Germania and Agricola | Page 5

informed), when Tacitus distinguished himself, so as
to awaken the emulation and the envy, though not in a bad sense, of
Pliny. The last was some twenty years later, when Tacitus and Pliny,
the tried friends of a whole life, the brightest ornaments of literature
and of the forum, were associated by the choice of the Senate, and
pleaded together at the bar of the Senate, and in the presence of the
Emperor Trajan, for the execution of justice upon Marius Priscus, who
was accused of maladministration in the proconsulship of Africa. Pliny
says, that Tacitus spoke with singular gravity and eloquence, and the
Senate passed a unanimous vote of approbation and thanks to both the
orators, for the ability and success with which they had managed the

prosecution (Plin. Epis. ii. 11)
We have also the comments of Pliny on a panegyrical oration, which
Tacitus pronounced, when consul, upon his predecessor in the consular
office, Verginius Rufus, perhaps the most remarkable man of his age,
distinguished alike as a hero, a statesman, and a scholar, and yet so
modest or so wise that he repeatedly refused the offer of the imperial
purple. "Fortune," says Pliny, "always faithful to Verginius, reserved
for her last favor, such an orator to pronounce a eulogium on such
virtues. It was enough to crown the glory of a well spent life" (Plin.
Epis. ii. 1).
The speeches in the historical works of Tacitus, though rather concise
and abstract for popular orations, are full of force and fire. Some of
them are truly Demosthenic in their impassioned and fiery logic. The
speech of Galgacus before the Briton army, when driven into the
extremity of Caledonia by the Romans under Agricola, can hardly be
surpassed for patriotic sentiments, vigorous reasoning, and burning
invective. The address of Germanicus to his mutinous soldiers (in the
Annals) is not less remarkable for tender pathos. The sage and yet
soldierlike address of the aged Galba to his adopted son Piso, the calm
and manly speech of Piso to the body guard, the artful harangue of the
demagogue Otho to his troops, the no less crafty address of Mucianus
to Vespasian, the headlong rapidity of Antonius' argument for
immediate action, the plausible plea of Marcellus Eprius against the
honest attack of Helvidius Priscus, and the burning rebukes of the
intrepid Vocula to his cowardly and treacherous followers--all these, in
the Histories, show no ordinary degree of rhetorical skill and versatility.
Indeed, the entire body of his works is animated with the spirit of the
orator, as it is tinged also with the coloring of the poet. For this reason,
they are doubtless deficient in the noble simplicity of the earlier
classical histories; but for the same reason they may be a richer treasure
for the professional men at least of modern times.
Of his marriage with the daughter of Agricola, and its influence on his
character and prospects, as also of his passing in regular gradation
through the series of public honors at Rome, beginning with the
quaestorship under Vespasian, and ending with the consulship under
Nerva, Tacitus informs us himself (A. 9, His. i. 1), barely alluding to
them, however, in the general, and leaving all the details to mere

conjecture. We learn to our surprise, that he not only escaped the
jealousy of the tyrant Domitian, but was even promoted by him to the
office of Quindecimvir and Praetor (Ann. ii. 11). Beyond these vague
notices, we know little or nothing of his course of life, except that Pliny
says (Epist. iv. 13), he was much esteemed by the learned and the great
at Rome, who went in crowds to his levees. Of the time of his death, we
can only conjecture, that he died before the Emperor Trajan, but after
his friend Pliny--the former, because, had he outlived the Emperor, he
would probably have executed his purpose of writing the history of his
reign (His. i. 1); the latter, because, if he had not survived his friend,
Pliny, who lamented the death of so many others, would not have failed
to pay the last tribute to the memory of Tacitus.
It is generally admitted, though without direct testimony, that Tacitus
died not without issue. That excellent prince, M. Claudius Tacitus,
deduced his pedigree from the historian, and ordered his image to be set
up, and a complete collection of his works to be placed in the public
archives, with a special direction that twelve copies should be made
every year at the public expense. It is greatly to be regretted that such
praiseworthy precautions should have failed to preserve for us that
treasure entire!
The age of Tacitus is usually styled the silver age of Roman Literature;
and it merits no higher title, when compared with the golden age of