes. They still were a strong group, although they had some previous conflicts. Their leader was Galgacus (“Calgacus”), who had taken position on a large hill called Mons Graupius. There were over 30.000 men

fighting in the field. Despite being defeated, Caledonians never gave up. Galgacus carried out a big encouragement labour. The speech of valour and strength which was supposedly pronounced by Galgacus to his men is written in the second paragraph. Galgacus talks to his army with admiration, courage and dignity (“Every time… liberty for all Britain”). He insists a lot in the powerful union and bravery of the soldiers (“All the thousands… yoke”). He also refers to past struggles against the Romans and their resistance despite the defeats. He feels proud of his warriors because they are the only ones who have not been caught by Romans. Finally, he does a critical comment of Roman power (“the plunderers of the world” “and not the East not the West… greedy maw” “They are only men… lust of conquest”). Caledonians are remembered as an example of fearless people in all Britain, because of that we can see that Tacitus respected and admired Caledonians, although he’s Roman. This way, Romans get to obtain the complete Britain territory. They stablished a flourishing empire which went on until 367, when a combined attack of Picts, Scots and Saxons happened. After that, Roman civilization was disintegrated. They had much impact on Britain’s development: new crops, marvellous buildings, fresh farming techniques, Christian religion, urban civilization, …

VOCABULARY Agricola: he was a general and governor of the Roman province of Britannia. He gave his name to a book written by the historian Tacitus, who was his son-in-law. In this book, Tacitus describes the government of Agricola and the positive effects of Romanization in Britain. However, we can’t consider objective this book because of their family link. We have seen a fragment of Agricola in its English version in the text related to the Battle of Mons Graupius. Boudicca: it’s the name of a Queen of Iceni. The romans invaded their territory, but let local kings govern if they followed the Roman rules, paid their tributes and acknowledged the Emperor’s authority. This system of client ship was the case of Boudicca and her husband Prosatagus. However, when Prosatagus died, the Romans broke this pact and raped Boudicca and her daughter. In response, local people started a rebellion in 61 AD to fight against this injustice, and in their march to Londinium they destroyed many Roman buildings and administrative offices. The Romans won because they were far more superior in both number and military equipment. However, this rebellion was remembered as a heroic act of resistance. Nowadays, a sculpture of Boudicca can be seen in the gardens of the English Parliament. Claudian Conquest: it was the first successful attempt of the Roman Empire to conquer the British Isles after the previous failed attempt of Julius Caesar in 55 BC. This event took place in 43 BC, when the Claudian army arrived in the actual region of Kent (East Coast of England). Hadrian’s Wall: it was a defensive barrier built under the rule of Emperor Hadrian, between 122-132 AD, to protect the Roman inhabitants of Britain from the Caledonian tribes who resisted Romanization. This roman construction divided the isle in two main areas, leaving the Roman population on the South side of the wall, while the Caledonians remained at the North. Picts and Scots: they were tribes who lived in the British Isles before the arrival of the Romans and who refused the Romanization. While Picts were originally from Scotland, Scots came from Ireland and later moved on to the actual region of Scotland, where they lived among Picts. The name of Picts was given by Romans and comes from the Latin word “Picti” which means “painted/tattooed men”....