Tacitus Primary Sources

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Tacitus is regarded as Rome’s greatest historian (“Tacitus.”) He is a Roman historian who wrote “The Histories” and “The Annals” (Lendering.) Tacitus’s life is full of mystery and a lot of information comes from letters from Pliny the Younger (Washington.) What historians mean that his life is a mystery is due partly to the fact his name isn’t exactly known; it could either be Gaius or Publius Cornelius Tacitus (Heaton.) Tacitus is born around 55 AD and he lived until around 120 AD (Lendering). Another mystery that surrounds Tacitus life is where he came from Encylopedia of World Biography points to Gallia Norbonesis as his place of birth. His father’s profession was the chief financial agent, or procurator, of Gallia Belgica (“Tacitus.”) Livius.org claims that Tacitus was born in Southern, Gaul and that his father was part of the equestrian class. Historians do know that he was sent to Rome to study rhetorics and that would eventually lead him to become a magistrate later in life (Lendering). What is clear …show more content…
One was a biography about his father-in-law, Agricola. The premise behind the book is about Agricola’s life and what it’s like to serve a tyrannical emperor. When Agricola passed away, Tacitus wasn’t able to attend his funeral. Tacitus thus wrote a speech in honor of his father-in-law. The speech praises Argicola’s modesty yet his speech has a darker side that is attacking Domitian. His speech is an excellent example that outlines Tacitus’s rhetorical skills and ability (Lendering.) Being a quaestor in Asia didn’t corrupt Agricola and for that Tacitus is proud. Agricola was also consul and governor of Britain. Agricola also advocated that Roman Republican virtues could aid and make the imperial system right (Brown.) Tacitus also wrote “Germania” about the people that lived in modern day Germany back in Imperial Roman times. “Dialogue on Orators” details the decay of rhetoric under the empire
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