Germania and Agricola | Page 8

or the flatterer. He is not
the indiscriminate admirer that Plutarch was. Nor is he such a universal
hater as Sallust. It is the fault of the times that he is obliged to deal so
much in censure. If there ever were perfect monsters on earth, such
were several of the Roman Emperors. Yet Tacitus describes few, if any,
of them without some of the traits of humanity. He gives us in his
history neither demons nor gods, but veritable men and women. In this
respect, as also in his descriptions of battles, Tacitus is decidedly
superior to Livy. The characters of Livy are distinguishable only as
classes--the good all very good, the bad very bad, the indifferent very
indifferent. You discover no important difference between a Fabius and
a Marcellus, further than it lies on the face of their actions. In Tacitus,
the characters are all individuals. Each stands out distinctly from the
surrounding multitude, and not only performs his own proper actions,
but is governed by his own peculiar motives. Livy places before us the
statues of heroes and gods; Tacitus conducts us through the crowd of
living men.
In an attempt to sketch the most striking features of Tacitus, as a writer,
no critic can omit to mention his sage and pithy maxims. Apothegms
abound on every page--sagacious, truthful, and profound in sentiment,
in style concise, antithetic and sententious. Doubtless he is excessively
fond of pointed antithesis. Perhaps he is too much given to moralizing
and reflection. It was, as we have said, the fault of his age. But no one,
who is familiar with Seneca, will severely censure Tacitus. He will
only wonder that he should have risen so far above the faults of his

contemporaries. Indeed, Tacitus interweaves his reflections with so
much propriety, and clothes his apothegms with so much dignity--he is
so manifestly competent to instruct the world by maxims, whether in
civil, social, or individual life, that we are far from wishing he had
indulged in it less. His reflections do not interrupt the thread of his
narrative. They grow naturally out of his incidents. They break forth
spontaneously from the lips of his men. His history is indeed
philosophy teaching by examples; and his pithy sayings are truly
lessons of wisdom, embodied in the form most likely to strike the
attention, and impress the memory. We should love to see a collection
of apothegms from the pen of Tacitus. It would make an admirable
book of laconics. No book would give you more ideas in fewer words.
Nowhere could you gain so much knowledge, and lose so little time.
The reader of Tacitus, who will study him with pen in hand, to mark, or
refer to the most striking passages, will soon find himself master of a
text book in moral and political science, we might say a text book in
human nature, singularly concise and sententious, and what is not
always true even of concise and sententious writers, as singularly wise
and profound. In such a book, many of the speeches would find a place
entire; for many of them are little else than a series of condensed,
well-timed, and most instructive apothegms. [E.g. the speech of Galba
to Piso. His. i. 15, 16.]
But the scholar, who is on the lookout, will find lurking in every
section, and almost every sentence, some important truth in morals, in
politics, in the individual or social nature of man. Neither the editor nor
the teacher can be expected to develope these sentiments, nor even, in
many instances, to point them out. That labor must be performed by the
scholar; and his will be the reward.
No hasty perusal, no single reading of Tacitus, will give a just
conception of the surpassing richness of his works. They must be
studied profoundly to be duly appreciated. They are a mine of wisdom,
of vast extent and unknown depth, whose treasures lie chiefly beneath
the surface, imbedded in the solid rock which must be entered with
mining implements, explored with strong lights, and its wealth brought
up by severe toil and sweat.

C. CORN. TACITUS

DE SITU, MORIBUS ET POPULIS GERMANIAE

BREVIARIUM LIBELLI.
Cap. 1. Germaniae situs: 2. incolae indigenae: auctores gentis: nominis
origo: Hercules. 3. Baritus: ara Ulixis. 4. Germani, gens sincera:
habitus corporum. 5. Terrae natura: non aurum, non argentum, nec
aestimatum. 6. Germanorum arma, equitatus, peditatus, ordo militiae: 7.
reges, duces, sacerdotes: 8. feminarum virtus et veneratio: Veleda:
Aurinia. 9. dii, sacra, simulacra nulla. 10. Auspicia, sortes: ex equis, e
captivo praesagia. 11. Consultationes publicae et conventus. 12.
Accusationes, poenae, jus redditum. 13. Scuto frameaque ornati
juvenes, principum comites: eorum virtus et fama. 14. Gentis bellica
studia. 15. In pace, venatio, otium: Collata principibus munera. 16.
Urbes nullae: vici, domus, specus suffugium