Ch. 6. Tacitus and the Older Generation: Fatherhood and its Alternatives in the Agricola

Abstract

While fatherhood in the abstract and generational succession are major themes throughout Tacitus’ Agricola, biological father-son relationships are surprisingly under-emphasised. This article examines how Tacitus portrays Agricola’s father, Graecinus. Graecinus was a significant exemplary figure thanks to his noble death under Caligula, but Tacitus allots him only one sentence. I argue that this is a marked choice that by implication positions Graecinus as a negative exemplum for his more circumspect but effective son. This move of Tacitus’ is considered in relation to his portrayal of the ‘Stoic martyrs’ and to questions of generational continuity within the Roman elite between the hereditary Flavian dynasty and the age of the adopted emperor Trajan. Published in Andrew G. Scott,, ed., Studies in Contemporary Historiography (HISTOS Supplement 15), p. 133-161.