Tacitus
Uploaded by almostarmychic on Mar 15, 2007
Although a great deal about Tacitus’ personal and early life is unknown, there are, however, several assumptions that can be nearly proven true. It is widely believed that he was born into a wealthy family and raised in Northern Italia. Another near-fact about Tacitus’ life is that he was extremely close friends with Plimy the Younger, and, like Plimy, was equestrian and from a well-known family in his area (although the precise territory is, in fact, unknown). He grew up to marry Julia Agricola, the daughter of one of the absolute most famous generals of the time period, yet nothing else is known of their family life, and thus it is a big question whether or not they had any children together.
As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for his career choice in law and politics. He was, in fact known for his wonderful public speaking skills. One of the most famous things Tacitus did in his law/political career was to help Plimy the Younger prosecute Marius Priscus for corruption, and was congratulated overall for his manner of speaking out in a convincing matter. A large and sudden rift from his career was taken and Tacitus wrote his first two majorly popular pieces, namely Histories, and Annals.
At the first glance, these two works seem to be really quite similar, but if you study them at a much deeper and closer level, then you will realize that in reality, they are detailed differently and in fact take place on completely different time periods. Although the Histories was written before the Annals, the latter actually takes place before the first. The Histories begin by discussing the period of time starting with the Year of the Four Emperors, and finishing with the Flavians. It is of great sorrow that historians report that only the beginnings of this fantastic work have survived.
Tacitus’ second famous work basically began with the death of Augustus Caesar in the year of 14 A.D. Even though this work is at the least 16 books in length, only a few books have survived in full. Several of the latter books in this section cover the reign of Nero and most of what else had been going on during that time period.