Tacitean Studies
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Tacitean studies, centred on the work of
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
( – ), the
ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
historian, constitute an area of scholarship extending beyond the field of history. The work has traditionally been read for its moral instruction, its narrative, and its inimitable prose style; Tacitus has been (and still is) most influential as a political theorist, outside the field of history. The political lessons taken from his work fall roughly into two camps (as identified by Giuseppe Toffanin): the "red Tacitists", who used him to support republican ideals, and the "black Tacitists", those who read his accounts as a lesson in Machiavellian
realpolitik ''Realpolitik'' ( ; ) is the approach of conducting diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly following ideological, moral, or ethical premises. In this respect, ...
. Though his work is the most reliable source for the history of his era, its factual accuracy is occasionally questioned: the ''
Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...
'' are based in part on secondary sources of unknown reliability, and there are some obvious minor mistakes (for instance confusing the two daughters of
Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...
and Octavia Minor, both named Antonia). The '' Histories'', written from primary documents and personal knowledge of the Flavian period, is thought to be more accurate, though Tacitus's hatred of
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
seemingly colored its tone and interpretations.


Antiquity and Middle Ages

Tacitus's contemporaries were well-acquainted with his work;
Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – ), better known in English as Pliny the Younger ( ), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and e ...
, one of his first admirers, congratulated him for his better-than-usual precision and predicted that his ''Histories'' would be immortal: only a third of his known work has survived and then through a very tenuous textual tradition; we depend on a single manuscript for books I–VI of the ''Annales'' and on another one for the other surviving half (books XI–XVI) and for the five books extant of the ''Historiae''. His books were clearly used by 2nd – early 3rd century historians such as
Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
's report on Agricola's exploration of Britain, and Hegesippus may have borrowed from his account of the
First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 CE), also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, the First Jewish Revolt, the War of Destruction, or the Jewish War, was the first of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. Fought in the prov ...
. His difficult historical methods and elliptic literary style, however, went unimitated except by
Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...
, who consciously set out to write a continuation of his works. His popularity waned with time: his unfavorable portrayals of the early emperors could not have earned him favor with Rome's increasingly autocratic rulers, and his obvious contempt for
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
and
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
(both troublesome foreign cults in the eyes of a 1st-century Roman aristocrat) made him unpopular among the early
Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...
. The 3rd-century writer
Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...
, for example, blames him (incorrectly—see history of anti-Semitism) for originating the story that the Jews worshipped a donkey's head in the
Holy of Holies The Holy of Holies ( or ''Kodesh HaKodashim''; also ''hadDəḇīr'', 'the Sanctuary') is a term in the Hebrew Bible that refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, where the Shekhinah (God in Judaism, God's presence) appeared. According ...
and calls him "''ille mendaciorum loquacissimus''", 'the most loquacious of liars'. In the 4th century there are scattered references to his life and work. Flavius Vopiscus, one of the supposed '' Scriptores Historiae Augustae'', mentions him twice
''Aurelian'' 2.1
and names him among the ''disertissimi viri'', the most eloquent men. Ammianus Marcellinus, as mentioned, started his history where Tacitus had finished.
Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...
knew of him, and
Sulpicius Severus Sulpicius Severus (; c. 363 – c. 425) was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania in modern-day France. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours. Life Almost all that we know of Se ...
either used his
Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...
as a source for passages on
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
or, according to Aurthur Drews, the passage in Sulpicius Severus's Chronicles later found its way into
Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...
. By the 5th century only a few authors seem aware of him: Sidonius Apollinaris, who admires him, and
Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in '' Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), ...
, who alternately derides him as a fool and borrows passages (including many that are otherwise lost) from his works.
Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...
and his disciple
Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...
(middle of the 6th century) make the last known antique references; Cassiodorus draws on parts of the ''Germania'' and Jordanes cites the ''Agricola'', but both know the author only as ''Cornelius''. After Jordanes, Tacitus disappeared from literature for the better part of two centuries, and only four certain references appear until 1360. Two come from Frankish monks of the
Carolingian Renaissance The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne's reign led to an intellectual revival beginning in the 8th century and continuing throughout the 9th ...
: the ''
Annales Fuldenses The ''Annales Fuldenses'' or ''Annals of Fulda'' are East Francia, East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Fran ...
'' from the
monastery of Fulda The Abbey of Fulda (; ), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda () and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (), was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality centered on Fulda, in the present-day German state of Hesse. The monastery ...
used Tacitus's ''Annals'', and Rudolf of Fulda borrowed from the ''Germania'' for his ''Translatio Sancti Alexandri''. Some of Tacitus's works were known at
Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...
by 1100, where the other two certain references appear:
Peter the Deacon Peter the Deacon (fl. 1115–1159) was the librarian of the abbey of Montecassino and continuator of the ''Chronicon monasterii Casinensis'', usually called the Monte Cassino Chronicle in English. The chronicle was originally written by Leo o ...
's ''Vita Sancti Severi'' used the ''Agricola'', and Paulinus Venetus, Bishop of Pozzuoli, plagiarized passages from the ''Annals'' in his '' mappa mundi''. Hints and reminiscences of Tacitus appear in French and English literature, as well as German and Italian, from the 12th to the 14th century, but none of them is at all certain. It was not until
Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...
brought the manuscript of the ''Annals'' 11–16 and the ''Histories'' out of Monte Cassino to
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, in the 1360s or 1370s, that Tacitus began to regain some of his old literary importance. His Annals survive only in single copies of two halves of the works, one from Fulda and one from Cassino.


Italian Renaissance

Boccaccio's efforts brought the works of Tacitus back into public circulation—where they were largely passed over by the Humanists of the 14th and 15th centuries, who preferred the smooth style of Cicero and the patriotic history of
Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...
, who was by far their favorite historian. The first to read his works—they were four: Boccacio, Benvenuto Rambaldi, Domenico Bandini, and
Coluccio Salutati Coluccio Salutati (16 February 1331 – 4 May 1406) was an Italian Renaissance humanist and notary, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history ...
—read them solely for their historical information and their literary style. On the merits of these they were divided. Bandini called him " most eloquent orator and historian", while Salutati commented:
For what shall I say about Cornelius Tacitus? Although a very learned man, he wasn't able to equal those closest o Cicero But he was even way behind Livy—whom he proposed to follow—not only in historical series but in imitation of eloquence.
The use of Tacitus as a source for
political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...
, however, began in this era, triggered by the Florentine Republic's struggle against the imperial ambitions of Giangaleazzo Visconti. Visconti's death from an illness did more than lift his siege of Florence; it sparked Leonardo Bruni to write his ''Panegyric to the City of Florence'' (c. 1403), in which he quoted Tacitus (''Histories''
1.1
to buttress his republican theory that monarchy was inimical to virtue, nobility, and (especially) genius. The inspiration was novel—Bruni had probably learned of Tacitus from Salutati. The thesis likewise: Tacitus himself had acknowledged that the good emperors Nerva and Trajan posed no threat to his endeavors. Tacitus, and the theory that Bruni based on him, played a vital role in the spirited debate between the republicans of Florence and the proponents of monarchy and aristocracy elsewhere.
Guarino da Verona Guarino Veronese or Guarino da Verona (1374 – 14 December 1460) was an Italian classical scholar, humanist, and translator of ancient Greek texts during the Renaissance. In the republics of Florence and Venice he studied under Manuel Chryso ...
, in 1435, used the literary flowering of Augustus's era—which included Livy,
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
,
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
, and Seneca—to argue against Bruni's contention;
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (; 11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanist. He is noted for rediscovering and recovering many classical ...
countered with the argument that all the authors had been born during the waning years of the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...
. Pier Candido Decembrio, a
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
ese courtier, addressed the same argument to Bruni in the following year, which Bruni did not bother to rebut, the best counterargument having been made already. The rule of Cosimo de Medici, however, saw the end of these political readings of Tacitus, though his works were now readily available in the public library of Florence. Instead, scholars such as
Leone Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
and Flavio Biondo used him in academic works on the history and architecture of 1st century Rome. His laconic style and bleak outlook remained unpopular. At the beginning of the 15th century, following the expulsion of the
Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...
from Florence, their return, and the foreign invasions of Italy, Tacitus returned to prominence among the theorists of
classical republicanism Classical republicanism, also known as civic republicanism or civic humanism, is a form of republicanism developed in the Renaissance inspired by the governmental forms and writings of classical antiquity, especially such classical writers as Ar ...
.
Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise '' The Prince'' (), writte ...
was the first to revive him, but not (at first) in the republican model which Bruni and others had followed. One quotation from the ''Annals''
13.19
appears in ''
The Prince ''The Prince'' ( ; ) is a 16th-century political treatise written by the Italian diplomat, philosopher, and Political philosophy, political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli in the form of a realistic instruction guide for new Prince#Prince as gener ...
'' (ch
13
, advising the ruler that "it has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain or unstable as fame or power not founded on its own strength". The idealized Prince bears some resemblance to Tacitus's Tiberius; a few (most notably Giuseppe Toffanin) have argued that Machiavelli had made more use of Tacitus than he let on. In fact, though, Machiavelli had probably not read the first books of the ''Annals'' at that time—they were published after ''The Prince''. In his work focused mainly on republicanism, '' Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy'', Machiavelli returned to Bruni's republican perspective on Tacitus. Four overt references appear in the work. Chapte
1.10
follows Tacitus (''Histories'' 1.1), and Bruni, on the chilling effects of monarchy. Chapte

quotes the ''Histories''
4.3
on the burden of gratitude and the pleasure of revenge. Chapte

quotes Tacitus: "men have to honor things past but obey the present, and ought to desire good Princes, but tolerate the ones they have"

twists a line from Tacitus
3.55
into something very similar to Machiavelli's famous maxim that it is better for a prince to be feared than loved. (The original made a very different point: that respect for the Emperor and a desire to conform, not fear and punishment, kept certain senators in line.) Many covert references appear: Machiavelli generally follows Tacitus's decidedly negative slant on the history of Rome under the
Emperors The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...
. Machiavelli had read Tacitus for instruction on
forms of government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a m ...
, republican as well as autocratic, but after his books were placed on the ''
Index Librorum Prohibitorum The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...
'', writers on political philosophy (the so-called "black Tacitists"—see above) frequently used the Roman as a stand-in for the Florentine, and the Emperor Tiberius as a mask for Machiavelli's model of a prince. So, writers like
Francesco Guicciardini Francesco Guicciardini (; 6 March 1483 – 22 May 1540) was an Italian historian and politician, statesman. A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. In his maste ...
considered Tacitus's work to be an instruction on how to build a despotic state. Following that line of thought (Catholics in appearance reading ''Tacitus'' instead of Machiavelli's still forbidden ''Prince''), the thinkers of the
Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
and the age of absolute monarchies used his works as a set of rules and principles for political action. In the late 16th century Tacitus came to be regarded as the repository of the “secrets of the power” (“arcana imperii”, as Tacitus had called them in his ''Annals'', 2.36.1). Tacitus's description of the artifices, stratagems, and utterly lawless reign of power politics at the Roman imperial court fascinated European scholars. By the first half of the seventeenth century editions of and commentaries upon Tacitus were flourishing. The Roman historian was compulsory reading in the political education of any learned man, notably senior magistrates. While authors like Casaubon and Pasquier deemed the precepts of Tacitus pernicious, writers like Justus Lipsius,
Scipione Ammirato Scipione Ammirato (; 7 October 153111 January 1601) was an Italian author, Philosophy, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. He is regarded as an important figure in the history of political thought. Ammirato's best-known w ...
and Baltasar Alamos de Barrientos set out their reason of state in the form of commentaries on his work.More than one hundred authors wrote political commentaries on Tacitus between 1580 and 1700. The most famous are: Scipione Ammirato, ''Discorsi sopra Corelio Tacito'' (Florence, 1594); ''Tácito español ilustrado con aforismos por Baltasar Álamos de Barrientos'' (Madrid, 1614); Filippo Cavriana, ''Discorsi sopra i primi cinque libri di Cornelio Tacito'' (Florence, 1597);
Jan Gruter Jan Gruter or Gruytère, Latinized as Janus Gruterus (3 December 1560 – 20 September 1627), was a Flemish-born philologist, scholar, and librarian. Life Jan Gruter was born in Antwerp. His father was Wouter Gruter, who was a merchant a ...
, ''Varii discursus; sive prolixiores commentarii ad aliquot insigniora loca Taciti'' ( eidelberg? 1604); Laurent Melliet, ''Discours politiques et militaires, sur Comeille Tacite'' (Lyon, 1618); Virgilio Malvezzi, ''Discorsi sopra Comelio Tacito'' (Venice, 1622). Collections of maxims or sententiae from Tacitus, were also popular in these decades.
Even the Jesuit political philosopher Giovanni Botero, who put together Tacitus with Machiavelli as the leading authorities for those who advocated an amoral reason of state, was thoroughly acquainted with the work of the Roman historian.
Gerolamo Cardano Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; ; ; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, as ...
in his 1562 book ''Encomium Neronis'' describes Tacitus as a scoundrel of the worst kind, belonging to the rich senatorial class and always taking their side against the common people.


Enlightenment and revolutions

Early theoreticians of '' raison d'état'' used Tacitus to defend an ideal of Imperial rule. Other readers used him to construct a method for living under a despotic state, avoiding both servility and useless opposition.
Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...
, for example, used Tacitus's works, in his apology for Seneca, to justify the collaboration of philosophers with the sovereign. During the Enlightenment Tacitus was mostly admired for his opposition to despotism. In literature, some great tragedians such as Corneille,
Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...
and Alfieri, took inspirations from Tacitus for their dramatic characters.
Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...
was strongly influenced by Tacitus's historical style in his '' History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', The French Revolutionaries, for whom Tacitus had been a central part of their early education, made much use of his criticisms of tyranny and love of the
republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
—he is one of the authors most often quoted (behind Cicero, Horace, and Plutarch) by the members of the National and Legislative Assemblies and by revolutionary authors such as
Jacques Pierre Brissot Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), also known as Brissot de Warville, was a French journalist, abolitionist, and revolutionary leading the political faction, faction of Girondins (initially called Brissotins) at the ...
. Later, during the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
, Camille Desmoulins and the writers of the '' Actes des Apôtres'' used him to denounce the excesses of the
Jacobins The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...
.
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
, on the other hand, attacked his works furiously, both for style and contents. This would-be founder of an Imperial dynasty, praised by amongst others
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
for his insight in literature, knew the danger that Tacitus's histories might pose to one who wished to go around grabbing for power. François de Chateaubriand, for one, had already compared the new Emperor of the French to the worst emperors of Rome, warning that a new Tacitus would someday do for Napoleon what Tacitus had done for Nero. The Emperor's reaction was vicious: to Goethe and Wieland he complained that "
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
finds criminal intention in the simplest acts; he makes complete scoundrels out of all the emperors to make us admire his genius in exposing them". To others he swore that Tacitus, ''ce pamphlétaire'', had "slandered the emperors" whom, he averred, the Roman people had loved.


Twentieth century

By the 20th century authenticity of the remaining texts ascribed to Tacitus was generally acknowledged, apart from some difference of opinion about the '' Dialogus''. Tacitus became a stock part of any education in classical literature – usually, however, only after the study of Caesar, Livy, Cicero, etc., while Tacitus's style requires a greater understanding of the Latin language, and is perceived as less "classical" than the authors of the Augustan age. A remarkable feat was accomplished by
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...
: the major gap of text of the ''Annals'' that had gone lost regarded the end of
Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
' reign, the whole of
Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...
's reign, and the major part of
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...
' reign (the remaining part of Tacitus's manuscript only took up again at this Emperor's death, for the transition to the reign of
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
). Robert Graves's novels '' I, Claudius'' (1934) and '' Claudius the God'' (1935) filled the gap perfectly: all the missing parts of the ''Annals'', up to the latter part of the reign of Claudius himself, were covered by a coherent story. Of course part of it can be considered "mockumentary" in the '' Augustan History'' tradition (for example how Claudius really felt about
republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...
, heavily elaborated by Graves sometimes based on "reconstructed" historical documents, will probably never be really established). Graves borrowed much from Tacitus's style: apart from the "directness" of an Emperor pictured to write down his ''memoirs'' for private use (linked to the "lost testament of Claudius" mentioned in Tacitus's ''Annals''), the treatment is also on a year-by-year basis, with digressions not unlike Tacitus's "moralising" digressions, so that in the introduction of the second of these two volumes Graves saw fit to defend himself as follows:
Some reviewers of ''I, Claudius'', the prefatory volume to ''Claudius the God'', suggested that in writing it I had merely consulted Tacitus's ''Annals'' and
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
's '' Twelve Caesars'', run them together, and expanded the result with my own "vigorous fancy." This was not so; nor is it the case here. Among the Classical writers who have been borrowed from in the composition of ''Claudius the God'' are Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, Pliny,
Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...
,
Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worke ...
,
Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in '' Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), ...
,
Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontier ...
,
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
,
Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...
,
Columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...
,
Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
,
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
,
Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (;  1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...
,
Photius Photius I of Constantinople (, ''Phōtios''; 815 – 6 February 893), also spelled ''Photius''Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., and Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Mate ...
, Xiphilinus, Zonaras, Seneca,
Petronius Gaius Petronius Arbiter"Gaius Petronius Arbiter"
Britannica.com.
(; ; ; s ...
,
Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...
,
Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...
,
Celsus Celsus (; , ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work '' The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: )Hoffmann p.29 survives exclusively via quotati ...
, the authors of the ''
Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...
'' and of the pseudo-gospels of
Nicodemus Nicodemus (; ; ; ; ) is a New Testament figure venerated as a saint in a number of Christian traditions. He is depicted as a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin who is drawn to hear Jesus's teachings. Like Lazarus of Bethany, Lazarus, Nicode ...
and St. James, and Claudius himself in his surviving letters and speeches.
Graves's work reflected back on the perception of Tacitus's work: Graves curbed the "slandering of Emperors" by portraying Claudius as a good-humoured emperor, at heart a ''republican'', resulting in the perception that if the "Claudius" part of Tacitus's annals had survived it probably wouldn't have been all slander towards the emperors of the 1st century. The more explicit defence of republicanism in Graves's work (that is: ''much more'' explicit than in Tacitus's work) also made any further direct defense of ''black Tacitism'' quite impossible (as far as Napoleon, by ''not'' advocating a ''black Tacitism'' line of thought hadn't already made such interpretation obsolete). By the end of 20th century, however, a sort of ''inverted red tacitism'' (as the new variant of black tacitism could be called) appeared, for example in publications like Woodman's ''Tacitus reviewed'': the new theories described the emperors of the
principate The Principate was the form of imperial government of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the Dominate. The principate was ch ...
no longer as ''
monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...
s'' ruling as autocrats, but as "magistrates" in essence defending a "republican" form of government (which might excuse some of their rash actions), very much in line with Graves's lenient posture regarding crimes committed under the rule of ''princeps'' Claudius (for instance the putting aside of the elder L. Silanus, showing the emperor's lack of conscience according to Tacitus, '' Ann.'' XII,3; while Graves's account of the same incident appears not to incriminate Claudius).


Twenty-first century

One of Tacitus's polemics against the evils of empire, from his ''Agricola'' (ch. 30), was often quoted during the United States invasions of Afghanistan and
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, by those who found its warnings as applicable to the modern era as to the ancient (see for exampl
''The Guardian''
. It reads, in part: : (Punctuation follows the
Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...
edition)


Notes

# Mellor, 1995, p. xvii # Burke, 1969, pp. 162–163 #
Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

66
20; see Mendell, 1957, pp. 226, 228–229 # Mellor, 1995, p. xix; Mendell, 1957, p. 228 # Mendell, 1957, p. 226; Mellor, 1995, p. xix # Tertullian

16 # Mendell, 1957, pp. 228–229 # Mendell, 1957, pp. 229–232; Mellor, 1995, p. xix # Jordanes, ''Getica'
2.13
see Mendell, 1957, p. 232; Mellor, 1995, p. xix # Mendell, 1957, pp. 234–235, confuses Rudolf with
Einhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; ; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Franks, Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita Karoli M ...
, in whose work some of the uncertain references appear; Haverfield, 1916, p. 200; Schellhase, 1976, p. 5, gives the four references listed here. # Mendell, 1957, pp. 236–237; Schellhase, ''ibid.'' # Mendell, 1957, pp. 234–238, and Schellhase, 1976, ''ibid.'', survey some of these; see also Haverfield, 1916, ''passim''. # Whitfield, 1976, ''passim'' # Schellhase, 1976, pp. 19–21, 26–27; Mellor, 1995, p. xx # Quoted in Schellhase, 1976, p. 20 # Salutati, ''Epistolario'', a letter dated 1 August 1395 and addressed to Bartolommeo Oliari, quoted in Schellhase, 1976, p. 20. # Mellor, 1995, pp. xx, 1–6 (selection from the ''Panegyric''); Schellhase, 1976, pp. 17–18; Baron, 1966, pp. 58–60 # Baron, ''ibid.''; Schellhase, p. 18 # Baron, 1966, pp. 66–70; Schellhase, 1976, pp. 22–23 # Schellhase, 1976, pp. 24–30 # Mellor, 1995, pp. xx–xxi, 6–7; Burke, 1969, pp. 164–166; Schellhase, 1976, pp. 67–68 # Whitfield, 1976, p. 286 # See Mellor, 1995, pp. xx–xxi, 6–7; Burke, 1969, pp. 164–166; Schellhase, 1976, pp. 70–82 # Parker, 1937, pp. 16–20, 148–149; Mellor, 1995, pp. xlvii–xlviii # Mellor, pp. xlviii–xlix, 194–199. Tacitus couldn't be worried less (''Ann.'' IV,35): "''quo magis socordiam eorum inridere libet qui praesenti potentia credunt extingui posse etiam sequentis aevi memoriam. nam contra punitis ingeniis gliscit auctoritas, neque aliud externi reges aut qui eadem saevitia usi sunt nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere.''" – "And so one is all the more inclined to laugh at the stupidity of men who suppose that the despotism of the present can actually efface the remembrances of the next generation. On the contrary, the persecution of genius fosters its influence; foreign tyrants, and all who have imitated their oppression, have merely procured infamy for themselves and glory for their victims." # A website discussing the ''I, Claudius'' television series, which were based on Graves work, qualifies Tacitus as being of a "somewhat suspect" reliability because of Tacitus's so-called "malice" towards the emperors. The books by Graves, discussed at the same website are free of such reliability suspicions. So, in sum that website says: Tacitus is not very reliable because he slanders Emperors. Graves is reliable because his story-telling of the Imperial household is so ''convincing''.


References


Bibliography

* Bolgar, R. R. ''Classical Influences on European Culture A.D. 1500–1700''. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976) * Burke, P. "Tacitism" in Dorey, T.A., 1969, pp. 149–171 * Dorey, T. A. (ed.). ''Tacitus'' (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969) * Haverfield, F. "Tacitus during the Late Roman Period and the Middle Ages". ''The Journal of Roman Studies'', Vol. 6. (1916), pp. 196–201. * Mellor, Ronald (ed.). ''Tacitus: The Classical Heritage'' (NY: Garland Publishing, 1995) * Mendell, Clarence. ''Tacitus: The Man and His Work''. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957) * Parker, Harold Talbot. ''The Cult of Antiquity and the French Revolutionaries: A Study in the Development of the Revolutionary Spirit''. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1937) * Schellhase, Kenneth C. ''Tacitus in Renaissance Political Thought'' (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1976) * (In Italian:) Toffanin, Giuseppe. ''Machiavelli e il "Tacitismo". La "politica storica" al tempo della Controriforma.'' (Padua, Draghi, 1921; re-issued Naples, Guida, 1972) The book has no
ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. A different ISBN is assigned to e ...
, but a query for its presence in libraries worldwide can be triggered b
clicking this "Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog" link
* Whitfield, J. H. "Livy > Tacitus", in Bolgar, 1976; pp. 281–293 * Woodman, Anthony John. ''Tacitus Reviewed'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)


External links


''Tacitus and Bracciolini, The Annals Forged in the XVth Century''
by John Wilson Ross (part of the 19th century defamation attempts, see above – se
Tacitus and his manuscripts
for more on this) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tacitean Studies Ancient Roman studies Political philosophy Studies, Tacitean