much more frequently than was customary with a court whose visits were
chiefly paid by messages; whether that was done out of real solicitude, or
for the purposes of state inquisition. On the day of his decease, it is
certain that accounts of his approaching dissolution were every instant
transmitted to the emperor by couriers stationed for the purpose; and no
one believed that the information, which so much pains was taken to
accelerate, could be received with regret. He put on, however, in his
countenance and demeanor, the semblance of grief: for he was now secured
from an object of hatred, and could more easily conceal his joy than his
fear. It was well known that on reading the will, in which he was
nominated co-heir [144] with the excellent wife and most dutiful daughter
of Agricola, he expressed great satisfaction, as if it had been a
voluntary testimony of honor and esteem: so blind and corrupt had his mind
been rendered by continual adulation, that he was ignorant none but a bad
prince could be nominated heir to a good father.

44. Agricola was born in the ides of June, during the third consulate of
Caius Caesar; [145] he died in his fifty-sixth year, on the tenth of the
calends of September, when Collega and Priscus were consuls. [146]
Posterity may wish to form an idea of his person. His figure was comely
rather than majestic. In his countenance there was nothing to inspire awe;
its character was gracious and engaging. You would readily have believed
him a good man, and willingly a great one. And indeed, although he was
snatched away in the midst of a vigorous age, yet if his life be measured
by his glory, it was a period of the greatest extent. For after the full
enjoyment of all that is truly good, which is found in virtuous pursuits
alone, decorated with consular and triumphal ornaments, what more could
fortune contribute to his elevation? Immoderate wealth did not fall to his
share, yet he possessed a decent affluence. [147] His wife and daughter
surviving, his dignity unimpaired, his reputation flourishing, and his