Tacitus and Bracciolini | Page 2

who will not
accept the interpretation of an Act of Parliament, or even a clause in it,
as correct, except,--as his phrase goes,--it "runs upon all fours:" he
knows that it is with a speculation in a literary matter as with a chapter
of a statute: he struggles to raise only a single valid objection against
what is advanced: if successful he at one destroys the whole of the
theory, from thus exposing it to view as not "running upon all fours;"
the fabric is, in fact, discovered to be reared on a false foundation; it
must, therefore, fall as at the slightest breath a child's house built of
cards; and the theory becomes one more added to the list of those that
are apocryphal. If on examination it should be agreed that the theory in
this book is without a flaw, I conceived that I shall have done not a
small, but a considerable service to the cause of true history.
LONDON, April 3, 1878.

CONTENTS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
TACITUS.
CHAPTER I
.
TACITUS COULD BARELY HAVE WRITTEN THE ANNALS.
I. From the chronological point of view. II. The silence preserved about
that work by all writers till the fifteenth century. III. The age of the
MSS. containing the Annals.
CHAPTER II
.
A FEW REASONS FOR BELIEVING THE ANNALS TO BE A
FORGERY.
I. The fifteenth century an age of imposture, shown in the invention of

printing. II. The curious discovery of the first six books of the Annals.
III. The blunders it has in common with all forged documents. IV. The
Twelve Tables. V. The Speech of Claudius in the Eleventh Book of the
Annals. VI. Brutus creating the second class of nobility. VII. Camillus
and his grandson. VIII. The Marching of Germanicus. IX. Description
of London in the time of Nero. X. Labeo Antistius and Capito Ateius;
the number of people executed for their attachment to Sejanus; and the
marriage of Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, to the Elder Antonia.
CHAPTER III
.
SUSPICIOUS CHARACTER OF THE ANNALS FROM THE POINT
OF TREATMENT.
I. Nature of the history. II. Arrangement of the narrative. III.
Completeness in form. IV. Incongruities, contradictions and
disagreements from the History of Tacitus. V. Craftiness of the writer.
VI. Subordination of history to biography. VII. The author of the
Annals and Tacitus differently illustrate Roman history. VIII.
Characters and events corresponding to characters and events in the
XVth century. IX. Greatness of the Author of the Annals.
CHAPTER IV
.
HOW THE ANNALS DIFFERS FROM THE HISTORY.
I. In the qualities of the writers; and why that difference. II. In the
narrative, and in what respect. III. In style and language. IV. The
reputation Tacitus has of writing bad Latin due to the mistakes of his
imitator.
CHAPTER V
.
THE LATIN AND THE ALLITERATIONS IN THE ANNALS.
I. Errors in Latin, (_a_) on the part of the transcriber; (_b_) on the part
of the writer. II. Diction and Alliterations: Wherein they differ from
those of Tacitus.
BOOK THE SECOND.
BRACCIOLINI.

CHAPTER I
.
BRACCIOLINI IN ROME.
I. His genius and the greatness of his age. II. His qualifications. III. His
early career. IV. The character of Niccolo Niccoli, who abetted him in
the forgery V. Bracciolini's descriptive writing of the Burning of
Jerome of Prague compared with the descriptive writing of the sham
sea fight in the Twelfth Book of the Annals.
CHAPTER II
.
BRACCIOLINI IN LONDON.
I. Gaining insight into the darkest passions from associating with
Cardinal Beaufort. II. His passage about London in the Fourteenth
Book of the Annals examined. III. About the Parliament of England in
the Fourth Book.
CHAPTER III
.
BRACCIOLINI SETTING ABOUT THE FORGERY OF THE
ANNALS
I. The Proposal made in February, 1422, by a Florentine, named
Lamberteschi, and backed by Niccoli. II. Correspondence on the matter,
and Mr. Shepherd's view that it referred to a Professorship refuted. III.
Professional disappointments in England determine Bracciolini to
persevere in his intention of forging the Annals. IV. He returns to the
Papal Secretaryship, and begins the forgery in Rome in October, 1423.
CHAPTER IV
.
BRACCIOLINI AS A BOOKFINDER
I. Doubts on the authenticity of the Latin, but not the Greek Classics. II.
At the revival of letters Popes and Princes offered large rewards for the
recovery of the ancient classics. III. The labours of Bracciolini as a
bookfinder. IV. Belief put about by the professional bookfinders that

MSS. were soonest found in obscure convents in barbarous lands. V.
How this reasoning throws the door open to fraud and forgery. VI. The
bands of bookfinders consisted of men of genius in every department of
literature and science. VII. Bracciolini endeavours to escape from
forging the Annals by forging the whole lost History of Livy. VIII. His
Letter