The Reign of Tiberius

THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS,
OUT OF THE FIRST SIX
ANNALS OF TACITUS;

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Title: THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS, OUT OF THE FIRST SIX
ANNALS OF TACITUS;
Author: TACITUS
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7959] [This file was first posted on
June 5, 2003]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE
REIGN OF TIBERIUS, OUT OF THE FIRST SIX ANNALS OF
TACITUS; ***

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Distributed Proofreading Team.

THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS, OUT OF THE FIRST SIX ANNALS OF
TACITUS; WITH HIS ACCOUNT OF GERMANY, AND LIFE OF
AGRICOLA
TRANSLATED BY THOMAS GORDON,
AND EDITED BY ARTHUR GALTON.

"Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui Promis et celas, aliusque et idem
Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma Visere maius."

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE ANNALS, BOOK I
THE ANNALS, BOOK II
THE ANNALS, BOOK III
THE ANNALS, BOOK IV
THE ANNALS, BOOK V
THE ANNALS, BOOK VI
A TREATISE OF THE SITUATION, CUSTOMS, AND PEOPLE OF
GERMANY
THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE
SITUATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE OF BRITAIN

INTRODUCTION
"I am going to offer to the publick the Translation of a work, which, for
wisdom and force, is in higher fame and consideration, than almost any
other that has yet appeared amongst men:" it is in this way, that
Thomas Gordon begins The Discourses, which he has inserted into his
rendering of Tacitus; and I can find none better to introduce this
volume, which my readers owe to Gordon's affectionate and laborious
devotion. Caius Cornelius Tacitus, the Historian, was living under
those Emperors, who reigned from the year 54 to the year 117, of the
Christian era; but the place and the date of his birth are alike uncertain,
and the time of his death is not accurately known. He was a friend of
the younger Pliny, who was born in the year 61; and, it is possible, they
were about the same age. Some of Pliny's letters were written to
Tacitus: the most famous, describes that eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
which caused the death of old Pliny, and overwhelmed the cities of
Pompeii and of Herculaneum. The public life of Tacitus began under
Vespasian; and, therefore, he must have witnessed some part of the
reign of Nero: and we read in him, too, that he was alive after the
accession of the Emperor Trajan. In the year 77, Julius Agricola, then
Consul, betrothed his daughter to Tacitus; and they were married in the
following year. In 88, Tacitus was Praetor; and at the Secular Games of
Domitian, he was one of the _Quindecimviri_: these were sad and
solemn officers, guardians of the Sibylline Verse; and intercessors for
the Roman People, during their grave centenaries of praise and
worship.
_Quaeque Aventinum tenet Algidumque, Quindecim Diana preces
virorum Curet; et vobis pueorum amicas Applicet aures._
From a passage in "The Life of Agricola," we may believe that Tacitus
attended in the Senate; for he accuses himself as one of that frightened
assembly, which was an unwilling participator in the cruelties of
Domitian. In the year 97, when the Consul Virginius Rufus died,
Tacitus' was made _Consul Suffectus_; and he delivered the funeral
oration of his predecessor: Pliny says, that "it completed the good
fortune of Rufus, to have his panegyric spoken by so eloquent a man."
From this, and from other sayings, we learn that Tacitus was a famous
advocate; and his "Dialogue about Illustrious Orators" bears witness to
his admirable taste, and to his practical knowledge of Roman eloquence:

of his own orations, however, not a single fragment has been left. We
know not, whether Tacitus had children; but the Emperor Tacitus, who
reigned in 275, traced his genealogy to the Historian. "If we can prefer
personal merit to accidental greatness," Gibbon here observes, "we
shall esteem the birth of Tacitus more truly noble than that of Kings.