TACITUS.
 

TACITUS.
 

rin at the  solemnity  of the  Ludi Seculares

which were  celebrated in that year.  Agricola

died at Rome in 93, but neither Tacitus nor the

daughter of Agricola was then with him.  It is

not known where Tacitus was during the last

illness of Agricola.  In the reign of Nerva, 97,

Tacitus was appointed consul suffectus, in the

place of T. Virginius Rufus, who had died  in

that year, and whose funeral oration  he deliv¬

ered.  We know that Tacitus had attained ora¬

torical distinction when the  younger Pliny was

commencing his career.   He and Tacitus were

appointed in the reign of Nerva (99) to conduct

the prosecution of Marius, proconsul of Africa.

Tacitus  and  Pliny were most  intimate friends.

Ia the  collection of the letters of Pliny there

are eleven letters addressed to Tacitus   The

time of the  death of Tacitus is unknown, but

he appears to  have  survived Trajan,  who died

117. Nothing is recorded of any children  of

his, though the Emperor Tacitus claimed a de¬

scent from the historian, and ordered his works

to be placed in all (public) libraries.  The fol¬

lowing are the extant works of Tacitus: 1. Vita

Agricola, the life of Agricola, which was writ¬

ten after the death of Domitian, 96, as we may

probably conclude from the introduction, which

was certainly written after Trajan's accession.

This life is justly admired as a specimen of bi¬

ography.   It is a monument to the  memory of

a good man, and an able commander and ad¬

ministrator, by an affectionate son-in-law,  who

has portrayed,  in his peculiar manner and with

many masterly touches, the virtues of one of

the most illustrious  of the Romans.  2. Histo¬

ria, which were written after the death of Ner¬

va, 98, and before the Annales   They compre¬

hended the period from the second consulship

of Galba, 68, to the death of Domitian, 96, and

the author designed to add the reigns of Nerva

and Trajan   The first four books alone are ex¬

tant in a complete form,  and they comprehend

only the events of about one year.   The fifth

book is imperfect, and goes no further than the

commencement ofthe siege of Jerusalem by Ti¬

tus, and the  war of Civilis in Germany.   It is

not known how many books of the  Histories

there were, but it must have been a large work

if it was all  written on the  same scale as the

first five books. 3  Annales, which commence

with the death of Augustus, 14, and  comprise

the period to the death of Nero, 68, a space  of

fifty-four years. The greater part of the fifth

book is lost,  and also the seventh, eighth, ninth,

tenth, the beginning of the eleventh, and the

end of the sixteenth, which  is the last book.

These lost parts comprised  the whole of Calig¬

ula's reign, the first five years of Claudius, and

the last two  of Nero.  4  De Moribus et Populis

Germania, a treatise describing the Germanic

nations.   It  is of no value as  a geographical

description; the first few chapters contain  as

much of the geography of Germany as Tacitus

knew.   The main matter is the description  of

the political institutions,  the  religion, and the

habits of the various tribes included under the

denomination  of Germani   The value of the

information contained in this treatise  has often

been discussed, and its credit lity attacked ; but

we may estimate its true character by observ-

irg the precision ofthe writer as to those Ger-
 

mans who wera  best known  to  the  Romans

from being near the Rhine.  That the hearsay

accounts of more remote tribes must partake

ofthe defects of all such evidence, is obvious,

and we can not easily tell whether Tacitus em¬

bellished that  which he  heard obscurely told.

But to consider the Germany as a fiction is one

of those absurdities which need only be record¬

ed, not refuted.  5. Dialogus de Oratoribus.  If

this dialogue is the work of Tacitus, and it prob

ably is, it must be his earliest  work, for it was

written in the sixth year of Vespasian (c 17).

The style is more easy than that ofthe Annals,

more  diffuse, less  condensed;  but there is  no

obvious  difference between  the style  of this

Dialogue and the Histories, nothing so striking

as to  make us contend for a different  author¬

ship.  Besides  this, it is nothing unusual for

works of the same author, which are written at

different times, to vary greatly in style, espe¬

cially  if they treat of different matters.  The

old  MSS  attribute this  Dialogue to Tacitus.

The Annals of Tacitus, the work of a  mature

age contain the   chief events of the period

which they embrace, arranged  under their sev-

eral years   There seems no peculiar propriety

in giving the name of Annales to this work,

simply because the events are arranged in the

order of time.   The work of Livy may just as

well be called Annals.  In the Annals of Tac¬

itus, the Princeps or Emperor is the centre about

which events are grouped.  Yet the most im¬

portant public events, both in Italy and the prov¬

inces, are not omitted, though every  thing is

treated as subordinate to the exhibition of im¬

perial power.  The Histories, which were writ¬

ten before  the Annals, are in a more diffuse

style,  and  the  treatment  of the extant part is

different  from that of the Annals.   Tacitus

wrote the  Histories as a contemporary;  the

Annals as not a contemporary.  They  are two

distinct works, not parts of one, which  is clear¬

ly shown by the very different proportions  of

the two works : the first four books of the His¬

tories comprise about a year, and the first four

books of the Annals comprise fourteen years.

The  moral  dignity of Tacitus  is  impressed

upon his  works;  the consciousness of a  love

of truth, of the integrity of his purpose.  His

great power is in  the knowledge of the human

mind, his insight  into  the motives  of human

conduct; and he found materials for this study

in the history of the emperors, and particular¬

ly Tiberius, the arch-hypocrite, and perhaps hall

madman.   His Annals are filled with dramatic

scenes and striking catastrophes.  He labor¬

ed to  produce effect by the exhibition  of great

personages  on the stage ; but as to the mass

of the people we learn little from Tacitus.  The

style  of Tacitus  is peculiar, though  it bears

some  resemblance to Sallust   In the Annals it

is concise, vigorous, and pregnant with mean¬

ing ; labored, but elaborated with art, and strip¬

ped of every superfluity.  A single word some¬

times gives effect to a  sentence, and if the

meaning  of the word  is  missed, the sense  of

the writer is not reached.  Such a work is prob¬

ably the result of many transcriptions by the

author.   In the Annals  Tacitus  is generally

brief and rapid in his sketches ; but he  is some

times minute,  and almost  tedious, when  fif