Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.Compare:
His two major historical works, Annals (Latin: ) and the Histories (Latin: ), 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).
His other writings discuss oratory (in dialogue format, see ), 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 Britain), mainly focusing on his campaign in Britannia (De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae).
Life Details about the personal life of Tacitus are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger, and an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria in what is now Turkey.OGIS 487, first brought to light in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 1890, pp. 621–623
He 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
Family and early life Most of the older aristocratic families failed to survive the proscriptions which took place at the end of the Republic, and Tacitus makes it clear that he owed his rank to the Flavian emperors (Hist. 1.1). The claim that he was descended from a freedman is derived from a speech in his writings which asserts that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen (Ann. 13.27), but this is generally disputed.Syme, 1958, pp. 612–13; Gordon, 1936, pp. 145–46
In his article on Tacitus in Pauly-Wissowa, I. Borzsak conjectured that the historian was related to Thrasea Paetus and the Etruscan family of the Caecinii, about whom he spoke very highly. Furthermore, some later Caecinii bore the 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 procurator 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 from 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 the Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus's dedication to Lucius Fabius Justus in the 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 Celt. 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
Public life, marriage, and literary career As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics; like Pliny, he may have studied under QuintilianThe fact that he studied rhetoric and law is known from the Dialogus, ch. 2; see also Martin, 1981, p. 26; Syme, 1958, pp. 114–115 ( – ). In 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola.Agricola, 9
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 Secular 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 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 tyranny 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 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 Senate, he became suffect consul in 97 during the reign of Nerva, being the first of his family 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 Augustan History 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.
Works
Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived (albeit with gaps), the most substantial of which are the Annals and the Histories. This canon (with approximate dates) consists of: (98) De vita Iulii Agricolae (The Life of Agricola) (98) De origine et situ Germanorum (Germania) (102) (Dialogue on Oratory) (105) (Histories) (117) Ab excessu divi Augusti (Annals)
History of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus The Annals and the Histories, published separately, were meant to form a single edition of thirty books.Jerome's commentary on the Book of Zechariah (14.1, 2; quoted in Mendell, 1957, p. 228) says that Tacitus's history was extant triginta voluminibus, "in thirty volumes". Although Tacitus wrote the Histories before the Annals, the events in the Annals precede the Histories; together they form a continuous narrative from the death of Augustus (14) to the death of Domitian (96). Though most has been lost, what remains is an invaluable record of the era. The first half of the Annals survived in a single manuscript from Corvey Abbey in Germany, and the second half in a single manuscript from Monte Cassino in Italy; it is remarkable that they survived at all.
The Histories