Tacitus: Histories, Books IV-V, Annals Books I-III (Loeb Classical Library No. 249) [Hardcover]

Tacitus (Author), Clifford H. Moore (Translator), John Jackson (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1931 | ISBN-10: 0674992741 | ISBN-13: 978-0674992740

Tacitus (Cornelius), famous Roman historian, was born in 55, 56 or 57 CE and lived to about 120. He became an orator, married in 77 a daughter of Julius Agricola before Agricola went to Britain, was quaestor in 81 or 82, a senator under the Flavian emperors, and a praetor in 88. After four years' absence he experienced the terrors of Emperor Domitian's last years and turned to historical writing. He was a consul in 97. Close friend of the younger Pliny, with him he successfully prosecuted Marius Priscus.

Works: (i) Life and Character of Agricola, written in 97–98, specially interesting because of Agricola's career in Britain. (ii) Germania (98–99), an equally important description of the geography, anthropology, products, institutions, and social life and the tribes of the Germans as known to the Romans. (iii) Dialogue on Oratory (Dialogus), of unknown date; a lively conversation about the decline of oratory and education. (iv) Histories (probably issued in parts from 105 onwards), a great work originally consisting of at least twelve books covering the period 69–96 CE, but only Books I–IV and part of Book V survive, dealing in detail with the dramatic years 69–70. (v) Annals, Tacitus's other great work, originally covering the period 14–68 CE (Emperors Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, Nero) and published between 115 and about 120. Of sixteen books at least, there survive Books I–IV (covering the years 14–28); a bit of Book V and all Book VI (31–37); part of Book XI (from 47); Books XII–XV and part of Book XVI (to 66).

Tacitus is renowned for his development of a pregnant concise style, character study, and psychological analysis, and for the often terrible story which he brilliantly tells. As a historian of the early Roman empire he is paramount.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Tacitus is in five volumes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John E. Jackson teaches government at Harvard University

Product Details

• Hardcover: 656 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library (January 1, 1931)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674992741
• ISBN-13: 978-0674992740
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Primary Source On the History Of Imperial Roman, December 15, 2007

By 

Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tacitus: Histories, Books IV-V, Annals Books I-III (Loeb Classical Library No. 249) (Hardcover)

I read this book for a graduate course in Roman history. It is an indispensable primary source for students of Roman history.

On the first page of his Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus wrote that Octavian "seduced the army with bonuses, and his cheap food policy was successful bait for civilians." Tacitus' description of Augustus' transformation of Rome from a republic into an empire is most illuminating as well. "Upper-class survivors found that slavish obedience was the way to succeed, both politically and financially. They had profited from the revolution, and so now they liked the security of the existing arrangement better than the dangerous uncertainties of the old regime."

Sir Ronald Syme relied heavily on the work of Tacitus for his cogent narrative of Octavian's rise to power as Augustus. Syme's in-depth study of Tacitus' life and work was published in 1958. Tacitus' historical accuracy was doubted for centuries and Syme made a project of re-evaluating the accuracy of his historical writings. Syme believed that Tacitus was in a unique position to write about the birth and early political history of the Imperial period in Rome due to his very active political life. Tacitus had served as a senator, consul, and proconsul of Asia. In addition, he was known to be an excellent orator in his day. In his writings, Syme believed that Tacitus provided excellent accounts of Augustus' rise to power and his career as Rome's first Emperor.

Tacitus delved into the machinery of the new government, including Augustus' use of patronage as well as his many thwarted attempts at planning for his own succession. What Syme found was a man that grew very adept politically and whose political maturity rapidly developed at an early age. At eighteen, he was named as heir to Julius Caesar. He grew into the greatest Roman princeps spanning fifty-six years until his death. Augustus knew that to retain power he had to maintain the general consent of the governed. He astutely maintained order not by following the constitution or past precedent, but by using the tremendous resources at his disposal. Augustus kept the plebeians in check making sure they were fed, kept them amused with games, and constantly reminded them that he was protecting them from the oppression of the nobiles.

Augustus became the "leader of a large and well organized political party as the source and fount of patronage and advancement."

Recommended reading for those interested in Roman history, military history.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rome's First Modern Historian, March 20, 2005

By 

Octavius (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tacitus: Histories, Books IV-V, Annals Books I-III (Loeb Classical Library No. 249) (Hardcover)

Publius/Gaius Cornelius Tacitus was born c. 55 A.D. under Nero's reign and his family seems to have had at least an equestrian rank. The date of his death is uncertain but placed at the close of Trajans reign in c. 117 A.D. Tacitus is considered by many to be the first modern Roman historian due to his avoidance of the praiseful oratory so common with other historiographers such as Livy. Tacitus tended to explain the events and persons as they existed and then delve into empirical speculation as to motives or causes.

This volume covers the close of Nero's reign in 68 A.D. and of the Julio-Claudian dynasty that Caesar had started. The lack of succession created a power vacuum in Rome filled by Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and eventually Vespasian in 69 A.D. The books also recites Augustus' reign and Tiberius' early reign from 14 A.D. to 22 A.D. The book offers a good insight as to the power struggles in the Principate as well as information about the aristocracy in Imperial Rome. In addition to the events of that period, Tacitus also gives valuabe information on the workings of the Principate, the Imperial Roman army, and the notorious Praetorian Guard.

The Loeb library is reknown for its publications of classical texts in English and either Latin or Ancient Greek depending on the author. If you're a student or teacher of classics you can't go without this publication. This translation is a pleasant work to read. All of Tacitus' volumes by Loeb are presently availble. This is a very good investment for anyone who wants to be illuminated as to what humanity achieved over 2000 years before we even existed: it's priceless!

5.0 out of 5 stars Rome's Most Famous Historian, October 29, 2011

By 

Stuart McCunn (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tacitus: Histories, Books IV-V, Annals Books I-III (Loeb Classical Library No. 249) (Hardcover)

Since there are so many of these darn things the review shall be divided into three sections. First, a brief description of the Loeb series of books and their advantages/disadvantages. Second shall be my thoughts on the author himself, his accuracy, as well as his style and the style of his translator. This is of course only my opinion and should be treated as such. The final part shall review what this particular book actually covers.

The Loeb series date back to the turn of the last century. They are designed for people with at least some knowledge of Greek or Latin. They are a sort of compromise between a straight English translation and an annotated copy of the original text. On the left page is printed the text in Greek or Latin depending on the language of the writer and on the right side is the text in English. For somebody who knows even a little Greek or Latin these texts are invaluable. You can try to read the text in the original language knowing that you can correct yourself by looking on the next page or you can read the text in translation and check the translation with the original for more detail. While some of the translations are excellent mostly they are merely serviceable since they are designed more as an aid to translation rather than a translation in themselves. Most of them follow the Greek or Latin very closely. These books are also very small, maybe just over a quarter the size of your average hardcover book. This means that you'll need to buy more than just one book to read a complete work. They are also somewhat pricey considering their size. The Loeb Collection is very large but most of the more famous works can be found in better (and cheaper) translations elsewhere. If you want to read a rarer book or read one in the original language then you can't do better than the Loeb Editions.

There are five volumes of Tacitus in the Loeb Classical Library. This includes all his surviving works. Tacitus is one of the most famous writers of the Roman Empire. He wrote most of his works in the early second century but they all deal with the events of the previous century. He is generally considered to be the Empire's best and most accurate historian. His earlier works include the Germania which is an account of the Germanians, the Agricola which is an account of his father-in-law and his governorship of Britain, and his Dialogues which is basically just a rhetorical exercise. His most famous works are his Histories and his Annals. Strangely, the order of these two is reversed, a fact which is carried through in the Loeb editions. He began with the Histories which cover from the death of Nero through Domitian intending to continue on through Nerva and Trajan. Instead he went backwards and started his Annals with Tiberius continuing on until he filled in all of the Julio-Claudians after Augustus. His writing style is impossible to reproduce in English. In what surely must have been an intentional feature he refuses to include the parallelisms much beloved by all other Latin authors. This is where a writer compares two things using the same structure. Instead he will make the comparisons but change the way the second thing is presented grammatically. It's difficult to express in English how strange that seems. The other feature of his style is the frequent use of epigrams at the end of his sentences. These are pithy and often sarcastic comments that wittily sum up the essence of what he means. The most famous of these is probably "They make a desert and call it peace," from the Agricola. There are many good translations of Tacitus. This one isn't too bad but the Oxford World Classics translations of the Agricola and Germania, The Annals and The Histories are probably the best. Be warned though, the translation achieves its quality by being rather loose at times. The most accurate translation is the Loeb one, but it really depends what you're looking for in the book. Other useful sources for this period include Suetonius (Volume I, Volume II) and Cassius Dio (Volume VII, Volume VIII).

The Loeb editors made an odd decision here. They decided to include the end of the History and the beginning of the Annals in one book instead of splitting them in two. The Histories covers the surviving books which go no further than Vespasian's reign. The first three books of the Annals deal with Tiberius' reign as emperor.