TACITUS, P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals and The Histories

TACITUS
The Annals and The Histories

by P. Cornelius Tacitus

QUOTES FOR DISCUSSION

From the biographical note:

I have reserved as an employment for my old age, should my life be long enough, a subject a once more fruitful and less anxious in the reign of the Divine Nerva and the empire of Trajan, enjoying the rare happiness of times, when we may think what we please and express what we think.

… the truthfulness of history was impaired in many ways, as first, through men’s ignorance of public affairs, which were not wholly strange to them, then through their passion for flattery, or, on the other hand, their hatred of their masters.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 1, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 189

Never surely did more terrible calamities of the Roman People, or evidence more conclusive prove that the Gods take no thought for our happiness, but only for our punishment.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 3, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 190

for Otho’s had been a neglected boyhood and a riotous youth, and he had made himself agreeable to Nero by emulating his profligacy.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 13, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 192

As it is, I, who have been called to the throne by the unanimous consent of gods and men, am moved by your splendid endowments and by my own patriotism to offer to you, a man of peace, that power for which our ancestors fought, and which I myself obtained by war.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 15, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 193

… you have only borne adversity; prosperity tried the heart with keener temptation; for hardships my be endured, whereas we are spoiled by success.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 15, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 193

The most practical and the shortest method of distinguishing between good and bad measures, is to think what you yourself would or would not like under another emperor. It is not here, as it is among nations despotically ruled, that there is a distinct governing family, while all the rest are slaves. You have to reign over men who cannot bear either absolute slavery or absolute freedom.”

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 16, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 193

This is a class of men, whom the powerful cannot trust, and who deceive the aspiring, a class which will always be proscribed in this country, and yet always retained. Man of these men were attached to the secret councils of Poppaea and were the vilest tools in the employ of the imperial household.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 22, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 195

Appalled by the enormity and suddenness of the crime, or perhaps fearing that the troops were very extensively corrupted and that it would be destruction to oppose them, he made many suspect him of complicity.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 28, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 196

The lawless spirit will pass into the provinces, and though we shall suffer from the treason, you will suffer from the wards that will follow.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 30, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 197

Crimes gain by hasty action, better counsels by delay.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 32, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 198

…belief in hatred is but too ready.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 34, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 198

No one knew anything, yet all were confident in assertion, till at length Galba in the dearth of all true intelligence, and overborne by the universal delusion, assumed his cuirass, and as, from any age and bodily weakness, he could not stand up against the crowd that was still rushing in, he was elevated on a chair.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 35, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 198

Comrades, I cannot say in what character I have presented myself to you; I refuse to call myself a subject, now that you have named me Prince, or Prince while another reigns. Your title also will be equally uncertain, so long as it shall be a question, whether it is the Emperor of the Roman people, or a public enemy, whom you have in your camp. Mark you, how in one breath they cry for my punishment and for your execution. So evident it is, that we can neither perish, nor be saved, except together.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 37, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 198

There is no room for delay in a business which can only be approved when it is done.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 38, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 199

No tribune or centurion encouraged them, every man acted on his own impulse and guidance, and the vilest found their chief incitement in the dejection of the good.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 38, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 199

His last words have been variously reported according as men hated or admired him. Some have said that he asked in a tone of entreaty what wrong he had done, and begged a few days for the payment of the donative. The more general account is, that he voluntarily offered his neck to the murderers, and bade them haste and strike, if it seemed to be for the good of the Commonwealth.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 41, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 200

A demand was theren made, that the fees for furlough usually paid to the centurions should be abolished.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 46, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 201

Thus was the end of Servius Galba…. His character was of an average kind, rather free from vices, than distinguished by virtue.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 49, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 202

That two men, who for shamelessness, indolence, and profligacy, were the most worthless of mortal, had been selected , it would seem, by some fatality to ruin the Empire, became the open complaint ,not only of the Senate and the Knights, who had some stake and interest in the country, but even of the common people. It was no longer to the late horrors of a dreadful peace, but to the recollections of the civil wars, that men recurred, speaking of how the capital had been taken by Roman armies, how Italy had been wasted and the provinces spoiled, of Pharsalia, Philippi, Perusia, and Mutian, and all the familiar names of great public disasters.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 50, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 202

In most cases he did but court popularity, in some he exercises a sound discretion, making a salutary change from the meanness and rapacity which Fonteius Caprito had show in bestowing and withdrawing promotion.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 52, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 203

Besides this, men themselves eager for power were ready to represent his very vices as virtues.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 52, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 203

Their envoys who had assumed a studied appearance of misery and distress, passed through the headquarters and the men’s tens, and complaining, now of their own wrongs, now of the rewards bestowed on the neighbouring states, and when they found the soldiers’ ears open to their words, of the perils and insults to which the army itself was exposed, inflamed the passion of the troops. The legions were on the verge of mutiny, when Hordeonius Flaccus ordered the envoys to depart, and to make their departure more secret, directed them to leave the camp by night. Hence arose a frightful rumour, many asserting that the envoys had been killed, and that, unless the soldiers provided for their own safety, the next thing would be that those who had complained of their present conditions, would be slaughtered under cover of night when the rest of the army would know nothing of their fate. The legions then bound themselves by a secret agreement. Into this auxiliary troops were admitted. At first objects of suspicion from the idea that their infantry and cavalry were being concentrated in preparation of an attack on the legions these troops soon became especially zealous in the scheme. The bad find it easier to agree for purposes of war than to live in harmony during peace.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 54, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 204

… the rest preserved an absolute silence, everyone waiting for some bold demonstration from his neighbor, in obedience to that innate tendency to men, which makes them quick to follow where they are slow to lead.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 55, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 204

After this no one retained any sense of duty, any recollection of his late allegiance, but as usually happens in mutinies, the side of the majority became the side of all.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 56, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 204

Meanwhile frequent letters, disfigured by unmanly flatteries were addressed by Otho to Vitellius, with offers of wealth and favour and any retreat he might select for a life of prodigal indulgence. Vitellius made similar overtures. Their tone was at first pacific; and both exhibited a foolish and undignified hypocrisy. Then they seemed to quarrel, charging each other with debaucheries and the grossest crimes, and both spoke truth.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 74, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 209

I am not come that I may move your hearts to love me, or that I may rouse your courage; love and courage you have in superfluous abundance. I am come to pray you to put some restraint on your valour, some check on your affection for me. The origin of the late tumult is to be traced not to rapacity or disaffection, feelings which have driven many armies into civil strife, much less to any shrinking from , or fear of danger. It was your excessive affection for me that roused you to act with more zeal than discretion. For even honorable motives of action, unless directed by judgment are followed by disastrous results. We are now starting for a campaign. Does the nature of things, does the rapid flight of opportunities, admit of all intelligence being publicly announced , of every plan begin discussed in the presence of all? It is as needful that the soldiers should be ignorant of some things as that they should know others. The general’s authority, the stern laws of discipline, require that in many matters even the centurions and tribunes shall only receive orders. If, whenever orders are given, individuals may ask questions, obedience ceases, and all command is at an end.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 83, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 211

Commerades, it is by obeying, not by questioning the orders of the commanders, that military power is kept together. And that army is the most courageous in the moment of peril, which is the most orderly before the peril comes. Keep you your arms and your courage, leave it to me to plan, and to guide your valour.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 84, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 212

A few ere in the fault, two will be punished. Let all the rest blot out the remembrance of that night of infamy. Never let any army hear those cries against the Senate. To clamour for the destruction of what is the head of the Empire, and contains all that is distinguished in the provinces, good God! It is a think which not even those Germans, whom Vetellius at this very moment is rousing against us, would dare to do. Shall any sons of Italy, the true youth of Rome, cry out for the massacre of an order, by whose splendid distinctions we throw into the shade the mean and obscure faction of Vitellius? Vitellius is the master of a few tribes, and has some semblance of an army. We have the Senate. The country is with us; with them the country’s enemies.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 84, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 212

Hence, everything was rife with suspicion, and even the privacy of the family was hardly exempt from fear. It was however in public that most alarm was felt; with every piece of intelligence that rumour brought, men changed their looks and spirits, anxious not to appear discouraged by unfavourable omens, or too little delighted by success.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 1, ch 85, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 212

The conquerors and the conquered, it was said, never unite with a genuine good faith. It matters not whether fortune make Ortho or Vitellius to be the victor. Even great generals grow insolent in prosperity; these men are quarrelsome, indolent, and profligate, and their own faults will make war fatal to the one, and success to the other.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 7, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 216

About this time Achaia and Asia Minor were terrified by a false report that Nero was at hand. Various rumours were current about his death; and so there were many who pretended and believed that he was still alive. The adventures and enterprises of the other pretenders I shall relate in the regular course of my work.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 8, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 216

The horror of these acts was aggravated by a noble display of fortitude in a Ligurian woman; she had concealed her son, and when the soldiers, who believed that some money had been hidden with him, questioned her with torture as to where she was hiding him, she pointed to her bosom and replied, “It is here that he is concealed.”; nor could any subsequent threats or even death itself make her falter in this courageous and noble answer.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 13, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 217

Whatever the cause of the accident, it was thought of but little moment as long as more terrible disasters were apprehended; but as soon as they again felt secure, they lamented it as though they could not have endured a heavier calamity.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 21, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 220

He was a man naturally tardy in action, and one who preferred a cautious and scientific plan of operations to any success which was the result of accident. He ordered the trenches to be filed up, the plain to be cleared, and the line to be extended, holding that it would be time enough to begin his victory when he had provide against being vanquished. This delay gave the Vitellianists time to retreat into some vineyards, which ere obstructed by the interlacing layers of the vines, and close to which was a small wood. From this place they again ventured to emerge, slaughtering the foremost of the Praetorian cavalry. King Epiphanes was wounded, while he was zealously cheering on the troops for Otho.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 25, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 221

He forbade the centurions to visit the sentinels, and discontinued the trumpet calls by which the troops are summoned to their usual military duties. Thereupon all stood paralyzed, and gazed at each other in amazement, panic-stricken by the very fact that there was no one to direct them. By their silence, by their submission, finally by their tears and entreaties, they craved forgiveness. But when Valens, thus unexpectedly preserved, came forward in sad plight, shedding tears, they were moved to joy, to pity, even to affection. Their revulsion t or delight was just that of a mob, always extreme in either emotion. They greeted him with praises and congratulations, and surrounding him with the eagles and standards, carried him to the tribunal. With a politic prudence he refrained from demanding capital punishment in any case; yet, fearing that he might lay himself more open to suspicion by concealment of his feelings, he censured a few persons, well aware that in civil wards the solider have more license than the generals.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 29, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 222

… as is usual in civil wars, there were many deserters, and the spies, while busy in inquiring into the plans of the enemy, failed to conceal their own.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 34, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 223

… they wished also to keep their own soldiers from passing their unoccupied time in idleness.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 34, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 224

That old passion for power which has been ever innate in man increased and broke out as the Empire grew in greatness.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 38, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 224

Otho himself was opposed to all thoughts of war. He said, “ hold that to expose such a spirit, such a courage as yours, to any further risk is to put too high a value on my life. The more hope you hold out to me, should I choose to live, the more glorious will be my death…. I need neither revenge nor consolation. Others may have held the throne for a longer time, but no one can have left it with such fortitude. … Let this thought go with me, that you were willing to die for me. But live, and let us no longer delay, lest I interfere with your safety, you with my firmness. To say too much about one’s end is a mark of cowardice.”

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 47, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 227

The natives of these parts relate that on the day when the battle was being fought at Bedriacum, a bird of unfamiliar appearance settled in a much frequented grove near Regium Lepidum, and was not frightened or driven away by the concourse of people, or by the multitude of birds that flocked round it, until Otho killed himself; then it vanished. When they came to compute the time it was found that the commencement and the end of this strange occurrence tallied with the last scenes of Otho’s life.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 50, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 228

Not forty days had passed since the battle, and there lay mangled corpses, severed limbs, the putrefying forms of men and horses; the soil was saturated with gore, and what with leveled trees and crops, the horrible was the desolation. Not less revolting was that portion of the road which people of Cremona had strewed with laurel leaves and roses, and to which they had raised altars, and sacrificed victims as if to greet some barbarous despot, festivities in which they delighted for the moment, but which were afterwards to work their ruin.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 70, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 233

The common soldiers also turned aside from the line of march with joyful shouts and recognized the various scenes of conflict, and gazed with wonder on the piles of weapons and the heaps of slain. Some indeed there were whom all this moved to thoughts of the mutability of fortune, to pity, and to tears. Vitellius did not turn away his eyes, did not shudder to behold the unburied corpses of so many thousands of his countrymen; nay in his exultation, in his ignorance of the doom which was so close upon himself, he actually instituted a religious ceremony in honour of the tutelary gods of the place.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 70, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 233

It would almost pass belief, were I to tell to what a degree the insolence and sloth of Vitellius grew upon him when messengers from Syria and Judea brought the news that the provinces of the East had sworn allegiance to him.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Histories, Book 2, ch 73, Great Books Volume 15, pg. 233

VOCABULARY – Tacitus – The Histories
Great Books Volume 15

Avarice, pg. 199

Immoderate desire for wealth; cupidity. [ from Latin avāritia ]

Cuirass, pg. 198

A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back. The breastplate alone. A defense or protection

Donative, pg. 200

a special gift or donation, 15th century

enervated, pg 213

adynamic, asthenic, debilitated weakened or exhausted physically, mentally, or morally

feint, pg 224

maneuvers designed to distract or mislead , making the enemy less likely to attack, (a French term that entered English from the discipline of fencing)

Obloquy, pg 209

Abusively detractive language or utterance; calumny. censure: statements that severely criticize or defame somebody, widespread condemnation; disgrace or infamy resulting from this; public accusation; defamation.

Parsimonious, pg 202

Unusual or excessive frugality; extreme economy or stinginess. Adoption of the simplest assumption in the formulation of a theory or in. Excessively sparing or frugal.

Profligacy, pg 209

the trait of spending extravagantly, very vicious course of life. somebody wasteful: an extremely extravagant or wasteful person. somebody with low morals: somebody with extremely low moral standards

Rapacity, pg 203

Taking by force; plundering. Greedy; ravenous. Grasping: greedy and grasping, especially for money, and sometimes willing to use unscrupulous means

Rife, pg 212

In widespread existence, practice, or use; increasingly prevalent. Abundant or numerous. found widely or frequently full of something undesirable, or experiencing a widespread and very frequent occurrence of something, especially something undesirable