Tacitus
Publius (or
Gaius)
Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56 – c. 117) is one of the important
historians of
Roman Antiquity. The surviving portions of his two major works—the
Annals and the
Histories—treat the reigns of the
Roman Emperors
Tiberius,
Claudius,
Nero and those that reigned in the
Year of the Four Emperors. Together with the parts that went lost, these two works spanned the history of the
Roman Empire from the death of Rome's first emperor,
Augustus, in
14 to (presumably) the death of emperor
Domitian in
96.
Other surviving works by Tacitus treat
Oratory (in
dialogue format, see
Dialogus de oratoribus),
Germania (in
De origine et situ Germanorum) and biographical notes about his father-in-law
Agricola, pictured primarily during his campaign in
Britannia (see
De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae).
Tacitus' style as a historian is, in his major works, characterised by the treatment of his topics in a year by year chronological progression. As an author living in the latter part of what later was known as the
Silver Age of Latin literature, his style is characterised by an uncompromising boldness and sharpness of wit, and a compact and somewhat unconventional use of the
Latin language.
Tacitus' works contain a wealth of information about his world, but details on his own life are scarce. Even his
praenomen (first name) is uncertain. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout the corpus of his work, the letters of his friend and admirer
Pliny the Younger, an inscription found at
Mylasa in
Caria[OGIS 487, first brought to light in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 1890, pp. 621–623.], and educated guesswork.
Tacitus was born in 56 or 57
[ 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.] to an
equestrian family; like many other Latin authors of the
Golden and
Silver Ages, he was from the provinces, probably northern Italy,
Gallia Narbonensis, or
Hispania. The exact place and date of his birth are not known. His
praenomen is similarly a mystery: in some letters of
Sidonius Apollinaris and in some old and unimportant writings 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
Sextus has gained no traction
[Oliver, 1977, cites an article by Harold Mattingly in Rivista storica dell'Antichità, 2 (1972) 169–185.]).
Descent and place of birth
Who were Tacitus's ancestors? His scorn for the social climber has led to the supposition that his family was from an unknown branch of the
patrician gens Cornelia, but no
Cornelii had ever borne the name
Tacitus. Furthermore, the older
aristocratic families had largely been destroyed in the chaos surrounding the end of the
Republic, and Tacitus himself is clear that he owes his rank to the
Flavian emperors (
Hist. 1.1). The supposition that he descended from a
freedman finds no support apart from his statement, in an invented speech, that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen (
Ann. 13.27), and is easily dismissed
[Syme, 1958, pp. 612–613; Gordon, 1936, pp. 145–146].
His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who was
procurator of
Belgica and
Germania. A son of this Cornelius Tacitus is cited by
Pliny the Elder as an example of abnormally rapid growth and aging (
N.H. 7.76), implying an early death. This means that this son was not Tacitus, but his brother or cousin—the senior Cornelius Tacitus may have been an uncle, rather than his father
[Syme, 1958, p. 60, 613; Gordon, 1936, p. 149; Martin, 1981, p. 26]. From this connection, and from the well-attested friendship between the
younger Pliny and the younger Tacitus, scholars draw the conclusion that the two families were of similar class, means, and background: equestrians, of significant wealth, from provincial families
[Syme, 1958, p. 63].
The exact province of his origin is unknown. His marriage to the daughter of the Narbonensian senator
Gnaeus Julius Agricola may indicate that he, too, came from Gallia Narbonensis. The possibly-Spanish origin of the
Fabius Iustus to whom Tacitus dedicates the
Dialogus suggests a (family?) connection to Hispania. His friendship with Pliny points to northern Italy as his home
[Syme, 1958, pp. 614–616]. None of this evidence is conclusive.
Gnaeus Julius Agricola could have known Tacitus from elsewhere.
Martial dedicates a poem to Pliny (
10.20), but not to the more distinguished Tacitus—which, had Tacitus been Spanish, might be unusual, were Martial's light and often scurrilous style not antithetical to Tacitus's grave and serious manner. No evidence exists that Pliny's friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Pliny's letters ever hint that the two men shared a common home province
[Syme, 1958, pp. 616–619]. The opposite, in fact: the strongest piece of evidence is in Book 9, Letter 23, which reports how Tacitus was asked if he were Italian or provincial, and upon giving an unclear answer, was further asked if he were Tacitus or Pliny. Since Pliny was from Italy, Tacitus must have been from the further provinces, and Gallia Narbonensis is the most likely candidate.
[Syme, 1958, p. 619; Gordon, 1936, p. 145]His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his occasional sympathy for barbarians who resisted Roman rule (e.g.,
Ann. 2.9), have led some to suggest that he was of
Celtic stock: the Celts had occupied Gaul before the Romans, the Celts were famous for their skill in oratory, and the Celts had been subjugated by Rome.
[Gordon, 1936, pp. 150–151; Syme, 1958, pp. 621–624]Public life, marriage, and literary career
As a young man he studied
rhetoric in Rome as preparation for a career in
law and
politics; like Pliny, he may have studied under
Quintilian.
[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]; nothing is known of their marriage or their home life, save that Tacitus loved
hunting and the outdoors.
[Pliny, Letters 1.6, 9.10; Benario, 1975, pp. 15, 17; Syme, 1958, pp. 541–542] He owed the start of his career (probably meaning the
latus clavus, mark of the senator
[Syme, 1958, p. 63; Martin, 1981, pp. 26–27]) to
Vespasian, as he says in the
Histories (
1.1), but it was under
Titus that he entered political life as
quaestor, in 81 or 82
[His debt to Titus is stated in the Histories (1.1); since Titus's rule was short, these are the only years possible.]. He advanced steadily through the
cursus honorum, becoming
praetor in 88 and holding a position among the
quindecemviri sacris faciundis, members of a priestly college in charge of the
Sibylline Books and the
Secular games.
[In the Annals (11.11) he mentions that he, as praetor, assisted in the Secular Games held by Domitian, which are dated precisely to 88. See Syme, 1958, p. 65; Martin, 1981, p. 27] He gained acclaim as a lawyer and
orator; his skill in public speaking gave a marked irony to his
cognomen Tacitus ('silent').
He served in the provinces from ca. 89 to ca. 93, perhaps in command of a
legion, perhaps 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] His person and property survived Domitian's reign of terror (93–96), but the experience left him jaded and grim, perhaps ashamed at his own complicity, and gave him the hatred of
tyranny so evident throughout his works.
[For the effects on Tacitus's ideology see Dudley, 1968, p. 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 Manricus 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 old soldier
Lucius Verginius Rufus.
[Pliny, Letters, 2.1 (English)]In the following year he wrote and published his
Agricola and
Germania, announcing the beginnings of the literary endeavors that would occupy him until his death.
[In the Agricola (3) he announces what must be the beginning of his first great project: the Histories. See Dudley, 1968, p. 16] Afterwards he disappears from the public scene, to which he returns during
Trajan's reign. In 100, he, along with his friend
Pliny the Younger, prosecuted
Marius Priscus (
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, during which time he wrote his two major works: first the
Histories, then the
Annals. He held the highest civilian governorship, that of the Roman province of
Asia in Western
Anatolia, in 112 or 113, as evidenced by 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
[Annals, 2.61, says that the Roman Empire "now extends to the Red Sea". If by "mare rubrum" he means the Persian Gulf, as is possible, then the passage must have been written after Trajan's eastern conquests in 116, but before Hadrian abandoned the new territories in 117. This may indicate only the date of publication for the first books of the Annals; Tacitus himself could have lived well into Hadrian's reign, and there is no reason to suppose that he did not. See Dudley, 1968, p. 17; Mellor, 1993, p. 9; Mendell, 1957, p. 7; Syme, 1958, p. 473; against this traditional interpretation, e.g., Goodyear, 1981, pp. 387-393.]. It is unknown whether he was survived by any children, though the
Augustan History reports that the emperor
Marcus Claudius Tacitus claimed him as an ancestor and provided for the preservation of his works—but like so much of the
Augustan History, this story is probably fraudulent.
[Augustan History, Tacitus X. Scholarly opinion on this story is divided as to whether it is "a confused and worthless rumor" (Mendell, 1957, p. 4) or "pure fiction" (Syme, 1958, p. 796). Sidonius Apollinaris reports (Letters, 4.14; cited in Syme, 1958, p. 796) that Polemius, a 5th century Gallo-Roman aristocrat, descended from Tacitus—but this too, says Syme (ibid.) is of little use.] |
The front page of Justus Lipsius's 1598 edition of the complete works of Tacitus, bearing the stamps of the Bibliotheca Comunale in Empoli, Italy. |
Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived (or at least: large parts thereof). Dates are approximate, and the last two (his "major" works), took more than a few years to write.
* (98)
De vita Iulii Agricolae (
The Life of Julius Agricola)
* (98)
De origine et situ Germanorum (
The Germania)
* (102)
Dialogus de oratoribus (
Dialogue on Oratory)
* (105)
Historiae (
Histories)
* (117)
Ab excessu divi Augusti (
Annals)
Major works
The two major works, originally 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'.], with the
Annals preceding the
Histories. This inverted the chronological order in which they were written, but formed a continuous narrative of the era from the death of
Augustus (14) to the death of Domitian (96). Though parts have been lost, what remains is an invaluable record of the era.
The Histories
In one of the first chapters of the
Agricola, Tacitus said that he wished to speak about the years of
Domitian, of
Nerva, and of
Trajan. In the
Historiae the project has been modified: in the introduction, Tacitus says that he will deal with the age of Nerva and Trajan at a later time. Instead, he will cover the period that started with the civil wars of the
Year of Four Emperors and ended with the despotism of the
Flavians. Only the first four books and twenty-six chapters of the fifth book have survived, covering the year 69 and the first part of 70. The work is believed to have continued up to the death of
Domitian on
September 18,
96. The fifth book contains—as a prelude to the account of Titus's suppression of the
Great Jewish Revolt—a short
ethnographic survey of the ancient
Jews and is an invaluable record of the educated Romans' attitude towards that people.
The Annals
The
Annals was Tacitus's final work, covering the period from the death of
Augustus Caesar in the year 14. He wrote at least sixteen books, but books 7-10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16 are missing. Book 6 ends with the death of
Tiberius and books 7-12 presumably covered the reigns of
Caligula and
Claudius. The remaining books cover the reign of
Nero, perhaps until his death in June 68 or until the end of that year, to connect with the
Histories. The second half of book 16 is missing (ending with the events of the year 66). We do not know whether Tacitus completed the work or whether he finished the other works that he had planned to write; he died before he could complete his planned histories of Nerva and Trajan, and no record survives of the work on
Augustus Caesar and the beginnings of the Empire with which he had planned to finish his work as a historian.
Minor works
Tacitus also wrote three minor works on various subjects: the
Agricola, a biography of his father-in-law
Gnaeus Julius Agricola; the
Germania, a monograph on the lands and tribes of barbarian Germania; and the
Dialogus, a dialogue on the art of
rhetoric.
Germania
The
Germania (
Latin title:
De Origine et situ Germanorum) is an ethnographic work on the diverse set of
Germanic tribes outside the
Roman Empire.
Ethnography had a long and distinguished heritage in
classical literature, and the
Germania fits squarely within the tradition established by authors from
Herodotus to
Julius Caesar. Tacitus himself had already written a similar, albeit shorter, piece in his
Agricola (chapters 10–13). The book begins with a description of the lands, laws, and customs of the Germans (chapters 1–27); it then segues into descriptions of individual tribes, beginning with those dwelling closest to Roman lands and ending on the uttermost shores of the
Baltic Sea, with a description of the primitive and savage
Fenni and the unknown tribes beyond them.
Agricola (De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae)
The
Agricola (written ca. 98) recounts the life of
Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general and Tacitus's father-in-law; it also covers, briefly, the geography and
ethnography of ancient
Britain. As in the
Germania, Tacitus favorably contrasted the liberty of the native
Britons to the corruption and tyranny of the Empire; the book also contains eloquent and vicious polemics against the rapacity and greed of Rome.
Dialogus
|
The style of the Dialogus follows Cicero's models for Latin rhetoric. |
When the
Dialogus de oratoribus was written remains uncertain, but it was probably written after the
Agricola and the
Germania. Many characteristics set it apart from the other works of Tacitus, so much so that its authenticity may be questioned, even if it is always grouped with the
Agricola and the
Germania in the manuscript tradition. The way of speaking in the
Dialogus seems closer to
Cicero's proceedings, refined but not prolix, which inspired the teaching of
Quintilian; it lacks the incongruities that are typical of Tacitus's major historical works. It may have been written when Tacitus was young; its dedication to Fabius Iustus would thus give the date of publication, but not the date of writing. More probably, the unusually classical style may be explained by the fact that the
Dialogus is a work dealing with
rhetoric. For works in the
rhetoric genre, the structure, the language, and the style of Cicero were the usual models.
Tacitus was able to consult the official sources of the Roman state: the
acta senatus (the minutes of the session of the Senate) and the
acta diurna populi Romani (a collection of the acts of the government and news of the court and capital). He could read the collections of speeches by some emperors, such as
Tiberius and
Claudius. Generally, Tacitus was a scrupulous historian who paid careful attention to his historical works. The minor inacurracies occurring in the
Annals might be due to the fact that Tacitus died before completely finishing (and supposedly final proofreading) of this work. He used a great variety of historical and literary sources as well; he used them with freedom and he chose from varied sources of varied tendency.
Tacitus cites some of his sources directly, among them
Pliny the Elder, who had written
Bella Germaniae and an historical work which was the continuation of that of
Aufidius Bassus. Tacitus could use some collections of letters (
epistolarium) and various notes. He also took some information from the works of the historical genre named
exitus illustrium virorum. These were a collection of books on and by those who opposed the emperors. They tell of the sacrifice of the martyr to freedom, especially the men who committed suicide, following the theory of the
Stoics. Tacitus used these materials to give a dramatic tone to his stories, while he placed no value on the theory of the suicides. These suicides seem, to him, ostentatious and politically useless, while, on the other hand he is sometimes over the hill about the "swansong" speeches of some of those about to commit suicide, for example
Cremutius Cordus' speech in
Ann. IV, 34-35.
Tacitus's writings are known for their instantly deep-cutting and dense prose, seldom glossy, in contrast with the more placable style of some of his contemporaries, like
Plutarch.
When he describes a near-to-defeat of the Roman army in
Ann. I, 63 this is one of the rare occasions where he applies some kind of gloss, but then still rather by the
brevity with which he describes the end of the hostilities, than by embellishing phrases.
In most of his writings he keeps to a strictly chronological ordering of his narration, with only seldom an outline of the bigger picture, as if he leaves it to the reader to construct that "bigger picture" for himself.
Nonetheless, when he sketches the bigger picture, for example in the opening paragraphs of the
Annals, summarizing the situation at the end of the reign of Augustus, he needs no more than a few condensed phrases to take the reader to the heart of the story.
Approach to history
Tacitus's historical style combines various approaches to history into a method of his own (owing some debt to
Sallust): seamlessly blending straightforward descriptions of events, pointed moral lessons, and tightly-focused dramatic accounts, his history writing contains deep, and often pessimistic, insights into the workings of the human mind and the nature of power.
Tacitus's own declaration regarding his approach to history is famous (
Ann. I,1)::
| inde consilium mihi . . . tradere . . . sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo. | | Hence my purpose is to relate . . . without either anger or zeal, from any motives to which I am far removed. |
Although this is probably as close as one can get to a
neutral point of view intention in
antiquity, there has been much scholarly discussion about Tacitus's alleged "neutrality" (or "partiality" to others, which would make the quote above no more than a
figure of speech).
Throughout his writings, Tacitus appears primarily concerned with the balance of
power between the
Roman Senate and the
Roman Emperors. His writings are filled with tales of
corruption and
tyranny in the governing
class of Rome as they failed to adjust to the new imperial régime; they squandered their cherished cultural traditions of
free speech and self-respect as they fell over themselves to please the often bemused (and rarely benign) emperor.
Another important recurring theme is the role of having the sympathy of the army in the coming to power (and staying there) of an Emperor: throughout the period Tacitus is describing, the leading role in that respect sways between (some of) the legions defending the outer borders of the Empire, and the troops residing in the city of Rome, most prominently the
Praetorian Guard.
Tacitus's political career was largely spent under the emperor Domitian; his experience of the tyranny, corruption, and
decadence prevalent in the era (81–96) may explain his bitter and ironic political analysis. He warned against the dangers of unaccountable power, against the love of power untempered by principle, and against the popular
apathy and corruption, engendered by the wealth of the
empire, which allowed such evils to flourish. The experience of Domitian's tyrannical reign is generally also seen as the cause of the sometimes unfairly bitter and ironic cast to his portrayal of the
Julio-Claudian emperors.
Nonetheless the image he builds of
Tiberius throughout the first six books of the
Annals is neither exclusively bleak nor approving: most scholars analyse the image of Tiberius as predominantly
positive in the first books, becoming predominantly
negative in the following books relating the intrigues of
Sejanus. Even then, the entrance of Tiberius in the first chapters of the first book is a crimson tale dominated by
hypocrisy by and around the new emperor coming to power; and in the later books some kind of respect for the wisdom and cleverness of the old emperor, keeping out of Rome to secure his position, is often transparent.
In general Tacitus does not fear to give words of praise and words of rejection to the same person, often explaining openly which he thinks the commendable and which the despicable properties. Not
conclusively taking sides for or against the persons he describes is his hallmark, and led thinkers in later times to interpret his works as well as a
defense of an imperial system, as a
rejection of the same (see
Tacitean studies,
Black vs.
Red Tacitists). A better illustration of Tacitus's "sine ira et studio" is scarcely imaginable.
Prose style
Tacitus's skill with written Latin is unsurpassed; no other author is considered his equal, except perhaps for
Cicero. His style differs both from the prevalent style of the
Silver Age and from that of the
Golden Age; though it has a calculated grandeur and eloquence (largely thanks to Tacitus's education in rhetoric), it is extremely concise, even
epigrammatic—the sentences are rarely flowing or beautiful, but their point is always clear. The same style has been both derided as "harsh, unpleasant, and thorny" and praised as "grave, concise, and pithily eloquent".
His historical works focus on the
psyches and inner motivations of the characters, often with penetrating insight—though it is questionable how much of his insight is correct, and how much is convincing only because of his rhetorical skill. He is at his best when exposing hypocrisy and
dissimulation; for example, he follows a narrative recounting
Tiberius' refusal of the title
pater patriae by recalling the institution of a law forbidding any "treasonous" speech or writings—and the frivolous prosecutions which resulted (
Annals, 1.72). Elsewhere (
Annals 4.64–66) he compares Tiberius' public distribution of fire relief to his failure to stop the perversions and abuses of justice which he had begun. Though this kind of insight has earned him praise, he has also been criticized for ignoring the larger context of the events which he describes.
Tacitus owes the most, both in language and in method, to
Sallust;
Ammianus Marcellinus is the later historian whose work most closely approaches him in style.
From
Pliny the Younger's
7th Letter (to Tacitus), §33::
| Auguror nec me fallit augurium, historias tuas immortales futuras. | | I predict, and my predictions do not fail me, that your histories will be immortal. |
Tacitus is remembered first and foremost as Rome's greatest historian, the equal—if not the superior—of
Thucydides, the ancient Greeks' foremost historian; the
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica opined that he "ranks beyond dispute in the highest place among men of letters of all ages". His influence extends far beyond the field of history. His work has been read for its moral instruction, its gripping and dramatic narrative, and its inimitable prose style; it is as a political theorist, though, that he has been (and still is) most influential outside the field of history.
[Mellor, 1995, p. xvii] 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 him as a lesson in Machiavellian
realpolitik.
[Burke, 1969, pp. 162–163]Though his work is the most reliable source for the history of his era, its factual accuracy is occasionally questioned: the
Annals 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 and
Octavia Minor, both named
Antonia). The
Histories, written from
primary documents and intimate knowledge of the Flavian period, is thought to be more accurate, though Tacitus's hatred of Domitian seemingly colored its tone and interpretations.
*
Republic (Plato): Tacitus' critique of "model state" philosophies.
*
Tacitus on Jesus: a well-known passage from the
Annals mentions the death of
Christ (
Ann., xv 44).
*Adams, James N. "The language of the later books of Tacitus'
Annals".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 22 (1972), pp. 350–373.
*Adams, James N. "The vocabulary of the speeches in Tacitus' historical works".
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Vol. 20 (1973), pp. 120–144.
*Adams, James N. "Were the later books of Tacitus'
Annals revised?"
Rheinisches Museum, Vol. 117 (1974), pp. 323–333.
*Ash, Rhiannon.
Ordering Anarchy: Armies and Leaders in Tacitus' Histories (London: Duckworth, 1999) ISBN 0715628003
*Barnes, T.D. "The Fragments of Tacitus'
Histories".
Classical Philology, Vol. 72 (1977), pp. 224–231.
*Barnes, T.D. "The Significance of Tacitus'
Dialogus de Oratoribus".
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 90 (1986), pp. 225–244.
*Barnes, T.D. "Tacitus and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre".
Phoenix, Vol. 52 (1998), pp. 125–148.
*Baron, Hans.
The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance. (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1966)
*Benario, Herbert W.
An Introduction to Tacitus. (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1975) ISBN 0820303615
*Birley, Antony R. "The Life and Death of Cornelius Tacitus".
Historia, Vol. 49 (2000), pp. 230–247.
*Bosworth, A.B. "Mountain and molehill? Cornelius Tacitus and Curtius Rufus".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 54 (2004), pp. 551–567.
*Brink, C.O. "Can Tacitus'
Dialogus Be Dated? Evidence and Historical Conclusions".
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 96 (1994), pp. 251–280.
*Brink, C.O. "Justus Lipsius and the text of Tacitus".
The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 41 (1951), pp. 32–51.
*Burke, P. "Tacitism" in Dorey, T.A., 1969, pp. 149–171
*Clarke, Katherine. "An Island Nation: Re-Reading Tacitus'
Agricola".
The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 91 (2001), pp. 94–112.
*Daitz, S.G. "Tacitus' technique of character portrayal".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 81 (1960), pp. 30–52.
*Damon, Cynthia. "The Trial of Cn. Piso in Tacitus'
Annals and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone patre".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 120, No. 1 (1999), pp. 143–162.
*Dorey, T.A. (ed.).
Tacitus (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969) ISBN 0710064322
*Dudley, Donald R.
The World of Tacitus (London: Secker and Warburg, 1968) ISBN 0436139006
*Eck, Werner. "Cheating the Public, or: Tacitus Vindicated".
Scripta Classica Israelica, Vol. 21 (2002), pp. 149–164.
*Fletcher, G.B.A. "Assonances or plays on words in Tacitus".
The Classical Review, Vol. 54 (1940), pp. 184–187.
*Gill, C. "Character-development in Plutarch and Tacitus".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 33 (1983), pp. 469–487.
*Ginsburg, Judith.
Tradition and theme in the Annals of Tacitus (New York: Arno Press, 1981)
*Goodyear, F.R.D.
The Annals of Tacitus, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). Commentary on
Annals 1.55-81 and
Annals 2.
*Goodyear, F.R.D. "Development of language and style in the
Annals of Tacitus".
The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 58 (1968), pp. 22–31.
*Goodyear, F.R.D. "The readings of the Leiden manuscript of Tacitus".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 15 (1965), pp. 299–322.
*Goodyear, F.R.D.
Tacitus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), Greece & Rome New Surveys in Classics No. 4. Good survey of scholarship up to 1960s.
*Gordon, Mary L. "The Patria of Tacitus".
The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 26, Part 2 (1936), pp. 145–151.
*Griffin, Miriam T. "Claudius in Tacitus".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 40 (1990), pp. 482–501.
*Griffin, Miriam T. "The Lyons tablet and Tacitean hindsight".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 32 (1982), pp. 404–418.
*Griffin, Miriam T. "Tacitus and Pliny".
Scripta Classica Israelica, Vol. 18 (1999), pp. 139–158.
*Griffin, Miriam T. "Tacitus, Tiberius and the Principate", in I. Malkin and Z. Rubihnson (eds.),
Leaders and Masses in the Roman World: Studies in Honour of Zvi Yavetz (Leiden: Brill, 1995), pp. 33–57.
*
Haverfield, F. "Tacitus during the Late Roman Period and the Middle Ages".
The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 6. (1916), pp. 196–201.
*Haynes, Holly.
The History of Make-Believe: Tacitus on imperial Rome (Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press, 2003) ISBN 0520236505
*Löfstedt, Einar. "The Style of Tacitus", in Idem,
Roman Literary Portraits, transl. by P.M. Fraser (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), pp.157–180.
*Luce, T.J., and Woodman, Antony J. (eds.)
Tacitus and the Tacitean Tradition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) ISBN 0691069883
*Marsh, Frank Burr. "Tacitus and aristocratic tradition".
Classical Philology, Vol. 21 (1926), pp. 289–310.
*Martin, Ronald. "The Leiden manuscript of Tacitus".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 14 (1964), pp. 109–119.
*Martin, Ronald.
Tacitus (London: Batsford, 1981)
*Martin, Ronald. "Tacitus and the Death of Augustus".
The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 5 (1955), pp. 123–128.
*Mattingly, H.B. "Tacitus' praenomen: the politics of a moderate".
Rivista storica dell'antichità, Vol. 2 (1972), pp. 169–185.
*Mellor, Ronald.
Tacitus (London: Routledge, 1993) ISBN 0415906652
*Mellor, Ronald (ed.).
Tacitus: The Classical Heritage (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995) ISBN 0815309333
*Mendell, Clarence.
Tacitus: The Man and His Work. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957) ISBN 0208008187
*Miller, Norma P. "The Claudian Tablet and Tacitus: A Reconsideration".
Rheinisches Museum, Vol. 99 (1956), pp. 304–315.
*Miller, Norma P. "Dramatic speech in Tacitus".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 85 (1964), pp. 279–296.
*Miller, Norma P. "Tiberius Speaks: An Examination of the Utterances Ascribed to Him in the Annals of Tacitus".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 89 (1968), pp. 1–19.
*Murgia, C. "The Date of Tacitus'
Dialogus".
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 84 (1980), pp. 99–125.
*Murgia, C. "Pliny's Letters and the
Dialogus".
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 89 (1985), pp. 171–206.
*O'Gorman, Ellen.
Irony and Misreading in the Annals of Tacitus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) ISBN 0521660564
*
Oliver, Revilo P. "The First Medicean MS of Tacitus and the Titulature of Ancient Books".
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 82 (1951), pp. 232–261.
*Oliver, Revilo P. "The Praenomen of Tacitus".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 98, No. 1 (Spring, 1977), pp. 64–70.
*Persival, J. "Tacitus and the Principate".
Greece & Rome, Vol. 27 (1980), pp. 119–133.
*Reid, James Smith. "Tacitus as a historian".
The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 11 (1921), pp. 191–199.
*Rutland, L. "The Tacitean Germanicus. Suggestions for a re-evaluation".
Rheinisches Museum, Vol. 130 (1987), pp. 153–163.
*Sage, M.M. "Tacitus and the accession of Tiberius".
The Ancient Society, Vol. 13/14 (1982/83), pp. 293–321.
*Schellhase, Kenneth C.
Tacitus in Renaissance Political Thought (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1976) ISBN 0226737004
*Shatzman, I. "Tacitean rumours".
Latomus, Vol. 33 (1974), pp.549–578.
*Shotter, D.C.A. "Tacitus, Tiberius and Germanicus".
Historia, Vol. 17 (1968), pp. 194–214.
*Sinclaire, Patrick.
Tacitus the Sententious Historian: A sociology of rhetoric in Annales 1-6 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995) ISBN 0271013338
*
Syme, Ronald. "How Tacitus Wrote
Annals I-III", in Idem,
Roman Papers, Vol. 3 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), pp. 1014–1042.
*Syme, Ronald.
Tacitus, Volumes 1 and 2. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958) (reprinted in 1985 by the same publisher, with the ISBN 0198143273) is the definitive study of his life and works.
*Syme, Ronald.
Ten Studies in Tacitus. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970) ISBN 0198143583
*Talbert, R.J.A. "Tacitus and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone patre".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 120, No. 1 (1999), pp. 89–97.
*Townend, G.B. "Cluvius Rufus in the
Histories of Tacitus".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 85 (1964), pp. 337–377.
*Walker, B.
The Annals of Tacitus: A study in the writing of history (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1952)
*Wharton, D.B. "Tacitus' Tiberius: The State of the Evidence for the Emperor's
Ipsissima Verba in the Annals".
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 118 (1997), pp. 119–125.
*Woodman, Anthony John.
Tacitus Reviewed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) ISBN 0198152582
*
Bibliography on Tacitus (from
Rutgers University Classics Department)
*
Texts by Tacitus:
**
Free ebook of Tacitus at
Project Gutenberg** At
Perseus Project:
Works by Tacitus in English and/or Latin** At
MIT Classics:
Annals and Histories** At "The Online Books Page":
Online e-texts of Tacitus' works** At "Romansonline" (Latin text can be displayed side by side to translation):
Works by Tacitus** At
Roman Literature Online:
Germany and Agricola and
The Annals** At "The Internet Sacred Text Archive":
Parallel English and Latin text of the complete works of Tacitus
