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Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , (2025). 9781405881173, Pearson Education ESL. ISBN 9781405881173 ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
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Tacitus’ two major historical works, Annals (Latin: Annales) and the Histories (Latin: Historiae), originally formed a continuous narrative of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus (14 AD) to the end of Domitian’s reign (96 AD). The surviving portions of the Annals focus on the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD).
Tacitus's other writings discuss Public speaking (in dialogue format, see Dialogus de oratoribus), Germania (in De origine et situ Germanorum), and the life of his father-in-law, Agricola (the general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Roman Britain), mainly focusing on his campaign in Britannia ( De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae). Tacitus's Histories offers insights into Roman attitudes towards Jews, descriptions of Jewish customs, and context for the First Jewish–Roman War. His Annals are of interest for providing an early account of the persecution of Christians and one of the earliest extra-Biblical references to the crucifixion of Jesus.
Tacitus was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family.Since he was appointed to the quaestorship during Titus's short rule (see note below) and twenty-five was the minimum age for the position, the date of his birth can be fixed with some accuracy. The place and date of his birth, as well as his praenomen (first name) are not known. In the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris his name is Gaius, but in the major surviving manuscript of his work his name is given as Publius.See Oliver, 1951, for an analysis of the manuscript from which the name Publius is taken; see also Oliver, 1977, which examines the evidence for each suggested praenomen (the well-known Gaius and Publius, the lesser-known suggestions of Sextus and Quintus) before settling on Publius as the most likely. One scholar's suggestion of the name Sextus has been largely rejected.Oliver, 1977, cites an article by Harold Mattingly in Rivista storica dell'Antichità, 2 (1972) 169–85
In his article on Tacitus in Pauly-Wissowa, I. Borzsak conjectured that the historian was related to Thrasea Paetus and Etruscan family of Caecinia gens, about whom he spoke very highly. Furthermore, some later Caecinii bore cognomen Tacitus, which also could indicate some sort of relationship. It has been suggested that the historian's mother was a daughter of Aulus Caecina Paetus, suffect consul of 37, and sister of Arria, wife of Thrasea. Caecina. Strachan stemma.
His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who served as Promagistrate of Belgica and Germania; Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who aged rapidly (NH 7.76), which implies an early death.
There is no mention of Tacitus's suffering such a condition, but it is possible that this refers to a brother—if Cornelius was indeed his father.Syme, 1958, pp. 60, 613; Gordon, 1936, pg. 149; Martin, 1981, pg. 26
The friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus leads some scholars to conclude that they were both the offspring of wealthy provincial families.Syme, 1958, pg. 63
The province of his birth remains unknown, though various conjectures suggest Gallia Belgica, Gallia Narbonensis, or Northern Italy.Michael Grant in Introduction to Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, p. xvii; Herbert W. Benario in Introduction to Tacitus, Germany, pg. 1. His marriage to the daughter of Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus's dedication to Lucius Fabius Justus in the Dialogus may indicate a connection with Spain, and his friendship with Pliny suggests origins in northern Italy.Syme, 1958, pp. 614–16
No evidence exists, however, that Pliny's friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Pliny's letters hint that the two men had a common background.Syme, 1958, pp. 616–19 Pliny Book 9, Letter 23, reports that when asked whether he was Italian or provincial, he gave an unclear answer and so was asked whether he was Tacitus or Pliny. Since Pliny was from Italy, some infer that Tacitus was from the provinces, probably Gallia Narbonensis.Syme, 1958, pg. 619; Gordon, 1936, pg. 145
His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his sympathetic depiction of barbarians who resisted Roman rule (e.g., Ann. 2.9) have led some to suggest that he was a Celts. This belief stems from the fact that the Celts who had occupied Gaul prior to the Roman invasion were famous for their skill in oratory and had been subjugated by Rome.Gordon, 1936, pp. 150–51; Syme, 1958, pp. 621–24
Little is known of their domestic life, save that Tacitus loved hunting and the outdoors.Pliny, Letters 1.6, 9.10; Benario, 1975, pp. 15, 17; Syme, 1958, pp. 541–42 He started his career (probably the latus clavus, mark of the senator)Syme, 1958, pg. 63; Martin, 1981, pp. 26–27 under Vespasian( 1.1) (r. 69–79), but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus.He states his debt to Titus in his Histories ( 1.1); since Titus ruled only briefly, these are the only years possible.
He advanced steadily through the cursus honorum, becoming praetor in 88 and a quindecimvir, a member of the priestly college in charge of the Sibylline Books and the Saecular Games.In the Annals ( 11.11), he mentions that, as praetor, he assisted in the Secular Games held by Domitian, which can be precisely dated to 88. See Syme, 1958, pg. 65; Martin, 1981, pg. 27; Benario in his Introduction to Tacitus, Germany, p. 1. He gained acclaim as a lawyer and as an orator; his skill in public speaking ironically counterpoints his cognomen, Tacitus ("silent").
He served in the provinces from to , either in command of a Roman legion or in a civilian post.The Agricola ( 45.5) indicates that Tacitus and his wife were absent at the time of Julius Agricola's death in 93. For his occupation during this time see Syme, 1958, p. 68; Benario, 1975, p. 13; Dudley, 1968, pp. 15–16; Martin, 1981, p. 28; Mellor, 1993, p. 8 He and his property survived Domitian's reign of terror (81–96), but the experience left him jaded and perhaps ashamed at his own complicity, instilling in him the hatred of tyrant evident in his works.For the effects on Tacitus of this experience see Dudley, 1968, pg. 14; Mellor, 1993, pp. 8–9 The Agricola, chs. 44– 45, is illustrative:
Agricola was spared those later years during which Domitian, leaving now no interval or breathing space of time, but, as it were, with one continuous blow, drained the life-blood of the Commonwealth... It was not long before our hands dragged Helvidius to prison, before we gazed on the dying looks of Junius Mauricus and Rusticus, before we were steeped in Senecio's innocent blood. Even Nero turned his eyes away, and did not gaze upon the atrocities which he ordered; with Domitian it was the chief part of our miseries to see and to be seen, to know that our sighs were being recorded...
From his seat in the Roman Senate, he became suffect consul in 97 during the reign of Nerva, being the novus homo to do so. During his tenure, he reached the height of his fame as an orator when he delivered the funeral oration for the famous veteran soldier Lucius Verginius Rufus.Pliny, Letters, 2.1 (English); Benario in his Introduction to Tacitus, Germany, pp. 1–2.
In the following year, he wrote and published the Agricola and Germania, foreshadowing the literary endeavors that would occupy him until his death.In the Agricola ( 3), he announces what was probably his first major project: the Histories. See Dudley, 1968, pg. 16
Afterward, he absented himself from public life, but returned during Trajan's reign (98–117). In 100, he and his friend Pliny the Younger prosecuted (proconsul of Africa) for corruption. Priscus was found guilty and sent into exile; Pliny wrote a few days later that Tacitus had spoken "with all the majesty which characterizes his usual style of oratory".Pliny, Letters 2.11
A lengthy absence from politics and law followed while he wrote the Histories and the Annals. In 112 to 113, he held the highest civilian governorship, that of the Roman province of Asia in western Anatolia, recorded in the inscription found at Mylasa mentioned above. A passage in the Annals fixes 116 as the terminus post quem of his death, which may have been as late as 125 or even 130. It seems that he survived both Pliny (died ) and Trajan (died 117).Grant in his Introduction to Tacitus, Annals, pg. xvii; Benario in his Introduction to Tacitus, Germania, pg. 2. Annals, 2.61, says that the Roman Empire "now extends to the Red Sea".
If by mare rubrum he means the Persian Gulf, the passage must have been written after Trajan's eastern conquests in 116, but before Hadrian abandoned the new territories in 117. But this may only indicate the date of publication for the first books of the Annals; Tacitus could have lived well into Hadrian's reign, and there is no reason to suppose that he did not. See Dudley, 1968, pg. 17; Mellor, 1993, pg. 9; Mendell, 1957, pg. 7; Syme, 1958, pg. 473; against this traditional interpretation, e.g., Goodyear, 1981, pp. 387–93.
It remains unknown whether Tacitus had any children. The Historia Augusta reports that Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus (r. 275–276) claimed him for an ancestor and provided for the preservation of his works, but this story may be fraudulent, like much of the Augustan History. Augustan History, Tacitus X. Scholarly opinion on this story is that it is either "a confused and worthless rumor" (Mendell, 1957, pg. 4) or "pure fiction" (Syme, 1958, p. 796). Sidonius Apollinaris reports ( Letters, 4.14; cited in Syme, 1958, pg. 796) that Polemius, a 5th-century Gallo-Roman aristocrat, is descended from Tacitus — but this claim, says Syme (ibid.), is of little value.
In most of his writings, he keeps to a chronological narrative order, only seldom outlining the bigger picture, leaving the readers to construct that picture for themselves. Nonetheless, where he does use broad strokes, for example, in the opening paragraphs of the Annals, he uses a few condensed phrases which take the reader to the heart of the story.
inde consilium mihi ... tradere ... sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo.
my purpose is ... to relate ... without either anger or zeal, motives from which I am far removed.
There has been much scholarly discussion about Tacitus's "neutrality". Throughout his writing, he is preoccupied with the balance of power between the Senate and the Roman emperor, and the increasing corruption of the governing social class of Rome as they adjusted to the ever-growing wealth and power of the empire. In Tacitus's view, senators squandered their cultural inheritance—that of free speech—to placate their (rarely benign) emperor.
Tacitus noted the increasing dependence of the emperor on the goodwill of his armies. The Julio-Claudians eventually gave way to generals, who followed Julius Caesar (and Sulla and Pompey) in recognizing that military might could secure them the political power in Rome. ( Hist. 1.4)
Welcome as the death of Nero had been in the first burst of joy, yet it had not only roused various emotions in Rome, among the Senators, the people, or the soldiery of the capital, it had also excited all the legions and their generals; for now had been divulged that secret of the empire, that emperors could be made elsewhere than at Rome.
Tacitus's political career was largely lived out under the emperor Domitian. His experience of the tyranny, corruption, and decadence of that era (81–96) may explain the bitterness and irony of his political analysis. He draws our attention to the dangers of power without accountability, love of power untempered by principle, and the apathy and corruption engendered by the concentration of wealth generated through trade and conquest by the empire.
Nonetheless, the image he builds of Tiberius throughout the first six books of the Annals is neither exclusively bleak nor approving: most scholars view the image of Tiberius as predominantly positive in the first books, and predominantly negative after the intrigues of Sejanus. The entrance of Tiberius in the first chapters of the first book is dominated by the hypocrisy of the new emperor and his courtiers. In the later books, some respect is evident for the cleverness of the old emperor in securing his position.
In general, Tacitus does not fear to praise and to criticize the same person, often noting what he takes to be their more admirable and less admirable properties. One of Tacitus's hallmarks is refraining from conclusively taking sides for or against persons he describes, which has led some to interpret his works as both supporting and rejecting the imperial system (see Tacitean studies, Black vs. Red Tacitists).
A passage of , where Tacitus laments the state of the historiography regarding the last four emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, illustrates his style: "The histories of Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero, while they were in power, were falsified through terror and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred", The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 1#1 Translation based on Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (1876). Wikisource, 15 April 2012. or in a word-for-word translation:
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Compared to the Ciceronian period, where sentences were usually the length of a paragraph and artfully constructed with nested pairs of carefully matched sonorous phrases, this is short and to the point. But it is also very individual. Note the three different ways of saying and in the first line ( -que, et, ac), and especially the matched second and third lines. They are parallel in sense but not in sound; the pairs of words ending " -entibus … -is" are crossed over in a way that deliberately breaks the Ciceronian conventions—which one would, however, need to be acquainted with to see the novelty of Tacitus's style. Some readers, then and now, find this teasing of their expectations merely irritating. Others find the deliberate discord, playing against the evident parallelism of the two lines, stimulating and intriguing.Ostler 2007, pp. 98–99 where the quoted example is used; Further quotes from the book: "…some writers—notably the perverse genius Tacitus—delighted in disappointing the expectations raised by periodic theory." – "this monkeying with hard-won stylistic norms…only makes sense if readers knew the rules that Tacitus was breaking."
His historical works focus on the motives of the characters, often with penetrating insight—though it is questionable how much of his insight is correct, and how much is convincing only because of his rhetorical skill.John Taylor. Tacitus and the Boudican Revolt. Dublin: Camvlos, 1998. p. 1 ff He is at his best when exposing hypocrisy and dissimulation; for example, he follows a narrative recounting Tiberius's refusal of the title pater patriae by recalling the institution of a law forbidding any "treasonous" speech or writings—and the frivolous prosecutions which resulted ( Annals, 1.72). Elsewhere ( Annals 4.64–66) he compares Tiberius's public distribution of fire relief to his failure to stop the perversions and abuses of justice which he had begun. Although this kind of insight has earned him praise, he has also been criticized for ignoring the larger context.
Tacitus owes most, both in language and in method, to Sallust, and Ammianus Marcellinus is the later historian whose work most closely approaches him in style.
Tacitus cites some of his sources directly, among them Cluvius Rufus, Fabius Rusticus and Pliny the Elder, who had written Bella Germaniae and a historical work which was the continuation of that of Aufidius Bassus. Tacitus also uses collections of letters ( epistolarium). He also took information from exitus illustrium virorum. These were a collection of books by those who were antithetical to the emperors. They tell of sacrifices by martyrs to freedom, especially the men who committed suicide. While he places no value on the Stoicism theory of suicide and views suicides as ostentatious and politically useless, Tacitus often gives prominence to speeches made by those about to commit suicide, for example Cremutius Cordus's speech in Ann. IV, 34–35.
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