Gnaeus Julius Agricola (lived AD 40–⁠93)

As governor of Britain he led the legions farther north than any Roman before him and won a great battle at Mons Graupius, whose location we do not know today. Tacitus writes that Domitian received the news of the victory with joy on his face and unease in his heart: he feared that a private citizen’s name would be raised above the emperor’s.

Agricola received triumphal ornaments and was recalled. He entered Rome by night, and the emperor greeted him with a brief kiss, without a word. He died in AD 93; a rumor of poison circulated, but Tacitus says he would not venture to affirm anything.

Everything we know about him comes from the biography written by his son-in-law, Tacitus.