TACITUS

Cornelius Tacitus, one of the greatest of Roman historians and the first pagan author to record the crucifixion of Christ and, possibly, the persecution of the Christians;b. of a senatorial family, very probably in north Italy or south Gaul, c. a.d. 56; d. shortly after a.d. 115. In 88 he was a praetor under the Emperor Domitian, and in 97 he was consul suffectus. He acquired fame as a prosecutor of Marius Priscus for mal-administration in Africa (100), and he served as pro-consul of the province of Asia under the Emperor Trajan in 112–113. His Dialogus de oratoribus, perhaps his earliest work, blames the changed political conditions for the decline of oratory. Its style is so different from that of his other works that its Tacitean authorship was often challenged in past centuries. His De vita Iulii Agricolae, a laudatory biography of his beloved father-in-law (d. 93) who established Roman rule in Britain on a solid foundation, reveals vividly the atmosphere of fear and terror at Rome under Domitian and the indelible impression left by the tyranny and savagery of that Emperor on the minds of men of senatorial rank. His monograph on the Germans, De origine et situ Germanorum, written in 98, is on the whole a reliable account based on good sources but tends to idealize too much in the direction of the "noble savage" tradition.

The major historical works of Tacitus are Historiae and Annales. The Histories covered the years 69 to 96. Only bks. 1 to 4⅓ are extant (the years 69–70). The Annals were a history of the years a.d. 14 to 68 or 69. Only bks. 1 to 6 and 11½ to 16½ have been preserved. Tacitus had copious sources at his disposal and used them critically and independently. But he is, primarily, a psychological historian who developed a somber outlook on life and tended to be inflexibly prejudiced in dealing with certain personalities, and, above all, in evaluating them. Even when he cannot condemn outright, a turn of phrase leaves an unanswered doubt in the mind of his readers. Rome and the affairs of Rome, rather than the administration of the empire as a whole, remained his chief center of interest. In his gloomy moralizing he was the heir of Sallust rather than of Livy. His style, especially in the Histories and Annals, is unique in Latin literature. It is characterized by lapidary brevity, contrast, variety of expression that approaches the extreme, deliberate avoidance of symmetry, aphorism, and irony. His hostile reference to the Christians (Ann. 15.44) is typical of his style and outlook: "To suppress the rumor [that he had ordered the burning of Rome] Nero singled out the Christians as guilty, and punished them with refined cruelty—a class of men who were hated for their vices, and whom the masses called Christians. Christus, the founder of their name, had been sentenced to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. The pernicious superstition was temporarily crushed, but it broke out again in Judaea, the home of the evil, and also in Rome itself, to which flow from every side all detestable and shameful practices to flourish there. Therefore, following the testimony of those who confessed, a large number of them were convicted not so much on the score of arson as on that of hatred of the human race…. Hence, in spite ofa guilt which merited such novel and excessively severe forms of punishment, a feeling of pity arose because it was thought that they were being destroyed not in the interest of the public welfare but to serve the savagery of one individual." This passage reveals an attitude toward the Christians that is in striking contrast to that exhibited by his friend, pliny the younger.

See Also: nero, roman emperor.

Bibliography: m. p. charlesworth, The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. m. cary et al. (Oxford 1949) 876–878. J. W. and a. m. duff, A Literary History of Rome in the Silver Age … (2d ed. London 1960) 447–476, bibliog. 562–570. m. schanz, c. hosius, and g. krÜger, Geschichte der römischen Literatur, 4 v. in 5 (Munich 1914–35) 2:603–643. m. l. w. laistner, The Greater Roman Historians (Berkeley 1947) 103–140. c. w. mendell, Tacitus, the Man and His Work (New Haven 1957). r. syme, Tacitus, 2 v. (Oxford 1958). j. beaujeu, L'Incendie de Rome en 64 et les Chrétiens (Brussels 1960).

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