Tacitus and Bracciolini

Tacitus and Bracciolini [with
accents]

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Title: Tacitus and Bracciolini The Annals Forged in the XVth Century
Author: John Wilson Ross
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9098] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 5,
2003]
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TACITUS AND BRACCIOLINI.
THE ANNALS FORGED IN THE XVth CENTURY.
by JOHN WILSON ROSS (1818-1887)
Originally published anonymously in 1878.

Non ulli Tacitus patuit manifestius unquam. SOSSAGO. Epigrammata.
Excellentissimum Poggium, immortalem quidem virum, sed prope hac
aetate sepultum, redivivium donaveris nobis. BICCIONI. _Epistola
Hyacintho de Lan inscripta._
Is ... reliquit, quae et facundiam, et mirificam ingenii facilitatem
ostendunt. Tendebat toto animo, et quotidiano quodam usu ad
EFFINGENDUM ... Sed habet hoc dilucida illa divini hominis in
dicendo copia, ut estimanti se imitabilem praebeat, experienti spem
imitationis eripiat. Eam igitur dicendi laudem POGGIUS si non
facultate, at certe voluntate complectebatur. Scripsit ... Historiam ...
magnuum munus. PAOLO CORTESE (Bishop of Urbino). De
Hominibus Doctis.
Quaestio ... contra communem totius orbis traditionem ac fidem, contra
tot historicocum ... nemine contradicente, consensum, demum agitari
coepta est; et a nobis ... tam abunde ventilate, ut magis copia quam
inopia laborare videamur. GISBERT VOET. _Spicilegium ad
Disceptationem Historicam de Papissa Johanna._

LONDON: 1878
I DEDICATE TO MY ESTEEMED AND ESTIMABLE BROTHER
ROBERT DALRYMPLE ROSS

This Research into The Authorship of the Annals of Tacitus
AS A VERY SLIGHT TOKEN OF MY AFFECTION AND ALSO OF
MY ADMIRATION FOR HIS RARE ASSEMBLAGE OF
QUALITIES LOFTY MORAL RECTITUDE THE KINDLIEST
FEELINGS OF THE HEART DEVOTION TO HIGH OCCUPATION
APTITUDE FOR BOOKS AS FOR AFFAIRS
AND
A REFINED ENLIGHTENMENT TO APPRECIATE THE GENIUS
OF TACITUS AND OF BRACCIOLINI
AND
FULLY TO APPREHEND AN INVESTIGATION UNDERTAKEN
IN THE TRUE INTERESTS OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE.

PREFACE
The theory broached in this book involves a charge of the grossest
fraud against a most distinguished man, who rose to high posts in
public affairs and won imperishable fame in letters. There being blots
on his moral character, it would be censurable to fasten upon his
memory this new imputation of dishonesty, were it not substantiated by
irresistible evidence.
The title of this book quite explains what its design is,--to contribute
something towards settling the authorship of the Annals of Tacitus,
which encomiastic admirers imagine to be the most extraordinary
history ever penned, and the writer "but one degree removed from
inspiration, if not inspired." This wondrous writer I assert to be the
famous Florentine of the Renaissance, Poggio Bracciolini, in favour of
which view I have tried to make out a case by bringing forward a
variety of passages from the "History" and the "Annals" to show an
extensive series of contradictions as to facts and characters, departures
from truth about matters connected with ancient Roman life, laches in
grammar and use of words that never could have proceeded from any
patrician or plebian of the world-renowned old Commonwealth, with a
number of other things that will readily strike the intelligent and sober
mind as utterly inconsistent with the existing belief of the "Annals"
being the production of Tacitus. All this is case in the shade for the
fullest light to be thrown on the subject, when not wishing to make my
theory a matter of speculation but founded in common sense, I give a

detailed history of the forgery, from its conception to its completion,
the sum that was paid for it, the abbey where it was transcribed, and
other such convincing minutiae taken from a correspondence that
Poggio carried on with a familiar friend who resided in Florence.
A reader of acumen and critical faculty following a writer in an inquiry
of this nature places himself in the position of a lawyer