THE EVIDENCE OF TACITUS : BATTLE OF MONS GRAUPIUS

The Commanding Officer, Agricola, drew up his troops so that eight thousand auxiliary
infantry soldiers were in the centre of the battlefield. Three thousand cavalry soldiers were
spread out1 on each side. The Roman legionaries were positioned in front of the palisade
as reinforcement should the others be defeated and pushed back.

To impress the army and cause fear amongst our soldiers the British warriors were drawn
up on higher ground2 , so that their front lines were on the level ground. The rest, on a
gentle slope3 behind them, seemed to be towering4 higher and higher above us. The war-
chariots, noisily manoeuvring, filled the plain between them and ourselves. Their numbers
were greater than ours.

Agricola was worried that the enemy might attack from the front and at the sides at the
same time so spread out his ranks. This meant that the line of soldiers was less densely
packed5 . Most of his staff wanted him to call up the legions, but he was more confident
than they and deaf 6 to all their warnings. He sent away his horse and took up his position
on foot in front of the auxiliaries.

The battle began. The Britons, with their long swords7 and short shields8, showed
determination and skill9 in evading and brushing aside10 the Roman missiles. They
launched11 dense volleys of spears, until Agricola ordered four battalions of Batavi
and two of Tungri to bring things to the swords point and hand to hand fighting. This
manoeuvre was familiar to the soldiers from their long service in the army but difficult for
the enemy. The British shields were small and their swords, without points, made it
difficult for them to fight in close lines and at close quarters. When the Batavi began to
fight hand to hand, to strike 12 with their shield bosses13 , to stab14 the enemy in the face,
and push their line uphill, the other battalions, stirring themselves15 to copy their charge,
started to slaughter16 the nearest British warriors17. In their haste18 to take the victory they
left behind them many only half killed, or even unhurt.

1 se dployer
2
terrain
3 pente
4 dominer
5 entass
6 sourd
7 pes
8 bouclier
9
adresse
10 carter, repousser
11 lancer
12 frapper
13
L'umbo : pice bombe ou conique en fer ou bronze se trouvant au milieu d'un bouclier, protgeant la
main
14 poignarder
15 se pousser
16 massacrer
17 guerriers
18 hte
Meanwhile, the squadrons19 of cavalry took a hand in the infantry battle. And here, though
they caused momentary panic, they found themselves brought to a standstill by the close
ranks of the enemy and the unevenness 20of the ground. It began to look very little like a
cavalry action as our troops were pushed forward by the weight of the horses. Again and
again straggling 21chariots, the horses terror-stricken22 and driverless, charged wildly in
panic.

On the hilltops, away from the fighting, the rest of the Britons had been laughing at the
small numbers of our men. They began, little by little, to move down the hill and surround
the edges of the conquering army.

The British strategy was turned against them. At the Generals order the Roman
squadrons moved from the front of the battle and attacked the enemy from behind. After
this began a grand and gory23 drama of pursuit, wounds, capture, and butchery for the
captives. The enemy fled in armed hordes before our smaller numbers, in some cases,
they charged unarmed, and sacrificed their lives to the gods rather than face capture.
Everywhere there were weapons, corpses, lopped limbs, and blood upon the ground.

Sometimes even the defeated showed courage. As they came to the forest, where they
were on their home ground, they rallied round and began to surround groups of our
pursuing troops. If Agricola hadnt been there and ordered his strong, light-armed cohorts
to comb24 the woods with the help of his dismounted cavalry, then the renewed bravery of
the Britons might have lost us the battle.

Be that as it may, when the British saw the chase25 taken up26 by our soldiers, they broke
away and scattered without a thought for each other, making for their distant hill-forts.The
enemy lost ten thousand men; on our side we lost three hundred and sixty.

19 escadrons
20 irrgularit
21
dissmin
22 terroriss
23 =bloody : sanglante
24 ratisser
25 la poursuite
26 reprise par
Read the text entitled the Battle of Mons Graupius - it took place in in
Northern Scotland in AD 84.
The original text was written by Tacitus, the son-in-law of Agricola, who
led the campaign to conquer the north of Britain.

A/ Say from which point of view the story is told.

Highlight words which are objective ( factual ) in one colour and those which are
subjective / biased ( opinion) in another colour.
Then explain which side we are meant to sympathize with and why.

B/ Use one colour to underline words that refer to the numbers, weapons and tactics
of the Roman Army and another for the Britons.
Use a third colour for the setting of the battle , highlighting the landscape and
any built features.
Then discuss how the tactics of the two sides differed and why so many Britons
were defeated by so few Roman soldiers.