The Germany and Agricola of Tacitus

The portrait of Tacitus' father-in-law, Agricola, is a eulogistic description of the career of the famous governor of Roman Britain, and it contains the first detailed account of the British Isles. In the Germania Tacitus examines the life and customs of the war-like German tribes, often comparing them favourably with the decadence of Imperial Rome. Hailed as a ' golden book ', the Germania is certainly the best of its kind in antiquity.