A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

490 From Principate to Monarchy
of ashes fell upon us, which we were obliged every now and
then to shake off, otherwise we should have been overwhelmed
and buried in a heap. ... At last this terrible
darkness gradually faded, like a cloud of smoke; the real
day returned and even the sun appeared, though very
faintly, just as when an eclipse is coming on. Every object
which presented itself seemed changed, for it was covered
with white ashes, as with a deep snow.
VII.
The Administration of Britain under Domitian
Britain.
Tacitus,
Agricola,
ig
A ncient
World, 472.
Appointed governor of Britain, Agricola chose rather to
confer offices and employments upon such as would not
offend, than to condemn those who had offended. The
expense resulting from an increase of the mihtary tribunes
he made easier by a just and equal assessment; he aboHshed
those private exactions which were more grievous than the
taxes themselves. For the inhabitants had been compelled
in mockery to sit by their own locked-up granaries, to buy
corn needlessly, and to sell it again at a stated price. Long
and difficult journeys had also been imposed upon them;
for the several districts, instead of being allowed to supply
the nearest winter quarters, were forced to carry their corn
to remote and out-of-the-way places. Thus what was easy
for all to procure was converted into an article of gain to a
few.
Tac. Agr. 20. By suppressing these abuses in the first year of his
Civilization
and education.
administration, he established a favorable idea of peace,
which through the negligence or oppression of earlier rulers,
had been no less dreaded than war.
In order by a taste of pleasure to reclaim the natives
from that rude and unsettled state which prompted them
to war, and win them to peace and quiet, he induced them