Agricola 12 records Britain’s gold, silver, and other metals as the price of victory, alongside grain levies
Agricola 12 says Britain bears gold, silver, and other metals, the price of victory, and that the Ocean yields pearls. Combined with 19–21 on grain and levies, the book makes extraction readable. In the causal graph this event weakens Energy Security, a driver that strengthens Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population) — an improving welfare path.
Read the full account
Agricola 12 says Britain bears gold, silver, and other metals, the price of victory, and that the Ocean yields pearls. Combined with 19–21 on grain and levies, the book makes extraction readable. He did not operate a mine. Archival locator: The Latin Library — Tacitus, Agricola at https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tacitus/tac.agri.shtml (opens in a new tab) (The Latin Library). Independent locator: Perseus — Tacitus, Agricola (English) at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0081 (opens in a new tab) (Perseus Digital Library / Tufts).
Context
It is the resource sentence. Fiscal tribute could have been chosen; energy captures metals-as-prize. Later Welsh and Cornish mining histories are not 98.
Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Pearls and togas in the same chapters are not extra Facts. Mixed effects of Agricola 12 records Britain’s gold, silver, and other metals as the price of victory, alongside grain levies are separate paths.
Why it matters
Modest size, medium confidence on the sentence, low on quantities. Later industrial mining is not his act.
That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Tacitus
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.2 · verified
He wrote metals as pretium victoriae. Roman extraction in Britain is Agricola’s and the fisc’s deed. Complex; Tacitus did not sink a shaft.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactAgricola 12 records Britain’s gold, silver, and other metals as the price of victory, alongside grain levies
- weakensDriverEnergy Security
- strengthensIndicators (4)Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population)
impact weight 0.2 · Effect from 1 January 98 · verified
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.12 (weight 0.2 × strength 0.62)
Observed
10.4% · 10.2 above the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 11.1% to 10.4%.
Above normal = worse
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.12 (weight 0.2 × strength 0.6)
Observed
7.97% of population aged 16 years or over · 5.2 above the normal line (2025)
Worse than normal8 readings, 2018–2025: rose from 7.77% of population aged 16 years or over to 7.97% of population aged 16 years or over.
Above normal = worse
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.1 (weight 0.2 × strength 0.5)
Observed
91.6% of population · 8.4 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normal4 readings, 2020–2023: rose from 90.4% of population to 91.6% of population.
Above normal = better
All indicators on this path (4)
- Better
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.1 (weight 0.2 × strength 0.48)
Observed
80 Years · 2.3 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normal6 readings, 2018–2023: rose from 79.5 Years to 80 Years.
Above normal = better
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.Perseus — Tacitus, Agricola (English)Perseus Digital Library / Tufts · High credibility · verified
- 2.The Latin Library — Tacitus, AgricolaThe Latin Library · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
Latin Library Agricola 12 is the public Latin. Perseus English independently translates pretium victoriae. Britannica’s Britain-under-Rome sketches use Tacitus for resources and grain. No unique tonnage is supplied.
Established: Agricola 12 metals sentence as his. Not established: a unique yield, or that he surveyed veins. Conventional 98. Not a modern energy market.
Shared responsibility is part of Agricola 12 records Britain’s gold, silver, and other metals as the price of victory, alongside grain levies. Naming Tacitus does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 0098-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.
If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.
Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorTacitus
- contributed toFactAgricola 12 records Britain’s gold, silver, and other metals as the price of victory, alongside grain levies
- weakensDriverEnergy Security
- strengthensIndicatorPoverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population)
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). Agricola 12 records Britain’s gold, silver, and other metals as the price of victory, alongside grain levies. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-energy-mines-britain
https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-energy-mines-britain
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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