Malicious falsehood is the worst travesty of justice humanly possible.

Malicious falsehood is the worst travesty of justice humanly possible. Antiphon. On the Choreutes. Speech 6. Section 7.

Agricola was recalled from Britain in 85, after an unusually long tenure as governor. Tacitus claims Domitian ordered his recall because Agricola's successes outshone the Emperor's own modest victories in Germany but, as often happens with victorious generals, rumors may have been circulating that he coveted the throne. Agricola re-entered Rome unobtrusively, reporting as ordered to the palace at night. The relationship between Agricola and the Emperor is unclear, though. On the one hand, Agricola was awarded triumphal decorations and a statue (the highest military honors apart from an actual triumph). On the other, Agricola never again held a civil or military post, in spite of his experience and renown. He was offered the governorship of the province of Africa, but declined it, whether due to ill health or (as Tacitus claims) the machinations of Domitian. In 93, Agricola died on his family estates in Gallia Narbonensis aged fifty-three. Rumours circulated attributing the death to a poison administered by the Emperor Domitian, but no positive evidence for this was ever produced.

Image: Calgacus delivering the famous "they make a desert and call it peace" speech to the Caledonians before the battle of Mons Graupius with Agricola's legions, 1859, from The Pictorial History of Scotland from the Roman Invasion to the close of the Jacobite Rebellion. A.D. 79-1646, (PD) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.