Very little is known concerning the life of Tacitus, the historian,
except that which he tells us in his own writings and those incidents
which are related of him by his contemporary, Pliny.
His full name was Caius Cornelius Tacitus. The date of his birth can
only be arrived at by conjecture, and then only approximately. The
younger Pliny speaks of him as _prope modum aequales_, about the same
age. Pliny was born in 61. Tacitus, however, occupied the office of
quaestor under Vespasian in 78 A.D., at which time he must, therefore,
have been at least twenty-five years of age. This would fix the date of
his birth not later than 53 A.D. It is probable, therefore, that Tacitus
was Pliny's senior by several years.
His parentage is also a matter of pure conjecture. The name Cornelius
was a common one among the Romans, so that from it we can draw no
inference. The fact that at an early age he occupied a prominent
public office indicates that he was born of good family, and it is not
impossible that his father was a certain Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman
knight, who was procurator in Belgic Gaul, and whom the elder Pliny
speaks of in his "Natural History."
Of the early life of Tacitus and the training which he underwent
preparatory to those literary efforts which afterwards rendered him a
conspicuous figure among Roman literateurs we know absolutely nothing.
Of the events of his life which transpired after he attained man's
estate we know but little beyond that which he himself has recorded in
his writings. He occupied a position of some eminence as a pleader at
the Roman bar, and in 77 A.D. married the daughter of Julius Agricola,
a humane and honorable citizen, who was at that time consul and was
subsequently appointed governor of Britain. It is quite possible that
this very advantageous alliance hastened his promotion to the office of
quaestor under Vespasian.
Under Domitian, in 88, Tacitus was appointed one of fifteen
commissioners to preside at the celebration of the secular games. In the
same year he held the office of praetor, and was a member of one of the
most select of the old priestly colleges, in which a pre-requisite of
membership was that a man should be born of a good family.
The following year he appears to have left Rome, and it is possible
that he visited Germany and there obtained his knowledge and information
respecting the manners and customs of its people which he makes the
subject of his work known as the "Germany."
He did not return to Rome until 93, after an absence of four years,
during which time his father-in-law died.
Some time between the years 93 and 97 he was elected to the senate, and
during this time witnessed the judicial murders of many of Rome's best
citizens which were perpetrated under the reign of Nero. Being himself a
senator, he felt that he was not entirely guiltless of the crimes which
were committed, and in his "Agricola" we find him giving expression to
this feeling in the following words: "Our own hands dragged Helvidius
to prison; ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of Mauricus and
Rusticus, and sprinkled with the innocent blood of Senecio."
In 97 he was elected to the consulship as successor to Virginius
Rufus, who died during his term of office and at whose funeral Tacitus
delivered an oration in such a manner to cause Pliny to say, "The
good fortune of Virginius was crowned by having the most eloquent of
panegyrists."
In 99 Tacitus was appointed by the senate, together with Pliny, to
conduct the prosecution against a great political offender, Marius
Priscus, who, as proconsul of Africa, had corruptly mismanaged the
affairs of his province. We have his associate's testimony that Tacitus
made a most eloquent and dignified reply to the arguments which were
urged on the part of the defence. The prosecution was successful, and
both Pliny and Tacitus were awarded a vote of thanks by the senate for
their eminent and effectual efforts in the management of the case.
The exact date of Tacitus's death is not known, but in his "Annals"
he seems to hint at the successful extension of the Emperor Trajan's
eastern campaigns during the years 115 to 117, so that it is probable
that he lived until the year 117.
Tacitus had a widespread reputation during his lifetime. On one occasion
it is related of him that as he sat in the circus at the celebration of
some games, a Roman knight asked him whether he was from Italy or the
provinces. Tacitus answered, "You know me from your reading," to which
the knight quickly replied, "Are you then Tacitus or Pliny?"
It is also worthy of notice that the Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus,
who reigned during the third century, claimed to be descended from the
historian, and directed that ten copies of his works should be published
every year and placed in the public libraries.
The list of the extant works of Tacitus is as follows: the "Germany;"
the "Life of Agricola;" the "Dialogue on Orators;" the "Histories," and
the "Annals."
The following pages contain translations of the first two of these
works. The "Germany," the full title of which is "Concerning the
situation, manners and inhabitants of Germany," contains little of value
from a historical standpoint. It describes with vividness the fierce and
independent spirit of the German nations, with many suggestions as to
the dangers in which the empire stood of these people. The "Agricola"
is a biographical sketch of the writer's father-in-law, who, as has been
said, was a distinguished man and governor of Britain. It is one of the
author's earliest works and was probably written shortly after the
death of Domitian, in 96. This work, short as it is, has always been
considered an admirable specimen of biography on account of its grace
and dignity of expression. Whatever else it may be, it is a graceful and
affectionate tribute to an upright and excellent man.
The "Dialogue on Orators" treats of the decay of eloquence under the
empire. It is in the form of a dialogue, and represents two eminent
members of the Roman bar discussing the change for the worse that had
taken place in the early education of the Roman youth.
The "Histories" relate the events which transpired in Rome, beginning
with the ascession of Galba, in 68, and ending with the reign of
Domitian, in 97. Only four books and a fragment of a fifth have been
preserved to us. These books contain an account of the brief reigns of
Galba, Otho and Vitellius. The portion of the fifth book which has been
preserved contains an interesting, though rather biased, account of the
character, customs and religion of the Jewish nation viewed from the
standpoint of a cultivated citizen of Rome.
The "Annals" contain the history of the empire from the death of
Augustus, in 14, to the death of Nero, in 68, and originally consisted
of sixteen books. Of these, only nine have come down to us in a state
of entire preservation, and of the other seven we have but fragments of
three. Out of a period of fifty-four years we have the history of about
forty.
The style of Tacitus is, perhaps, noted principally for its conciseness.
Tacitean brevity is proverbial, and many of his sentences are so brief,
and leave so much for the student to read between the lines, that in
order to be understood and appreciated the author must be read over and
over again, lest the reader miss the point of some of his most
excellent thoughts. Such an author presents grave, if not insuperable,
difficulties to the translator, but notwithstanding this fact, the
following pages cannot but impress the reader with the genius of
Tacitus.