Hour 16 — Britain II: Climate & Resources (Tacitus) · Agricola 12–13
Note on sources. The source course-design document specifies Hour 16 = Ethnography of Britain by Tacitus, Agricola ch12–13 = Wheelock Ch. 16 = 3rd-Declension Adjectives. Latin from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit (phi1351), lightly smoothed; English from Church & Brodribb (1877), adapted; grammar from Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 16.
Briefing
Tacitus continues — political disunity, climate, resources
Hour 15 stopped at the three-part theory of British physical types. Hour 16 picks up immediately, with Agricola chapters 12–13. Tacitus's ethnographic logic now moves from physiology (Hour 15 — bodies and origins) to character and politics (Ch. 12 — military behavior, political fragmentation, climate) and then to resources (Ch. 13 — soil, grain, gold, silver, pearls). Each section ends with a sentence that — embedded though it is in an ethnographic genre — reads as commentary on Roman imperialism itself.
Three moments deserve emphasis:
- Sentence 5 of our passage — Tacitus's most quoted line on Britain: singulī pugnant, ūniversī vincuntur — "they fight individually, and they are conquered universally." Tacitus's diagnosis of British political fragmentation as the Romans' single greatest tactical advantage.
- Sentences 6–8 describe Britain's climate as wet and foggy but lacking sharp cold — and the famous detail that at midsummer, in extreme Britain, you can see the gleam of the sun pass under the horizon without setting.
- Sentences 9–11 catalog Britain's natural resources: grain "ripens slowly, sprouts quickly"; gold, silver, "other metals"; and pearls — but defective pearls. Tacitus's closing line: facilius crediderim natūram margarītīs dēesse quam nōbīs avāritiam ("I should sooner believe that the pearls themselves are wanting in nature than that we are wanting in greed") — one of the most stinging asides in Latin prose.
Hour 16: Tacitus, Agricola 12–13 (excerpts)
Still, the Britons exhibit more fierceness, in that they have not yet been softened by long peace. For we have received that the Gauls too once flourished in wars; soon idleness with leisure came in, after their courage was lost along with their liberty. Their strength is in infantry; certain nations also fight from chariots. The charioteer is the more honored; the dependents do the fighting. Of old they obeyed kings; now they are dragged through chiefs by factions and zeal. Nor is anything more useful for us against very powerful peoples than that they do not deliberate in common. Rarely is there a meeting of two or three states to repel a common danger; thus, fighting individually, they are conquered universally. The climate is foul with frequent rains and mists; the sharpness of cold is absent. The length of days extends beyond the measure of our world; the night is bright, and in the farthest part of Britain so brief that you might distinguish the end and beginning of daylight by a slight interval. If clouds do not obstruct, the gleam of the sun, they assert, can be seen at night — and that it does not set and rise again, but passes through. The soil, apart from the olive and the vine and other things accustomed to spring up in warmer lands, is tolerant of crops, fertile: they ripen slowly, but spring up quickly; and the same cause for both effects is the great moisture of the earth and the sky. Britain produces gold and silver and other metals, the price of victory. The ocean too produces pearls — but dull and bluish ones. Some think that skill is lacking in those who gather them... For my part, I should sooner believe that the pearls themselves are wanting in nature than that we are wanting in greed.
Connection to Wheelock
This hour pairs with Wheelock Chapter 16 — Adjectives of the Third Declension. Three sub-patterns:
- Three-termination — separate masc., fem., neut. nom. sg.: ācer, ācris, ācre
- Two-termination (most common) — masc./fem. share, neut. has another: omnis, omne
- One-termination — all three share the same nom. sg.: fēlīx, fēlīcis
Most 3rd-decl. adjectives are i-stems with -ī in ablative singular and -ium in genitive plural.
Today's Task
Identify all the verbs (finite + infinitives) AND all 3rd-declension adjective forms — including comparatives (typically 1-termination) and indeclinable forms like plūs.
Grammar Target — 3rd-Declension Adjectives
Three sub-types
| Type | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Three-termination | masc., fem., neut. all different | ācer, ācris, ācre |
| Two-termination (most common) | masc./fem. share; neut. different | omnis, omne |
| One-termination | all three share same nom. sg. | fēlīx (gen. fēlīcis) |
omnis, omne (two-termination)
| Case | Masc./Fem. | Neut. |
|---|---|---|
| Sg. Nom. | omnis | omne |
| Gen. | omnis | omnis |
| Dat. | omnī | omnī |
| Acc. | omnem | omne |
| Abl. | omnī ← note long ī | omnī |
| Pl. Nom. | omnēs | omnia |
| Gen. | omnium ← i-stem marker | omnium |
| Dat./Abl. | omnibus | omnibus |
| Acc. | omnēs (-īs) | omnia |
ācer, ācris, ācre (three-termination)
| Case | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sg. Nom. | ācer | ācris | ācre |
| Gen. | ācris | ācris | ācris |
| Dat. | ācrī | ācrī | ācrī |
| Acc. | ācrem | ācrem | ācre |
| Abl. | ācrī | ācrī | ācrī |
| Pl. Nom./Acc. | ācrēs | ācrēs | ācria |
| Gen. | ācrium | ācrium | ācrium |
| Dat./Abl. | ācribus | ācribus | ācribus |
fēlīx (one-termination)
| Case | Masc./Fem. | Neut. |
|---|---|---|
| Sg. Nom. | fēlīx | fēlīx |
| Gen. | fēlīcis | fēlīcis |
| Dat. | fēlīcī | fēlīcī |
| Acc. | fēlīcem | fēlīx |
| Abl. | fēlīcī | fēlīcī |
| Pl. Nom./Acc. | fēlīcēs | fēlīcia |
| Gen. | fēlīcium | fēlīcium |
| Dat./Abl. | fēlīcibus | fēlīcibus |
Three warning signs
- Abl. sg. is -ī, not -e. This is the most common confusion with 3rd-decl. nouns (where consonant-stem nouns have -e: rēge). Adjectives almost universally take -ī. cum fortī mīlite, not cum forte.
- Neut. nom./acc. pl. is -ia, not -a. Once again the i-stem mark. omnia, gravia, brevia — not omna.
- One-termination adjectives REQUIRE you to memorize the genitive. fēlīx alone tells you nothing; fēlīx, fēlīcis reveals stem fēlīc-. Same for vetus, veteris; recēns, recentis; compos, compotis; ingēns, ingentis.
Vocabulary
(136 entries with full macrons, English and Chinese glosses, and conjugation/declension/adj-type badges. See the bilingual HTML for the complete badge-tagged table. Focus badge this hour: 3RD ADJ marks 3rd-declension adjectives — now covering all three sub-types.)
Selected entries:
| Latin | Parts | English | Chinese |
|---|---|---|---|
| omnis, omne | adj. (3rd, 2-term.) | all, every | 全部、每一 |
| commūnis, commūne | adj. (3rd, 2-term.) | common, shared | 共同的 |
| brevis, breve | adj. (3rd, 2-term.) | short, brief | 短的 |
| ūtilis, ūtile | adj. (3rd, 2-term.) | useful | 有用的 |
| fortis, forte | adj. (3rd, 2-term.) | brave, strong | 勇敢、强大 |
| gravis, grave | adj. (3rd, 2-term.) | heavy, serious | 沉重、严重 |
| ācer, ācris, ācre | adj. (3rd, 3-term.) | sharp, keen, fierce | 锐利、激烈 |
| fēlīx, fēlīcis | adj. (3rd, 1-term.) | happy, lucky | 幸运的 |
| vetus, veteris | adj. (3rd, 1-term.) | old | 古老的 |
| ingēns, ingentis | adj. (3rd, 1-term.) | huge, vast | 巨大的 |
| patiēns, patientis | adj. (3rd, 1-term.) | patient, tolerant | 能忍受的 |
| līvēns, līventis | adj. (3rd, 1-term.) | bluish, livid | 青蓝、铅色 |
| plūs, plūris | indecl. comp. / 3rd-decl. | more | 更多（比较级） |
| facilius (comp. adv.) | adv. | more easily | 更容易地 |
Tagging rules in effect this Hour
Carried from previous hours. New this hour: the Battle Task's second toggle isolates 3rd-declension adjective forms — the Wheelock-Ch.16 grammar focus.
Battle Task — Identify all verbs, and the 3rd-decl. adjectives
Hour 16 Passage on Britain II: Climate & Resources
(3rd-decl. adj. targets in bold, other verb targets in italics.)
- Plūs tamen ferōciae Britannī praeferunt, ut quōs nondum longa pāx ēmollierit.
- Nam Gallōs quoque in bellīs flōruisse accēpimus; mox sēgnitia cum ōtiō intrāvit, [āmissā virtūte pariter ac lībertāte].
- In pedite rōbur; quaedam nātiōnēs et currū proeliantur. Honestior aurīga, clientēs prōpugnant.
- Ōlim rēgibus pārēbant, nunc per prīncipēs factiōnibus et studiīs trahuntur.
- Nec aliud adversus validissimās gentēs prō nōbīs est ūtilius quam quod in commūne nōn cōnsulunt. Rārus duābus tribusve cīvitātibus ad prōpulsandum commūne perīculum conventus; ita singulī pugnant, ūniversī vincuntur.
- Caelum crēbrīs imbribus ac nebulīs foedum; asperitās frīgorum abest.
- Diērum spatia ultrā nostrī orbis mēnsūram; nox clāra et extrēmā Britanniae parte brevis, ut fīnem atque initium lūcis exiguō discrīmine internōscās.
- Quod sī nūbēs nōn officiant, aspicī per noctem sōlis fulgōrem, nec occidere et exsurgere, sed trānsīre adfirmant.
- Solum praeter oleam vītemque et cētera calidiōribus terrīs orīrī suēta patiēns frūgum, fēcundum: tardē mītēscunt, citō prōveniunt; eademque utrīusque reī causa, multus ūmor terrārum caelīque.
- Fert Britannia aurum et argentum et alia metalla, pretium victōriae.
- Gignit et oceanus margarīta, sed subfusca ac līventia.
- Quīdam artem abesse legentibus arbitrantur... ego facilius crēdiderim nātūram margarītīs dēesse quam nōbīs avāritiam.
Answer Key — 3rd-Decl. Adjective Targets (10, sorted by subtype)
Two-termination (3):
| # | Form | Lemma | Parsing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | commūne (s. 5, first) | commūnis, commūne | Ac.s.n., substantive "in common" |
| 2 | commūne (s. 5, second) | commūnis, commūne | Ac.s.n., agreeing with perīculum |
| 3 | brevis (s. 7) | brevis, breve | N.s.f., agreeing with nox |
One-termination (3):
| # | Form | Lemma | Parsing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | honestior (s. 3) | comp. of honestus | N.s.m., predicative |
| 5 | patiēns (s. 9) | patiēns, patientis (part. as adj.) | N.s.n. (agreeing with solum) — "tolerant of" + Gen. |
| 6 | līventia (s. 11) | līvēns, līventis (part. as adj.) | N.p.n. (agreeing with margarīta) |
Comparatives and indeclinable forms (4):
| # | Form | Lemma | Parsing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | plūs (s. 1) | plūs, plūris (indecl. comp. of multum) | N./Ac.s.n., with partitive gen. ferōciae |
| 8 | ūtilius (s. 5) | comp. of ūtilis, ūtile | N.s.n., agreeing with implicit aliud |
| 9 | calidiōribus (s. 9) | comp. of calidus, -a, -um | Abl.p.f., agreeing with terrīs |
| 10 | facilius (s. 12) | comp. adv. from facilis, -e | adverbial, with crēdiderim |
Answer Key — Other Verbs (~20 forms)
S. 1: praeferunt (pres.); ēmollierit (perf. subj.) S. 2: flōruisse (perf. infin.); accēpimus (perf.); intrāvit (perf.) S. 3: proeliantur (pres. dep.); prōpugnant (pres.) S. 4: pārēbant (impf.); trahuntur (pres. pass.) S. 5: est (pres.); cōnsulunt (pres.); pugnant, vincuntur (pres. act. / pres. pass.) S. 6: abest (pres. of absum) S. 7: internōscās (pres. subj., ut-clause) S. 8: officiant (pres. subj., sī-clause); aspicī, occidere, exsurgere, trānsīre (infinitives, indir. statement); adfirmant (pres.) S. 9: orīrī (pres. dep. infin.); mītēscunt, prōveniunt (pres.) S. 10: fert (pres. of ferō) S. 11: gignit (pres.) S. 12: abesse (pres. infin.); arbitrantur (pres. dep.); crēdiderim (perf. subj., potential); dēesse (pres. infin. of dēsum)
Questions on the Narrative
- In sentence 1, what is the partitive ferōciae doing with plūs? Translate the phrase.
- Sentence 2 reduces "what happened to Gaul" to a six-word formula. What is the formula? What does it tell you about Tacitus's view of imperial subjugation?
- Sentence 5's singulī pugnant, ūniversī vincuntur: identify the grammatical chiasmus. Translate.
- Sentence 7: explain the astronomical claim. Where on Earth was this most plausibly observed?
- Sentence 9 contrasts what grows in Britain vs. calidiōribus terrīs. What are the two products of warm lands Tacitus names? Why are they excluded from Britain?
- Sentence 12: who is nōs? Whose greed is Tacitus referring to?
Further Questions — Translation
Translate sentences 5, 11, and 12 into idiomatic English. Pay attention to: - The chiasmus singulī pugnant, ūniversī vincuntur — does English allow you to be this compressed? - The neut. pl. līventia in s. 11 — what does agreeing with margarīta tell you about Tacitus's grammatical choice? - The closing line in s. 12 — does English allow facilius crēdiderim + double-infinitive comparison?
Screening
Proposed clip: Britain's Weather: A History (BBC, 2018). Druids (BBC, 2003) for the collapse of the Celtic League. Timelapse of midsummer twilight at Shetland (60.7°N). Subject to instructor confirmation.
Discussion
-
Sentence 5's singulī pugnant, ūniversī vincuntur diagnoses British political fragmentation as the Romans' best advantage. But Tacitus is writing under an emperor (Trajan). What does it mean for Tacitus to praise the cohesion the Romans use against the Britons?
-
Compare sentence 5 to Caesar in DBG 6.11–13. Caesar describes Gallic factionalism in similar terms but never coins the apothegm. What is the rhetorical difference between Caesar's full-paragraph description and Tacitus's single aphorism?
-
Sentence 12's closing — nōs lacking nothing in greed — is formally a comment on pearl quality, but rhetorically a comment on Roman imperialism. Compare to Agricola 30 (Calgacus's speech, "they make a desert and call it peace").
-
After two hours on Tacitus's Britain (Hours 15–16), what have you learned about Britain that Caesar didn't tell you? What have you learned about Tacitus the writer that you needed to read Caesar first to understand?
Intermission
Break before Hour 17 (return to Caesar — DBG 5.55–58; Wheelock Ch. 17, Relative Pronouns).
Sources
- Latin text: Tacitus, De Vita Iulii Agricolae 12–13, from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit corpus (phi1351), with light morphological smoothing.
- English translation: A. J. Church & W. J. Brodribb (1877, with W. Peterson revisions), adapted.
- Grammar: Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 16.
- Course design: 0 Caesar's Latin Course Structure and Task 1-2 .docx.
- Tacitean style: Ronald Syme, Tacitus (1958), I.17; Anthony Birley, The Roman Government of Britain (2005), pp. 71–94.
- The British climate / latitude observation: Barry Cunliffe, Britain Begins (2013), Ch. on Roman Britain; Brian M. Fagan, The Little Ice Age (2000), Ch. 1 (on Roman-era British climate).
- Tacitus on imperialism: Ronald Syme, Tacitus (1958), II.27 (the Agricola and the Domitianic legacy); A. J. Woodman, Tacitus on Tiberius (2009), Introduction (Tacitean compression as political criticism).