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Agricola’s preface credits Nerva with mixing principate and liberty and Trajan with daily increasing the times’ good fortune

Agricola 3 says Nerva mixed things long incompatible, principate and liberty, and that Trajan daily increases the happiness of the times, though remedies are slower than diseases after fifteen years. In the causal graph this event strengthens Democratic Resilience, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

Agricola 3 says Nerva mixed things long incompatible, principate and liberty, and that Trajan daily increases the happiness of the times, though remedies are slower than diseases after fifteen years. He did not draft a lex on mixed government. Democratic resilience here is senatorial hope after Domitian. 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: Britannica — Tacitus at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tacitus-Roman-historian (opens in a new tab) (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Context

The same preface admits that talents are easier to crush than to revive. That honesty keeps the row from being a Trajanic poster. The consulship of 97 is the office; this is the written theory of the moment. Hadrian later is not yet in the sentence.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Why it matters

A portable formula of principate-plus-liberty is a democratic path, modest because it is praise-adjacent. High confidence on the Latin; later ‘good emperors’ school tales are reception.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Tacitus

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    He wrote the Nerva/Trajan sentences. The emperors supplied the thaw. Complex panegyric-plus-hope, not a constitution.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactAgricola’s preface credits Nerva with mixing principate and liberty and Trajan with daily increasing the times’ good fortune
    2. strengthensDriverDemocratic Resilience
    3. strengthensIndicators (3)Having a say in government
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 98 · verified

    • Having a say in government

      via Democratic Resilience

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.21 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.7)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Clean elections index

      via Democratic Resilience

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      0.53 score from 0 to 1 · 0.34 below the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.17 score from 0 to 1 to 0.53 score from 0 to 1.

      Above normal = better

    • WJP Rule of Law Index (global)

      via Democratic Resilience

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      0.55 index score (0-1) · 0.26 below the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      Above normal = better

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.The Latin Library — Tacitus, AgricolaThe Latin Library · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — TacitusEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Latin Library Agricola 3 is the public Latin. Britannica independently places the Agricola at the Nerva/Trajan opening. Perseus English carries the mix of principate and liberty. No statute text is attached.

Established: Agricola 3 as his 98 text. Not established: a unique liberty index, or that Nerva’s mix was more than a slogan. Conventional year. Not Trajan’s later wars.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of Agricola’s preface credits Nerva with mixing principate and liberty and Trajan with daily increasing the times’ good fortune are separate paths.

Shared responsibility is part of Agricola’s preface credits Nerva with mixing principate and liberty and Trajan with daily increasing the times’ good fortune. 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.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorTacitus
  2. contributed toFactAgricola’s preface credits Nerva with mixing principate and liberty and Trajan with daily increasing the times’ good fortune
  3. strengthensDriverDemocratic Resilience
  4. strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Agricola’s preface credits Nerva with mixing principate and liberty and Trajan with daily increasing the times’ good fortune. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-nerva-trajan-preface

https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-nerva-trajan-preface

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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